Here we are with another weekly homestead update! I’ve got some exciting updates to share with you all. So grab a cuppa whatever you happen to be drinking while reading this and let’s chat!
Eggs
I always like to start out with my egg count. I collected 17 21 eggs from 2/20-2/26/2021. I haven’t collected eggs from today so I’ll be back later to update our count. BUT y’all! I collect 5 eggs in one day. Spring is so close. The girls will start laying more as the days get longer. Speaking of. I’ve been letting them out to ‘free range’ (if you can call it that since there’s still at least a foot of snow on the ground and they tend to stick to the back porch, but they’re not enclosed in their run. So it’s free ranging, I guess) and the other night I was waiting to put them up and it was almost 6PM before they went back into the coop!!
I also have a Gracie update. If you recall, I thought Gracie hadn’t laid an egg because I started getting a darker brown egg but not quite as dark as I’d had before. Anyway, I assumed it was Gracie…until I saw Gracie in the nest box the other morning. And she laid a light colored egg! Oy! So. I guess those other eggs were Maran’s and she’s starting to lay again after a little hiatus. I tell ya. These chickens are hard to keep track of. So I’ve marked those lighter chocolate brown eggs as Maran’s.
tapping trees
Speaking of spring, we tapped trees on Tuesday! We currently have 6 maple taps. I haven’t collected any sap yet which means I am slightly early. Which is good. It’s way better to be early than late. The Mister is building my evaporator this weekend, just in the nick of time!
the business end of things
I have a few business updates. I’m still mostly working behind the scenes, setting up meetings, finding ways to collaborate. But I’ve also been making updates to the website. It’s a ‘living’ thing that will always need to be growing and tweaked in some way. So I started the community resources page, updated the homepage, added a home for our book discussions, and will be working on updating the shop with some fun and exciting programs over the next few weeks. And now there are gift certificates! Why I didn’t think of that before?!!?
What? I didn’t mention the community resources page yet? Well. After our discussion last week about social media versus website, I decided that I had been focusing on my online community (which is great! And I appreciate y’alls support) but I have failed to mention my local community. Shame on me. So I built a community resources page where I can feature all my local partners, whether I’ve worked with them or they have just supported me in some way. I’ll be adding to that page as I form more and more partnerships. I did a shout out over on instagram too. It’s important to recognize those who have supported you in some way through the years. And I thank each and every one of you who have spent the time here with your encouraging words. Thank you.
I’ve also been taking a few workshops on how to increase my web presence. The workshops have been very interesting and I always walk away with one or two (or more) good points on how I can update my routine and how I’m using this space. It feels good to be growing and expanding my knowledge and implementing ways to improve my web presence. I also appreciate the conversations from last week. I love interacting with you all!
One more thing, if you haven’t signed up for my newsletter, now is the time. I’m getting ready to do a major overhaul on it. I think I’ve finally figured out how I want to use it and I don’t think you’ll want to miss out. Just sayin’.
upstate wanderings
Now for another fun update. As you might know, I love traveling around my local area and taking pictures and sharing them here and over on social media. Sometimes I call it ‘taking a back road’, but I’ve decided to start a new series called ‘Upstate Wanderings’. I don’t think I talk enough about where I live. I am somewhere in between the Catskills region of New York State and the Poconos of Pennsylvania. We call it Northeast PA or NEPA for short. So I want to start featuring this locale in more detail. It won’t be an every week feature, but as I travel the back roads and find things that I want to share then I’ll pop on here and give you an update. I’ll start today with these pictures:
The Mister and I decided to take a ride the other day. We haven’t really been any where lately and just wanted to get out to the house. I needed to go to the bank and we decided to stop for sandwiches. Then we thought we’d take the long way home and I’m happy we did. All of these barns can be found on the back roads of Preston Park, PA. The road pictures are actually of our road, but way up on the other end. And friends, I think that red barn would qualify as being in the top 5 of my all time favorite pictures that I’ve ever taken. I love them. I’m even more happy that I bought that new-to-me camera.
the rest of the story
I changed our Misfits Market delivery day (use referral code COOKWME-IC0HDH to get $10 off your fist box). I was having it delivered on Wednesdays and I realized that it was throwing my weekly meal planning schedule off. So I’ve opted for Saturdays. That gives me time to prep the food for the week and come up with a meal plan to start on Mondays. I’m not sure why I decided on Wednesdays to begin with. I guess I just wasn’t thinking! Oy. This will hopefully help get me back on the healthy eating track and therefore help with some of those pesky side effects I mentioned here. I’ve also started walking on the treadmill and doing some light yoga. That’s been helpful too.
