Off To Bed

My littlest is recovering from a cold, and it is BLOWING like crazy out there tonight. Another frustrating night of trying to watch the news while the kids go nuts. I think it is time to re-think the evening routine, since we are all ending up pretty frustrated on a regular basis. Probably didn't help that we were out all day too, and so had to do evening chores late. Sigh. Just noticed that I have managed to at least write here (even though it has been sporadic!) for over a year now. Yay me!! Night all. Hopefully more interesting things to talk about tomorrow.

Fowl Thoughts

Owning and caring for fowl can be really interesting, and I have learned a lot over the past 4 years or so. It really takes caring for a number if different breeds before you discover what you like and what you don't, as well as what you really want to look out at every day that makes you happy. I think I have come to a certain point where I can say what birds I really want to have on our farm of the future. So, here is our fowl story so far...

Several years ago we picked up a dozen chicks, after talking about it for a few months. We have always had an interest in heritage or unusual breeds, so we decided on some Dominiques (heritage breed) and Americauna (beautiful colored eggs) hens. We originally wanted Auracauna hens, but had discovered that they are super rare and expensive after doing a lot of research. The vast majority of hatcheries that supposedly have Auracauna chickens actually have Ameraucanas, which still lay blue, green and even pink eggs (they are also called "Easter Egger" hens, a name which I personally find irritating). The trait for the colored eggs seems to be dominant enough for the Ameraucana breed to stand alone. Plus they are a pretty bird with a wide variety of corporation and features that I find attractive.

We lived with them in our tiny suburban backyard for about 18 months, before deciding that we loved our chickens, but didn't want to live WITH them any more. They really needed more space than what we had, so we moved half of them to live at my in-laws place, on their half acre. Unfortunately, several months later, they were killed by a couple of dogs. It was so sad, especially because Claire raised them from chick-hood, carrying them in a sling like little babies. Truthfully, it was almost a year before I told her about it since I knew she would be devastated.

Some time later, we moved the rest of the chickens (and a few more we got from friends) to the in-laws as well, and reinforced the pen so they were more protected from dogs. Along the way, we picked up several other miscellaneous laying hens from a friend, as well as from someone who was moving and couldn't take his hens with.

Then, this spring we picked up a group of 30 chicks (Americauna and Barred Rock), supposedly all girls. Plus 25 free chicks (all boys, of course) that were Rhode Island Reds, some ducks (we adopted 3 runner ducks and their Buff duck buddy), and a group of heritage turkeys!!

Just a few birds around here this summer. Several weeks ago we started to butcher the extra boys (an altogether different story!), and I think I have a few tentative conclusions to make. I love my Americauna and Dominiques chickens. They are colorful, have good personalities, and are fairly mellow. Barred Rocks are ok, but the boys are a little loud. Rhode Island Red roosters are obnoxious - they are push toward the hens, and are rather mean to each other. However, they taste really yummy baked in the oven.

As for ducks, I love my little Runner Ducks. They walk upright and are sweet, but not really to have for a dual-purpose bird (eggs and meat). The Khaki Campbell are ok, and the larger Blue Swedish ducks are ok too, especially on the dinner plate for their size (the males, that is).

And I love my turkeys. They are hilarious to watch and listen to (and for the record, turkeys really do say "gobble, gobble".) Unfortunately we ended up with only two girls and about 8 boys!!!! So, obviously, several will be invited to join us for the holidays.

YUM.

Too Little, But Not Too Late

Not much to say tonight. My son isn't feeling well. I am doing some online comparison shopping for tattoo machines (!!). Baked another pumpkin for pies tomorrow. Fun Times.

I Must Be Crazy

I know, it is a long-standing joke, at least to myself, that I must be crazy already. I haven't blogged (except in my head, and that doesn't really count) for several months. Granted, we have been busy, but I am sure I could have made time somewhere. My creative soul needs to be fed, even if it is through writing instead of my preferred method of the visual arts (or even dance, which I LOVE but just can't manage to do right now). One venue I have been thinking about for a few months is trying NaNoWriMo this year. If you haven't heard of it, look HERE. I don't know that I feel the need to write a novel, per se, but I do feel the need to tell my own story, and the story of my family history in some way.

Being November 1, and the first day of NaNoWriMo, I am still feeling conflicted about it. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. Gah! Or maybe I will do THIS instead....

