In the Home Stretch

I'm counting down the days...kindling day is Wednesday, but it could happen as early as tonight. You can imagine I've been watching closely. Doris has actually started making a nest. She hasn't started pulling fur yet, but she's made a nice neat little hay nest. Ginger hasn't pulled any more fur yet, but she's really been obsessing over her nest. We are keeping our fingers crossed that yes, there are babies on their way from her. I'm very excited about her babies more than Doris's babies. Mostly because I do know what the genetics of Fred and Gingers babies are. Fred and Doris have been bread, and the only colors I'm certain of in their genetic make up are blue and black. So much excitement I can barely contain myself.

I don't have any pictures of their nests or anything right now. I'm working on keeping the stress factor down as low as I can in there. I've been trying to be fast in there, and making sure that they feel secure with their nest boxes. But I can tell you as soon as they kindle, and I know that they are going to care for their babies, I will most definitely make sure to take lots and lots of pictures.

So, I've been letting the big chickens into the grow out pen during the day. They've bee keeping the feed cleaned up that the chicks drop through the bottoms of the coops. The Tetra Tints will be able to come out of their coops, and run around the grow out pen here in about a week. Once they get to stretch their legs and wings, I'm positive they will really start growing. I need to get the spare water jug ready and clean, and I need to pick up some bedding for the grow out pen. I decided I wanted to put bedding down on that end of the run, because when it rains that end gets really super soupy with the mud. I'm going to put down one layer to soak up the water and the mud, and then a second layer for dryness. About once every other day, I'll turn the bedding to help keep stuff dry.

My Easter Egg chicks aren't quite ready to be let out yet. They are small enough yet that they will be able to get through the panel walls. The eggers are smaller chickens anyways. I think they are between the size of the leghorn, and the rhode island red hen.

Some of my older pullets that we hatched out back in February should be close to ready to start laying. (yay) Not that we need any more eggs a day, more like I just can't wait to see how they are going to lay. We've been giving eggs to family. Its nice to be able to share eggs like that. My older Easter Eggers probably won't start laying until the end of July or beginning of August.

Well that's about enough from me!!! I'll just leave you with a cute picture of one or more of my dogs!!!
Have a great day

Busy Day

So, as some of you know, I'm a housewife/farmer/pattern writer/recipe trier outer, some days are busier than others. My husband works 12 hour shifts, mostly nights. Its the days/nights that he works that I'm the busiest. I like to try to get as much done as I possibly can while he's sleeping (well the quiet stuff) And then after he leaves for work I really put the wheel to the grindstone or however that saying goes. My favorite thing to do is to actually sit down, and write out a list of stuff I absolutely want to get done. This is day 2 of a 3 day work stretch, so my list was bigger than his 2 night work stretch. (Those who work 12 hour shifts will understand the 2 and 3 day stretches)

For tonight's dinner, I had cooked down a chicken in the crock pot, and then picked it apart. I used it for chili. I didn't do what's called white chili with the white beans and whatever else is put in that. I just used the basic chili recipe that's used for the chili used with beef. It was a pretty big hit, and I made enough, that I've got left overs for tomorrow evenings dinner. That will help out with the amount of dishes that will need to be washed.

Right now though, I'm kicked back with the dogs, watching one of my favorite movies. (Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, the one with Kevin Costner) Bella has worn herself out with a rawhide, and Sam and Jasper are in the middle of the floor pretending that they don't care she found one of the hides they stashed. I think they are waiting for the perfect opportunity to steal it back.

