Cranky Puppy Farm

What to Look For in a CSA

2012-02-16T07:48:00.000-06:00

Today's the day! We're having a lunch and learn at work to discuss the CSA with Good Natured Farms and I am so excited to learn more about it.

Let's get this out of the way first: I realize some of you might not know what a CSA is (I understood what it meant, but didn't know what the letters stood for until I Googled it just now!) CSA is "Community Supported Agriculture", which means you buy locally from local farmers - you are essentially buying a "share" in their farm. Rather than eating food that's been trucked all over God's creation before it gets to you weeks later, you get ultra-fresh food and you know who's growing it. The farmer gets paid at the beginning of the growing season when they most need the funds for seeds and other supplies, plus it helps increase their revenue later by cutting out the middle men. It's a much closer relationship between the farmer and the consumer. Outside of growing your own, it's a great way to have fresh produce for your family to enjoy.

I have really high hopes for this talk today. With limited raised bed space for gardening, I can't be very experimental in what we grow and a CSA would allow us to try some foods that we haven't tried before or that we can't grow ourselves. But that's also the fear that I have: yours truly was a VERY picky eater as a kid (I didn't even try a pickle until 2 years ago) and so I'm always scared to try new foods. I'm finding, however, that the fear is unfounded. I've liked just about everything I've tried so far!

So, in preparation for this talk, I went looking for information on how to evaluate a CSA program and ran across these juicy little tidbits.

Where can I find a CSA?

You can find CSAs in your area by visitinng the LocalHarvest website. We have 31 in our area! There's even a Kansas City CSA coalition where you can find more information about local CSAs. In our area, they usually run from mid-May to mid-October but some run all year in other areas of the country because they're using hydroponic or greenhouse methods. If you're interested in joining, you'll want to sign up early because many CSAs sell out fast.

What's included in a CSA?

Generally, fresh produce is the main staple and what's included from week to week will vary depending on what's currently being harvested. Also, some CSAs include stuff other than just veggies: you often have the option to buy shares of eggs, homemade bread, grass feed meat, cheese, fruit, flowers, bee products or other farm items. You'll want to evaluate each CSA for what they offer and decide which one best fits your food lifestyle (there are purely vegetarian CSAs, heirloom CSA's, foodie CSAs, etc.)

One thing to look at is flexibility in what's included. Some farmers will simply put out all their produce and let you pick what you want (using a "credits" system), but others may have a set list of what you get from week to week and you can't deviate from that list. Be sure to ask what happens if you go on vacation and can't pick up your basket one week - can you delay to the next week or "gift" it to someone else?

How much does it cost?

It depends on the grower, but also on the "share size" that you purchase. Many farms offer different options from "full-size" shares to "half or partial" shares. A full-size share is designed to feed a family of four for a week and a half-size share will feed two adults. Ask if the CSA will allow you to buy in bulk in addition to the cost of the CSA. Many farmers will allow you to do this and will give you a cost break on those items (think potatoes, tomatoes, or anything for canning or freezing.) Some will also let you trade work on the farm for a free basket or significant discount.

The cost of the CSA is paid up front (although some farmers will allow you to do installment payments). Costs seems to run between $200 to $400 for a partial share and $400 to $700 for a full share on average. For example, the local Growers CSA Alliance at Hen House market here in KC is $25 paid weekly for 20 weeks, so $500 total. For that, you get 20 weeks of fresh produce, meat, milk, jams, bread, a t-shirt and 2 canvas totes, and a cookbook. Ultimately, get a list of what an average delivery will look like and then go price the items. Does it seem like a good value for your family?

Since it's local, is the food organic?

Not necessarily. You'll want to ask the farmer about their growing methods - do they use pesticides and, if so, what kind? To be truly organic, the farmer has to be certified. But that doesn't mean that they don't follow organic farming practices - they just can't say they're organic if they're not certified. And "organic" doesn't mean that no sprays or fertilizers are used. Keep in mind that alot of CSA's are made up of several small farms in the area, so you may need to ask about each participating farm.

Do I have to pick it up or do they deliver?

Some CSAs will deliver to your home, some require that you pick it up on the farm, and many partner with local stores so that you can just pick it up there. You'll want to make sure the drop off times and locations are convenient for you so that your fresh meat\produce isn't left sitting.

This sounds great! Are there any disadvantages to joining a CSA?

Sure. Remember, we're talking about farming and anything can happen: drought, really hot summers, etc. Be sure to ask about a backup plan in case this happens! Many farmers will partner with farmers in nearby regions to ensure that CSA members are covered if there's an awful season. So the products won't be local, but at least you won't walk away with empty hands.

So, in summary, there are lots of things to consider when evaluating whether a CSA is right for you. Do you participate in a CSA in your area? I'd love to hear about your experiences and any other tips you might have on evaluating a CSA.

Rant Warning: The FDA is Out of Control

2012-02-15T22:25:00.001-06:00

If milk prices keep going up, I'm getting one of these. Kansas City codes be damned!

I promised that I would try and keep politics out of my posts on this blog, and that's difficult because I have some pretty strong opinions about our current administration and what they're doing to our beloved country. What brought me to the keyboard was this story about the FDA's completely idiotic vendetta against an Amish farmer in Pennsylvania. How much taxpayer money was wasted going after a peaceful farmer and his customers who were WILLINGLY buying raw milk from his farm? We have lost sovereign control over our own bodies and what we choose to put in them. They have run this poor man literally out of business.

And then I read this story about a little girl who was told that the school lunch that her grandmother had lovingly packed for her wasn't "nutritious enough", so they took it away from her and gave her....chicken nuggets! Processed chicken packed with hormones and preservatives - that's more nutritious than a turkey and cheese sandwich??!! And where the heck does the state government get the power to determine whether what a parent is feeding a child is "up to standards"?

It's sickening what's happening, guys. We CAN change this, though. Grow your own. Support local farmer's markets. Get out and vote and throw these crazy overreaching, control-hungry people out of power.

That's right, I'm one

I'm a Really Cheap Date

2012-02-14T23:12:00.000-06:00

Well, happy V-Day! Or should I say Happy "completely unimaginative, consumerist-oriented and entirely arbitrary, manipulative and shallow interpretation of romance" Day?

Just kidding. Well, sort of. J. and I have never celebrated Valentine's Day. It pains my fiscally conservative upbringing to see someone spend $30 on a dozen roses, only to have them die in a week. And I've never felt the need to be given material things to know that I'm loved. I don't begrudge the holiday for other folks - it's just not my thing.

But that doesn't mean we didn't celebrate in some form or fashion. The evening started out with a trip to Sears Outlet for 2 more pieces of FREE clothing: a really nice black Levi's buttoned dress shirt and a package of Hanes undershirts for J. Then we were off to grab some free Redbox movies (use code HEART today only for a free rental). And, finally, dinner at Houlihan's where J. had received a FREE $15 entree coupon because his birthday is this week. The waiter screwed up our bill and ended up taking our drinks and my soup off, so we paid just $10 for dinner. Score!

So there you have it...I'm a cheap Valentine's date. But a night out with my sweetie? Priceless.

Oh, and a shout out to my buddy, Tom, who turned the big 4-OH today. Remember: growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional!

Finally, A Snow Day

2012-02-13T17:09:00.000-06:00

The front door of the coop as I trundled out to check on the girls this morning.

I had almost forgotten what snow was, with all these 50 and 60 degree days we've had this winter.

We knew it was going to snow last night, not because Joe from Fox 4 had told us it would, but because the wind was completely dead and the air was crisp. I don't know how to explain it, but I suspect you know what I'm talking about. There's a certain crisp, cleanness to the air right before it snows.

I awoke this morning a little after 3 a.m. and begrudgingly fell out of bed to find the world blanketed in beautiful, quiet whiteness. Snow washes away all the dirt and grime of a dingy city and makes it look new again, even if only for a fleeting couple of hours. It's a little big of magic in an otherwise mundane life. Like the snowflakes hitting my face as I took the picture above.

To me, it's all a reminder to slow down, catch my breath, sit a spell...

Bee's Wax Lotion Bars

2012-02-13T07:41:00.003-06:00

One of the booths we stopped by at the Lawn and Garden Show this weekend belonged to a local bee farm, Koelzer Bee Farm, and they were selling fresh honey and bees wax products. They were guaranteeing that their lotion bars will "cure" psoriasis and eczema or they will give your money back and, since I constantly fight psoriasis on my knuckles and dry cuticles, I decided to try it out. They had some samples to try, and it seemed heavenly! Not at all greasy and it made my hands feel so soft. So I bought the celtic heart you see above. I just love the design.

However, the price of $8.00 for a small bar and $15.00 for a small bar seemed really high, and I was curious if this was something I could make myself. So I went looking for a simple recipe that only contains those ingredients and I ran across this one:

Ingredients

3 oz beeswax
3 oz shea butter or cocoa butter (I'm going to split this into 1/2 cocoa and 1/2 shea)
3 oz coconut oil
1 to 2 teaspoons fragrant oil (if desired)

Directions

Chop the beeswax finely (will allow it to melt faster).
Melt the beeswax, shea butter and cocoa butter together in top of double boiler (or a few minutes in the microwave). Blend together.
Slowly blend in fragrance oil, if desired, while rapidly stirring.
Let the mix cool slightly, then pour into soap or candy molds and let harden.
Pop out of molds and place in little zip lock bags.
To apply, just roll around in your hands and the bar will melt as it gets warmer. Then you can apply to your hands, cracked feet, elbows, lips...anywhere! Shelf life on this is somewhere between 6 months to 1 year. Do not refrigerate!

I'm definitely going to try making this myself as soon as I can get my hands on the ingredients, and it will be fun finding some neat candy molds for this project.

If you want to play with the amounts for the ingredients in the recipe (like me), just know the following:

Shea butter: gives the lotion a creamy consistency. Melts at 76 degrees.

Cocoa Butter: adds moisturizers and hardness. If your lotion seems too "melty", increase the amount of cocoa butter slightly. Melts at 120 degrees.

Beeswax: affects solidity and hardness and protects the "lotion" from washing off when you wash your hands. More beeswax will equal a harder bar. Melts at 160 degrees.

Have you ever tried making your own soap or lotion bar? If so, I'd love to hear any tips or recipes that you'd be willing to share.

Hope everyone has a great Monday!

Find out what other folks like me are doin' over at the Barn Hop.

Report from the Lawn and Garden Show

2012-02-11T21:43:00.003-06:00

A trio of gorgeous orchids. I can grow veggies, but not these pretties!

Paula and I spent pretty much the entire day at the Lawn and Garden\Remodeling show today. Lots of stuff to see, so I'll just give you the highlights here.

Operation Wildlife was there with several beautiful birds that they have rescued. It's always a great time getting to see these birds up close and learning their stories. If you're not familiar with Operation Wildlife, they're a publicly funded wildlife clinic that provides rehabilitation for injured or orphaned wild aminals in northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri. They receive NO state or federal funding and rely solely on donations from the public. Definitely a worthy cause. If you'd like to learn more about or donate to them, visit their website.

Screech, a Red Screech Owl. This little guy is only about 11 inches tall and was so close that we could have reached out and petted him.

Beautiful peregrine falcon rescued after it was hit by a car. I think her name was Mora(?)

Cranky Puppy on a New DIY Show?

And, of course, THE event at the show was getting to hear Ahmed Hassan from HGTV's "Yard Crashers" speak. I've met several celebrities in my time and Ahmed was probably the most engaging, down-to-earth celeb so far (although Emeril Lagasse is up there as well). He kept the crowd going for 45 minutes and then spent another hour talking to folks, posing for pictures, and signing autographs. Don't tell J., but both Paula and I got a hug from Ahmed.

