Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Our First Thanksgiving Turkey

These are our first turkeys.  We have raised them from just a few days old and now it is time to prepare them for dinner.  The larger male is named Christmas and his smaller mate is Thanksgiving.  We made the biggest mistake of all..... we made pets of them!  Nick and Matthew have really become attached to them. 

Thanksgiving Day is this week and today is the day... the end of the line... for our female.

The male turkey met his maker two weeks ago after a few hesitations by Nick.  He weighed 30 pounds prior to dressing, and produced 22 pounds of meat plus several jars of stock. 

Our Thanksgiving girl will be going onto Thursday's dinner table.

We finally decided that since we bought and raised them as food, we needed to stay firm in the decision.

Next year however, the turkeys will not become pets.

We also raised 24 meat chickens which we had no trouble at all when it came time butcher them. 

Next year our plan is to double the number of meat chickens for the freezer; and two more turkeys.

Our First Chicken Tractor

This weekend Nick and our grandson Matthew built this chicken tractor.  Nick borrowed ideas from a few You-Tubers to come up with this design.

The pvc hoops are secured to a wood frame made of pressured treated 1 x 6, with tee connectors which he screwed to the wood.

A piece of rope threaded through a bit of hose is just right for pulling the tractor across the grass.





 The frame is covered with plastic fencing which has 1 inch square holes.  It is secured to the pvc and to the wooden frame with zip ties.

The back portion of the tractor is also covered with translucent plastic, as is the back panel, for protection from the elements. 

Each end of the tractor opens for easy access.

 

Here Matthew is setting it into position for the meat chicks first day.  The chicks have been living in a portion of the hen house for about 10 days.  We left the door open with a screen to keep them indoors, but with plenty of light and air until they were ready to go outdoors.

They finally have their feathers and have been acclimated to the weather, so they should be fine in their new home.

We have nine Cornish meat chickens.  They are about  3 1/2 weeks old.  We put them into the chicken tractor yesterday and they were totally bewildered by the new environment.

Today they seem more comfortable with it, but they still don't seem to know that they are supposed to eat the grass, not just poop on it.  Nick is counting down to butchering day.  We also have two bronze breasted turkeys which are about 6 weeks old.  They are also for meat.

Chicken and Garden Update

 KentuckyWonder Green Beans 7 rows stands over 8' high 8' wide

I can't believe it's been more than a month since my last post.  It has been so busy here the time has
just flown by!

One of our Black Sex Link hens had been abusing the other hens over the past several months, but until Nick caught her in the act of plucking the feathers off one of the Easter Eggers he decided that for the good of the other hens, her time was up.

He is very attached to our hens and having to "take her out" was painful for him.  It took several false starts over the course of a week, but he finally manned up and  made use of the axe he had purchased for the occasion.  She had the last laugh on us however.  Her meat was so tough we could barely cut into it, let alone dine on it.

Since she has left the flock, the girls feathers are finally beginning to regrow.  Not all, but most of the feathers are coming back. 

Nearly fully recovered from her stroke.

Two weeks later, one of the other Black Sex Link hens suffered a stroke.  The poor thing was so pitiful that first day.  She could barely walk and the other hens all attacked her.  Fortunately Nick happened to be nearby and saw the commotion in time to rescue her.  He removed her from the hen house and the run and set her in a safe place in the grass to spend what he thought would be her final hours.  Well, by the end of the day she was still with us and had managed to work her way to the door of the hen house.  So I put inside one of the laying boxes for the night.  The other girls didn't bother her until the next day.  So once again, out she came into the grass.  She spent a few days like this, laying in the grass, being hand fed, and slowly recovering.  During this time we discovered she was blind in one eye which made it hard for her to zero in one her food and drink.


Now, nearly three weeks later, she has figured out how to see with just one eye, how to find and eat her food and drink, she no longer limps, and although we cannot put her back in the run with the other hens (they won't let her return) they manage to have face-offs with her through the fence and she stands up to the bully. 

Little turkeys adopted a hen mama.

Since the other hens won't let her come back, we moved her into the run where we have two little
turkeys.  The little turkeys, Thanksgiving and Christmas, have adopted her as their mother and it is so cute to see them cuddling up with her.  At night-time she puts herself between them and open space.
They do not have a coop, but a 3 sided lean-to with roosts to keep them off the ground.

