Basic Crochet Stitch Abbreviations

Hey all!!! So, I know that not all crochters are old hats at reading patterns, and are just learning. Its always great to have a list of abbreviations, and what they mean.  So, I went through my books, and got all of the basic abbreviations that a person needs when learning to read patterns.
Now, these are pretty much so in alphabetical order, so here goes.

alt   -  alternately
beg -  beginning
bl    - back loop
cc    - contrasting color
ch    - chain(s)
cl     - cluster
cont - continuing
dc    - double crochet
dec  - decrease
dtr   - double triple crochet
fl     - front loop
hdc  - half double crochet
inc   - increase
lp(s) -loop(s)
mc   - main color
rem  - remaining
rep   - repeat
rnd   - round
rs     - right side
sc     -single crochet
sl      -slip
sl st  -slip stitch
sk     -skip
sp     -space
st      -stitch
tog   - together
trc    - triple crochet
ws    - wrong side
yd    - yard
yo    - yarn over     

Saturday Morning Chatter (with recipes)

Good Morning everybody!!! The week has really gotten away from me. Its been a really busy one at that. We moved chicks to the chicken house, put up new nesting boxes that my most wonderful father in law made for us, and work fantastically. The eggs roll into little compartments that the chickens can't get to. We need to figure out where our leghorns are laying though, because we know two of them are laying, and that the eggs are indeed getting eaten by an egg eater, who I have identified, and who is going to go into the freezer.  Yesterday ended up being a beautiful day, it rained for most of the morning, and got into the mid 60's. I spent quite a bit of time outside, and talked to my chickens a lot. Sometimes they did indeed give me strange looks, but it was quite worth it.

I had wanted to post a recipe this week, with pictures. I know that pictures make recipe's way more fun, but well, the week got away from me. So, I got out my recipe box, and pulled out 2 really awesome recipes. They are both squash related, because well, that's one of the first things I think about when we plant the garden, is squash. I love finding different recipes, that help me to use up all that squash, so we could eat squash every night, but it wont taste the same.  I still remember the first year we planted a garden. My husband is a Veteran when it comes to garden planting. He grew up with a mother that planted a huge garden growing up. Well, I knew that I liked squash, because somebody was always giving it away while I was growing up. (Little did I know why) So, my husband says to me, how many squash and how many zucchini do you want to plant, I think about it a minute, and I say, oh I think about 6 of each should be enough to get us through the summer...he got this look on his face that I didn't understand at first, and then he kind of grinned, he said are you sure you want to plant that many???Oh, of course I do, we can give a few to my parents if we get a couple of extra...well..he did indeed go along with me on that.  That summer, I was able to give more than just a few to my parents, and I was even able to take some into work to "share" (aka get rid of)
Last summer we planted our usual amount, which is 4 each. We dehydrate a lot of it to put in soups and such in the winter time, unfortunately last summer was so dry, that the deer killed our plants eating them. I have high hopes for this summers garden though.

Alright, off of the reminiscing, and onto the recipes. The first recipe I'm going to share with you guys is Superb Squash Bread...(or Zucchini bread). A staple in anybody's recipe box who grows the stuff.

Superb Squash (Zucchini) Bread
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup cooking oil
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups squash (zucchini), finely grated
3 cups self rising flour
1 tbsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Blend eggs in a large bowl on med. speed, until fluffy. Mix in sugar, oil and vanilla. Slowly stir in flower and cinnamon until just mixed. Stir in squash until evenly mixed. Pour into a well greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish, or two well greased loaf pans. Bake for 45 minutes, or until bread is firm and light brown. The loaf pans add about 10 minutes to baking time.

Up next is Sausage Stuffed Squash. This doesn't use regular Squash or Zucchini, because there are many more kinds of squash than just those as we know. This recipe uses acorn squash. This recipe is only for 1 squash cut in half, so your going to have to multiply it for however many you want to fix. Its quite yummy though, and well worth it.

Sausage Stuffed Squash
1 med. acorn squash
6 ounces bulk pork sausage
1/2 cup celery (optional)
2 tbsp. chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped peeled tart apple
1 tsp all purpose flour
1 egg lightly beaten
1/4 cup sour cream
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup diced processed cheese (velveeta)

Cut squash in half, remove seeds. Place cut side down in a greasted 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish. Cover and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until tender.
Meanwhile, in a small skillet, cook the sausage, celery and onion over med heat, until meat is no longer pink.
Add apple, and cook and stir for 3 min. drain.  In a bowl, combine the flour, egg and sour cream until smooth; stir into sausage mixture.
Once Squash comes out of oven, turn sqush over, and sprinkle cut sides with salt. Stuff with sausage mixture. Bake uncovered for 15 - 20 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with cheese; bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Now that last recipe does take some work, but once you taste it, you will know, its completely and 100% worth it!!!

