More chicks?!

Hi all. Ok, I'm big enough to admit it when I have a problem. I have chick fever.  I love raising the ones I've got so much, when I heard that TSC was desperate to get rid of chicks from chick days, I had to check it out! Yes, say it, even I'm thinking it. I'M A SUCKER FOR PEEPING!

So, as you may have figured out, we bought more babies. I bought 3 white leghorns at the price of $1 each! We got 4 ducks for $2 each. We bought 4 bantams, 2 ducks, and 2 golden laced wyandottes at regular price. They had a lot of picked and wounded chickens and I managed to get 8 white leghorns for free. If you're good at chicken math, you've figured out that we brought home 23 chicks.

They're all thriving and happy! I decided it's good since they will take places of our meaties we just butchered and the ones we intend to butcher in the next month or 2.

Thanks for reading!

Processing Meat Chickens Round 1-2013

Hi all. Well, yesterday was the day. We bid farewell to our 4 Cornish Rock chickens. So, our foray into processing our own meat chickens was overall a success! I'm pretty happy about the outcome.

We sequestered them for about 24 hours without food to help get their crops cleaned out. That was to make cleaning them easier. We, however, did not take their water away.

Mitch created a special cone like the ones you can buy at specialty stores. I think it really made the whole task easier, cleaner, and more humane.  It's designed so that you put the bird in upside-down. (This is actually very relaxing for a chicken!) It also hugs them so that they feel more calm.

We removed their heads, allowed them to bleed, scalded them with water, and then plucked
away.  The key to scalding them is to not have the water be boiling but hot. If it's too hot you'll cook the bird instead of readying it for plucking. The scalding really does aid in the picking quite significantly. After hand picking the feathers, we tossed them into a large plastic tote full of ice water to bring down their temp and keep them cold before butchering.

I was surprised by how quick and easy it was to do them all, and that was just hand picking the feathers instead of an awesome mechanical plucker. It was at times a bit stinky. It's not exactly for the faint of heart.

They all dressed out (eviscerated, plucked, cleaned) at about 3-4 pounds each. We weighed them on a small hanging scale. I'm pretty happy with this since it only took them 7-8 weeks to get that large. I'm actually impressed!

We had a quick crash course on butchering them properly and then I set about to bagging them up in gallon ziploc bags and used my cute little sealer for small stuff. We had scalded one a little too long and cooked it a little so, we just decided to eat it for dinner.

We ate one that day, cut one up to freeze, and froze 2 whole ones. We ended up with a pile of stuff to use for soups, broths, etc. that we also froze.

So, what's the difference in flavor? Our farm raised birds are far more tender and moist. I love that.  Our BBQ chicken was yummy!

Thanks for reading!

Strawberry Blackberry Jam

Hi all! Sometimes, there's nothing better than some good toast with yummy jelly for breakfast. Mmmm...making my mouth water just thinking about it! I have found that in our material world, it's very fun, rewarding, and educational to occasionally try it yourself. This is my philosophy for my whole life. Maybe it's not your style, but you still like a fun DIY now and again. Anywho, here it is! My attempt (efforts shared by my mom) strawberry-blackberry jam.

Strawberry-Blackberry Jam
4 cups of berries
4 1/2 Tbsp of classic pectin
3 c. Sugar
Jelly jars

1.  Cut the stems from the strawberries. Rinse both berries gently and dry well.
2.  Put berries in a bowl and gently crush the berries until some juice runs.
3.  Boil berries on high and add pectin a little at a time.
4.  Boil until it reaches a hard, rolling boil. Slowly add sugar (we used Splenda) until fully dissolved.
5.  Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
6.  Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving a 1/4" headspace.  Top with hot lids and dry bands. Screw bands on until finger-tight.
6.  Process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes at a gentle boil.
7.  Cool for several hours. Check seals for flexibility. If flexible,  you may have to try reprocessing. If firm, you should have a good seal.

Notes:
-  Always follow safely guidelines for canning to ensure safety and quality.
-  This yielded seven 4 oz. jelly jars for us

New Addition To The Family

Hi all! I'm excited to announce the newest addition to our farm, barnyard and family. I present to you, our seven week-old potbelly piglet, Bacon!

Bacon is little, black, male potbelly pig brought to us as a gift to our son from my mother. He comes from Versailles, KY. He was the last little piggy from the litter to be adopted as he is very vocal! He is not afraid to announce how unhappy or scared he is with a series of very loud squeals or low grunts.

He happily gobbles up little piggy food and is currently residing in a large plastic tote. This will be his home until we figure out a more permanent fixture.