One of the things that made me really happy this week was my friend texting me and saying she made too much soup and are you home? She brought over a container full of very yummy pasta fagioli soup! I’ve been having it for lunch this week. That’s what friends do and I’m happy to have people in my life who are like that! They’re also the friends that are going to help with the chicken coop/run renos. I’m going to owe them big time. LOL.
The List
And let’s do a check in on ‘THE LIST‘, shall we?
1. finish business plan: done with it as much as it’s going to get done. It’s a living thing and will continually be updated. I’m happy to have this off the list!
2. garden: finish moving to new location, plant garden and flowers
3. make soap
4. render lard
5. restock spices: going tomorrow!!
6. chicken coop expansion: clean out coop and run; move coop and run; expand chicken run; put metal roof on current run; expand roosts in run; fix door between coop and run; add rooster to the flock
7. finish chicken coop curtains (I’ve only been working on them for about 5 years!)
8. Do something with blueberries
9. Do something with cherries
So I haven’t done much but there are plans for the chicken coop and restocking spices. Sadly I can’t mark them off. YET! I also am rethinking the chicken coop curtains. I think I’ll just buy some curtains to hang up and use the patchwork ones to cover the nest boxes. Then I can mark that off my list!
I’m linking up with the Homestead Blog Hop (click pic for link)
And finally
That’s it for me from the homestead this week. What have you been up to? Tell me all the things-the good, the bad, and the ugly. And I’ll leave you with this sweetness.
’til next time
-k
xoxo
Tracy
Good morning! Sounds like you have been very busy, Kristin! (But what else is new?) 🙂
The photos of the red barn are indeed gorgeous. Wow! There’s just something about a red barn and a blue sky. Magical!
The soup looks delish! I’m roasting a chicken tonight, so I predict a good homemade chicken soup in the near future. We’re still somewhat in soup season, yes? We still have a lot of squash from last year’s garden. Mr. Gordon made an amazing no-cream squash soup for New Year’s Eve dinner this past year, so I’m going to see if I can get him to make another batch. It freezes well.
I’m glad to see you working through your list! With spring coming, I think the energy is up for everyone as well. Feels good! And our chickens are enjoying the warmer weather, even if it’s only in the forties. We’re getting about 4 – 5 eggs per day now. Re: the maple tree tapping: how much syrup are you expecting to get in the end? I love maple syrup. (I put it in my chili sometimes, on my salmon filets, etc.)
Website looks great, too. Recognizing your local community is awesome! 😀 I’m sure they love supporting your efforts!
chickenlibrarian
HAHA! I must sound like I’m busy, but sometimes I’m really not?!?! The behind the scenes aspects of the business do keep me very busy though. I have a couple of bigger projects this week-the Master Gardener final exam and I have a stitching class that I’m teaching on Wednesday that I need to prep for. Plus maple syrup collecting and the baby chicks. But both of those things are pretty passive at the moment. I haven’t even collected enough sap yet. And the babies are on lockdown. So not much to do there.
Speaking of maple syrup, last year was a very bad year for the sap. I either tapped late or the season was very short. Probably both, but I only ended up with 2.5 gallons. I’d prefer to have at least double that since I’m starting to cook and bake with it more than white sugar.
And yes, egg laying is on the up swing! I’ve been getting 4-5 eggs per day too. It’s nice to see the ladies earning their keep once again. heehe.
Steph - Elder Oaks Farm
Loving the community resources page! And also looking forward to checking out all of the other changes you’ve made to the webpage 🙂
chickenlibrarian
AWW! Thanks Steph! I’d love to hear what you think about the ol’ website. I still have a couple of more things to do to update it but those changes won’t roll out for a couple of weeks.
Sarita
Hello there! Sounds like you’ve been busy – and your chickens too! It is hard too keep track of all the girls when you have several different kinds – we run into this too. Love reading about the happenings over at your homestead – and I’m envious that you’re already into the tree-tapping temperatures. Thanks for sharing at the Homestead Blog Hop -hope to see you again soon!
chickenlibrarian
thank you Sarita! it’s just about that time of year when things start to get REALLY busy! We have a big chicken coop move and reno coming up plus the garden is being moved this year too. Thankfully I took care of most of the big moving last fall. Thanks for stopping by! I see there’s a new Homestead Blog Hop open for this week!