We have also gotten some meat birds.  Nine little Cornish chicks which are growing rapidly.  We expect them to meet their destiny by the end of August.  They have about half their feathers, so in another week we will be putting them out in their chicken tractor so they can forage for their food.

3 yrs ago the garden consisted of 6 bags of potting soil

Now that the garden is well established, we let the older hens out to roam and forage where-ever they like.  Since I began twice-weekly feeding of chicken poo tea, the garden has been thriving!  Even the corn which wasn't doing anything has shot up after each feeding.

Tomatoes thriving on the poo tea

The tomatoes are doing much better than I had anticipated when I first planted them.  I planted 40 plants of 4 varieties.  Half of them didn't survive and I had to start over with several purchased plants.
Now I have 30 strong plants and 5 or 6 varieties.  The chicken poo tea I have been feeding them has done wonders.  All the plants are full of tomatoes with more appearing each day.  This is one of the smaller plants and it has 20 tomatoes so far.

Oh, and the White Rock chicks we got back in April which were from a run, turned out to be all females.  We had hoped for at least one rooster in the bunch.

That's all the news from the hen house for now.  Hope your girls are all doing well and your gardens are thriving!

Garden Update

The garden is just beginning to show some green...finally. 
The potatoes, onions and garlic are

growing nicely.  At least I think they are since I've never grown any of them before.  I dug down deep in the bed to start the potatoes and now the hills are about 2' high and now I am letting the greens grow.  The onion greens are more than a foot tall.

Meanwhile the carrots have sprouted and the tiny bits of green are about an inch tall.  The zuchinni and summer squash have their second set of leaves and I can't wait to see the flowers.  On the other hand, the peppers I started from seed are not doing at all well.  It took weeks for them to sprout, and weeks later they are still only a couple of inches tall and have only their first leaves.  I gave up on them, somewhat, and made a trip to the garden center to buy some more established plants.  I lost about half of the tomato plants I started from seed and replaced those with some from the garden center.

So far, this years garden is getting off to a  disappointing start.  I gave all the plants a fresh start in compost that I have been cultivating since last summer and gave them a little boost with some organic fertilizer.

I still need to plant the corn and winter squash.

On the other hand, we started a new bed for the Kentucky Wonder green
beans.  I grew these years ago and loved them.  I also remember how tall the vines grew, so we built a tall, strong frame for them. The beans I planted only 4 or 5 days ago have already sprouted and are looking strong.  My fingers are crossed, perhaps we will have a good crop.  In a couple of weeks I plan to start another planting of the beans.

Recalling how tall the KW Bean vines grew we built this trellis for them.  There are two of these forms, one at each end of the bed, and strung cable across from one end to the other, and then across from cable to cable above each bean row.  I still need to suspend netting for the beans to climb up, but it's been raining so that will need to wait a bit.

I have devoted most of the garden to tomatoes, since we use so much throughout the year.  All I can do now is wait and watch.

My Potato Plants are Growing and so are the chicks...

This is the first time I have planted potatoes so I don't really know what to expect.  I have been covering the plants with soil as they grow, but how long do I do this?  I planted them in a trench about 8 inches deep and covered the sprouts; as they have been growing I have continued to cover the growth with more soil.  It is now beginning to hill up, but I don't know how long I should continue this process.

Meanwhile, the summer squash I planted last week have sprouted; the onions and garlic are looking good, there is no sign of the carrots yet, but they take such a long time.  Tomorrow I plan to transplant the tomatoes into the garden.  Sometime this week I hope to start the corn and the green beans.

We are in the process of buying a small farm, 10+ acres, down in NC, so this will be an extremely busy summer between taking care of my little backyard farm, packing up the house to sell and also preparing the new homestead for us to move into before summer's end.  I honestly don't know how I will get this all done in such a short time.

Our little chicks are growing quickly.  They don't seem to be quite as smart, or friendly, as our hens.  The chicks are Leghorns and White Rocks.  The hens are RI Reds, Easter Eggers, and Black Sex Links, and one speckled black and white hen, who is so friendly and so smart, and I cannot remember her breed.

It feels so good to finally be able to work in the garden.

