What the hay!

Well, we've run out of hay.  

Last winter we deep littered the chickens.

Instead of a weekly muck out of the coop, we first put down a deep layer of leaves and grass clippings from the fall cleanup and then put hay in the chickens' laying boxes.

Every week, I'd take an old feed sack full of 2 flakes of hay down to the coop and put it on top with a hand full of corn on top of that.  This way the chickens would stir up the layers and the coop would stay sweet smelling.  I would also dump out all the hay from the laying boxes onto the floor and put fresh hay in.  This way I had pretty clean eggs.

After mucking out the coop a few weeks ago, I realized we had gone through the hay we had bought and put in the  garage for the deep littering.  

The laying boxes were getting a little muddy from the chickens' feet and thus, the 10 eggs I collected yesterday were in desperate need for a good washing.

What's a girl to do when she is all out of hay and the boxes are getting muddy...and she's out of wood shavings, hay and other good items for the job?

She gets thinking.

My husband taught me how to get our lawnmower going a few weekends ago.  All the clippings from the mowing job went into the compost heap...and hay is just dry really tall grass (well kind of)...so I bet you can figure out what I did. 

The chickens had to go immediately into the boxes and check out what the new item was...I am always amazed by how curious creatures they are.

Was I rewarded with nice, fresh, non muddy eggs...

Not so much...

maybe I should teach them to wipe their feet off before coming in the (chicken) house.

Scrumptious Saturday...Pealing off the wallpaper

Sorry about the delay...yesterday got away from me.

Well, it's been a while since I've had any continuation of my maple sap story.  My house only has wallpaper in the dining room, so I wasn't so worried about what old timers would joke about...

pealing off the wallpaper with the moisture sap gives off.  

We only got about a quart of sap...

yes this will yield a few tablespoons, but it's the concept that I am looking for.  

The kiddos helped each step of the way.  

I want them to see from tree to pancakes.

So I heated up my cast iron skillet, and dumped in the frozen block of sugary water.

Then over medium heat I cooked off the sap slowly.  

During this time I went out to the coop and got half a dozen eggs.

I came back in and it was syrup...It only took about 30 minutes.

To catch up on the saga of our maple syrup...

Maple Syrup part 1

Maple Syrup part 2

A quarter pounder without cheese

A quarter pounder

Two eggs from the same chicken

This egg was the only one layed the day after the great mucking. 

 I consider it a thank you from the girls.

The story of "The Three Little Eggs."

The first eggs of the new year came in a set of 3.

The first little egg froze between laying and when I checked...it was crushed by a hen and froze in the nest.

(It looked like a fried egg over easy.)

The second little egg exploded upon being brought in from the cold into a warm house.

(While still retaining it's egg shape.)

The third little egg was a strong little egg.  Soon after this picture was taken it became food.

(Oh, how wonderful it tasted after a month of store bought eggs.)

My girls are laying again.  

We chose not to "force" eggs this winter due to many factors.

The main reason is that our hen house hasn't any electricity.

Another is that it's a hassle to go out and turn on and off the lights at appropriate times.

I also feel it is more humane...it's letting the chickens have a rest during that stressful cold and dark time of year.

In all we had about a month with no eggs.

I was amazed, I only bought 2 dozen during the month.

When they are laying well, I usually go through 1-2 dozen a week.

But when without, or when the laying is occasional like it has been these last few days, we are so careful with them.  

We don't bake as much.  

No scrambled eggs for breakfast.

No waffles.

Tucked in...

The storm earlier this week drove us to make some moves on animal winter housing.  For whatever numerous reasons there were several things that weren't done.  After several years of mistakes in winterizing the animals we have learned alot...and we still have plenty to learn. 
One thing I had to get used to was the idea that animals (like us) live in more confined ways in the winter. 
We like to support our animals living in a manner that suits their natural tendencies.  We put our hens and meat birds on pasture in the summer.  Our pigs have a large range of woods and pasture three seasons a year.  We use our goats to clear woodland so they always have over an acre of brushy undergrowth they are working on.   The reality is that snow and electric fencing don't really mix too well and animals like the pony require careful turnout in the winter so they don't hurt themselves on icy patches.  Everyone has a decent enough coat (or thick enough skin..and fat) to endure the cold but they also require some decent shelter from stiff winds and wet precipitation.  Basically, being cold is OK, but being wet and cold and drafty is not.  I can relate!  After discussing the whole winter "confinement" matter with several other farmers--who also pasture their meat and dairy critters-- over time, I became more comfy with the  idea of cozying everyone up for the winter.   Plus, by the end of winter, we have a nice huge pile of manure that can go on the gardens!!!
Slowly we worked up to a small list of winter residents that forced us to learn a whole new set of skills and practices.  Right now we are housing:

3 Alpine Dairy Goats
2 Large Black Hogs (sow possibly expecting)
1 medium pony
1 6 month old Dexter heifer
8 laying hens

So there are surely many ways to care for your animals in the winter but I thought I might share how we do it...which is forever changing...in the spirit of the ol' Grange Hall.  The way that farmers have been learning, and doing and sharing since the early days of farming.
The hens, per my last post, are living in the lap of luxury in their solar heated hoop house accomodation.