Hope you all have a fantastic day, and a great weekend!!!

Feeding the Worms

Yesterday was worm feeding day...as you can see by the pictures...I blended up some frost bitten fruit I had from the freezer, and some potatoes that had started to rot a bit, and then I mixed in some of the most delightfully yummy used coffee grounds...oh it was quite a feast I mixed up for those little wiggling worms...In the second pic is a fairly new worm tub, which is why it looks so much cleaner than the other tubs in the pic...but given a few weeks more, and it will be just as "dirty" looking as the others. In the next two pictures I was trying to show you guys some worms eating away at the paper, and food that they are finishing up with..
In the final picture as you can see, if you sometimes end up with some seeds in there, the poo that's in there will actually sprout, no matter the age...I'm not completely certain what those seeds were, but the good part is, those little buggers will indeed eat those as well. Now that tub is also our lets try new things we've herd tub...my hubby had read that you can dump your vacuum canister in there as long as you haven't been using any chemicals in there...so I did, and I don't think it shows very well in the picture, but the worms are in there eating away...they do seem to like it. Since its a success, I'll probably empty it in the other tubs from time to time. For the most part, I plan on dumping it on the compost pile. One less thing to fill up the trash can.

So once again, you can see how raising worms in your home (or even having a tub outside in good weather) Is great for the environment.

Quilting Along

I'm still chugging along on that first quilt topper...yesterday I actually got a good deal complete...I still have a good deal to do, but not as much. I've decided to work on just doing a bunch of piecing, and then putting together the blocks like that. As you can see from the pictures I have a whole lot of ironing to do yet on the blocks...but I'll just do a bunch of that at once.

Unfortunately as you can see by the last pic, my poor needle had a bit of an accident. I somehow hit the lever that makes the foot come off while sewing, and of course it made a fantastic noise, and then bent the needle. Fun stuff!!!!

One thing is for sure, doing this quilt project, I will have used up plenty of pink scrap fabric once this one is done. I'm already anxious to get started on my next batch.

Day in the chicken House

Just thought I would post a few pictures of today's happenings in the chicken house. Up top there is the young rooster I was talking about earlier. As you all can see, he's still working on growing out those big tail feathers. I guess he's going through that awkward growing faze...he does seem to have his own Harem of girls though. It looks like the young Rhode Island Red gals like to stick close to him. They are pretty close in age anyways.

Then we have Sinatra hanging out down on the ground looking to see if there's anything good on the ground to eat. Sometimes some of the chick food gets spilled...and then we have the Buff Rock sitting in the nest thinking about laying an egg...which she did!!! (yay)

And finally as you can see, I have 2 eggs in the nest box that I grabbed a photo of...the brown one is a French Black Copper Marans egg, and the smaller white one is a Leghorn egg. (hooray)

Once we can start cleaning in there, I do plan on washing the walls in there. Its gotten kind of dirty in there with them hanging out in there so much over the winter. Its going to be a busy day once we get in there and start cleaning. I guess you could say I'll be cleaning from top to bottom!!!

My Roosters

I've decided that its story time today...I want to talk about my roosters today...Sinatra and Martin, who are both Rhode Island Red Roosters. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures today to go along with my stories, but I have to share some stories anyways.

First of all Let me Start with Sinatra....Sinatra is a bit of a stand offish kind of guy, he's a big rooster, not as big as some breeds, but he's a big guy. We don't try to pet him, or force our attentions upon him, because he stands next to us when he feels like it, and if we move to quickly he takes off down the run like a rocket. We found him on Craigslist for $5 bucks. He came from a farm, and was in this huge fenced in area with lots of other roosters and chickens (and I mean lots). The guy that was selling off all of his excess roosters and chickens, just poured out a big bag of cracked corn into these big bowls, and everybody came running, and he just grabbed up our rooster and put him in the carrier we brought along. He was about a year old according to the guy we got him from.  When we got him home, we didn't think we were going to be able to get him out of the carrier that he was in, so my hubby started to take it apart so he could get out, but it turned out there was no need, because as soon as he herd his new harem, he managed to get himself turned around and out of that carrier like it was nothing. And of course my 8 girls batted their eyes and swarmed him, and everybody lived happily ever after there.  He really is quite laid back in his own way though...we've been able to add plenty of young chickens, and he just looks at them and keeps on keeping on. He wasn't bothered by any of the young cockerels that we've added in (which have been butchered except for the one...but I'll bet to him). When those young cockerels tried to challenge him, he just pecked them on the head, and went back to scratching in the dirt. 

