Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Photo Credit: Ken_Mayer

I'm sitting here in the living room, having accomplished absolutely nothing except getting the kids fed, dressed, and out the door for school, and a single load of laundry into the washer. There's a fire going in the wood stove, the dogs are sleeping, and the cats are mostly being lazy, and trying to get to the remains of the cornbread we had with breakfast.

Well, the lazy won't last for long. I'll enjoy it while it's here.

Our warm weather continues. High 50s today. I'm hoping to get dirty outside this afternoon, although, by the looks of things, it's still pretty chilly outside. It looks cold and gray right now. I'm hoping that improves quickly, as it's almost time to feed the chickens and take the dogs outside.

Yesterday the three youngest and I got a new bale of straw put into the chicken coop. The kids had a blast spreading the straw around, finding themselves covered in it. There was much giggling and grinning. Perfect way to spend a late winter afternoon, if you ask me. We threw some scratch down and let the chickens go at it, to get the straw a little more spread out.

We also got strawberries and apples into the dehydrator. I'll be checking the strawberries in a bit, they should be done at this point. I have about twelve more pounds of apples to do, so there will be lots of time spent in the kitchen today! I'm also planning on making granola, so it will be awesome to be able to do some batches with the dried fruit.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Twenty one years ago today I became a mother.

That's some scary shit right there.

Most days, I don't feel like I'm old enough to have a daughter who is 21. In my defense, I was only 19 when I had her.

Today, I'm feeling every second of my 40 years.

Happy Birthday, sweet baby! I'm so proud of you!

Monday, March 4, 2013

I hate Mondays.

Photo Credit: DeusXFlorida

Between being gone most of the day on Sunday for grocery shopping, and the results of said grocery shopping, I always have a lot to do on Mondays. Add to that, I didn't have hot water on Saturday. For some reason, the pilot light on my hot water heater randomly decides to go out, and I can never manage to get it relit.

Today's list includes seventeen loads of laundry (not really), twelve pounds of cheese to grate (really) and freeze, six pounds of strawberries to do something with, and twenty pounds of apples to core and slice for the dehydrator. The chickens will be happy today, with all of the scraps.

We're getting about six eggs a day now.

I bought bins this weekend to get all of the chicken stuff, except feed, stored in, and the materials to build the hanging chicken feeder. We lost a lot of feed this winter because the feed bowl is down on the ground in the coop, so the chickens walk in it, and poop in it. We have the same issue with the water, but I ordered these waterers, and I'm hoping that solves the poop  problem entirely. While we're not losing anything with the poopy water, it's a giant PITA to bleach out the water bowl when it's 17 degrees outside.

Today I will also be adding a bale of straw to the chicken coop. I do the deep litter method, so I add a bale every 3-4 weeks. I may be adding more often in summer, depending on the smell and bug count. I'll be buying twenty or so bales next week to have on hand. That should get me through the next year, depending on how much I end up adding over the summer.

Dinner tonight is carnitas. I love it when I can put almost everything for dinner into the crockpot and leave it all day.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Some days...

...when it hasn't been above freezing in a week and you just want to stay inside and watch the Law and Order: SVU marathon, but spend an hour outside working with the dogs...

Photo Credit: mmarcotte51

...when the wind takes your breath away and you tell yourself that the chickens will be okay even though the coop door isn't shut and it's supposed to snow tonight so you go out anyway, refill the feeder and waterer, and shut the door...

...when you can't feel your toes and you have to go reset the circuit breaker for the back of the house, again, because you're trying to warm it up for your shower, finally...

...when the snow starts to fly again and you still haven't gotten to take a shower and the dogs need outside again and you need to take your cold meds and....


you wonder why you do it.


Then you watch the deer moving through your yard, as they do almost every afternoon, checking to see if you've dropped any goodies on the way to the chicken coop.

Then the barn cat sneaks inside because he's cold and you sit down after your shower and he curls up in your lap.