To winterize the goats we use sheep fence (wire 5 inch square mesh) and make a smaller sized corral around their house.  This fence is not electrified and they stay in no problem.  We throw in  evergreen boughs all winter for browse.  They get straw bedding which is deep packed (we dont change it til spring) and they get hay and a little extra grain.

The pigs got moved into a large stall in the barn which they lovingly share.  That gets mucked twice daily and they get some hay bedding which they also munch on. 

The calf is in the next stall over.  She gets tons of hay...mucked daily and ideally brushed daily---trying to make her super tame for milking...thats my goal anyway.  It seems to be going well.

The pony wears a blanket and lives mostly in his stall although he gets walks and turnout into the snowy pasture--which he loves to roll in.  He also gets dengi to supplement his forage diet and help him enjoy eating a little more in the face of declining dental health---oh getting old is tough.

We keep a little NPR or some such on the barn radio to keep everyone company -- and well informed -- and we, so far, have been pretty happy with how everyone is faring this winter.  We finally feel like we have the beginnings of a "system" down.  And we can reasonably afford our grain bill (ahem).

Of course--just when things are getting familiar--your sheep farmer friend calls to lure you with her 12 prospective blue liecester X lambs...just a couple wethers...beauuuuutiful fiber.....easy keepers....OH DEAR!  Are things about to change...again??

Chez Poulet Redux: Part Deux

Yup:
Typical our style.  Its 15 degrees..dusk approaching..a nor'easter bearing down on us...and...voila!  We bust out the chicken house in a 3 hour push. 
It aint pretty...but it will do.  The hens are moved in, thanks to my 7 year old chicken catcher.  I would put her up against any 60 year old poultry farmer any day...she's fast, accurate and fearless and she can carry up to 4 hens at a time, upsidedown, two per hand.  She's incredible.

We are already psyched about shortened water and grain hauling trips...
And I am dreaming about slipper-footed runs just steps out the back door to fresh eggs.

salvaged rebar and slab wood and retired 4 year old greenhouse plastic=free chicken house



everyone tucked in for the storm...including us!



Winter eggs...

This is our first chicken owning winter that we haven't forced eggs...

and they are getting scarcer than hen's teeth around here.  

We broke down and bought eggs from Frankferd's due to the Christmas cookie baking that went on this weekend...20 dozen cookies for my husband's staff uses up quite a few eggs.  

Let me be the first to say if you buy eggs, they "pale" in comparison to the rich dark yellow eggs of summer.  I love the eggs when the chickens have been eating lots of grass and eggs.  

In winter, we have them in a shed.  We tried to put a run on to the side, but the ground froze before we got a chance. The shed has deep litter composed of hay and leaves from the yard.  We saved a garbage can full of leaves for mid winter when their litter will need a refresher.  

We've been getting a few eggs every day.  I am careful to get them around noon so that they have been layed. but haven't had a chance to freeze. (During a blizzard I had a few days were I couldn't get out there last year, when I went to wash the "naturally refrigerated eggs" they all cracked from being frozen.) 

Summer chores:

Feed Grain

Use the hose to fill up the waterer.

Give Scraps

Winter Chores:

Fill a 5 gallon bucket with hot tap water, one gallon at a time.

Boil a tea kettle full of water.

Lug both down to the shed

Wedge your way in so the chickens don't escape.

Use boiling water to defrost the waterer so that you can open it.

(careful...don't scald the chickens)

It helps if you also manage to bring the scraps to distract the girls from the water.

Use the bucket to fill the waterer.

Fill up the feeder.

Collect eggs

Get out.

While I'm down there, I also dump out the compost which often has animal foot prints around it.

We must have some well caffeinated wildlife around here.

The eggs may not be as dark as the ones in the summer, and a bit more difficult to come by, but they are still better than any egg I've ever bought.  

