All moved in with chicks on the way!!

We got the keys to our new house shortly after my last post and immediately started moving in. Chris had to do nearly everything himself because I was still on crutches at the time - it was pretty tough on him. Luckily we have some really great friends. We're mostly settled in now, I'm off the crutches, and when it stops raining we'll be starting on outside projects. First thing, hen house and chicken run - our chicks will be arriving the second week of February. Most hatcheries have a minimum order of 25 - we ordered 5 each of Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, Cuckoo Maran, Speckled Sussex, and Easter Eggers, all pullets. We'll keep all the chicks for a month or so then start selling them to friends. I plan to keep 2 of each breed until they start laying in case one decides he'd rather crow than lay eggs. I will post pictures when they arrive!

Edited to add a photo of the soon-to-be hen house!!

Still waiting...

On the house, that is. We supposedly only need one more signature and should be signing ourselves this week. I surely hope so. We were supposed to be in the new house before Christmas but honestly, we needed the extra time. We are getting quite antsy though!

Speaking of Christmas, I received some great gifts from the DH. A breadmaker and a KitchenAide mixer. The breadmaker will really help out - I hate feeding my family bread loaded with preservatives and other chemicals. I've also never really gotten kneading down right so I'm really happy with it. The mixer will help me to make so many more things from scratch as well. I'm looking forward to really breaking them in.

I contacted someone on Craigslist about some chicks they have for sale. They are asking more than hatcheries do, so I'm hopeful that they have truly purebred birds. I would prefer to buy local due to the small number of hens we need. I have planned for 4, one Easter Egger, one Buff Orpington, one Black Australorps, and one Cuckoo Marans. Starting with a variety will give us more of an idea about what we need - it'll also make things a little more interesting. There is a nice little place in the back yard where the coop and chicken yard will go - this will be one of Chris' first projects.

I have been re-thinking our rabbits and for now have nearly decided to go with a breed of Angora for meat as well as fiber. We will be building pens for the does and youngsters in our little red barn. There is someone locally that sells a few breeds - I plan to check him/her out sometime in the next week. Rabbits are a ways out yet, I'm afraid.

I don't think we'll be ready for bees this year but we'll have to see. Chris is going to build me two of those top bar hives. We aren't too worried about production, more about pollination and bee health so top bar hives seem to be the way to go. I haven't yet figured out where we're going to put them - more pondering to do.

Trees - we'll be looking at fruit trees this week. I want apples and peaches at the least. We have pomegranate and walnut trees already on the property - both need pruning badly. I wonder if the walnut trees have a disease as many of the branches are dead. Guess we'll be finding out.

Chris has met our soon-to-be neighbors and said they seem like nice folks. I hope to meet them myself very soon.

Well, it's about time to get this house ready for my amazing husband's return from work. Fried pork chops for dinner tonight :)

Why is it...

That people think it's ok for their kids to be rude, disrespectful, and mean to others??


I wasn't going to post this but my need to vent got the best of me. This may be a long post....


My husband and I have several sets of friends and friends of friends who have children (of course). Our own children are quite young (4 and 6) and are generally the youngest kids when we get together with friends, no matter the occasion. Can you believe I have not met a single respectful and genuinely nice kid under 10 since we moved here 3 years ago? It really blows my mind. These kids are disrespectful to their parents and most are down-right mean. Yesterday my 4-year-old son had his head forceably squashed in a door (with line marks down his cheek) by a child nearly twice as big as he is. Was that child punished or even scolded? Why no; why would she be??? Afterall, my son should not want to play with other children - yes, the reason this happened was because that girl did not want him to play in the room with all of the other children!! This same child wrote a note and posted it on the refridgerator (not her own, btw) saying that my children were not allowed to get anything out of it while she pulled various snacks out of it herself. This type of behavior is not uncommon by any means. I constantly have to protect my children from older, larger, more aggressive children - the other parents rarely get involved!


I was raised in the South, where children address adults with Mr. and Mrs., say yes and no ma'am when talked to, and don't have to be supervised around other children because they know how to handle themselves! The parents that I've met seem to be intimidated by their own children and therefore do not teach them manners of any sort.


