It's Been A While

I really have no excuse beyond simple exhaustion for not writing more lately.  The holiday trees are up, the lights twinkle and the hatchery has shipped us new babies.  We're crossing our fingers that things go much better this time around. 

Hopefully within the next few days I'll be posting pictures of new chicks and finding my inspiration again! 

Chickies...

Due to a series of unfortunate events, it will sometime between the 18th and 20th when our new baby chicks arrive. 

Let's leave it at that.

Soaps and Scents!

ZentopiaAcres is pleased to provide a variety of scents. Availability may be limited, or have a waiting period, so please be sure to check with us before ordering.

Amber
Bay Rum
Bug Off (citronella based)
Cedar Lemongrass
Cowboy (leather and campfire)
Eucalyptus Spearmint
Frangipani
Jasmine

Lavender
Lavender Rosemary
Lime Cookie
Nag Champa
Oatmeal Cookie
Patchouli
Peppermint
Rosemary
Summer Rose
Tahitian Vanilla

*Check back often, since we are always working on creating delightful new soap scents that will provide just the right bath time delight for everyone!

**We can also make sugar scrub cubes out of your favorite soap scents. Not as messy as a traditional sugar scrub in a jar, that needs to be scooped out and just as nourishing!

Chicks

We have recovered from the slaughter, and the few remaining birds we have left are laying a little better now.

The brightest news is that the baby chicks we ordered have hatched and have been shipped!  Tomorrow morning we should be receiving all 16 of our new babies!  I can't wait to see them, and get them settled in!

Something To Look Forward To

Lately it has been hard to find the time to write. Whatever this illness is, it has sunk its teeth into me and saps my energy far too quickly.  Today, I’m biting back (or at least biting out a small section of time to write.)

The farm has been chugging along fairly quietly for the last several weeks.  Ms. Gerie, our mini-nubian is down to once a day milkings, and though a little bit confused as to why no one is messing with her teats while she’s in the stand she’s cool with it.  We lost three more chickens, with no sign of the bodies which makes me think the local coyote population smelled the aroma of dead chicken after the dog attack and decided KFC South was open for business. No losses in the last few days though, so that’s a step in the right direction. 

We are excited though about the new chicks arriving next week! I can’t wait to post photos of fuzzy little chicks hopping all around with the glee of absolute innocence.  It will not take long before the little Amerecauna’s (for that’s what we got – 15 pullet chicks and 1 rooster chick that will lay pretty blue and green eggs) have feathers and are ready to join the rest of the flock.  That should be early spring when they are ready, and perfect timing! 

Despite the devastation of the dog attack, there is still something good to look forward to!

Dogs vs Coyotes

Warning: Not for the weak of stomach.  Some photos may be too graphic for some.

Saturday morning I went out to feed and milk, and upon opening the back door I knew something was horribly wrong.  I could see feathers everywhere -

By the duck pen

By the big coop

In the trough

Then I saw the chunky bits in the barn yard and the harsh reality really started to sink in. At this point I wasn't sure if it was a coyote that was really hungry and couldn't wait to leave the area before eating or something far worse.  Dogs.

Parts... oh my goodness. Then I made my way into the barn.  Dogs. 

Because coyotes will eat their kills, not leave dead bodies all over the place to rot. 

They got every single one of our brahmas, and no few black giants and wyandottes. 

The feathers were everywhere... 

And more bodies were scattered over the landscape.

In all there were a dozen bodies we could identify, and that leaves 5 that we couldn't even find.  We did find a heart, but I'll spare you that image. 

Let me start with saying again how much we love our little farm, and how we are deeply vested in every animal we have including our chickens.  Also, the main job of the donkeys is to protect the goats.  When danger appears, these are all still flight or fight animals.  The goats all cluster round the donkeys and they move away from danger. [Flight] If danger gets close to them, one donkey stays with the goats and the other acts as a proactive guardian, kicking, biting and stomping anything that gets too close. [Fight]  It’s a pretty impressive sight, really.  Unfortunately, if they are all afield and trouble comes to the barn that means that the chickens are pretty much defenseless because the goats and donkeys are already “safe.” 

Now on to the predators:  Coyotes tend to take what they need, and as a rule will not decimate a flock.  They are natural predators and they hunt to eat, taking what they need.  Don’t get me wrong – they may come back because that barn or coop full of chickens just smells like a coyote drive through to them.  But they do not kill for fun, and they will not leave dead birds behind. 

