Things I never thought I would miss

So while I was down with a broken foot, cast and crutches to boot, I wasn't able to do my normal routine and chores. I had to rely heavily on my kids. It was miserable. They had lots of extra inside chores plus helping with daily chicken chores. The kids are slightly afraid of the rooster. He tends to be aggressive. So that complicated things towards the end. But we got thru it. But this week I've been back out there with them. Giving them (the chickens) supervised outside time. Meaning out of the chicken run. They love it!  The scratch and peck and chase grasshoppers. It's wonderful to just watch them. I've gotten used to seeing them and interacting with them. And I missed them while I was down. It's good to know that I love my "chores" so much that I want to do them. I wake up excited to see the chickens each morning. I look forward to our upcoming move where we will add many more animals to our life. We have the new coop all planned out. Just waiting on a closing date. Once the papers are signed we are building the coop. Don't worry I will update when we have a date. Because I know there's oh so many people reading my blog. Thinking purple for the coop color. But we shall see. 

Gifts

I love making afghans. Have I mentioned that?  It's one of those hobbies that keeps the family warm in winter. This year all the nieces and nephews are getting blankets for Christmas. Shhhh don't tell :). But I made one for my mother in law and am finally mailing it off. Thankfully her birthday is next week so it works out. Here is a picture. I even added a tag that says handmade with love. 

Homemade kind of day

Started with pancakes not from a box and French toast. Then made fries from potatoes and started the Freezer Hashbrowns. Those are easier than I thought. Then I was out of ketchup so I whipped up some of that while I was at the stove lol.  I didn't have any tomato paste so I used tomato sauce and just reduced it down.  The ketchup is in the fridge now.  I tasted a bit and it seemed good.  Maybe more vinegar than we are used to but I will keep trying.  That is the whole point of this. Then it was time to start the crockpot Mac and Cheese. Gosh I'm tired just reading all of that :). Took out ground beef. Going to make hamburgers this weeks and tacos and if there is any left over maybe chili. We love ground beef. Hence the need for beef cows. Links to all the recipes are provided. I managed to do all this while the toddler slept. I am for sure on a roll. Need to learn how to be independent of the store. It will be even better when it comes from our garden as well. 

House update, closing is being delayed due to paperwork and there still isn't any date set.  But on a good note the sellers have agreed to delay the closing so that is good too.  It means we won't lose the property because of the slow paperwork.  But I seriously wish it would move along because I'm excited about the property.

Hand spinning

So I purchased a drop spindle and two lengths of fiber along with the Respect the Spindle book.  I'm very excited to start learning a new craft.  I figure if I can get good before we get our sheep I will be able to make blankets from my own hand spun yarn.  I mean what a wonderful gift I could give to family.  And perhaps sell some too :).  I also started looking into growing cotton today.  Hubby didn't know if it would grow in Texas... Well Texas is actually the biggest grower of cotton.  And it comes in different colors!  Oh man how exciting.  I really feel that everything I grow should be exciting and fun and have a purpose.  Even if that seems silly to others its my main philosophy behind our farming adventure.  Not sure where I will put my cotton field but since cotton doesn't like wet feet (wet ground) then I won't have to worry about irrigation the same as I do for the rest of the garden.  So it can be out further from the house.  I also plane to harvest it by hand.  Must remember to wear gloves.  We won't grow enough to warrant the big picker machines.  It also means I have to pick the seeds out by hand.  But the more we do by hand the better for us and cheaper.  Plus I don't need all those fancy machines to do this.  Just some good old hard work.  So yeah keep reading and watching because the next year should bring lots of exciting things and probably some heartache too.  I'm sure things will fail and things will succeed.  But that is the joys of starting this adventure.  Not everything we try will succeed the first time.  But we will get better with each planting and every year that we keep at it.  My research suggests we may never make enough money that hubby can quit his job and be a full time farmer but maybe we can come close.  And our retirement years will for sure be full of farming.

Delays

So we won't be closing in a week.  I'm very sad but I have to believe there is a reason for the delay.  God has a plan.  Silly paperwork slowed everything down.  Hubby thinks it will only slow us down by a week.  I'm thinking two weeks.  I guess we will see.  Either way it gives us more time to save money and pack.  So it's ok.  I'm working in Houston again this weekend which isn't a lot of fun but good for the bank account.