Unfortunately, it's my own kids who are getting the short end of the stick. They share their toys and snacks with children who will not reciprocate by sharing their own. They are polite to kids who are rude, they don't hit/bite/kick back when that is what has happened to them. What a fine line to walk with my children - Honey, I need you to follow all of Mommy's rules even when another child is allowed to jump around on the furniture (not on mine, btw)/curse/make a mess/push/scream/be a menace and nobody does anything about it. I need you to be polite without being a push-over. I expect you to keep your hands to yourself until another child hits you first. That's what it's coming to with these kids that are not being taught that hitting is not ok. If the parents are not going to step in, then I'm going to allow my own children to protect themselves and stand up for them when they do.


I'm also going to start breaking one of my own rules. One of the things I was taught growing up is that you do not interfere with other people's children - but then, my parents' friends always corrected their children themselves. I guess that I'm going to have to start filling in for the other parents. I will give the other parents the opportunity to talk to their children - if that doesn't happen, I'm going to do it myself. It's likely to end some friendships, but so be it. I will no longer stand by and let my children be bullied by mean little brats. Don't get me wrong, I will not lay a hand on them but I will let them know that what they are doing will not be accepted. If they continue to act out, they will no longer be allowed to 'play' with my children or allowed over to my house. I'm sure this is going to go over like a lead balloon but I am sick to death of looking into my children's questioning faces when they are scolded for something that other kids are allowed to get away with.

Moving soon?

I hope so. We put in an offer on a house that was accepted about 2 weeks ago now. We are in escrow and things seem to be moving right along. This house was a compromise between the husband and myself - he wanted a house that was large that was very sound structurally so that he could immediately start remodeling (beautifying). I wanted a house that was large enough without being too big, with land to have the animals, trees, and garden that I would like.


The house that we are buying has about an acre and a half. It has a small pasture (maybe half an acre) that my horse will use. Because I am keeping the horse, we will not have goats - another compromise between hubby and I.


One of the first things I looked for when we went to see the house was fruit-bearing trees/bushes/vines. There are two walnut and a pomegranate. I would consider keeping the walnut trees but they don't look very healthy - several large, dead branches on each. We'll make the final call in the spring but right now it looks like they may have to be removed. I would rather have other trees than pomegranate so it may be removed as well. Wish-list trees include tangerine, apple, and nectarine. There are a few small oleander bushes that will have to go. They are nice-looking but I don't want poisonous plants on the property.


In the back yard, there is a very nice fence to grow grapes on. In a very shady corner (too shady?), I noticed some brambles growing. Not sure yet what kind they are but my guess is they are blackberry - they grow wild around here. I haven't yet figured out where to plant the blueberry bushes.


There are two rather large outbuildings, the largest of which will be used for hay, feed, etc. The other will likely be used for tools. There is even a small building that will be modified into a chicken coop. The current plan includes 4-6 hens, including Buff Orpingtons, Easter Eggers, and perhaps Black Australorps.


I'm not sure if we'll be able to keep rabbits as hubby is now acting odd about them. I would like to keep two does and a buck in an outdoor, colony-type setting. I have the perfect spot in mind if I can re-talk Chris into it - he may be wondering what our friends and neighbors will think.


There are several possible spots for the garden, but there's still a lot of time to figure that out before spring. I would like to grow heirloom tomatoes, peppers, and a few types of cowpeas next year.


I still would like to have a honey bee hive or two. Chris has agreed to build a top bar hive for me sometime this winter. I realize that we will get less honey with these hives but from what I've read, it would seem that it's healthier for the bees to build their own comb. Guess we'll find out.


That's it for now, I'll write again when there's something to talk about!

Success!

Canning, that is. I finally got up the gumption to give the canner a go. I made a big pot of Italian sausage soup on Friday with intentions of canning what we didn't eat. By the time I got around to it, there were only about 2 and 3/4 quarts left. I hovered over it the entire time, watching for signs it was going to blow - which luckily, didn't happen. I was pretty proud of myself when I heard the jars plink. This may become a habit...I'm really looking forward to canning the grapes but they do not seem to want to cooperate by ripening!

House Hunting = no fun...

I'm having dreams (nightmares!) about houses and believe I may be slowly losing my mind...It feels like we have been looking at houses for months (we have, but only about 4 weeks seriously looking). Finding a property that has the features and size that DH wants, the land that I want, within our price range and a decent drive to work is proving to be very difficult indeed. I have decided that 1 acre will probably be too small if we want to keep two dairy goats - afterall, I want them to have somewhere to graze that will not become a dust bowl. We are going to see two more properties this weekend - one of which looks amazing but would mean an hour drive to work everyday. I can only hope that we find what we're looking for before I need to be committed.