I'm just under a week until I find out if my rabbits will give birth or not. I'm quite anxious about this. This will be Doris's second birth. I truly hope that this one goes much better than the first did. I had given her a nest box over the weekend, thinking that maybe she would want to nest early, or get comfortable. I had to take it back out yesterday. She started using it as a potty box. I washed it thoroughly and left it in the sun to dry. In the morning, I'll carry it back into the rabbit enclosure and put it on top of her cage until we get closer to time. We are only about 5-6 days away from their due date. I'm thinking I will give it back to her on Monday. Ginger is still carrying hay around, and rearranging it. She takes it out of her nest box, carries it around, and then puts it back in. I need to give her some more though I'm thinking. She's got a pretty impressive hole made. She hasn't pulled any more fur, so I'm waiting to see if that happens again.  Her and Fred both carry the blue and chocolate gene, so I'm really excited to see what we will get out of that pairing. My rabbits that are pedigreed all come from excellent lines.

I'm not sure if I told you guys yet or not, so I'll tell you again just to be sure. So, Frank and I decided that we had better go ahead and check out Cadburry and Pinkerton to make sure of their genders. We also decided maybe we had better weigh those two, especially Pinkerton who is getting quite impressive in size. Cad weighed in at 6 pounds, and Pink weighed in at 7 pounds. So we poked at Cad, and I was like oh no, she's a boy!!! So I'm was thinking that she was a he, and we put Cad back in the cage. So we pulled out Pink, and Pink is definitely a boy, no doubt about it. (they were too young to properly determine the gender of when we checked that first time) So Frank says to me, are you sure Cad is a boy, because that looked like a taco to me...(yes, the girls look like Taco's and the boys look like tubes) So we turned on all of the lights in the living room, and flipped the poor thing back over, and Cad is not a boy, Cad is a girl, we were both poking, and looking, and I am surprised the poor girl has bee letting me pet and love on her after that ordeal. We plan on mating those two for sure, because we think they would make some beautiful babies, and I'm hoping for some broken patterned babies.

My older Chickens are still laying. We have been referring to them as the Senior girls. Today all 4 of them gave me eggs, which is always pleasant . They will get to live on since they are from the original 8. I feel like they survived our learning curve, so they get a pass. (The other 4 of the original 8, had to be culled...they turned into egg eaters) Two of the older girls have been giving me some Freakishly big eggs. I need to crack them to see what I'll get. I need to do that outside though in case its got a funky smell. Our one friend Aaron got one of those eggs from us one time, and he said it was a very funny color with no yolk. (Don't worry I plan on taking pictures of that event)

Well, I suppose I've rattled on enough about my dogs, chickens, rabbits, and whatever else it is I've chatted on about. Hope you all have a fantastic night!!!!!!

Brandi

Pancake Recipe

We love Breakfast for dinner here, and my husband especially loves it if Bacon is involved, and everything is cooked in the Bacon Grease..(I know I know...not the healthiest, but we don't eat bacon enough for it to hurt anything) I'm not a huge fan of pancake mix, because to me, I can taste the fact that its from a mix, and its lacking something...So I did some searching and came across a recipe years ago now. I don't know where it came from, but I've changed it and tweaked it enough, that's its not really the same recipe at this point anyways. There is nothing better than taking a recipe and making it your own.
As you can see in the picture I did add some fresh fruit to my pancakes. I've got all of those black raspberries we've bee picking, so I added a bit of fruit to my pancakes. Just a small handful to each pancake. That's the great part about my recipe, I can add any extra's I want. (and yup, I've been known to add chocolate chips)

Alright!!! On to the recipe

2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 tb sugar
2 tb veg oil
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
dash of vanilla

Mix all ingredients together in a big bowl, and cook until golden brown Yup that easy
OH, and when I say a dash of vanilla, I just flip open the top of the vanilla lid, and just do a quick shake. It works out pretty yummy.  This is a hubby approved recipe, so I hope you all enjoy!!!

The Countdown

Well, I'm in the final week of possible bunny pregnancies.  Both of my girls have nest boxes, plenty to eat, and drink, lots of hay, and all of my extra attention. Seeing as we aren't experienced enough yet to palpitate our girls, we don't know if they are actually pregnant or not. Since Ginger started nesting super early, we don't even know if she's having a false pregnancy, is an early nester, or if she miscarried.