For those of you wondering, NO we will NOT BE EATING little Bacon. He is a PET. So,  those of you who are worried, worry no more. :)

I'm excited about this little venture. Pigs are very intelligent and I love having a unique little pet that fits perfect in our farm. Wish us luck!

Thanks for reading!

Spring/Easter Wreath

Hi all. I just wanted to share my latest project. I made a wreath! I gotta say, I impressed myself on this one. Hehe. I'm sure, like me, you've seen all those wreaths and nests people make on pinterest. I looked at them drooling and finally decided "Hey, I can do that too."

So, I did.I started by gathering some vines and young saplings from our woods. (In the rain, during a flood warning-yeah sometimes my eagerness outweighs my common sense.) If you plan on replicating this, I suggest using wet saplings and vines. Mine had been rained on for a couple of days, but if you're not getting rain you can soak them in the tub or a bucket. It sounds crazy but they're much easier to work with this way.  Making this wreath (it's about 12" across) used an armload of twigs. That is no lie. It takes a surprisingly large amount of wood to make this thing, so be prepared. Once you get your stuff together, you can start weaving everything together. Start with the most flexible twigs first.

I made the flowers with my Cricut paper cutter. As for the eggs, we poked a hole in the bottoms with a pin and just sort of scrambled the contents as best as we could. The key is to poke a hole in both ends for free flowing egg goop. Carefully wash them out and allow to dry for 24 hours. Now just glue it all together!

Happy crafting!

Thanks for reading!

The Dairy Aisle

Hi all! For me, the only thing better than recycling and gardening, is recycling in the garden. I've stated many ways in previous posts how this can be done, but this post is a special highlight of a certain section in the grocery store. The Dairy Aisle. It's not just for making strong bones or breakfast anymore! 

When incorporating recycling into your garden, look no further than the dairy aisle. It is chock full of great items you can reuse.

My Projects:

1.   Drain contents from an egg through a small pinhole, carefully rinse, and allow to dry. Now use for decorations. They can be painted, speckled, and more!

2.   Cut a milk jug into a scoop. Use your new scoop for potting soil, feed, etc.

3.   Compost your spent egg shells. They are great for putting calcium into the soil.

4.   Use empty egg cartons for starting seeds. 

5.   Using a large gauge needle heated by a flame (don't burn yourself) carefully poke holes into a milk jug lid. Now you have a watering can!

Projects to Try:

1.   Use broken egg shells to start seeds in.

2.   Cut a milk jug not quite completely in half, fill with soil, and use as a mini greenhouse.

3.   Cut the bottom off of a jug and use as a cloche to keep your seedlings and transplants protected from the elements.

Be creative! What have you tried? 

Thanks for reading!

Moving Chickens

Hi all! We finally moved the chickens to their permanent coop. It's much roomier in their new coop and they seem to love the space. We've got the feeder and waterer hanging up to help prevent roosting on (and pooping in) them. I'm not so sure it's working.

We added three roosting bars so that they can do that when they get older.  Right now, they just hang out under the bars where the heat lamps are.

At this age chickens need about 3/4 sq ft per bird of space.  We have about twice that in ours. Plus we have a chicken run that they won't use yet. We still have to cover the run to protect the chickens from hawks and prevent them from flying out all the time. They also don't have enough feathers (or brains) to keep themselves warm enough yet, so they can't venture out.

The chickens aren't as scared or nervous around us now that we can walk with them in the coop. Our son absolutely loves running around with them in the new coop. The chickens love chasing him just as much!

Sorry about the poor video quality.  Isn't that too cute though! 

Thanks for reading. 

Growing in Small Spaces and Containers

Hi all! Spring is winding up and winter is winding down. Since writing this blog and charting my own personal experiences, I've begun to wonder about the gardens of my readers. Some may be like my own, but for many others space may be limited. Some may only have the desire to plant a few things instead of a huge garden. At any rate,  this blog post is for you.

Just wanted to share these pretty little flowers I found in our yard. They're only about 2 inches tall! So cute!

The key to successful gardening, especially in a small area, is to maximize and utilize what you do have. Below you can find what I've come up with after scouring the world wide web in search for answers.

Get vertical! This is really great for using that space.  You plant vertically instead of horizontally.  It may sound a little challenging, but it's not too bad. This feat can be accomplished a number of ways including using pallets, gutters, and raised tiers to name a few. Trellising is the most common way to accomplish this.