Domesticated dogs on the other hand are generally well fed and when they are either allowed out to roam, or escape to roam, prove to be a far greater threat.  Dogs are still hunters by nature, but are playful by nurture.  To dogs, there is little that is more fun to hunt than chickens.  They don’t generally eat what they kill though – they shake the chickens until their “toy” breaks (usually with a broken neck) then drop it and go on to another “toy” in the form of a live chicken.  Dogs will kill an entire flock for their own amusement.  Sure some may be dismembered, but mostly they will just kill them and leave them behind. 

I have no idea who owns the dogs responsible, and that means no way to ask for replacement cost of our flock. 

In the meantime we have moved and fortified our hens roosting area.  We will replenish our flock, but it takes time and money.  We are looking at no less than 6 months before we have a full flock again.

Even though your sweet pet may not bite humans, and may be sweet as pie around you, left to their own devices they can cause so much damage to small farmers. 

Even as sweet and dear as our Abigail is, never nipping at any of our flock that accidentally ended up in the yard, she would still hunt the chickens belonging to someone else if she had the opportunity. 

Fence your dogs, and lock your chicken coops at night. 

The Milk Maids Hands

The milk maid’s hands were always the softest hands, because of the alpha hydroxy acids present in the goat milk that inevitably got on their hands during milking.  Unfortunately, this milk maid goes through a period of serious lizard-skin each autumn as cooler weather comes on, despite the daily use of my highly nourishing goat milk soap.

This weekend, inspiration came in a desperate need for some lotion while we were out and doing things away from the house, when I noticed the first stages of my annual reptilian autumnal state.  Luckily, my husband had a tube of hand lotion still in his car that I had left there in the springtime. 

Make no mistake, it’s wonderful stuff but I glanced at the price tag on the back and chided myself for ever paying that much for any sort of hand lotion.  I can make that, just like I can do soap, right?  Of course! 

But stabilizing this so it won’t go sour (or develop lots of nasty bacteria and mold) and spoil the lotion is a very big deal.  I knew it could be done but was lost on the how. 

So armed with determination and a lot of resources, I have done some homework.  Not only does it look like I will be able to make fabulous lotion, but the lotion will be far more natural than anything I can buy.  And with a minor consideration toward preservation, I can and will make goat milk lotion that is shelf stable.  This is delightfully exciting to me, and now I’m off to select my oils!

Morning Musings

Yesterday morning as I fed the dogs, and sat sipping a cup of coffee while monitoring them to make sure Mac didn’t get pushed off of his meal by the others, I found myself musing about why I do what I do, and why do I write about it. 

A discussion with my eldest daughter, now a college student, about her ethics class brought some of it into focus.  It’s something I’ve known, but hadn’t put into words before that moment.  We were driving home from campus one day and found ourselves behind a vehicle that sported a bumper sticker stating that happiness is a journey.  I quietly snickered to myself, because I find that happiness isn’t really the journey but the place where I feel most content and joyful in life.  My daughter however was quite more vocal about her opinion.  After a good 3-5 minute rant, she summed it up that the journey isn’t happiness, it’s the end result and culminates in a place.

I had a mental flash of sitting in the barn milking a goat, and breathing the sweet scent of hay and animals; another of carrying buckets of warm honeyed water out to the animals, during a rare deep freeze in the winter; another of sitting on the deck in the sunshine watching the dogs play, and feeling the breeze dry the sweat on my back, a big glass of iced tea in my hand; another of cooking dinner and laughing with my family while fun music played loudly and we danced around while preparing a meal.  My farm is my place of happiness, because there I’m surrounded by family and animals and good honest work without office politics where there is a measurable definition of success: the health and growth of my loved ones, food, production of soap, the mowing of the lawn and the construction of useful items. 

My writing is certainly not anything special, but I find myself compelled to record the daily events that are the development of our little farm.  More than that, happiness is contagious and don’t we all have a little compulsion to share our joy with others?  Sometimes the news isn’t joyful in itself, but it is part of the bigger picture that is our farm.  It is real life in a more honest and basic brilliance. Living life closer to home doesn’t mean giving up pleasures – it means having more pleasure in your life where it counts most.  

A New Soap Scent

So of course we are now playing with all sorts of stuff with the soap, and we have a new scent.  It's "Gone Campin'" and is redolent with the aroma of campfire and leather. 

Hmm...  Maybe we should just call it "Real Men"?

It Has Arrived!

Autumn has arrived with a vengeance! 

Yes, it really was that chilly this morning requiring the heavy coat! 