I have heard lots of different things on bunnies that nest early. Sometimes if it's there first pregnancy (as it is hers) they will start the nesting process early. I know that Doris was an early nester for her first pregnancy which is why I think none of her kits made it. She hasn't really shown any interest in her nest box yet. She's been in it checking things out, but hasn't done anything towards pulling fur, or arranging the hay in her box.

I will admit, I'm on pins and needles over this, not sure what is or isn't coming. I've already had some interest in the kits if my girls are pregnant. I'm not sure how I feel about that just yet. I mean, yes the plan is to sell off some, and eat some. I think its the whole unknown thing.

I do have a plan in place though should Doris have kits, and abandon them. I'm going to fix up a place for the kits here in the house to keep them warm, and safe. I have some kitten milk, and a special dropper. I plan on trying to nurse them myself. (yeah, not sure how that's going to go) I do know that this is her last chance. I've had an offer on her should she turn out to be a bad mom. I think they are wanting her for a pet, because she's a blue bunny.

In other farm news, I'm still getting lots of black raspberries!!! I have a freezer full of berries, and fresh chicken at this point. Not a bad combination...lol...I'm going to be making some fresh jam once things slow down a touch.

My Easter Egg chicks are going outside in the grow out coops today or tomorrow. They are starting to get a bit on the cramped side here in the house. They are mostly fully feathered at this point. With it being warmer outside, that's a huge help in getting them outside faster. I do feel kind of bad for these guys right now. I'm sure they don't mind each other, but I'll bet they are ready for a little stretch.

It will probably be the middle of July when they and the Tetra Tints are ready to be out of the grow out coops, and into the grow out pen, where they can socialize, and run and play and well...grow. My favorite part about that is not having to keep filling the little food and water bottles. At that point, they will have a big water jug, and a big feeder to use.

Yesterday (shame on me for not mentioning it) was Bella's first birthday. Right now she's sleeping at my feet, which is why I haven't done as much this morning as I usually do. Its so nice when she decides to be all warm and cuddly like that. Usually she's a blurry mass of tail, legs and wriggling doggy body.

So, now that you guys are all caught up on todays Farm news, I need to make myself start moving, and start getting things ready for the chick move, and go gather eggs, and everything else that goes along with having chickens, and rabbits, and worms, and dogs...lol

Have a great week!!!!

Five Ingredient Bread Recipe

Hello, and happy Sunday evening to you all!!! I've been meaning to try this recipe, and then get everything posted for you guys, but I guess you could say I've been procrastinating a bit on this. Its not that I didn't want to do it, it was more I had to wait for a day that I didn't have five billion things going on. As we all know home made bread requires some time, with all of the kneading and rising, and blah blah blah...thankfully though, this recipe doesn't do all the excess rising, you know let it rise, punch it down, let it rise again, put it in the bread thing, to rise a third or fourth time...I like it. This stuff has a decent flavor, and is nice and moist. Moist enough that you will want to maybe let it dry over night if you want to use it for sandwich bread.

Alright lets get on with the Recipe.
Ingredients:
2 cups of warm water
2/3 cup honey
1 & 3/4 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 & 1/2 tsp salt
6 cups of bread flour

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together warm water and honey, until honey is dissolved. Then add yeast and cover with a towel.

In about 10 to 20 minutes when the mixture is frothy, mix in salt and add bread flour 1 cup at a time. Once you have it mixed as well as you can, add extra flour to your hands and knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Then place the kneaded dough in a large greased bowl, and cover with a towel.

After about an hour when the dough has raised, punch down and then knead again for a few minutes. Divide into two lightly greased loaf pans and cover with a towel and allow the dough to rise for another 30 min.

Bake in a preheated oven @ 325 for 30 to 35 minutes.

See, easy!!! Now here's a little tip for measuring the honey, and then getting it in the water. I actually saw this on an episodes of 19 kids and counting...yes...I watch the Duggars...and I've picked up more than one handy tip.  So take the cup your going to measure your honey in, and then pour vegetable oil in it, swirl it around so that it covers the sides, and then pour the honey into that measuring cup, and it will just slide right out. Nice and Easy!!!

