In the backyard

I decided that since the day went from rainy and cold, to pretty and cool, that when I went out to do my evening animal chores, i would take the digital camera out with me, and try to snap a few shots. It really was a beautiful fall evening.

I will tell you, trying to get pictures of my dogs, is next to impossible. They will sit still for a fraction of a second.

I noticed in the picture I snapped of Betty as I was looking over these pictures, that Jasper is sitting outside directly behind her almost looking up...Its almost the perfect shot. Kind of cracked me up.

I hope you enjoy my random farm photos that I decided I needed to take, hope you all enjoy!!!

How the Chicks do grow

Its hard to believe, but on Friday these guys will be 2 weeks old already!!! I'm not exactly sure where the time goes, but it does. I took these pics this morning while they were in the holding cage we use when we are cleaning out their big house. This is much better than the totes we used to put them in. They don't get too hot in this, plus they are easier to get in and out, and we don't have to deal with the whole lid thing.

Since they are all feathering out so well and quickly, we went ahead and took the brooder heater out of their. We figure they will be alright since its warm here in the house anyways.  As you all can see by the pictures we have quite the variety in there. its always fun to watch and see how they turn out from start to finish.

The Sadness of Farming

Yesterday was a very sad day here at my little farm. One of my rabbits had an untimely and unfortunate death. Hudsen, my Black Silver Fox buck, who just hit maturity, and was old enough to breed, got out of his cage again while Frank and I were out taking care of some things in town. He would have been safe in the kennel that the Rabbit cages are in, except it appeared he had tried to dig out, and unfortunately the dogs got him.  I am not ashamed to admit that my heart broke into a million little pieces and I cried for about an hour. He was my most lovable rabbit, and I will miss him a lot. I know that they aren't supposed to be pets, but farm animals. I do however want them to be cared for, and feel loved while they are here serving our purposes.

Growing Celery Update

Good Morning everybody!!!! I'm not sure if you all remembered that I've been trying to grow celery from a cut celery stalk, Well, this was my take two, and as you can see, I'm doing quite well with this!!! This truly has turned into quite a beautiful plant, which I enjoy looking at in my kitchen window on a daily basis. So far, its the only plant I've not killed in a long time!!!! I am however wondering when the stalks will start getting bigger, but I'm sure that will come eventually.

Skunked!!!!!

Sometimes, having dogs is a lot more of an adventure than I would like. Living in the country with dogs is also sometimes more of an adventure than I would like.  At 4:30 This morning, while Bella and I were warm and cozy in bed, this smell invaded the house....the smell of skunk...my first thought was please let that skunk stink be because one got hit in the road, and not because Sam and Jasper thought it would be great fun to give chase....so, I tip toe to the kitchen window, just praying I would see the boys sleeping on their favorite spot...nope, I see Jasper rubbing his face in the gravel driveway, and Sam rolling in the mud. Once I was certain that it was them, I got dressed, got in the truck, and drove to Walmart, before the Sun was up.

There is this recipe that Frank has from Hints from Heloise. We practically know this recipe by heart at this point. It really does work. I even mix up some just to soak their collars in to help get rid of the stink.  This is a recipe that I gladly share with you all, because its worth sharing!!!!

1 quart of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide
1/4 to 1/2 cup baking soda
1 tsp of mild dish detergent (liquid) (Dawn dish soap works best)

Mix this well in a big bucket, and then rub into your pets fur as if its a shampoo, and avoid the eyes and ears, and then rinse well, and repeat as many times as need be. Luckily this time they didn't get sprayed as bad as they have been in the past, so I only really had to do it once each.

Here a chick, there a chick

Well, the hatch is over!!! 34 chicks, all tiny, fluffy, and loud!!!! We have quite the variety of them here in the house under brooder heater. Looking at them, you can tell we hatched out quite a variety of them. This spring once we get everybody situated, we plan on separating the breeds a bit, so that we can hatch out a few of just certain breeds. The main ones we want to try to hatch out are the Easter Egg chicks.

Sorry it took me so long to get these up, but this weekend has been absolutely insane!!!! The hatching was easy, it was more all of the socializing we did. We don't do that too often, but when we do, its always with the friends closest to us.

Anyways, hope you all had a fantastic weekend, and I'll try to get back with you all very soon with a new recipe or something.

The Eggs Have Pipped!!!