And this is Texas in October, for goodness sake!

 

 32 Degrees!  I object! We shouldn't be seeing this for another few weeks at least!!!

Tuck in, ladies! You need that extra fuel to stay warm on nights like that.  (I think the donkeys hair grew in extra thick overnight!)

And despite the chill, I saw these lovely little flowers on the way back from the barn.  That added a nice little sunshine to my morning!

 

 

Recovering Ramblings

Fall has arrived with a vengence and the vacation I had so longed for, which launched with my birthday, was absorpbed with my having strep-throat.  The last thing you want to do when you feel that bad is ... well... anything.  Poor hubby took on the lions share of everything for the last several days, and I didn't want to breathe it hurt so much.   

We had a few adventures during the week, despite the challenge of illness.  Penelope, the now year and a half old donkey, broke down part of the fence between the pasture and the back yard and let herself and Chester in for back yard grazings.  We ran them out and patched up the fence, and are more than ever looking forward to putting in a gate over there. 

One day, while still terribly sick, Jackson (my oldest daughters little dog) managed to find a chicken waterer and get his entire head stuck in it, and hid under the deck.  I have no idea how long he was trapped, but upon discovering this I donned pants, boots, long sleeves and a leash and crawled under the deck to retrieve him.   He had been trapped long enough that he was saturated with slobber, and the waterer had to be essentially unscrewed from his head.  Poor Jackson panted for what seemed like a very long time after his release, and drank a little water before collapsing with Abby and his sister Cami for a two hour nap.  (Fine by me - I curled up in the recliner and slept too.)  He seems ok now, though he does want to stay inside a bit more than before. 

Now, autumn has hit quite fast and that means the weather has been perfect for all sorts of out door projects - which we need to accomplish before winter truly arrives.  Now that I'm on the road to recovery, though not fully back to myself, I'm already trying to figure out how to fit in all the things I didn't get done over the "vacation."

For now, one step at a time. The trough is clean, and the storage bench has been painted with primer.  Next - well, whatever small thing we can accomplish.  I'll take that :)

Autumn Musings

The autumn weather is upon us, and the season is a good one so far but it cannot help to bring to mind the cold weather that is so near.  Every season brings its own chores and delights. 

We always have a never ending supply to To-Do items.  The barn always needs something done, even if it’s just cleaning out and getting ready for yet another season or something more intense like rewiring.  The yard always needs something done, even if it’s just mowing or weed eating.  Raised beds need to be built, and compost needs to be layered in.  The animals should start off the cooler weather with a fresh trim of their hooves and a de-worming early on.  This will allow the girls to enter the cold season sure footed and maintain good health through the season.  We have hay for the season, and want to build a two-sided hay manger just inside the fence for ease of chores. 

I think the chore I am most looking forward to in the next couple of weeks is building the breeding pen, which will become the kids pen in the springtime.  Once again the girls will be visited on their home turf by their new beau, a handsome paint spotted buck.  Gerie and Balvenie’s heat cycles are about a week apart, so that works well for spring kidding, and since papa will not be staying with us the pen will be used for the kids to frolic in once they are off their mamas, but still not big enough to run in the pasture with everyone else. 

More than even the mental image of veggies growing or the fresh soft green of spring foliage, it’s thinking of kidding season and babies frolicking in the spring sunshine that make us all look forward through the cold months to what will be. 

It Was Bound to Happen at Some Point...

It's been a Day.  Or a couple of Days.  Too busy for words and kind of rough in several ways. 

Tonight was no exception.  When I got home tonight I saw that the donkeys had broken the H brace on the east fence.  So I came in and changed out of my office clothes into my real work clothes, and my son and I went out to try to rig it up to be more secure until we can fully repair that area. 

All the livestock were in the barnyard, so we shut that gate to make it easier on ourselves.  We went to the damaged fence area, stretched and pulled and rigged it up where it's more stable, and braced one of the posts from the outside for now.  Then, since we seem to be having a really low egg production lately, we walked the pasture looking for any hidden pockets that hens may be laying eggs in. 

That's when we saw her. Or what was left of her.  A couple of nights ago the coyotes were thick and the dogs were going berserk sometime around 1:00 a.m. The donkeys bed down in the barnyard right next to the goats and chicken coop.  There is one breed of hen that we have though, of which we had 4, that are really adventurous chickens.  We found the remains of our only black and white amerecauna hen - just the wings and the breastbone. 

