Cooking Rooster, Making Soap, and Day Dreaming about Gardening.

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  Chicken Stock/broth

Homemade Soap. 

Well it happened. We could not find a home for Big Red. My husband was going over to help a friend butcher their roosters and he took Big Red along.
This happened last Friday and my Joy Joy did her best to be strong, but there were a lot of tears. All I could do is hold her and cry with her.
Sunday she went to a friend's house and I roasted the chicken, and yesterday I tried making bone stock. Frank had kept and skinned the feet for me, and I simmered it all day. It did not got get thick like I thought it would. So maybe it is just broth? It will make soup one way or the other!
I went over to a friends house Monday and we made soap. This was my 2nd time making it. This time I contributed Red Palm oil, olive oil, and Lilac oil. I wish I could make the picture scratch and sniff! The soap has: goat milk,olive oil, red palm oil, Shea Butter, Coconut oil, lilac and some other pretty smelling stuff she had. Oh, and lye of course. I have 13 bars and they are sitting on my shelves smelling good. They need to cure for about a month before we can use them.


I watched a really good movie called Back To Eden Film. (Click on name to watch it.)
 Here is what it says about it.
"BACK TO EDEN shares the story of one man’s lifelong journey, walking with God and learning how to get back to the simple, productive methods of sustainable provision that were given to man in the garden of Eden. The organic growing system that has resulted from Paul Gautschi’s incredible experiences has garnered the interest of visitors from around the world. However, never until now have Paul’s methods been documented and shared like this!"
It was long, but well worth watching. It talks about using tree clippings, (the stuff the tree services chop up) and putting that right on your garden. No tilling! I have already called one tree service and he took my number for the next time he is working in my area and will bring me a load of chips! I can't wait.

Today, I am suffering from a head cold. I am going now to cuddle up in a blanket and drink some hot herbal tea with honey.

Up-date On Our Rooster, Oh No, Roosters!

Saying good bye to Mr Waddles

It is hard to believe it has been 2 months since my last post! Life gets very busy with the start of school.
I did not plant a fall garden as planned. I was digging out beds and adding compost, leaves and kitchen Scraps in layers. It was slower going than I planned. Our soil has so much clay, that you would have thought I was digging virgin ground!
Then I popped a tendon in my right hand (not while digging, or doing anything hard!) and have not been digging anymore. Injuries are extremely frustrating when you have a long list of things you want to get done.


Good news is, we found a nice home for Mr Waddles!

Our two late blooming roosters.

Bad news is, a couple of weeks after finding Mr Waddles a home, Anna and Big Red started growing pretty tail fathers and crowing. We were not happy at all! Anna, if you remember is my gardening buddy. More good news though, the neighbors don't mind the crowing! So Anna stays and Big Red is in the classifieds.

Anna stays.

Joy Joy also picked out 2 white hens from a friend and we added them to our little flock. I will take pictures soon.

Big Red has to go.

Frank finished the shed except for the siding he wants to put on. We got our Christmas tree up, and I have been doing some little jobs (house cleaning and photography) to earn money for gifts. All in all, life is good and we are very blessed. I will try to post again soon with pictures of the shed and new hens, but if I don't before Christmas, let me wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Apple Picking

Bug-a-boo going after the high ones.

 It has been a crazy few weeks. I thought with the start of school life would calm down into a nice routine. HA! Not so. The good thing about homeschooling is that you can take on life as it comes at you. Like caring for grandma when she is to sick to help herself. That in itself is a life lesson you cannot find in a workbook.

He found THE perfect apple.

We took an afternoon away from the craziness to pick some yummy apples at a friends apple orchard. They also took three of our hens that needed a home. Now we just need a home for our rooster Mr. Waddles. I was going to offer him for free in our local paper, till I heard he would find a home quickly, as a  cock fighter! That is not going to happen. It would be much kinder to put him in the stew pot. Not sure if we are hungry enough to do that though.

Joy Joy found a new home for 3 of her girls.

I did not get a fall garden planted. You have to be home to do that! My Honey love has been busy building us a garden shed as funds come in.
We got 4 and 1/2 pumpkins from the compost pumpkin plants. A half you say? Yes. A ground hog got the other half. He could go in the stew pot too, as far as I am concerned. I wonder what groundhog tastes like?

