Chatter Boxes

Just a quick update on the chickens...

We are currently averaging one egg a day. There have been a couple two egg days but not consistently.

The girls are all healthy and active.  They love getting kitchen scraps almost every morning but they seem to tire of apple scraps (I guess chickens can get tired of a good thing too.  Just our luck that we get chickens with picky palates.)

They have been able to venture out of the coop with close supervision (and only when the dogs are indoors).  They love it.  And I mean love!  They nearly plowed me over trying to get out the coop door this morning during my morning egg hunt.

They hunt for grasshoppers mostly.   And when one of them gets one it turns into a chicken game of keep away.  My grasshopper...no my grasshopper.  It's very entertaining but I think our idea of entertainment might have diminished in recent months.   We probably need to get out more.

Here are a few recent pictures.

The day has finally come.  We've nourished and cared for our flock through the long hot summer and this morning we found this in the chicken coop.


Our first egg!!!  It's not as pink in real life as it is in this picture (although that would be awesome!).

I'm surprised by how giddy I am about it but I suppose when they grow from this...

I'm sitting in a small office in a small town in Kansas, waiting for some lovely Amish girls to finish processing our chickens.

We started with 14 Cornish chicks and ended up with 10 chickens for the freezer.  A few succumbed to illness and one lost a battle with a local wild hawk (but he was tasty in our enchiladas).

We've been working on improvements to our coop over the last few weeks so our chicken adventure can continue with minimal harm to the chickens that remain.

Learning to Roost

That's better!

The egg layers are still in a crate but they've moved out to the barn instead of living in our dining room.

These will grow much slower but in a few months we'll have lots of yummy eggs.

We did it again.  Six more chickens have joined our flock.  Three Rhode Island Reds and three Barred Plymouth Rocks.

For those interested...

We're now down to 12 chickens.  One of them came down with a respiratory infection and after a week of antibiotics, tlc, and isolation from the rest of the flock he/she/it decided it's life on earth was done.  We decided it was for the best.  As I told John, an old bathtub is no place to grow up.  We've been told this breed may not be all that hardy.  They're not meant to live long so being tough may not be a strong trait.

The rest though, are growing like crazy.  They love being outside but not as much as they love laying around and eating.  I guess that's what they're supposed to do.




I think our experiment is working in that we've decided we might be chicken people.  We're looking for the right breed for our climate and lifestyle but egg laying chickens may be in our near future.  Stay tuned.

It's around 70 degrees.  The sky is clear.  We're listening to The Royals 'game on the radio.  All the boys are fishing and I'm in a reclining lawn chair playing Candy Crush.  Life is good!

Just a quick update on the chickens for those interested in such things. 

It's been just over a week since we started this new adventure and we're down one chicken.  We're not sure why.  There was one little chick that was smaller than the rest and during a late night check on Friday I found him laying near the edge of the tub.  It was sad but I suppose these things happen.  If we're going to do this, then things like this are part of the deal.  All the others seem fine and they're growing like crazy.  Every time I check on them I swear they're bigger.


They were getting a little restless in the tub we had them in originally so we decided we'd let them explore their outdoor coop a little on Saturday.

FREEDOM!!!

They seem to enjoy having more room, although they do still all huddle together closely.  We let them outside during the day and then bring them in at night to protect them from the cold and other animals.

And this has been another edition of Life In the Country...join us next time when we discuss using miscellaneous items found in a barn as home decor. 

Just a few things to keep this corner of the interwebs up to date...

1.  I was scrolling through pictures on my camera and realized I never posted this picture.
 

It's part of an ongoing study in child development.  Specifically my oldest child and his propensity to grow, and therefore eat, at an alarming rate.  It's a longitudinal study that began in February 2010 when Seth was 3 years old.  I took a picture of Seth snacking on chips and salsa during the Superbowl.  The next year I took another one then another one and so on.  Same kid...Same TV tray.




2.  That same kid was recently honored at his school with a Character Key Award.  Each week the school highlights one of the character traits recited in the character pledge.  The week before Spring Break Seth received the Perseverance Award.  We were there for the award assembly to help him celebrate.

Receiving his award from the Principal

3.  I had a birthday last week and my loving husband got me exactly what I asked for.  I have recently taken up the guitar.  I'm self-teaching at this point but am having such a great time learning something new.  I've been practicing on John's guitar and I love it.  It has such a beautiful rich tone.  So instead of asking him to buy me a guitar for my birthday, I asked him to buy himself a new one so that we could play together.  He had to check with a few friends to make sure that what he heard me saying was in fact what I said.  It was.  So...John bought a used 12-string guitar for himself and now we're completely dorky and most evenings can be found playing classic country songs together in our living room.

