The Countdown Begins

Only 20 days till the hubbs and I go and pick up our new poultry babies from Townline Hatchery in Zeeland, MI.  I am super excited.  Even though we have to pick up the pace and get some things done to make room for the little ones.  Yesterday, I cleaned, rearranged and sorted out the laundry room. Called and confirmed the order, added a turkey and electrolytes.  On Thursday my next day off, I will be cleaning the brooders (big watering troughs) and the chick feeders/waterer's and other gear, making a list of anything we need to pick up in advance.  Then it's on to the little barn to finish setting up the new chicken area, cleaning the old chicken coop for the turkeys and building them a pen area.  Hopefully we can get it all done in the next few weeks.  We will bring in the brooders and a new gate for the dogs, early so that our indoor pets can get use to them being there. 

We will be adding:
15 Silver Laced Wyndotte Chicks
15 Golden Laced Wyndotte Chicks
5 Buff Orpington Chicks
5 Araucana Chicks (aka Easter Eggers, they lay blue, green, and pink eggs)
5 Turkeys
2 Gray Toulouse Goslings (oh I am so super excited about these guys)

Lazy Sundays

Every once in a while we get to enjoy a lazy sunday.  Today was such a Sunday.  We started our day by sleeping in.  Once awake we did the normal stuff of letting the dogs and chickens out.  Time for breakfast which we had at home, I made peanutbutter and chocolate chip pancakes (reciepe from pinterest).  They were a big hit, very fluffy and filling with just a hint of peanutbutter flavor.  Hubs and I ran up to the store after we devoured the pancakes to get some "race day snacks" apparently the Daytona 500 is on today, we bought a dagwood sandwhich from our local grocery store and some chips.  Back home,we changed back into our jammy pants and hubs did some internet searches and I played on pinterest and facebook. Hubs as since moved on to getting stuff ready for taxes and I am researching Gardens and Geese.  Good times and while we are exactly doing nothing it's still a lazy day of jammies, tv and good food, with a little bit of chores thrown in.  Our plans for the rest of the evening include making taco's for dinner, watching movies and the Daytona 500 if they ever race (it's on a rain delay now) and maybe the hubs and I will hit the hot tub before dinner.  A wonderful, wonderful family lazy sunday.  I highly recomend having one of these at least once a month.

Pinterest

My sister recently sent me an invite to join her on Pinterest.com, and I instally fell in love with it.  I love the idea of having everything in one place instead of bookmarking or addingto favorites.  I have boards for things that I plan on doing such as craft stuff, home projects, farm projects and recipes, but, then I also have a few boards for fun such as childhood memories, funny quotes, books and movies.  There is one board that I have started that is full of ideas, projects and just cool stuff.  I call it Mason Jar Art, they are just so versiatile that you can just about use them for everything.  So far I have only done 1 project from my Mason Jar Board, and that was to make soap dispenser out of them.  So easy drill a hole in the cap insert a soap/lotion pump our's was tight enough in the drilled hole that we didn't need to add any epoxy or silicone to keep it from moving around.  I made 2 one for dish soap and one for hand soap in the bathroom.  Quite proud of myself for making them.  Can't wait to try out some of the other things I have pinned to the boards.

Book Reviews

Recently, I have read 2 great books, both of them farm memoirs.  Written by 2 different ladies, both bitten by the farming bug, but had grown up in the suburbs.  If you are interested in farms, love, animals, crafting, cooking or just entertaining reads, then I recommend the following books.

" The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food and Love"  By Kristin Kimball
this book is actually about love, the love of 2 people and the love between them and the farm they start together.  It chronicles the first year or so of the author meeting her future husband, falling in love both with him and the farm life he leads.  They move to New York and start a farm on leased acreage, with little to no money start up a year round full diet csa from the ground up using nothing but themselves and horse power.  Ms. Kimball does not shy away from the more gritty details of what farm life is all about life, love, and death. 

"Made From Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life"  By Jenna Woginrich
20-something Jenna, living across country from her family all alone in a borrowed farm house.  Sets out to lead a simpler happier life as a modern homesteader, learning from the ground up.  She writes about her mistakes and what she has learned from them, and goes on to do it all again and again learning and growing with each goal or setback. Included in this book are recipes (where I got the bread and Jack Apple cake recipes) simple crafting ideas and directions as well as Lot's of sources to use if you too are interested in farming.  The name of her farm is called Cold Antler Farm.  This is the first of several of her books and was written several years ago.  I have followed her blog (Cold Antler Farm) for some time now, and am amazed at what she has accomplished alone.

February

Is it just me, or does February make you impatient?  It's that point of winter when most people are done with winter, cold and snowy or mild and gray.  You know spring is just around the corner, but it seems like forever until it gets here.  That's how I am feeling these days, I would like nothing more than to get outside (without freezing) and get started on all our spring projects.  Which truthfully is not like me, or I guess the me before I moved to the country.  Don't get me wrong I liked being outside before as well but, usually that involved camping or parks (somewhere away from all the city noises)  having moved out to a place where most of the noise is caused by animals and insects, it's more peacful being outside.  Being outside digging in the garden or hanging with the chickens has made me less frazzeled feeling (even when I have lot's on my plate).  So I am impatient (which is like me) for February to be over and I can get started on all my plans.

Fancy Farmer

It was cold outside this morning and we are expecting snow!!! Not enough to play in but hopefully enough to make the muddy and yellowed yard look pretty.   Anyway, usually on colder mornings I wear my knee length, suede and faux fur coat out to take care of the chickens in.  (Fancy, I know).  When I wear this coat, General Lee (our rooster) feels the need to fly at me with claws extended and peck at me until I finally finish up and leave the coop/pen area.  This amuses me because when I go in to tend the flock when I am not wearing the coat he doesn't bother me and will sometimes even let me touch him.  Kind of offended that he doesn't like my fancy coat, even when I give him extra scratch grains.

Home Grown Cow

What it is; a website that connect people who want to eat grass-fed beef, pork, chicken and cheese, with local farmers in your area who produce such foods, generally on a small scale.  You then can either pick up the meats yourself or have them shipped to your home.  I first read about this website in "Hobby Farms" magazine and then I checked out thier site, which you can find here.  There are several ways to search for the types of meat that you would like... from farm style, size and location to type of meat your looking for.