Another Weekend...

Another weekend sets with the sun...

Last week began in the low eighties temperature wise, but topped a hundred by Friday. That is a lot of adjustment, and with no coolers as of yet, we haven't been nearly as productive as we would have liked to have been. Nevertheless, we have enjoyed a little fun and a little progress...

On Friday night, Bailey and I attended and volunteered at home school graduation.  It was really beautiful, and very individualized. I love that the youth shared their interested and future plans, and that they shared scriptures and the parents wrote each child a blessing. 

While we were off enjoying that, the boys loaded a new shed on the trailer and brought it home. I think it will be greatly useful, once we figure out how to get it off the trailer!

Despite not getting home until half past midnight Saturday morning, I awoke to run errands around 7. Not the 5:30 I was hoping for, but got my plants watered and animals fed and headed in to market on the move. Armed with four boxes, I went to go meet with some folks.about a free futon frame.  It was strong and sturdy, but will need a good painting - sounds like a perfect job for Wyatt. We bought the primer after church on Sunday, so once he gets that done he will decide whether to camo paint it or go single color so that it works with the camo bedding he really wants on it!

Wyatt will graduate from Sunday School up into the youth group in a couple weeks, but has decided that he really likes hanging out with the younger youth too, so he has volunteered to be a helper in the class while Bailey is teaching. Since they hadn't found a regular teacher to work with Bailey in the four and five year old classroom, this gave me time to join her, so we are now official. Bailey is really excited about doing the lesson planning and teaching with them!

After church, we picked up Wyatt's paint and a few other things, then went by the grand opening of the new tractor supply. Wyatt found a chicken feeder he thinks we should try in the big pen, and Bailey saw these pop top inspired table and chairs she wanted a photo of for future project inspiration.  Many of us were wondering what this would mean fr local feed stores, and aside from being open on Sunday, I don't think too much. THat have some neat things you don't already see around here, and I am told you can get a great price on hog panels for projects, but aside from that, they don't presently carry organic, and I don't see itt really competing with much of what I find locally. (Yay, local!)

I had been wanting to try some of that orange organic/ green cleaner folks keep talking about, so I looked up the recipe and threw some in a caning jar. Now, to wait two weeks and run an experiment on what it does and doesn't work on! Anyone have any advice for me on this one?

I moved the stack of fodder trays to a new spot, on top of the chest freezer, and brought back the older boxes. The open sided trays are allowing them to dry out too much. I have been researching and talking with Bailey about putting together a drop irrigated full system, this is our last set of comparison trials before that.  Everything we have in there right now is wheat for sprouting.

This two boxes of tomatoes we knew would have a lot of ones for the chickens. I also knew that with no cooler and the sudden heat, the good ones wouldn't keep long, so I took what I needed for a few night's dinners, turned the other good ones into tomato sauce, and sent the rest to the chickens!  Happy chickens, and a happy canning moment.

Shine and his brother Freedom's Prayer continue to grow and show their little personalities. We didn't get their weights done, so we will have to do feed and weight and an update on Monday.  Little Shine loves his playtime out in the pen, and his time racing Shadow through the yard.

Shine also especially loves playing with his patient old crazy aunt Treasure. Treasure and his mama, Silver, share a dam, while Treasure and Glory share a sire. 

We had really hoped to get more done on the doe barn, but hte heat made us a little nervous about doing quite that much exacting stuff over our heads when we continue to feel like we cannot possibly drink enough water. But we have more evening time at home Monday night, and hope to get the second roof truss up.

 We did, however, get the roof support we had been talking about in to the new project pen. I also got the door turned around, since I had it opening into an area where the roof hadn't been planned to be so high. After that, I might be able to get in an hour on it in bursts today, and the kids can start priming and painting their design for the front!

The cooler evening times go quickly. Still, we will post grades at the college this week, so I am looking forward to a little more time at home with the kids to get caught up on the school work and get through these big projects. I also need to get to several more!