4.  Here's a quick chicken update.  All is well.  I continue to check on them every few hours during the day.  They seem irritated by my constant attention at this point but listen here chickens...I'm the one that feeds you, cleans up after you (and you are DIRTY) and gives you water so I'll check on you when I please.



I think they look way bigger than they did just about a week ago.  They say you'll see the most growth in the first two weeks so it makes sense.  So far so good.  They seem happy in their small little corner of the barn.

I think that's it as far as updates.

We're embarking on a new country living adventure...CHICKENS!! 

We decided to dip our toes in the homesteading pool a bit deeper this year.  We've had a fairly substantial garden over the last few years.  I've become more vigilant about the quality of the food we eat.  We have several fruit trees (some more successful than others) and I've learned to can some of our garden veggies. Quality, local meat has been a bit more difficult (and more expensive) to come by. 

So we decided to try our hand at raising chickens (for meat, not for eggs...yet).  We are now the proud owners of 14 Cornish chicks. 


Yes...they are very cute.  And yes...we really are going to eat them.  These types of chickens are bred for their meat.  They grow quickly and won't lay eggs.  I feel good about what we are doing.  Some may think it's weird or even mean.  But, we feel good about it.  These chickens will live a very happy life with us.  We will take good care of them, feed them well, and meet their needs.  Seriously...I have my own stool out by their tub and I'm out there at least every couple of hours making sure they're warm enough and safe.  It's become my new hobby. 

When this adventure is over (roughly 7 weeks from now) we'll know if we are up for the challenge of having chickens for the long haul (for eggs mostly).  We're crossing our fingers that all goes well.

We've had an unusually cool summer which means our garden is bursting at the seams with cucumbers, tomatoes, and herbs.  With an onslaught of 20-30 cucumbers we needed a plan. 

What else...PICKLES!! 

So the boys and I collected our tools and received our job assignments.  Colin was in charge of cucumber procurement.  Mommy marked a line from the tip of his finger to the cuff of his shirt so he would know what size to look for.  Seth was in charge of the pickling pot.  He mixed ingredients and stirred...and stirred...and stirred.  Mommy was in the middle, slicing and packing jars. 

We now have 6 quarts of bread and butter pickles!  Yummy! 


Side Note:  John and I were talking about how blog posts like these make people who check in on the blog every now and then think this is how it is all the time.  Flawless domesticity!  Perfect children, beautiful crops, and family time spent on things like canning pickles.  The truth is this was the only thing I could think of to keep the boys from fighting which they had done all morning.  Colin wanted to pretend to be gorillas and Seth wanted to play imaginary baseball and neither side was willing to compromise (even after mommy suggested gorilla baseball).  Violence soon followed, more than once, and escalated quickly.  So really this session of pickle making was my version of a peace summit.  For the 45 minutes it took to finish it was calm and cheerful.

It has been a sweltering summer.  Temps well over 100 most days with no significant rain for months.  But we had some relief earlier this week with a cool cloudy day.  We spent most of the day outside trying to revive wilted shriveled plants.  The boys picked some apples (with permission...that's the rule!) and rode their bikes.

I found a toy wheel barrel at a thrift store and just knew the boys would put it to good use. Today they used it to collect the apples that have fallen off our tree. Pardon the play clothes - it was Colin's 5th outfit of the day and I lost motivation to match. And I don't know why Seth insists on sticking his tongue out whenever I ask him to smile for the camera.

It’s been awhile since I’m written a “Life in the Country” post. When I first moved out to this wide open space, there were so many new things to experience and I tried to document them here.

I’m still experiencing new things but haven’t been as diligent about putting them into words. So here’s the first of three “Life in the Country” updates.

It’s been almost a year ago since this particular event but I’ll never forget it. It was my day off and I had spent most of the morning in the basement refinishing some furniture. I had worked straight through lunch and finally stopped sanding and staining around 2:00. I settled down in the living room with my soup and sandwich for a little break.

Just as I sat down, I caught a glimpse of a large figure running through our backyard. It’s not alarming to have dogs or rabbits or a squirrel scampering through the yard, but what I saw was definitely bigger than a dog. I got up to check.

I walked through the patio doors to see four horses munching on grass in our backyard. There aren’t any wild horses out here so it was obvious that these particular horses had escaped from wherever they belong.

I didn’t know what to do. I thought I could leave them and maybe they would just wander onto the next yummy yard or get homesick. Our horse, who was locked up safe and sound in our field, was getting agitated (probably jealous), which made the four escapees jumpy and agitated too.

One of our neighbors has four horses who have run away from home before, so I figured that’s where they came from. I knew the neighbors weren’t home during the day, and I was worried the horses would wander off even farther away from home. I took a deep breath and told myself, “It’s up to you. You have to do this!”