His wildly successful show has resulted in several spin-offs, including House Crashers, Bathroom Crashers and Kitchen Crashers. So I couldn't resist pitching him an idea for a new show.

Whadda ya think? I'd watch it. Turns out Ahmed has been working on his own chicken coop at home. Hey, HGTV or DIY producers: if you need a designer, have your people call my people. M'kay?

Exciting Stuff Coming Up

2012-02-10T06:42:00.005-06:00

Is he yawning or yelling? And why are goats so damn funny?.

It's Friday!

Sorry about missing a couple of posts, but I've been really busy at work and sooooo tired. 1/3 of my department quit and I've been trying to get them replaced and picking up their work also (there are only 3 of us in the department - I guess I shouldn't be so dramatic.) But there's some cool stuff a'happenin' in the coming week that I wanted to mention.

Metropolitan Lawn and Garden Show (and Remodeling Show) is this weekend. It's at the American Royal Center and friend Paula and I will be heading there tomorrow morning to check out ~~Ahmed Hassan from HGTV~~ the latest in plants, garden design, and home renovation products. I love this show because they always setup the most beautiful flower and garden displays - it makes me get spring fever big time. If you're interested in going, tickets are $10 (additional $1 discount for up to 2 people if you have a Price Chopper card.)

CSA at Work. Good Natured Farms is going to be sponsoring a CSA where I work. There's an informational session on the 16th where I hope to find out more about it. I've always been hesitant about joining a CSA because you don't have any control over what you get. However, I've talked with several people who are also interested in joining and we have all agreed that we could do some food swaps. Depending on the cost, I'll probably join. We had a chance to sample some of the Good Natured products at the Hen House Holiday Celebration last fall. Their milk and meat is to die for! And it's all certified organic and local. If you're local to the Kansas City region, you might want to checkout their website to learn more.

I happened to be in Topeka yesterday and found out that Hyvee's there double coupons on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Oh, the humanity! I tore that store up. I'm not sure if I mentioned on here before that I am an extreme couponer - I used to have a blog where I posted all the great deals in the KC area. The best deal was picking up bacon for $1.69. It doesn't beat my best price of $1.38 a few weeks ago, but it's better than $4 to $6, which is what it usually costs.

Let's see...the other thing is that I sold another two dozen eggs to friends at work. That's good, because at 6 or 7 eggs per day, they're starting to stack up. J.'s going to try to sell some where he works also. Maybe the girls can pay for themselves!

Have a fun Friday,

Update on Egg Totals

2012-02-07T21:52:00.008-06:00

I just realized that it's been awhile since I've updated you on the girls and how they're laying. As you know, I decided to NOT add any artificial light this winter, so I was afraid that laying would taper off significantly. And it did at first. At one point, I was down to a trickle of just 1 or 2 eggs a day for a couple of weeks in December\January.

However, we're now consistently getting between 6 and 7 eggs per day from our 9 chooks: 5 Austrolorps and 4 Barred Rocks. That's surprising, and I'm not sure if it's because all 9 are now laying (the Austrolorps were a little slow, I think), or because of the VERY mild winter we've had this year. And gathering the eggs twice a day and making sure they had plenty of shavings in the nesting box seems to have eliminated my cannibalism issue.

Last weekend, J. and I stopped by Tractor Supply in Independence and picked up a Flock Block to keep the girls busy since they can't be out all the time. Basically, it's a condensed block of molasses, oyster shell, grit, wheat, corn, milo and barley. The idea is that the chickens will peck it and not each other. We'll see if it works or not. They were a little weirded out about it first and ignored it, but I checked this morning and the corners are rounded off, so they've definitely been pecking away at it.

January Egg Total: 89
February Eggs (so far): 40

We're halfway to the total number of eggs we got last month and it's only the 7th! I need to get busy and sell some more eggs at work.

Got chickens? I'd love to hear if you use artificial light during the winter and whether it affects their laying.

Have a glorious day,

Eye Spy: Ruminations on Growing Potatoes

2012-02-06T19:56:00.002-06:00

So I've been thinking alot about potatoes because this will be the first year that I'm going to try my hand at growing them. Since I only have 2 raised beds and limited space, I need to come up with another location for them and my first thought was to use some of the myriad of abandoned tires in the neighborhood. At least they'd be put to some good, right?

But then I started doing some research and discovered that using tires isn't such a good idea. I'm not as concerned about the chemicals leeching into the potatoes because the tires will be well worn, but I AM concerned about the spaces within the tire harboring insects and diseases. Apparently, that can happen. Not to mention I don't want our cute little farm to look like a hillbilly haven.

So...more research and more research and I found out some VERY interesting things that I'd like to share with you, my dear reader, about growing potatoes. That is, if you're still here. Boy, you must be as fascinated with potatoes as I am. *giggle*

First of all, there are over 100 varieties of potatoes that you can grow but how you choose to grow them is extremely important. Early varieties, like Yukon Golds (my favorite) do much better in a bed rather than in a vertical situation like the tires mentioned above. So, when deciding to plant or ordering planting potatoes, make sure you know whether they are early or late season.

I've found 6 ways to plant potatoes, and I'm sure there are even more than that if you're creative. Here's the 6:

1. Plant them in a traditional garden bed. Potatoes like rich fertile soil, so make sure you mix at least 1 part compost to 2 parts soil. Dig straight, shallow trenches 2 to 3 apart. Plant the seed potatoes 12 inches apart and cover with 3 inches of soil. When the plants get to about a foot tall, start mounding the leftover soil on top to cover the greenery until only about 4 inches in showing. Repeat as needed. This is probably the simplest method and the easiest for large-scale potato growing.

2. Plant on bare ground and cover with straw instead of dirt. Plant as above, but cover with 3 to 4 inches of straw rather than dirt. As the plant grows, add more straw.  The straw will conserve moisture in the soil and discourage weeds. My grandfather used this method very successfully in his garden and the nice thing about it is that there's no digging to harvest the potatoes! The cons? Be careful about mice setting up household in the straw.

3. Plant in a raised bed. Plant the same as in a traditional garden bed. This is a great way to garden in general if you have poor soil in your area. The negatives are the cost of creating and filling the beds, if you don't already have them.

4. Plant in a bag. I had never heard of this method before until I started researching. Apparently some folks have had wild success with just taking 3/4 empty compost bags, rolling down the lips, and planting their seed potatoes in there. As the plant grows, roll up the bag a little more and add more dirt to cover 1/2 to 3/4 of the plant. Repeat until the bag is full. Harvest is simple because you just dump the bag out. The nice thing about this method is that you can do it anywhere in your yard and you can move them around if you need to.   Don't try and use trash bags - they cause the dirt to heat up too quickly and will stunt the potato plant's growth.  You can buy specially designed grow bags, but they're expensive. The ones I saw online were about $12.95, but they will last several growing seasons.

5. Plant in a wood box. Kind of similar to the raised bed idea, but in a smaller, more vertical way. Generally, these are a 2' x 2' boxes like the one shown to the right. Start with the bottom layer and screw 4' stakes in the corners. As the plant grows, add another layer to the box and more dirt (or straw) until you reach the top of the box. Harvest is fairly easy - just remove the box layers and spread out the dirt (or straw). Claims are that you can grow 100 lbs of potatoes with this method, but I couldn't find anyone that had that kind of success with it.    By the way, this is a great way to use up old pallets.

6. Plant in a wire cylinder. Same idea as a wooden box, only the growing space is created by creating an 18" tube out of hardware cloth with 1/4" mesh. The height should be about 24 to 36" tall. As with the other methods, add more dirt as the plant grow. I would think this would be kind of a mess, as the dirt will fall through the mesh and getting the mesh out of there at harvest might be slightly difficult.

My plan is to build some potato bins out of some scrap pallets that we have lying around. There's a great step-by-step tutorial here how to build one. Just remember not to use treated lumber, but that goes for anywhere in your garden.

The bad thing is that I already ordered Yukon Golds, so I guess I'll also end up planting some in one of my beds somewhere.   I'm looking now for some late varieties like Yellow Fin or Binjte, as they will do better in a vertical growing situation.

Anybody growing potatoes out there? If you have any tips on how to get large harvests, or have a creative method you'd like to share, I'd love to hear about it!

Find out what other like-minded folks are doin' over at this week's Homestead Barn Hop.

Time to Rest

2012-02-05T20:43:00.005-06:00

Sometimes you just got nothing. No energy to plan a garden, do the laundry, finish organizing the basement or anything else. Maybe it's the weather or all the shopping you did that day, or that exciting end to the Superbowl game. But that's when you need to take a cue from the dogs because they know what's best in this situation.

Domino hugging his favorite sofa arm.

I think I'd pick a more comfy spot to fall asleep though.

Cranky Today

2012-02-04T20:48:00.000-06:00

So I'll just be up front and tell you that I'm cranky today. I mean REALLY cranky. Who wouldn't be on a day that looks like this?

Especially after a week of 50's and 60's. Right now, the temperature is a chilly 43 degrees and the weatherguessers think we're going to actually get s--w tonight. I can't even bring myself to type it.

J. and I spent the day at an Active Shooter training class, where we learned how to respond in the event that we're somewhere and some maniac whips out a gun and starts shooting. Not unheard of in today's society, unfortunately. Over lunch break, I hot-footed it home to let the dogs out and snapped this photo with my cell phone. Our maple tree is really confused and thinks it's Spring. See those red things in the foreground? Those are opening leaf buds!

Oh, and by the way, the house on the left is the house that we've been renovating and will put on the market later this year. It's an all-brick 4000 sq ft Victorian with a to-die-for wrap around porch that we completely rebuilt. If anyone is looking for a cool old house in Kansas City for a really great price, email me at crankypuppy at gmail dot com.

The ~~really weird~~ nice weather we've had so far this winter has confused my Emperor Red tulips as well and they're already up about 2 inches. I hope this cold stuff doesn't damage them. I may rake those leaves over them tonight just in case.

I thought it was kind of interesting that they're coming up in the shape of a cross. I certainly didn't plant them that way and it's almost like they self-divided. *sigh* More weirdness this year.

We're settling in now to watch the MU vs. KU basketball game after a nice dinner of chicken gizzards. (Yum! Does anyone else besides me like these?) Maybe if Mizzou wins I won't be so crabby.

Feeling grey,

Let the Rain Kiss You

2012-02-03T22:55:00.001-06:00

Let the rain kiss you.

Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.

Let the rain sing you a lullaby.

-Langston Hughes

Woke today to a thunderstorm rolling through, which is something we don't usually see until late March or April. Thunder was cracking and lightning was lighting up the dark outside the bedroom windows. J. was already up - I could tell from the smell of his coffee wafting through down the hallway.

We needed this rain desperately, but I couldn't help but wish it would have held off a little longer. I dressed hurriedly and headed out to let the chickens out before the deluge started. My real reason for going out was that I hadn't gotten the cleanings from the chicken coop into the composter. I put them into a huge trash can and they ended up too heavy for me to lift by myself (I probably could have, but I'm still a little nervous about just getting over that pulled back muscle.) So I needed J.'s help with taking care of this and got lazy about asking. My penalty for laziness was dodging raindrops while getting a cover over the top of the trashcan. While out there, I threw some straw lightly over the onions and garlic that have just started emerging from their winter nap. The deluge began right as my Muckboots hit the back porch.

Then it was off to work early where I sold another two dozen eggs to some friends at work. The money will go into the coffers to pay for the girls' food.

Today was a good day despite the rain.

Sam the Groundhog

2012-02-02T07:10:00.001-06:00

Happy Groundhog Day!