Well right now, I have a bunch of chicks in coops out in the chicken house. Sinatra has discovered that he likes the food that they have been spilling onto the ground through the bottoms of the coops, so he's been hanging around those quite a bit. So this morning, he finally clued in to what I have in the big bowls that I carry in there in the mornings and evenings when I'm refilling the chick feeders and water containers. I looked down at him and he was standing closer to me than he has ever stood before. I have a feeling we're going to be good friends before summer gets here. I threw a little on the ground for him out of my bowl. I have more chicks here in the house that will be rotated out into those coops as soon as we are able to rotate the current chicks out into the mini run we will be setting up inside of the big run so that we can transition everybody better.

Now onto Martin. Martin is about 4 months old (I'd have to look at my calendar). We hatched him out with a big batch back in November. I'm not completely sure he's 100% RIR but my hubby seems to think he is, but then I've never raised a rooster from Egg to Adult before, so I'm not going to argue anything at this point in chicken raising.  Martin and Sinatra get along just fine. They even roost together sometimes. We figure they probably will because there are LOTS of females, and there is plenty of space in the house and run. 

Martin is a funny guy, when we are standing in the chicken house doing work in there, feeding, or filling water dishes, or cleaning off the tops of the coops where some chickens like to roost or play, and do what chickens do (poop) he will make sure we know he is there. He will peck at our legs, not hard, and when we look down at him, he gets this look on his face like HI! Sometimes he will just stand toe to toe with us, and stare up at us. When we look down at him, he's got that same look on his face...HI! He really is quite amusing...When I'm filling up the hanging feeders that everybody eats out of (grown up chicken wise) he is right there trying to eat out of the top of them as we are filling them...and then when we walk over to the second feeder, he races over there to do the same thing.

When we go to give the chickens treats, tomatoes, bread crumbs, whatever, Sinatra always clucks for the girls to come and get some, and will watch them while they eat, and if there is a lot, he will get in on the action and eat some....Now Martin on the other hand, he races in, grabs a mouth full and takes off down to the end of the run to make sure and get to eat his share. He likes his food...but then he's still a growing boy.

Originally we had planed on getting our second RIR rooster by keeping one of Sinatra's boy chicks from the RIR pullets that we have. We thought it would be cool to keep a boy from him to keep his Legacy going. We probably still will do that, and we will probably do the same From Martin as well. But we probably wont do that until next summer. For right now, I think we have plenty of roosters to go around.

Although, when we were checking all of our chicks that we had bought and hatched out this year, we noticed that our Straight run of Silver Lace Wyandottes, (sp) that we have an even split, 3 girls, and 3 boys.  I've decided that I'm going to go ahead and keep one of the boys. I'm just going to go ahead and hatch out my own replacements if I like the breed enough as the summer/winter goes by.

Alright, that's it for my rooster ramblings!!!! And by the way, its snowing...again...*sigh*

Over the weekend

On Saturday we celebrated my husbands 40th birthday. We had pork bbq, pigs in the blanket, coleslaw, soda, tea, lemon aid, coffee, green beans, cookies, and plenty of cup cakes.... I made 6 dozen cupcakes, and we dropped the remaining 4 dozen off where my hubby works so that his co workers could go to town and get a sugar rush. It was really great, we saw some of his old pals that he still hangs around with when they all have time. I must say that We have truly been blessed to have so many friends and family members come and gather together to help us celebrate this milestone.

I think the only thing my hubby was aghast at was the black candles and black balloons...I told him it was just more fun that way...and as you all could see by my very unevenly draped decorations, I don't decorate for parties very often.

Its calling for some snow here tomorrow, so hopefully that's not more than just a skiff of snow.

Alright everybody, that's it for today!!!!

Raising Worms

So as you all know, I raise worms, and thoroughly enjoy it. I thought I'd do a little helpful how to on raising them, for those of you who might consider it.

Lets start with housing.

