Special Hatch DC- part 3

We do a number of special hatches here, yet hatching the eggs from other folks is more rare. Many of you saw the earlier posts about a special hatch for someone, using their own Dutch eggs.  Unfortunately, those were nt fertile, and since I was resetting more eggs in the incubator, I was able to start a few more for her again this evening.

Think good thoughts, we will share more when we candle them!

Sprouting Project, Side by Side Barley and Sunflower comparison part 2

The last I share photos on this topic was Thursday. For those of us working to learn all that we can about being able to afford to feed our livestock and produce food organically, with out soy, corn or gmos, the more we see of the process, the better.

Therefore, I am taking nightly photos of the identical bins that I started together, two of sunflower, tow of barley. The photos in the last edition of this series were from Thursday, so here is what has happened since...

On Friday night, there were clean thick short sprouts on the Sunflowers. While not much more than the day before, more of the seeds had the sprouts.

Also on Friday, lots of the thin shoots sprouting off the barley were filling in, up to and even over an inch in height. Lots of filling in to do, though!

On Saturday, the little sprouts were curling around the sunflower seeds.  Rather cute, really, but not much in terms of getting feed ready!  I have limited space, the longer the fodder takes, the more fodder containers I need in the setup.

The Barley is filling in, and was standing tall over an inch in height.

This was a few hours ago, with the sprouts beginning to stand up in the sunflower bins, more grasses filling in and height growing in the barley bins.

These are the four bins stacked together. I wish I knew the proper recipe for how thick to make the seeds in each fodder tray, but since I have not found that anywhere,  I am still experimenting! (If you happen to know, please share so we can all learn!)

Well, I am learning as I go, but certainly improving.  All knowledge is welcome, the more we share with others, the better we all do, and the more we learn from one another!

Leather fun!

Working our way through lessons, we still had to do a project with the leather circles they were assigned on Monday for the Friday meeting,  Because the leather circles weren't quite right for leather work, it had been suggested that they try to make leather roses of them.

They found some instructions on line, and started making the little clover-like circles needed while they were watching a movie about Westward Expansion. (Hopefully the movie helps with the position paper they have due to me Friday!)

After cutting out and soaking the pieces, they punched holes to make stems. I don't know if you can see the pieces, but another of my needles bit the dust in the making of this project...

I don't know if Shadow was just resting after a mad game of fetch, or if she was giving Wyatt the cold shoulder for paying more attention to the project than her...

THere wasn't a design for leaves so we created some.  There are still ribbons tied around the roses as they dry, but I will take a photo of the finished projects later.

Well, got a lot to do in the morning, so I suppose I had best get to bed!  Have a great night, and tomorrow I promise to post the photo contest!

Busy day, today!

Wow- what a crazy day! As we left home and all the animals to the boys and headed to town for the morning, Bailey and I laughed about me teaching a class format I hadn't taught in a while. It turned out, they were lots of fun!

After class, I stopped to get two new tires. Dealing with things like that is my least favorite activity, as I am stuck dealing with salesmen who have no written prices.  At least we have found an honest mechanic, but the things like this are moments I try so hard to put off!

After that, I picked up Bailey from class and  we stopped for Wyatt special order wood- big project on the horizon there. I look forward to seeing how it comes out!

Then we met up with our 4-H leader.  This silly girl and her roo came home with us as Bailey's backup showmanship bird, and to begin a project to see if our club can hatch and raise the birds needed for next year. There was a lot more info on that in a post just for them. =)

While they were settling in, we were doing chores. I ended up harvesting about half of what was left of the chard, as the chickens like it far better than the kids do! The other dark greens go over beautifully, but not those!

This is some of the brown seeded simpson which has been such an all-star around here.

Funny thing, I thought I planted broccoli there, but it sure doesn't look like broccoli to me! We did enjoy some yummy cauliflower tonight!  What is your favorite thing to do with cauliflower?