That pesky prognosticator Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning. As if that's a surprise, and as if we couldn't figure out all on our own by looking at the calendar that we have 6 more weeks of winter left. Of course, I'll take another 6 weeks of this weather: it's been 67, 63 and 58 the last couple of days. The weatherguessers say that's coming to an end this weekend with rain and maybe even a glancing blow of snow! We definitely need it.

But groundhogs aren't all bad. A long, long time ago in a land far away (okay, in Columbia, Missouri 100 miles from here), I had a furry friend of the groundhog persusasion that lived right outside my apartment. I had sliding glass doors that opened from my living room out onto this little patio and just beyond that was an earth berm that "Sam" called his home. It wasn't unusual for my friends and I to be hanging out and see Sam waddle right up to the door, sit on his haunches and look inside. Yep, I had my very own groundhog peeper. And I didn't mind because he was absolutely adorable.

Garlic is Growing

2012-02-01T19:55:00.000-06:00

I noticed today that, with all this nice weather, the garlic has sprouted! Not all the bulbs are up yet, but it looks like our first try at growing it might be working. My bulbs were a little old, so I was afraid that it wouldn't work. Yippee! Cheesy garlic bread is in our future.

A Powerful Organic Message

2012-01-31T21:31:00.001-06:00

This cute video packs a powerful message about the healthiness of vegetables in our supermarkets today. It's exactly why we started a garden last year and started visiting the local farmer's market. It's definitely worth the 2 and a half minutes. Enjoy!

This was originally shared by Rhonda over at Down to Earth, but I found it via the Barnyard Blog Hop over at Hoping For a Homestead.

Planting Onions? Now's the Time!

2012-01-30T22:00:00.002-06:00

Onions are one of the easiest plants to grow in your garden.

They're generally hardy to temperatures as low as 20 degrees F and they're not super picky about the soil. And onions that are properly harvested and stored can last as long as 6 months.

But timing is everything. There are some folks who claim that onions should be planted in the fall before cool weather. There's certainly nothing wrong with doing that, but it won't give you the biggest onion bulbs. To get the biggest onions, all you need to do is plant in early spring and add compost. That's it!

You can grow onions from seed, but it can be tricky to get them started or transplant them and the seeds may require a longer growing season than you have in your area, which is why most folks (including moi) plant onion sets. Onion sets are just tiny bulbs and they're usually available from seed or garden stores, but just note that sets will be more expensive than starting from seed. Once you have your sets, you're ready to plant. Here are some things to make your onion growing project a success:

The best time to plant onion sets is early Spring about 4 to 6 weeks BEFORE the last freeze. In Missouri, that's right now! Don't worry....if it frosts, it won't hurt the bulbs.
Pick a planting location that has at least 6 hours of sunlight a day. Onions will grow in shadier areas, but the size of the bulbs depends on the level of direct sunlight. More sun = bigger onions.
Raised beds are perfect for growing onions because they love the better drainage and less soil compaction. You can plant onions in the same location every year, but just be aware that you run the risk of disease affecting the plants. It's a good idea to rotate every once in awhile.
Onions love nitrogen-rich soil and will do well with regular fertilizer applications. Prep the beds by adding well-rotted manure or compost and then tilling the soil to a depth of 8 inches. Then rake the soil smooth.
Make a small hole about an inch deep in the soil with your finger and insert the bulb. Make sure the stem is pointing up (you can see which end is the stem in the picture above.) Cover the top of the set and then push down firmly with your hands. Onions should be planted 4 inches apart in rows that are 1 foot apart.
Water thoroughly and keep the soil evenly moist to encourage new growth. Unless you live in a really dry climate (like Missouri this winter), you shouldn't need to water much in the Spring. Onions actually prefer a slightly dry environment, so don't water too much. It could cause them to rot.
Keep the area weeded so they sets aren't competing with weeds for nutrients. It doesn't hurt to mulch around them to help suppress the weeds.
Apply a water-soluble 5-10-5 or 10-10-10 fertilizer once a month. I'm planning on using coffee grounds on mine, as they're high in nitrogen. And some fellow gardeners shared that the grounds will repel onion maggots as well. They actually put a little bit of grounds in the bottom of the hole before they plan the onion set. I didn't do that myself, but I may try it next year to see if it makes any difference.
You can interplant onions with other veggies, such as lettuce, tomatoes or even strawberries. Since I had some extra space until the strawberry plants fill in, I planted mine on one end of the strawberry bed.
Now you wait. The onion tops will start to turn yellow and fall over in mid-summer and then the onion plants will be ready for harvest.

I plantied my sets today as the sun was setting and the chickens were heading in for bed. It's the end of January and the thermometer should be reading 25 degrees, but it says I was out in shorts and a t-shirt. The days are already getting longer. Feels like Spring!

Find out what other folks like me are doing over at the HomeStead Barn Hop and the FarmGirl Friday Blog Hop.

Cranky Gets a New Look

2012-01-28T17:41:00.001-06:00

If you've never been here before, then welcome! If you have, then you probably noticed something different. A lot different! I'm still nursing my bad back so I'm stuck in my office chair and can't do anything I want to be doing, like cleaning the coop or finishing up the basement organization, or vacuuming the stairs. It's actually driving me crazy.

But I decided to take advantage of the situation and do what I've been wanting to do for a long time but could never find the time to do so - give Cranky Puppy a new bloggie look.

I really like the old one since it had a rooster on it, but these colors suit me better. I also like the picture portfolio at the bottom, which will allow me to showcase some cool stuff that's been happening lately on the "farm".

What do you think about the new look? I hope you like it as much as I do! And if there's anything you'd like to see added, or topics you'd like to me to talk about, leave me a comment. I love to hear from you!

I Want My Two Dollars

2012-01-27T20:51:00.000-06:00

Word seems to be spreading like wildfire at work that we've got chickens and I've been deluged with questions like "Do you have to have a rooster to get eggs?" and "Are they mean?" Not sure why that person thought chickens would be mean, but I'm also discovering that lots of people are s.c.a.r.e.d of chickens! Mainly because they've never been around them. I guess it's human nature to fear what you don't know.

But one of the other questions I've been getting is "Oh! Do you sell your eggs?" In fact, I've had an overwhelming number of people ask if I would sell them some. Today, the girls made their first sale to Karen, a friend at work, for $2.00 a dozen. She asked me if I was sure I wanted to sell at that price and I said yes. Maybe I need to rethink that. :-) I'm not going to get rich at chicken farming, I know. But, truth be told, I'd be happy if I could sell enough to pay for their feed every month.

Here's the dog's reaction to my asking when I could expect them to start earning their keep:

I think that's called the "I are cute" defense.

Coffee Grounds in the Garden

2012-01-26T21:33:00.001-06:00

If there's one good thing that has come out of being stuck on the sofa with this bad back, it's that I've been surfing away on various gardening and homesteading blogs. One of the things that I've been thinking about alot is the stuff that we throw away every day. In particular, the food scraps and other things that can be going into our new composters.

One interesting post that I ran across is over on Craving Fresh and covers how to use coffee grounds in the garden to improve your soil. I'm not a coffee drinker, but J. is and every morning he throws out his grounds and a paper filter. Apparently, coffee grounds make a great fertilizer because they're really rich in nitrogen! So, instead of buying commercial fertilizer, I've got a ready supply already. Just add 2 cups of grounds to a 5-gallon bucket of water, let it steep for a few hours and then pour it onto the plants. And here are a couple more uses for coffee grounds that I found on the Interwebs:

They supposedly deter slugs and snails but I haven't had a problem with those yet. I guess slugs don't like caffeine.
Grounds are naturally acidic, so they will help balance the pH of your soil if it's on the alkaline side.
They're lightweight, porous, and high in organic matter, so they are a great amendment to potting soil.
You can use them like mulch around plants that love acidity (blueberries, roses or azaleas, anyone?) Just don't pile them more than an inch deep or you may end up with mold.
Worm farms love coffee grounds.
Starbucks introduced a grounds recycling program in 2001. You can read more about it here.

Now I just have to find a container for J. to put the grounds in rather than in the trash. (It sounds like a big deal, but his coffee maker is on our 2nd floor near the bedroom so that he doesn't have to go all the way down to the kitchen on the 1st floor every morning.) Maybe I need to save up for this cute little thing.

If you've used coffee grounds in your garden, I'd love to hear about it. Did you see a noticeable difference in plant growth? Do you have any other uses for coffee grounds?

Nothing's Worse Than a Bad Back

2012-01-25T20:18:00.009-06:00

I'm going to ask you in advance to forgive my brevity in today's post. Right now, I'm lying on the sofa chillin' with my buddy the heating pad. How fun! Apparently, I pulled a muscle sometime in between the time I rolled out of bed and went to work. It was all I could do waddle through the day. A friend at work helpfully suggested that I try Dr. Jack Daniels if the Advil and heat don't help. I'm not a drinker, but I will say that it does cure a cold. My grandmother swore by it.

Anyway, hopefully, I will be up and running around like my usual rambunctious self by Saturday. I have to....I've got projects to work on this weekend! (And I'm sure J. is getting tired of taking care of the critters by himself.)

Cannibalism is a Nasty Habit

2012-01-23T21:29:00.003-06:00

Uh-oh. I guess I've always dreaded this day would come and it's finally here. Somebody broke an egg and then ate it. Oh the horror in the hen house! And no one was fessing up. So I cleaned up what was left of the evidence in hope that it won't happen again. My naughty secret is that I've gotten a little lazy this winter - I've only been checking the coop in the morning and collecting the eggs. I guess I'll have to do that twice a day to make sure the eggs aren't sitting there and creating a temptation. It also probably hasn't helped that it's been in the 20's and the girls have been cooped up. I suspect they're getting bored.

Boredom? Accident? Dietary issue? Could be lots of reasons. But let's take a look at how you can keep your chickens from eating their own eggs:

Collect eggs promptly. The faster your collect eggs from the nesting boxes, the less chance they will get accidentally broken or pecked. My 9 hens all want to lay in the same nesting box, despite the fact that there are 4 nesting boxes in the coop. I've actually seen 2 hens stacked one on top of the other in there fighting over the box.

Watch their diet. One of the reasons chickens might start eating their eggs is to make up for a lack of protein in their diet. Make sure that you are feeding your chickens a complete feed that contains all necessary vitamins and minerals, and not giving them too many starchy treats. I don't think this is my issue because I don't see any other pecking and I'm feeding them a balanced diet of Layena and table scraps.

Pad the nest. Use plenty of soft bedding in the nesting boxes so the eggs don't rattle around once they're laid. In the interest of recycling as much as possible, I've been using shredded bills and junk mail. It works great and it's free!

Provide some entertainment. When chickens are shut in together (as usually happens in the winter months), they get bored. Providing a treat ball, Flock Block, or something to entertain them can keep them from pecking at eggs and each other.

Stop bad behavior quickly. If your chickens have started eating their eggs, replace the eggs with something inedible like a golf ball or a wooden egg. Hopefully, they will realize they can't eat the fake egg and will stop eating their own. I have one wooden egg that I leave in the nest at all times.

Use negative reinforcement. Some folks have had good results by empting out the contents of an egg through a small hole and then replacing the inside with something spicy like hot mustard, jalapeno relish or habanero sauce. The hope is that your chickens should learn to associate this experience with their own eggs and stop pecking them.

Alter your nesting box. Angle your nesting box so that fresh eggs roll down a ramp to a safe distance.

Do you have any other suggestions for how to keep your chickens from eating their own eggs? I'd love to hear them!

Find out what other folks like me are doing on the Homestead Barn Hop.

