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.

The Great Pancake Race

Okay, so not the best photos, here! Tuesday was National Pancake Day. Been a crazy week of sick kids, extra work issues, and just lots to do, so we are just getting to the fun of it.

Have you ever had a pancake race at church? There is this old story about a pancake dinner on Shrove Tuesday, where a woman was running so late she ran down the street flipping the pancakes in the pan. I remember when we ere in California, our church had a big fun event, and among the things we did was a pancake race through the church parking lot.  We flipped pancakes and ran down the race course, trying to keep the pancake flipping and get across the finish line first.

So after chores last night, I made the first of the pancakes for dinner. Then Wyatt set up a course, and we took turns running the course and flipping pancakes while timing on another.

Bailey has a pretty good time, at 14 seconds, once Wyatt stopped sending Shadow to steal the pancake.

Wyatt reran the course at 13 seconds, and threatened to eat the pancake before I could run the course.

Wyatt decided to use defensive maneuvers on me while I ran, but then I ran it in 12 seconds once I was just trying to defend against Shadow the pancake thief.

We had a good time in the end, and I would love to do it with them again!

Do you have any fun silly traditions for Lent or other times?

Patriot's Dream Farm Baby Animal Photo Contest!

We are so excited to share with you our new contest!

It is baby chick time around here, and hopefully soon to be baby goat time, too! With all the cuteness on overload, we love to live vicariously with all the other baby animals of our friends!

Therefore, we are having a photo contest! Share with us your photo of baby animals, and vote for your favorites (get your friends to vote, too!) The baby animals can be any baby animals- farm animals, wild animals, zoo animals, dogs, cats, etc...- but the photo do have to be your own original work, not used to win another contest previously. (Seems fair, right?)

Lucky winners will be selected by the greatest number of votes. Following are the prizes...

A chicken charm bracelet from the Suburban Chicken Coop

Copper and Swarovski Crystal Thunderbird Earrings from Patriot's Dream Farm

One of two Soap/ Lotion Bar 2- Packs from Patriot's Dream Farm

A Patriot's Dream Farm tote bag!

That's all there is to it! The link to enter follows here, so have fun, share your favorite photos, and share and vote! Have lots of fun and thanks for sharing a little of your life with us!

Patriot's Dream Farm BABY ANIMAL PHOTO CONTEST!

Fun, Work, and a Little More Progress...

I have to admit, I am stressing over the doe barn, but I am still working on the plans for the new one, and the does here are staying away with the things Bailey put out to rope them off from the fallen barn.With so many projects going on, we are trying to work on getting the partially complete projects off hte list to make room for the materials and work space for the doe barn while we work on drawing it out and wait for a few calls back. 

That said, we have six two month old chicks on the back porch, and six more in the brooder inside.  It is really rather perfect, the way the spacing is working out, because I definitely prefer the smaller number of chicks in the brooder for the ability to give the little ones space!

I really love the photo of the two above. Yet, I also love seeing them all run around, too!

We began putting the roof on the special project pen. The pens put together will be breeding and grow out space for the chickens the kids are working with.

We got about half of the roof on, and will get more done tomorrow morning.  Anyone want to guess what that tangled mass of metal was which is behind the grow out pen on the other side of the roof we were working on?

Lots more to do, but sure made a dent today, and we got to debate a few options for the new doe barn while we were working.

I didn't realize how blurry this was! The kids were laughing through the work as the sun was giving up on us. Bailey was helping me with the roof, Wyatt was measuring and designing the back door, since this is being designed to be able to be a ten foot pen and a five foot pen or a single fifteen foot pen, depending upon the need. It is about time we planned these to work with us from the outset!

We also got the front door completely on, so we can hopefully work on the priming this weekend, and painting early next week.  This is a big part of the special project design, they cannot wait to see it finished!

This is the total of the roof we got done, about half way.

Part of doing these projects is that Wednesday is our applied math day, where they apply what they are learning to projects. Wyatt got to practice measuring, allowing for hinges, squaring the corners for the door, and the number of screws for each corner to keep it that way. Hopefully tomorrow he will get it all finished and hung in the doorway!

If you recognize the ponytail as not being his, that is because I got holding the wood duty. Just like he won't ride in the car during her driving lessons, she doesn't want her hands holding for Wyatt's power tool learning!

Looks pretty straight so far!

Putting everything away for the night!

Well, I will share more tomorrow! Have a great night, and enjoy your family time.!

Progress, Slowly but Surely!

Sometimes life just keeps throwing things at you to see how strong the core is and whether you can withstand the storm.  Last week, we learned the doe barn and the shower are definitely not very strong. Wel,, we had been putting those back together and helping them stand up for years, but the shower wall cracked open and the doe barn was a complete loss in the storm last week.

But life goes on, you pick up and keep going, and learn and are made better in the process.  While I could go for a little less of this shaping, I am learning a great deal, and the applied math is quite the ongoing home school lesson plan as a break from the books!

These photos are the sprouts in the new baskets. They are finally sprouting. Much of the way these baskets work is very different than the prototype containers I had been using. Once I get the correct things down to an exact science, I will share exact timing and measurements. 

If you have any you would like to share, there are several folks wanting to learn! Please feel free to comment directly to the blog so they can benefit from your knowledge and experience.

We did have one mishap where I was moving the stack for watering, and all the boxes fell and had to be put back together. I am a bit of a klutz, as you can tell...

On Monday, the kids and I began the research process on the new shower in earnest. When we renovated the master bedroom and bathroom about ten years ago, we put in a corner shower unit. Back then, it was a great choice, really opened up the room, and the plastic wall were really the latest.  (Hard to believe, huh?) This one was initially put in wrong, so Charlie and I had to do the best we could to try to redo it without damaging it, and in the end I ended up redoing the glass and caulking every year since. So when the crack appeared i the plastic wall last week, it was more annoyance than surprise.  

