December Begins

With the cooler weather and lately, the rain, I am spending less time with the chicks than I would like. They are letting me know that they do not appreciate it either. Oh I take them extra treats but still Turkey girl follows me around talking to me in a voice that almost sounds like a cry. She is a mess! She tattles on her sisters constantly.

I had started the deep litter method in the hen house but we have had to add a twist. Because of all the wet weather lately the run is muddier than any of us are happy with. We have started raking some of the inside litter out into the run, under the covered area just outside the house, to give them something other than mud to run around on. Then I just replace the missing litter with new pine chips. We tried the straw and it would have been good but the wet conditions kind of made it hold moisture, which I was not happy with. I spread DE into all of it to try and help get it a bit more dry and it seems to have helped some. Silly me, I was worried about how they would dust bathe with all the mud. They are just finding a spot in the hen house to bathe, they enjoy that the litter is deeper and they burrow out a hole and go to town, throwing litter every where. The bad part is that the favorite place to take a bath seems to be just inside the door and when I want in, they do not necessarily want to move to oblige me.

I am already dreaming of next spring and the garden we will have. The seed catalogs call to me but there is so much else to be done. That and everytime I stuff some money aside for my endeavors, the kids need something. For some reason they seem to think shoes are important, and a band trip in the spring has sprung up also. Oh and the birthdays are coming on, starting with Miss Sarah in a couple of weeks. Oh well, I can dream and make my plans anyway.

The dogs are loving the cooler weather, Sunshine wants to play frisbee or with a soda bottle every time we go out there. Their whole bodies wiggle when they see us, it is cool. I think I can relate on some level to how happy they get, I felt that way as I watched my husband and kids leave my house yesterday after five days home for everyone. lol I love having them home but there are things to be done and not much gets done other than playing keep up when they are here.

Well time for morning chores so stay warm and have a beautiful day.

Reducing and Preserving

I am on a mission. The mission is to recycle, compost or repurpose as much as possible. It is astounding how much we have reduced our trash. Of course we try to cut back on the amount of pre-processed foods we use as well and that helps a lot. The opportunity to get creative in the re-purpose part is kind of fun. The real process does not start when you have trash, the process really starts when you decide you NEED something. The question that begins it all is: Is this a necessity or not? Do I already have something on hand that can work or is there another way to go about this? It really is amazing the answers you will come up with and the amount of trips to the store you can reduce.

Now, it is exciting when you run across something you never knew before. This year we were able to start canning some of our food and look forward to doing even more next year. I grew up in a home where most of our food was canned or frozen. I NEVER knew you could freeze eggs! Did you? Not in the shell of course, they would explode. If you want to know how to do it go HERE. It is my understanding that eggs will do well like this for up to six months. This was music to my ears because our hens have been really being generous with the eggs and we have not built up a client list of buyers. I would hate for them to go to waste, this way they don't have to.

Kids! Feathered and otherwise.

The weather has gotten colder and the days are shorter. This means that even with the timer on the lights the chickens are spending more time indoors. I think some of them are getting a bit short with each other, one girl has become a full on bully. I have been turning their dirt and sprinkling clover inside the hen house so that it gives them something to do and they won't get bored, but to no avail. I am not spending as much time with them lately because I am sick and they almost act like kids when they feel ignored.

The other day I was turning the dirt, or I guess I should say TRYING to turn the dirt, and while they all stay in front of the shovel, one even rides the shovel so she can get her claws in the break of the dirt to help turn it (I guess I don't go fast enough), Turkey girl was instead following along beside me. The whole time she is looking at me and talking, it was like she was tattling that the others would not let her get to the bugs. Those chickens are funny birds.

Sarah has been having a tough time with feeling she doesn't have a spot. Taylor is the oldest and she has band and is gone a lot. Daniel gets lots of attention because of his diabetes and Asperger's. Sarah does not see her specialness. I tried to get her in the SibSaturday program at Vandy but I was very disappointed in the chaos of trying to jump through all the hoops. So I came up with a different idea. Sarah is going to be my apprentice. After afternoon chores the kids wanted hot chocolate to warm up. I told Sarah I would show her my secret to making the best hot chocolate ever and she was very excited that only she would know, not Taylor and not Daniel, just her. So I told her that I have many things that my Grandmother taught me that I could teach to her and her eyes lit up. So I think we may have our answer. Of course I did not know that Daniel was hearing the conversation and later he addressed it. He asked me, "You know when people die they leave boxes?" I said, "What boxes?" "You know they leave people stuff in a box." "OK" "Well, when you die you are going to leave Sarah a box of recipes huh?" The way Daniel sees things is pretty black and white. I hope that what I leave all of them is more than a box of stuff, I hope that I leave them with some wisdom, some history, some life lessons and a ton of love to last them their whole lives.