Dirt Under My Nails

If you are looking for the posts just about our house, please go to http://tobiascrawley.net/house/. Thanks!

7/1/2009

Kaia Camp – Day 3

Filed under: by Maria @ 9:36 pm

We started the day off with Zucchini Pancakes!!  Yum yum!!  Yep, gotta get the veggies in my girl any way I can.  She said she really liked them.  How do you make them?  Glad you asked.

  • 2 1/4 cups flour
  • 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/3 cup sugar

Mix all of this in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl mix:

  • 2 cups coconut milk
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 oil (I used olive)
  • 2 cups zucchini or squash (I julienned them, but puree works fine too)

Pour wet into dry and mix.  Pour ~1/2 cup onto a med-high buttered pan and cook as you would any other pancake.

We enjoyed ours with a black raspberry drizzle!!

After breakfast, Kaia and I tried our hand at making our own lava lamp.  Here’s what  you do:

Gather an empty clear plastic bottle, cheap cooking oil, water, food coloring, and alka seltzer.

lavalamp1

Pour the cooking oil into the plastic bottle until ~5/6 full.  Then add water almost to the top.

lavalamp2

Add your food coloring.  You can do one color or a mix.  After a while, the colors will mix up.

lavalamp3

Break up a tablet of alka seltzer, put it in the bottle and close the top.  Watch your lava lamp bubble!  (the carbon dioxide created by the mix of alka seltzer and water carries the coloring in bubbles to the top.  When the bubbles pop, the color falls back down.

lavalamp4

Try putting it over a flash light in a dark room!

After this, we thought we’d start our Rubber Egg experiment.  We boiled an egg and put it in a jar of white vinegar.  The vinegar reacts with the calcium in the shell and dissolves it.  After 2 days, you change out the vinegar and let it sit for a week more.  After this time, the egg should be so rubbery that we can bounce it.  I’ll let you know how that goes :-)   (oh, if you use an egg that isn’t boiled, you will be able to slosh the insides around, but don’t try to bounce it!!)

rubberegg

And the fun just kept on going!!

With our delicious ice cream from Monday, I really wanted a nice magic shell topping.  So, I decided we should make it ourselves.  So we mixed equal parts of cocoa powder, coconut oil, and agave syrup and heated it on the stove, just until melted.  Simple!!!  And it worked like a charm.  Then I found this link for Home Made Magic Shell.  I might try their recipes next time and jazz it up a bit.

To finish off a wonderful day of Kaia Camp, we sat down to watch a bit of Little House on the Praire.

Garden assesment

Filed under: by Maria @ 12:48 pm

I thought it was a good time to take a look at how the garden is faring, then in the years to come I can repeat (or not) those things that worked (or didn’t):

Tomato bed – so far, they are all looking great!  No ripe ones yet, but should be soon.  The dill and parsley in this bed are doing wonderfully, the basil not so much.  It’s genovese basil, but it wanted to bolt early and hasn’t gotten as big as I would have expected.

Pea bed – they did wonderfully and are now on their way out.  Next time I will have many more and taller strings for them to climb.  Our harvest would have been much larger if they hadn’t fallen all over each other.

Summer Squash bed – The Raven Zucchini and Saffron yellow squash started out with a bang.  They still look good, but aren’t producing much… lots of flowers but not fruit.  The Tromboncino squashes seem to be doing well.  The Jarrahdale Pumpkin squash is very slow going… lots of blooms but no fruit yet. The eggplant is growing slowly and small as usually with me.  I don’t know what it is about me and eggplant, but I can never seem to get a good harvest.  The bees are loving the garden, so I know I have lots of pollination going on.

Raven Zucchini

Raven Zucchini

Trombonccino squash

Trombonccino squash

Cucumber bed – the cukes are booming!!  I’ve harvested over 13 pounds so far and there are many more little ones growing.  I’ve noticed some spots on some of the leaves and I don’t know what it is.  I don’t want it to take over and kill the plants!  Ugh, that would be tragic… they are looking so great!

Cucumber leaves - what is that?

Cucumber leaves - what is that?