Chez Poulet Redeux

I can hear the wheels of old man winter's truck coming down the driveway.  He drives real slow.  But when he arrives, its not just a stay for dinner kinda situation.  It's a long one.  This is the time of year that I can never have enough of.  Never enough time to get the wood done.  Never enough time to get all of the animals set exactly the way we want them.  Never enough time to get all of the "stuff" cleared off the yard before it gets buried--until the unsightly spring thaw. 

Sunday, determined to have easily accessed eggs through the winter, I took matters into my own hands. You see, we have gone through many different set ups with our layers.  We have had as many as 60 hens at one time and some large portable and stationary layer housing.  But, now, with a nice homestead sized flock of 8, our ladies are a bit lost in their large range house.  It offers limited protection from the winter elements and they lack the mass population body heat to keep it cozy. 

I surveyed the yard junk (which proliferates everywhere) and turned up several lengths of re-bar, a bunch of scrap lumber, various fasteners...a plan.  I decided to build a mini 10' x 10' hoop house just outside our back door.  Right along the path to our woodpile which gets regularly shoveled!  An easy run for an extention cord for a little extended fake daylight to keep the eggs coming.  A quick slipper run for eggs in the morning.  Because last year it was a long slog out into the pasture to get to the ladies, ok, as its on the way to the pigs...but not ideal.

We laid out the location and the base.  I snagged the learning opportunity.  How do we know if this thing is square?  The two girls and I did some pythagorean theorem.  Well, the little one raked leaves.  Then we pounded holes and bent poles.  Having a 7 year old partner proved crucial.  We divided 10' into three equal sections using leaves to represent each foot and dividing 10 leaves into three equal piles.  "Three and one third!"  She proudly announced.  Then the elder took a swing break and the little took up the pencil...drew me some lines and other various artwork on lumber not related to cut lines.  The moment of truth..we lifted the endwall together.  Not bad. 

We called it a day as no one had injured themselves on the job.  A sure sign of success.  We turned in to make soup and bread for dinner.  A little more framing and a sheet of plastic and the hens will be tucked in for his arrival.  And everyone will be happy for those short egg runs when I yell that we're out of eggs in the middle of holiday baking season.

The Pieman...

Okay he may not be a pie man, maybe a pie boy...but boy 'o boy does he love his pie.  

So often, I find that people do not know where their food comes from...so, I am making sure the kiddos know pie doesn't come from the store, or even a can, but from real foods.  

So here is our pumpkin pie...and an art lesson, and  a math lesson...and whatever else you want to fit into this space.

First one must have the perfect pumpkin.

Then we cut it in half and removed the seeds.  The pumpkin
went in the oven at 350 degrees.

While the pumpkin was baking, we counted the seeds and
used non-standard measurement to find out how big
our paper towels are.  We did multiple trials to demonstrate how it is not the
best method to measure in (the towel was between 15 and 16 pumpkin seeds.)

W. then drew pictures of the pumpkin seeds.

When done, we scooped all the pumpkin pulp out of the shells.

I made a simple whole wheat crust (the nutty flavor really
complements the rich pumpkin flavor.)  The trick is this:
Put the crust on the rack...then fill with pumpkin (less mess.)

We then mixed up a standard fresh pumpkin recipe (more
eggs so it gels well.) baked it...and devoured it (can it count as
a veggie for dinner?)

Old Mother Hubbard...

Yes, it's that time of the month...when the food budget is gone and we are "inventive" mode aka...simple, use what you got mode. I will admit to overspending this month to buy milk and medication (sinus infections, bronchitis and ticks got us this month.) But here are some pictures of what we have:



Whole Wheat and White Flour with
Vinegar




Canned Applesauce and Tomatoes with
homemade granola, raisins, beer, spritzer,
and wine



Pear Butter, Dried tomatoes and Peppers,
Dried herbs and lemons, Dilly Beans and jellies





Eggs





Green Tomatoes



Rice, pasta, beans, quinoa, one can tuna,
and a can of Pumpkin.  I think I see some
marinades and PB as well.

So here are some of my meal ideas...

Breakfasts:

Yogurt and Granola (not too inventive, but it's something that not everyone in the house typically will choose from their free will...) Fruit????

Pear Butter Muffins

Toast and Eggs (need to make bread) I think we may have some frozen berries to go with it!

Lunches: 

Peanut butter and raisins on apple slices, Milk

Peanut Butter and Jelly (again with the bread I should make...) Applesauce on the side

Dinner:

Pasta with tomato sauce

Beef Veggie soup

MEAT (1/4 of a cow is in the freezer) maybe with some spiced up pumpkin and dilly beans

When I started writing this, I could hardly think of something to make tomorrow, but now that I took pictures, took stock, and thought about it, we have lots of things to nourish our family.  It just is back to basics.