This cute little Brahma decided to make its entrance in the incubator. It ended up taking until midnight before it was ready to switch to the brooder, but it seems to be doing well

While I was inside bringing in the cauliflower and peeking at the little one, Wyatt started hollering for help.  When I asked him to look in the straw loft for hidden eggs, I did not intend for him to climb up there! But he did, and the ladder fell, so he was hanging out and waiting for me...

No, life is never dull around here. It seems like things are finally quieting down around here for the night, so I am thinking one more check outside and of the babies, then I get to sleep for a little while. 

Any silly antics going on at your house?

The Sprouting Project- Barley and Sunflower Comparison part one...

Yesterday, I put the new seeds in the sprouting boxes. Half have the barley, the other half have the sunflower seeds.  This is where they are as of this afternoon.

First is the barley...  some cute little shoots..

And now the sunflower... some nice little sprouts...

Sure, it is a little early to tell which will do better in this case, but it is fun to keep track and see what we get!

The Polish Project

After the freak loss of Bailey's little showmanship hen last week, she was down to her one and only backup bird for showmanship, and right before the 4-H ownership deadline for our county fair.  We were looking for another blue bantam Cochin hen, but didn't find any that would work alongside those she already had. Some cute ones, but not really what she needed.

Then I was talking with the 4-H leader about leg bands and some other things, and she said the club had been made an offer earlier yesterday. It seems that a local breeder was needing to refocus and downsize, and was going to offer the club a small flock of Polish in order to help the youth and carry on the line.

There was a cute little Splash colored hen, as well as a few white crested Black ones. And one Blue rooster.  There were a couple of other families who needed backups, as predators have been on an all out offensive lately, and a few odd things had happened.  But the leader wasn't sure what to do with the rooster, and part of the thought was that the youth would work with the breed.

To be honest, I don't know if she had already had the thought when she called or if it came in our talk, but we decided that one of the hens and the rooster would come here to our place, the birds could serve as my daughter's backup, and any chicks we could hatch out in our breeding program here would be next year's birds for youth in the 4-H club.

So, after teaching this morning, having a run in with the salesman at the tire store and picking up Wyatt's special order lumber, we met up with Connie along her road back from picking up the birds.  These two silly sweethearts have moved in to the quarantine pen as of this afternoon... 

FOr some reason, this boy really tried to escape when they were capturing him, but he rode home in Bailey's lap.  THe goofy hair has her talking about naming him torpedo.  Silly kid, silly bird, I guess, right? I suppose the silly name goes with it.

He really doesn't want to look at the camera for his cameo, though!

Here she is cuddling with the hen, who coincidentally rode home in my lap!  And for some reason, the name Checkers is rising to the surface as her name...

She kind of complied with looking at the camera, but it is pretty hard to see with those crazy Polish crests!

We will do our best to keep you up to date on this project.  Watch for the labels Polish Project, and others noted in this post, and feel free to follow the blog to keep up with the latest. 

Now it is time to let them settle in, and then hope for fertile eggs and a good time at the county fair!

This Morning's New Surprises...

This morning, at around six, the thumping in the incubator began...

With all of the pipping, I slept in the living room so I would sleep lightly enough to get up if anything needed my attention.  So at around six, the thudding began. So I got up, checked on the chick who was then jostling all the other eggs around, realized it was a Silkie, and then plugged int he brooder light to warm up for when the little one was dry.

Turns out, I needed the new light bulb I bought yesterday, the littler one wasn't enough in the Winter chill.

 Within a couple hours, the little chick was  wandering the brooder, giving the other one space to hatch without harassment.  The first chick was not happy about being on her own in the brooder, but made friends with the stuffed armadillo I put in the brooder, and then made friends with the thermometer, too.  

The kids got a good laugh out of that part, but hey, if they life at our house, they cannot be boring, right?

I snapped a couple pictures before leaving for the farmers market.  She was very content with the water, and made a few faces at me for the camera!