Brassicas – The kale has done wonderfully and still going strong.  The beets not so much.  I planted varieties for lots of greens, but haven’t gotten much.  The spinach all did poorly.  I planted 3 different varieties and none of them grew very large or produced very much…. I’ve never had much luck with spinach.  The broccoli has gotten eaten up by some bug that I dont’ recognize.  But we’ve had almost no harvest from it.

broccoli bug

broccoli bug

broccobug

Broccoli bug (blurry close up)

Potatoes – so far so good… no major complaints

Lettuces – they all did fabulous.  We weren’t a fan of the mixed greens… there was something in there that was too bitter and too spicy.  So they ended up just bolting, but this created a nice shady spot for the lettuces to grow, and they have done great.  The chard in the bed is also doing wonderfully.

Bright lights chard

Bright lights chard

Pumpkins – doing well.  Not too much fruit yet, but there are a few.

Cinderella Pumpkins - Rouge Vif d'Etampes

Cinderella Pumpkins - Rouge Vif d'Etampes

Green beans – going strong.  I’ve noticed some spots on the lower leaves… trying to figure out what it is.

Green Beans

Green Beans

What are the spots?

What are the spots?

Winter squash – The Zeppelin Delicatas seem to be doing great, the David’s Dakota Delight is growing, but I haven’t seen much fruit yet.  The Squisito Spaghetti squash seems to be doing ok…. I’ve not grown much squash before, so I don’t know what a good yield is from one plant.

Spaghetti squash

Spaghetti squash

Yellowing spaghetti squash leaves??

Yellowing spaghetti squash leaves??

Melons – so far so good.  The vines are only a few feet long but there are flowers and small fruits.

Garlic – The garlic bed has done horribly.  Partly because one of the cats is using it as a litter box, but mostly because the soil is too hard.  I need to plant it, and the onions in one of the deeper, raised beds next year.

And for Junes Harvest: (Some of it seems so piddly, especially the greens, but we really aren’t harvesting and eating it like we should… there’s a bunch out there!)

4.25 inches or rain

90 eggs (the count is down ’cause we have 3 hens either sitting on eggs or raising chicks, and the other hens seem to have slowed down a bit with hot weather)

1 ounce garlic scapes (the garlic has done poorly this year!)

1 pound kale

14 oz lettuce

4 oz. chard

~6 ounce of herbs (parsley, dill, basil…)

5 # sugar snap peas

2# 4oz potatoes

6# 6oz. summer squash

2 baby onions

12 oz broccoli

13# 9oz. cucumbers

total of ~31 pounds of produce in June   (not too bad for a new garden)

6/30/2009

Kaia Camp

Filed under: by Maria @ 10:21 pm

So, Kaia decided that she was going to create her own week of summer camp.  We sat down and made a list of some of the things she wanted to do… make a lava lamp, turn an egg into rubber, make ice cream, etc.  We have a long list.

Yesterday was the first day of Kaia camp.  Unfortunately, she started it with a trip to the dentist.  She does amazingly well.   Then she rode along with me while I took care of some errands.  The fun camp stuff would be started as soon as we got home… unfortunately, I fell asleep on the couch with Leif and didn’t wake up until 5pm!!  MAN!  I must have needed it.  So, to make up for it, Kaia and I put some raspberries in the blender (10 ounces) added 2 cups of cream and 2 cups of Coconut milk, 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 tsp vanilla, whipped it up and made some ice cream!  It’s more like a smoothy at first, but if you put it in the freezer it freezes up nicely.

Today was day 2 of Kaia Camp.  We woke up late and had a leisurely morning at home.  Then we hopped in the car and headed out to go pick black raspberries!!!!  Woohoooo!!  I found an organic farm selling them for $3 a pint!!  They are $6.50 in the store.  So, Kaia and I made ourselves purple with all the juice from picking over a gallon of berries.  Most went into the freezer for future use.  Mmmmmm!!

We also canned up our first batch of pickles.  I tried a simple dill recipe.  Don’t know how it tastes yet, but I’ll let you know.  I’m thinking that this year maybe I will enter some of my canning into the regional fair competition.  Why not?