We are so fortunate for what we have. We have the ability to be picky. We have the ability to choose what we want to eat. It takes moments like this to realize how truly blessed we are. 

I am almost embarrassed to publish this with my original thinking that the cupboards are bare, when there are people out there who do not have the makings of one balanced meal. 

I bet we could go another 1-2 weeks on what is here.

I'm also thankful I have a food order to be picked up on Saturday (then I can really get cooking!)

I think I also need to start monthly meal planning.  That would make us that much more efficient.

Then I could share with all of you the family meal plans, and maybe you could share with me as well?

What do you think...

What are you cooking...

If you have your own blog, put a link to what you're cooking, or leave a comment...

Or not...your choice.

Saving...Part 2 Do it yourself

You may have noticed, I'm a bit obsessed with cost analysis.  Part of that stems from a desire to save save save, and the other part from the fact that I just went from a nearly full time, classroom situation, to working one day a week at my job.  We made this change as a family in order to homeschool and allow for me to spend more time with the kiddos. So here are some ways we save money by doing it ourselves.

1) Laundry soap.  It takes almost the same amount of time to make as it does to take it off the shelf and at a savings of /load, it's a real bargain.  It even takes paint out of clothing!
2) Baking and Cooking.  We make our own everything here, bread, pie, cookies...we eat homemade dinners, pack lunches, cook breakfast.  I have even started making yogurt (more on that another day.)  We try to keep it simple, healthy, and nutritious.  At times we don't succeed at this, but we try to keep it good for us at least 80% of the time.
3) Canning, Freezing, Dehydrating.  You've seen about many of the different things I've done here from the Rose Hip Jelly to the Applesauce and many others in between
4) Fixing.  Mend what needs to be mended, maintain things to make them last longer.
5) Don't be afraid to ask questions, ask for help, and ask opinions.  Others have done this before me and I often ask what they think about what I should do.  We've saved ourselves lots of problems this way.  We are also always open to helping hands!
6) Raising chickens (Country sister does this and more! check out each word) for eggs and occasionally meat.
7) Our garden...our connection to the land, food sources, and lots of tomatoes

date is wrong!

Sorry about the lack of pictures in this one, I gave you links to the archives instead of lots of picts of all this stuff!

What are some other ways we could do things ourselves to save?

What are you doing?

City Homestead Tour #2...Our big rotting heap.

We cook a lot in this household.  It is rather unusual for our suburban surroundings to cook everything from scratch (including our daily bread) but we do because:
1)It tastes better.
2) It is better for you.
3) It is cheaper. 

Since we cook a lot, we frequently have scraps, leftovers, and other little bits of food.

A day's worth of  compost scraps

We compost in multiple ways around here.  You have already met our #1 composters- the chickens.  They will eat anything (most don't know they are omnivores) but we choose not to give them meat (salmonella risk), egg shells (risk of them attacking the eggs for food), potato skins and apple cores (they contain items that are toxic to chickens.), or onion and garlic (off taste in the eggs...who wants garlic essence banana bread?)  We also don't give them a few other items that are common in our household such as coffee grinds/tea bags etc. 

So what do you do with the biodegradable items that the chickens do not compost for you?  You get a big ole rotting heap also known as THE COMPOST HEAP!!!!  We also add a healthy dose of chicken guano (poo) and clippings such as grass or weeds before they blossom (and let them sit a few days to dry out so they do not take root in the heap.) In the fall we do not bag leaves, but rather put them in the heap and the chicken run (they love playing in the leaves, which breaks them down quickly and enriches the soil around them, which encourages worms for them to eat...they love worms.)





a scraps layer

At this moment, since we are expanding our garden beds, we are putting the compost directly into the garden beds.  We then top the scraps with finished compost.  Over the winter, everything will break down and become beautiful nutritious soil.



The finished product (it's fall some leaves blew in)

 It is in the far corner of the yard, behind the shed.  It is protected from the neighbors by a wall of Rose of Sharon bushes.  It takes a lot to keep the bushes trimmed back so the sun can warm it and encourage all the microbes to chow down on our leftovers.  I have learned to love the sawzall's ability to cut down trees with ease. 

On a related note, I was reading an article about composting and compost tea.  Basically, compost tea is compost soaked in water and then strained.  The liquid is then diluted and used as liquid fertilizer.  I then came to the conclusion that since we frequently make sure the heap is wet, many healthy nutrients are most likely washed down into the soil below the heap.  I dug about a foot below the bottom of the heap.  The soil there was much richer and fluffier (thanks worms) than the surrounding soil.  It also seemed as though every root in the neighborhood had found its way to this level.  I ended up excavating about a foot below the ground level.  About a third of the heap has been used to make two large garden beds so I should be able to get about six good sized beds out of the beautiful compost.