The spring weather has finally arrived, I sure hope it stays a while.  It feels great to be out in the garden after all those long, cold months of staring out at it from behind the window.

This is the first time I plant potatoes, onions and garlic.  So my fingers are crossed while I watch for signs of life from below ground.  No sign of the potatoes greenery yet; but the onion and garlic I planted last month are about 5 inches tall.  This weekend I planted 80 more onion sets, and about 30 cloves of garlic. 

Meanwhile, the tomato and pepper seeds I started indoors are finally starting to grow.  I can't wait until I can move them out into the garden.  We've expanded the garden area again and Nick wants to till over even more planting space.  When that is done the garden will take up most of the back yard.  We planted six blueberry bushes in what we call the Love Garden (a special garden area Nick made for me years ago which was supposed to be for roses.  Of all the rose bushes we planted, only one survived.  So now we have decided to give it a try as a fruit garden with blueberries and later on, blackberries and strawberries.

Our little chicklets are growing fast and want to go outside to play.  They are still too small to let them out into the run.  This batch of chicks aren't as nice as last year's batch which were calm, clean and friendly.  This years young'uns are skiddish, smelly, and not at all friendly.  The older hens don't want anything to do with the little ones and I can't blame them.  I am hoping there are roosters among the young so we can't put them into the pot.  Among the young are 3 white leghorn pullets, and 4 white rock straight run which seem to be about two weeks older.

The other day when I collected the eggs, one of the blue eggs was quite different.  I should have taken a photo, but didn't have a camera handy.  The shell was soft like a pliable plastic and although the white managed to seep through, the yolk was still inside and could be seen right through the shell.

The girls have also slowed down egg production for some reason.  Ever since one of them died, the others have been laying only half of their usual number of eggs.  We had been getting eggs a day from 10 hens, now we are getting 4 eggs a day from 9 hens.  The easter-eggers haven't changed their laying habit, 2 -3 eggs from the three birds every day.  So what's up with the RIReds and the black sex-links?

All for now.......

The Chicks first night in the hen house.....and new blueberry plants

Our little chicklets spent their first night out in the hen house last night and it appears they enjoyed themselves.  When we peeked in on them, they were spreading their wings and happily flitting about and testing the roosts.  We have the separated from the "grown-ups" by a chicken wire wall, just to keep them safe until they have all gotten adjusted to each other.  The hens aren't to happy about their new roomies and do a lot of squawking at the little ones.  It is so funny to watch them all.  Only one of the hens has puffed out her neck feathers trying to intimidate the chicks.  The other hens stay far away.

The onions and the garlic I planted a while back are doing nicely, I planted potatoes but don't see any sign of them breaking through the ground.  Today I planted more onions and more garlic.  We also bought 6 blueberry bushes and planted those today as well.  Neither Nick nor I have ever planted blueberries so I hope we did it correctly.  I have no idea how long it will take for them to grow to full height which is supposed to be 4 1/2 feet tall and round.  They are about 18" tall now.  Fingers crossed that we don't lose them.

We have a sick chicken, Can anyone tell me what's wrong?

One of our hens appears to be sick and we don't know what to do.  Can one of you with more chicken experience please help?

She is the leader of the hen-house, the loudest, the hungriest and fattest, and the most bossy but over the past several days she has been changing.  She has become quiet and docile, doesn't eat and is losing weight, she has been pulling out her feathers and now has an irritated patch on her skin. 

Is she sick?  How can we heal her?  If not sick, what else can it be and what do we do to treat it?

We would appreciate any suggestions you may offer.  Thank you.

Great FREE Digital Gardening Magazine

Have you seen this magazine yet?  This is the second issue and I recommend you take a look at it.  It is a free download   The Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener Magazine   They also have a series of You-Tube videos you may like. 

 Wisconsive Vegetable Gardener You-Tube

She just laid down and died....

Yesterday one our RI Reds laid down and died.  Just like that.  She wasn't yet a year old and seemed healthy.  I realize that as with all living things, there is no way of knowing how long a life will last, but for her to just lay down like she was going to nap.......  I never get used to accepting that these "things just happen". 
Goodbye Rosie.  At least you didn't end up in the stew pot.