To begin with, if you want to raise worms above ground, you will need housing. There are several kinds of housing that you can buy, like the worm 360, or the flow through. They really are very nice, BUT if your on a budget, there are cheaper alternatives. I use totes. I just drill small holes in the bottom so that the excess water can drain off, and then I drill air holes around the top, and in the lid. Depending on the brand and the size of the tub you get, you can do this for 10 bucks or less.

Bedding. There are so many different things you can use as bedding. You can either spend money on the bedding, or you can do it cheap and free (that's what I do) Some people buy the compressed coconut fiber and hydrate it for them, and some people buy peat moss. Those are both really excellent items, and I do plan on using them in the future.  I personally use shredded newspaper, which works well. I also tear up cardboard pizza boxes, toilet paper and paper towel rolls. Its an excellent way of recycling, and worms love wet cardboard. they just seem to find it yummy.  If you have access to it, Rabbit poo, or Cow poo makes excellent bedding, they will be super happy, AND they will multiply quickly.  (when we get our bunnies next month, I'm going to start switching over to the rabbit poo)

Food

Food is quite easy. You can feed them your dinner scraps...well most of your dinner scraps.
You cannot give them meat, diary, tomatoes, or anything citrusy. (remember they have no skin, so the citrus from the tomatoes or fruit will burn them) They love potatoes, carrots, celery, melons, pumpkins, green beans, apples, banana peels, coffee grounds, corn cobs, and other things along those lines. Now your going to want to make sure not to over feed, because they have no teeth, so the food has to get soft in order for them to eat it. Other wise, your container full of worms will start to develop a smell, and you may end up with unwanted pests in there. Once that happens, the worms will try their hardest to escape. What I do is unless its pumpkin rind, I will cook it soft, and run it through the blender and turn it into a nice puree, which they really seem to love.

Random tips
Your going to want to make sure the inside of your tub stays damp, but not wet. Other wise your worms will dry up, and they will die. I have a spray bottle that I use to spray down everything to keep it nice and moist, and keep them happily wriggling along.

If you give them cow poo, you will need to make sure its aged, and nice and hard. Once its aged, you can take and beat it with a hammer, or whatever and crumble it up. Then you can sprinkle it all over the top of your worm tub.

More great recycling...as long as you aren't using any kind of chemicals, or powders when you vacuum, you can dump your canister into the worm tubs. It will work as food and bedding all at the same time.

Have rabbits??? Well the fur that they shed or make their nests with can be given to your worms. Worms like the hair. (it does sound a bit strange)

I tend to forget about my worm tubs now and then. Mostly because they are indeed out of sight. The thing is though, I never forget about them for more than a week at a time, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, because the more you disturb your worms, the less mating they will do. You want them to stay in the layer that their food is in so that they will continue eating, and making that beautiful black poo that's awesome for just about everything when it comes to your garden. That's why its important that you monitor your moisture, because if you have a good moisture level you can indeed forget about your worms for a week.

My worms are probably the easiest thing I raise here on my little farm. They don't make noise, they don't have a smell, and I don't have to buy them food. Now tell me, who could ask for anything better than that???

Happy First Day of Spring!!!

Well, good morning to all of you out there!!! Today is the first day of spring, which means, its time to start planning the garden. I'm thinking about lots of different stuff that I want to plant, and then having to remind myself that we only have so much space in the garden...which is why I'm thinking about lining the side of the garden with pots of planted veggies. I know that Tomatoes will thrive quite well in container gardens, so I'm thinking that might be the way to go this year. Then we can plant more kale, and green beans, and stuff like that. I'd like to try and get some onions to grow for us. Well, we can plant them, and get them to grow, but they never get very big. I think its our soil, which will hopefully get better with the composting we've been doing.

What do you all plan to plant if you do a veggie garden???

New egg layer

Hello out there in blogger land! Hope you guys are having a great week. Today wasn't too bad, most of the snow we got the other day has melted off, and I was able to get a couple of good pictures. The top picture is of Mister Sinatra and one of his daughters from the very first hatching we ever did. (remember that?) Its hard to imagine that we've had her since she was nothing more than an egg!!! Kind of neat to think about really.

In the second picture are some of the Rhode Island Red pullets that we ordered back in November. Amazing just how fast they have grown, and in the bottom picture is an egg that one of them started laying!!! HOORAY!!! New eggs are quite exciting really. I love when I find a new egg in the nest box.  Its such a fun prospect.