It's inevitable, I know, that no matter how well protected your chickens are there will come a time that a predator will get one.  This adventurous amerecauna proved too adventurous for her own good. And now that I've gotten this far, I'm not quite sure how to wrap this post up. 

At least fall is coming on, and the hens *should* want to stick closer to the coop and each other for warmth. 

Rum Glazed Banana Chocolate Chip Cake/Bread

In a mad rush to make something tasty for an office birthday party, and lacking a solid plan, I started throwing things together in the kitchen and turned out this dense sweet bread-cake-like thing.  All in all, I have to say I’m rather pleased. 

2 bananas, mashed in a large bowl

1 cup chopped walnuts

2 eggs

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup goat milk

½ cup melted butter, or goat butter, or butter flavored substitute

6 ounces dark chocolate chips

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

In a big bowl, beat together the bananas, walnuts, eggs, sugar, vanilla and milk.  Add flour, ½ cup at a time and baking powder.  Mix gently, then add chocolate chips. 

Spray a 9x11 baking dish with Baker’s Secret (or grease and flour it.)  Pour concoction in, and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Drizzle with rum glaze (see below) and allow to cool completely.  Cut into 2” squares and serve.

Rum Glaze

1 cup sugar

½ cup water
Either 1/2 tsp rum extract or 1 Tblsp dark rum

Boil until sugar is completely dissolved and mixture is slightly reduced.  Remove from heat and add either ½ tsp. rum extract or 1 tablespoon dark rum.  Stir and pour over banana bread mixture. 

Aw Rain....

The rain started last night, and we do indeed need it.  The pasture and barnyard are a sodden quagmire of mud that will suck the boots right off our feet.  I'm not complaining, because we really do need the rain - but it has made for a sleepy day and I've been too busy to take advantage of it for more than 30 minutes before the evening feeding took place. 

And we discovered the barn roof has a leak right above the milking stand.  We'll get this taken care of, and in the meantime ... well, I'll leave the hood up on my rain jacket. :) 

I do love the soft sweet smell of a rainy barnyard!

Self suffiency

My husband and I often talk about how great it will be when we can be be self sustaining, off the grid (as much as possible) people.  It's an admirable goal and we're willing to work hard to make it happen, and sometimes that still means taking baby steps to get there.  That's ok - as long as we get there. 

That discussion always brings up the question of where do we want to live to do this.  Do we want to stay in Texas where the growing season is long?  Do we want to go to another state that has better soil but a shorter growing season?  (That one always brings up the discussion of how we would move all of our animals to a new farm far away.  A daunting thought, without doubt!)  Or will we come up with a new plan for where we are and try to buy more land from our neighbors?  I'm not sure we'll have the answer to this question until that day comes, and in the meantime we keep taking our little steps with our little farm.  

A recent discussion of this with my mother was so much fun I was nearly ready to pack that day!  (You'll note that I talk to her about these things a lot.  Again, she's a wise lady and full of insights.)  Think hard about what you Really need in your life.  You need food.  You need clothing.  You need shelter and appliances.  You need insurance and proper medical care.  You need enough income to be able to pay your taxes, and enough income to have a few things you can't make or grow yourself.  And retirement is an absolute must.  The point is that if you can be mostly self reliant for your day to day needs, then income can be put toward those important necessities that you cannot create for yourself, and retirement.  (Though most people never retire from growing a garden.)

Now, think about how much of your budget you spend on groceries every month.  Try just a week.  Now imagine this... if you were able to grow your own vegetables each season to stock your freezer and pantry for a year, how much would that save you?  At least $40 a week, on the conservative side, right?  That’s $2,080 a year in vegetables if you aren’t a vegetarian or vegan.  For about $400 you can get enough seeds and amendments to have one heck of a garden.  Less if you use compost you’ve made yourself, to produce the bulk of your vegetation for a year. 

Now what if you could raise a beef cow and have it processed?  One beef cow will average 1100 lbs.  After processing that equals about 550 lbs of meat.  That's about 10.5 pounds of beef a week!  How much would you pay each week to get 10.5 pounds of organically raised, chemically free, grass fed beef?  Depending on where you live in the country that price will range from $4.70 - $7.00 per pound, and you’re only guessing at the veracity of the seller.  Even if we split the difference, that comes up to 5.85 per pound or more than $61 per week, and more than $3,100 per year. I can guarantee that is more than the cost of feeding a single cow for and having it processed.  The cost of raising the cow is less than $1,000 per year – less if there is enough pasture that hay costs can be kept down.  The cost of slaughtering and butchering will run about $500.  Even combined, that’s still less than half of what you pay in the store, with the added bonus of knowing that your meat is clean and healthy and chemical / hormone free.  Peace of mind and peace of pocket book.  If you get the fat as well, that can be rendered for use in making soap.  (Which in my case would be sold as part of Zentopia Acres goat milk soaps!)

