April Vacation

Found this in the old dump pile in the woods behind our house

I am currently in the middle of my April vacation. I have got the week off from classes and homework, and I even have 2 days off from work! I'd say at this point, I've got a 50/50 split of time spent being productive and time spent relaxing. I scrubbed the bathroom walls yesterday ( how exciting...) and the day before, turned over the garden with a pitchfork to expose some grubs. The chickens had a great time eating up the earthworms and whatever other living things wiggled around in the dirt. I also treated myself to a facial at the beauty school ( you can't beat a $15.00 facial!)


It rained most of Monday, which is fine, it melted almost all of the rest of the snow in our yard, and it was sunny yesterday, and it is today, but it's cold!! 25 degrees this morning. I'm being a bit of a wimp, and waiting until it gets a little warmer to rake the dirt and rocks from my lawn left by the plow.

 

We are getting around 7 eggs a day now....

 

 

What I will do today though is make a birthday cake for Joe...Margie Standish's Melt in Your Mouth Blueberry Cake to be exact. He asks for it every year...with cream cheese frosting. I'm also going to attempt to make my own sushi for the first time....wish me luck!

Tomorrow there is a possibility of a little adventure with a friend to go wrangle some geese. It should be a good time, and I could stand to go more than 5 miles away from this house!

Bedroom window lettuce..about ready to eat!

 

In other spring news, The onions are getting bigger, and the Jalapenos have leaves! I had planned to start flowers inside too, I guess it's not too late if I get on it right away!

 

Mysterious "icicle"...I want to know how this happened??

I Couldn't Take it Any Longer!

I couldn't wait to grow things, that is! A week or so ago I planted some lettuce in a window box and set it on the front porch- it finally sprouted! I brought it inside though, because it's supposed to be below zero every night for the next 4 days, and the front porch is not insulated.

I placed a small order with Johnny's- I did not want to miss out on my red gold potatoes, which sold out last year. I am trying a new variety of corn this year, and will grow jalepeno's to hopefully pickle for Joe- I have nothing to do with them, but he loves them, and I love him....so there you go.

Lettuce- now living on the south facing bedroom window sill.

It's that time of year, where I know it's winter, and it's still going to be winter for awhile, but we've passed mid January, and I can see, somewhere, in the not so distant future- Spring. I can get away with starting some veggies inside next month, and not too long after that, I can think about tapping the maples ( if we go that route again this year!).

My break from classes is completely over now- back to the grind- I've got classes this semester with first year students, and it makes me feel a little old. I suppose it's my own fault- one, for taking so long to take a basic math class, and two, for taking so long to finish college!

They always think they want to go out, even if it's freezing cold.

 

 

escapees!

 

Despite the cold, we've been getting a fair amount of eggs lately.

Chicken Things...

    Over the weekend, we got the rooster. We picked up a black Ameracauna from the Poultry Swap in Augusta. He's real pretty, and he's nice- he just needs to figure out his place among the 10 ladies. He's a little intimidated by our big Buff Orpingtons right now. He also needs a name.

They all seem to be transitioning to fall alright- they get in the coop earlier to adjust to the shortening days, and I am cleaning the coop less. I've head that the deep bedding method is a good way to keep things warmer in the coop, so I'll give it a try, although I swear as soon as I decided this they decided to poop 5 times more than they were before...

   

Also, I've got more eggs! I've found one egg a day since Saturday. That brings me to a total of 4 so far. I ate the first one of course. I'm saving the rest to make caramel custard. I need 6 eggs- so maybe by Thursday I'll have it in the oven.

 

   As far as non-chicken things go, not too much is happening. I need to order wood. The chimney needs to be cleaned and somehow, it's already October 1st?!

 

 

dust bath