Better Slow my Roll

We went to Tractor Supply to pick up some food for the big chickens, and we got to looking at the new chicken houses that they have in there. Naturally I got really excited about them, because they are just so fun and perfect looking.  All of a sudden I could imagine adding another chicken to our breeding list. *sigh* Right now we are planning on breeding for Sex Links, Rhode Island Reds, and French Black Copper Marans, I just don't think we need to add Easter Eggers to the list just yet. (although the EE are quite popular considering they don't lay the best)

I do have plans to have different houses with different breeds set up. I have dreams of having my very own little hatchery that people want to come and visit so that they can take home those little chicks to raise up and enjoy. I love the thought of literally surviving off of what we could make off of a farm, we would never be rich, but at the same time, we would never be hungry. I just need to remember that we will fund everything with what we make from the different breeds. We just have to remember a little bit at a time. I like the thought even more that its something my hubby and I can do together. (That's my favorite part)

The first thing that needs to happen is, all of this crazy snow needs to stop!!! Its looking like we have a big snow storm coming, and that I'm not looking forward to. I'm hoping that it will wear itself out before it gets here.

So, how about a little feedback on how you like my blog...is there anything you would like to see, any recipe's your interested in, or even crochet patterns...
feel free to email me!!!
crochetbrandi@gmail.com

Chocolate Eclair Crumble Desert

 



Oh what could be better than an éclair? Lots of things possibly, but when you want the goodness of one of those, in a bowl, this is the way to go. The best part about this is how fast it works up, and it requires no baking, and serves about 8 people I guess its one of those cheater deserts where you just crumble up stuff and layer things.  This is actually a retake on a recipe that my mother in law makes, I just kind of changed it around a bit, cheated you could say.

2 packs of graham crackers, crumbled up
2- 1.34 oz. box of vanilla pudding mix
1- 8 oz container of whip cream
1/2 of a 16 oz container of creamy fudge frosting

Prepare the pudding mix as directed on the box, and then while its still runny like, add the cream, mix it in well. (I mixed it in with a blender)

Then put the frosting in the microwave for about a minute.

Once that goes off, layer it graham cracker crumbles, pudding, and drizzle the melted frosting, do another layer of the crumbles, the pudding, and drizzle more melted frosting, repeat that one more time, and then put the rest of the pudding on top and drizzle the last of the frosting on top of the pudding. Put in the fridge and let it chill.  It sets up pretty fast.

Now since my hubby is diabetic, I used the no sugar added, and low fast stuff. It tastes just as good, but you can use any that you like.

ENJOY!!!

Chicken Math

Its been a busy few days, but thankfully things are slowing back down to normal again...or as normal as it can in our crazy house. As you can see by the top picture, we got some chicken stock made from our weekend butcher. The chicken pieces that are on the bottom of the jars, is what cooked off of the bones. We wasted as little as possible. We had some that didn't quite fill a jar full, so I used that this evening when I made dinner, and it was great.

As you can see by the next picture, we have more chicks than what we hatched out last week. (we hatched out 15, and I gave away 3, which left me with 12...and there are 30 in the chicken nursery now) (So we made a trip to Tractor Supply today...we bought 18 chicks, 3 different breeds, 6 of each, and its a straight run, so we don't know who's a boy and who's a girl) (but that's chicken math..lol)

Sam and Jasper were pretty tired last night after helping us make cut up the chickens yesterday, and then making the chicken stock. As you can tell, the boys are some great helpers. I love when they lay like that, they make me think of Ying and Yang. Its great to be able to see the difference in their colors, and their fur types.

Now, I couldn't remember if I shared the chicken that fell off of the chicken truck with you guys or not, so I thought I would share the picture just in case. This little guy is doing great. I was hoping to be able to let him out with the big chickens soon, but it looks like that Polar Vortex is making a comeback, and I would rather keep him/her safe and warm in the coop that's near the heater.  I don't think he/she can get up on the roost, so I don't really think he/she will be able to snuggle up with another bird anyways. I've got to admit, I'm really tempted to bring him/her in the house where its warmer, but in all honesty, the little fellow probably has it better in that coop than it did when it was on the factory chicken farm.