What about chicken?  If dual purpose birds are raised on hormone and chemical free rations, plus pasture and all the bugs they can find, you can get eggs and meat out of your flock.  Let’s say you want to account for a chicken a week out of dual purpose birds.  Do keep in mind these are not mutant sized chickens like you see in the grocery store!  52 dual purpose chickens will start laying eggs at about 4.5 months of age giving you more eggs than you can stand to look at, and you’ll need to sell some.  Let’s say you have a 65% lay rate between 4.5 months and 12 months.  That’s 884 eggs at about 34 eggs a day. A family isn’t going to eat that many eggs – Let’s say on the high side you go through two dozen eggs a week because you like them with breakfast and you do a lot of baking.  That still leaves you 214 eggs (17.8 dozen) that you could sell.  Provided you can cultivate the market for your organic eggs, if you sell 17 dozen for  $3 per dozen, that’s $51.  Feeding that many chickens at a time will cost about $35 per week.  The extra $17 covers what they cost to raise for the first 4.5 months before they started laying eggs.  Chickens are a win / win situation.  Slaughtering and processing chickens at home is easy and fairly quick.  And again, peace of mind that you are eating healthy protein that you produced on your own land.  Financially, organic eggs sell for about $5 per dozen and organic chicken can sell for up to $10 per bird.  That’s $520 a year in chicken and $520 a year in eggs, using the above estimation of two dozen a week.  $1040 per year in chicken products! 

(Slight digression here: Realistically you may want to stagger the raising of your flock so that you have perhaps start with one dozen chickens, then two months later get another dozen, etc. so that you can process a dozen at a time once they reach a year old.  Band the legs so you know who is ready for slaughter at each time.) 

On the subject of milk you know already that I am a proponent of goats.  As far as a feed conversion ratio goes, mini-mancha and mini-nubian goats are worth their weight in gold.  They don't require huge amounts of feed and each will average a little over half a gallon a day.  This is used for milk, cheese, and soap making.  At a cost of about $45 a month to maintain three mini-dairy does in milk, they are really quite economical to maintain.  If you purchase a gallon of milk a week, and a pound of cheese a week, you're already spending $11.75 on dairy products at the store per week, that have more than likely been treated with bHg for increased production.  If you get organic milk, that will run about $6 per gallon increasing the cost to about $14.75 a week or $59 per month or $708 per year.  Milk used to make soap is sold and creates a profit margin making the goats help pay for themselves.  Let's be conservative and say they only pay for half their feed.  That makes them cost about $22.50 a month to maintain, plus annual vet visit.  Let's call this $390 a year.

That leaves few things to purchase at the grocery store: Baking supplies.  Fish. Pasta. Yeah, that about sums it up.  So in essence you would trade spending approximately $7,500 a year (not counting the fish, pasta, bread that you aren't making or growing yourself) for foods that you cannot guarantee their source or health or safety, for

So we are looking at spending about $2,290 a year investing in growing your own food.  Let's round up to $2500 in case of unseen circumstances that require you to invest a little more.  You could spend up to $50 a week on miscellaneous groceries that you aren't producing.  $400 in veg, $1500 on a cow, feed and processing, the chickens come out even if you are able to sell eggs $0, and about $390 on dairy does. Plus a little $210 cushion.  Add $2,600 for the miscellaneous groceries you are not providing yourself. This gives us a grand total of $5,100 and the peace of mind that you have clean, healthy, organic food to feed your family.

To purchase everything you need at the store with conservative prices for your purchases you'll spend about $2080 in veg, $3100 in beef, $832 in chicken, $708 in dairy, and approximately $2600 in random supplies.  This comes up to $9,320. 

That is an annual savings of $4,220. Plus, you don't need a gym membership since your workout will be provided in growing and processing your own food. 

*Note: According to the USDA, a family of four with a moderate food purchase plan will spend $218.90 a week on groceries, totaling $11,382.80 per year.  I'm a little more conservative in my shopping habits :-) http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2010/CostofFoodOct10.pdf

Are You A Farmer or Not?

Now forgive me if I ramble a bit - I've been pretty sick for the last week plus, and this morning is the first that I've felt marginally decent. It's also the first cup of coffee (decaf) that I have had in two weeks. When you're sick, coffee just does not appeal.   