Something else that happened this week was along with the survey we found that the our fence is shared.  So we are going to need to make friends with the neighbors and make sure we are all ok with how we use/share the fence.  Not that we shouldn't make friends with the neighbors anyway.  When you live further out in the country it's a good idea to make friends and watch out for each other.  It makes sense for everyone to help each other out and build that community.  We don't have any super close neighbors at the new property like we currently do so I'm sure the fence won't be a big problem.  There is a gate between us and the neighbor so we will either have two locks or put a fence on our side. 

The delay also allows me to do more research and find new stuff to plant and animals to purchase ;).  And who doesn't want that.  This post is kind of all over the road.  I guess I'm a little tired.

Baking

Do you bake?  I love food.  I love cooking and baking and sometimes I just get in this mood where I gotta bake something.  Come on over anytime :).  But tonight it was cookies.  I really wanted to make hubby some chocolate chip cookies but the stinker ate all the chocolate chips.  So I did the next best thing and made him chocolate cookies with vanilla chips.  Being 100 degrees outside didn't stop me.   And it also made me realize I shouldn't let it stop me from making fresh bread each week instead of buying it.  I could save so much money.  And I love to bake.  So after the loaves I have are gone I'm going to start just making my own.  Part of my mission to homestead as well is cooking from scratch.  No more artificial anything if I can help it.  Home made and from scratch is going to be the motto around this farm.  Yep my daily list gets longer each day.  And some days I will fail.  Some days I will be like super woman.  But each day will be an adventure.  With only 10 days until closing it's starting to feel more real. 

Survey complete

The survey for the new property is completed.  We are purchasing 39.74 acres, but I'm going to go ahead and round up to 40 LOL.  It also means were are continuing to move forward which is a good sign.  It appears that the fence lines along the road are for sure ours but the fences that have pastures on either side might be the neighbors.  We will have to chat it up with them and find out.  Hopefully it will be a friendly sharing kind of neighbor so we don't have to add more fencing.  Ah the joys of farm/country living.  Lessons to be learned.  But many times in these communities people share.  We have the appraisal to be completed (just waiting on the bank to order it) and two other documents.  So tonight I decided it was time to start putting together boxes and packing up stuff.  Guess I shouldn't put it off any longer.  We could be moving anytime in the next few weeks.  Hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later.

Roosters

We actually have two roosters until we move.  But this is the rooster that will move with us.  He is rather aggressive and very protective of his flock.  With good reason.  That is his job.  Do you need a rooster?  There is a lot of debate about this on many forums and blogs.  Good arguments on both sides.  We like having a rooster.  Keeps our hens happy.  We have the chance to hatch chicks since our bantam seems to be broody and he is gorgeous.  Our rooster is an Americana.  We got 4 chicks with our first flock because they lay blue green eggs.  It's very exciting.  Then one turned out to be a rooster and it was even better.  He has the most beautiful tail feather.  So he will move to the new house with us.  This picture was taken while doing supervised outside time last night.  I have started doing this since others seem to have great luck with supervised time.  The chickens love it and the barn cats seem to just leave them alone.  It's a win for everyone.  If you look close enough you can see the rooster's wings are clipped, he likes to fly :).

Pretty Eggs

We get a variety of eggs each day. This picture doesn't even do it justice. We get white, brown, blue/green, speckled and duck eggs everyday. I packaged up 8 dozen eggs this morning. That's just from this week. And we've been giving some to family. So many eggs. I really need to start selling them. I also was excited about my new egg cartons. Aren't they pretty?  I'm also thinking about putting our farm name on them somehow.  Perhaps making a tag that I can just attach to the carton or other goods we sell from the farm. 

Never a dull moment

Farming is not for the weak that is for sure.  We aren't even on our own property yet and it's never dull around here LOL.  So about 8 weeks ago I broke my foot.  Not the most fun thing this summer.  So the kids have been helping me with chicken chores.  Letting them out, putting them away, filling water, stuff like that.  Hubby cleans the coop each weekend for me.  Well being on crutches I can't get to the coop very well.  So I asked the kids to check the feed and make sure the chickens had food.  I should have checked myself :(.  They were completely out tonight.  So I needed to make a last minute run (remember that whole going to town is a drive post?) to the tractor supply for chicken feed.  I also was taking the car to show someone interested in buying.  So it worked out and wasn't a complete waste of gas.  But wow that stunk.  The chickens were so happy when we got home and filled the feeder.  Well actually the BIL filled it for me and filled the water inside the coop. 

On a not farm related note, I also got melted chocolate in my clean purse and found that the van has a flat tire.  Never a dull moment around here :).

