The New Green House

We had a great visit from A,B and C the weekend after Thanksgiving. We got together with a few other family members and had a nice dinner. Then we got to spend some time playing outside with the chickens, getting a little dirty, and checking out mom's new greenhouse. She's been showing it off to everyone and these guys just loved it!




 Annah and Bennett enjoyed "grazing" on some of our greens. We've got all kind of great ones popping up.. spinach, kale, and the yummy tops of the beets. 

 

Here's a shot from the outside.. As you can see, in this cold weather one of our very spoiled dogs was trying to work her way inside to get warm!

Organic Fruits & Veggies

Always a critical question at the market, is whether or not to spend the extra money to buy organic. Seeing as we are on a budget, and always shop with a list, it's hard not to want to go to the non organic section. But the pesticides!!! Well, that's why I felt I had to share this little piece of information:



collected from this website which talks more about pesticides on plants as well as GMO's.
This made me feel a bit better about not always buying organic, since the "clean 15" has less pesticides and nobody needs to consume more of those.

Hope this helps inform a few more people : )

A step in the right direction

Boy did we have a great summer/fall season! We decided that none of our great veggies should go to waste, and what better way to preserve than can? And, we sure did do a LOT of canning.. Over the course of a few days we processed hundreds of tomatoes making sauce, puree, and stewed whole tomatoes. Some were from our garden and some were from the local market down the road. 

Below is a picture of the simmering veggies. The right is some tomato sauce reducing and the left is miscellaneous veggies that we boiled to make a great broth. 

I had been canning for years, so it was a great thing to share with Michelle. She was eager to learn and very helpful. Her enthusiasm made it even more fun.

 This was some of the things we pulled out of our garden one day! A very bountiful season : )

We've also got some canned peaches, apple sauce and chopped apples (for apple crisp this winter) in that cabinet.

We froze lots too.. local blueberries, corn, strawberries, asparagus, and kale. From our garden we had tons of eggplant, spinach, escarole, and peppers.We dried seeds from some of our best crops to be used next year as well. Over all it was our best season of growing, preserving, and enjoying the local/our own vegetables. Can't ask for anything better! 

It's January now and we are still enjoying some of our produce from last summer.. and preparing for another, even better season.

We're still here..

We haven't been too great at posting lately, but LOTS of changes and new things are coming! We've added a little to the sheep pages and put in a picture of the beautiful eggs that are being produced here.. But, there is still more to show off : )
Until then.. here is one of our favorite winter pictures of Phantom with the two girls, enjoy : )

Teenage Chickens

We got some good work done today for the "teenage chickens" out back in the old shed - it was a good (productive) morning!

After we put posts in and some wood fencing yesterday day, the three of us added more fencing (wire instead of wood) and then netting over the top of the fencing today so the girls have some room to roam outside the shed... and we got to use a new staple gun. Although the girls have been getting out of the old shed to free range (when we let them out) for a bit very often and although the girls are very good at following us to all go back inside, this will be a lot safer for them 24/7.

Mom also added on the ramp she's been going on and on about :) The ramp doesn't quite go all the way to the ground, but I'm sure it'll still function just the way she wants it to eventually - when down, it's a ramp for the chickies to head outside and when up, it's a door to keep the hens inside the coop.

We did some work inside too. We raked up a lot of the mulch and bedding we have down on the inside of the shed for them to scratch around in, Shell cleaned out their nesting boxes and we moved the ladder they roost on to a better spot ... especially now that they should be starting to lay soon.

We cannot wait for multi-colored eggs!!
Let's see, as we move closer to October, we've got lettuces, beans, some peppers too, a watermelon and some tomatoes in mom's garden still as well. Michelle and mom have been canning, freezing and drying as much as possible for the winter.

in the garden

Things found in the garden today...

some silkies

and some lima beans!

For Chickens

In doing some reading I read that fresh or dried herbs in your nesting boxes not only work as insecticides, but also have anti-bacterial properties, and can act as natural wormers, anti-parasitics, insecticides, rodent control, stress relievers and laying stimulants. So guess who's going home to shake some dry herbs in the farm's nest boxes? This girl!

We also got some new chicks and I'm thinking of sprinkling some in with them too, actually.

Here is a partial list* of common herbs and flowers and their beneficial properties:

Basil - antibacterial, mucus membrane health
Catnip - sedative, insecticide
Bee Balm (bergamot/monarda)- antiseptic, antibacterial, respiratory health, calming
Cilantro - antioxidant, fungicide, builds strong bones, high in Vitamin A for vision and Vitamin K for blood clotting
Dandelion greens - immune system stimulant
Dill - antioxidant, relaxant, respiratory health
Fennel -laying stimulant
Garlic - laying stimulant
Lavender - stress reliever, increases blood circulation, highly aromatic, insecticide
Lemon Balm - stress reliever, antibacterial, highly aromatic, rodent repellent
Marigold - laying stimulant
Marjoram - lay stimulant
Mint (all kinds) - insecticide and rodent repellent
Nasturtium - laying stimulant, antiseptic, antibiotic, insecticide, wormer
Oregano - combats coccidia, salmonella, infectious bronchitis, avian flue, blackhead and e-coli
Parsley - high in vitamins, aids in blood vessel development, laying stimulant
Peppermint - anti-parasitic, insecticide
Pineapple Sage - aids nervous system, highly aromatic
Rose Petals - highly aromatic, high in Vitamin C
Rosemary - pain relief, respiratory health, insecticide
Sage - antioxidant, anti-parasitic, general health promoter
Spearmint - antiseptic, insecticide, stimulates nerve, brain and blood functions
Tarragon - antioxidant
Thyme - respiratory health, antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-parasitic

(WARNING: Pennyroyal, although part of the mint family, should never be used. The oil is toxic to chickens and it causes uterine muscles to contract in humans, so best to stay away from using Pennyroyal in and around the nesting boxes.)

Happy day, everyone!

* I will deny in no way that I took this info straight from Fresh Eggs Daily's post here

Tips on Tuesday: Natural Egg Dying

Check out this fun info on naturally dying eggs: Natural Egg Dying