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Critters

Another beautiful day, a ride for Jim, some free range time for the flock, a trip to town for me to deliver a few items I sold on Craigslist and to purchase a 50 gal plastic (Christmas Tree) storage tub for the 4 day old chicks. When we brought them home on Sunday, I took the bottom half of a large plastic dog crate and cable tied the door in place. That was set inside a large dog wire kennel cage set up in the garage and the heat lamp hung over it. I realized that was too drafty and we are expecting another temperature plunge tomorrow night, down into the teens and the garage will be too cold even with the heat lamp.

The new set up can be brought into the house if necessary without getting pine shavings and chick poop on everything. I don’t like them in the house, but if it is below freezing while they are this young, they will come inside. The large storage tub having sides keeps the pine shaving contained and helps retain the heat. An old clothes drying rack with the lower bars removed gives me a structure with metal bars that sits astride the tub and the heat lamp can be dangled over one end of the brooder, giving the chicks a warm spot to go when they are cold and enough space to get away from the heat if they are too warm.

They will stay in the garage tonight and during the day tomorrow, but they will then be brought in for two nights and a day until we have another bout of milder weather. I will be glad when my hens can start raising their own chicks without my help.

Once Jim was home from his ride, we turned the pups out to roam and romp our farm for a while and they disappeared. It is rare for them to leave the property, but since there has been very little leash time this winter, both are more stubborn about coming when called, especially if they are well away from the house in one of the fields. After they had been outside for at least an hour and had disappeared from view I started calling, walked the long uphill driveway to check mail, still calling, walked over to look down into the sinkhole area still calling. No response. After getting in the car and driving up to the nearest main road, back down and around the perimeter of the two large fields calling and not seeing them, I walked back to the sinkhole. Both creeks are flowing strongly into the sinkhole and it is wet and muddy. The dogs finally wandered up, wet and muddy and quite content with themselves. No way I was letting either of them back in the house I had been cleaning all afternoon, so both got hosed off at the yard hydrant and that water was cold. Then both tied to heavy furniture on the front porch until they partially dried.

At least it was 73ºf outside. I finally dried them off with beach towels and let them back inside. So far we haven’t figured out how to keep them out of that part of the farm and as soon as it is consistently warm, we need to get back on leash work to remind them who is in charge.

Life is an adventure on our mountain farm.

March 11, 2014
Canning Time

Recently there have been a few evenings when I wanted a quick dinner only to realize that there was no more pasta sauce and the only broth was frozen. Last summer was cool and rainy, good for the greens and beans, but not so good for the tomatoes, plus I had planted fewer of them as I was overwhelmed the prior summer. Because the harvest was lighter and more sporadic, I blanched, peeled and froze the tomatoes in vacuum seal bags, instead of canning them into the usual pasta sauce, tomatoes with green chilies and plain tomatoes. Periodically this winter, I have hauled out a few bags and made enough pasta sauce for a couple of dinners, freezing the extra. I don’t like using the microwave, though we have one, so thawing sauce or broth requires foresight.

Today and tomorrow are beautiful early springlike days, highs in the 60s, sunny with the buds beginning to show on the lilacs and forsythia. These are the days when Jim wants to get on his motorcycle and go for a ride. His rides give me time to do crafts or household jobs. I decided early today that I was going to take most of the remaining frozen tomatoes and make a big pot of sauce and can it so that dinner is just a few steps to the pantry, a box of pasta and in the time it takes to boil the water and heat the noodles, the sauce can be heated.

When we killed chickens last fall, we cut some into pieces and as we don’t have a cleaver, we deboned the breasts. That left us with several carcasses with back meat and random other meat scraps on them. They were bagged together and thrown in the freezer with the bagged and sealed birds and parts. This seemed like a good day to take care of them too and to thaw the 2 quarts of turkey broth in the freezer and make pints of broth, also canned to have quickly available to cook rice or as the base for soup or potpie.

