The long winter week

How was your Christmas? Ours was...different.

Different but good.

We had an unusual amount of snow and lost our power and water for 6 days (Dec 21-26th).

My oldest son is always hoping the power will go out and this time he got his wish. On the other hand, Mama wasn't so excited.

We had gotten quite a bit of snow and thankfully Papa had the idea to fill up the bathtubs just in case we lost power. This is for flushing toilets with. We did have one tub relatively full.

One thing I would never want to be without is a woodstove. We have an old, completely un-cool house. We chose property over a nice house in town. One of the things I noticed when we were looking at those nice houses in town was the gas fireplaces and the lack of woodstoves.

My sister lives right by us. They have a woodstove insert that didn't heat their house at all. It uses electricity to push the warm air from the woodstove through the vents of the house. A nice feature if you have electricity, but not so nice when the power is out in freezing weather. It was 39 degrees in her house, colder than the temperature in her refrigerator. They left their house and went to friends' and also made use of their camp trailer. The good thing about it was it pointed out to them things they want to change now to avoid this in the future.

We were never so thankful for our old woodstove. It has a large top which I quickly put to good use. I have never cooked on a woodstove before, but it was my only option and it was rather interesting. I opened a couple cans of soup, added extra water, rice, frozen vegetables and some flour to thicken and cooked that in the big skillet. In the other pan I was heating water for coffee (french press).

I love my cast iron skillets.

I happened to have these pinto beans soaking the night before so I put them in the skillet with water, katsup and brown sugar for Baked Beans. At the same time I made corn bread in another skillet with a lid. It burned on the bottom but no one noticed. I scraped up the burnt bits and tossed them outside for the birds.
After he had the baked beans and cornbread my husband said that I was now in danger of being made the 'camp cook' on his next hunting trip.

When the beans began to dry out a little, I just added more snow and let them cook longer.

The worst thing was washing the skillets and dishes. (which didn't happen). After a day or two without water, I gave up the idea that the power would come on anytime and resolved that it might be longer. We switched to paper plates and bowls.

My daughter had her own plans for beans.

I loved finding these little birdie tracks on the front porch. They were so small, you can get an idea of their size by Jack's red Kong chew toy on the right.

I noticed the wild birds more than ever during the snow. We realized there is just not much for them to eat in the snow. We were glad to have some birdseed to put out for them as well as a little tray of water for them to drink in the carport.

It reminded me of the verses in Matthew about how the Lord cares for the birds. Maybe he was using us to care for them.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Matthew 6:25-27

Much time was spent just trying to give the animals water. Breaking ice on water troughs or melting snow for water. Papa had to bring in large jugs of water for the cows. The chickens didn't want to have anything to do with the snow, a few brave souls ventured out for brief expeditions, but for the most part they stayed 'cooped up' all the time.

We as a society are not equipped or prepared for a world without electricity. We had never really thought much about it until this happened. But this experience helped us to know what we may like to do in order to be better prepared for another event such as this.

I would like to start canning quarts of homemade chili, soups, stews and beans just to keep for emergencies. We also would like to have our well wired for hooking up to a generator.

Have you ever thought about how long could you survive without power and water? Do you think that could ever be a reality in our world with the uncertain economic times we find ourselves in?

Check out Kevin Swanson:

Super Government Saves the Day

The Future of Life in America

Make way for hatchlings

I love to hear their peeping.

Houston...we have chicks

Well, it is officially Day 21 of 'Operation Incubation' here at our house. We really don't know what we're doing. We have just learned enough to do 'the next step', whatever that step may be. We had read that on day 19 you could hear the chicks peeping while still inside the eggs, but we didn't and feared the worst.

Last night I was thinking we had done something wrong and they had died.

But this morning my beautiful husband woke me up by whispering, "Two chicks honey."

I had that Christmas morning feeling as I jumped out of bed to see them.

We have kept them in the closet during incubation to keep the temperature stable and free from drafts, but we brought the incubator out onto the kitchen counter so we could keep a close eye on the hatching-action. We started out with 42 eggs, and through a process called candling, removed 5 eggs that didn't develop which has left us with 37 possible chicks.

Here are the first two hatchlings.

It's somewhat frustrating because you have to keep the incubator very humid. The moisture allows the chicks to not be stuck to their shells. You can't remove the chicks from the incubator until they are completely dry and fluffy. I think for a day or so. So you have to watch them through a fogged up window and not do anything! It's hard.

As of 3pm we only have 5 chicks that have hatched. We don't really know what to expect. I think we will get more...I'll let you know.

I made an acorn squash for breakfast. I didn't use any sugar. I scored the flesh, put some butter in the center, sprinkled salt and cinnamon on top. I put the two halves face up in 1/4" of water then tossed in the oven at 400 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes. Once it was finished, I sprinkled NuNaturals Stevia over the top. It was yummy!