Yes, the Polar Vortex is coming back....I am so not looking forward to more cold weather. It was so nice over the weekend...It was in the mid to upper 60's all weekend, and NOW its calling for more cold weather, and snow...more snow...blah...I'm going to be so happy when spring finally gets around to getting here.

Another Day on the Farm



We've had quite the day on the farm today. We did our first chicken cull, and are now down to 2 roosters. My hubby and his long time friend Aaron, did the culling. They did 5 roosters, and 1 hen. We had to take care of our hen that was an egg eater, and could not seem to be discouraged.

We've done a bit of what's known as chicken math, Yesterday (Friday) I gave away 3 chicks, and 1 rooster to a good home. Then today Aaron brought me a chicken that fell off of a chicken truck. I put that one in a coop for the time being to make sure that its not sick, and to get everybody used to it. And then we culled the 6 chickens today...so we were down, up and down, and are possibly going to go back up again.

I had to make the boys come in today for a bit, so as you can see, Sam is enjoying a blanket and the television. He seems to like the commercials better than anything else. He truly is a funny little man.

The next two pictures are of the chicks I hatched out. I love the little yellow and brown striped chicken. That little chick, has feathers going down her legs. She is a Dark Brahma/Rhode Island Red cross. I cant wait to see how this little chick turns out.

The last picture, is a pic of  just how awesome fresh eggs look. As you can sort of see by my "great" picture taking skills how it fills up the little fingering cup, and then how the yolk stands up instead of laying flat like the store bought eggs are. You can also see the rich shiny, yellow of the yolk. Its not as washed out as store bought eggs are. Truly there is a great difference in flavor.

Oh, it got up to 65 today!!! It was completely awesome!!!! It gave me hope that spring really is on the way...I'm hoping that we don't get the wintry mix that they are calling for next week.

So, I hope you guys are having a great weekend!!!!

Still more hatching

As you can see, hatching wears everybody out. There are still several eggs in the incubator, but only one of them has a pip in it. Its looking like the Marans eggs have done just about all they are going to do.10 of them have hatched out, and 5 of the mutt eggs have hatched. Its a mutt egg that has got a pip in it now. Although, the Marans can take up to a full 24 days to hatch out, so there's no telling if they are really done or not at this point.

Its going to be another beautiful day here, so that means more melting snow, and more mud. I don't mind the mud, I just have to be careful not to slip and bust my hind end.

I'm hoping that my Rhode Island Red pullets start laying, like soon...like really soon. We are culling 10 chickens this weekend, and 5 of them are our first egg layers, who are barely giving us anything. They did quite well over the winter, but I think doing the supplemental lighting may have wore out there egg laying abilities a bit. That's ok though, more food for the freezer.

Still Hatching out on Weds

Well, this is day 3 of the hatchings, and technically today is the official hatch out date. They just started a wee bit early. I have to say though, that even though this isn't the biggest hatch we've ever worked on, it does seem to be the most spread out hatching we've done. Now I do have 3 eggs in there that aren't due to start hatching out tomorrow, so I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to start hatching out today. I'm up to 9 chicks today. I do have one that's working on hatching out at the moment.

When we do hatchings, I wake up really easily. I actually herd a chick in the incubator hollering that she was free. (I don't know that its a she, but I decided to refer to them as she until I know what they are)

Its raining here today, which I'm not complaining about one bit. Its raining and going to get close to 60, so that means if I'm lucky, all of this darn snow will be gone by the end of the day....oh I'm looking forward to seeing grass again....lots and lots of grass. Of course this means that its going to be muddy, but that's ok

morning chick chirps

Last night at 7:58 PM,  the first of our chicks hatched out. It was one of the French Black Copper Marans, and this morning she (I'm just going to refer to them all as she until I can tell the difference) is all fluffed up nicely, and is quite adorable. She was all over the place in that crate, and I think the poor little thing is lonely...but don't be sad, as of right now there are 4 more eggs pipped, and ready to emerge. Three of them are the FBCM and the other is one of the eggs from our back yard. Those are basically mutts...