I went into our barn (yes my dear college friends I have a barn), for what - I didn’t know. I just figured I couldn’t use my persuasive personality to get them home. I had to use some horse accessory or country-living tool and what better place to find that than in a barn.
I found a rope looped up on a hook and grabbed it. I walked into the yard with my rope and just started laughing. Who did I think I was? What in the world was I going to do with this rope? What about my life experience up to this point gives me any idea what to do with a horse and a rope? Did I think I would suddenly garner the ability to lasso, and if I did – then what? Any one of those horses could have dragged me to Michigan if they wanted to.

I reassessed the situation and returned to the barn. In a moment of inspiration I had it. I grabbed a rusty old coffee can and dipped it into the bucket of sweet feed (that’s horse food for those of you like me who are “country clueless”).

I walked out of the barn shaking my coffee can to entice those four massive beasts to me. It worked. They suddenly were willing to see things my way.

I was able to coax three of them through the yard, up our drive, down the dirt road, down the neighbor’s drive and into their own backyard. The fourth horse was the most stubborn and powerful and remained in our front field. I couldn’t worry about him at the moment though. I was too busy sweet talkin’ these three.

I had seen John’s mom scare a cow back into a field once by waving her arms up and down like a big bird and squealing like a pig. I tried it and turns out it works on horses too. I got all three horses corralled and locked up.

The fourth one decided he didn’t want to roam the countryside all alone so he came home on his own. I opened the gate and let him join his friends.

And then I took a deep breath. I was filthy, scared, hungry, and gosh darn proud of myself (you have to say “gosh darn” when you’ve accomplished a country-living feat of this magnitude).

And then I called John to have him guess how I spent my afternoon. He didn’t guess but when I told him, he was gosh darn proud of me too.

Next up on "Life in the Country" - The Possum Trap

Wildlife was an aspect of country living that I anticipated. I figured there would be face to face encounters with some furry friends...maybe a snake or two.

We (and once again, by "we" I mean John) trapped a good-sized snake in the garage and transplanted him to a cornfield nearby - after giving him three chances to slither on on his own. We have some sort of noisemaker that is supposed to deter mice from setting up permanent residence in our house.

I fear the day I meet this guy. I've been on board with this country livin' idea but that may all change when faced with those evil eyes and sharp little teeth. I've never touched a firearm in my life but, if handy, I'd pull the trigger without hesitation.



One of my favorite things about living here so far? The frogs. They're everywhere. They cling to our windows at night, scurrying up and down the glass catching bugs that hover near our porch lights.



(For the sake of keeping things real...I would like everyone to notice the background in the picture above. This picture was taken the same night I took pictures of our finished house. Remember the "golden" pictures? Anyway, in the reflection you can see the dining room/kitchen. That white blob in the picture is a bag of trash...just sitting in the kitchen. I am a domestic goddess!)

Now back to the frogs.

They pop out of the flowerpots - making me and the dogs jump with surprise.



They camp out on our front porch rocking chairs (yes, we have front porch rocking chairs...how else do you sit and watch the world go by?)



It's like the plague only cuter.

So, I kinda skipped over this very monumental moment so it seems rather anticlimactic to tell you that we've moved into the lodge. We really weren't supposed to be there until we received the "temporary permit to occupy", which we got in the mail yesterday.

So...WE LIVE HERE NOW! I can't say we're really "moved in" because right now we live amid boxes, piles, tools, and such. But it's ours, we're here, and boy are we glad.

As you know, living in the country is new for me. There are some things to get used to. Yesterday, we took a walk after dinner and were accompanied by our two dogs and the neighbor's two dogs. Shortly into our walk we ran into the neighbor donkey. He's very cute and little. I didn't have my camera but I'll get a picture soon. He was romping around the field with his goat friend. I could tell they really wanted to join us on our walk but as it turns out...all our companion slots were full. Maybe next time.

Two nights ago, I was doing the dishes. Our kitchen sink faces the front drive (John says I can't call it a "driveway" anymore). There were two women at the end of the drive, facing our house, deep in conversation...probably talking about the people who had taken so long in building this house! That may not seem strange to you, and it isn't really, except that they were on horseback.

Later that evening John called to tell me to go outside and look at the sky. This is what I saw.







A hot air balloon flew (do they fly or float?) right over our house and landed in the field just behind ours. It was much closer than these pictures show. No time to grab the good camera.

Life at the lodge is fun so far. Some days I feel like Carol Ingalls (cooking beef stew while tending to my garden) and other days like Bob Villa (staining doors and trim and sorting lumber).

We're both taking off work the last week of April for our own version of "that home makeover show". We figure if the tv show can build a house in a week. We ought to be able to finish one. I'll keep you posted, hopefully with pictures.