Here's my Kitchen tip for today. Don't throw out your acorn squash seeds...BAKE THEM.

As I was scooping out all the seeds they looked so big and good, like pumpkin seeds. I just couldn't throw them out. I decided to try to bake them. I simply sprinkled them with salt and baked them at around 200 degrees for an hour or so. They were delicious.

The kids gobbled them up while I read about Ma and Pa's Christmas during The Long Winter. They are beginning to be in dire straights as they have had blizzard upon blizzard preventing the trains from bringing them necessary supplies such as flour, sugar, coal to heat their houses and kerosene to light their lamps. They are beginning to burn hay for heat! Can you imagine?

Go to Tammy's recipes for other kitchen tips.

And there is always lots of chicken-holding going on.

This is Mrs. Dashwood.

Yes, she's upside down. They lay quite still while they are held that way.

I'm sure she would be appalled that I am showing the world a picture so undignified as one of her upside down. She usually is so very prim and proper. But you understand. She has no control with a boy of eight around.

I love Mrs. Dashwood.

She is a Barred Rock hen who isn't very easy to catch but once you do, she sits nice and still so you can pet her lovely soft feathers.

And on the canning front, I have moved on to grape juice. Today I did 16 quarts.

Let the canning begin!

As I spent time in the garden yesterday I realized I have my work cut out for me. I made this quick list. At this point, I'm a little excited. We'll see how far I get. I will probably burn out and fade away. But, as of last night I've canned 14 quarts of green beans with just a few more to go. (woo hoo!)

I've realized that in the past, once the cold weather and rain starts, I just never want to go out and put the garden to bed for the winter, so I don't and it's a big mess in the spring. This year, I'm trying something different. I'm pulling things that are done producing while they are still green and feeding them to the cows. I'll let you know how it goes. The cows are certainly liking this new system. They just hang out by the garden fence and basically beg.

I found a bunch of great articles from Backwoods Home Magazine on self-reliant living while looking for some canning recipes. Have a look! Although I must warn you, you may get stuck there for hours.

If you don't hear from me, you'll know what I'm doing.

A day of harvest

Today the kids and I picked strawberries at a local U-pick place. They were $1.25 a pound. We picked quite a bit and by the time we pulled our wagon up to the cashier we had picked $38 dollars worth! Oops. Oh well, I made some freezer jam today and will freeze the rest.

We had our first home-grown chicken for dinner. It was the biggest one of the bunch (8.5 lbs) that we figured must have been one of the roosters (there were 2). We were wondering if it was going to be tough, but it was wonderful!

It was a great feeling to sit down to a meal that we grew. Knowing what care we had taken to produce the end result. We all were smiling at each other with pride, except for T3, she is blissfully unaware of where the white chickens have gone.

One of T1's layers started crowing last week. Here he is, a beautiful Barred Rock rooster snuck into the bunch. My son sold him yesterday for a whopping $5.00!

I was sad to see him go. It was really cute to hear him crow, he is still getting hair under his arms and his crow was funny/cute. But I think we have another rooster, a Rhode Island Red that my son is going to keep around for a while at least.

Games country boys play

The day began with big dreams and visions of hard work which would eventually pay in gold.

The entrepreneurial venture for the day was collecting cow manure, for the end purpose of drying it and selling it to gardeners as fertilizer. I would be their first and possibly only customer. But a willing customer to be sure.

Somehow they migrated over to the water trough. We keep goldfish in our trough, they eat the mosquito larvae. They may have started out trying to catch them. I'm not sure.

Lastly, they would fill the bucket up with water, go out into the field and spin around laughing and getting dizzy, watching the water stay in the bucket by centrifugal force.

And for the rest of the day, their business plans and shovels were forgotten in the field.

Moving cows

We had to move some cows today. I say 'we' but really I mean 'they'. The guys. I was there taking pictures and I did call "come Boss" a few times too.

As I was taking pictures, I realized that anything can be photographed in an interesting way. I really enjoy photography and can entertain myself with it's possibilities.

During this photo shoot, I realized something else. Since moving out of town, I have my very own Marlboro Man.

If only I could get all this in a nice big pile somewhere to wait until fall and then cover my garden.

Come on Blossom...come on in.

Mini Marlboro Man in training.

Blossom and Blank (or Black Ginger) finally getting into the trailer. Maybe is was my "come boss" that convinced her?

I'll try to explain the poor little black calf's lack of a proper name. Blossom (the mama cow) first had a brown calf that T2 named Ginger (after Black Beauty's Ginger). Then Blossom had this little girl. One day T2 came in and said he though we should name the new calf Black Ginger. We all thought that was funny but didn't officially name her that. Then another day, T1 started calling her "Blank" because she has no name. So now we think they are both funny names and refer to her using both of the names interchangably.

