One of those days.

Just one of those days. I feel so poor and broke. We drove to my In-Laws for a wonderful Christmas and even stopped in to see an old friend and her family. It was a wonderful trip. Unfortunely it literary put us in the red from the gas alone. Now I struggle to find the balance between being rich in 'things' some good such as food, shelter and family and the fact our bank accounts are emptied.

So here I sit with Bonnie curled in my lap contemplating what to do next. We are out of drinking water, I'll have to dig up some change and drive to town to get some. Thankfully at 59 cents a gallon the 15 gallons I buy every couple weeks is under $10 dollars.

Why does is always come back to money?

Merry Christmas

Can't wait to get back home from the In-Law's to use my new Pressure Canner!

Merry Christmas everyone :)

John Deere Green

Ahh the sweet site of green and gold. Dad bough a new (to us) tractor. I believe it is a 1984 - model 2550. It has a bucket and forks.
Living next door to Dad has its advantages. I can't wait to learn how to drive it around the yard. So many projects I want to do with it. Or shoveling snow, if we get any snow, there will be snow to push around with the bucket. I can't wait. Sure it will be cold, no cab on the tractor, but it is a tractor. Dad has a small cultivator and next spring it will be my best friend or I'll be it's worst enemy.

Here's my plan for using the tractor:

• My Huge Garden to the west of the house
• Cultivate the tree row. Trees don't grow well out here, we planted these 10 years ago and they are about 3 or 4 feet high. So extra TLC won't hurt.
• Did I mention Mom's garden needs tilling
• till and plant oats in a bald spot in the hay field
• cut hay
• bale small square hay bales
• cut and bale oats

Not to mention all the plans Dad has in store. It looks to be a busy coming year :)

Moving day

Last Sunday I moved the growing chicks. They had quickly out grew the indoor cardboard house and were rapidly learning to escape the pen I made them in the unheated entry way. So out they went.

We are going where?!?

My sister helped me catch and put them in boxes for the move across the yard. Once in the barn they were a bit bewilder. What to do with all the space?

Ready, Set, Explore!

Exploring - Go!

Personally I am very happy to get them out of the house, it was getting stinky. The chicks are getting so big they were always trying to fly with out luck, now they have lots of space and high roosts to jump from. I could sit and watch them all day. 

Charlie

I recently found this fun and easy photo editing software on line through google. It is called Picnik  - I played around with it this afternoon creating this adorable picture of Charlie. The great thing I like is that I can save the photo easily back on my computer or to another online photo storage place such as facebook or Fliker.

Isn't he cute?

Chicken!

This might come across wrong, but I really want chicken for dinner tonight. My Rachel Ray magazine (Oct. issue) has a bunch of crock-pot whole chicken recipes that I want to try. But dig as I might there isn't any chicken anything in the freezer. To add to my chicken craving, one of the three flighty hens has started to molt. If I knew who the slacker was she could be dinner. The hens job this winter is to produce us eggs and the last few days there have only been two eggs. Then today I saw feathers, little ones and two primary ones. I am not impressed. A molting chicken doesn't lay eggs. Time will tell but there may be chicken on the menu latter this week.

Bonnie

Bonnie is our family rescue house cat. I've known her most of her cat life. She was born 11 years ago on my grandparents farm. A barn kitten we tamed and soon was a pet. Late that summer she had a litter of kittens,  nearly a kitten herself. Three cute kittens were found homes and she was spayed. She always was a small cat.  Then she lived with my Grandmother in and out of the house catching mice, birds and other wild things. What a life.  Years later my Grandmother got very sick and Bonnie came to live outside with my parents. Bonnie didn't get a long with their dog and got spooked under the trailer house and wouldn't come out. Sadly everyone thought she didn't survive the winter.

Boy was I shocked this fall to find her living in my parents new garage in an extra large dog crate. Still she doesn't get along with dogs or my family's other cat in the house. So I took her in to my family. Apartment living doesn't allow cats and I've always wanted one. Bonnie fit the bill perfectly, small, loves attention, is a bit shy and we are working on her spooky -ness, sometimes when we move around she runs away. Unfortunetly she is also camera shy, I've lost the good camera in the unpacking process and just can't seem to get her in focus with my phone camera. Pictures will just have to wait.

chicks

 We hoped for a couple layimg hens to give us eggs through the wimter. Well we got 3 crazy hens and made a new friend. Our neighbor over run with bantam roosters offered us any that fit our fancy. Meet Charlie the newest member of our farm, Charlie is a blue cochin bantam sized pet. I say pet in the mildest of terms as he is very friendly but I'd eat him if it came down to it.

 Look at those cute feathered  feet and blunt tail.

So if he and the girls were not enough we ordered 25 brown layer mix of breeds chicks from McMurray hatchery. People thout we were crazy, but I have a spare bathroom and lots of cardboard boxes from the move - they can live in the tub. 

Meet the chicks:

Some how our order of 25 grew to 30. A free exotic chick was offered which we expected, but the other 4 were a nice surprise. 

Today on the homestead

In this part of our homestead journey we are living on my parents property. There is an existing trailer house where we live and an existing small barn/shed outbuilding. We were given 3 laying hens of the white leghorn type. So far we have gotten three eggs a day from these flighty girls.