New babies in the Hen House

It is so cute to see little chicks again.  My four youngest grandsons  ages 2,4,6 and 8, wanted to surprise me today with something special.  Along with their mom, they came to visit and take me shopping to the Tractor Store to buy some baby chicks for me and grandpa.  The boys were so pleased with themselves and excited to have more chicks in the hen-house.  Grandpa doesn't know yet about the surprise, but he will be pleased.  We know at least four of the 8 chicks are pullets, White Leghorns.  The other four will be a "wait and see" to find out their breed and genders.  Some of the names selected by the boys are:  Thunder, Lightening, and Anna (as in Anna from the movie Frozen).  At this time I have no idea how the boys will tell them all apart, especially since only one has an identifiable feature, a prominent red dot on top of the head.

Gotta love the grands!

The Seeds are Sprouting!

After what seems like such a long time, the seeds I planted in little paper cups have finally begun sprouting and are about 1" tall.  It is amazing what a good feeling these little bits of green can produce in a person.   It is still cold outside, but with this little bit of green at my window I can envision a garden full of tall, leafy plants full of ripe fruit in my backyard garden. 

This season I have planted four varieties of meaty tomatoes for canning, as well as some sweet bell peppers (they haven't sprouted yet).  The garlic I planted a week or two ago in the garden has taken hold and are growing.  Their shoots are up about three inches and looking good. 

We have enlarged the garden area again this year and I can't wait to begin planting my remaining seeds.... corn, beans, squash, etc.

Winter Came Back.... Sleet and Cold, oh my....

Of course the warm temperatures we have had over the past week were just a tease.  We awoke to the sound of sleet hitting the windows and the plows going by scraping the road from the half-inch or so that accumulated.  The temperature has also dropped from a balmy 72F to a rather brisk 26F this morning, and it isn't expected to go any higher than mid-40's.

Oh... when will it end and let us have spring back? 

I just couldn't wait another day.....

I gave in to Spring Fever and planted onions today!  My tomato and pepper seeds were planted into starter pots last weekend, but the weather has been so beautiful, finally, I just couldn't wait another week to plant something out in the garden.  It was a bit tricky however, the chickens were enjoying their time in the garden digging out bugs and they kept trying to get the onion sets from me as I was planting each one.

We finally have green grass which is so lovely after looking at all that dead, brown stuff for the last six months.  It won't be long now.  The trees are always fully leafed out by Mother's Day and it will once again be such a joy to be outdoors.

In the meantime I have been keeping very busy indoors, getting the house in shape to put on the market while also searching for our next home.  I am also starting a new blog called Time2Sew, on Wordpress.  It is, obviously, a site for sewing.  I have spent a life-time designing and creating most of what I use to decorate my home, or otherwise use, such as lots of bags in all shapes and sizes, clothes for myself and my daughters, etc.  So I have decided to share what I have learned and maybe make some new friends along the way.  Spring Fever has a way of making a person eager to try new things, and for me, this spring is having the same effect that caffeine has me...... just can't stop.

A Day in the Garden ... at last

Spring finally came around this weekend and at long last we were able to work outside comfortably.  Nick built a new run for the chickens, moving out the one he made last year.  After covering the space with mulch which has been breaking down since last year, we now have a 20 x 20 foot new garden bed for this season's tomatoes.

I planted garlic, I have no idea if I am too early or too late with them, but since I had been keeping them in the fridge and they were now sprouting, I decided it shouldn't be too uncomfortable for them out in the garden.  I will hold off on planting the onion sets until May. 

This year I have decided to plant four varieties of tomatoes, all meaty types for canning.  I planted 32 seeds today in paper cups filled with potting soil.  In a couple of weeks I will start more, along with peppers. 

We are traveling to NC this weekend to view several small farms in the Raleigh vicinity.  We are both excited about possibly finding our new home and having our own small farm.  The improvement in the weather won't hurt either since the temperature there averages 10-15 degrees warmer than here, and with a longer growing season.

Where's Spring? I'm freezing!

