Down and Dirty Chick Starting

I was at my local Tractor Supply Company the other day picking up some duck food and I was so surprised by the overwhelming number of poultry products.

A Lava Rock Debacle

Look what I just did to my perfectly normal looking landscaping!

I'm not sure what got into me.

I guess I'm just not a lava rock type person.

Tip Tuesday: A Handy Egg Substitute

Well, apparently, Spring has sprung in our chickens' brains because they've started laying again.  It's funny, just about the time we were up to our eyeballs in eggs last Fall, they quit laying almost completely.  We didn't really mind.  In fact, I only bought a few dozen eggs all winter long... and now they're back up in production!

One of the reasons why we didn't really buy many eggs this Winter (besides the fact that they're gross and expensive) is because I use this handy substitute in most of my baking.

The Family That Slays Together...

Here's a little glimpse into our world this past Saturday.

It started out with Noah's buck...

Chicken Fest: Homesteading At Its Best

Here's sweet Graci.  "Say Hello to my little friend."

Half Way There... Raising "Meaters"

Just in case you were curious...here's an update on our very high-speed chicken raising operation.

We call these chickens "meaters" to help us distinguish them from the "layers" when we're assigning chores.  I guess they could be called "fryers" or "roasters" or "crock-potters"... but that gets a little confusing.  What they should be called is "eaters," since that's all they really ever do!

Be advised, you may never eat chicken again after seeing this.  But these guys are actually pretty happy chickens, believe it or not.

So, here's our epic temporary pen... Noah and I built it out of an old dog kennel.  We've got 48 birds in there.  Heat lamps and an old dog house keeps them nice and cozy at night.  Thankfully, we don't have any neighbors, because this thing is a real eye sore.  This is the third year that we've raised our own meat chickens... and having them outside is definitely much cleaner and more humane.

They're always freaking out over the feeder.  You'd think we were starving them!

Raising Meat Chickens

Hey ya'll!
Our new batch of 50 peeps arrived in the mail last week.  I thought you might like to take a peek and check them out while they're still adorable...

What's Up

 
Dude!  Things have gotten busy around here.  Bu-sy!  I'm tellin' ya!  I'm not really sure what changed, but the days are fuller than ever and I haven't been bored for several weeks, not even for ten minutes.  And I guess that's a good thing, since a friend of mine recently told me that boredom is actually a need for meaning and purpose, rather than just "activity."

 I'm not sure about the whole meaning and purpose to what I've been busy doing... but I sure have had a lot of "activity" lately.

 
So, here's a few things we've been busy with...

Monday Montage

 So, yeah, I went to the 127 yard sale. 

 It was one honkin' big yard sale.

I saw this table, which was perrrfect for my family of nine.  

I drove a mile through a farm field, dodging pedestrians and big trucks to find a parking place.

Then I walked back said mile dodging pedestrians and random antiques.

Getting more and more excited all the while.

only to find...

A Fall Garden

Welcome to my office...

It's time for a few Fall plants to go in where the Summer crops are finishing up.  It looks a lot more complicated than it actually is.  And next year I'm sure I'll have a better handle on it.  Hopefully!

So, here's what I'm doing...

Life on the Farm... Another Montage

Because I'm too busy to write words...

 I'll just show you what's been going on around the ole homestead in pictures.

Tea Time

Tea party out at the girls' playhouse. 

A Homestead Montage

 Here's what's been going on around the ole homestead.

Lots of veggies, as you can see.

Oh my, I'm so amazed by my garden!

Come take a look...

Oregano drying.  There's plenty more growing out there in that pot on the deck.

What Hillbillies Do For Fun

Hams.

First you drive the truck down the trail way back into the woods.
That's our friends' truck, by the way. They brought us a bunch of fence posts for our farm.  

They are wonderful friends.

Purple Peppers, A Turkey Family and A Dirty Boy

My first peppers... and they're really purple.  How weird is that??

Summertime, And the Livin' is...

Random.

A Morning Stroll

Holy Chicken, Batman!

Date night on Saturday...  Stopped in at Whole Foods while we were killing time waiting for our movie.   I just about had a cow when I saw the price of these eggs!  And people actually buy them.  Oh my.

A Day in the Life

Tip Tuesday: Homemade Yogurt!

I have no idea why it's taken me so long to get around to doing this.  Making yogurt is easier than just about anything else we make in the kitchen, except for maybe Ramen noodles.  But it's not much harder than that!

So, here's the lowdown.