More Crazy Weather

2012-01-22T20:26:00.053-06:00

It was a busy day, but we were working at our own pace and had nowhere we had to be today. J. and I did some more work on the basement organization this afternoon and made some good progress.   All the shelving is put together and I dove into trying to sort out all our Christmas stuff.   (I don't think either of us realized that we have enough lights to cover the Empire State Building! Are we the only ones that have this problem?)

Earlier in the day, we snagged a roast at Hyvee for just $5.00 and popped it into the slow cooker with some potatoes. Yum! We got interrupted when J.'s brother stopped by to help us move our old mattress out to the curb so the city can pick it up. Looking at the tag, it's only 5 years old but J. says it makes his back hurt.   Just as we wrestled the thing down the two flights of stairs and out on the curb and were standing there talking, it started to rain. So we retired to the parlor where J. and I worked on getting some nasty viruses off of his niece's laptop, and then we all enjoyed some tasty roast.   Outside, we could hear a *tap tap* on the windows and quickly realized that it was hailing! It hit 56 degrees today, which is crazy for late January, so I guess it's not surprising that a surprise thunderstorm blew up. The bad news? The wind was so high that it blew that heavy mattress halfway down the block!

Speaking of the new mattress....J.  wanted a Tempur-Pedic. But who can afford thousands for a mattress? After doing some searching, we found the Sleep Innovations mattress that Amazon sells for just $399 and has great reviews. Using coupons and rewards points, we got it for "free" (no money out of pocket) and free shipping. The poor UPS guy had to drag that 80 pound behemoth up the stairs to our front door. So far, J. says it definitely feels better on his back.

Say Cheese! It's National Cheese Lover's Day

2012-01-20T07:23:00.000-06:00

As connosieurs of all thing cheese, CrankyPuppy and my other fuzzy companions are absolutely delighted that today is National Cheese Lovers Day. They're looking at me expectantly right now, wondering what kind of cheese we're going to eat first. Well, some of us didn't get this great day off (what's up with that!?) so I'm going to have to dash their hopes about sitting around and eating cheese all day.

But, in honor of such a momentous occasion, let's look at a recipe that is oh so yummy, easy and cheesy to boot. I give you Cheese Hand Pies!

Cheese Hand Pies

Pastry Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
6 tbs butter cut into blocks
1/2 tsp salt
1 small egg, lightly beaten
3 1/2 tbs milk
2 tsp white vinegar

Filling Ingredients (**you can fill these with anything, like apples and butter!)
3/4 cup cottage cheese (drained)
1/2 cup smooth ricotta cheese
2 tsp finely grated Romano cheese
pinch salt & pepper
2 small eggs
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp milk

Directions

To make the pastry, combine flour, butter and salt.
Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it is crumbly.
Add the eggs, milk, and then vinegar. Mix well until the dough forms a loose ball. Flatten it slightly.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
To make the pastry filling, mash the cheeses together.
Mix in salt, pepper, paprika, and 1 egg.
In a separate bowl, whip the remaining egg and 1 tsp of milk together to make a glaze.
Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to about 1/8" thick.
Cut 4 inch rounds with a cookie cutter or a glass, cutting them as closely together as you can. Re-roll the scraps if you needed.
Brush around the edges of the pastry circles with the glaze.
Place about 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp of filling in the middle of each round, spreading it out lightly into an oval.
Flip one half of the pastry over the filling to create a half circle.
Press the edges together to seal them and then fold them up and over to make a lip. This will keep the cheese filling from leakingout. You may need to stretch the ends slightly to make them match up.
Place the pies on the baking sheet and brush the tops with glaze.
Bake for 20 minutes or until they are nicely browned on top and bottom. Let them cool slightly before eating, as they will be piping hot on the inside.
Enjoy!

No More Chicken Nuggets for Me

2012-01-19T21:36:00.000-06:00

Photo by Pam Marshall via FeatherSite.com

As a society, I'm amazed by who so very far removed we are from where our food comes from. My move to raise chickens, start visiting local farmers markets, and growing food in our own garden just felt right. And that feeling of being on the right track is underscored as I learn more and more about the food industry.

Let's talk tonight about those chickens that we buy in the store. Believe me, I've bought and eaten plenty of them and, all the while, I thought I was eating healthy. In fact, I'm not alone because the average American eats 91 pounds of chicken per year. That's a 300% increase in chicken consumption and it is being placed squarely on McDonald's doorstep for their introduction of Chicken McNuggets on their menu. Have you had a McNugget lately? It tastes like cardboard.

Does that chicken in the picture look healthy to you? It's Cornish Cross, which is one of the breeds that the commercial poultry industry loves. They are specifically bred to maximize profits and satisfy our enormous appetite for chicken. They're genetically altered to eat constantly and to grow an enormous amount of white breast meat. To illustrate the point, consider this: a normal chicken takes about 12 to 16 weeks to reach full maturity and will weight about 7 to 8 pounds. The Cornish will weigh 5 pounds at only 5 weeks! They grow so quickly that their legs literally cannot carry their weight any longer where, propped up by antibiotics and growth hormones, they end up sitting by the food bowl eating until they die. If they're not slaughtered for consumers, they die of a heart attack. They never live long enough to lay an egg and usually live out their short lives in a commercial chicken farm with thousands just like them. At least one-third of them have respiratory or digestive failures by the time they are killed. And then they end up on your dinner plate.

Courtesy of Food Inc. If you haven't yet watched this movie,
you need to. It's an eye opener.

Knowing this information makes me sick. How is this a sane and humane industry? Efficient, yes - sane, no. My little chicks are lucky in that they will live out their lives as pampered pets eating grass and enjoying the sunshine. They'll never be mistreated as these birds are.

Buy local. Eat local. We can make a change through the choices we make. We can do better.

Recipe Secrets: Recreating Houlihan's Baked Potato Soup

2012-01-16T09:20:00.000-06:00

Soup's on! On tap for dinner today, that is. Have you had Houlihan's Baked Potato soup? If not, you're in for a real treat. I'm in love with this soup and have to have it at least once a week (friend Paula and I usually go for lunch at work). This is the first time I've tried to recreate it here at home, so let's see how it stacks up to the original.

CrankyPuppy's Baked Potato Soup ala Houlihan's

Ingredients

(makes 4 to 6 servings, or 2 if you're a hog like me)

2 cups russet potatoes , diced but unpeeled
1/4 lb butter
1 cups yellow onions , finely diced
1/2 cup flour
1 quart warm water
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 cup instant potato flakes
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
Salt and pepper, garlic powder and dried basil (to taste)
Grated cheese, bacon and\or scallions (optional, for topping)

Directions

Prick washed potatoes and bake in a preheated 400 degree oven until a fork pierces the center easily. Remove potatoes from oven and allow to fully cool. Remove skin and cut potatoes into 1/2" to 3/4" cubes.
Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add onions and saute over low heat for 10 minutes or until onions are translucent. Don't let them burn!
Add flour to onions and butter and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring until the flour is absorbed.
In a separate container, combine water, chicken stock, potato flakes, and seasonings. Stir until thoroughly mixed and no lumps remain.
Add slowly to onion mixture, stirring constantly so no lumps form. Increase to medium heat and continue cooking until the soup begins to gently simmer.
Add milk and cream, stirring until smooth and lightly thickened. Lightly simmer for 15 minutes.
Combine the potatoes with the soup to complete.
Season to taste with salt, pepper and garlic as needed.
Serve topped with cheese, crumbled bacon and chopped scallions (optional).

Busy Organizing

2012-01-15T16:45:00.003-06:00

Yet another beautiful weekend with temps in the 50's and 60's in mid-January! And what are we doing? Are we out riding our bikes or playing with the chickens? Nope. We're in the basement organizing.

But it's one of those things that needs to be done and is a long time coming. We took advantage of a Groupon several months ago for "College Hunks Hauling Junk" and two really nice young men (neither were college students, but one was the local franchise owner) came and helped us move all the trash and broken stuff left over from our 10+ year renovation of this old house.

It really was amazing how much stuff we had down there. The biggest pile was old wood trim and house parts - some of it over 12 feet long! We've found that it's impossible to find trim to match what's 112 years old, so it would be a sin to get rid of any of it. It must stay with the house. So J. and I's first order of business was to build a place tucked under the stairs to store all of it.

Next up on the list was to put together 6 large heavy duty shelving kits from Lowe's. My stockpile is spilling over from my pantry upstairs, so we setup space to store long-term food items, J.'s 500 gallons of grapefruit and cranberry juice that I got for free from couponing (there may be a little exaggeration there), and other household items. That area will be complete once J. has wired in an outlet so that we can move the chest freezer over to that location as well. It will be really nice to have it closer to the stairs rather than all the way across the basement.

Once that was done, we had cleared the middle of the basement and the next project was one that I had been dreaming about for a long time. I'm in love with stained glass and learned how to do it several years ago but I don't really have a dedicated space for a glass project or my tools. Ideally, you really need a large flat working surface and a place to cut glass. Obviously, the dining room isn't a good choice, as you wouldn't want to find little glass chips in your food.

A little over a year ago, I was in Lowe's to pick up something for our reno and they had 4 white kitchen cabinets on closeout for just $20 a piece. I guess they had just put them out and marked them down, because I barely snagged them before 3 other people. My vision was to put 2 of them side-by-side and then backed up to the other 2 to create a square, then put a thick plywood top on as a work surface. The more I thought about it lately, though, it would be nice to be able to move that thing around if we have to do wiring or plumbing work on the house and it will be heavy once it's all put together. So J. and I built a platform for the cabinets to sit on and bolted 6" casters to the bottom. Two of the casters have brakes so I can stop the cabinet from moving. And an added bonus is that the casters and platform raise the working surface about 9", which makes it much easier on someone like me who is 6 feet tall. I wish, in fact, that we had raised our kitchen cabinets when we did our last renovation because I sometimes get a backache from bending over when I'm cooking.

No pics for you today (sorry!) because I was too lazy to go up 2 flights of stairs and grab the camera. We're still putting the cabinets together and will hopefully have that done later this week. And I promise to have some pics for you then. But for now....J. and I are off to let the chickies out to enjoy the nice weather too.

Learn New Skills with Missouri Conservation

2012-01-14T10:23:00.000-06:00

Ever wanted to learn how to hunt crows, cook a squirrel, clean your gun, or identify what animal left that poop in the woods? Sounds fascinating, doesn't it? The Missouri Conservation Department offers these free classes and more at locations all over the state and many of them are free! You can find out more in the Nature & You Newsletter (this is for the Kansas City region - for other parts of the state, start here and then select your region.)

The one class that really caught my eye is the "Discover Nature Families: Maple Sugaring" class on Saturday, February 25th at the Burr Oak Woods Nature Center in Blue Springs. I've always wanted to know how to do that, so it should be a fun 2 hours of hands-on. And it's free! How awesome that the Department puts on these educational programs.

Are you thinking about any classes or learning new skills this year? I'd love to hear about it.

Is It Winter or Not?

2012-01-13T08:50:00.004-06:00

It's been a strange winter, that's for sure. We've been primarily in the 40's and 50's the entire time and, with less than an inch of snow on December 6, we're way below where we should be for precipitation. Of course, the silver lining is that the weather has been beautiful. I've certainly been enjoying trekking out in a light jacket or even a t-shirt to feed the chickens.

But Old Man Winter let us know he's still lurking last night. J., my friend Paula, her daughter Amanda, and I went to see "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and, while it was cool and blustery when we went in, imagine our surprise when we stepped out of the theater to snow flying! The ground was covered and actually a little bit icy. We saw several wrecks on the way home, but the trusty Jeep got us home safe and sound.