Last year at this time I had been working out in the garden building raised beds and creating new  planting areas, and my seedlings were nearly ready to start the hardening off process.  As of today, and these last few days of March, I am freezing, it is much too cold to work outdoors and I haven't started any seeds yet.  Today the wind is awful!  There is trash being blown around everywhere from where the trash barrels have blown over.  I am surprised to see the chickens are outside in this windstorm, although they are all huddled together in a hole they dug out near their hen-house.  I haven't ventured out to collect eggs yet, think I will leave that to Nick when he gets home from work.

The colder and more miserable it gets here the sooner I want to move to the new homestead.  We have found a few places to visit and hope one of these will be "the one".  It will be so nice to be someplace warmer than here, and to have enough land for animals and more garden space.

Time to get something hot to drink and warm-up.

Last day of Winter...and we are selling our home.

At last, it is the final day of winter and I am so ready for spring!

Most of my seed order arrived and I will begin planting indoors this weekend.  For this year's garden I am planting for varieties of meaty tomatoes, 2 varieties of bell peppers in lots of colors, Kentucky Wonder green beans both for canning and drying, as well as carrots, cukes, squash, etc.

Garlic will be new to my garden along with onions and potatoes.  Can't wait to get started.

The baby goats I was expecting this month won't be coming after all.  There was a terrible fire at the breeder's birthing/nursery barn and they lost about 50 mother's and babies.  Only one little girl managed to escape.  I can only imagine how devastating this tragic loss was for the farm family.  Fortunately, none of the breeder's family was physically harmed by the even.

My chickens are doing well, they love being able to come outdoors and have no snow to limit their wanderings.  I have decided to delay getting additional chickens for now since we are searching for a new homestead/farm down in NC.  We have been narrowing our search and will be visiting a few locations in the coming weeks.  With luck we will find our new home and will be able to begin the move this summer.  We plan to put our CT home on the market by the end of spring. 

Almost 1/2 acre corner lot in small country town.  Only 90 minutes to Boston and 2 hrs to NYC or VT.
Three churches within a few minutes walk, small early elementary school adjoins at back or property.
House with attached garage is located in center of property.  This spacious home is 200 years old and has a full basement and 2 large rooms on the third floor (one of which I use for my sewing room).
There are three large bedrooms on the second floor, the master bedroom has an adjoining room which has been converted into a very large walk-in closet/dressing room with laundry center in a closet.
Also on the second floor is huge bathroom, newly renovated and a roomy open area at the top of the back stairs which lead down to the new, bright and spacious kitchen.  The kitchen measures 20' x 20' and has new Kraft Maid maple cabinets and quartz counter with a large farm sink.  The floor is covered in large Italian tile and a matching 3" tiles cover the back-splash.  The eating area measure 10'x10' and has a huge bay window 9' wide facing south.  There are french doors leading to the backyard, and a single french door leading to the double garage. (the garage was originally built to serve as a school during the 19th century)

Entering through the red front door, which is the homes original heavy oak door, you arrive at the long center hall-way and front stairway.  Another center hall-way is on the second floor.  Double french doors lead to a beautiful spacious living room with fire-place and exit door to back porch.
At the end of the hall is a small room, currently used with cabinets for food storage (a pantry).  This room could easily be transformed into a second bathroom.

There are also a large sitting room/den, and a large dining room (currently seats 8 adults comfortably) which adjoins the sitting room and opens to the kitchen via new double french doors.

Lots of space, large bright rooms, new Pella wood-clad windows, maple floors, high ceilings, quiet neighborhood, no buildings across the main street to block the view.  The home is warm during the winter and remains cool during the summer, no ac needed except in the sewing room on the third floor.

It isn't officially on the market yet, but if you're interested contact me.  This home is much too big for just two people;  it is ideal for a young, growing family.  The school bus stop for the upper grades is right at the end of our stone wall.

Daylight savings time starts Sunday March 9

One more sign of spring is Daylight Savings Time which begins this Sunday morning.  It would be nice if the temperatures outside would start rising too.  

I am eager to start working in the garden, but right now it is still under 6 inches of hard snow.  The high temperature daily temperature these days has been in the 20sF so I have been keeping busy in my craft/sewing room.  My latest project is a large quilt which I hope will be completed this month.

Seeds for this year's garden have been ordered.  My focus is to grow the foods which we eat the most such as tomatoes, corn, peppers, and beans for canning and drying.  Of course there will also be carrots, onions, garlic, beets and possibly potatoes (if there is enough space).