Anoth good part about working outside in the evenings is the beautiful sunsets here.

I think the animals enjoy them just as much as we do, with Powerstroke smiling away and the animals coming into their energy as the earth cools and the sky turns its colors.

Well, now it is time to get moving into another wild week! All the best to all of you!

A Late Spring Update on the Sprout and Fodder Project

Yesterday, I was out working on chores while Bailey was walking her goat, when I found her chatting with a neighbor. It turns out we all have quite an interest in organics and grass fed livestock. We were talking about this project, and whether there was a way to use something similar, on a larger scale to raise grass fed livestock. That is still beyond either of our leagues, but it reminded me about this update I had begun earlier in the week...

On Thursday, this was the growth in one of the barley sprouting trays.  While the sprouts were tall, they seemed rather sparse in the tray,to my eye.

This was the growth in a tray of sunflower seeds begun the same day, though I didn't remember the day I had begun them. While the sunflower sprouts are shorter, and behind in growth cycle, they seemed thicker to me, sparking a talk with the kids.

Wyatt pulled a sprout or two from each, and laid them on the counter. The sunflower sprout is measurably thicker, and while it looks as long as the barley sprout, it is one of the very few tall sprouts from that tray. Some of them were still barely sprouting.

We talked about the trays starting on the same day, and I hadn't written down when the day was. We also talked about how I hadn't exactly measured how much I had used. I knew it was somewhere between 1.5 and 2 cups, but not if they were exactly the same.

Could that have had an effect? Well, we decided to go about it a little more scientifically, and began prepping the next two trays to start for the next cycle.

I started with two identical canning jars.

I measured two cups of sunflower seeds.

Into the jar they went.

Then two cups of barley.

Into the jar they went.

Then the seeds were rinsed and went in to soak on the counter.

When they were ready, they went into the trays on Friday,  We will weigh and measure the feed we gt from them, and share what we learn! Have you done similar experiments? What have you learned? Any other tricks to share?

Sprouts and Seedlings and Reaching for Spring

Some of you have been following or helping me with the sprouting project. The goal here is that because feeding our chickens all organic, soy-free, corn-free, non-GMO feed is so expensive, we are looking for healthy ways to give the chickens high quality feed without losing money on each dozen of eggs and while maintaining the standard of living we want for the flock, with natural poultry behaviors encouraged and lots of space. That is, of course, easier said than done.

We recently switched to a new sprouting tray type. This is the first new tray we have had grow and be ready to feed. The chickens really enjoyed it yesterday!

Some of the others really are taking their time to sprout. I am trying to get it all down to a system, and I will post a chart if I can get a definite one going.

this was right before I took the tray out yesterday, with the sprouted grass growing right through the top!

I don't think I have the stuff right yet, though, because I had quite a time getting the sprouts and the roots off the mesh I put in the bottom of hte tray. Going to have to check back with my mentors on that.

Have a BIG problem with a couple of sneaky chickens eating my seedlings! Managed to cover one of the planters, though it may be too late. I don't have any way to cover the greens where they plowed through much of the spinach and some of the kale yesterday. Any ideas for me? That is on the list this afternoon. Step one will be finding how they are sneaking out, though I think they have help from other flock members!

Well, I have lots more fun stuff to share, but will be glad to learn and share along with you all so we can all do better for our flocks!

Lov eto all.

All the News that's Fit to Print?

There is always something going on around here! Had to share this photo- the green egg on the left came from one of the Ameraucanas in the big pen. Wyatt is saving it for his Papa, who says the double yolkers come from brown eggs. (Wyatt has read the info, he is trying to prove it to his Papa that it can happen to any hen, more likely as they age.)

Tuesday was my last day at the Marana Farmers Market. The market, until now run by the food bank, will move to a farm stand down the road, for a weekly farmers coop outside of the farms store.  While I plan to call them soon, I really don't know anything about it as of yet.