Late winter is not the usual time for canning around here, but the empty jars, lids and three large pots were hauled out. Sauce cooked in one, broth simmering in the second and finally, several inches of water started to boiling in the pressure canner.

The 10 pints of tomato sauce have finished canning, 9 pints of broth are building pressure and as soon as the pressure is down enough to open the canner, the last 3 pints of broth will go into the canner for processing.

As a bonus, the carcasses yielded 11 ounces of cooked chicken to add to soup or a casserole. This will make meal prep easier for the remainder of winter and spring until the garden starts giving us fresh goodness to enjoy. It will also let me consolidate the remaining frozen produce and chickens into the refrigerator freezer to let the chest freezer defrost and get a good cleaning before we have more table birds and produce to add to it.

Not a bad day’s work.

Life is always an adventure on our mountain farm.

March 10, 2014
Chick Day

Tractor Supply has had Chick Days going now for a couple of weeks, but they don’t carry the breed that I want. My goal is to keep Cogburn, my Buff Orpington rooster, the two Buff hens and the one Olive Egger Hen and replace the other 6 with 10 more Buff Orpingtons. That will give me 13 layers instead of 9 and will give me a pure heritage flock, except for the Olive Egger, whose eggs are just fun because of their color and easy to identify. Hopefully, this will give me a self sustaining flock as the Buffs make good mothers and can raise their replacements and the table birds. A few days ago, I reconnected with the gal that I bought my two Buff hens from last year when they were about 10 weeks old. She has 1 to 3 day chicks and though I didn’t want to raise chicks again this year, I also didn’t want to pay $20 per bird for ones that are only a month younger than the layers I have since I wanted 10. This morning we made a road trip to meet her in a town about an hour from here and did a parking lot exchange of money for 10 new chicks. We took a towel lined cat carrier to bring the peepers home, with a side trip to Tractor Supply for starter feed as they can’t eat the laying mix for the big girls.

I have to admit that they are adorable at just a couple of days old. However when you buy babies they must be kept warm and after my experience of having the brooder in the basement last year, I don’t want a repeat of that, so they are in a makeshift brooder in the garage with a heat lamp, which I also don’t like to use, but have no other option at this point. Last year I used a large black plastic livestock water trough as a brooder, but it is full of split wood in the garage and I didn’t want to have to empty it. maybe later as they grow. The makeshift brooder is half of a plastic large dog crate set inside a larger wire dog cage with the heat lamp hanging from the wire cage. Pine shavings, a chick feeder and waterer in with them and a blanket over part of it, they are set for a while.

Hopefully, this brood will be a success and in 7 weeks they can be moved outdoors, the 6 hens from my United Nations flock will be moved to the chicken tractor for the young ones to be introduced to the coop. Sometimes this summer, those 6 will go to freezer camp and my egg production will drop until the babies are ready to lay.

Hubby says I have an addiction, but at least I limited my purchase to only the breed I want and only females, so we won’t have multiple pens of different ages, and one of them full of testosterone like we had last spring when I bought 21 chicks over a two week period and had half of them cockrells.

March 9, 2014
Solo Time

Today is a beautiful springlike day after snow day before yesterday. The snow is gone, the day is warm and dry. The kind of day that Jim has been wishing for all winter. He was up as soon as it warmed and dressed to ride. He took off on his motorcycle for a “long” ride and I was left to do whatever I wished.

Today is the day the new yarn and fabric store opened in the nearby town, so for me it was a day to explore. Lunch alone at Panera, reading, then across the road to the new shop to check it out. After that excursion, I was off to my favorite local shop to sit with friends and knit.

My current projects, since I finished the baby sweater and delivered it to the Mom to be, but failed to photograph first, are still the Honey Cowl of Green Dragon Terminator in Heatwave color.

It is coming along nicely, though I found a dropped stitch while I was at his shop and now have to decide how to deal with it. And my other project is Estelle of Quince and Co. Lark in Delft color. The body is finished on it and I’m working on one sleeve. That leaves the other sleeve and the feather and fan front bands. I am beginning to think it may not get worn this year, but it will be put away for the next cold winter.