Source: Easy Homesteading

Use Containers. Don't limit yourself to traditional gardening methods. You can plant many things successfully in a container. Lettuces, herbs, greens, peppers, and dwarf vaieties of plants are just some of the things out there to grow. Your container can be anything. You can use butter bowls, buckets, coffee cans, etc. Just be sure there are some drainage holes poked into the bottom.

Dwarf Tophat Blueberry-perfect for containers. Only gets 1 1/2 ft tall!

Think Outside the Box. Plants can be grown in a variety of ways. Plants want to grow, and if given the proper care, they will! I've seen tomatoes and strawberries grow upside down in hanging pots. I've seen potatoes grown in a leaf bag.

Reuse and Recycle.  Before you throw something away think about it's potential for your garden. Your water bottle could be used as a mini-greenhouse. That milk jug could be modified as a gentle watering can. The parmesan cheese container can be filled with naural bug killers/deterents to sprinkle on. 

Have fun! Most of all, enjoy yourself. That's what it's all about. Don't get bogged down in the details. Just grow!

Thanks for reading!

I'm Spring-ing Forward...How About You?

Hi all! We had a beautiful weekend here in Southern Ohio and we changed the clocks for Daylight Savings Time.  I can't even begin to tell you how giddy it makes me to know that spring is knocking on our door!  There is so much to do, but I'm so excited!

I decided to share some of the things we had going on during the lovely weekend. I had to work all weekend,  but Mitch and Toby enjoyed the weather for me. They had plenty of 4 wheeler riding, we grilled out and ate outside.  Mitch also managed to do some productive things for me. He made our chickens their first set of nest boxes out of some scrap lumber. I just love how rustic they look.  Take a peek:

He also got my early veggie garden tilled up so we can plant soon. We put this one up close to the house since our big back garden was too soggy and sloppy to work yet. I am hoping for a nice calm day so I can plant some seeds. My transplants aren't big enough yet, as they are just now beginning to get their first true leaves. We have begun to get a few peppers and tomatoes to sprout, but they won't be ready to go out until sometime in April! Here is the garden pre-planting:

We have some daffodils (at least that's what I think they are) popping up all over our yard. I've never seen daffodils in such odd ball places, but we've got them here. They are getting little buds all over them, which means....we'll have pretty little yellow flowers very soon!

Tractor Supply has got their chick days and garden event going on right now. We walked in there and I was in heaven! If you'd like to see or show your kids some cute little chicks and ducklings, they've got them there.  Cheap entertainment!  And, if you needed another reason to plant SOMETHING this year (as if) they've got some good prices and great stuff...just sayin'.

And finally, I would like to close with a link to my friend's blog Homegrown on the Hill. She has a post about how It's not too late! to still get a start on spring growing!

Thanks for reading! Come back soon for some ideas on small gardens and container gardening.

Chicken and Plant Updates-4 weeks

Hi all! We've been busy here on our little farm. Our seedlings are growing and I do believe our house is looking rather like a plant nursery. We've got so many seeds started. We should be planting sometime soon. We've just got to grow out some more little leaves. (Grow, baby grow!)

I'm anxious for some warm weather. I don't know about the weather anywhere else, but here in Southern Ohio we are being teased with lovely spring-like weather, then slapped with a couple of inches of snow. Dang Punxsutawney Phil tricked me into thinking we were gonna have some awesome, early spring.

Mitch holding a meat chicken to show how big they are already!

On another note, our chickens are a month old now, and growing fast! I gave them their first treats (oats, strawberries, and carrots), but alas, the chickens were not entirely impressed. They love to escape the brooder. They can often be caught now roosting on the sides of it. The meat chickens are growing so much and looking (dare I say it?) yummier and juicier! Hehe. We've set a date for chicken processing (fancy name for chicken slaughter). We will be "taking care of" our 4 Jumbo Cornish X Rocks on March 30. I know! Crazy, right? I'm nervous and excited. They will be 7 weeks old. I can't wait to see how much they weigh.  

That's about it for now, at least until we can start planting. What's going on at your house as we gear up for spring?

Thanks for reading!

Thinning Out

Hi all! Thinning out. We don't like doing it, but sometimes we just have to. Don't worry. I'm not talking about dieting (whew!). I'm talking about thinning out plants.

What is thinning out?
Thinning out is the act of removing seedlings or young plants in order for them to be spaced correctly so that they may grow strong and productive and to avoid crowding.

Why thin out?
When you plant seeds sometimes you might drop a few extra of those tiny things and get more seeds in one spot than you need. Maybe you dropped them like that on purpose just in case some don't germinate. Maybe your seed pod contained more than one seed. Either way, if more than one seedling grows in that small space, it would necessitate thinning out. When 2 things grow in such close proximity, they begin to compete for nutrients and water. With 2x the plants growing, there is a need for 2x the nutrients. The competition could lead to the failure of both or all of the plants in that spot.