I couldn't resist snapping and sharing that last shot of Sam with you guys, as you can see he doesn't seem to care about all the little chirps happening in here. As long as it doesn't interfere with his comfort and tv watching, Sam is just going to keep doing Sam things. Pardon the fact that I need to vacuum. That's a daily kind of thing that needs to happen here.

I'll update you guys later on once more hatches happen.

OH its supposed to get up to 50 today, so I'm in high hopes that, all of that snow outside melts off!!!

Textured Crochet scrubby

 



I love little scrubbies, they are always the perfect size for getting inside of glasses and bowls, and since they are crochet, they always seem to make everything seem shinier after you've washed something with them. This pattern is perfect for using up the last bit of cotton yarn from the skein.


Materials
worsted weight cotton yarn
H hook

Row 1)  Ch 12, sc in sec ch from hook, and in each ch across. 11 sc

Row 2)  Ch 2 turn, Dc in first sc * sc in next sc, dc in next sc* repeat across

Row 3)  Ch 1 turn, Sc in first dc *dc in next sc, sc in next dc* repeat across

Row 4)  Repeat row 2

Row 5) Repeat row 3

Row 6) Repeat row 2

Row 7)  Repeat row 3

Row 8) Repeat row 2

Row 9)  Repeat row 3

Row 10)  Repeat row 2

Edging Ch 1, turn, sc evenly around, and sc, ch 1, sc in each corner.  Join w/ sl st to beg ch 1. finish off

Quick and Easy Chicken Casserole

 

There is nothing better than a nice fresh out of the oven casserole, especially on a cold winters day. Of course, there is also nothing better than one that comes together really quick, on a super busy day, when there is tons of stuff to get done. (of course, as you all know by this point I love making casseroles.)

 

 

For this you will need

 

2 cups chick broth

2 cups water

2 cups uncooked rice

2-10.5 oz. cans cream of mushroom soup

2-14.5 oz. cans green beans (drained)

2-12.5 oz. cans chunked chicken breast shredded

1-8 oz. block of sharp cheddar cheese-shredded

 

1. Bring water and chicken broth to a boil, and then add the uncooked rice. cook until done.

 

2. While rice is cooking, in a large bowl, mix the soup, green beans, and chicken breast together. Once the rice is done, mix that in as well.

 

3. Pour mixture into a large baking dish, and then cover the top with the shredded cheese.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 min or until the cheese is golden bubbly brown.

 

This will make enough for leftovers for the next days lunch!!!!

 



Quick Oatmeal Bar Recipe

 

 

 

I have a yummy treat for you all!!!! My dear husband likes to have snack bars for his lunch at work. Well If you look at the ingredients, and the price of buying the pre made pre packaged snack bars in the store, its almost like...whoa...wait a min, I can make a healthier version of that at home for half the price...so I put my mind to it, and came up with these yummy yummy bars for you guys to enjoy...oh and the best part is, they don't really take that long to make!!!

 

Now, I made 3 different versions of the same bar, using some dehydrated fruit that my darling husband made, and filled many, many bags full of and stuffed in the freezer.  So with just a basic recipe, and some freeze dried fruit, you can make any flavor you like.

Basic recipe

 

1 stick unsalted butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

 

First cream together the butter and sugars, then mix in eggs and vanilla. After that stir in the remaining ingredients. 

 

Once you get everything mixed together take your favorite dehydrated fruit (You probably could use fresh, and it will be good, but it wont keep as long)  tear the fruit up into small pieces and mix in.