We’ll see what day 3 of Kaia camp brings :-)

6/28/2009

Leif’s newest attire

Filed under: by Maria @ 1:14 pm

I finally finished his piggy pants!!  I love how they came out.  They should fit for a few winters.  He’s already 20 pounds (and 4 months old!) so as he lengthens out, I imagine his belly won’t get much bigger for a few years :-)   Kaia is 6 and fits the pants (though they come down to her knees).

piggypants3

piggypants4

piggypants5

piggypants

piggypants2

Spy Party

Filed under: by Maria @ 6:45 am

I’m posting over at Homemakers Who Work today.  Come see me there!

6/21/2009

Winds of Change

Filed under: by Maria @ 2:39 pm

We awoke this morning to a lovely rain.  The kind that keeps you in bed just a little longer.  The rain moved out and a lovely wind blew in.  I love the wind!  I love to hear it in the trees and feel it come through the windows, bringing fresh life into the house.  When the wind surrounds my body sometimes it feels like it is brushing away my complacency or my worries.  Often it feels as though it is bringing in change, fresh ideas, lifting my spirits.   Think of the times you have been on the shore, in the mountains, or just in your own yard and you’ve closed your eyes, lifted your arms and let the wind carress every bit of skin.  You instinctively take in a breath, moving the wind down into your body, to your cells, cleansing your spirit.  Ahhh, what an amazing peaceful feeling!  I love the wind!

6/19/2009

Dinner!

Filed under: by Maria @ 10:22 pm

harvest

6/16/2009

Garden Progress

Filed under: by Maria @ 6:13 pm

Things are growing nicely in the garden! It was early blight on the potatoes.  But, it was only on 5 of my fingerlin potatoes.  So, I pulled them up and burned the tops.  The potatoes looked fine, albeit small:

fingerlinpotatoes

We’ve got zucchini and summer squash starting to come in, cukes the size of my pinky, snap peas galore (yum!) and still lots of greens.  I’m having to get use to eating from the garden and not from the pantry… it’s nice…. but major canning time is just around the corner.

Here are shots of the garden from the roof… lots of progress from a month ago

gardenjune2

gardenjune

And a shot of some blooms on the roof:

yarrow and calendula

roofflowers

6/10/2009

Poor Sweet Suki

Filed under: by Maria @ 9:59 pm

Wow… this just isn’t a good time for us as far as our animals go.

sukiface

Poor Suki tore her ACL on Monday and needs major surgery.  She was just running around the land and must have taken a wrong step.  It’s just like a torn ACL in humans.  Since she is an 85 pound Akita, really the only viable option for her is to get TPLO surgery (If she were a smaller or much less active dog, she could have “suture” surgery, but it doesn’t work as well on larger dogs)  This is going to run us $2500+ (AHHH! there goes the savings!) but it will get her a new knee basically.   She’s 9 years old, yes, but she’s very active and healthy and if we did nothing she would go down hill very fast, probably tear the other ACL (because she is now putting more weight on that leg), and lose the use of both back legs!

This has made me think more about my decision to try to rehome the cats.  It seems like if I can spend that much on surgery for my dog, then I should be able to do more for my cats.  I know, I know, I’m so fickel!  It’s just it’s permanent!  If I get rid of them they are gone for good and that’s that!  I love my cats, it’s just that they are driving me crazy right now!  Maybe they need more toys… Maybe some outdoor time… Maybe a pet therapist :-) (maybe I need a therapist!)

Anyway, Suki is scheduled for a consult with an orthopoedic surgeon next week.  Poor Suki!

6/9/2009

Buttercup’s babies

Filed under: by Maria @ 1:17 pm

Last week, Buttercup hatched 7 of her eggs.  Two died within hours, but the other 5 are doing great!

So that makes 9 new chicks altogether!  Yay!  I hope they are all hens :-)

buttercupschicks

Rehoming the cats

Filed under: by Maria @ 1:00 pm

Please don’t send hate mail…. please don’t tell me what a horrible, unfeeling cat mother I am… I know that once you adopt an animal you are promising them a ‘forever’ home… but life brings changes and I feel that this decision is to enhance the lives of my cats!