I took a moment leaving the market and heading off to teach to enjoy and take a few photos of the sunset. What a beautiful evening! 

I love the glow behind the telephone poles here.

My friend Mai traded me some of these baskets that she and some of the other girls are using for sprouting. For some reason, after being sick, and scrubbing and restarting my sprouting things, something in the equation had changed and they were not sprouting except very sparsely, so it was time for a change!

The baskets are a little big in weave on the bottom, so some folks use paper towels on the bottom, which can stick to the base of the seed bed, but Charlene has been using plastic needlepoint canvas successfully as a liner, so as long as I was redesigning, I thought I would try to do it right. 

After cleaning the baskets, I pulled out some of the extra large needlepoint canvas and began trimming to fit the bottom of the basket. The sides still have holes too, so some are using this system and putting the seeds closer to the center, or recognizing that they will have to water the trays and recover some of the seeds until the seed bed begins to root.

I trimmed two sheets down until they would fit in the baskets.

I traced the second onto a third canvas for the next round of seeds, but didn't cut it yet in case I decide I need to change it a little over the first couple days of watering.

This is how it looked before I added the barley.

The seeds in the basket/ tray.

The bottom tray all covered up.

The first two trays stacked. I will add to the bottom of the stack as I go and add to the trays in the system.

These were the old ones, they have been empties into the compost and are going to be switched to plant start duty I believe...

Wyatt has been sick, and Shadow Paws is a little stir crazy as well as really protective of her favorite human.  Wyatt is in the process of redesigning his room and bed, and had a box of tissues next to his bed with a box for garbage. 

While Wyatt was in the shower, Shadow decided to remove as many tissues as she could from the box. Gotta love our four footed friends!

Oh, I almost forgot- Mai also brought me a bamboo plant. While we are working on a big project, I cannot seem to decide where it will go, so it is being watered by the back porch so I don't forget about it =).

Last night we were out working on this special project again. Got a bit to go on it, and we need to get it primed and hopefully painted before rain comes in. So, how do you get the rain to finally come to the desert? Start an outdoor wood project at our house, and/ or plan an outdoor activity for the home school teens!

The geese felt the need to supervise our work and occasionally bicker in the middle of it.

We got hte wooden panel standing up, and were affixing it to the fence frames here.  The sunset through the doors was rather funny!

We got it attached on one side, still working on the other this morning, hopefully a little roofing done, too, we shall see!

There is always something to keep us on our toes and working around here, but we learn while we work and have fun together! Here's to hoping we get more done today, and knowing htat life will take us where it will. Have a wonderful Thursday!

Love to all.

Friday Saturday Fun Time and Chore Time!

A happy beautiful morning to everyone!  I love watching the sunrise while I do morning chores!

These are the little tomato starts growing along int he kitchen on the window seat.  They are growing much more slowly now, I will be so excited to move them outside!

Bailey, Wyatt and I went to the Desert Museum on Friday with the 4-H Photography group. We had a great time in beautiful weather.  This is a sculpture by where they do the raptor free flight display.

This mountain lion seems to love attention!

With the rodeo in town, folks are moving their wagons to town for the parade, we followed these two from the hills by the museum.

A very happy (and decorative, thanks to his love of the stamps around the museum) boy passed out on the road home.

While I was out watering and doing chores, I caught the rising moon and sure enjoyed the beauty.

This is my little asparagus patch. I am thinking of expanding it to the left.

more of the moon rising as it grew dark

my "tattooed" boy being silly

We enjoyed a sunshine cake as a family.  I used the hearts my mom tried, and thankfully Charlie and the kids didn't mind that it came out fo the pan a little lopsided.

The barley I had soaking was ready, so more of the newly scrubbed fodder boxes went back into service!

Saturday, I stewed tomatoes and canned 7 quarts of tomato sauce!  Then, I found another box of tomatoes... yup that's me!

I am also trying a green bean salad experiment. We will see how it goes!

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday! Love to all!