My Honey love building me a garden shed!

I am planning (but will it really happen?) to go out and put the garden to bed and get it ready for next year. I have some clover seeds to put in, and I should get the litter (wood chips and chicken poo) out of the hen house spread it around the garden and put fresh in the coop for the winter. Then we will have more nice litter for the spring.
The chickens have much more room in their yard with the 3 hens gone. The chickens seemed unusually subdued for a couple of days after we gave away their sisters. Thankfully they are acting like themselves again.

Gardening, Chickens and Food Freedom.

The Homestead.

 Life gets crazy sometimes. I have been busy getting ready for the start of school. Summer seems to be very short these days. So... as you all know...I am way over due for a post!
The garden is about done. It has been so hot, the peppers have been drying up on the plant! We keep pulling them off and tossing them into the compost. Our peppers are normally the one thing that do really well! We have had almost no rain the last two months. We are watering twice a day but it is not the same as a good rain.
I was going to do a big fall garden but have changed my mind. I am going to plant some beets, spinach, and lettuce, and plant clover as a ground cover.

Big Red

The chickens are almost old enough to start giving us eggs. I can't wait! I can almost taste those fresh homegrown eggs.
Speaking of fresh and homegrown... Warning: Alisha is climbing up on her soap box!  Have you seen the attacks on raw milk? (I was raised on raw, fresh from the udder milk!) I don't know what to say except it is organized crime sanctioned by our government. They come for the milk, cheeses, supplements, juices... when do they come for our eggs? Our gardens? In the name of our safety of course. You know, those FDA, clean, safe, egg factories are much cleaner and safer than the ones in your back yard. Right? I mean, they know whats best for you and your family better than you do. You just need to trust them.
If you are not up to date on the grab for our healthy foods click on the words government and milk up above. You need to know what is going on.
Okay! Climbing off my soap box.
Back to gardening. Here is a great link for planting a fall garden, if you are so inclined.

Don't forget, you can get plans for this awe inspiring Port-a-coop!

I am going to start keeping a list of topics to blog on. I will have a great idea, then when I am ready to blog, I can't remember what I wanted to blog about. So I am going to keep a list next to my computer. What would you like to see on here? I am open to suggestions.

Bugs and Beets

BUGS! I am bugged by bugs! We found squash bug eggs on the squash plants today, so spent a good amount of time getting those off the leaves, squashing the Squash bugs and spraying with Neem. I am hoping we caught it early enough. Frank's potatoes are being eaten by potato bugs. :-( Nasty things! We have been picking them off and putting them in a cup of soapy water.

I am praying for some good bugs!

We had a Praying Mantis one year that the kids found with a broken wing. We put it out in the garden and he lived all summer in there going from tomato plant to tomato plant. Praying Mantis is my favorite insect!

Co Potato Beetle

Squash bugs. 

Squash bug eggs.
Find the under the leave most of the time.

Some good news is, I brought in the best beet crop I have ever had tonight. Usually I grow them just for the greens (or these should be called purples.) but the beets themselves were small and fibrous. This year they are small but lovely. We have pretty hard soil, so I can be content with sweet little beets. I will blanch the greens and freeze them, and cook up the cute little beets. Yummy!

I have to tell you about the blue basket! I found it at a yard sale this past weekend for 2.00. I almost didn't get it, but I am SO glad I did. It is very handy for bringing in the produce, then it fits perfectly in the sink! My guests were laughing at me at my daughter's birthday party because I was so excited about my basket. (Yup, I am pretty easy to please!)

Well the server is not letting me upload any more pictures, so I will try to post the rest tomorrow.

It is not too late to join in the Blog Hop that I posted about in my last post. So join up.

Happy Gardening!

Homesteading, Survival, Homemaking, Back to Basics...Blog Hop

My wonderful husband found this great article and I have to share it with you! grow-an-organic-chicken-garden I learned a lot reading this and wish I had know about chickens loving soured milk a few days ago.
Since my yard is more weeds than grass it is very chicken friendly! I really don't need to plant them their own garden. (For one thing, they will be able to have free range in ours this fall!)