All for now.

Chickens behaving badly ....

As you know I am still somewhat new to raising chickens and there is a problem with some of the girls which I don't understand.

One of the girls is being abused by at least the dominant hen.  The bossy hen has been nipping off feathers from the other.  So far she hasn't plucked any, but she snips them off at about 2 inches from the skin.  I have seen this hen pull feathers off a few of the others, and eat the feather, but there is only this one pitiful hen who is continually abused.

They have oyster shells and their main food is for "layers",  they also wander the yard and eat plenty of bugs.  They also get "kitchen" food and scratch grains to supplement.

I would appreciate any ideas and/or suggestions you may have.

Thank you.

Heirloom and Organic Seeds Sources

These are some sources I found in my search for organic and heirloom seeds:

FRUITION SEEDS  .............  www.FruitionSeeds.com
5920 County Rd 33
Canadaigua, NY 14424
585-300-0699

IRISH EYES GARDEN SEEDS........   www.IrishEyesGardenSeeds.com
5045 Robinson Canyon Road
Ellensburg, WA 98926
509-933-7150

HIGH MOWING ORGANIC SEEDS ......   www.HighMowingSeeds.com
76 Quarry Road
Wolcott, VT 05680
802-472-6174

HEIRLOOM SOLUTIONS...     www.HeirloomSolutions.com
2200 Illinois Route 84
PO Box487
Thompson, IL 61285
800-280-3465
815-259-0120

BOTANICAL INTERESTS ...    www.BotanicalInterests.com
660 Compton St
Broomfield, CO 80020
877-821-4340

D. LANDRETH SEED COMPANY....   www.LandrethSeeds.com
60 E. High Street Bldg.4
New Freedom, PA 17349
717-227-1110

R. H. SHUMWAY SEEDSMAN.....    www.RHShumway.com
334 W. Stroud St.
Randolph, WI 53956
800-342-9461

SELECT SEEDS  .....     www.SelectSeeds.com
180 Stickney Road
Union, CT 06076
800-684-0395

SELF RELIANCE STRATEGIES .....   www.SelfRelianceStrategies.com
1121 Settlers Loop
Geneva, FL 32732
321-348-4113

SOUTHERN EXPOSURE SEED EXCHANGE ....  www.SouthernExposure.com
PO BOX 460
Mineral, VA 23117
540-894-9480

WHITE OAK VALLEY FARM   ..... www.WhiteOakValleyFarm.com
PO BOX 1198
Collegedale, TN 37315

What's your opinion: onion seeds v onion sets?

Your opinions on the question of onion seeds or onion sets would be appreciated. 

 I have never planted onions and would like to do so this year but even after weighing the pros and cons I can't decide.  Seeds=more product @ less cost;  Sets = less product @ a bit more cost, but saves time.  Ideally I would like to harvest up to 100 onions storing and dehydrating.

Thanks for your help.
Keep warm  :)

First Nor'easter of 2014.. update

image from weather.com

I hope everyone who is being affected by this storm is safe and warm and remember to leave the snow shoveling to the youngsters; and for those who live in warmer climates..... I wish I were where you are.  Maybe I will visit my daughter in FL.  :)

It's snowing, and has been since the early hours of this morning.  According to the latest forecasts it will continue throughout the night and most of tomorrow dumping up to 18" of snow and dropping temperatures to -8F.  But on the bright side, the weekend looks like it will be lovely with the temperatures climbing into the 40's F.  Yes, this is New England and as Mark Twain was said about our weather: "If you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes it will change."

As long as we don't have a power outage we will be fine.  Plenty of food and supplies stocked up, we do have a generator but so far we have never needed to use it.

Spring is only 77 days away!

UPDATE:

Friday, 3 Jan 2014
Well we got lucky with Hercules, for our area the storm didn't live up to its name or hype.
We ended up with about 6-8 inches of powdery snow, but the temperature is still very cold, 13 F  today.

The arctic cold that's coming will probably be much worse.....they usually are.

Keep warm.

Happy New Year!

Just taking a moment to wish everyone a very happy new year!

Stay warm while you browse through the seed catalogs and plan this year's garden. 

Be safe, warm and happy :)