Alrighty, hope everybody has a great night, and enjoys this tasty recipe!!!!

Quick Break

Happy Saturday everybody!!! Its been a busy day here today so far. This morning when the hubby got home from work, the two of us set off to pick more of those delectable Raspberries. We've gotten more already between last night and this morning than we did in the last two years combined. I'm thinking from the looks of things that this is just a great year for berries.

We had something new pop up for us this year. We now have growing, Red Raspberries!!! It was quite the surprise. Of course, we know how they got there obviously...some little birdie was eating them somewhere else, and then happened to poop them there, where they decided to grow. Where the Reds are good, they aren't nearly as good as the blacks, so we have to be careful not to let them take over and kill out the blacks. I'm going to keep an eye on them though so I can get them picked as soon as they are ripe.  We've been watching our black berries as well, and they are still hard and green. I want to try to get them as soon as they are ripe, because they flash from the heat rather quickly.

I managed to make it to the coop this morning before they closed. That's where we've started getting our chicken and rabbit feed. the price is excellent, but I'm not a fan of their hours. They close at noon on Saturdays, and are closed on Sundays. Well, I don't mind the Sunday part, but it does make it hard when you are just running around like mad trying to keep up with everything.

I'm officially on watch for new layers in the chicken house. Its getting close, I should have at least 2 or 3 getting ready to lay here soon. I had some that we hatched out in February. So, those 4 should start laying here within the next few weeks. (fingers crossed)

I went ahead and set up the nest box for Doris. Even though we don't know for sure that either of our two bunnies are indeed pregnant, I thought It was better to be safe than sorry. I do hope that if Doris is pregnant, that she will give birth to them in the nest box this time, and that she won't eat them this time either. I'm also hoping that since Ethel has been working so hard on her nest over the past week, that she is indeed pregnant, and not having a false pregnancy. (You know, hatching eggs is so much easier, because while waiting for them to hatch, you can candle them, and know for sure if something is growing or not)

Bella has been doing well not sleeping in her crate at night. I'm waiting until we can start letting her sleep in the bedroom though. For now we are taking turns sleeping in the living room, with her and the boys. Although, Sam has decided that the crate is his. I think he likes the fact that its cave like in there. I'm wondering if we will ever be able to get rid of that crate. I'm thinking at this rate, probably not.

Ok, its time for me to move on, I need to set out something to thaw for dinner, and then I'm going to start on that 5 ingredient bread that I want to try. I've been looking at all kinds of Facebook recipe's that I'm getting written down to try. Some of them are so quick and easy, and then some of them are like...naaahh...but I want to try making more of them to review, and share with you as to weather its worth making or not.

Alright...I'm off!!! Until my next blog...have a fantastic day!!!

Picking Black Raspberries

Its that time of the year!!! We are well into June, and the black raspberries are getting ripe. They are as you can see ready to be picked. Even though we had an incredibly harsh winter, it did something great for the berry briars. I didn't even get halfway around the yard, and I had picked so much for so long (6 cups, and that's pretty good for me by myself) that I had to stop. When my hubby gets home in the morning, we have plans to go ahead and pick some more. Then there will be more ripe tomorrow evening, so I'll pick then as well if its not raining.

As you can see, my buddy Jasper helped me to pick some berries. (By helped, I mean he was eating them as I was picking them) These are nice and juicy this year as well, so I'm good and stained up.

Then, I was quite startled by something jumping in the grass, and once my heart restarted, I saw that it was one of those little tree frogs!!! None of the dogs paid him any mind, so he just kept on hopping along. I'm always glad to see those every summer. They may be little, but they still eat their share of mosquitos. (and that's a happy thing)

I'm not sure what I'm planning on making out of these berries this year, but I'll keep you all updated on that!!!