Our back yard has; dandelion, clover, violets, wild strawberries and Plantain. There is more but those are the main ones and the ones I know what they are. The chickens love these, not to mention the bugs they catch. They really are fun to watch when one gets hold of a bug and goes on a chase to keep her treasure from the others.

I want to try something new. Something fun! Over at Raising Homemakers they are having a homemaking link up. It inspired me to do one for anything homesteading, homemaking, Prepping or survival, old fashioned skills... you get the idea! I would love to find some more interesting blogs and link up with them.

I may be doing this all wrong and not even know it. But I can always remove this post in a week if it's a bust!

If you have a blog or a post that has something to do with any of these, use the linky below and be sure to link back to me so others can join!

Gardening, Chickens, & Strawberries

It was a beautiful day today and I spent a large part of it in the garden. I LOVE being in my garden even if I'm not being terribly productive in it. I also love volunteers. Volunteers, as in plants that reseeded and are coming up in odd places as little surprises for me. I have a tomato plant coming up in the middle of one my  lettuce patches, marigolds coming up everywhere, and bean plants that I have been digging up and replanting over by the fence. OH! and a left over potato!

Does it look like a rooster?

 We hopefully be able to tell who are roosters and who are hens soon! The pen is okay right now because they are not full size yet, but we need to thin the flock, the sooner the better.

Lettuce Mix!

 We had a thunderstorm soon after I planted my lettuce seeds and I was sure they were washed away, but thankfully they just washed together in a smaller space. So it is a little crowded, but I picked my first salad with some fresh picked strawberries today....YUM!

Mint my friend gave me last fall.

 My friend Michelle gave me a part of her mint last fall and said it will grow anywhere and will take over. So I planted it in a space between my driveway and my porch where I hope it does take over. I was sure it had died but it has popped up in three spots!

Yellow Jacket was snooping around.
 I hope it does not make a home in my strawberries!

 I hope this was not a queen looking for a place to build a nest. I wish now I had smashed it with a shovel. Frank and Thomas have been attacked by these mean things.

YUMMY!

Bug-A-Boo picking strawberries, and my sign post waiting for a name.

Okay! So my wonderful hubby built me this really cool post over my garden where I could paint it and put a name on it. I was thinking of Serenity, I really like that but it also makes me think of the show by the same name. I enjoyed the show but its not what I think of in my garden. Selah is over used. Peace is too... well, plain. I was weeding to day and thought of The Garden of Weeden! I was told that was really cheesy, but that is what I do most of all in there. I also found out that it is the name of a popular marijuana game. Yikes! I don't want to give the wrong impression of what I am growing.  I am thinking of finding a part of a Bible verse about gardens.
So what do you think I should name it?

All but one went up when it was time for bed.

We are having a major thunder, lightning and hail storm right now. I am praying for my garden and my cat Scallywag who didn't come in before the storm hit. I last saw him running in a panic through the neighbors yard, away from us and safety!
Till next time! Be safe and dry. :-)

Chicken Tractor and Garden

                                                         What a great time of year!

We are busy getting our gardens in and the chicken tractor, through many bumps and fixes is almost done. It's a good thing too because the chicks are getting big and need their home soon.

We painted the Port-a-coop this morning. It was supposed to rain after lunch so we hurried, but of course the skies are clear now. The kids and I did a pretty rough job but it turned out pretty good. We need a little more paint to finish and a small can of hunter green for the trim. Over all I am pretty pleased so far. It is looking good and is not going to be an eye sore. Being in a neighborhood you want something nice looking. I know I don't like looking at junk , and all my neighbors keep really nice yards.

The great news is, the chicks should be in their new home before weeks end! I should get a new picture of them to post. They are looking more chicken than chick like now. We are pretty sure that 2 are roosters because Frank saw them fighting rooster style the other day. We will have to find a home for 4 of them soon anyway. If Rachel was not so attached, I would just try my hand at butchering the roosters.... yeah, not going to happen.

On the left is part of Frank's Amaranth field. The green in the boxes are our strawberries. Yum!

The 3 boxes in the back are our compost piles. The thing being built will be a shed  at some point.
Fence is going up around the garden.

I have so much work to do in the garden and the weeds are already ahead of me, it is a little overwhelming, but at the same time I am looking forward to the garden this year. It is such hard work but at the same time refreshing and relaxing. If you love gardening, you probably understand what I am saying.

