Fall is Here

My Spookie organic pumpkins (grown from seed) are almost ready!

Even though the temps here are in the 70's, the pumpkins are turning orange and the leaves are starting to fall.  I guess that means fall is officially here.  This is my favorite part of the year, so I'm happy that we finally made it.  But I'm sad to see the garden go and I have so much to do to get ready for next year ... order seeds, plan next year's garden, get the beds cleaned up, etc.  No rest for the wicked, they say.  But it's such a beautiful day that I think all that can wait one more day.

Finally! A Perfect Egg

Okay, so this one was in the corner of the coop and not in the nesting box but we're all trying to work out the kinks with this egg-layin' thing, aren't we?

With a big grin on my face,

A Cozy Place to Nest

Finding the first egg meant I needed to get my butt in gear and stop procrastinating over finishing out the nesting boxes.  I mentioned in an earlier post that I'd come up with the idea of using plastic bins as inserts in the boxes.  The idea is that they will make it easier to grab the eggs and clean the boxes, since the bins can just slide out the back.  I filled the bottom of the bins with shredded junk mail, so it's a great way to recycle also!

Gosh darn, these chooks are so useful....

First egg!

After J. and I finished canning up a batch of taco sauce from the Romas that we got for free from Hy-vee (with coupons), I headed out to check on the girls.  They were almost out of water and food, so I filled both.  When I went back in with the filled food container, I felt this weird crunch under my foot and thought "what the heck could that be" and then realized exactly what it was.  It was a tiny, perfect little brown egg - just a little over an inch long with a bright yellow yolk.  It had been covered by shavings, so I didn't see it when I was in there the first time.

One of my babies finally laid their much-anticipated first egg and I broke it!  *sigh*  I still can't believe it.

Dejected,

Awesome Auction Deals

It's a misty, ugly day today so J. and I headed to a huge building materials auction to see if we could find any good deals:  he's always looking for tools and I'm planning for the house we're going to build on our 40 acres.  Too bad we don't have a warehouse, because they couldn't give away huge pallets of beautiful wide-plank Brazilian Cherry flooring.  I think it ended up going for just $1.50 per foot.  You can't even buy oak at that price!

We did get some pretty good deals, though.  The last time they had this auction last year, I was lusting over these beautiful turned, fluted oak spindles but I had to stop bidding when they went over $5.00 each.  So I was happy to have a second chance at 72 of them.  The same guy that bid against me at the last auction was there and sitting next to them ALL DAY, so I was certain he would bid it up again. Turns out he only needed 24 of them and he dropped out early, so I got them for just $1.40 each.  These retail for over $10!

We also picked up the really cool lawn cart in the pic above.  It's 12 cu. ft and that puppy retails for $261.99 at Sears right now.  We were happy to get it for just $75 even if it did require assembly.   Plus we got a huge stainless steel cabinet for just $10 (J.'s planning on putting it in the shed), some wrenches for 1/2 price, and an entire box full of cords for our generator for just $8.00.

Score!   What goodies have you found at auctions lately?

Miserable Day? No Way!

Well, I've just come inside from what some folks might call a miserable rainy, cool fall day.  Our plans to pickup the new countertop from Lowes for our laundry room is on hold since it's raining outside.  So I have spent the morning listening to a cacophony of snoring dogs while reading the latest edition of Mother Earth News that showed up in my email and looking at online heirloom\organic seed stores.  The only thing that is missing is a hot cup of cocoa.  And maybe some cinnamon muffins. 

Anyways....my perusing was interrupted by some very excited noises coming from the hen house, so hubby Jim and I put on tennies and hooded rain gear and headed out there thinking we were about to find our very first egg.  But we were only to be disappointed, as there were no eggs to be found.  Good grief...I feel like an expectant grandparent!

While we were out there, I grabbed the plastic bins that I'm going to put in the nesting boxes.  (I'll do another post on that project tomorrow).  I need to cut them down because they're a little too long to fit.  And they turned out to be a convenient box to put some jalapenos, red peppers and tomatoes in - while were out there, we noticed that we had a ton of stuff that could be harvested.  Harvest in the middle of a downpour?  Not gonna stop us.  And a neighbor even stopped by to ask what the heck we were doing out there looking like demented monks with our hoodies up, so we gave him some tomatoes for braving the rain. 

I hope all this rain is drowning those d*mn squash bugs on my pumpkin vines.

Swimmingly yours,

Knock Knock

"Who's there?"
"Fiona and my peeps.  Do you have any treats for us today?"

In case you weren't aware, chickens are nosy creatures.  If I'm in the yard doing something, they want to know what it is.  If I'm filling their food or water, they want to come with me and help.  Or, if I'm cleaning the coop, they want to supervise.  Everybody's a critic...