I'm looking for a fun recipe to share with you guys, but things have been a touch busy with all of the chicks, and planning a birthday party for my dear old hubby, who turned 40 this month. I'm going to try to have some pictures of that to share with you guys.  Hopefully I'll have a new recipe to share with you guys next week.

March Snow

If there's one thing that's for sure and certain, when it comes to spring, we're not out of the danger zone for snow until at least May. This is what we woke up to Monday morning. Originally we were only supposed to get about 5 inches....BUT we ended up with just over a foot. When I was a young child, I was always delighted to see a winter wonderland...mostly because I didn't have any worries...well, except for how many days such a snow would get us out of going to school for. Now, we aren't that lucky...chickens still have to be fed, and the bills still have to be paid.
  
Speaking of chickens...*sigh* My egg numbers haven't been the best here lately, and I had suspected that I had an egg eater. I went out to the house for my second trip of the day, and discovered that my suspicions were correct. I found an egg shell with a perfect hole in it, with the insides completely gone. We are thinking were going to have to go ahead and just cull everybody and start fresh. Its not something I'm looking forward to wanting to do. I may be able to get away with just culling the older chickens and seeing if that will solve the issue. I know that my chicks in the coops and crates aren't responsible, and I'm hoping that my RIR pullets and White Leghorn pullets aren't responsible. I'm assuming that its the black star, and the Marans that are responsible because they are the only ones that show signs of eating eggs. We have a roll away coop that we plan on installing here soon. I'm hoping that we can get that installed soon, and that will solve the problem all together.

weekend chatter

I stayed pretty busy this weekend. Friday I worked on moving left over siding from a house repair up to the shed, and then did a bit of chicken house cleaning, and then moved some chicks up to the chicken house, I moved some more on Saturday as well. I also started working on a new quilt block, one that I liked better than what I was doing, that would let me be a bit more free. So I came up with my wonky 9 patch block. Its 17 inches square, and the wonky part of it is in the 2 inch squares I sew together to make up the boarder. I sew them so that they come out different sizes, and such. Its not for the feint of heart though. Its easy to make, but the part where you sew crooked seams...on purpose might get some people. But I like the way it looks, and I think its going to be a fun country quilt for a little girl on my list. (that and I like the fact that I'm using up scrap fabric quickly...who knew I had so much pink)

Its calling for snow...that dirty 4 letter word...looking ahead to next week, its calling for snow then as well. *sigh* this winter just needs to be done.

Today is a light day for me. I figure its Sunday, its cold out, and I may have over done it the last couple of days, because my hips legs and toes hurt. So just the basics, keeping a check on the chickens, and dogs, and doing some light housework, and fixing dinner, and cleaning that up...and that's about it on my agenda for the day. If I didn't have to go out and buy bread I would probably stay in my pajamas all day. (if I would have thought about it, I would have baked some yesterday or early this morning but its too late for that now)

Well that's it from here!!! Hope you guys are warm and safe wherever you may be!!!

Wow

So, I have over 2,000 views on here now! I know, its probably not that big of a deal, this is after all the internet. Although when you consider what I post, its not something everybody is going to want to read about, or find interesting. I mean, not everybody wants to bake bread, or raise worms, crochet a hat, or gather fresh eggs. I want to say thank you to all of my regular readers who have stuck with me. (I know your out there...:D ) I'm guessing though that blogs must be going out, because even though I have viewers, I have no followers.

Anyways, just wanting to share a little bit of my excitement about having so many views!!!

Worm harvesting

These last few days have been blissfully wonderful weather wise. Its been warm enough to do lots of outside stuff. So, We've been harvesting our worm tubs. (I was already in there setting up tubs for another lady, so we thought why stop there) We went ahead and harvested all but 2 of our tubs. 

My husband made the worm/casting harvester that you see there. It probably would have been easier to put together if my hubby had been working at a table, in a workshop, rather than in the middle of the living room floor....but you work with what space you have I suppose.  If you are interested in building your own, you can go here http://mlaine.homeip.net/Trom/  These are the instructions we used, and they worked quite well, only it cost us a bit more than what he has listed price wise. (probably because of either area or tax, or time difference between when he posted vs. current prices)

We got a good 4 gallons of worm castings, which I was originally thinking about selling, but decided with all the work we put into getting them, that we needed to keep them for our own garden.

Sorry I didn't get better pictures, but in all honesty, my hands were covered in worm goo, and its really not feasible to take pictures while you are wrist deep in worms, and worm poop. You guys have seen my worms anyways.