This morning, after feeding and milking by myself for the first time in a while (again - see illness above) I sat on the steps of the deck with a book and a cup of hot coffee in the then 62 degree air and smiled.  A true and genuine from the heart smile.  I watched the dogs play, and pushed their nosey furry faces out of my coffee cup and closed my book.  I looked out over the pasture and watched the now nearly adult kids play and pounce at one another, butting heads as they do.  Gerie was laying in the morning sun next to the duck pen, and the donkeys were nibbling at the low green grass out in the pasture.  The chickens ranged over the entire pasture with a few in each area. 

This is what life really is. 

There are events in daily life that set off a series of thoughts, sometimes very introspective.  It's no secret to some that my husband and I are no longer happy with our jobs.  We are working at resolving these situations, but options are still pretty limited.  Both of our incomes are still highly necessary. 

We are not yet at a financial point that we can jump off the bridge to being full time farmers, but something my mother said to me recently came to mind.  We had been speaking about what hubby and I want to do with our little farm, and my plan for how to grow and develop this into something profitable.  Now let me say this little tidbit about my Mom - she's fantastic and practical and if I want or need advice on our animals and farm she's the first I call.  We are good friends as well as mother and daughter, and I take what she says to heart. 

I digress.  During this conversation, I told her about what we plan in springtime and how other events in our life are going to take a serious back seat.  While those things are important to us, this is more important.  I could just about hear the smile in her voice when she said "Well, are you a farmer or not?  Cookie, you've wanted this all your life and this is your priority so be a farmer!" 

This morning, looking out over the little bitty farm that we have and thinking of all the troubles we have to deal with in day to day life I know more than ever that this is what I really want.  Nothing gives me the deep satisfaction like working with our animals and making something wonderful out of what they produce.  It feeds my soul and fills me with a happiness that there aren't words for.  It also lights the fire to continue to improve our production methods and pursue this dream with vigor despite obstacles. 

As to whether or not we are farmers, today the answer is yes. This is our piece of zen - Zentopia Acres.

Chicken Tractor

No, not "Chicken Truck" for any Mel McDaniel fans out there.   

This is for my beautiful friend Colleen, who now has the coolest chicken tractor in town as far as I’m concerned!  (My husband and son and I built it, so I can say that.) 

Except for the roof, the structure is made of reclaimed materials.  A fort that my husband dismantled and got the wood for free… pallets that we got for free… and an old porch swing of mine that I no longer had a place for (and it was falling apart in some ways.) 

We dismantled pallets.

We built the base and the nesting box.

We put that all up on legs / frame and added more walls.

Then we took it to her house, which is also the home of 3 little hens.

And we hung the doors and added the roof.  No, we added two. (The laying box has it's own roof to make it easy to get the eggs.)

Then their run was attached.

And last she’s fencing it in. 

The only thing left is to add wheels and roofing tiles, paint it white and make it cute!  The girls are safely protected, it’s mobile (once the wheels are added) and easy to maintain.  A little inspiration can go a long way!

A Tractor!

No, not that kind of tractor!  (Though that is high on my wish list!)  This weekends’ project will be to build a chicken tractor for my friend to whom I gifted 3 hens.  They are helping with her flea problem and feeding her decently already, but these little girls are too adventurous for their own good.

My friend lives in a normal neighborhood in a town that will allow up to 3 back yard chickens in her well fenced back yard.  This is exactly what she has now, with one pretty red Red Star hen, one fluffy white White Giant, and one sleek black Black Giant.  Her little dogs (a Chihuahua with more names than you can shake a dog bone at) and an Italian Greyhound who is so damn ugly he’s cute, have learned to be respectful of the girls.  They are each outweighed by even a single hen, so they have reason to be respectful! 

It isn’t her own sweet little dogs that pose the threat.  It’s the adventurous spirit of Lucy, Ethel and Jemima. This adventurous spirit has landed Jemima in the neighbors’ yard without dogs, and Ethel – poor Ethel – she found a secret chicken portal into the other neighbors’ yard with hound dogs in it.  (It’s amazing how all animals seem to find secret portals into their own universe – or at least the wrong place!) 

Ethel did come out of the scrape alive, but a little worse for wear.  She was bloodied and lost some feathers and had to spend a couple of days in the chicken hospital (a crate in the bathroom, which I am assured now smells like a hamster cage) getting Neosporin on her wounds.  She is back with her flock now, but already looking for new ways to explore uncharted (to her) territory.  Our answer will be a chicken tractor.  It's moveable, and fully fenced even over the top so they can't get out and marauders can't get in!