And I really, really, really want to do THIS!! for November too.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to get this nifty little bagde widget to actually appear where I want it to. This platform is really counter-intuitive to me.

Strange Things Part Two

We have had a few interesting and somewhat strange things occur around here in the past week or so, and I thought it might be entertaining to document them here.

First off, on the daily rounds the kids do to check for eggs, Miss Claire found something unusual I had previously only read about. A most unusual egg....without a shell. I knew that one of our girls (a newer hen) was laying thin-shelled eggs, but this is the first time I saw one without any shell whatsoever. Of course we had to take pictures!

It is a sign of a calcium deficiency in the bird, which is usually an easy fix by adding oyster shell to their diet. Our problem? These girls free-range through the yard, so she should be getting enough calcium naturally. We also aren't positive which exact bird it is, because they roam freely, although I have narrowed it down to a likely suspect (the little Barred Rock my son likes to hold). So, I may have to try something a little different, like a container of yogurt (and hope that Miss shell-less egg layer actually eats it!). If it continues, then very likely she is destined for freezer camp.

The kiddos were utterly fascinated by it, and wanted to keep holding the extra-fragile egg. After a day or so of taking photos, careful cradling, and attempts to peer into it with a flashlight , I fed it to the pigs. Who promptly gobbled up the snack and wanted more. Typical little piggies!!

Next, was the unusual fruit occurrence.  What do you do when your husband brings you a fruit that is quite literally making its' own foam? Why, take pictures of course!! I know they could be more cleverly placed, but I was not feeling terribly creative at the moment.

Several weeks ago ( and by several I really mean almost two months) I picked up some kiwi fruit from the grocery store. Several were still quite hard, so I kept them in the fruit basket so they could ripen a little faster by staying with the apples. They even took a journey to our house for a week and back, as I kept forgetting about them. Back into their little basket, I again completely forgot about them. Until dear husband found one that was bubbling away, fermenting itself in its' own hairy little skin.

Oops. I'm happy it didn't get all mouldy at least. I think the birds (chickens, etc) were quite happy when I tossed it in the yard for them to eat. Maybe a little too happy...

Berkshire Pigs

The pigs have arrived! Well, actually, we drove about 200 miles to meet the woman we were picking them up from.

They are a heritage breed called Berkshire (I will put in some links when my lazy butt gets around to it).

I have to say (which freaks me out a little), just looking at them, I see meat. It is totally unlike the goats or a cow, where I have to imagine where different cuts come from. The pigs are just so muscular, it is really obvious. And it makes me salivate just thinking of the Bacon and ham and chops we will eventually have from their progeny. Yum.

We talked about getting pigs for quite a while, before actually doing it. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how I feel about raising them. The plan is to have these two girls (gilts, or young female pigs) and a boy (eventually our boar), and breed hem. Their offspring we would raise for meat or for sale, or both. Since they are unrelated, it is easier to do our own breeding, as well as crossbreeding for any specific traits we want. The thing is, some of these breeds seem to get just HUGE. We went to see a breeder a few months ago, and their pigs were really intimidating in size. I know I will probably get used to them, since we see them every day, but the size and sheer weight and muscle behind them is, well, intimidating. Plus, they are smart. Even if they are the intelligence of your average 4-5 year old, that is pretty clever! I guess it is a good thing we have opposable thumbs, and they don't. I believe it also makes a huge difference in how you treat your animals. I like to think that we treat ours pretty well, and treat them with kindness.

So now we have expanded our little self-sustainable farm (eventually!!) A little bit more. Hopefully one day soon we will have our land to go with it!

Frustration

At any single point in my day, I often have three or four blog posts running through my head. You would think that with all that brain activity going on, I would actually post more often. Yet I don't. Why? I suppose a certain amount of procrastination, combined with bad timing and probably a bit of laziness too. Plus, a certain amount of not wanting to put words out there that I don't want existing on the interwebs for all time.

I think the frustration for me comes from the procrastination and bad timing most of all. I have been trying to figure out for some time now, why exactly I put things off until the last minute. Any number of tasks I could accomplish in the day. However they often escape me, and I am left with the maddening feeling that I COULD have accomplished something today if only I had the time to. Frustrating, isn't it. I know that having two highly active little people in my life means that I actually get far less done than I would have before having children. I am ok with that. I would just like to figure out how to beat this putting off until another day aspect of it all.....