The cheerleader

Cornish Cross - 3 wks old

The cornish cross chickens are growing like weeds.









As a reminder, here they are at a day or two old. This was about March 15th.

Now you see them three weeks later. They are getting their feathers in.

Here is our Chicken Tractor. My husband got it free off of Craigs List. It is a portable, bottomless pen that the chickens stay in. We will move them around the yard so they can eat nice green grass, bugs, etc. My son tells me that we should be able to move them outside at around 3 weeks, or as soon as they are fully feathered.

Here is a tutorial on How to Build a Chicken Tractor.

More lawn mowing today.

The cost of business

I came home from town the other night and found some 'good ole' boys at the table talking business.

Papa has gotten T1 set up with a ledger so he can keep track of his income and outgo. At this point it's all outgo (That probably isn't a proper business term but you understand).

We've been buying all the supplies but he is saving the receipts in his poultry notebook. This was the night to total up and settle accounts.

T1 was cringing as the amount owed grew and grew. Papa also offered to pay for some of his feed for taking care of the meat birds which are not for his egg business, but for the family freezer.

I really wanted the Araucana chicks which lay colored eggs, and so I made a deal with him that I would pay for the chicks. I bought 5 of them but they became a part of his laying flock. As it turns out, Sally Henny Penny is an araucana and my favorite chicky. She is so sweet, she seems to really enjoy sitting in your hand.

We have had him reading chicken books for awhile now. Any information he feels pertinent to write down he can put in his notebook.

I printed him off calendar pages for every month of the year where he can keep track of when anything and everything related to his chicks.

Back to business. The grand total spent so far is $133.04!! He told me today he is glad he is keeping track, because he had no idea he had spent that much. He is pained to see his savings account draining but we keep telling him that now is the time to do this. To take chances, learn new things, fail and learn more new things, all with no pressure to pay a mortgage or support a family.

His birthday is coming up. Today he told me that he wants gift cards to the feed store for birthday presents now. The boy is really growing up!

Here is one of the Cornish Cross meat birds today. They are really getting ugly and growing fast. They will be two weeks old tomorrow.

We put a 1/2" wooden dowel in the layer chicks brooder for them to roost on. They seem to like it. They are still small, not growing like the cornish cross chicks.

We still have 40 chickens. None have died so far.

My husband and I are trying to know just enough to support our son and as little as possible so that the responsibility to know and learn about them is on his shoulders. We would like for him to be the resident chicken expert for now.

And so far...he is.

Cornish Cross chicks arrive

We have baby chicks and are having so much fun watching and holding them.


Saturday we picked up 15 Cornish Cross chicks at the local feed store. They lady just crammed them all in this box and we brought them home. My sister went with me because they were giving 5 free chicks per customer, so we each got 5 and I paid for 5 more. This type of chicken is a meat bird and should be ready to butcher in about 8 weeks.

Apparently, baby chicks are pretty frail. It is not uncommon to lose some in the first few days. As far as I know (which isn't very much), the biggest key is keeping them warm enough, not letting them be exposed to any drafts. They seem to be doing well in the brooder the boys made. Tomorrow morning with be 48 hours and I'm happy to say that so far, they are all still alive.

Fluffing the nest

T1 has decided to start his first business...an egg business. He has read a couple of books on chickens with still more coming from the library. We had fun looking at the different chickens at McMurry Hatchery and also liked this comparison chart of different egg laying chickens. After the hard decisions were made he ordered them from the local farm store. They are scheduled to arrive next week.

He is getting Rhode Island Reds, Plymouth Rocks (Barred Rock), Araucanas and Boven Browns. We are going to try to get some of the Cornish Cross chicks to raise as meat chickens. We are told they only take 6-8 wks to mature until they are ready to butcher.

After all the reading my son has done on chickens and the drugs they are given, he is very motivated to grow our own healthy, farm fresh chicken meat.



The first order of business was to gather supplies. They need a brooder box of some sort, many people use a cardboard box, but soon have to increase the size of the container as they grow. We had trouble getting a large refrigerator box, but were able to get some free palettes.

Free never sounded so good to my son until it became HIS money on the line. He has a poultry notebook with an envelope for the receipts. He really doesn't want to spend ANY of his money but wants to get started. I can already see what a great lesson this whole experience will be for him.

Papa and the boys went to work, tearing down the palettes.

Here you see the basic skeleton that they have set up in an insulated outbuilding we have.

Next they covered it with numerous cardboard boxes and taped them together.

They taped another box to make a small portion for the chicks when they arrive and are very small. As they grow, they will be able to remove the partition and enlarge their dwelling.

We still need to figure out a portable pen for them once they are old enough to be outside. I liked this article on portable pens for pastured poultry by Wilma Keppel.

We've never raised chickens and know very little about them. It will be an adventure.