Pictures to come when this adventure in recycled wood starts!  We will be using recycled pallet wood to create this new hen hut that will protect the girls from themselves and marauders!

Restoring My Faith in Humanity

Though this has been a crazy time at work, hence my continued absence on here, I absolutely had to steal a couple of minutes to write about this.

As you may recall, I work in an institution of higher education.  Last week a student experienced an unfortunate experience through no fault of her own resulting in her schedule being deleted.  I helped her out in restoring this schedule, which included coordinating with several different offices.  A lot of jumping through hoops, but It’s what we would do for any student who had this experience.  Most students’ barely even say thank you, so when she thanked me very nicely and hung up the phone after our third or fourth phone call, I didn’t think anything about it and went on with my work.

5 or 6 days later, on the second day of the term, the student came to my office and gave me a beautiful bouquet of yellow roses along with her sincerest thanks for helping her.   I was practically in tears!  No one thanks our office – we are habitually abused by students, faculty, staff, parents, and more.  I can’t even express how grateful I was for the simple smile and thank you.  The roses were just over the top kind of her.

(First day)

It’s those little moments that help restore our knowledge that we aren’t in fact the mean people that our jobs sometimes require.  And more, it’s those little kindnesses that remind us to have a little faith in humanity – there really are kind and conscientious people in the world! J

(And now they have opened up!  What a beautiful site to see each morning this week!)

A Dessert Love Affair

I admit it.  I have a love affair with Carrot Cake.  But sometimes I rush headlong into cooking before checking my ingredients supply. 

The first time I made carrot cake this way was a simple accident.  I was dead set to make a carrot cake and feeling confident that my pantry would always have enough flour considering how much I like to bake did not look before I started shredding carrots and cracking eggs.  When I reached for the flour, I found my canister only had about a cup of the standard unbleached flour that was a staple.  I drummed my fingers and considered my options.  An hour round trip drive to town and back to buy a $3 bag of flour, or wing it: Of course I chose to wing it! 

All Time Best Carrot Cake

4 Large eggs

1 ¼ cup applesauce with cinnamon

2 cups of white sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups of oat flour

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

3 ½ cups finely grated carrots

1 chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 F, and spray a thin layer of Baker’s Secret in a 9x13 baking dish.  (Or grease and flour liberally.) 

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, applesauce, sugar and vanilla.  Mix in the oat flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Fold in carrots and nuts then pour into the prepared baking dish.  Bake for approximately 45 – 55 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

Summertime

As far as Texas summers go, this one isn't too bad.  We've seen record highs in some years, and record number of days over 100 in others.  This one is just an average summer. 

Only about a month so far with temperatures averaging over 100, and not many more weeks of it to go before we are back down in the nineties.  Mornings are becoming a pleasure again, rather than waking up to a barn already 90 degrees inside, and milking in a 110 degree barn of an evening.

With the coming period of cooler temperatures, my thoughts turn to what we need to accomplish with the cooler weather. 

We need to re-hang a gate, and we need to do a little project building outside. In October, we should plant a few shrubs and put in a lightweight fence around them so the dogs won't dig them back up (like they did my photinias!) 

Dreams of cooler weather do make me smile!

Never Ending

That beautiful and fruitful pear tree seems to be on a never ending spree of production. We have put up enough pear butter to see us through the next year, and still this little tree that is now devoid of leaves thanks to the grasshoppers keeps on going with the pears.

Well... mostly.  All except one side where the donkeys and goats can reach over the fence has pears.  That side is now as devoid of pears as the entire tree is of leaves, thanks to the diligent efforts of our livestock!  They have done quite a number on the fence itself too, to get to the deliciously tart little pears just a tad too far away.

It's ok - we needed to reset that post anyway, right? :-)  As for the rest of the pears... we have a friend who is a chef.  He's asked for some.  I think he'll get plenty!

Relax!

Even I remember sometimes that it's good to relax.  Jackson and I said the heck with the laundry, we're having a book and a glass of wine!

Hot and Sweaty

It's hot. It's sticky. It's sweaty. It's grimy. 

Lately, when I am in the barn of an evening to milk I have been taking a photo of the barn thermometer since we are in the heat of summer.  Perhaps I'm a little bit of a masochist since I find it kind of fun to see what we are going through documented like this.