How to thin out.
Thinning out is pretty easy.  All you have to do is trim the least successful seedling or plant with a pair of scissors as close to the soil as possible. Another way, if they're still very young, is to gently pull the seedling up (root and all). With this way though, you do run the risk of injuring the roots of the seedling you intend to protect.

What I did.
Last night I did some thinning out of my own. I had a couple pots growing two and even 3 seedlings in them. I took a risk and ripped out the extras and repotted them in their very own pots with fresh, new and damp seed starting mix. This morning they look great,  but only time will tell.

A couple of my transplants

The bottom line is, it doesn't matter how you do it, just make sure it gets done!

Thanks for reading!

Doughnuts From Scratch

Hi all! I decided to try my hand at yeast doughnuts from scratch. I had been envisioning fluffy glazed rings so I thought I would give it a whirl. I found a recipe online (I only look for recipes that I can make without buying anything special or that I wouldn't usually buy). It seemed simple enough.

What I ended up with was a little fluffy, a little dense (but not unpleasantly so) yummy glazed rings. I'm pretty proud of my first attempt. I made a few cinnamon-sugar doughnuts too.

Here is the recipe I used from AllRecipes.com.

Crispy and Creamy Doughnuts

My ugly little yummy doughnuts

INGREDIENTS:

2 (.25 ounce) envelopes active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)

1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1/3 cup shortening

5 cups all-purpose flour

1 quart vegetable oil for frying 

1/3 cup butter

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

4 tablespoons hot water or as needed

DIRECTIONS:

1.Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, and let stand for 5 minutes, or until foamy.

2.In a large bowl, mix together the yeast mixture, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening, and 2 cups of the flour. Mix for a few minutes at low speed, or stirring with a wooden spoon. Beat in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl. Knead for about 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place the dough into a greased bowl, and cover. Set in a warm place to rise until double. Dough is ready if you touch it, and the indention remains.

3.Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and gently roll out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter. Let doughnuts sit out to rise again until double. Cover loosely with a cloth.

4.Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in confectioners' sugar and vanilla until smooth. Remove from heat, and stir in hot water one tablespoon at a time until the icing is somewhat thin, but not watery. Set aside.

5.Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large heavy skillet to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Slide doughnuts into the hot oil using a wide spatula. Turn doughnuts over as they rise to the surface. Fry doughnuts on each side until golden brown. Remove from hot oil, to drain on a wire rack. Dip doughnuts into the glaze while still hot, and set onto wire racks to drain off excess. Keep a cookie sheet or tray under racks for easier clean up.

My own tips and such

* I don't own a doughnut cutter so I just used a large plastic tumbler and a popsicle mold dipped in flour instead. Use what ya have!

* My dough was super sticky to knead so I added a bit more flour. It may account for the denser finished product but was way easier to work with. 

* You can use your oven turned on a low setting for a minute or 2 with door cracked open then turn it off to allow heat for the dough to rise.

* Don't forget the doughnut holes!

* Watch your oil temp. I had a few doughnut hole casualties that were a "little" burnt up.

* For cinnamon-sugar doughnuts: mix up a ratio of 1 part cinnamon to 4 parts sugar (or whatever your preference) and put on doughnuts that are fresh from the fryer. 

* For chocolate glazed doughnuts: add a little cocoa powder to the confectioners sugar

* For a caramel like glaze: replace some of the confectioners sugar with brown sugar

* Remember I'm not an expert.  I'm just sharing my own humble experiences.

* Have fun! Get messy! Let the kids help! Don't get discouraged! Improvise! 

Thanks for reading! 

Nothing Beats a Bouquet...

Hi all! I just had to share my beautiful bouquet of...eggs!! Mitch went out this afternoon and brought me back a lovely carton full of pretty chicken eggs from a co-worker in varying shades like my own will be. He knows how to make me smile. :) Yes, I know. I'm a total geek, but aren't these eggs awesome? The timing is right too. We're having this yucky weather here in Ohio and I'm pining for warmer weather and lots of greenery. Hopefully this perks you up too. Maybe put some "spring" in your step.

Feast your eyes on these beauties.

*DISCLAIMER: These are NOT from my chickens. I've got a while to go. These were a gift.*

If you need more spring lovin' hop over to my friend Mary's blog. She has some lovely pictures of their 2012 garden. Just click on the link under the picture (also from her blog).

Homegrown on the Hill

Thanks for reading! Come back soon for tips on thinning out!