This is the other little one. She had just moved from the incubator when I was headed out. Apparently, the love for the thermometer and the armadillo flows in both of them!  Silly little ones.

Well, everyone is in the capable hands of the farm hands at home for now.  Plenty of eggs not in the incubator, too!  More adventures are always to come!

Just Another Day in Paradise...

Happy Monday night, everyone!

Bust day today, taught class, tried to run a couple errands, came home to homeschooling, then back to town for 4-H. On the way home, Wyatt had the photography bug, and was in the mood for stopping to chase the sunset along the way.  I was trying to help him learn angles, so I took this shot in the middle of it all.

Charlie was actually off today, and I had found some elk sirloin int he freezer the other day, so I put the meat in to marinate yesterday, prepped the potatoes and left him in charge of dinner! Apparently it was outstanding, this marinade got a BIG repeat vote!

Now I am up, working on a few things, being kept company by a couple goofy dogs...

But I am really pretty tired, so I think I will head to sleep! Here's to hoping we get lots dome tomorrow!  Have a great night!

Sunday was crazy, but time to let it go and get a little sleep!

Busy day in town today, but did get a few things done there, now I just need to get some things done here!

Finally got Wyatt a haircut tonight. I thought about taking a photo of the HUGE pile of his hair in the floor as I was sweeping it up, but thought better of it. I knew he was shaggy, but that was extreme!

I thought I was going to get to bed a bit earlier tonight, but while I was loading the dishwasher, Shadow let she and her brother out the back door.  I finished loading the dishwasher, called them back in, and figured I would peek int he incubator really quick.

See that at the top of the egg? That is a beak!  I realized that I was going to be reading that book I borrowed from Bailey for a bit, trying to decide whether I should wait up. But the chick is resting now, and could be a while, so I am going to go ahead and crash for a bit.

I did take the time to put two cups of each- sunflower seeds and barley- in to soak overnight.  I have heard that the sunflower seeds take a good bit longer than the barley.  So with the four big boxes ready to reload with seeds in the morning, I look forward to seeing them grow side by side so I can see for myself!

Well, I have to leave for work early, and get up in the morning to put Wyatt's morning lessons together to work on with his Daddy who will be home for the day, while Bailey and I go to my work then she will take her permit test. Hope you think good thoughts for her!  I will catch you all up later- 

Have a Great Night!!!

If Recipes Came with Warnings...

I got a magazine in the mail the other day. I don't often have much time for reading them, so was feeling a little guilty about that, and started to page through this one while waiting to have my blood drawn the other day.  A couple recipes caught my eye, including this one.

The recipe itself looked really cute, chocolate mouse in ice cream cones, dipped in chocolate and topped with almonds. But the recipe had a lot of crazy stuff in it, so I thought I could get by with a few substitutions. I figured I could buy some cute little ice cream cones, fill them with french silk made with simple pure ingredients, then dip in chocolate and top with almonds. Sounds simple enough, right?

I took time for extra refrigeration of the cones with the french silk before I dipped them in chocolate, as french silk can be quite touchy that way.  Wyatt was finishing some math, and getting pretty excited for dessert.  So I melted the chocolate and got going on dipping, which was a little too mess, and therefore I resorted to painting the chocolate on with a spatula and sprinkling the almonds on top.

I thought things would be fine, when I tried to return them to the fridge to harden more.

There was a crash, several fell out of the tray into the fridge, a few crashed on the floor.

Wyatt jumped up to stop Shadow from heading toward chocolate and helped me clean up the mess, securing the remaining for dessert.  

The ones I grabbed on the way down, came out rather lopsided.

Wyatt looked at me trying to decide what to do and said,

"It's a good thing recipes don't come with warnings, or people would never try them."

We both got a pretty good giggle. For someone who dislikes writing so, he has some pretty good one-liners! Had I known the outcome, I still would have played with this fun little recipe.  But there have been a few experimental recipes that might not have happened over the years.