Cool looking isn't it! Waiting for paint and chicken wire.

Painting!

One can of paint gone! I will be painting the trim green. But first it is ready for the chicken wire !

This is what we used. We will have to get a small can to do some touch ups.

Yes, we all came in spotted. 

It will come off in the bath tub. It was worth it!

John is working on and making the changes we found we needed to make on the plans.  I have to get some pictures to him for that and they should be ready soon.

Since it is not raining I am going to go put some more seeds in the ground and enjoy this beautiful weather!

Chicks, Grubs and 4-H

Our Port-a-coop is coming along.

Chicks enjoying some sunshine and fresh air.

I love the look of concentration on her face!

Plants and seeds for the younger kids 4-H gardens.

I worked some in the garden today making rows and finding grubs which I sent with Nate, who happily ran them up to the chicks who ate them up. We have had to make a few changes in the port-a-coop plans, but it is coming along slowly but surely.

The chicks are getting their feathers.

Rachel needs to find a home for four of the chicks soon because they are getting too big to share that small of a space for much longer and the port-a-coop is only for about 4 hens but we are going to try to get away with 5.
Abby and I went to the extension office today for the Master Gardener's plant exchange and also picked up the plants for the younger three's gardens they are doing for a 4-H project this summer.

I also picked up this wonderful little booklet Keeping Garden Chickens in North Carolina. This is the opening paragraph:
Chickens can be a colorful, beautiful, entertaining 
addition to your garden, and a few hens in your 
backyard can supply all the eggs your family needs, 
along with litter (manure mixed with bedding) that 
can be used as a source of organic fertilizer. Your hens 
will supplement their diet with bugs and grubs, and 
they can turn your garden and kitchen waste into tasty 
eggs. No wonder you are interested in raising chickens!
Be sure to check out your local Cooperative Extension office for lots of help and information for gardening, livestock and landscaping for your area. Not to mention, wonderful programs like 4-H and Master Gardening classes!
The school year is almost done and I am as ready as the kids for a break! I am ready for the real life hands on stuff that is so much easier to do in the warm weather. Book work is fine when it is cold out.
I am off to bed now. Tomorrow is the last big day of homeschool programs including the homeschool chorus singing at the courthouse for The National Day of Prayer. Then Friday its back to work on coop and garden!

Chickens, Gardens & Weaving

Well, I was hoping to have more updated pictures of our port-a-coop but the weather has not been on our side. So since we were stuck inside I had the kids paint some pretty garden markers. I love practical art!

We did have a wonderful Easter weekend and I hope you did too. The weather could not have been nicer on Sunday and the 2 older kids and dad went and hid the eggs, then we all sat back and watched the younger 3 hunt them.

I did some work on my new loom and am enjoying this. I have always wanted to learn to weave. I think it is one of those skills from times past that should be kept alive. There is a satisfaction of making something with your own hands that you don't get when you buy it. What am I making here? A practice piece that my 7 yr old has asked to have for her baby dolls. So I guess it will be a doll blanket!

Scallywag our cat "helping" me weave.

We got a little done in the garden. I am hoping that the seeds did not wash away! I am thankful that the winds did not blow away our almost done chicken tractor.

The chicks are getting bigger and starting to get their feathers and got moved to a big cage to await their new home to get done. I will try to get updated pictures of them up soon.

Our Backyard Homestead

Spring is here! Time to plant the garden, chicks are hatching in my daughter's incubator and we are building a chicken tractor! I love spring!

So you might be asking, what pray tell is a chicken tractor?

Are pictures of a chicken driving a John Deer going through your head?

Chicken tractors, other wise known as port-a-coops are small movable chicken coops that you can move around your yard so the chickens can eat all those healthy bugs and weeds while giving back to the ground wonderful fertilizer!

We live in a subdivision so we are limited in what we can have. No milk goats, cows, ducks are too loud and messy... so we are going to have four or 5 hens (no rooster!). We will have eggs enough for our family, fertilizer for the yard and garden, and they will keep the bugs and weeds down. What more could you ask for?

I will post pictures when it is built and we will have plans for it for purchase so you too can have some beautiful hens in your backyard!