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.