Chickens discover crickets and garlic

So the other day while cleaning out our barn (aka chicken coop) I noticed tons of crickets. It had rained the night before, so I don't know if they were in there to get out of the rain or what, but they were in there. All in the same place and all the same size- chicken bite sized. So as I lured the chicks over and finally got them to notice the crickets, and not my finger, they had quite the hay day. Goldie, our Araucana who is our #1 bug snatcher, was the first to realize that I wasn't just pointing at a clump of dirt and went for it. After that, they all went for it! No more crickets in the coop, except for what appeared to be, the granddaddy of the crickets (seriously, huge!). I left him in there in the hopes we'd have some more for the girls to munch on.
Garlic. So while I was in Africa, I heard that garlic has a lot of good qualities to it. One of which, is that it's a great de-wormer (yes, when you're in a third-world country you become curious about natural de-wormers). So I did a little research on it, and found that it's great for chickens too. So I tested it out. And to my surprise, they loved it! I'm not super concerned about my chicks getting worms, but I figure since they love it so much, it doesn't hurt as a precaution. Plus, it's a great immune boost.
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Incident with the Cat

Shortly after we moved in, we had a two week long downpour. It rained and rained. One day I noticed a cat taking shelter under our BBQ grill. I hadn't ever seen him around before and felt awfully bad for him. I brought him some milk and a little food scraps from the fridge. He ate it immediately. He looked half starved! He had ticks and fleas and a few scrapes, but he was very friendly. I thought for sure he was somebody's pet that had gotten lost in the storm. As the rain dissipated, I went out to check the grounds. The cat was still there, hanging out on our deck. So, I told my husband when he got home and he said the cat could stay, but not to get upset if one day I found him gone. We both thought he was too tame to be just a wild cat, and figured he must belong to somebody. The next day came and he was still there. I figured, well even if he does belong to somebody, let's at least take care of him while he's here. We went out and bought him some flea/tick medicine and a bag of cat food. I typically don't like cats. All past cats I've had have either been mean or too needy, but not this one. After I fed him the first time, I expected him to sit outside the door and meow. He never did. We introduced him to our dog, no issues. I thought, man this cat fell from the heavens. So we let him stick around, even gave him the name "Gandalf, the gray" (husbands choice) and honestly, he's been the best cat I've ever had. One day last week though, he lowered himself on the bar. I was out with the chickens, as usual, and the cat came over. He typically follows me down to the chicken coop and we have no problems, but this particular day he was being pesky. He kept hiding out and getting into pounce position. He does this many times with little grasshoppers or other bugs he sees in the grass, he rarely gets them. But that day, one of the chicks happened to be all alone and he saw an opportunity. He pounced and chased that poor chick all up and down the woods. Meanwhile, I'm chasing him and the dog is barking with excitement and I'm thinking "cat soup, we're having cat soup for dinner!" Finally, the chick found safety under some brush and the cat ran away. I was so worried about the poor little chick, I rushed to get my boots then hurried to find her. I walked around, called her, couldn't find her. I went to check on the other chicks, they were all ok. I went back to look for her, still couldn't find her. She was completely silent. Finally I saw her. I crept up close, started talking to her, put my hand down to her, and scooped her up. Poor little Gladys was freaked out! I held her close and I could feel her shaking. I brought her back with the rest of the chicks, put her down gently, checked her for any injuries, and left her to regroup. She hopped up on her roost and went to sleep. She was perfectly fine. The cat is still on my bad side.
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Mystery flowers

Not sure what these are.. Back in early spring these started shooting up. The leaves came out in bunches, but no flowers. Summer came and no blooms. The leaves yellowed and withered away. I thought, well that's annoying. Now we're in August and they've decided to bloom. No leaves, just brand new blooms. I'm pretty sure they're bulbs, and I had the intentions of digging them up and transplanting them this fall, but I have no idea what they are.. any ideas???
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Mint in the Coop

When we moved into our house (about 4 months ago) I noticed we had some wild mint growing (or else someone planted it in an odd place). Not knowing what to do with it, I let it stay growing there. I love the look and smell of mint, but honestly have no clue what to do with it. I've read that it's a good mice repellent, so I put some in the coop. Seems to be doing the trick, or at least makes it smell nice. Do you know of any ways to use mint?
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Fences

My husband is in the process of making a fence around our property. We will eventually be getting some goats to help with clearing out our woods. We have a lot of weed overgrowth that we just can't contain, so we're hoping goats will help with that. Also, in the long term future, we'd like to have a family milking cow, so a fence is much needed. We plan on using free railroad ties as fence posts.
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A Mole

The other evening as I was finishing up letting my chickens free range, my Araucana started making an alarming sound, like a "hey what is this?" All the girls rushed over to see what the commotion was and as I looked over I saw that the grass was moving. My first thought was, "oh no! A snake" but then I realized it was in the ground and I immediately knew what it was- a mole! In California, we didn't have moles, only gophers and they were ugly, mean, and pesky. I had never seen a mole up close, so I bent down to get a closer look. I watched as the grass wiggled. He seemed so close to the surface I thought for sure he was gonna pop his head out. We have had a few issues with moles this year, i.e. Pushing up the dirt, killing parts of the grass, tunnels everywhere, so I had every intention of lopping off his head. After about 15 minutes I was finally able to see him and catch him (with gloves on, of course). Those guys are pretty tough, lots of upper strength and they move fast! But boy was he cute! That nose, stumpy tail, and velvety soft fur... needless to say, mole-1 dog-0.

source: pestkill.org

Sunflowers Are Almost Ready

When we moved in I quickly realized there were zero flowers around our house, so I bought some sunflower seeds and planted them. They were easy, cheap, and could take the heat of our brick exterior. I planted two rows in one area and another row on the other side of the house. Meanwhile, the wild birds have been a little messy in their eating habits, so I now have another spot of sunflowers shooting up. They are not quite blooming yet, but hopefully in the next week or so, I'll have some really pretty sunflower pictures. Here's what I have for now.
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Thanks for stopping by!
-AJ

Happenings around the homestead