We FINALLY have eggs again after at least a 2.5 month break! I haven't posted about our chickens in quite awhile, but they are still here, healthy, and slowly getting back into earning their keep around this place. 2016 was a rough year for us in the chicken department. We lost Chicken, the chicken to the cold in the winter. We lost Trudy in the summer after we found her egg-bound and decided to cull her as she wasn't likely to make it through the night. And we lost one of our two pullets, Fingers, to a raccoon in the early fall. So, we now have 6 chickens, 3 of which are 3 years old and not very productive any more. March will bring some new chicks into our home, which will be fun for us all and will be very helpful for our egg supply. I'm looking into a few new breeds and am excited to add a few more heavy producers and bit more variety to our flock! Raising organic back yard chickens in the city is not very economical, but the eggs are so delicious and watching our baby boy get excited to see and touch the chickens makes it all worth it!
berries, a baby, and nap-time jam
I've dreamed for years about berry picking with my little ones. Picking berries and tucking them away to be used all year is something that I'm rather passionate about and so the thought of sharing that with my children and teaching them about the importance of local, seasonal food has been something I've been looking forward to for years. In my dreams I imagined picking berries for hours with a happy, little baby on my back. The reality of that looked somewhat different, but in the end I did pick strawberries with a baby on my back and I'm so glad I did! He wasn't too pleased about the whole back thing and a short morning nap made for a tired, fussy baby while picking, but he eventually fell asleep and my friend Amy and I were able to pleasantly pick berries and chat. Over the years, I've found that the berry patch is a wonderful place for deep conversation. Your hands are busy with a menial task and so it's easy to open up and really share what's going on in life and I love that.
I ended up with 10+ pounds of strawberries and was able to go home that afternoon and put them all into their assigned places! Three pounds went into the freezer to be used the rest of the year in kombucha, smoothies, and sauces. Some were sliced up to be eaten with brownies and ice cream for a gathering of friends that evening. Some were put into a second ferment of kombucha and others into a pint of vodka (Spiked Strawberry Mint Lemonade, anyone??). Some were set aside for a pie. Some were put in the fridge for fresh eating. And the rest were made into jam! Nap-time Jam, that is! It's amazing what a determined mama can accomplish during a decent nap-time! By the time that boy of ours had woken up from an afternoon nap, I had successfully washed, hulled, and put away all of the strawberries, made and canned jam, and cleaned up the kitchen! Success!! It felt amazing, I must say! Now, if only all nap times were that productive!
Strawberries! I do love them. And I love being able to enjoy their summer freshness all year round. It makes their short season so very enjoyable. How about you? What do you love to do with seasonal strawberries?
happenings 'round the homestead
It's been a full few weeks around this little homestead of ours! With all things baby, a trip out to Michigan to visit family, and spring springing around each corner. Flowers are blooming, perennials are up and filling out, the garden is waiting for seeds and seedlings, and the chickens are enjoying the longer days, the rain, and the sun! I love the softness of the spring blooms--lavenders, whites, and light pinks. The flowers tend to be small and delicate, just like spring.
The busyness over the past few weeks has made it a bit difficult to get the garden up and running as I'd hoped. The soil needs to be worked and there are peas and raddishes to get in the ground. However, it will all get done eventually, it always does! I did get my pots planted on the deck with lettuce, swiss chard, and arugala. The garlic, rhubarb, and herbs in the garden are also doing well! The rain we've had over the past few days has made things really start to take off! We'll have garlic scapes in no time!
We got two new chicks a few weeks back and they are about ready to join the older ladies in the coop. They been spending their days in the yard and nights under a light in the garage, but they are very curious about the older hens and can often be found looking at them through the fence. These two little ones bring us to a total of eight chickens. The time has come for us to begin to stagger our flock and keep it young and productive. We have decided to cull two of our hens this summer/fall for meat. More on that later...but for now, aren't our new little chicks cute?? Their names are Violet (the brown Ameraucana) and Fingers (as in Chicken Fingers...yes...). Fingers is a Maran and she will lay chocolate brown eggs! I'm so very excited!
Next week will hopefully bring lots of sunshine and time in the garden! How about you? What's happening around your homestead?
cold, quiet january
I love January. I think it's a month that often gets overlooked and even gets looked at in a negative way. People tend to dislike it because it's cold and sometimes a bit lonely feeling, but those are exactly the reasons why I love it so. Being an introvert, January is the perfect refresher after the hubbub of the holidays. I love the holiday season, but by the end of it I am so very ready to become a hermit for bit and the cold, quiet January that follows is simply perfect.
These past two weeks, I've been cleaning, organizing, and purging things around our house--it's partly due to the nesting stage I'm in and partly due to January being the perfect time of year for those types of projects. Cupboards have been cleaned, important papers have been filed away, and the sewing machine has been running. There has also been time for quiet relaxation and reflection too. I think I've read more in the past few weeks than I did over the few months that preceded them. What else is one to do when the temps are below zero and the days are short? We often live such fast-paced lives, I love how January forces us into a bit of quiet at home. What a great way to refuel the body and the soul.
So, take advantage of these next few weeks. Let the cold and the quiet dictate your schedule. When the roads are icy and the temps arctic, allow yourself to say no to the activities and commitments and just stay home. Take some time to let your body relax and refuel. There will be plenty of time to be busy later in the year.
winterizing the ladies
Wow! What a crazy couple of weeks it has been! With mid-semester grading, baby preparations, winter preparations, choir rehearsals and concerts, and my best friend visiting, I feel as though I've been running non-stop! Thankfully, though, we've had a enough time to get a few of the winterizing tasks checked off the to-do list, and just in time as the cold weather arrived yesterday and seems to be here to stay!
One of those tasks has been to get the girls ready for the long winter months ahead. They were in need of a good coop cleaning, but they've also been in need of a bit more space. When we got our two new chicks in the spring, we knew that we'd eventually need to figure out a solution for the limited run space that we have for our ladies. For the summer, we made a makeshift fence that connected to the run and allowed them a bit more space in which to roam, dig, dust bathe, and do their chicken things. This worked great for the summer when we were home so much during the day, but it was not a great solution for the fall, winter, and spring since the ladies had their ways of escaping their confinement. So, a couple weeks ago, Dan made the fence around their chicken yard, as I like to call it, a bit more permanent! He also expanded it to include the space behind the coop next to the covered wood pile. The ladies love it! They have more places to explore, hang out, and escape from any possible predators. It's a perfect solution to our crowded run! Hooray! Over the next few weeks, the opening from the run to the chicken yard will also become a closing door of sorts with a latch to help protect our ladies from possible nighttime predators.
The ladies' water heater has also been returned to them, along with their run light which extends their daylight hours a bit. Once the snow starts blowing, they'll also get a layer of plastic wrapped around the lower half of their run to protect them from the elements a bit more. They seem pleased with all these changes, both in scenery and weather. However, at least four of our five older chickens are in the middle of their fall molt right now and so this sudden cold front may have caught their naked little bodies by surprise. Naked chickens...really, you'd think they'd have more decency!
Alas, it feels so very good to have the ladies ready for the long winter ahead. I know I'm ready for the shorter days and the cold quiet evenings. I hope they are too.