Chrysalis

We were given four chrysalis in a plastic container. Three are hanging from the lid and one is attached to the popsicle stick. We do not know what type of butterflies they will be but we are eagerly awaiting the day they will emerge - anyone want to take a guess?

Garden's a growin'

 The garden's growing by leaps and bounds lately especially the squash which probably had something to do with the massive amounts of rain we received.

 My mouth waters just thinking about the Butternut, yellow summer, romanesco, zucchini, white scallop and rampicante squash we'll be harvesting in the next couple of months!

We are trying luffa this year and if we have success you will have a chance to win some for yourself.

 The Rampicante squash we have growing on a vine as it will overtake everything in it's path- similar to Little Shop of Horrors! The squash will get to be around 2- 3ft long and you can harvest them as a summer squash or a winter squash- how cool is that! I plan on having a seed giveaway of this awesome squash.

Then there's the tomato plants Cherry, Roma and Black Krim. I can't wait to bite into the red juiciness fresh from the dirt in my little old garden! ( I bet your mouth is watering about now! )

The thyme plant from last year is in full bloom now. I love to take some red wine vinegar dressing or balsalmic vinagrette and put some fresh thyme gently crushed into the bottle and let it's tasty flavoring intermingle in the dressing. Give it some time in the bottle the longer it's in there the stronger it'll taste.

The lettuce patch is doing great and the cabbage is getting big (think corned beef and cabbage with onions, potatoes and carrots). All the cucumber plants have a bunch of flowers on them. I hope we have better success this year with the cucumbers.

We have a few rogue tomato plants that came up from last year, which in my opinion is awesome. Can you spot the tomato plant in the lettuce patch?

Mega lettuce harvest!

Here's yet another delicious lettuce harvest from our little garden. This tasty stuff is so easy to grow too! The count is up to five large family bowl servings ( for my family of five ). 

The life of a barn cat

The life of a barn cat- lounging around the hay loft, keeping company with other barn friends and catching an occasional mouse that dares to enter her domain. I'm really kind of jealous of her life due to the fact that she gets to lay around on a beautiful spring day cleaning herself while a gentle breeze blows softly through the corridor. She can curl up in the cozy warm hay on a brisk fall morning as crisp leaves are gently tousled past the double doors by a gentle breeze. During a blistery winter storm she will be safe within those four walls of her barn.

What a life.

Finally!

Finally the girls are in their chicken coop! I thought this moment would never happen *sigh of relief*. They've been going from a box in the house at night into a cat carrier to transport them into a temporary fenced in area outside. There is still some work to be done but they are safe inside and no creatures will be able to get them. The coop is still perched at the end of the driveway but that will be easy to fix as we built it to be able to move with our bobcat so we can move it where ever they need to go and also whenever we move.

They love their little house!

The barn

The smell of fresh cut hay in the hay loft.

The low rustle of livestock.

The yawn of a barn cat.

All these things brings life to the barn.

Dead tired

Ever been so dead tired you swear you could fall asleep standing up?

That's been me the last couple evenings, ugh!

A good read: Keep Chickens!

Keep Chickens! by Barbara Kilarski is for all you city dwellers and those with a relatively small space. It's directed to all those who (or hope to)  tend small flocks in cities, suburbs and other small spaces. This book is well written and has a retro feel to it, which I love. She also included an overview of a couple breeds which is very helpful in selecting what breeds will be best for you. It's a good idea to check your city codes before taking the plunge and if you live close to your neighbors you might want to make sure they are ok with it. You can also get great ideas from the pics of coops which have the very basic coop to the very extravagant.

Barbara, who's chicken's names are Zsa Zsa, Whoopee and Lucy, has included alot of interesting facts and tidbits throughout her book and once your girls start laying eggs you can use the egg recipes included as well. If you get your hands on this book make sure to try the Quesadilla Scramble, Quiche with Sausage and Asparagus and the Flourless Chocolate Raspberry Cake YUM!

Childhood memories

Childhood memories.

Sometimes they are stirred from the aroma of a certain food Grandmother had often made, or perhaps a certain  saying a loved one always said. Maybe a certain song on an old record played on the family's prized Victrola brings pleasant memories of singing and dancing, or even just having a giant slice of watermelon on a hot summer day and seeing who could spit the pits farther. There is nothing like going about your day and unexpectedly have something trigger a fond memory from bygone days. Those times always seem to make your day brighter.