After many months of contemplation I have come to the heart breaking conclusion that I need to find my three devons another home.  Very long story short, I’ve had Max (my 11 year old) since he was a baby.  I got him with his brother, Mulligan.  Mully died when they were 5 years old (from a severe rabies vaccination reaction), and a few months after that I gave birth to my first child.  Max was very sad and unhappy.  All he wanted was to be on my lap, or on my head, or on my shoulders, but those places were now taken up with a baby.  We moved a lot in the 4 years to follow and finally decided, last year, that it was time to get Max some playmates.  So, we adopted 2 more devons (a 5 year old mama and her kitten).  They have all become fast friends and love each other, but now I have 3 devons that only want my lap, and guess what… I have a new baby.  Every time I sit down to nurse him there are three cats pushing him aside and trying to get love.  They won’t go to my husband or my daughter for affection, and my arms are always full.  So, for the past year, no one has been happy, and I feel SO guilty.  They follow me around and meow for affection.  I’ve been thinking about it and talking it over with my family for months now, and finally decided that they would be happier in another home with someone who could compeltely dote on them.  I also think it’s important that they go to a family that has had devons or atleast knows and understands their idiosynchcracies.  They are crazy cats… not like a standard aloof cat!  They love attention and want to be with you 24/7, they are talkative, energetic, and require (insist on) your affection.

Like I said, Max is 11 and in good health.  He’s a bit overweight, but he is also big for a devon.  Max has allergies for many standard cat foods, so he gets raw rabbit that I get from the local pet food store.  Isabella is 6 and in great health.  Daisy (the kitten) is 17 months and gets ‘goopy eye’ occassionally.  The vet said it is a type of cat herpes (not conatagious)…. when ever she gets it, I put a little lysine in her food and it goes away.  Otherwise she is also in great health.

I would like them to go to a home together.

Are you someone who could be a devoted and overly affectionate devon parent???  Will you let them sleep on your head and sit on your shoulders?  Will you talk back to them when they meow at you?  Will you mind them being at your feet?   Please email if you think you can give them a good home!

max

cross-hold

cat-face

rug1

kittylovin

crazymcdaisy2

issieggs3

Longbottom Leif

Filed under: by Maria @ 11:55 am

Here they are!  Leif’s new fancy pants!  Can you see he’s very excited!

leifpants1

He also wanted to pose with his new sweater, even though it’s too big.  Doesn’t he look dashing?  I’ll knit up a longer pair 9or 20 :-) for winter.

leifpants4

And his new fancy pants can be casual too.  Here he is posing with the cat.  Right after I took this photo, he grabbed her ear and wouldn’t let go.  Toby thinks Leif looks a bit like a hobbit in his shorts, so we’ve been calling him Longbottom Leif.

leifpants5

6/8/2009

Help! What are these??

Filed under: by Maria @ 11:07 am

This is on all of my zucchini…

zucchinimildew

And this is on one of my potatoes…

potato-blight

And what do I do about it??

6/3/2009

Homemakers who work

Filed under: by Maria @ 8:48 am

I’m honored to become an author for the new blog Homemakers Who Work.  I posted my introduction today if you would like to hop over and meet some of the authors.

5/31/2009

Melons and cordials

Filed under: by Maria @ 10:24 pm

I know… way to many posts today… I’m just trying to get caught up!

I planted 37 melon plants yesterday while the moon was in Leo… there was only room for 18 in the bed I’d made and I didn’t want to throw away the other seedlings, so I planted them in a big hill of dirt we have in the back yard.  We should be flush in cantaloupe, watermelon and muskmelon come late summer!!

Oh, and right now we are overflowing in strawberries, roses, and lemon balm.  No use in letting all this yummy goodness go to waste!  So, I decided to make cordials out of all of them!  I followed Kathie’s recipe and made a quart of each.  Tomorrow I will strain them and add the sugar!  Mmmm mmmmmm!

cordials

Mother!!

Filed under: by Maria @ 10:17 pm

We’ve been making kombucha in a continuous brewing system for a while now, but it’s in a ceramic pot, so you can’t see it unless you look in the top.  Lately, it seems like I will add some fresh tea to the batch and it will be too strong to drink within days.  It’s fermenting way too fast.  So, I finally took the scoby out to see what was going on and this is what I found:

scoby

That is the biggest, thickest hunk of scoby I’ve ever seen!!  I tried to separate a slice of it to put it back in the tea, but I couldn’t.  It had grown into one huge mass.  So, I took off a small chunk, put it back in the tea, and I’m going to put the rest in the blender and use it on the garden in my compost tea (I hope that doesn’t ruin my garden :-)

Meet the new addition

Filed under: by Maria @ 10:11 pm

Well folks, we finally did it!