The design in the bathroom layout really needs to stay though, so my options are a different shower of he same type, a different shower of an upgraded version, a different one of a quarter round version, or a similar pan with tile walls and similar upgraded glass doors. 

The nice gentleman at Lowe's helped me inspect the pan on all of them, and showed me that the upgraded version of what we have was on a clearance sale. So, is that good or bad? Charlie and I thought about it, and yesterday, I went back and purchased the whole kit. I have 90 days to change my mind or change my mind about the walls and put in tile, so now I just need to decide whether I am really up for the entire installation. The demolition, on the other hand, I know I am up for, this thins has been annoying!

I think I have the doe barn issue narrowed down to a couple of possible solutions, which Charlie and I are still debating. But I need to get it fixed fairly quickly, so I do need to get on task with that!  What do you all use for your does? We do have one separate kidding pen, so sectioning off isn't a big deal, but we need something that will provide shelter from heat and wind, sun and rain, etc. And which will hold up to the weather and wind, while providing support as it will be a chunk of the fencing of this pen.

Well, slow and stead progress moving forward. The shower didn't fit in the little SUV, so the truck has to go back for it today, and hopefully this afternoon that new pen project can make some headway.  Oh, and kudos to those nice folks at Lowes. The recognized me, took time to help me, went out of their way to try to get everything together and keep me on time for work yesterday, and laughed their way through the ups and downs, evening noticing the USAA on my debit card and asking for my military ID so I could have a discount above and beyond the clearance price. So often doing things by myself as a military wife, I feel like there is a neon sign above my head saying cheat me, I feel so blessed when I do things usually left to the men and have such a wonderful experience!

Love to all, and have a wonderful day. Relish the blessings where you find them!

Topping Off the Weekend on a Positive...

On the way to town this morning, we dropped Bailey off at church. She attended a service and youth group, then volunteered in the nursery. I had thought for sure that I was going to be back for her on time, but in the end a BIG thank you to Pastor Todd for dropping her off at the library.

I spent much of the with Wyatt and Shadow at the Ag complex, where pre-fair for the dog project was taking place.

Wyatt and Shadow are improving, and with the additional year, Shadow was far calmer and not trying to play with all the other dogs. As we dashed up to pick up Bailey, they cuddled up and fell asleep in the back seat.

On the way home, a quick stop for the library books, one item for dinner, and an ice cream cone for all the hard work on all of their parts!

We are beginning to dig out from the storm and make plans for the new doe barn. Too bad we don't have more rain in the forecast, though!

Still, I am thankful for the full rain barrels to begin the new week.

Tomorrow, more of the photos of the contest prizes will go up. Are you getting your baby photos ready?

And a Beautiful Week Brought a Wild Wet Weekend!

The young Light Brahma on the left hatched on Monday morning, the little Silkie tucked between the stuffed puppy and the brick holding the water was hatched on Friday. So cute and sweet, and the first poster babies for the baby animal photo contest launching this week on the farm Facebook page.

These copper thunderbird and swarovski crystal earrings are one of the prizes for the contest!

The tomatoes are getting closer to being ready to go out each day. Perhaps by the time the storms pass, everything will be ready!

Kale and spinach growing in one of the lettuce beds. One of Wyatt's hens keeps sneaking out to play in the other lettuce bed and eat the seedlings and dust bathe in the lettuce bed, so I am going to replant that one after the weekend storm moves through.

The Pichu plants are coming back pretty well, thanks to those of you who gave me advice in how to prune them! I will be looking to see how they grow in compare to the seeds I saved from last year.

The chickens were loving the beautiful weather during the week, and particularly enjoyed dust baths...

Some were willing to share the craters they had dug in the ground...

others don't share very well and send the others off to find their own spots!

We have been continuing with the special coop project.  The kids got the panel of doors attached to the fence panels, but with the weather we were unable to get anything else done on the project yesterday or today. Hopefully the coming week!

I haven't gotten to tilling the main garden, though hopefully soon. Funny thing, Shadow is absolutely convinced that the owl on top of the clothesline is going to mess with her farm, so she keeps a close eye on it and tells it who is in charge...

For some reason, I am entertained with this tree that died in the buck pen. This branch makes nice firewood, though I miss the tree!

We believe silly Silver here is pregnant, though we haven't had her tested. Going to have to get her some more exercise, though,  I think she is a little big right now, and don't want that to cause problems.

I have been acquiring windows and glass panel doors for a greenhouse project to come. I am really looking forward to that project, but lately other projects keep presenting themselves, so hopefully soon!

We haven't had rain since back in November, as far as I remember. A big storm blew in yesterday evening, with mostly wind, but things were holding their own this morning. Then this afternoon, another big round of wind came. This is the doe barn, pretty much a total loss.  All of the animals are safe, though, so we are glad and will begin creating plans to rebuild.

This double rainbow appeared in the front. Funny thing about the wrath of a storm, so beautiful, yet leaving such destruction.

The geese are pretty much the only ones who are loving the weather, but I am thankful for the rain!

This single rainbow was to the North East of us.

  When life gets crazy, it is good to bring out the treats to brighten the day of the chickens!  Okay, so everyone got treats and the animals all enjoyed them, and we enjoyed breakfast for dinner. Now time for one last check of the night before bed. Hope you are all safe and sound and have a wonderful weekend!

Watch for that contest to come up this week., and set aside your photos you want to enter. Love to all!