 

Then spread the batter in the bottom of a greased and floured 8 inch square pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 min. I did the full 25 min for mine.

 

Once its cooled, take a butter knife and run it along the edges of the pan, and turn over onto a cooling rack. Once its cool to the touch, cut it in half long ways, and then cut each half into 5 bars.

 

For the 3 different flavors I used strawberries, apples and cinnamon, and peaches. Even though I used the same recipe for each one minus the difference in the fruit, the fruit gave each one its own flavor, and gave it that good chewy texture that you would expect from a snack bar.

 

As you can see from the bottom picture, Sam thought they smelled so good, he decided to hang out and hope for dropsies...and no the poor little guy didn't get a single crumb.

 

Saturday chatter

This was the view from my chicken run yesterday. We really got a good amount of snow dumped on us on Weds and Thurs. Its actually snowing right now, but I don't think its going to add much more at this point. This seems to be more of a wet snow coming down, and its in the 30's out there at the moment. Next week however, there are going to be a few days when its in the 60's!!! Hooray!!! I don't plan on breaking out the shorts and flip flops just yet though...even though I would love to...as would most people here in Virginia.

Sunday(tomorrow) my incubator goes into lockdown. That means I'm only a few days away from seeing those cute little fuzzy butts. I'll candle them all though as I'm taking them out of the turner to lay them on their sides to get ready for hatching. There is one egg in particular that I haven't been overly sure about. Its one from my own chickens. There does appear to be a baby growing in it, but the shell just looks off to me. Its probably just because its a thin looking shell, and because I haven't hatched out any of that chickens eggs before. I'm kind of excited to see how that chick is going to turn out if he/she does hatch out. That one is going to be a buff rock/rhode island red mix. The other one that I'm interested to see how he/she turns out, is a dark brahma/rhode island red mix. So far all of the chicks that we've hatched out that have been "barnyard mix" have been really pretty. Sinatra (my RIR) seems to have some great genetics going on for him.  This summer however, we will be hatching out some chicks that are pure RIR, and then what we are hoping will turn out to be sex links. We are breeding him with some White Leghorns, hoping for Red Stars. If you know anything about chicken breeds you know what I'm talking about. Red Sex Links, also known as red stars, or golden comets depending on the mix, are some of THE BEST egg layers. Once they start, they don't seem to stop until they hit a certain age, or until they molt, and even then they still lay through the molt, just not as much. We have 2 sex link chickens, we have a Red Sex Link, and a Black Sex Link. Our black sex link is indeed a very good layer, but not as good as our Red Sex Link.

Now just so you know, if you don't know already, you get a sex link by breeding certain types of chickens together, and when they hatch out, you can actually tell if they are male or female. With a whole lot of research, my hubby picked out the white leghorns that we have (through Ideal hatchery, which is a great place to mail order chickens). We have talked to other people who raise chickens, and have bred their own sex links, and are pretty satisfied that we will more than likely achieve our goal of breeding our own. We plan on doing a constant hatching, and will be getting a second incubator in the very near future. Our plan is to keep rotating eggs in, and then putting them in the second incubator for the lock down. Sex links are in high demand here, and people prefer to be able to buy them locally. We may end up having to set up a second area to let some of them get big enough to be considered pullet size for those who would rather have them as bigger than chick size.  Lots and lots to take into account.

Well, that's todays ramblings. I'm going to go watch some YouTube videos on how to sew pleats. (I have a pattern for a  really cute top, but am lost on making pleats)
Have a great weekend everybody!!!!

Pre-snow day chicken pictures

 

 

 

I thought I would take a few pictures today before all of the nasty snow hit...Its snowing now, and they've extended the hours that the snow is supposed to fall. I'm almost betting that the kids will miss the rest of the week here in the Shenandoah County. I'm not exactly sure when the last time was they did go a full week.