Last night it was 112 or 113.  I'm not 100% sure which because within seconds the sweat was rolling down my flesh in rivers as well as dripping into my eyes.  My clothes were soaked and I was a little bit tremble-y. 

This is Texas, and it's going to be hot in the summer and that's really O.K.  However, when it's this HOT. SWEATY. and GRITTY. one tends to question their own sanity.  I hadn't even really *done* anything and I had already sweat through my jeans. What I wanted was to go up to the deck and strip off, then douse myself head to toe with the hose.  What I did was feed animals then sit there in the sweltering heat of the barn and milk a goat.

There have been times in winter when we were carrying buckets of warm honey water out of the house to the barn to ensure sure everyone was hydrating, and keeping their electrolytes up.  There were other bitter cold days where the goats flinched from my frozen hands when I touched their teats, and I took great pleasure in warming my hands on them. What I wanted was to sit in front of a fire and sip hot tea. 

Those aren't things you want to have to do, but you do them. 

So why do we do it?  Maybe it's because we need that earthiness to our lives that we lack in our brick buildings and air conditioned offices.  Perhaps it's partly because it IS crazy to take all of this on, and we need a little bit of crazy in our lives.  More than likely it is in largest part due to our need for simple, honest labor that benefits our lives, and hopefully a few other lives too. 

It's a much more primal challenge than keeping up on paperwork, and it feels like what we do is of value.  The price includes little things like not going out to a late party because we are needed at home, in addition to sweating buckets in the summer or sticking hands in icy winter trough water.

However, nothing beats the sense of satisfaction at the end of the evening chores when we sit in the sunshine and feel the sweat run down our backs and a light breeze tease us, nor will anything beat the sweet nuzzling of our animals because we are their providers and knowing that what we do matters. 

Frankencoop is Born!

It was an eventful weekend.  Saturday was insanely busy with the kids, and Sunday – Ah Sunday! A friend came over to salvage parts of our fort that we are removing, and then my son and I took three of our hens out to a friend who is ready for a few back yard chickens.  Helps with bugs, provides eggs, and in general are just peaceful fun little critters to have around. 

I should mention now that she recently injured herself in what can only be described as an accident of cartoon proportions, and is on crutches for a while.  We loaded the truck with some supplies to install a short fence to separate the yard, and some scrap wood.  She had a large box that we were going to use for their new house, but I threw some scrap lumber in the truck just in case.  (Prescience maybe.)

My son caught the first bird and got her into the crate, then it was chicken rodeo to catch two more.  We ended up with one black giant, one white giant, and one red star. What a pretty trio these girls will make in their new well shaded yard!  Off we drove, and we arrived to move a little bit of wood and install a short section of fence.  As soon as we had the expanse up, we turned the girls loose so they could stretch their legs and we could then commence to converting what shall now be known as The Box into their new home.

The Box is a former small-medium shipping crate, which would have been perfect (note the would have been!) was filled with spray in foam covered by a sheet of plastic!  We got a couple of trowels and started digging it out.  After about 30 minutes (and keep in mind it’s 106 outside at this point), we called it quits on the box and decided to use it as a base.  We flipped it over and decided to make that the floor of the coop. 

Here I have to admit that a little bit of desperation was kicking in. I was getting overheated and starting to not feel quite rationale. 

Whatever shall we use to top it?!  Oh! The lid to the box can be the roof, right?! Sure it can!  How will we support it?  Well, here’s some handy scraps of wood that I had tossed in the truck!  Now… sides… “Oh friend! Can I salvage from the odds and ends stack to finish this out?”  Sure she says – use whatever you need.  Mwahahahahaha!!!!!!

Well… we found a length of polymer roofing (you know – looks like tin roofing, but it’s plastic and fairly flexible) – that wrapped and made two sides!  Awesome – Frankencoop is emerging.  Hmm… third side..  what the heck are those?  Oh! Garden stakes!  So we drilled pilot holes for the top mounting, screwed them side by side, then pilot hole drilled the bottom line and screwed those in.  Now… a ladder. 

Hello scrap wood! And some odd little flat panels that were in a bucket I brought.  And hey – a round monkey bar that I also tossed in the truck.  My son and I have created a monster! It will do it's job, so it isn't a monster - it just looks like one! Frankencoop has been born!  They have a roost, ramp, and 3 sides in which to shelter and to lay eggs.  They get a door Later!  

But what is that squawk?  Lucy, the red star, laid her first in her new home egg – in the back corner of the yard! 

When it’s cooler, we’ll take them a pretty coop.  I promise!