Next week, I'm going to write a couple of blogs on raising worms, and feeding worms. Mostly some basic how to stuff for the beginner.

Dont forget to change your clocks

So, some of you may have noticed I titled yesterdays post, Thursday chatter...and I spent the entire day thinking that yesterday was Thursday. I had somehow lost an entire day...Holy Cow, how in the world did that happen??? I guess its not always hard to do at all.  But I'm back on the main page, and I am happy that we are setting our clocks forward tonight. Now it does stink to loose that hour, but at the same time, it means the days are going to be longer, and getting warmer. It got into the 60's today, so that made me pretty happy.

My hubby and I spent the day doing chicken chores. We went to our local hardware store to pick up a bag of lime for the chicken house, to take care of some of the ammonia that unfortunately is a part of chicken ownership. I was talking to the guy in there and we were talking about chickens and worms...I always make sure to bring up my worms, because they are part of my farm. Well we were talking about fishing worms, and he very much so wants to be able to sell night crawlers, and I let him know that I do plan on raising them in the very near future...well if I can keep the cost at a certain point so that they can sell them cheaper than anybody else, we may be able to do something. So I've been scouring the internet looking at the different containers, and looking to see what I can get for how much. I'm putting a good deal of effort into this, because I would love for this to happen. To be able to sell something I grow locally would be 100% awesome! 

We did get the lime bought through all of the conversations we had, as well as ordered new handles for our pressure cooker, since there was an unfortunate accident with ours when we last used it. (one of the handles just cracked right off, and since the one needs to be replaced we decided to just go ahead and replace both so that they match) After much turning of the bedding in the chicken house, we sprinkled a couple of cups of lime in there and got it turned in, and I can already tell a big difference, although I think we're going to have to do a couple more in the morning.

I got to thinking about how I love having a variety of chickens for eggs. They aren't supposed to be pets, but I can't help but to enjoy them and care for them as if they were. I feel as if it gives something back to me in the area of relaxation and enjoyment.  So I thought about the varieties we now have in here growing. We have Buff Orpington, (oh pardon my spellings, even though I've had chickens for almost a year, the different breeds are still new, so my spelling will take a bit of time to catch up) Jersey Giants, Black Australorp, Silver Laced Wyandotte, Ameraucana (basically Easter Eggers) and of Course my French Black Copper Marans, and some Blue Marans, and then my mixed mutts. I think I've done a fine job keeping it from being all one thing or another. I don't want to breed all of these birds at all, I just want there eggs, and maybe occasionally towards spring I'll grab up some of their eggs and throw them in the incubator just to see what comes out. Mostly I'm going to concentrate on the White Leghorn/Rhode Island Red mix, the Rhode Island Reds, and the Wyandotte/Rhode Island Red mix.

Of course I'm going to be putting forth more effort into my worms as well. Once we get the rabbits here and set up, I'm going to be so thrilled to have the rabbit poo to put in with the worms, which will really make them thrive and double, and grow.

Our compost pile has gotten a little large. I think we are going to need to get in there and get it turned before it becomes too difficult to turn, without paying somebody to come in and turn it with a back hoe or something. I'm almost certain that what's in the middle of it is going to be some kind of beautiful. Between the coffee grounds, egg shells, food scraps, grass and leave clippings, its going to make for one heck of a garden....oh and I almost forgot about the bedding from the chicken coops/house that's full of chicken manure...so I'm hoping that our garden will turn into something magnificent. I've read about how wonderful you can make a garden full of clay once you start composting and then tilling it in. I'm quite excited about the prospect of having a garden that gives us as much as we put into it. We really do put a lot of time and effort into it, but these last couple of years have been highly disappointed with what we get back out of it. Of course the fact that last summer was so hot and dry, and then the year before everything stayed so wet that the plants yellowed. Its just not been a great couple of years for the garden. But I have high hopes...and a bunch of empty canning jars just waiting for the return of the spring garden.

Thursday Talk

Well, as I told you guys yesterday, I was listing my trio of Easter/Olive Eggers for sale. I put them up on Craigslist last night, and in less than 2 hours, I got an answer!!! A really nice lady with young children bought them. I would be lying if I said I wasn't sad to see them go, BUT I'm glad that they are going to a good home.