In the first picture I posted, they are enjoying a special treat that I made for them. I melted a jar of crunchy peanut butter, and mixed it with some dry oatmeal.  They love it when I make them that. (no my chickens aren't spoiled at all are they???)

In the second and third picture, I was trying to get a good shot of my White Leghorn Cockerel. He's the white guy with the brown markings. He really is getting quite pretty...oh and he has a name, which means we're keeping him...his name is Bing.. Now in the Second picture the one perched right next to him is one of what I suspect is an egger, and the one furthest away from him is one of the Rhode Island Red pullets. (the RIR should start laying any time now) In the Third picture, he's between two of the eggers. I call them eggers because they hatched out of olive green eggs, and there is another proper name for them, but I'm not sure which one goes with them, so I'm just going to call them eggers...like Easter Egg Chickens, which are not a pure bred chicken at all.

Now, the fourth picture really cracked me up. That's one of my RIR pullets, and she's pecking at some condensation on the roof of the chicken house. (we're planning on trying to get that roof insulated this summer so that it doesn't happen, as well as putting in some vents) I just love the way she's all stretched out there.

In the fifth and final picture, is my third egger. I just love the grey feathers she has, I find her to be just stunning.  The brown and white chicken you see underneath of her, is one of the first seven chicks that we ever hatched out. That is a he, and he is a red star/ RIR mix, and he is due to be butchered next week, with several other roosters.

Butchering isn't something that the feint of heart like to talk about, or think about. Some would even say I'm cruel to raise chickens for meat, but I say no. Its not cruel, in fact my chickens have a better life than the chickens that live body to body, and are then stuffed in trucks, in all weather, hot or cold, and then have to sit on a parking lot until its their turn to go through the factory. No, my chickens get to scratch in dirt, play, eat, run, socialize, eat treats, and be loved. I know that they are going to nourish myself, and my family, so extra love, and care, and thanks go into raising them. I treat my chickens as well as I treat my dogs...and my dogs have it better than we do. (and now I will step down from my soap box)

spring...please hurry

As you can see, I'm thinking spring like thoughts just as hard as I can.  I thought maybe if I could visualize it a little better, maybe I could feel it....you know what??? Its not working...

We're looking to get hit by another winter storm on Wednesday, and I'm not looking forward to that at all. None of the radio stations or websites can agree, I've herd anywhere from a couple of inches, to 5 plus inches, to blizzard conditions. I think I know what my future job needs to be...weather forecaster, it seems that they just guess the weather anyways.  Thankfully we do have plenty of food for the critters, and for us. Although, I do need to get to the store today and grab a gallon of milk, and no not because its calling for snow...but because I need it for my coffee. (If my husband would let me get a milk cow or goat, I wouldn't have to worry about getting milk...just taking care of the critters that the milk comes out of)

I've spent part of today doing critter chores and working on cleaning house a bit. A virus has been making its way through the house, yesterday the hubby had it, and I still not feeling tip top, but is recovering quite well. While I was scrubbing out the sink however, I felt the rumblings in my stomach that say, something's not quite right...so I'm hoping that it passes. I'm munching on saltines, and sipping on ginger ale, to try to make sure its going to pass me by. I'm also planning on taking some vitamins here in a little bit to try to give my immune system a burst.

Chickens, Eggs, and Winter

Well, it hasn't warmed up any here, although we did finally get to see some grass in our yard. That was quite exciting. So exciting that I almost took off my big rubber boots to run my bare toes through that grass, the only thing that stopped me is, I hate when my feet get cold.  The chickens are happy too, they have been able to play out in their run over the last few days, so they aren't cooped up in their house like they have been.

We had a friend come over the other day who got to take a tour of our little chicken house and run, and was quite tickled by the way the chickens just kind of flocked around us. It made me wish I had taken a little treat up there so she could have seen the way my fat chickens love to run after the treats.