So, I'm not sure if I told you all or not, but we put eggs in the incubator 20 days ago, and today, they have pipped!!! I can hear them in there peeping. I'm pretty excited, because I cannot wait to see how many hatch, and how they look. They are all pretty much so mutt chicks at this point, but they make some of the most fun looking chickens in the end!!! I'm hoping to get some pics for you guys once they start getting hatched out!!!! 

Playing with Fabric

I went to a couple of different Fabric Shops yesterday, and picked up some really cute fabric. Some of it was bought for the Mystery Quilt along, that I'm going to on Halloween, the other, the fabric with the Chickens is for me for fun...I pulled out all of my fat quarter squares, and laid them all out to see what stood out to me as the cutest. I have thinned my selections down, and am planning a throw for the back of my couch with them...obviously I fell in love with that chicken fabric...who wouldn't????

Once I get moving with my quilting again, I'll share lots of pictures!!!!!

apple peel jelly made with green apples

http://reallittlefarm.blogspot.com/2014/09/canned-applesauce-and-apple-peel-jelly.html

Hey, so the other day I had made some Apple Peel Jelly out of red apple peels, and they turned out to be a really pretty pink color, (Link to that post above) So Frank and I made some other apple stuff out of green apples, and of course I had to make some more apple peel jelly, especially out of this, because I just couldn't wait to see what color it turned out to be!!!! So, as you can see, its a really pretty golden color!!!!

Home Made Laundry Soap

So, as we all know, I love to try stuff I find on Facebook. This laundry soap is supposed to make 120 loads a batch, and double that if you have an HE washing machine.  Each batch only costs $2.00-$300 to make. That's a lot of laundry for a fraction of the price!!!

This was surprisingly easy to make. And of course as I always do, I followed my own directions. I'm going to give the directions to you as I followed them, with my own added in. I'm not going to take credit for this recipe, but I will tell you that there are 100 or more blog posts and websites with this exact same recipe.  So, that being said, I'm going to continue on to the directions. I'm going to put the price I paid for each ingredient. And just so you know, I found everything I needed in the laundry isle in Walmart, and let me say I was very surprised to walk down that isle and find everything there together. My guess is somebody in marketing knew that this recipe was getting popular.

ING:

1 Bar Fels Naptha Soap- Grated (.97 cents a bar)
1 Cup Arm and Hammer washing Soda ($3.97 a box, each box makes 6-8 batches)
1 Cup 20 Mule Team Borax ($3.97 a box, makes 6-8 batches)
3 cups water
2 clean quart canning jars w/lids (I decided to use the ball reusable plastic lids, so that I wasn't wasting my canning lids)

1) Place all ingredients together in a sauce pan, and simmer until dissolved. Be careful not to let it boil over.

2) Evenly divide soap between the two quart jars.

3)  top off with water and stir to combine (make sure jars are filled to just under the lid)

4) Let set up for 24 hours, it will separate into two layers; a thick white substance and yellow liquid. (I did not let mine sit for 24 hours, I let it sit until the jar and liquid in it was cool to the touch, so mine sat for about 5-6 hours)(I'm just that impatient)

5) Use a butter knife to cut through the white layer, and pour into a blender or food processor.

6) Blend one Jar at a time until smooth like mayo

7) Rinse out canning jars, before pouring soap back into them. there may be some borax crystals in the bottom. Then scrape the detergent back into the canning jar.

8) store in laundry room. Use 1 tbsp for regular load and 1/2 tbsp for HE.

Yes, there does appear to be a lot of instructions, but if you notice, its really not that hard, and it pretty much so breaks it down step by step. Now, I will admit, I bought a lot more supplies than I needed, but I won't have to buy supplies for more than a year, which is awesome!!!

If you all make this, or have made this let me know down below in the comments. I would love to see how you like or liked this soap. I'm thinking looking at the ingredients, my whites my just end up a bit more white.

Nature Walk

On Sunday, we went to Frank's parents house. While we were there, I went with the kids on a Nature walk of sorts. The kids had a great time (my Niece and Nephew). They were all about Acorns, and other random nut shells, and such that they were finding.  Life here in the Shenandoah Valley can be very beautiful in the fall. The leaves are still working on turning as you can see by all of the green we still have around.

As you can tell by some of the big scenic views, we live in the Shenandoah Valley, which is Surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains. (Home of the Shenandoah River)

Hopefully I'll get more pictures taken as Fall progresses here in the Valley.