Homestead Update #11
Hello friends! Welcome back to another installment of what's been happening on the homestead this week. I was super busy last week and didn't get a roundup done, so I'll just have to update you on both weeks! Let's jump right in. There's a LOT going on!
Eggs
The girls are doing good. We moved the coop last week and expanded the run. I thought that would be enough to keep them happy, but I did break up a chicken fight yesterday. Tomy was giving Loretta a hard time. I'm not sure why. I didn't see anything happen but you never know with these girls. This is what happened with the last flock. I think they're just really bored. I free range them as much as possible, but with the fishing season upon us, they will be regulated to the run more and more. We still have some updates to do to the chicken coop and put some things for them to do in the chicken run. If you have suggestions on boredom busters, please let me know. I've got 'finish chicken coop' on my list for next week (some cosmetic things plus doing some maintenance work on it).
Anyway, they've been laying like crazy. Let's do an egg count from the past two weeks, shall we? I collected 31 eggs from 3/21-3/26/21 (this was a short week since I was late with the last update). And I've collected 33 eggs so far from 3/27-4/2/21. I'll be back to update the number later today. I've had one day of 8 eggs collected from 8 girls!
The babies are growing like weeds. I'm firing up the incubator again next week to incubate eggs for another homesteader! I'll show her what I'm doing so she can eventually incubate her own eggs. I can't wait! I still owe you a separate post on incubating eggs. I'll do that soon and include an update on the babies. I'll take better pictures this time since I know more of what to expect! Stay tuned.
Garden
The garden plan is officially done! I spent some time yesterday going through everything with a fine tooth comb. I'm happy with the plans. Now we just need to get to work. haha. I have someone coming over next week to till up the part of the garden that will be in grown in the ground. I know there's mixed reviews on tilling. He's just doing a surface till and then I'll lay down some cardboard. And then some compost on top. And he'll also move the hay wagon down to the new garden space. I'm going to use cattle panels for the fence and then also as trellis for some of the things that needed trellising. Like luffa! And I'll use the fence for things like beans. It's all coming together friends! Can you tell I'm excited!?!
Before I move on, I want to keep track of what I'm planting or starting from seed. So here's what I've started so far:
March 16th
Fish Pepper: planted 12; 10 germinated
King of the North Pepper: 16 planted; 15 germinated
Luffa: 12 planted; 12 germinated
March 27th:
Mini Gourds: 28 planted; 15 germinated so far
March 17th:
Rosemary: 32 planted; 22 germinated
Lavender: 10 planted; 7 germinated
April 1st:
Herbs: Sage and Oregano
Flowers: Drumstick, Calendula, Globe Amaranth
March 23rd:
Cabbage: 32 planted; 32 germinated
I did have to move the seedlings out of the bathroom. With the warmer weather, we've had the heat turned down this year. So the seeds weren't getting the heat they needed. They're doing better by being under the grow lights with their plastic wrap on top. Which is also why I don't have a count on the seeds I planted yesterday. I'll give more of an update on them next week.
Maple Syrup
So. It wasn't a good maple syrup season. The weather was weird-cold then warm then cold then warm. But I did get some more syrup. Not enough for the full year, but thankfully, I have a lot left from last year. I've been cooking and baking more and more with maple syrup so I need to collect more and more each year. Anyway, the run down is as follows:
Collected 95 gallons of sap
Dumped 12 gallons due to timing issues
Boiled down 83 gallons
Ended up with 7 pints and 2 3/4-pints of syrup
Business End of Things
There is a LOT going on (still) behind the scenes of Chicken Librarian. I'm mostly making connections and working on classes and workshops with other businesses and organizations. I'll have a full update for you soon. Classes on the homestead are going slow. I'm not sure why. If I book something in conjunction with someone else (a library, another business, etc.) they seem to do better. But the stand alone Chicken Librarian ones aren't faring as well. I'll keep plugging away though. I did make an advertising list and really started plugging away at that. I think that will help spread the word about my classes and workshops. And! And!! I just finished up the last of the updates to the website. Well, I mean, there will always be updates, but I'm finished with the major overhauls. Have you noticed any changes? The most recent ones can be found here.
And I have another surprise for you! I've partnered with Cidiot as a sponsor of his podcast. Mat is super funny and has a popular podcast for those living in the Hudson Valley (and even those who don't). You'll definitely want to check out the latest issue. Let me know what you think!
Budget
Y'all! I need a new budget! And I'm gearing up for that. We didn't do horribly on our food budget for March but we did overspend in other areas. I'm going back to our cash spending budget. I do have things that I need to stock up on: butter, cheese, and some condiments (ketchup, mayo, etc.) so I'll do that in the next couple of weeks. The biggest reason I think we are doing so poorly on our food spending (and spending in general) is there's no real plan. I used to say "I'm going grocery shopping on X day" and then that would be it. There was a plan. We made a list and I would go to Aldi's and where ever else I needed to go. But recently, since I've been so busy with Chicken Librarian, there hasn't been a plan. But starting next week, there will be. a. plan. I will pick a day and that will be the day I go shopping. And no more running to the store in town (it is a very expensive grocery store and they don't have a good selection). Enough is enough. I must get back on track.
With all that said, let's take a look at how we did for March. Like I said above, we didn't do horribly but we definitely need to tighten up. A lot. March Groceries and Supplies: $439.56; Dining Out: $221.98=661.54. We did eat out a couple of meals and really splurged on that. I'm okay with it since we haven't done that in a long, long time. There was a birthday dinner and a day of leisure out and about with yummy Vietnamese food. It was well worth it. But now we're getting back on track!
The Rest of the Story
And finally. Fishing season is upon us. The Mister opened the shop yesterday and the guides will slowly be making their way into the house. I have so much to do in order to get prepared. But I did an overhaul on our bedroom. I pulled up the carpet and then the Mister got our guest bed out of storage. We are getting rid of our other bed and will use the guest bed. It was my paternal grandfather's bed and my parents had a mattress made for it. It's small but so comfortable. And I feel like a real grown up having a bed with a frame. HAHA. We laid down a rug that we also had in storage. It feels so cozy now.
I also moved the boys upstairs (Bobby Jack and Corny). They normally use the big bathroom downstairs, but since we won't really have access to that side of the house they move upstairs to our bathroom for the fishing season. It takes a little getting used to on their part, but they soon adapt.
I think that's it for this week friends! Happy April to you all. And happy Easter!
'til next time
-k
xoxo