Big plans

<--- My new canner!! (and accessories!)

It's been a while and I'm sure it seems like I was taking the summer off. While that's true to an extent, I have also been busy reading, learning, and making plans.

My garden was basically a bust this year. Partially my fault (not getting it tilled early enough, not keeping up with watering and weeding), partially due to our new puppy. Even though the garden is fenced off from the rest of the yard, she continued to break in and destroy the plants - first chewing down every single corn plant, digging up my beans, chewing off the vines on my squash. Recently she has begun to remove grapes, one bunch at a time. Thankfully, she is also getting too large to fit through her usual (and consistently blocked!) holes. She's also slowly learning that doing things like this only results in bad things later. She's extremely smart but also extremely stubborn. One of these days, she's going to be an amazing dog.

My grape vine is going gang-busters - I have many bunches of grapes that are finally starting to ripen. In preparation, I have picked up a brand-new All American pressure canner from Craigslist for an amazing deal! The plan is to make grape jelly when the time comes. I can't wait to use it, though I'm nervous at the same time. There seems to be a tough learning curve on a lot of things involving self-sufficiency. It's too bad I wasn't one of the lucky ones who learned these things growing up. I have also found an apple tree at an unoccupied house in my neighborhood. If there are enough usable apples, I'm going to make my Mom's apple butter!

Doves - too much work without enough in return is the conclusion I have come to. Especially since DH only wanted me to have one pair! I finally just requested that when he starts hunting (have to get the gun and license first) he hunt dove for me, as well as deer.

So, that's the basic update, on the to plans! The hubby and I are finally in the market for a house to call home. Musts include 1+ acre of usable land, a fireplace/wood stove, a kitchen that's easy to work in, and a large pantry or room enough to put one in ourselves. We've seen a few that fit the bill but we seem to find these properties 5 minutes too late. We're going to keep looking.

In the meantime I have started to use my dehydrator for fresh foods that we can't seem to use in time - one of our biggest problems is waste! I can't wait to have a few chickens to help with any leftovers. I plan to start with 3-4, maybe up to 6 hens the first year. Then I'd like to buy 5-10 straight run chicks the following year allowing a roo to two to mature a bit. If one of my hens go broody, let her raise some chicks, butcher the roo and do the same the following year. I don't want to keep a permanent roo for many reasons. These are my current thoughts on the subject anyway.

I have finally talked the hubby into letting me have a few rabbits as well. I would like to have a colony, and raise the fryers in grow-out cages as they get bigger. Big reason for the grow-out is I plan to have Californian, NZW, or a cross between the two and I don't know how I'd keep them all straight if I let the youngsters get too big before separating them all. Besides, I'll need the poo for the garden. What I've read suggests that rabbits in a colony breed pretty fast, so I'm thinking only 2 does and a buck should keep us in meat pretty well. When it's time, we'll keep a doe or two for replacements from my stock and buy a outstanding buck from other stock. I really like the idea of keeping the breeders in a more natural setting.

Now, for goats. I plan on getting two dairy does - breed has not yet been determined. All bucklings will go into the freezer, along with most of the doelings. After a few years, I plan to breed my best doe to the best buck I can find in the hopes of getting a doeling to keep as an eventual replacement. The other doe's kids will all be sold/butchered. I have no desire to show or keep registered animals - I'm already busy - so the buck may be of a different breed. I don't really care as long as he comes from a long line of exceptional dairy animals. All kids will be separated at night, I will milk first thing in the morning, and kids will be allowed in with the does for the remainder of the day. I realize this will cut down on the milk that I get for my family but it will also significantly cut down on extra chores as well as help keep me from getting too attached to the kids. From what I've read, it makes for some pretty tasty meat as well.

I also plan to have a hive or two of honey bees. I want to use the 'top bar hives' I've read about for several reasons. First, natural is always healthier, both for the animals and for my family. Second, the cost of bee equipment is rather inhibitive. Finally, we don't need that much honey - I don't plan to sell it, just want it for personal use.

Besides all this, we'll have a large garden every year, lots of fruit trees, a strawberry bed, and blueberry bushes. We may also plant butterfly bushes around the property for the bees and aesthetics.

I realize that things don't usually go according to plan, so this is a rough outline, subject to change.