Let's Chat
Whoa boy! The days are just running together and I'm not doing a good job of keeping track of them. I normally post my weekly roundups on the weekend but then the weekend came and went. And then so did Monday. So we'll call last week's roundup a chat session, shall we?
There's been a lot going on but then not a lot going on. It's weird. But it's a weird time in general. I think I pretty much threw the to-do list out the window. LOL. I'm just kind of doing whatever comes along. So last week my focus was the garden and getting a good list of what needs to be started and when and how and all that stuff. You can read more about that here. But now I need to focus on getting the chickens ready to move to the coop. They're 3 weeks old now. They're not quite ready to be outside, but they're getting closer and closer. They're so hard to photograph though. They are still in their 'the sky is falling' stage. I do have 4 that are getting friendlier and friendlier. The two barred rocks (which is why I love barred rocks), one of the Anconas (pictured above. I love how they kind of fade out when photographed. It cracks me up). I'm surprised by the Ancona. Everything I've read so far has said they are flighty. The other 2 are definitely flighty. And then the Wyandotte. I think she's a Wyandotte. Time will tell. Either way, she's getting to be very friendly. I spend some time each day in the bathroom with them (which is where their brooder is located). I let them out of the brooder for a couple of hours everyday and then at night, before bed, I go in and talk to them and try to pick them up. Anyway, they're doing well. I'm happy to have chickens on the homestead again.
We spent some time on the river. That's been nice. We'll get back out this week too. There's some foraging that needs to be done and some foraging location scouting that needs to be done as well. My goal for this year is to learn more about mushrooms. I'm starting with morels and hen of the woods. Those are 2 relatively easy mushrooms to tell apart from other mushrooms. I've never found them in the wild before though. So I'm scouting some good spots to find both.
We did a virtual river clean up this past Saturday. We gathered a ton of trash. You can search the hashtag #quarantrashed to see all the people who picked up garbage along the river. I wanted to go to the game lands and pick up shotgun shells. I've had this idea of reusing the shells to make things. I'm thinking a wreath. I think I have enough shells now to make one. But I'm open to other ideas. Someone on instagram mentioned an insect hive of some sort. I'm totally intrigued by that! Anyway, I was actually disappointed because it seems as if someone had already been by and picked up the shells! I know. How can I be disappointed with someone cleaning up trash?
We had a little bird hit a window yesterday. He knocked himself for a loop. I watched him and checked on him to make sure he was okay. It took him a good, long time to recover, but he finally flew away. I think he was an American Redstart. And I've never seen one before. At first I thought he was an Oriole, but when I looked them up I decided that didn't quite fit the bill. He was orange but he had a white underbelly. I'm pretty sure it was a Redstart. And I'm happy he recovered. It was very warm yesterday but rainy so I was a little concerned for him.
Speaking of warm and rainy, I need to get the beans under the hay wagon/hoop house soon, but they need to spend some time outside first. So I took all the seedling babies outside for fresh air. I think they really appreciated it and loved it. Today is much colder so I'm not sure I'll take them out.
I'm still doing my facebook live demos over on my facebook page every Saturday at 10AM. They're fun. I really enjoy sharing some of the things that I'm doing with others. It makes me feel connected to my peeps. I came up with a schedule so if you are interested, tune in on Saturday mornings.
Speaking of, here's my latest video where we made 30-minute mozzarella, in case you want to see it without hopping over to FB:
In other news, I made a sign to hang on our doors. We still have people who pull into the parking lot thinking that they can come inside (the fly shop, the house, whatever. They want in!). Unfortunately we aren't letting anyone in right now. So we decided to hang some signs. I thought this one was cute, but to the point.
I haven't really been making as much this past week. Just bread and the basics for eating and such. Nothing much else. My garden has been the biggest priority so that's where my energy has been focused. I still need to draw out my garden plan but that won't take too long. So I decided to join my instafriend Vicki with a Mystery Knit A-long. I've never done one of these before so I'm excited! You can find more info on her ravelry page and stay tuned for details here!
That pretty much wraps up the week. This week will be spent doing much of the same. I'm not really feeling the energy to create much, either in the kitchen or otherwise. I'll spend some time foraging, taking pictures, playing with chickens, and just getting things done in general. I can't see this quarantine ending any time soon. I think we'll be under lock down until mid-May at the earliest. So my early days of panic and the 'I NEED to get things donerightnow' has subsided into 'I've got some time so just focus'. I'll head out one day this week to pick up some veg from the local farm and stock up on some chicken stuff to get us through the next two weeks. I'll also pick up my milk and eggs at the 'no contact' drop spot. But that's it. How are you all doing? What have you been up to? What's been your priority? Are you focusing more now or were you always focused? I hope you're hanging in there! I'm thinking of you all.
'til next time
-k
xoxo