We’d been talking about getting a new car for years, we just couldn’t find what we wanted.  There are no environmentally friendly family cars.  To have room you have to get a mini van which get horrible gas milage (compared to our 45 mpg Jetta), and to get good mileage you have to get a small car.  Plus, we did have a vegetable oil kit in our jetta so that we could run our car off of straight vege oil, which was free from the right sources.  (But, we’d taken that kit out a while ago and now just run it on biodiesel.)  So, it was hard to think about going back to gas.  But, after much looking around and realizing that the jetta was just tooooo small and costing us toooo much in repairs, we decided on a Toyota Prius.  It is roomier than the Jetta, gets great gas mileage, cost less to repair, and seems like the best option out there for us right now.  So, meet the new car!  a 2010 Toyota Prius… arrived on the lot yesterday morning and we drove home in the afternoon.  Isn’t she a beauty!!  I’m going to have to get use to the fact that it is very, very quiet when it is running, especially compared to a diesel engine.  But, really, you can’t hear it at all.  It’s really nice, but you have to be extra careful when you are in parking lots, ’cause pedestrians might not hear you coming!

prius

Harvest Totals

Filed under: by Maria @ 10:01 pm

Last month I decided to start writing down all the food we harvested from our land.  In April, I only kept track of eggs, but this month I tried to remember to measure everytime we brought something in the house.  I keep a little scale on the kitchen counter for just this.

April Harvest

  • 146 eggs

May Harvest-

  • 110 eggs (we were down because 3 of our hens were broody and not laying)
  • 5 pounds 4 ounces strawberries
  • 2 pounds shiitake mushrooms
  • 4 ounce rose petals
  • ~2 pounds of greens (this included chickweed, kale, lettuce, pea shoots, and spinach.  I’ll try to be better about separating then next month.  Sometimes we would go grab some greens for a sandwich and forget to measure.

In May, we also had 11 inches of rain!!

5/30/2009

Feeding the garden

Filed under: by Maria @ 2:28 pm

Quick question…

How often do you fertilize or feed your vegetables? I’ve not done anything since they’ve been planted, and everything looks great, but I imagine they would like a little food boost every now and then.  I checked on my comfrey compost tea, but it’s not ready yet…

5/23/2009

Monster Pudding

Filed under: by Maria @ 2:23 pm

I’ve been experimenting today… thought you’d like the recipe.  It’s really good!  It even gets ‘Kaia’s Gold Star of Approval!” (I got the original recipe from Darcey)

Monster Pudding:
4 small avocados
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 Tbsp. Cardamom powder
1/3 cup (or less) honey or other sweetener

Put all in a blender and mix up.
You can eat it like this, or if you can’t stand looking at green pudding and would like a little ‘dirt pudding‘ instead, add 1/3 cup carob or cocoa powder…
If you want to get even more creative you can also 2 drops of orange or mint essential oil.

Mmmmmmm……!!!

It’s dairy free and full of lots of good fats and oils!  And it’s really tasty!!

5/21/2009

Yummy giggles!

Filed under: by Maria @ 10:40 pm

Leif found his giggle tonight!!  It had us all laughing up a storm!  I’ll see if I can upload the video for you!

3months3months2

I also finally finished his kimono for next winter.  It’s a pretty easy pattern, I just haven’t had a whole lot of hands free time.  I’m going to knit some pants to go with it.

leifkimono2

leifskimono

(Sorry for the horrid color, the lighting sucked!)

Oh, and the strawberries are coming in!  YAY!

strawberryharvest

5/12/2009

Oh…

Filed under: by Maria @ 3:51 pm

And my sweet ‘little’ baby is not yet 3 months and weighs a gigantor 16 pounds!!!
family

Gardens a growin’!

