Thursday Homestead Update

We are thankful for the recent light rains.  The weather is to stay nice until Saturday with rain and snow coming. Then, Sunday the dry weather will begin again. 

The hens have really been cranking out the eggs lately.  We do bring them in daily and wash them. 

Our morning view of goat, horses, chickens, and lamb. 

The greenhouse is doing well.  We did have a salad last night of micros - variety of lettuce and spinach. 

Peas are starting up the supports. The onions look extremely happy next to them .

Working on a quilt.

The tractor has returned from the shop. It was serviced and ready to go for the spring and helping with the remodeling. 

We immediately put it to use drilling caisson holes for the additions. Our ground is rock solid and was a bit difficult. It will do for now but these are 9inch drill bit holes and we need a 12 inch. It will be cheaper to buy one than rent it and we are rearranging funds to make way for a new one.  Money conversations are not pleasant and we need to get better at these discussions. We moved here to save money but it seems to always be flying out the window. 

Mama hen was moved to a larger area. Later we will move her again and put turkey chicks here. 

We checked on the Black Mama Hen and found she has 3 new chicks as well. We will let her sit for a few more day to see if more hatch.  The are a variety of chicks and adorable. 

Meals for the day. 

Breakfast - homemade french toast with berry sauce and  a fried egg (using cooking spray).  Coffee with cocoa powder, black pepper, turmeric, powdered milk and sweetener. 

water 

Snack - peanuts

water 

Lunch - unwich... a large veggie sandwich with cheese wrapped in lettuce leaves.

water

Snack - apple and peanut butter

green tea

Dinner - asparagus from the garden, mix greens salad with apple and sweet peppers,  salmon patty and corn on the cob. 

green tea

Later - water and chamomile tea

Checked in at the doctor and weighed in from last week. I have lost 5.5 lbs. Hmm.... see what happens when you skip the fast food. 

"Lord, let me live until I die. By that I mean I want to live, love, and serve fully until death comes.  If that prayer is answered, if I am able to live until I die, how long really doesn't matter."

-Sr Thea Bowman, who died on this date in 1990

peace

January Planning and Backwards Day

A busy time of year and who would have thought January would be so  busy.  It is a lot of planning.  We are looking at our seed packets and planning gardens.  It is time to start getting our chicks again, both layers and meat hens. We need to decide where were we are going to build a permanent place (could be temporary if we decide this is the year for the barn to be built - we aren't getting any younger) for them before they go to the Big House.  They were in the greenhouse last year.  Soon we will get turkeys too.  We are raising turkeys for  more than just for us this year.  The BIG ADD to the homestead  will be the new copper roof and the rain barrels. And in the spring we plan to get a new little lamb to mate with Wilbur plus Wilbur will be sheared. 

But for now, we celebrate each day in small ways. Today is National Backwards Day.  My mom, being a military wife and home alone with six kids most of the time, had to get very creative...and creative she was!  We had Backwards Day twice a year... preferably when there was no school. We wore our clothes backwards (Even my dad wore his uniform backwards. He wore a jacket over it and changed as he got on the base!)

So here we go with our meals.  Dinner for breakfast. A cornbread /dog casserole!  Just your favorite box mix with dogs gently nestled on in there.  Back for 25 minutes at 400*.

Serving with ...okay, I couldn't do coleslaw first thing this morning! 

Next I had to get my lunch ready using homestead food!  Egg salad with dill pickle powder. 

Awhile back I dehydrated some of my dill pickles. Woooey! They are some powerful things dried. 

Here they are dried. 

Then ground them into a powder. 

Ohso, tasty! 

Hard boiled some of our hens eggs, added mayo and mustard, some ground pepper and teaspoon of ground dill pickles ...ohmy, this is good.  Lunch is ready and packed to go! 

Breakfast for dinner is granola with yogurt and honey topped with berries. 

Time to hit the road. 

peace 

Sunday - garden, dehydrating, cards, fence repairs.

We did go out last night and had a stakeout.  We probably looked hilarious. Two mid-aged farts in the dark protecting our animals - me with the flashlight and Dude with a rifle (just in case).  We did catch the eyes of a fox soon on.  We were out there for an hour, the goats standing behind us giving their commentary and me telling them to hush.  Every time I got the fox's eyes he would slowly duck down and then back up. After a while he gave up or we couldn't see him any more. Not sure if it is the fox or the coyotes we hear nightly that got our chickens but we will do what we can to protect our animals and keep them locked up safe at night.

We need rain.  I watered again today.  I had put away the hoses (it was snowing this time last year) and had to get them back out.

The basil made a comeback after the frost. 

Time to dry parsley today. 

We will dry lavender tonight and hopefully it will dry and help us sleep. 

Picked carrots, collards and the very last of the tomatoes for this week. 

We finally let the hens roam today and they went straight for the goat pen. 

Heading out to do fence repairs and had some help from Peppermint our milk goat. 

Came in and made a boatload of potato chip cookies. 

Next was cleaning the coop. I like to add a mixture of mint, lavender and roses to the coop. Smells great, is an insecticide and calms hens. 

I use straw in the laying boxes.

And pine chips in the coop. 

Sprinkle with the herb mixture. ahhhh

Then I did have time to make some cards from a kit.  

Hoping to cut out a dress tonight. I am so glad we had an extra hour today with Daylight Savings Time. 

peace.