Is it winter? Yep. But it's having trouble finding its footing this year. It's supposed to be back up to 57 degrees this weekend. *sigh* If you live in Missouri, it's a given that you've heard "It's Missouri. If you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes." Ain't that the truth...

Off to work now...

More Pics from "Eagle Days"

2012-01-11T08:45:00.001-06:00

Well, nuts..my pictures of Goldie, the Golden Eagle, and Miss Moose, the bald eagle, were much too blurry to post here. Luckily some of them turned out, though. Hope you enjoy!

The American Kestrel is the smallest raptor in North America. Looks at those beautiful colors!

Beautiful barn owl

A somewhat blurry picture of a Great Horned Owl. When you're standing in front of this bird and he's looking at you, it feels like they are staring right through you. Those eyes are huge and a vivid orange!

Snowy Owls: A Rare Opportunity!

2012-01-09T10:31:00.001-06:00

Snowy owl hanging out and catching a snooze at Smithville Lake

This crank puppy is in love with birds - not just chickens - but bird of all kinds Especially of the raptor variety. Here in Kansas City, we currently have the opportunity of a lifetime to view the rare snowy owl, a raptor that normally lives in northern Canada near the Arctic circle and normally winters in Canada. So it is very rare for them to be located this far south and the bad news is that they are here because of hardship. Apparently, there's been a huge boost in the owl population and a severe dip in their main food source - the lemming population. (Clicky for those of you who don't know what a lemming is - I certainly didn't.) The average snowy owl can eat up to 1600 lemmings per year. They're the largest owl in North America, coming in at almost 2 feet in height and with a wingspan of over 5 feet.

There are currently 5 snowy owls that have been spotted on Smithville Lake, just north of Kansas City. This one posed for us all morning long as part of "Eagle Days", a joint education project sponsored by the US Army Core of Engineers, the Missouri Department of Conservation and the US Parks Service. It's an annual event where residents can come by and learn about the bald eagle, which nests in our area regularly, and actually see them in the wild. They have spots setup around the Lake with spotting scopes. Unfortunately, we were able to see a bald eagle sitting in a tree in the middle of the lake from about a mile away with their scopes, but it was far out of reach of my best camera lens. (Must correct that situation!)

Having held the snowy owl above in my camera lens, I can say that they are breathtakingly beautiful birds. But viewing them comes with a note of sadness. According to a local news story, many of these owls will not make the return trip home. Operation Wildlife rescued one last week after it was hit by a car and broke its wing. Unfortunately, the owl didn't survive. Another was struck by a train in Kansas City, Kansas. Since they're from the tundra, they're a little naive about cars and power lines.

I've got some other pics from Eagle Days that I'll be sharing with you in my next post.

Goodbye to a Good Dog

2012-01-07T09:49:00.000-06:00

Freckles has been a part of our life for a little over 6 years after we fell in love with her at an adoption that the Columbia Humane Society held. We drove 2 hours to go see her and bring her home with us to be a companion to our 8-year old black lab mix, Chase. They were both the same age. We lost Chase early last year and Freckles has never been the same. After Chase died, we brought Freckles inside permanently so that she wouldn't be alone. She loved to steal J.'s seat on the sofa if he got up - the warm, comfy spot was just too good to pass up. But it seems that old age has finally caught up with her as well. For the past couple of days she hasn't been able to really walk or to stand on her own. We could barely get her to drink, much less eat anything.

The farm is full of heavy hearts this morning as we say goodbye to her - a sweet, loving, beautiful Australian Shepherd. She was what every dog strives to be - a good dog, a loving friend. There will be no one to herd us or our trio of Pomeranians now.

Goodbye, sweet pup.

Who? Who? Who Cooks For You?

2012-01-04T06:35:00.000-06:00

I've been trying to find the two owls that are living in our neighbor's yard behind us. I can hear them calling to each other in the morning, but haven't been able to actually see them. I never hear them when I have the chooks out for their play time. They're either in the upper story of the neighbor's garage or in a huge old oak tree in the lot behind us. Since they are active during the day, I think they may be short-eared owls or barred owls. Whatever they are, they must be camera shy!

Related to that, I just read in the local rag that we have some rare snowy owls visiting our area right now. It would be a treat to catch a glimpse of one of these, but sad to hear they are here as they probably won't survive to make the return trip to their natural habitat ot the Artctic.
So, until I can get some good pictures of my feathered neighbors, we'll have to make do with this video. Can you believe this little burrowing owl likes to be petted liked that? Too adorable for words.

$25 off $25 Purchase at Gardens Alive

2012-01-03T14:47:00.001-06:00

Starting off the new year with a nasty cold hasn't been fun but I've been putting my time on the sofa to good use by going through seed catalogs and dreaming of being in the garden. I just happened to notice this...right now, you can request a free Gardens Alive! catalog and it will arrive with a a coupon for $25 off any $25 purchase on the back page!
They're also offering $20 off product orders of $40 or more on their website (limit 1 offer per customer).

I'm thinking about getting the following:

#Organic yukon gold potatoes, $14.95
#67909 Organic Cal Wonder Pepper, $3.10
#3203 Organic Sugar Baby Watermelons, $3.45
#3199 Organic Roma Tomatoes, $3.45
#3197 Beefsteak tomatoes, $3.45

Total out-of-pocket after coupon: $3.40 (+ $9.95 shipping).

Leave a comment and let me know what you get for your $25!

New Goals for a New Year

2012-01-02T10:19:00.032-06:00

I want to start by saying that I hate resolutions and I'm not going to make any. I mean, really...how many people find themselves in mid-January having completely thrown their resolutions out the window? No, sir! You won't find me in that crowd.

But I do think it's time to evaluate what we'd like to accomplish next year as improvements to the garden, the farm and ourselves. Here's a list that I've had in my head for a couple of months:

Organize the basement, laundry room and pantry, including a database to keep track of what food items we have and their expirations.
Learn to make our own bread and eliminate store-bought bread from our diet. J. keeps talking about a sourdough starter. Bring it on!
Take a class or read a book on how to use our wizz-bang camera, an older Canon Rebel XTi EOS 400D SLR. I'd really like to improve on the quality of pictures on this blog. :-)
Finish the renovations on our rental house and get it sold. Before we do that, I'd like to get our two remaining full-size apple trees transplanted over there so they can provide pollination for our trees. Hopefully, the new owner won't cut them down. This goal is very important to our plan of getting completely our debt.
Finish the renovations on our travel trailer and get it moved up to the real farm.
Finalize our water management plans for the mini-farm so that we're not using city water for the garden or chickens
Diversity the plants in the garden to include more varieties of heirloom tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, carrots, garlic and potatoes. That list may get bigger as I go through all the seed catalogs that are now showing up, but it's a good start. And I'm going to try to start everything from seed.
Get healthier. J. and I have both packed on some mid-life pounds and we need to take some steps to get rid of it. I'd like to see us get outside more and into a healthier pattern of eating - less processed foods, less eating out (even if it is convenient!) and more eating food that we've grown ourselves or from the Farmer's Market.

That's a pretty big list and it will take us all year to get this stuff done. Whew! But I'm excited to get started on that organization item today. I'll be posting pictures of our progress for you shortly.

I'd love to hear what goals you have for 2012. Please let me know in the comments below!

View more posts just like this on Homestead Revival's Homestead Barnhop #43.

On the Eve of 2012

2011-12-31T22:58:00.014-06:00

What a beautiful day! 65 degrees and sunny on the last day of the year is hard to believe, particularly since last year we had snow on the ground and it was only 3 degrees! As I write this, the wind is whipping around the corners of the house and the noticeable chill in the air tells me that the front has finally arrived. Our high tomorrow is supposed to be half of what it was today.

I suppose it's natural for us homo sapiens to see the end of the calendar year as a time for reflection on what was and what is to come. 2011 was an interesting year as J. and I started our journey toward building this little mini-farm in the city and long-term planning for our move to our larger farm. That seems a long way off, since we probably won't make it there permanently until retirement. But, you know, time seems to speed past me even faster as I get older. We have been blessed in 2011, though, in that we haven't been impacted by job loss, or serious health issues, or anything major. And, yes, I am knockin on wood that it stays that way. It is definitely not something that I take for granted.

If anything, 2011 has been one long learning experience. And perhaps the most important lesson I learned is what I don't know. There is definitely so much more. But we did make great strides this year:

Built a beautiful chicken coop

Raised 9 chicks from the time they were 2 days old and they're happily supplying us with eggs and entertainment on a daily basis
Cleaned out the fence lines and re-fenced the entire back lot\farm
Planted an organic raised bed garden full of several varieties of tomatoes, jalapenos, pumpkins and watermelons
Started a small orchard of dwarf apple trees and planted blackberries and strawberries
I attended an 8-week long canning\preserving class and, not only did I put away some tasty salsa, but I also roasted my own pumpkins and used them to make pumpkin bread.
Got our water issues taken care of with the purchase of a Big Berkey from Ebay
Continued to add to our food stockpile and cleaned the basement out so that we could better organize everything
Procured a 1988 Terry Taurus travel trailer that we'll be taking up to the real farm next year after we finish renovating it. That will give us a place to sleep if we want to spend the weekend up there, as well as a much-anticipated bathroom!

Here's our coop and two of our raised beds - new in 2011!

There were some sad moments this year as well. My boss lost his wife of 40+ years right before the holidays. And J. and I said goodbye to the first puppy that we raised together. Chase, a beautiful black lab mix with soulful golden eyes, left us early in the year. The ground was frozen solid but it didn't matter to either of us - we both shed more than a couple of tears as we labored to bury him in the backyard. He was a rescue puppy and not much past weaned when we got him. J. always described him as "sober as a judge" because the odd thing about Chase is that he never wanted to play. But he loved being near people and was smart as a tack. Even now, it's bringing tears to my eyes to think of him, and I hope he is somewhere chasing rabbits in the warm sunshine.

Well, the new year begins in just one short hour. I can't wait to see what 2012 will bring us here at Cranky Puppy Farm and to you as well, my dear readers.

Wishing all of you a good night and nothing but happiness in 2012,

Now We're Cooking: Cast Iron

2011-12-26T08:31:00.063-06:00

One of my favorite Christmas presents this year? A 12" Lodge cast iron skillet. Made in the good ol' USA, yes sir. Just seeing a cast iron skillet stirs up memories of heavenly smells emanating from the kitchen as my grandfather fried up sliced potatoes for dinner.

The skillet came pre-seasoned and J. also gave me some cute stocking stuffers to go with it - some silicone scrapers and a handle cover. I questioned the pre-seasoning, though. If you're familiar with cast iron, it has to be properly seasoned and that means it gets better the more you use it. It's practically non-stick once it's seasoned and it heats so evently that it's very easy to cook with (unlike some of my cheap non-stick pans). So we got to work on the seasoning by making...you guess it....fried potatoes!

I had been looking for used cast iron all over the place last year - at auctions, estate sales, etc. I saw one Lodge skillet at an auction but we didn't stick around long enough to see what it sold for. It was the middle of summer and we had gardening to tend to. People hold onto these things, because they will last a life time. But if you do find one used, you can bring it back to life even if it's been let go to rust. Just take some steel wool to it to remove the rust and the start the seasoning process again.

So how do you season cast iron? It's easy:

Rub the entire skillet with oil. Canola, vegetable oil, or lard is fine, but I'd stay away from olive oil. If your skillet has a lid, cover the lid as well. Don't soak it so that it's dripping- just rub the oil in so it's uniformly covered.
Put the skillet (and lid) in the oven and at 300 degrees and leave it for an hour.
Remove the excess oil, either with a paper towel or rag. Some folks say to rub it with coarse salt, but I don't do that every time.