Some of my favorite times are spending a day at my Grandparents home where I learned to make cookies, where I was taught how to sew, where I learned to garden and I was told stories about living on a farm in Virginia. I was fortunate enough to grow up learning how to raise farm animals. All those things that I learned are all things that I absolutely love to this day and what makes me who I am. What are your fondest memories?

Almost done

Here's some pics of the progress made on the coop that I promised.

We put in the linoleum flooring today which will make cleaning up alot easier. I had primed all but 2 exterior walls, all in all it's coming together nicely!

Melted crayons

With school coming to a close for us we often wind up with a huge pile of crayons either broken or almost brand new. I have come up with a fun solution for this end of school problem that kids enjoy doing.  

You will need to remove the paper from ALL of them. I (not the kids) do this with a razor blade that I slice down the paper on the crayon to make it easier to remove. Then we sort them all out by color which makes it nicer for the kids to select from. I spray a mini muffin tin with a non stick spray or use some shortening. Then the kids break the crayons as they go and add bits and pieces of crayons into a mini muffin pan. I have found that the more inexpensive brands are more likely to stain the tin, so we only use the name brand crayons. 

I then put the tins into a warm oven, about 250* F and will remove them when the crayons are melted. Be careful when removing as the hot wax can spill and burn. Let cool completely before removing (do not use ice to cool as the crayons will crack). Turn upside down and hit on a hard surface like a counter top to remove. The best part of all is to see how your new crayons turn out!

One additional thing we do is to rub the top part of the crayon onto a piece of paper to flatten the edge a bit.

Gardens and chickens

 The weather has gotten drier and warmer this week, thank goodness! I was able to get a bit more done on the coop. So far this week walls, windows and exterior trim in the chicken coop are completely finished. We went thru a gallon of primer already but the coop is only 80% primed. Today I screwed down the floor in the chicken coop and hopefully this weekend the vinyl will get installed. We need to attach the doors and get some wood for the ceiling  to keep the creatures from trespassing and making one (or all) of our pullets (young female chickens) a midnight snack. I promise to post some pics the next day or so for all to see the slow progress I am making!

This evening we did add a new bed for our herbs and to thin out our lettuce bed a bit. My sister recently moved and gave me what I thought was mint, but after transplanting it into the herb bed my cat proved me wrong- it was really catnip! We put some great mushroom soil into the bed, which we had also put into the other beds last year and had great success. I planted half of the herbs tonight that were waiting to be planted and will finish tomorrow. This morning I watered the garden with Fish Emulsion and I swear the plants grew today, though i am sure all the rain we've had really was the reason.

 Apparently last year I missed some potatoes, so we can now add potatoes to the list of veggies. Hopefully this year we won't grow any R rated potatoes, which my husband thoroughly enjoyed showing everyone he could. The girls are getting big and have been enjoying their days outside basking in the sun and unfortunately trespassing into the garden. Can't wait til the little brats get too big to squeeze through the fence!

What a wonderful evening we had here. I love it when the heat of the day dies and the coolness of evening sets in with the frogs and bugs singing merrily deep within the woods. It's nights like tonight that I desperately wish for a hammock to softly sway my tired body while I listen to our creek bubbling it's little secrets one after another. Deep beyond the woods our peacock friends shout out like the old time newspaper boys sharing their most important message of the day. Enjoy, the weekend is finally here!

Leafy goodness

I had harvested our third bowl of lettuce so far this year which feeds my family of five. In my garden I have quite alot of things growing but I would be equally happy if I only harvested lettuce all season long. There is something fantastic about eating the fresh stuff straight from the dirt at dinner time, or a crisp leaf in your sandwich at lunch. It's so refreshingly juicy and to top it off it's free of pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers.

We put mushroom soil in the raised beds and mixed in some local clay soil. The stuff is great I watered half as much as the stuff growing in the clay soil. We planted Black Seeded Simpson, A Burpee Looseleaf Blend (Black Seeded Simpson, Red Salad Bowl, Royal Oak Leaf, Lolla Rossa and Salad Bowl), A Burpee All Season Butterhead Mix (Four Seasons, Arctic King, Bibb, Butter Crunch, Matchless and North Pole), Spinach and 12 plants popped up from a multi colored lettuce that the previous renters left behind. I personally love the seed packet mixes (except the mesclun salad mixes- only arugula seems to grow for me) you get more for your money      and the variety looks great in your bowl. The best thing about lettuce is you can harvest in about a month or less!

Crazy hair day... every day!

She is  a White Polish Chicken and she's got an attitude to match her big hairdo!

Did they run out of fence?