Our 5 roosters from the first batch are soon to be butchered. Their leg spurs are starting, and we have to get those boys taken care of before the meat gets tough. I'll be sad to see them go, but at the same time my chicken food budget will be happy to see them go. Those boys eat like there is no tomorrow. Its insane!!!  Now, we have decided to keep the 2 boys from the last hatching we did. 1 of them is a Rhode Island Red, and the other is a White Leghorn.  Since they are keepers, I have named them. The RIR is Dean (as in Dean Martin) and the WL is Bing (as in Bing Crosby).  What could be more appropriate than naming my Roo's after the great crooners?

As I think I've told you guys we had 29 eggs in our incubator. We've been candling them quite regularly, and have removed 3, so we are down to 26 eggs now. 1 of them was not fertilized, and the other 2 had blood rings, so they didn't make it too far. 2 of the eggs were Marans eggs, and then the other one, was a Red Star egg.  It really is hard to candle the Marans eggs, because the shells are so dark. I was able to see the little chicks in a couple of them moving around, so that was a happy sight to see.  So I still have high hopes that we will have a good hatch rate with the Marans eggs.

So that's it for todays chicken/egg update!!!  Keep warm, and remember that spring is on its way.

CHICKEN HAT PATTERN!!!!!

 

 

FINALLY!!! Here it is!!! The long awaited Free pattern!!! Sorry the pics aren't better, but I think you pretty well get the gist.  This hat was inspired by my chicken pals, I am probably a little chicken obsessed, but this is the most FUN free chicken hat pattern you will find.  I only did the one size, because as I have discovered no matter how many people want these hats for their babies, they never put them on those babies, but if you are a skilled crocheter, you know just leave a couple of increase rows off, and do a few rows less on everything. I still might go back and do this in a smaller size, I'll have to see what the evenings bring me here over the next few weeks.
Enjoy!!!

 

 

 

Chicken Hat – Teen/Adult Size

Materials

1 skein of White WW yarn

1 Skein of red WW yarn

Small amount of Yellow WW yarn

Black buttons

H hook

 

With White, ch 3 – join with a slip stitch to form a circle

NOTE: ch 2 at beg of each round does not count as a stitch

1) Ch 2, 12 hdc in circle, join w/ sl st to first hdc – 12 hdc

2)  Ch 2, 2 dc in each hdc around, join w/ sl st to first dc – 24 dc

3)  Ch 2 ( 2 hdc in first dc, hdc in next dc) – 36 hdc

4)  Ch 2 ( 2 dc in first hdc, DC in next 2 hdc) rep around, join w/ sl st to beg dc – 48 dc

5)  Ch 2 (2 hdc in first dc, hdc in next 3 dc) repeat around, join w/ sl st to beg hdc- 60 hdc

6) ch 2, DC in each hdc around – 60 dc

7) ch 2,  hdc in each dc around 60 hdc

8) Ch 2- dc in each hdc around, join w/ sl st to beg dc – 60 dc

9) ch 2 – hdc in each dc around, join w/ sl st to beg hdc – 60 hdc

10) repeat round 8

11) repeat round 9

12) repeat round 8

13) repeat round 9

14) repeat round 8

 

First ear flap

1) ch 2, hdc in next 12 dc,ch 2 turn – 12 hdc

2) DC dec first 2 st tog, dc in next 8 hdc, dc dec last 2 st tog – 10 hdc

3) hdc in each dc across – 10 hdc

4) dc first 2 st tog, dc in next 6 hdc, dc last 2 st together  ch 2, turn – 8 dc

5) hdc in each st across

6)  dc first 2 st together, dc in next 4 st, dc last 2 st together, ch 2 turn – 6 dc

7) hdc first 2 st together, hdc in next 2 st, hdc last 2 st tog – ch 1 turn – 4 hdc

8) sc first 2 st tog, sc last 2 st tog, ch 1 turn

9) sc last 2 st tog, finish off

 

For second ear flap, sk 19 st, join w/ sl st in next st, ch 2 and repeat instructions as for first ear flap, finish off

 

Edging Join red w/ sl st at top of either ear flap, sc evenly around. Join w/ sl st to beg sc, finish off.