So what interesting things did you give or get for Christmas? Any I the only one that got cookware? (LOL) And if you have any favorite cast iron recipes and are willing to share, I'd love to hear them. Please share!

And All Through The House

2011-12-25T09:01:00.019-06:00

Is this Prancer permanently preserved in ice?

I confess...I cannot resist Victorian ornaments.

Happy Christmas to All and to All a Good Night!

Visions of Sugarplums

2011-12-21T17:38:00.001-06:00

O Christmas Tree

2011-12-20T20:29:00.000-06:00

Our annual tradition (if you can call it that) has been to make hot cocoa and decorate the Christmas tree while we listen to some beautiful classical Christmas renditions. J. hauled the tree up from the basement for me and, while it's been much too warm outside to stir up the cocoa cravings, we still had a good time decorating. My other tradition has been to buy or create one new ornament every year and I think this is the first year that I haven't gone out on my annual ornament hunt. I am having a hard time getting in the holiday spirit - possibly because of the weather or maybe it's the economy that has everybody down. But the tree always helps my mood and I think it is beautiful. Someday, *crossing my fingers*, we will throw away this fake tree and replace it with one grown on our farm.

Giggles on Aisle 9

2011-12-19T18:43:00.000-06:00

Sometimes in life you encounter those little things that just make the corners of your mouth turn up into a little smile. You know what I'm talking about - those random little funnies that are completely unexpected unserious acts in an otherwise serious world.

I had one of those moments in front of the meat counter at Hyvee today and ended up giggling like some demented crazy woman. And this is why....

Yep, no need to check your glasses. That's a pig's head made entirely out of ground pork sausage. I guess it was a slow day in the meat department.

Lovin' This Weather!

2011-12-18T17:08:00.002-06:00

It's almost 60 degrees today with less than a week to go before Christmas. It certainly seemed odd to be out shopping today in short sleeves and no jacket. But I'm certainly not complaining - in fact, sorry to disappoint all you snow lovers, but I'd be perfectly happy if it stayed this way all winter.

J. and I spent the day shopping and fixing the gutter on the girls' coop. We had never finished the downspouts and, with all the rain and snow forecasted for next week, we thought we had better get it done while the weather was cooperating.

Then it was off to organize for our Secret Santa giveaway next week and start wrapping. Looking at the pile of stuff to be wrapped, I think we might just get done by Christmas if we start now. I'm worn out already!

Merrily yours,

Today is National Poinsettia Day

2011-12-12T18:43:00.049-06:00

We've always enjoyed having poinsettias grace our mantel, so I was looking for a great deal on these. I can't believe some places want anywhere from $7 to $13.99 (Hen House Market!) This year, we lucked out and found some coupons for $2.00 off any holiday flowers so I snagged two beautiful poinsettias for just $1.99 each. One will go on our mantel and I'll take the other to work to brighten up the office. And now how about some fun facts about this Christmas plant?

Did you know.....

They are native to Mexico and the Aztecs used them to produce a red dye?
Poinsettias were introduced to the U.S. in 1825 by Joel Poinsett, hence the modern-day name. Poinsett was an American botanist, physician and Minister to Mexico who sent cuttings of the plant he'd discovered in souther Mexico to his home in Charleston, South Carolina.
90% of all poinsettias are exported from the United States? They are commercially grown in all 50 states and contribute $250 million to the U.S. economy.
There are over 100 varieties? My favorite is the peaches and cream.
December 12th (today!) is National Poinsettia Day. The day was established in July 2002 to honor the Poinsett's death.
It is completely untrue that they are poisonous to pets and children? In fact, according to the American Society of Florists, no consumer plant has been tested for toxicity more than the poinsettia.

Wow, I certainly didn't know all that. Did you? Does the poinsettia have a place in your home for the holidays?

I Guess It's Official

2011-12-06T08:19:00.000-06:00

Oops...the Farmer's Almanac said our first snow wouldn't be until the week of the 17th!

One of These Things Is Not Like the Other

2011-12-03T20:19:00.043-06:00

Remember this from Sesame Street? That's the the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw this egg. And then I thought, "Well, that had to hurt!" Something like the equivalent of us humans squeezing out a football. Eeeeyikes.....

In all seriousness, this is the second humongous egg that someone has laid this week and it's caused me to ultra-curious as to what causes it. Is it normal? Do I need to be concerned? Is this the return of the double yolks or even triple yolks? A newbie chicken farmer has lots of questions.

Thank goodness for Google because I was able to find lots of great information on this odd phenomena. Prepare yourself, because you are about to learn more about chicken ovaries and egg laying than you probably want to know.

Hens are alot like us human women in that hormones dictate the development of an egg. In good layers, a yolk is released approximately every 23 hours and the ovum travels through the reproductive system until a complete egg is formed. The majority of the egg's time is spent in what's called the "Shell Gland" where the outer shell is added - in fact, it will spend about 20 hours in that gland. And then, as the egg is laid, the protecting coating or "bloom" is added. What's happening when we get a double-yolked or triple-yolked egg is that two yolks are relased at the same time or in rapid succession or, for some reason, the first yolk gets stuck in the oviduct. Apparently, it's pretty common in new layers as they get the hang of it. And, althought there are some breeds that are more generically predispositioned to laying multi-yolked eggs than others, there is a still a probability of just 1 in 1000 that an egg will have multiple yolks. Fascinating, no? If you really want more info with helpful (gross) pictures, go check out this site.

I'm not sure which of the girls laid these as they are different colors - it may very well be that one is from one of the Austrolorps and the other from a Barred Rock. I thought I might be able to tell by which hen was walking funny. (Just kidding.) Maybe I should start referring to the Austrolorp's as Aus-triches. (*giggle*)

Okay, enough with the corny jokes. Hope you're enjoying your day,

Update: Coop is Toasty Warm

2011-11-30T07:25:00.000-06:00

It's 27 degrees outside right now. It's 48.2 degrees in the coop right now, so the girls stayed toasty warm last night! And that's a good thing, because I don't knit and North Face doesn't make jackets that small.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

2011-11-29T19:05:00.000-06:00

Despite my ardent wishing for the 70 degree weather to stay around until March, it looks like Old Man Winter is finally here for a visit. He's a most unwelcome guest in my book. The mercury is dipping all the way down into the 30's at night and tonight it's even supposed to go to 23 degrees.

The coop seems to be about 4 to 5 degrees warmer than the the outside temp without any kind of intervention. I certainly don't want the girls to suffer from any frozen feet or combs and I'd rather avoid having their water freeze up, so I hit Target and found this little mini heater that I setup for them. It's got a fan and a thermostat which I set at 60 degrees, the lowest setting. I just stuck it in one of built-in nesting boxes that they refuse to use right now. I hate doing this at the last minute after they've already roosted for the night, and I hope they're not disturbed by the fan (it seems to be pretty darn quiet.) That'll have to work until the weekend when I can get a timer on it rather than using the thermostat.

Wishing for warmer weather,

This is Madness

2011-11-25T14:06:00.002-06:00

Just a quick note before I go snooze. And, yes, I realize it's 2:00 p.m. I wasn't planning on going out for Black Friday today until J. saw the Cabela's ad where they're selling a Ruger 10/22 for just $169 as a doorbuster. That and the opportunity to win a gun, free sweatshirt or up to a $100 gift card if you're one of the first 800 people in line.

We headed over there at midnight and ended up 328 and 329 in line. The weather was actually pretty nice compared to this time last year. It was 48 degrees at midnight but that darn Cabelas is in the middle of a wind tunnel, so it felt more like 32! We thought we were smart in taking our camp chairs with us but you couldn't sit down or your butt would freeze off. And the guy in front of us had shorts and a light jacket on. He was hatin' life by 5 a.m. when they opened.

I do have to say, however, that Cabelas had the most orderly Black Friday event of any retailer I have been to. No pushing, no shoving. The store wouldn't even let you get close to the doors and, since they were handing out envelopes with your "prize" in them, you had to go single file. Kudos to Cabelas!

J. ended up getting his 10/22 and we were out of there very quickly, owing to the fact that they did all the paperwork outside before the store even opened. Used a $10 off $50 and the $40 he got for selling the Kindle that he won, so we got a pretty good deal (especially since we are seeing these going for well over $200 at auction for used guns!) Then it was off to Tractor Supply to pick up a cheapie air compressor for the farm. The one we have out there is just way too small. Especially since J. is known for having flat tires on everything he owns.

Hope you had a nice, uneventful day after Thanksgiving. I'm out!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T07:46:00.004-06:00

It's finally arrived the - the big day of eating too much, afternoon naps, the Macy's parade and football. J. and I will be feasting on ham and turkey today - in fact, I need to get downstairs and get the bird all fluffed and buffed and put in the oven. We're trying the Boar's Head brown sugar and spice glaze on the ham this year and I can't wait to see how it turns out. I can't wait for the smell of turkey and trimmings to fill the house. And I can't wait to get out and get a paper so that I can flip through all the ads.

But, in all seriousness, Thanksgiving Day is time when we should all pause (if even for just 5 minutes) to reflect on what we have even if we don't "have" everything we think we need or want. When we were at dinner Tuesday night, I mentioned to J. that I thought we were very blessed. We have each other, our health, a nice home, good jobs and wondeful friends and family. There are many people right now that don't have one or all of those things, especially in our current economy. My boss just lost his wife of 40 years which, to me, is unimaginable. I certainly don't take these things for granted and never will. So, please, take a minute somewhere in between the mashed potatoes and the football game to be thankful for what you have.

J. and I hope your Thanksgiving finds you surrounded by family, friends and feast. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Coop Goes Hi-Tech

2011-11-21T07:58:00.000-06:00

How could a bunch of nerds have a chicken coop and NOT put technology in it? The answer is "they can't". I've been debating about whether or not to heat the chicken coop and extend their daylight hours. It has been basically impossible to find a remote dimmer that's also a timer, and I'm not an electrical engineer so I won't be cobbling together my own. But that's a problem that will have to be tackled another day.

J. surprised me today with this ~~Ambient Weather WS-0101 wireless thermohygrometer with optional humidity calibration~~ remote weather monitor that he installed in the coop. So now I can at least see what the temperature is in the chicken's bedroom without leaving the comfort of our home office! That's pretty darn cool, if you ask me. And, with one of the windows still slightly open in the coop, it's staying about 4 degrees above outside temp. This morning when it was 34 degrees outside, the girls were a cozy 38. (Hey, they have the equivalent of a down comforter on - they're not cold, trust me. How do I know this? Because they run around like a bunch of maniacs when I let them out.)

Now we just have to tackle the light and heat issue. And plan where to put the Christmas lights. :-)

Roadtrip for Warm Cider Donuts

2011-11-19T19:17:00.001-06:00

If you live anywhere near Kansas City, you probably have heard of or even been to Louisburg Cider Mill. Ask anyone and they'll probably say "Ohhh, their warm cider donuts are to die for!" Well, believe it or not, J. and I have never been there...at least not until today. I had wanted to go for Ciderfest, which is in October and somehow totally missed it. They have all kinds of crafts, a gigantic pumpkin patch, a corn maze, and you can watch them make the cider and the donuts. The place is absolutely packed, and the fields surrounding the mill are filled with parked cars. Can't say I feel like I missed that crowd.

So J. and I headed down there this afternoon with friend Paula and her daught Amanda. It's about a 20 mile ride south from the KC area. On a beautiful 70-degree day in late November, I don't think any of us much minded being out and about.