Sloowww progress

This rain has put a major kink in completing the chicken coop. If this rain doesn't stop we may have to build an ark instead! Despite all the wet stuff we did score four free windows for the coop! How awesome is that!

As of this morning we have 1 1/2 of the 3 we are planning on installing, one is complete and one needs tweaking. The tar paper is up and the shingles and drip edge will be installed today and hopefully the windows will be complete. We are more than happy to accept any help at this point, so if you can help we'll pay you with some future eggs! 

Fresh picked lettuce

Last night we had our first salad fresh from our garden! Gardening is very  rewarding. You can grow your own food knowing what was and wasn't sprayed or applied to it. So if you don't have a garden it's not too late to start one in the ground or even in some pots. Whatever your method you will reap what you sow!

Rainy playdate

Around here we've been rained out all week and the girls haven't been able to go outside to play and stretch their wings. The only alternative that I could think of is let them have some playtime in the laundry room.

One big tip I learned is to clean up any accidents right away as all of them will step in it and make a huge mess in no time! The kitten loved this because he could watch them in action and we got a laugh watching them run and slip up and down the linoleum!

A good read: Eat More Dirt

Eat More Dirt by Ellen Sandbeck was the latest book to grace my bookshelf. 

Ellen describes ways to grow and take care of a organic garden. She writes in a entertaining and whimsical way which makes this a breeze to read. Not only does she touch upon the basics like pruning and how to manage pests, but she also lists pre and post- gardening stretches to do as well. If The joy of not mowing the lawn, What's your soil type? and  Mulch- breakfast of champions interests you, then this book is for you.

Super veggies

Here is a little something I thought you might like, a time lapse of some bush beans which I think is pretty cool!


http://youtu.be/W-FO8tZQGfk

Chicken Coop Progress

We're making progress on the chicken coop. The crates have been deconstructed and the walls are coming together nicely. The first layer of plywood roof is almost complete as this free plywood is only 1/4" we're making it sturdy by doubleing it up. Then there's the door, windows, vents and painting to do. Really we are only about half way done, but I am soo excited that we are getting near the finish line. The girls don't know it yet but they're going to love their new house!

The seven little dwarfs are almost completely feathered out and have seriously outgrown their box. They are acting more like big chickens now than cute little innocent balls of fluff. As soon as I remove the wire lid a couple of them  fly out of the box attracting the attention of the kitten, Diesel. After I finally change their box with paper towels and round them up, they start scratching it all up and immediately make a mess again.

We let them outside every afternoon that's pleasant enough into a fenced off area in the yard and let them do what chickens do: Scratch, flap their wings, and ofcourse poop! It gives them a chance to get acclimated to being outside and get some much needed excercise. They know the routine that when they get put into the cat carrier they are going outside and some of them fly onto the edge of the box and hop right in! It's neat seeing each of them develop little personalities and quirks. I can't wait til I can sit in my backyard and watch them running around having fun... that my friends is called Farm T.V.

A beautiful day

When things get crazy in our fast paced, stressed out lives it's nice to stop for a moment, take a deep breath and appreciate the small, often overlooked details around us. It could be a photo of a loved one, a treasures family heirloom, or simply the billowy cotton candy clouds above our heads on a beautiful day.  

The beauty of nature

A good read: Organic Manifesto

I recently read The Organic Manifesto by Maria Rodale.

This book, in my opinion, is an eye opener regarding organic vs. herbicide/pesticide rich foods that are 'the norm' in our grocery stores. It sings the praises of having mycorrhizal fungi in soil, which is lacking in soils where pesticides, etc are used. One interesting fact The Organic Manifesto brought out is that certain strains of soil borne bacteria not only stimulate the human immune system, but also boost serotonin levels ( low serotonin levels are tied to depression ). Eating veggies that were grown organic have far reaching benefits to us and our earth. I always look for books that can help me grow in one aspect or another in my life. It's a book I couldn't put down and made me want to do more than I am already doing now.

Lazy weekend

Today was the end of our lazy weekend  before the rush of work and school starts all over again. It was warm and beautiful outside and the girls got a treat of going outside and tromping in the lush grass (and parts of the grass got fertilized). Progress was made on the chicken coop, so far we haven't bought any materials, and soon the roof will be on YAY! Only 2 more weeks before the chicks are out in the new coop if I can wait that long. The box they're in is getting a little cramped and they are having fun trashing it as soon as I change the paper towels.

Hope your weekend was as relaxing as ours! (Isn't this warm weather wonderful?)

