*holy smokes batman

OK, so I am not writing about the sayings of Robin, of Batman.  I am here to tell you that my darling husband is researching many things that can help us here on the farm.  A year or more ago, I wrote wrote a blogpost about how I was asking God for a barn on our property. I wasn't really thinking total rural life that we now live, though I am grateful and would have it no other way.  Eric, I think, has been thinking about this rural self-sustaining life for a long time. He is the one who gave me the list of veggies he wanted us to plant in the garden, he is the one who gave me a list of fruit trees he wants us to get planted on the property, he is the one who gave me the list of berry bushes/plants he wanted me to get planted, he is the one who researched nubian's and has decided we are going to be getting several, he is the one who told me to invest in New Zealand Rabbits and gave me the "go" on chickens. He is the one who recently ordered these:

These are bat houses.  Hmmmm. Yeh, I hear you wondering.... I did the same. He, however did some research and decided that our property can be helped immensely by bats.  Once I read about the help that bats can offer, I was so on board. I hate flying insects and especially the ones that munch on my flesh.  Living next door to a horse farmer, surely the bats will find many insects to keep their tummies full.  Studies I have read state that bats eat up to 2000 insects per night - that is what I call pest control!  If you live in an area that may be rich in bats you should consider putting in a few bat houses, whether you build your own or buy some. 

*i shall plant a seed or two ...

This weekend I shall set in some vegetable and herb plants as well as many seeds into our garden spots!  I am excited as I start the largest garden we have ever personally had, one that will provide us with a large harvest abundant enough for preserving.   We will work our land, and enjoy the fruits of our labor at a later date.

Just today I sat down with the seed box so I could make a plan for the layout of the gardens.  Once I got that all figured out, I set the bowls of water on the counter so I could pour the seeds in to start the germination process.  I learned this from my mother and father years ago. You can soak your seeds a day or so before you plan to put them in the ground and  this will help speed up the sprouting process.


Here is a list of some of the things we are planting in the vegetable gardens as well as the herb garden:
carrots
cukes
yellow squash
zuchinni squash
field peas
butter beans
pole beans
horseraddish
raddishes
onions
potatoes
tomatoes
peppers
ornamental gourds
watermelons
cantelopes
parsley
cilantro
basil
oregano
chives
dill
okra

and probably a few others I am forgetting at this late hour!

So, tell me, what are you planting in your garden?

*childish things

As a little girl I remember such things as sharing a weed with my sister, Lori.  In fact, I had forgotten about this strange habit my sister and I practiced when we were young girls until just the other day when I saw them growing on the side of the county road.  I said to my mother who was in the car with me, "Do you remember when you taught Lori and me to chew on those weeds right there?"  She looked at me with correcting eyes, and with an alarming voice said, "What?"  "You chewed on those weeds when you were little girls?"  She denied teaching this to us, so I assume that it was my older and wiser sister who started this delicious habit.   On the way home, I stopped and picked a few of them to chew on.. to, you know.. take me back to that time in history.  It is funny how certain taste or smells can take you back to a place in your past.  The taste of the "weed" did just that for me.  My mother was somewhat astounded by my actions.

Above is the weed I was making reference to.  It must be indigenous to the south, because I have not seen this since I left Georgia as a young woman.  I must admit, it was a sweet reminder of simpler days gone by.

The following day we were traveling down a road that had an opened field with a fence around it. On this fence was honey suckle growing rampantly here and there.  I looked at this plant with fondness as well, remembering once again one of me and my sisters childhood escapades. We would pull the blossom out of the stems and suck on the honeysuckle.  Once again my mother was surprised to learn of this strange habit we practiced as children.  I sent a message to my older sister, Lori to ask her if she remembered these things.  She responded saying that she did, but was choosing not to at that moment.   I think I will introduce weed eating to Kierstyn (Lori's daughter, my niece) when she comes for a visit in just a few weeks.  We will see how that goes over.


Speaking of childhood memories, here is one other from my childhood days:

Here you see me and my baby sister, Bridgette.  These little chicks are about the same size as our second set of chicks that we currently have.  It looks like they were just getting their pin feathers in as well.   I suppose chickens, pigs and such are at my roots- that's why raising them and having a farm style life comes so naturally in my now adult life.  I am eternally grateful for the opportunities that God has provided us with. 

*makeshift chicken tractor

So, the first little chicks that we started with are now fully feathered and can easily keep their own body heat.  We have 10 young pullets who are now living in their own fine little (makeshift) chicken tractor.   Henry and I put our two heads together this week along with our working hands and came up with this:

Recycle!

Isn't she beautiful?

Remember her.. my favorite of the Rhode Island Reds.. she has almost lost all of her beautiful yellow on her head. She is still a beauty to me though. Her name is Jazzy.

We made this using what we had around the house already. The pantry had doors on each cabinet when we moved in, but I decided to remove them and have an country style open cupboards in that space. This left us with MANY cabinets with hardware still attached. The 'doors' are easy to lift for removing chicks, replacing water supply or feeding the flock.  I think they love their new space. 

Ok. So we are not going to win any awards for design but our chickens seem quite happy to call this home, so stop judging.

We did not use a specific plan when we set out to build the chicks new home.  We did however, go to Google, and put in a search for images of chicken tractors.  You see I am one of those crazy fly by the seat of my pants kind of gal. That can be a positive and it can also be a negative... We did not build the walk up to the nesting boxes, cause we didn't build nesting boxes.  We are hoping that our "real" chicken coop will be built by the real carpenter in our family when he is here again.

While we were building this Henry stepped back and looked at it and said, "If dad was building this it wouldn't look anything like this, AT ALL." He then noted how his dad would have measure precisely each piece, cut all the pieces first, had them accounted for and THEN assembled it all carefully.  He is right. Eric is amazing with his building skills. The chickens will probably all stand amazed when Eric finally gets their real coop built.