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!