The mill is actually a collection of old barns (some of them over 120 years old!) set on 80 acres. The one in the picture above is where they actually make the cider. It wasn't open today, but the store was and we had alot of fun looking at all the stuff they had for sale (cider, of course, but also teas, root beer, sarsparilla, farm cheeses, homemade candy, gift sets). J. grabbed a jar of apple butter and four 1/2 gallons of honeycrisp apple cider to bring back with us. I couldn't resist the rooster cookie cutter. And then we all ordered some of their fresh cider donuts and cider slushies. Mmmmmm....

Served up warm in a white paper sack by the half dozen or dozen. Everything I've heard previously was right...these are incredibly good. Kind of like a cake donut - soft and moist with a slight hint of apple cider. The only thing I would change would be to add some chocolate.

Droolingly yours,

What's Old is New Again

2011-11-15T09:58:00.002-06:00

Here's what we've been up to the past couple of days: A couple of weekends ago, J. and I hit an auction (which is where we usually are on the weekends) and I picked up these old oil lamps for $12 each. They didn't look like that picture, though. They were dirty, the brass was dull, and the wicks were old.

J. put gas in the reservoirs to remove all the old, sticky residue - you just let it sit for a day or two and it comes right off. We cleaned the burners with steel wool (or a stiff brass brush works also) and the chimneys with soap and water. New wicks and clear oil lamp from Ace Hardware and they're just like new again!

Gettin' Ready for Strawberries

2011-11-13T21:06:00.007-06:00

J. is a strawberry lover. I have to confess that I've never grown strawberries before, but I'm willing to try. We had some parts and pieces left over from the two big raised beds that we put in this Spring, so we spent the beautiful day today (65 degrees in mid-November!) cobbling together a Franken-bed.

First, the pieces. These are part of a vinyl fence that was cut up as part of our initial raised bed project. Since we only had 4 pieces, this one was going to be 1/2 the size of the others at about 4' x 4'.

Next we took the 4" x 4" vinyl fence post and cut it into 17 3/4" pieces and then cut out a slot for the panels to fit into. These panels just happened to be 3/4" thick and 12" tall. This is pretty easy to do with a Sonicrafter, which is what we used, or you could use a drill and a jigsaw. Here's J. cleaning up the plastic burrs with a pocket knife. He would make a great hand model, don'tcha think?

Next, put everything together and square it up. Two panels should run long all the way through the corner posts and the other two side panels will butt up against them (see the pic below to see what I'm talking about). Our yard has a slight slope to it, so we had to dig down one side to get everything level. Once it's where you want it, cut some rebar and hammer it into the inside corner. This will keep everything together.

When you're done, it will look like this:

And then all that's left is to fill it with dirt.

It took 3/4 of a pallet of 40 lb bags of top soil and 15 bags of MooNure to fill this bed. We mixed it all in together, so it should be a great place to transplant my strawberry plants to. Right now, they're living where the watermelons were.

By the way, I had to giggle over the MooNure bags. Not only does it prominently features a cow's *ss, but it also states "We are Number 1 in the Number 2 business". I've known some people in my life that might challenge them for the title of "King of Bullshit". LOL.

This post is part of the Homestead Barn Hop. Click on the button below to check out what other homesteadin' folks are up to!

Remembering our Veterans

2011-11-11T09:03:00.001-06:00

This is a beautiful poem that a friend emailed to me. It's made its rounds on the Internet so , unfortunately, I'm not sure who to attribute it to. I found myself thinking of my grandfather, who fought in World War II and is long since gone, as I read this. There are so many families whose loved ones didn't return from the battlefield and so I count myself lucky that I was able to know him.

We can't begin to repay the debt that is owed to our veterans. But we can spend today and every day honoring the sacrifices that they and their families have made since the birth of this great country. Freedom is not free - don't waste it.

A Soldier's Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear..
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.."

" So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

Happy Birthday to the Devil Dogs!

2011-11-10T07:00:00.002-06:00

And a second happy birthday to my honey, who served in the first Gulf War.

New Composters

2011-11-05T18:29:00.001-05:00

Another auction this weekend and this one was a score! We met the owner and he had a 5,000 square foot house that he and his wife had turned into a nursery\landscaping business and they were selling everything including a 14' x 18' greenhouse. I wish I had a place to put that, because it only went for $1600.

J and I. picked up a ton of stuff for rock bottom prices at this sale but the reason I went was these Earth Machine composting bins. I'd been debating whether to build some out of the pallets we had from all the bagged dirt and manure we'd been hauling. But, ultimately, that wouldn't be very pretty. Of course, it's very important that your urban farm be pretty. (Oh, gosh, I can hear the snickering now.) Okay, it doesn't have to be pretty but does it hurt that it's aesthetically pleasing to the eye. (Same thing. *snicker*)

I did alot of research on these before we went to the sale. These are pretty cool, actually, and there are tons of rave reviews. You can control the amount of air going into them, you can keep mice and other rodents out of them, they're made from heavy duty and durable plastic, and you can move them around if needed. We got two of them for $20 each. Probably would have gotten them cheaper if I hadn't been so enthusiastic and let the auctioneer drop the opening bid down. Despite alot of people looking at them, nobody bid against me.

The only problem is that I'm going to have to resist decorating these things. For some reason, they remind me of the Daleks on the Dr. Who show. Anybody else see the resemblance?

Trick or Treat?

2011-10-31T08:10:00.003-05:00

Hen House and their World Record Apple Pie

2011-10-29T18:30:00.077-05:00

I'm not sure if I mentioned on thsi blog that I'm an extreme couponer - yes, one of those crazy people that you see on that show "Extreme Couponing" on TLC. One of my favorite stores (and one of the only ones here in Kansas City that doubles coupons) is Hen House. So I couldn't pass up the chance to go to their annual Holiday Celebration. They were handing out coupon books for a free grocery item every week + some other great manufacturer coupons. So J, my friend Paula and I headed out to check out all the excitement.

Before we even got in the door, we saw this adorable little guy from Good Natured Family Farms. He's just 3 days old! And he didn't seem to mind all the folks wanting to get their picture taken with him. By the way, if you're not familiar with Good Natured, they're a local consortium of small family farmers that are bringing their organic milk and other products to the Kansas City market. They had several samples of their products, including their white and chocolate milk, at the Celebration and they are all delish!

I'm really glad they had dessert ready for me when I got there:

You're looking at an attempt at the world's largest French Apple Crumb Pie by the chefs at Tippins (now owned by Hen House). They're not quite done in this picture - in fact, they're putting the crumb topping on with a squeegee! Couldn't you just dive right in? But seriously, this is one monster pie. Check out these stats:

The Pie—8’ round by 2’ deep (752 gallons) weighing a total of 5,787 lbs
(not including the pan)
Graham Cracker Shell—300 gallons or 1650 lbs
Apple Pie Filling—400 gallons or 3600 lbs
French Crumb Topping—52 gallons or 312 lbs
Vanilla Whipped Topping—225 lbs

The really cool thing about this is that they said they were going to donate the entire thing to Harvesters once the record was confirmed.

The Celebration is setup like your traditional home show or IT vendor show in that there are booths and you can visit the ones you're interested in and pick up free food samples, coupons, and information. The $5 ticket was more than worth it because we all left their stuffed to the gills, with a free rose bush, and reusable bags stuffed with fresh fruit and food. Oh, and we got to see the Purina Incredible Dog Team in action and posed in front of the 25 foot tall Roberts Dairy milk cow. If we could have gotten that out of the convention center, it would be gracing my backyard right now. ;-)

But THE best part of the entire thing? The Louisburg Cider Mill had slushes made from their apple cider. Paula and I kept going back for more of those, stomach ache be darned. Ohhhhh, so good!

Pumpkins: To Eat or Decorate?

2011-10-27T21:33:00.075-05:00

This was my first year growing pumpkins and, even with a late start in the garden, I was still blessed with 6 beautiful pie pumpkins. The seed that I used was from Gurney's and they're called "Spooky" pumpkins. With a name like that, and with Halloween just around the corner, I thought it was fitting that they go on the front porch railing. They're way too small to carve at around 5 lbs each, but I still think they look good there.

Seriously, though...I'm drooling over the thought of homemade pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie. Each one of these should give me about 1 1/2 cups of mashed pumpkin, which is almost enough for the recipe I use. I always love to try everyone's recipes, so here's mine if you want to try it:

Pumpkin Pie Bread
Makes 2 loaves (1 for you and 1 for a friend!)

Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 1 hour
Ingredients

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups white sugar
1 cup unsweetened applesauce (or 1 cup vegetable oil)
4 eggs
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
If you are using fresh pumpkin, it will need to be prepared and cooked. See the instructions below.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together sugar, oil, eggs, and pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture alternately with water. Divide batter evenly into two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. For best flavor, store wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for a full day before serving.

Preparing Fresh Pumpkins

Wash the exterior of the pumpkin (do not use soap!)
Cut the pumpking in half. A serrated knife with a sawing motion works best.
Scoop out the seeds and scrape the insides until the stringy stuff is cleaned out. I recommend saving the seeds to either roast or to plant pumpkins next year! Just place them in a bowl or water and rub them between your fingers until clean. Then spread them out on a clean paper towel to dry.
Cook the pumpkin. There are several ways to do this: stove, microwave, pressure cooker or oven. I like to use a double steamer on the stove because it's quicker. You may need to cut it into smaller pieces to get it to fit in the steamer. It's ready when it's soft enough to scoop the insides out (about 20 to 30 minutes).
Use a tablespoon to gently scoop the cooked pumpkin out of its skin. Mix it gently (I use a hand blender affectionately known as the "boat motor") and you should have pumpkin puree. It's that simple!

Tips:

If it seems to watery, you can use a coffee filter to strain out the water before using the puree for baking.
You can freeze the puree and use it later. It should last a year or more in the freezer. However, do NOT can it! Click here for reasons why you shouldn't can pumpkin puree.

Girl's Night Out

2011-10-26T20:08:00.013-05:00

The girls had a great time tonight playing in the leaves and gobbling up mealworms from my hand. Fiona even decided to hop up on my knee to say hello.

New Milestone: 6 Eggs Today!

2011-10-25T19:35:00.000-05:00

It's Food Day 2011!

2011-10-24T07:00:00.006-05:00

"...too many Americans are eating diets composed of salty, overly processed packaged foods clad in cardboard and plastic; high-calorie sugary drinks that pack on pounds and rot teeth, but have no nutritional benefit; and fast food meals made of white bread, fatty grain-fed factory-farmed meat, French fries and more soda still."

Amen! I'm by no means a food nazi (I do love my double cheeseburgers), but I did come to the realization last year that what I was eating really wasn't all that great-tasting and one of the big reasons why I am overweight. I used to love Chicken McNuggets and french fries from McDonalds. But, when I stopped to *really* think about it, I think it was more in love a childhood memory of them. When I really thought about it, the chicken had the consistency of cardboard and even less taste and the fries are so salty that they're inedible. It was that epiphany (and a healthy fear of what's going on with the economy) that got me started on the urban farm path and a desire to eat healthier.

There are a couple of different events going on today in Kansas City to celebrate Food Day - here's the link to the biggest one. If you're not in the Kansas City area and would like to find a Food Day closer to home, check the official Food Day page. You can search on the map or by zip code. Or you can celebrate on your own through simple choices: trade the soda for water or a cheeseburger for a salad.

Happy Food Day, everyone!

Brrrrrrrr!

2011-10-17T21:21:00.000-05:00

Well, after a beautifully perfect and sunny 70-degree weekend, we got our first taste of fall today. It was rainy and chilly with a high of just 55 degrees! Tomorrow night is supposed to bring our first frost, although we usually don't see those low temps since we so close to the heatsink of the downtown concrete and steel. I suppose that's one advantage of being in an urban setting.