Grocery shopping

Probably seems like a silly topic. Everyone needs food and most people go to the local grocery store. However when the closest grocery store is 25-30 miles you have more to consider. Forgot something? It's an hour plus round trip. You probably won't just run in everyday. Unless you have lots of money for gas. So when you need to go to town you plan accordingly. At first it's hard but you get used to it. You plan dr visits in multiple and plan to get groceries the same day. Saves a trip. You make sure you've checked the fridge and pantry so your good at least a week sometimes two depending on plans and cash flow.  We live in Texas so along with planning our trips we also have these handy freezer/fridge bags to keep cold things cold.  Otherwise when you get stuck in construction and that 30 min drive turns into 45 your milk goes bad :).  We also got school supplies today.  After this weekend it will all be fairly picked over so better to go now.  We love living this far away from the city, just means we have to change how we do things.  And someone helped me out when we moved out here with the planning ahead, so I'm passing this information along.  There are many things to consider when you move to the country.  Not just the daily commute.  But if your dream is to escape the rush of the city for the quiet of the country, this is just something to get used to, not something to deter you.

Everyone needs a chicken



Loving her bantam hen "Eskimo"

Don't you agree that everyone should have a chicken?  They provide eggs and sometimes meat  and the provide smiles when you hug them :). They eat bugs and clean up your garden at the end of the season. For the amount of money invested chickens have a high rate of return. Let's explore that. You buy a chicken coop. Let's assume you don't live in the country. So you but a small prefab coop for 2-4 chickens (like our first). Cost $250-$300. Most expensive part in my opinion. Then you go to the feed store and purchase 4 chicken pullets (baby chicks). Cost $3 each so a total of $12. Bag of chick starter feed. Cost $9 for a 5lb bag depending on brand. Heat lamp depending on outside temps about $20 with bulb. So now your ready. In about 23 weeks you will start getting fresh eggs everyday for breakfast. And they will be the best eggs you ever tasted. While your waiting for the eggs the chickens are eating bugs, cleaning up the yard and providing entertainment in the evenings. I love watching mine peck the ground. Most other homestead animals have a much higher start cost due to shelter needs, feed costs and cost of the animal itself. A good example is in our area a kid (baby goat) will run anywhere from $75 to $150 or more depending on breed, genetics etc. And you usually need to buy two or more so they aren't alone.

So the lesson for today?  Chickens are a great, inexpensive way to start homesteading and eating healthy. Can't keep chickens?  Find a local farm to get eggs from. You won't be disappointed. 

Fiber, yarn, sheep

So we are looking to get sheep.  Partly because the hubby likes lamb to eat.  And partly because I love to crochet.  And lets be honest an afghan is not cheap to make.  On average a full size afghan runs about $60 to make.  And that is just for the yarn.  It doesn't include the hours spent working on it.  Which I don't mind doing the work.  But I would love to save some money on my wonderful hobby.  And what better way to do that than to make my own yarn.  You can get fiber from many animals such as llama, alpaca, goats, and sheep.  We are looking to get some Shetland sheep sometime next summer.  They are one of the few breads that we can Roo instead of shear.  Unfamiliar with the term... yes I was too.  So let me explain.  Rooing is when you "pull" the wool/fiber from the sheep when it is already coming off.  Not all animals do this though.  The other reason we are choosing the Shetland is that the meat is supposed to be the best tasting.  And who doesn't want to eat the best :).  Today at Barnes & Noble I was looking for a book about caring for sheep.  I didn't have any luck but the nice lady who was helping me found this wonderful book on fiber and spinning.  It has so much information I can't wait to read it cover to cover.  The  goal is to eventually make/purchase a drop spindle and spin my own yarn.  The book even covers how to dye fiber.  I can also make washcloths, hats and scarfs.  Maybe someday I will be good enough to sell my wares.  Until then it will just be a fun hobby :).  Top picture is a hat I made for my youngest while pregnant and the bottom picture is a current blanket I am working on.  Fun projects both of them.

4H

My oldest will be joining 4H in a couple weeks.  She is very excited.  She will be showing a bunny.  A breeding bunny :) so she will get to keep it after the county fair in January.  We are excited about this opportunity for her.  We have heard so many great things about kids in 4H.  There is a pool party next Tuesday that I will take the kids to and see how she likes the other kids and the leaders.  They will help her learn to show and she will get to make some new friends to boot.  There isn't a club at her school so we will just join one in the town North of us.  Luckily at this early age she can just go and have fun without it being a huge deal.  As she gets older we will probably pick an animal and keep with it.  But for now she can show a bunny and enjoy the learning experience.  I have also learned that we can use the ag exemption for her 4H project stuff.  Which will help save us some money.  The next year is going to be a lot of fun.