So, the big beauty I have a picture of on here today is one of the first chicks that we had ever hatched out. She's from our own backyard flock, I couldn't get a picture of her sister, because she was hanging out under the one coop rolling in the bedding. (I guess they have to do something for entertainment). Its hard to believe that these gals are 5 months old already. We only have 2 left from that first hatching, because the other 5 were boys, and well, let me just say, they are quite tasty.  The mother to these two mixed breed girls is a Red Star, and she is not nearly this big, so it really makes me wonder how big her parents are. We all know just how big Sinatra is, so we know that Daddy is a good size. I do find my two gals to be really pretty though, so hopefully they turn out to be good layers so that we can keep them for a while.

I talked to a really great lady on FB this morning, that I got hooked up with through a FB group for Virginia farmers. We are bartering worms for Breeding Rabbits. I looked at some of her bunnies on her FB page, and I must say she has some absolutely beautiful Rabbits. I can tell that they are very well cared for, and I'm quite excited to start raising rabbits this way. So, I suppose My Little Farm is really growing. Its going to be really exciting when we can get pigs.

So, hopefully you guys are keeping warm wherever you may be. I'm thinking happy spring thoughts.

Random stuff

Today has been a busy day here at the farm. Frank and I both had our 6 month dental check up/cleaning this morning, then we came home, and he had some paperwork, and I had some basic farm/craft stuff to do. I had to check the moisture level in the worm tubs, had to spray a bit of water there, and then I'd been wanting to try my hand at those feed sack bags everybody seems to be making. Mine didn't turn out the best, BUT it was only my first one, I plan on trying again really soon, only next time I'm going to use wooden clothes hangers, rather than stick pins.   Then of course there was feeding and watering the birds...all of them...inside and out.

I'm about to list my 3 pullets for sale that hatched out of the olive colored eggs. They aren't laying yet, but I need to work on making room for these new chicks that will be outside in no time at all. I'm fairly certain that along with the Cornish Rocks, the 5 mutt birds from our own back yard will be able to go out at the same time. Its amazing how fast our mutt birds grow compared to pure breed chicks.

I'm also about to list a couple of pounds of my worms for sale. Its either that, or get more tubs, and divide the tubs up again...and to be honest, I just don't have the room quite yet for that. I really do plan on having a building for my worm stuff, but I think that's a ways off.

So, hope you guys are all having a wonderful Thursday!!!

Not off to the greatest Start

So, March has not been off to the greatest start. First our lap top went down due to power cord issues (but we now have a new one...and who would have thought a power cord could be so darned expensive) one of my Cornish Rocks had to be put down due to some serious injuries, it got really cold again, we got more snow, AND NOW we are working on getting our pipes thawed...blah...like I said, its not been a great month so far.

Although I can't complain completely. On Saturday I went to a sewing bee at the local quilt shop, and got to see some beautiful quilts. I am just in awe at what some of those ladies do. I only hope that with time and practice, I can be as awesome as they are. Then Saturday night I went with my husbands family to see my Niece and Nephew in a school play. They were who's in Seusical The Musical, and it was fantastic!!! Those high school kids were more than awesome....they were fantastic, wonderful, awesome, talented, I am at a loss as to how to describe just how breathtakingly awesome it was. I see those kids going far if they should decide to pursue acting. It would be a great loss to the future of entertainment if they don't...but even if they don't, I think that there is nothing those kids wont be able to do. Yeah, they were that good.  So to the kids at Fort Defiance High School...my hat is off to you...I feel honored to have been able to watch you perform. Bravo, with a standing ovation.

My 29 remaining chicks are growing swiftly. I'm going to have to start getting the coops ready for them in a hurry. I think we are going to have to split them up into 4 different groups. 2 groups will go into the coops, and then I'll have some in crates on top of the coops as well. Its going to be one big mass release once everybody is able to be released with the other chickens. Then again, I'm also sort of thinking maybe instead of putting them in the coops, if we shouldn't just section off the end of the run and set the coops up so that they have a place to sleep, and don't have to be cooped up. It could work, I think the hubby and I will have to discuss and decide if that's what we want to do.

Sam and Jasper are well. Jasper is probably going to be devastated when the chicks go outside, because he has adopted them in his own little way. Its really kind of adorable, but I for one will be glad when I can put the messy little buggers outside.

Tomorrow is my husbands 40th birthday. Its hard to believe that he's going to be 40 already. Time really does fly when your having fun. (my birthday is next week, I'll be 34...now that's one I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around)

Ok..gotta run...I have lots of catching up to do.