Filed under: by Maria @ 3:48 pm

Kaia’s flower garden:
kaiasgarden2009

Looks like we will have a nice strawberry harvest this year:
strawberries

Onions are doing well!
onions

Potatoes are up and growing strong:
potatoes

Lettuce and other greens are overwhelming us!
lettuce

Here’s a view of the front gardens from the roof
gardens2009

The plants on the roof are doing well… well, the ones that survived. Almost all of the delospermas (ice plants) didn’t survive the winter. We have large dead spots on the roof. We’ll see how things grow over the summer. Hopefully the plants that are living will fill in the gaps.
roof2009
roof2009-1

Kaia and I planted 45 Gladiola bulbs this spring, and Heidi created a little heart garden around them for us!
heartgarden

Chicky baby

Filed under: by Maria @ 3:40 pm

Snowflake ended up hatching a total of 4 chicks (out of 8 original… but one was squashed, one was dropped, and two didn’t fully develop). Poor Sparkle didn’t hatch any. I waited until day 23 before I took her off the nest. I cracked open all the eggs and only one had a chick and it looked like it was only 18 or 19 days developed. I think she just didn’t keep them under her enough and they got cold. I’ve put her back in the coop but she still won’t stop sitting on anything she can. I’m not sure how to break her from being broody. I don’t want to put her back on more eggs. I think another 21 days of sitting would be too much for her. She needs a break.

Now, my Buff Orpington is sitting on 12 eggs. She went broody a week ago and I decided to put her in the other side of the broody coop once Sparkle was out. We’ll see how she does.

Here’s a pic of the 4th chick that hatched. Dad is an Ameraucana and mom is a Welsummer;
chicks6

With 3 of his ladies sitting on eggs, Fezzik the big rooster is getting a little antsy and has started picking on Poodle Noodle, our silkie rooster. He drew a little blood on his left ‘ear’. I put some blue lotion spray on it so the other chickens won’t be attracted to pecking at the red blood. It seems to have worked, but the ear may be infected. It’s puffy. I’ve put a salve on it… we’ll see how he does.

5/6/2009

Still waiting…

Filed under: by Maria @ 9:37 pm

The chicks are very late in hatching… normally, a chicken has a 21 day gestation. Our first chick hatched at 22 days, three more hatched at 24 days! I don’t hear any peeps coming from the other two, but they had moving chicks in them last week. Our other broody mama is due on Friday… her batch didn’t look as good. One, maybe two moving chicks out of 6 when we candled them last. (Oh, and another one of our chickens has gone broody, but we don’t have any room for her to sit. So, I’ll try to discourage her :-) )

The arrows are pointing to the crack in the shell where the 4th chick is starting to hatch.
chicks3
chicks4

5/5/2009

Can’t shake the grin

Filed under: by Maria @ 9:52 pm

I can’t wipe the smile off of my face from watching Kaia at her first lesson today. She was SOOO FLIPPIN’ CUTE!!!
here’s her high block…
tkd5
We both started classes this week! It feels good to be back in it, but class kicked my butt!!

In the garden

Filed under: by Maria @ 9:53 am

Things are really looking nice in the garden! The greens are growing strong, my cucumbers and summer squashes are peaking their heads up, the potatoes are up, and the new asparagus has just broke ground. Yesterday, in Virgo (a fruit sign), I planted a hops vine, put in 22 tomatoes seedlings, seeded 3 types of winter squash, 2 types of pole beans, and seeded 3 types of melons into soil blocks. With almost everything in the garden, I realized that I have nothing to feed the plants with. I can’t use anything fishy or seaweedy, ’cause Suki will dig to china trying to find the source of the smell. So, I’m going to try an herbal fertilizer. I filled a 3 gallon bucket half way with comfrey and yarrow leaves (they were slightly wet from the rain). Then I put a large rock on top of them to weigh them down, and covered the bucket. I’ll let it sit like this for 3-6 weeks. I should end up with a concentrated fluid vegetable food. I’ll water it down with 10 parts water to one part concentrate and then spray the veggies. I’ll let you know how it works. What do you use?

The only pests I’ve noticed so far are flea beetles and white flies. I’ve sprayed a little neem oil to see if that will do the trick. May have to get some diotomacious earth for the beetles. What are your preferred methods of pest control?

this is a bloom from the “pavement rose” (a rugosa type) that I picked up at the herb festival this past weekend. Isn’t she lovely? The fragrance fills the garden!!
rugosarose

Birdies at the feeder! There is one I’ve seen lately that is an iridescent midnight blue! I don’t know what it is, but it’s beautiful!
birdfeeder

5/4/2009

We have babies!