I closed one of the windows in the coop and lowered the sash on the other one to keep the girls nice and toasty in this cool weather. They rewarded me today with 3 eggs *in the nesting box*. Seems like they are getting in the groove with where to lay those eggs.

We're still getting a ton of tomatoes and I grabbed two pockets full this evening after I put the girls "to bed". I think I may go ahead and cover the plants tomorrow night just in case it does get cold enough to frost.

Shivering,

Caterpillar says...

2011-10-16T19:39:00.000-05:00

...another bad winter?!?!

While raking leaves today, we found a couple of these little guys. In the picture, he's all curled up in his "I am spiky and not good to eat" pose. Or maybe he just doesn't like to have his picture taken.

Folklore around these here parts says that these "wooly bear" caterpillars are predictors of the weather. No, it's not whether they see their shadow or not. They're supposed to have an orange band in their middle - the more orange hairs they have, the milder the winter. The more black hairs they have, the rougher winter will be. Some folks even say that each of their thirteen segments represent the 13 weeks of winter, and you can tell how many bad weeks we'll have just by counting the black segments.

As you can see, this guy is all black. That's just like last winter, which was a bear and a half with all the cold and non-stop snow. Despite his bad prediction, we sent him on his way.

By the way, J. says this is a "woolly peter", but I think he's pulling my leg. I, however, am not pulling your leg and you can read more about these interesting little critters here.

Itty Bitty Baby Tomato

2011-10-16T18:31:00.002-05:00

Now what the hell am I supposed to do with a beefsteak tomato that's the size of a marble?

Follow the Flagstone Road?

2011-10-15T18:01:00.000-05:00

Now that's it cooler, J. and I decided to spend the day tackling the flagstone path that I wanted to put between the two garden beds and leading up to the coop. We picked up the flagstone earlier in the summer when it was 98 degrees and quickly decided that it was way too hot to work on laying it down.

The path had grown up with some grass and weeds, despite the fact that I had laid down thin plywood over most of it. So we spent some time shoveling that up and trying to level the space. If the path looks tilted in the picture, that's because it is. The whole backyard has a slight slope toward the street and we decided to keep that to help with run off. I certainly don't want puddles or ice accumulating on the path!

Even with all our prep work, we still had to hand-level each and every stone. We discovered half-way through that we only had enough stone to finish about half of the path, so we headed off to pick up some bigger stones. It took about an hour to get all of these laid (in between conversations with interested neighbors). Then we put new dirt between them and planted some new grass.

I think the colors in this stone are really beautiful and complement the color of the coop. What do you think?

Happy World Egg Day!

2011-10-14T08:07:00.000-05:00

It's the second Friday in October, and that means it's World Egg Day. And we're just clucking with excitement here at CrankyPuppy Farm. In fact, we celebrated the occasion by having 3-egg omelets with Sargento extra sharp Vermont white cheddar cheese and Bob Evans sausage. Deeeeeelish!

How will your family be celebrating this important holiday?

Milestone: 4 eggs today!

2011-10-11T22:23:00.005-05:00

Mother Nature Has a Wicked Sense of Humor

2011-10-10T14:25:00.001-05:00

My friend Paula and I were skulking around at Hen House market today during our lunch break and picking through the adorable little bin of pumpkins that they had for just 50 cents. I was thinking I would spruce up the office with a little autumn cheer. And that's when I found Mick.

You see it, right? That pumpkin seems to be.....well.....smiling at us! Here, let me fix it for you:

I think he's definitely alot cuter than his namesake, Mick Jagger, don't you?

Fakin' It

2011-10-07T09:57:00.001-05:00

I wish the ladies would recognize all the hard effort that J. and I put into building those b-yootiful nest boxes by actually laying their eggs in them and not on the floor. I thought maybe they might need a hint, so I bought a fake wooden egg from MyPetChicken and placed it lovingly in the box. It looks unbelievably realistic, including little speckles just like a real egg.

Guess what? It actually works. We only had one egg on the floor this week and the rest have been in the box. I guess the power of suggestion does work.

Egg on a Soft Shell

2011-10-04T19:52:00.029-05:00

Sometimes things just don't go right. And that's no different for chickens when it comes to egg-layin'. I went out this morning to gather up some tomatoes and eggs and that's when I found it - my first soft shelled egg! I'd read about such egg fart oddities on the Backyard Chicken forums, of course, but nothing prepared me for what it felt like when I picked it up. Think of a completely formed egg with a ziploc bag as the shell. It was all mushy and weird. I had to be careful to not break it.

Picture provided by A Half Past Life

I brought it in the house and sat it on the counter, fully intending to take a picture of the darn thing. Well, life happens and I got busy and didn't make it back to take the picture until just now. And guess what? The egg had collapsed in on itself and was hard as a rock!

Fall is Here

2011-09-23T19:29:00.024-05:00

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

2011-09-22T20:56:00.001-05:00

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

2011-09-21T17:01:00.001-05:00

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!

2011-09-20T20:30:00.032-05:00

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

2011-09-19T17:45:00.033-05:00

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!

2011-09-18T11:49:00.000-05:00

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

2011-09-10T18:12:00.004-05:00

"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...

Please Don't Eat Me!

2011-07-31T10:15:00.007-05:00

Imagine our surprise when we walked out this morning to find this HUGE preying mantis guarding our front porch. This is my favorite bug, so I'm considering it good luck that he's hanging out at our house. (Not to mention they're great at eating other non-beneficial bugs.)

Next Project: Raised Garden Beds

2011-06-25T13:11:00.059-05:00

Last year, we tried a tilled-in garden and didn't have alot of luck for several reasons: (1) we didn't plant enough - especially the corn, (2) we got busy and didn't keep it weeded, (3) we planted in the wrong location, and (4) our soil is really crappy. It doesn't help that the soil is compacted from where they bulldozed the house that used to sit on the lot.

So, after reading Square Foot Gardening and doing much research, I decided early this year that we would try raised bed gardening instead. The obvious benefits are that you can better control the soil content (new dirt and compost!) and the height of the beds saves your back from bending over so much.

I'd read that you shouldn't use CCA- or pressure-treated wood for your beds because the chemicals can leech into the soil and your plants. Some folks use cedar but it will turn grey from weathering and I wanted something a little cuter. So I came up with the hair-brained idea of using PVC fencing panels and posts. These are normally $49 per 6'x6' panel from Home Depot or Lowes, but I caught them on sale for just $37 from HD:

The only thing holding these panels are together is PVC glue where the individual slats meet the top, middle and bottom rails. We used our Sonicrafter oscillating tool to easily cut these apart at the rails every other slat to create foot high panels (2 slats per panel). You could use a jigsaw or hand saw to do this also. Then we cut the 4"x4" vinyl posts to 18" each (getting 3 usable posts out of each one). And, finally, we cut out rectangles in the posts where the panels would fit into them.

I wanted two beds in front of the chicken coop, with a path between them leading to the door. Both beds would be identical at just over 5 feet wide by 11 feet long, so we did cut a couple of inches off of each panel. We then leveled out the ground and set the posts in place. Then we hammered rebar down into the ground to keep them in place. No digging to set the posts (although you could, I guess).

It took a 3 pallets of 20 lb bags of compost\dirt to fill both these beds. We did get some slight bulging of the panels, but it was minor. Time will tell if we have a problem with the weight of the dirt pushing the "panels" out.

Then we added the post toppers. (The one in the lower right hand corner is a solar light).

I hope you think the finished product looks as nice as I do! Next project: replacing the plywood path to the coop with something nicer.

Til later, I am one tired and....

Coop is finished!

2011-06-20T22:00:00.008-05:00

Finally, after many months of hard work and rained-out weekends, the coop is finished. *sigh* And J and I are taking well-deserved time off to rest. In the meantime, some pics for you...

From the run looking into the coop. I love the large windows (that ended up being FREE from Craigslist!). If you look closely, you can see Kermie the Austrolorp peeking out to see what's going on.

I'm hoping that the climbing rose will eventually grow up over this trellis.

Here's the mural on the back of the coop wall inside. J. says this is incredibly nerdy, but I think the girls need something pretty to look at when they're inside. Or maybe I do. :-)

Gotta have plenty of storage for chicken stuff - grit, treats, egg baskets, etc. When you walk in the front door, there are these shelves on either side.

And here are the girls waiting for me to finish the photo shoot and fill their empty feeder.

Exhausted and heading to bed,

Caution: Chicken Crossing

2011-06-18T12:47:00.001-05:00

Before we put up the plywood on the inside of the coop, I wanted to come up with an inventive way to open and close the pop door that allows the chickens to get out to the "playpen". I didn't want to spend $100+ on an expensive door opener, so we headed to Home Depot to see what we could cobble together and ended up with an expensive set of 16" drawer glides. Think of a drawer mounted standing up with the front on the bottom sill of the wall like so (picture taken looking down at the closed door):

The glides are mounted fully extended so, when the door opens, it moves along the glides that are mounted to the wall studs. We placed a piece of 2x4 between the studs right above where the door lands when it is open. That will prevent critters\bugs\etc. from trying to get up into the enclosed walls. Here's another pic from the side:

Later, we'll put an eye bolt on the outside of the door and run a wire from it to the front of the coop so that you can manually open and close the door. Yeah, it's not automated to open or close on a timer, but cost less then $3. I can live with that.

Ingeniously yours,

My Babies are Growing Up!

2011-06-01T09:00:00.013-05:00

Here are the barred rock chicks at just a little over 2 weeks old, I think (we don't know their exact hatch date). They're starting to get their wing feather and look at those little tail feather! I wish I could get an up-close shot of them. They're used to us picking them up, which we do several times a day so that later on they won't mind us "inspecting" them. I just can't believe how quickly they are growing and I'm starting to worry that we won't have the coop done in time to get them out of the kitchen!

Too Shy

2011-05-29T18:36:00.001-05:00

I think the new chicks are camera shy. They just couldn't stay still enough for me to get a pic of their cute little faces today.

Frustrated,

Chicken Little

2011-05-27T17:45:00.025-05:00

Our order of 5 Austrolorps has arrived!

Are these little girls not just adorable little balls of fluff? I got the call today that I had a peeping package at the Post Office and left work early to be certain I would be there to pick them up. The ladies at the PO were begging me to open the package, but I didn't want to stress the chicks. Luckily, I was just a couple of blocks from home, so I didn't have to wait long to get a peek at the babies. When I opened the cardboard box, I had to giggle at the "nest" that they were shipped in. It looked like a real nest! I should have taken a pic when I first opened the box, but here's a similar pic courtesy of Serene Dwelling:

Right now, they're in a clear 18 gallon storage container on my kitchen counter where I can keep a close eye on them. I put newspaper in the bottom, covered by clean pine shavings - from what I've read, you should never leave chicks on just newspaper because it's slick and can cause them to get splayed leg syndrome.) Their water and food dishes were improvised out of Rubbermaid container lids and I've got a heat lamp clamped onto my cabinets. It's a toasty 90 degrees in the container and they seem quite content.

Peep! Peep!

It's Official: We're Getting Chickens

2011-03-14T21:33:00.027-05:00

I'm so excited! I just placed an order for 5 female Austrolorp chicks from MyPetChicken.com. After much research, I selected MyPetChicken because they don't requite that you purchase a minimum of 25 like many other hatcheries (25! Jim would kill me.) In fact, their minimum is a more manageable quantity of 3 for my zip code. But the closest hatch date they had available is May 23rd, so I am going to have a hard time waiting for them to get here.

How cool is it that you can order chicks over the Internet from the comfort of your own home and have them delivered via USPS Express as soon as they are a day old?