Homestead Update #8
Good Morning from the homestead! It's a bright sunny, but cold, cold day here. I've got my trusty cup of coffee and wanted to get in a quick update before the day begins. There's a lot going on on the homestead this past week. And next week too for that matter. But let's just focus on one week at a time, shall we?
Eggs
Boy, oh boy, spring is in the air! Well, if you go by the chickens and not the actual weather anyway. I collected 30 eggs from 2/27-3/5/2021! Whoa boy! I had several days where I collected 7 eggs. Oh, I am now positive that those eggs in question belong to Maran. I had all 4 of my brown egg layers (the Barred Rocks, the Wyandotte, and the Barnevelder) all laid eggs the same day. Plus Maran. And then I had all three Anconas lay eggs the same day. So. Everyone is laying eggs!
A bit of an update on the chickens. I'd noticed that Winnie the Wyandotte had some broken feathers on her back. This was several weeks ago. I chalked it up to either molting or them being bored. Since we had plans to move the coop this weekend (which isn't working out because we still have snow on the ground) I wasn't too concerned. I decided to just keep an eye on her and figure out what was going on. So. The girls have been pretty much locked in the run for the better part of this winter. It's been cold. It's been snowy. It's not been ideal free ranging conditions. I know that the run is too small for them, but, as I said, we had plans to move the coop and expand the run. I wasn't concerned. Until I came home one day this week and found Winnie without feathers on her back! WHAT?!?! They are really, really bored. So the Mister and I decided that we would just free range them as much as possible. Which means that I'm writing this from downstairs (remember, I moved my office upstairs in anticipation of the fishing guides moving back in soon), drinking my coffee, and watching the girls on the back porch. There's not much to be done about them picking on Winnie except throw a chicken saddle on her, free range them as much as possible, and when I can't free range them I will need to find things for them to do. We moved our chicken coop reno project to the weekend of the 20th. I think we'll be able to get it done that weekend. So I just need those girls to hang on tight for another couple of weeks.
And. We have babies! We only had two babies hatch from the dozen eggs we set in the incubator. I don't know why I keep saying 'we'. It's actually just me. But the Mister took an interest in the project, so I guess it's we. I'll have a whole post about my experience with hatching. I enjoyed it and learned a lot. There's still some uncertainties, but we're going to do it again. Soon. My friend Diane is going to start keeping some eggs for us to use. Stay tuned. Oh. I opened all the eggs that didn't hatch. Only one was fully formed but dead. The rest were in various stages of fertilization but most looked like they didn't make it past the first few days.
One of the nice things about not having a dozen chicks to brood is that we set the brooder up in the laundry room. Since they'll be in the brooder until late April or early May, I needed to find a secure spot to brood them. We can have anywhere from 2-3 dogs (sometimes more) running the house at any given time. So we put the door back on the laundry room and I cleared a spot for the babies. It's working so far. We close it when we're not here and also at night because Corny likes to watch "Chicken TV" and I don't trust him not to try to find a fresh chicken meal.
Tapping Trees
A quick update on maple season. It looked so promising and that the sap would start flowing, but alas, the weather has turned cold again. We've had some nasty wind lately. The day will look so promising and beautiful and then you step outside to only be knocked over by the wind. So I collected one 5-gallon bucket of sap and then the taps turned right off. Or rather, they froze! But I'm glad to know I'm not late this year. And the Mister still hasn't built my evaporator. Shaking my head.
Meal Planning
So the Misfits box change up has been good. I like getting it on Saturday and then planning our meals out. I usually order two weeks in a row and then skip a week, but since we've been planning our meals around what we're getting in the box I decided to not skip that third week. And whatever we don't use up can be frozen or given to the girls. So I thought I would start sharing our meal plan for the week. We only plan out dinners. I usually eat leftovers for lunch or find something to make for the week for lunches. Last week I made chicken meatballs and had that in various forms throughout the week. We also have a HUGE salad each week since I order tons of salad stuff.
We write down a plan, but it doesn't have to be for that day. It's a loose plan to give us our options. Then we decide that morning what we're in the mood for that evening. So for the week of March 8th-14th:
Monday: Roast chicken (we have the chicken thawed so it will definitely be roast chicken), butternut squash, zucchini, yellow squash
Tuesday: Venison Roast (still working on 2019 venison. Haven't even touched 2020 venison yet), acorn squash, salad
Wednesday: Stir fry (meat TBD), bok choy, onions, and other veg
Thursday: Chicken Rice Bowls. The Mister loved it!! YAY!
Friday: Birthday dinner with friends or stuffed peppers (note: not my birthday, but my friend's birthday)
Saturday: Same as Friday
Sunday: Leftovers
The Garden
Not too much to update you in terms of the garden, but I am starting some seeds this weekend. I have a few seed starting classes coming up and I want to show what it looks like to use the soil blocker, making your own seed starting soil, and what germination looks like (or doesn't, whatever the case may be). So I'm starting peppers and luffa. I might start some other stuff, but these two are definite. I also found this garden plan if you're looking for a more comprehensive plan. You do have to have an account, but it looks like it's free.
I also need to move my indoor plants out of winter hibernation. I'll do that this week as I finish setting up the grow station. The seedlings will spend their first few days/weeks in the bathroom downstairs since it has a heat register and they need lots of good heat. Then they'll move to the grow station under the big lights and we'll hopefully have something good going on.
Oh! I passed my Master Gardener test!! I'm so relieved and excited. That means I'm now officially an apprentice. And that means that I have to do 50 hours of volunteer service in the next year in order to officially become a Master Gardener. Shouldn't be that hard. We have several projects in the works so I think I'll be able to jump right in!
And the rest of the story
And finally, a few random updates. I've been wanting to try this coffee and during my errand running this week, I found a blend and am excited to try it this weekend! There's more to that story, so you'll have to check back for deets. Speaking of errands and such, I've really, really needed to run some errands but found myself either too busy or just not wanting to commit to doing them. But I finally sat down and did a bunch of orders and then went on the 'pick up rounds'. So I now have all my soil ingredients to make my seed starting soil. I also picked up some chicken stuff. And I ordered stuff online-new contacts, a back up battery for the new camera, and things like that.
And I treated myself to a $50 shopping spree at my favorite thrift store. Of course for $50 I came home with a lot of things. If you read this post, you'll know that I've experienced some weight gain lately. I can't fit into my favorite clothes and I've been feeling very frumpy lately. So I decided that instead of feeling frumpy, I would take a little bit of money and buy some things so I'll feel better while I'm working on being healthier and hopefully losing some weight. Anyway, I bought: 2 pairs of jeans, 1 pair of khakis, 1 t-shirt, 3 sweaters (1 heavy, 2 lightweight), 4 blouses all for $50 (and change. I went over my budget by something like $0.38). Most things fit. You can't try things on still at the thrift stores so you just have to guess. I'm happy with the purchases though.
And I'll be back this weekend with our first stand alone Upstate Wanderings. I have so much to share with you about that. So stay tuned. We have plans with friends this weekend. And I have so many more updates to work on next week-business updates. I'll catch you up on that sometime next week once the majority of those updates are done. I'm pretty excited. Okay. That's enough for this update! What'cha been up to?
Oh. P.S. I'm not doing any linkups this weekend. I am so far behind in reading and commenting on blogs so I want to spend my extra time catching up on that.
'til next time
-k
xoxo