Filed under: by Maria @ 6:26 pm

Well, at least one that I know of. The chicks were due yesterday, but snowflake never hopped off of her nest, so I couldn’t tell if they’d hatched yet. But, just a few minutes ago, I went outside and heard some peeping. One little chick had just hatched (I believe this one is an Ameraucana and Black Australorps mix)! YAY!!! Babies!
You can see her peaking her black head out from under moms wing.
chicks1

In celebration of the upcoming hatching, Kaia and painted the broody house and the feeder. I really like the color they add to the yard!
chickenfeeder
feeder

4/26/2009

Following through – A Challenge

Filed under: by Maria @ 10:45 pm

Every year, as Spring comes around, I find myself reflecting on things that I’ve done in my life that I really enjoyed, but are no longer a part of my life. For one reason or another, I’ve given up on them and I wish I hadn’t. So, this year, I’m making a list of those things I’d like to follow through on. Join me if you like. Make a list of those things you have done in your life that you really enjoyed and wish you still did. Then pick one (or more if you like) that you commit to add back into your life this year. Be sure it is something that brings you joy! Then leave me a comment and let me know what you are committing to!

Things I’d like to follow through on: (not in any particular order)
1* Learning a foreign language - I use to be fairly fluent in Spanish, but lost it after college. I’ve also studied a little Italian… I’d love to speak both again!
2* Latin Dancing – I took classes at one time and absolutely loved dancing!!! It made me feel so sexy… I loved the flow of the steps, but I felt weird dancing with other men… I didn’t feel like I could be as sensual as I wanted… Toby doesn’t really like dancing… So, I stopped.
3* Tae Kwon Do – years ago, I was a green belt, and I was good at it too! I really enjoyed the spinning kicks!!! But the Dojang moved, and I quit.
4* Hooping - haven’t hooped in months because of pregnancy and now, not begin able to find the time. I really want to get better. It’s like a form of meditation for me
5* Travel – not so easy with kids and a homestead, but I love to visit foreign places and learn about other cultures!
6* Singing – I used to sing in high school and college… mostly opera! But, somewhere along the line I lost my nerve and became more of an introvert. It makes me feel so powerful, though.
7* Piano/Fiddle – I played piano and guitar when I was younger but didn’t appreciate it as much as I do now… I’d love to become more fluid with my playing!

So, to start with this year, I’m going to make a commitment to hooping again. At least once a week, but hopefully more! Heidi, who lives on the land, said she will hoop with me. I’m going to make a little sandy spot somewhere on our land for a hooping pad.

I’m also headed to the local dojang on Monday to check into Tae Kwon Do classes!

What about you?

4/23/2009

Candling the eggs

Filed under: by Maria @ 9:55 pm

We went out to candle the ladies eggs this evening. I made my own candler with a strong flash light and a piece of cardboard wrapped to make a cone for the egg to sit above. that focuses the light so that it shines through the egg.

I thought it would be a good idea to see how development was going. That way, if there is an egg that isn’t developing or is full of bacteria, I could get rid of it so that it doesn’t explode or contaminate the other eggs. This site has some nice pictures to follow, as does this one. The main thing was looking for the blood vessels. It’s not so easy when you have chicken that lay dark eggs. I checked Snowflakes eggs at 7 days and saw a spot in each of the eggs (the eye of a developing chicken), but couldn’t see veins. Today (day 11) when I checked I was able to see a moving chick in each of the eggs! YAY! You go Snowflake!! she’s on seven eggs.

In Sparkle’s eggs, it wasn’t as easy. She’s only been on her seven eggs for 6 days. I found three that had obvious blood vessels and 4 eggs that I couldn’t tell. I’ll candle hers again at 11 days to see if I see any moving chicks.

We tried to take pictures, but our camera sucks! Here’s the best one we got. There was a moving chick in this one. You can’t see that, but you can see the air bubble that develops along with the chick.

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airbubble

What are we going to do with all these babies?? We need to build a larger coop!

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