Beak

Make 2

 

w/ yellow ch 3

 

1) 2 sc in second ch from hook, sc in next st, ch 1 turn – 3 sc

2) 2 sc in first sc, sc in next sc, 2 sc in last sc, ch 1 turn – 5 sc

3)  2 sc in first sc, sc in next 3 sc, 2 sc in last sc – 7 sc

4) 2 sc in first sc, sc in each st to the last sc, 2 sc in last sc, ch 1 turn – 9 sc

5 & 6) sc in each sc across

7) sc in each sc across (finish off first piece but not the second piece

Assembly- sc both pieces together, finish off leaving long tail for sewing – sew long end to hat using picture as a guide.

 

Comb

Make 2

w/ red ch 18

1) sc in second ch from hook, and each ch across, ch 2 turn, 17 sc

2) hdc in each sc across, ch 2 turn, 17 hdc

3) 2 dc in first hdc, 3 dc in next hdc, rep across – 42 dc

4) ch 2, dc in each dc across – finish off

 

Assembly- starting at the first row (bottom) either corner holding both pieces together, sc evenly around entire piece, leave long tail for sewing. Use pic as a guide sew to top of hat

 

Eyes using pic as a guide sew 2 buttons on for eyes OR with small amount of black yarn, ch 3, 12 hdc  in first st, join w/ sl st and finish off leaving long tail for sewing.

Ties cut 9- 24 inch strands of red for each side. Pull through flap, divide yarn into 3 sections and braid.

Quilt-y pictures

 

 

 

Alright pictures!!!! You know, I have to honestly say, I'd forgotten how long it can take to upload multiple pictures. but here we are, in my "studio" That's what other quilters call their quilting rooms, so I thought that's what I'd call mine, even though its far from a studio...more like a tiny spare bedroom crammed full of different craft supplies. I wouldn't have room for a long arm quilter in that room if I ever got one...*sigh* Not that I could ever afford one.

So the first 3 pictures are just random pictures of my different works in progress. the 4th picture is of my least favorite blocks I've put together. I'm just not overly fond of the colors together, or the prints together, but it is what it is I suppose...now the last pic, is of my 4 favorite blocks that I put together. I really do think they are quite charming. I wasn't sure when I started this project if it was going to be girly or boyish, but its looking like its leaning way close to girlie. I have several more quilt patterns picked out to make yet, so its still undetermined at this exact moment in time if this one will be one of the gifted quilts or not. Only time will tell.

As my work progresses, I'll have more pictures to share with all of you lovely people.
Maybe this weekend when my hubby puts my shelves up over my sewing table I'll take some pics of those and share with you guys as well. I guess the sewing side of my room is finally starting to take better shape.

quilting

Hi everybody!!!! Well, we are surviving this crazy winter here!!! I'm not loving all the cold, and frankly neither are my joints, but this too shall pass. Although, I must admit, I was quite excited this morning when I walked up to do chicken stuff, and got to walk on grass. (hey no judging!!!)

So, since my last post with the pictures of my cleaned up sewing/yarn/craft room, I started on a quilt topper. Right now I'm working on one called Sugar and Spice. The top is made of nothing but scrap fabric. This one is a mixture of lots of bright and dark colors, and shows that I buy a lot of printed fabrics. It will be a bright mixture, and that's for sure. This quilt topper is from the Scrap Therapy book, the next quilt topper pattern I have picked out is from the second book in the series, and the topper I have picked out is going to require me to go and purchase some back ground fabric, which I'm not complaining about one bit...I mean what's the fun in quilting if you don't get to cut some new fabric??? For that one I'll be using a lot of solids, some prints, but mostly solids. I will be spending at least one day cutting up scrap fabric before I go through and get prepped to make that one...but I'm only going to concentrate on one quilt top at a time.