So if you had realized things wouldn't turn out like the photo, is there anything you would not have tried? 

Planting Away...

I am a little behind again, will try to catch up in the next day =). Last week, I FINALLY got busy with pulling out the dead plants that were lost in the freeze (so much for the fancy freeze cloth.)  Then I got going, planting lettuce- spinach and the brown seeded simpson that worked so well last year, and the darker greens, the kale and something else I cannot recall right now.

The random head of lettuce in that planter above is from a leftover seed group that I must have missed when I let the brown seeded simpson go to seed last year so I could harvest seeds for this year. It volunteered and grew of its own, and really, with not much water!

Above is a more shallow planter, below is a planter that I put some seedlings into. While I have often been told that rhubarb cannot grow here, it needs to much shade, I stuck a rhubarb plant int he end, in the hopes that the pesky shade that caused trouble with the cucumbers last summer would help the rhubarb thrive. We shall see. Also, there are some cauliflower seedlings. With the love my crew seems to have for potatoes, I look forward to trying some substitute recipes!

I am starting to see little seedlings pop up as well, so we will see how it goes.  Hopefully, well!

We are getting better at the sprouting, though I am having trouble with the proper measurement guesses.  For those of you who also sprout, how deep of a layer do you use in your trays?

So, yesterday, I stopped to visit with the vampires. Okay, not really. Just the American Red Cross blood donation folks. The pint was done in under 7 minutes, and I was feeling pretty full of my abilities, so we ran a couple errands, and got home to try a couple new recipes.

I tried a new soup recipe- a tomato herb cream.  I thought it was rather good. Apparently I am the only one, but I suppose that means a few meals in these two jars, right?

Well, about the time I got dinner almost made, I got woozy. Guess I shouldn't have popped right up and tried to take on the world.  So I ended up in bed, got up for a couple minutes, and then ended back up in bed for the night.  This morning, I taught class, and did some cardio, and when we got home, the kids worked on schoolwork, and I packed up all the Christmas decorations. 

It is always sad, packing away the decorations, but it is nice to get things cleaned up and ready to go for another year.

Also going on today? I prepped the incubator for lock down, disposed of the eggs that weren't going anywhere, and got rid of the turner sections where I could. As I was doing it, I realized that one of them was pipping! It is a day early, but that one threw off a couple chunks of egg and now seems to be resting, so maybe it won't be early after all. I cannot wait to see what we will get!

Adventures in Homeschooling...

One of the advantages of homeschooling is that you can take all the time you want for a subject one day, and try lots of goofy experiments.  (Hence, the weird try to debunk the internet video bent we have been on in addition to our regular science this week!)

So yesterday, we tried to pop popcorn with cell phones. Some folks say that it works with higher output phones, citing Verizon, though these are all different Verizon phones.

We tried them calling each other, and with using a computer app to call one, too, but nothing happened.

The kids are wondering if the fact that we used older popcorn that I cane across a jar of while fixing the pantry last week had an effect, but  imagine not much.

Then, as we have this nice toasty space heater in the room where we do schooling, we put some in a paper bag and sat it in front of the heater on a stool and tried that.

Nope.  Though me might still try the solar version later in the week!

Wyatt read a whole chapter of science looking forward to this one-

Owl Pellets

They each got an owl pellet to leasure, weigh, dissect, and try to see what they had.

Wyatt loved finding jaw bones and skulls.

From the hay and grasses, they figure their owls lived near a barn and or grass fields.

Wyatt found three heads, but only one set of scapula.  In the end, they put their parts together to one complete one and a big pile of extra parts.

For as much as they like those who dunnit shows, its pretty clear here how the mice (they classified the skulls) died.

But they also determined that miscellaneous parts are either somehow digested, or regurgitated into several pellets.  Glad this was an outside experiment and a sunny day!