A little out of it...

I feel like I have gotten a little distracted and uninterested in my farm life. I have cut my chicken flock down and lost quite a few to a descion to mix some chickens I didn't realize were so aggressive.
I guess I just kinda lost interest in it all. It started after the kids got out for the summer, I got so busy and caught up in keeping up with 3 kids 24 hrs a day, that everything else got put on the back burner. I am trying to get back into the spin of things, but I am not making a lotof progress.
We currently are starting to prepare for our Halloween Bonfire and then it will be time to winterize the house and the chicken coop. Without Chopper around I also need to do a little reinforcing of the coops. I just heard one of my chickens squawking outside, I went out and shined a flashlight but didn't see anything from the fence. I will have to go out and survey the situation in the morning. I am hoping nothing got into my silkie pen. I was hoping to really grow my silkie flock this spring.
We have also starting discussions about building a house, well actually a cabin within the next few years. I hope we can go forward with that.

Horse kisses, new kitty (Nala) and garden blessings

Good morning

Things are going fairly smoothly around here. We have had some rain off and on which is always nice. My garden is amazingly still producing cucumbers, peas, tomatoes and corn. If it weren't for those stupid squash bugs, I believe my squash would still be thriving. Guineas next year is a must, whether Larry likes the idea or not. Yesterday I made more pickles and some salsa. Only I got the medium salsa mix instead of mild, so it is a little hotter than I wanted. That's what I get for not paying attention. The outside improvements have come to a stand still. I should have been expecting it, that's the way things go around here. So I have a backporch with no rails or roof. 1/3 of a front porch, and very annoying blocks to get into the front door. The pool getting moved is probably for sure not happening before summer is over, and I don't see the kids playhouse or swingset happening either. I guess I can blame it all on my neighbor, he was working on it and then he had to go out of town "for a few weeks" that was 2 months ago, he still isn't back. *sigh* Oh well.

RAIN!

Last night and most of today it has rained. My garden needed it. My yard needed it. The power did go out for a few hrs, the incubator got down to 88 degrees. Probably enough to delay hatching, a day at the most. We will see. Remember I said I wasn't setting anymore eggs, yeah..... I set some today. I can't help it!

Exciting day!

Today was an exciting day on the farm. I felt like it was field trip day. A friend of mine has a neighbor wanting some chickens, so she wanted to bring her out to look at mine. Then someone Larry knows from work is looking into he and his wife getting a few chickens themselves. So it just so happened they all came out at the same time. It was great, I felt like a tour guide. After all the looking and discussing and the questions were finished, we came inside for the real treat. The reason today was picked was b/c today was hatching day. I worried all week that they were going to hatch early or late, b/c I knew they wanted to see some hatching babies. It worked out perfect. They brought their children, and I took them all back into my bedroom, I am thinking I need to move the incubator out of there, lol, and we looked in on my babies. It just so happened that not only could I show them the various stages, I had a few pipped, one very much so zipped, several in different drying stages. But the little zipped egg decided to come out and see what all the fuss was about. Miss Tina got it on video. It was great, the kids were amazed. They soaked in the info. Nature really is a great science lesson.
Also, I was in the garden, trying to dig some little irrigation ditches for improved watering. And I found some hidden zucchini! I haven't decided if we are going to have them for supper tonight, or if I am going to give the yellow squash a day or two and make my squash casserole. I am a little disappointed, I made spaghetti last night and didn't know I had zucchini to put in it.

Another day, another beautiful day

The weather is actually nice out today. It's not as humid as it has been lately. I transferred 39 baby chicks to the brooder in the barn this morning. I hope they do well. After the backhoe incident, we still do not have power in the barn, evidently something pulled loose that can't be found. So they will have no light for the time being. I am hoping the current temps and their body heat combined will keep them cozy enough. I have several more hatches scheduled within the next few weeks, one the middle of this week, one next weekend and then I just set a batch yesterday, so in 21 days they will hatch. After that I believe I may take a break, I know I say that every time. I probably won't, I will find something to hatch. I really want some peafowl. I hope to get my hands on some soon. I have plans to pick up bobwhite quail chicks on Thursday, I hope it works out.

Fun times around the farm

Well, we have beautiful cucumber blooms, beautiful squash plants, (bloom, please, bloom). This morning we went out to discover that somehow, a few of my quail had escaped. Caught one, found another but couldn't catch it and I think two are still MIA. Oh, the joy. I have lots of eggs that will be hatching within the next two weeks.

Now the real fun stuff, I noticed a smell around lunch time, it seems as though someone has flushed something inappropriate or something, the sewer lines in half the house are clogged. The joys of home ownership, no landlord to call. I am hoping it gets fixed really really soon.

I can't wait to really get started harvesting and canning from the garden. Larry brought home a 5 gallon bucket of Plums a while back and I made Plum Jelly and Plum Preserves, all by myself. It was soooo rewarding. And not as hard as you would think. I bought the Ball Book on preserving and have been drawn in by it ever since. I also decided that I will start freezing ahead once the kids go back to school. I have been making a freezing large batches of pancakes for the kids for breakfast already, but I have so many other things I want to do.
I want to make and freeze homemade biscuits, cornbread, homemade bread dough, casseroles, soups, crockpot meals. So much time, money and effort can be saved it I cook once a week or even once a month and freeze it all. Of course I will have to make sides and such to go with it, but I hope to have fresh veggies to can and freeze soon. I feel like I am turning into Betty Crocker, lol! The more I get into cooking and other such things, the more I realize that my kitchen is going to have to be quite a bit larger when we build a house.