City Homestead Tour #1...The Burb Chickens

You have seen the country version of chicken husbandry...now...the city chickens.

Being in "the burbs"  we have quite a few neighbors (and their guests, professional gardener for hire, or third cousin twice removed) that come and look at the chickens and then ask questions.  We don't have fences between us, and that also attracts backyard conversations.  Often I hear the same questions time and time again. 

The Girls

My favorite questions:

Are they legal? (yes, no fighting cocks or rhinos though in our township)

Where do you get them? (in the mail from My Pet Chicken or from Country Sister)

Don't you need a rooster? (no, they lay without a rooster)

Do all of them lay every day? (no, maybe 2 out of 3 days each although the three oldest are starting to slow down)

Can I have some eggs (sure...$3.00/dozen or maybe free...it depends)

Salt is Laying

For housing we use a 6x10 foot dog kennel covered partly by a tarp (we can get away with tarps here too.)  For roosts, we use dog crates tied up with wire.  And for laying boxes, we use old cat litter boxes.  The kids named all the girls.  We currently have: Salt and Pepper who are Barred Plymouth Rocks, Cotton Tail (Flopsy and Mopsy went to the great Rooster Pot Pie in the Sky), who may be a Delaware, and Henrietta, Cockle-doodle-do, and Big Red, Red Comets that used to belong to Country Sister (yes, they spent 700 miles in the back of a pickup truck and still managed to lay on the trip.)  Six more are on their way in a few weeks who will be Red Stars.

A great resource for other chicken questions is the city chicken.  Katy has a lot of experience with chickens and the urban/suburban setting (she even had a chicken on a balcony in the city once.)

Chickens are a great choice for us.  They eat our scraps, fertilize our gardens and lawn, keep down bugs and pests, and best of all, give us beautiful yummy healthy eggs.

Country Sister did a great annalysis of the cost of keeping chickens, I will only reiterate that it costs less to grow your own eggs, and the taste, texture, and baking abilities are much better.

Country Sister/ Country Brother-in-Law will continue to get calls when one gets hen pecked to a pulp...or when I want confirmation on rooster status...or slaughter...

Lets see what the next frantic and insane call is about.

Country Homestead Tour #1: Hens

breakfast in the #14

Well isn't this timely. We are in the midst of a half a BILLION egg recall in this country. Seriously. Something is terribly wrong. And I think most of us know what that is.

I thought, as we started this blog that it would be fun to periodically give a "tour" of the parts and pieces that make up our homesteads. Here in the Country we have a diverse range of animals and vegetables (weeds) and other random things that make life here what it is, and what we love. So, to kick things off, lets start with the very thing that got us started on our path. The simple, lovely, and oh so tasty egg.

Years ago we started out with a half dozen hens. Somewhere in the middle we got up to about 60 hens. Now we are happy with our 8 hens. Things are constantly evolving here!
So here's the deal. We eat eggs. We eat our own hen's eggs. We eat fresh eggs. And after that--all other eggs seem pretty...well, pale in comparison. If you have hens, you know what I am talking about. Having a few hens in your yard is a no brainer. Its easy, inexpensive and a wonderful lesson for the kids on everything from care of animals to reproduction to responsibility. The birds are good for pest control and, properly managed, offer fertilizer in return for being well fed.

Lets look at some Eggonomics, just in case you are on the fence about whether to bring feathered friends into your life. A dozen organic, pasture raised eggs (organic feed and grass and sun) costs $5.00 retail around here. A dozen of the same eggs from your own back yard will add up like this:

$7.00 pullet will lay about 60 doz eggs over her 2 year laying life. So she costs about 12 cents a dozen. A good layer (RI red, Golden Comet, Barred Rocks) will eat about 5 pounds of feed for every dozen laid. That 5 pounds of organic grain will cost you about $2.20 around here. So your cost per dozen is $2.32! Using non-organic feed you can cut the feed cost in about half.
Of course, there is some up front cost for housing, fencing and whatnot. Some people go crazy .
We go with the more "homebrew" set up involving yard scrap lumber and free tarps. But we have no neighbors to offend, and we take advantage of that.

So now if you are not totally numb bored from me taking you to egg school, you can enjoy a few pics of our ladies and their lovely accomodations. No egg recall worries at this house. We encourage everyone to do the same!

Toasty warm in the winter inside their hoophouse

Summer living, easy, with their mobile range house and fencing