I'll take some pictures of my current WIP as soon as I dig out the digital camera. I'll be carrying that around with me more now that I'm getting back to basics.

Well...that's it for today...oh..still waiting on that pattern tester...I must say...it does seem like its taking a long time, maybe I should have set a time limit.

Worm tubs turned

Hi there everybody!!! I got my worm tubs turned over into other tubs today. I didn't realize just how packed down everything on the bottom had gotten. I'm going to need to get some more tubs it looks like. As you can see in the pictures I have plenty of worms, and their castings are a nice beautiful shade of black. In the bottom picture, you can see in my hand that brown bead looking thing, well that is a worm cocoon. I wasn't really looking for them as much as I was looking at the health of my worms, looking at their color, and their movements just to make sure they are as lively as they need to be. I can tell you however that I did see a large number of cocoons as I was pouring everything over into new tubs to get everything broken up.

I did set up a new tub today as well. So now I have 6 tubs. 2 very large tubs, and 4 regular size tubs. The new tub probably only has about 600 in it at the moment. I just took large clumps of worms out of each tub and put in that tub. At the moment that tub is my fresh breeding tub, and nothing will get taken out of it until it gets full enough of worms that it needs to be divided up. If I continue to feed them, and keep the environment moist, but not wet, within a matter of a couple of months that tub will be full of thriving wiggling worms.

It was a help to the other tubs though that I decreased their numbers some. No it really wasn't that big of a decrease in their numbers, but enough that they will want to start breeding some more again. We have a couple of heavy duty 5 gallon buckets that have lids on them in the kitchen. I'm waiting on my hubby to get the lids off of them so that I can wash them out really well. If it were just dirt it wouldn't bother me, and I would let it go, but its not, its chemicals in them.  Once the lids are off and they are good and clean, I'll drill holes in the lids, and sides, add some bedding and then take more worms out of the tubs to downsize their populations again, and encourage them to continue to breed some more. It does sound like I'm a worm hoarder, but I promise you I'm not. I just want lots and lots of worm poop so that I have a really really good garden.

Well everybody, I hope you are all staying safe, I'm seeing more reports of snow and cold weather sweeping through again.

What I'm going to do today

Hey, its Saturday!!! Oh..its Saturday...just another day on the farm really. There are things that have to be done everyday, they can't be skipped just because its Saturday.  So what all am I going to do today??? Well, there is always Laundry to be done, dishes to be washed, meals to be made,
But there are also always eggs to gather, poop to scoop, chickens to feed, dogs to feed, the worms, well they don't have to be bothered with that often. Last night I was feeding them and digging around a bit to check on everybody to see how everybody was doing in the tubs. They are all in there doing those wonderful worm things. I did however discover, even though I'm not going to be harvesting them just yet, I need to get in there and get everything turned so that the worms can get to all of the bedding, and get all of the food, and things, SO my plan for today with that is, I'm going to take one of my prepared tubs, and put some bedding in the bottom, and I'm going to flip one tub over into the new tub, and then I'm going to keep going until I've done it to all of them. It will probably slow down those wonderful little creatures for about a day, until they get their bearings back again, but that's ok.

This evening I have to start getting a couple of worm bags made up. What's a worm bag you ask??? Well, a worm bag is what you want to ship live worms in. Its breathable, yet will contain the worms so that they don't get out and wiggle all over the place. Plus I have to get some peat moss as well so that they will have food and bedding for their trip. I'm planning on setting up to start selling some so that my tubs aren't over crowded. I would estimate I have about 3-5 pounds of worms in each tub, plus several hundred/thousand worm cocoons in each tub. Now each cocoon will contain between 3 and 7 worms, so that's a lot of babies. Once some of those adult worms are removed, the other worms will begin to make more worms like crazy!!!

So that's what I'm going to be doing today, on a Saturday!!!!