Then you have your lunch-toast, and eggs that didn't exist twelve hours before.

Then your kids come home and there's laughs and giggles in a room heated by fire.

And you remember...

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

It's been cold, so I've been cleaning.

Everyone was sick with a nasty cold. My seven year old had croup. So I decided it was time for some old fashioned Spring Cleaning.

Taking apart every single room. Cleaning top to bottom. Exhausting. I went through almost a gallon and a half of vinegar last week, although, to be honest, some of it went to pickle cucumbers and onions. That's one of Mr. S.'s favorite treats, and I always pickle some right away when the cucumbers first go on sale in late winter.

I'm still not done with the cleaning. The boys' room is proving problematic. The carpet in there is nasty, but with cold and snow it's hard to shampoo. I got part of it done, but it needs to be redone, and it's simply been too cold to get it done. Then I tried to move the bed so I could at least clean and vacuum under it, and the leg bent, so I ordered a new bed. We've needed to replace it anyway, but still. Because I can't move it until the new one gets here, I'm kind of stuck. Today I'll be treating the one part with baking soda, and then vinegar. We will be replacing it this spring, but it stinks and I want that fixed, even temporarily.

Photo Credit: emilydicksonridesabmx

We have gotten a LOT of trash out of the house. It's amazing how much trash builds up over the cold winter! You get lazy in front of a warm fire, I think! Of course, cleaning out all the nooks and crannies and under the beds and behind the couches is also a contributing factor!

Two of our chickens are laying now. There are six eggs in the fridge, waiting for us to get enough to have a celebratory breakfast for dinner with our fresh eggs.

We bought fence posts this weekend to build a small yard for the dogs. There's a dog run at the back of the property but the gate is broken and I don't see the point of having the dog run way back there. We were planning to enclose a portion around the front and north side of the house, that is already partially enclosed. Then, yesterday, my 14 year old had the dogs in the dog run so they could play off the leash, while he held the gate closed, and they jumped the fence to chase dogs that had gotten on to our property. So there goes the yard idea.

Today I'm tired and crabby and sick. But the cleaning needs to be finished. The kids are on the mend, but with the schizophrenic weather we've been having, the cleaner the house is, the less sinus and allergy issues we'll have in the coming days.

I also have some onion bottoms to plant. Hopefully I will get that done today too.

Last night, we had tacos for dinner. I made refried beans to go with them using this recipe, and they turned out great. My neighbor, who is from Mexico, swears by adding lard to her beans to make them creamy, so I did add some lard, but it didn't make them creamier. So I'll be skipping that step next time. I doubled the recipe thinking that I would have some left over to freeze, but I ended up just having enough for some leftovers. Maybe we'll have burritos for lunch later this week.

Monday, February 4, 2013

No time to write yesterday. Grocery shopping, and looking for Diatomaceous Earth and root hormone at the farm store. I'm going to have to order both, I think. We made it home in time to get the chickens fed, and pop dinner in the oven, and mix up some guacamole for the Superbowl.

I think everyone benefitted from a slower day. The kids are home, but their coughs all sound so much better. When it warms up a bit more I'll be opening the windows to get some fresh air in here.

Saturday I cleaned out the chicken coop, later this week I will be wheeling it around in my garden cart, spreading the straw and poop mixture over the gardens. I still have leaves to get moved over, too, so I'm grateful for this lovely weather.

No neat pictures today, mine or anyone else's. I'm cleaning. I'm determined to unsick my house!

Saturday, February 2, 2013

The groundhog did not see his shadow today.

Which means absolutely nothing. The long term weather forecasts available online from various places, however, tell me that we are finally heading into Spring. Average temps this month will be in the 50s. I won't be planting anything this month, but I will definitely be outside.

Some days, you just don't get much done. Yesterday was one of those days. A bit of this, a bit of that, mostly helping my neighbor take care of some stuff that needed to be done. That's the way it goes some days.