New Beginnings

It seems that there are alot of new beginnings lately, of course the most obvious one is Spring and all the lush green around us. All those ready for winter to finally be over with and those over used snow shovels happily stashed away deep within the garage. For other it may mean new lambs or chicks filling the old barn, the next generation continuing the cycle of producing eggs, meat, milk and enjoyment to their owners.

 There are also new beginnings together, starting out as a newly married couple, full  of dreams and ambitions and hopeful of what the future will hold for them like the new couple Prince William and Kate and of course the constant TV coverage of what she'll wear, who is attending and the possibility of her being Queen someday.

For some of those who's loved one perished at 9/11 the news of Osama's death is in a way a new beginning too. Perhaps being able to move forward with their lives, knowing their loved ones killer can never strike again. For all those children who are cheering at the death of a killer who took the life of a dear parent that they will never get to know.

For me it's a new live brought into the world, a new nephew to spoil and enjoy watching him as he starts one of his many new beginnings...life.

A gardeners DIY seed packet

At some point in time many gardeners will get the seed saving disease, so here I present a cure. A warning must be issued at this point:

WARNING: The following cure, if made in excess may lead to a home over run with seeds and your significant other forever lost amongst them!  

 Many gardeners (and aspiring gardeners out there) will find this DIY seed packet comes in handy. I have used this not only for seeds but also for beads, small nails and even earrings.  This packet is soo easy my kids can make them and once you know this trick you'll be making them in the dark, blindfolded with your hands tied behind your back! (well you get the idea) This will become your preferred seed storage method, so go grab a regular sheet of paper (8.5" X 11") and some scissors and we'll get started.

 

First fold paper to square it off as shown and cut off excess. The bottom of the seed packet is the long folded end you just made.

 

You will then fold the bottom edge in thirds.

 Take one of the folded points and slip it inside the other. It should then look like pic on right.

Take the bottom and fold it up to where the folds come to a point.

 Then fold the top points down over the top.

Separate the top points to place the seed inside (where the leaf is shown in pic).

To close securely: In the pic notice the space at the bottom of packet- that is where the top points will be slipped into. Tip: When removing the top points you can accidentally rip the diagonal fold inside it and you may want to put a piece of tape inside the space or just switch the corner points ( I showed you placing right into left pics #4 & 5).

  

Hope this gardeners tip comes in handy for you!

Let me know what you think!

My perfect spring dress

Now that spring has finally arrived I am eager to pull out my perfect spring dress that I made.  The dress pattern is by Mc Call's pattern number 5094 dress D. It's made with weather appropriate breathable cotton fabric that I love. When using this pattern if you need to make changes in the chest section and have already sewn the waist section in place you'll have to rip it all out. It can be a nightmare in that it's a section by section sewn top to bottom construction. My tip when sewing dresses is to spend the extra money on fabric for a built in slip.

Of course my dress is not complete without a cute shrug that I had knitted. I simply found the pattern on the net by searching for shrugs or you can also check out your local yarn shop. It was easy to construct as it's a rectangle that's been sewn up approx. 3" on both long ends and I tacked the center edge back for a stay put collar. Shrugs are very versatile and handy for chilly evenings so go grab your needles and get to work!

A big Thank you to my daughter who did an awesome job on the photography :)

Better

We as humans are always trying to do better, whether it's eating better, being better parents, getting down to a better dress (or pants) size or even getting that better job title. One thing is for certain no matter what our ultimate goal is we should take small steps otherwise we are more likely to hit that brick wall of failure.

I for one have had at times an overwhelming urge to take huge leaps ahead. Who ever it was that said we must first learn to crawl before we can learn to walk was right. My successes all stem from reaching many small goals. For my eating habits I've succeeded at eating a salad with every dinner, I have been able to cut out all soda (except maybe at restaurants), and limit potato chips and candy. These baby steps are a lifestyle change and not a 'diet' which always seems to end in failure.

I've also made it a habit to grow as much veggies as I can, to compost food scraps, use natural fertilizers like fish emulsion, and now have added raising chickens for eggs, manure and meat (doubt we'll ever eat the kids chickens tho).

What ever your goals are start small and soon sweet success will greet you right around that corner. So, what is your first baby step to success?

Joel is the man

I love Joel Salatin and his way of farming at Polyface farm. This is in my opinion how all farms should be run. If more farmers changed to a more earth friendly way of raising livestock and growing crops more organically maybe the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico would slowly shrink in size. If pesticide, herbicide and fertilizer use lessened maybe the human race would not face so many health problems.