I am considering selling my Ashford Kiwi 2 spinning wheel for a Kromski Sonata that I can pack up and take to the weekly spinning group. I’m not addicted enough to own more than one wheel. I was hoping when I got to the Green Dragon Shop to knit that David had not sold all of the fiber he took to Hawk’s Nest last week, he had one I really wanted, but my road trip there didn’t happen as I remembered an appointment that interfered, but alas, he sold every roving he took with him. Maybe in the fall.

March 8, 2014
This Moment – March 7, 2014

Another snow day. Where is spring?

March 7, 2014
Not for the Faint of Heart

My Dad is a spry 90+ year old. He still does most of their cooking, helps with housework, does some of his own yard work and delivers “Meals on Wheels” to folks decades younger than he. He walks daily, hasn’t smoked since the first Surgeon General’s warning in 1964 and is much healthier than would be suspected for one his age. His side of the family tend to exceed the average age rule, his grandmother living to 94, his mother to 88, his brother into his 80s.

This makes me young, right? After all, I am a senior citizen, eligible for Social Security and Medicare, but still young. Sometimes I feel like I can still climb mountains, have learned to ride a horse in the past couple of years, garden, drive a tractor and mow acres of land. But this winter is making me feel not so young. As a late 20 something, I separated a shoulder skiing. As a mid 50 something, I broke a wrist roller blading with my daughter. The shoulder was before they sent you to a specialist and physical therapy for such injuries. The wrist was not cast correctly and has a 17º healed displacement. Unfortunately, they aren’t the same arm and both are aggravating me this winter. The wrist has encouraged arthritic deterioration of my wrist bones. This was causing me pain and after a couple of steroid shots I agreed to surgery to remove the most damaged wrist bone at the base of my thumb. This has caused the muscles to atrophy, reducing the strength of my hand and sadly only temporarily provided any relief. The pain affects my radial nerve so I also have pain in my elbow and my shoulder. Not wanting to take NSAIDs regularly, I have tried capsaicin cream, OTC herbal supplements that supposedly reduce inflammation, Tart Cherry juice and just about any other alternative. I haven’t tried acupuncture, nor have I been willing to return to the orthopedist, though I wonder if there is anything else he could do other than more steroid shots which I also want to avoid. To add insult to injury, it has also intensified trigger finger in my ring finger on that hand.

I’m not ready to accept aging, I’m still too young.

March 6, 2014
Late Winter

Skeletonized trees frosted with snow.

Cedars wearing white cloaks.

A smelting furnace from 1872, the remains sitting beside Sinking Creek.

Yesterday, we hunkered down and watched it snow again. The predicted amount did not materialize, fortunately and we only received about 4 inches. Last night it turned very cold again, but is slowly warming to above freezing and not dropping too low tonight. With a bit of straw turning in the chicken run, they were coaxed out to their food and water this morning and the coop opened up to air out. A bit ago, I found a supply of Buff Orpington pullets, so now a short road trip is in order to collect them and a harvesting date needs to be set with son, to cull out all of the hens of other breeds to allow us to have a self sustaining flock of heritage birds. I may still sneak an Easter Egger or two in the coop just for the fun of finding their colored eggs.

March 4, 2014
The Return of Winter

Spring is coming, we know it is by the flocks of robins, the few springlike days we have had in the past couple of weeks. The past two days have exceeded 60ºf ), absolutely delightful weather. The weather encouraged outdoor time, to clean the chicken coop, to give them free range time, and to allow Jim to take a jaunt on his motorcycle.

Yesterday afternoon it clouded up and by evening, it was a steady cold rain with the temperatures beginning to drop to the current 28º (-2º) and headed for tonight’s 8º (-13.33º).

By the time I awoke this morning, the rain had turned to sleet, then snow. The snow is falling steadily and accumulating.

The weather prognosticators are warning us of 6 to 12″ of snow, depending on which source you choose to believe. I’m hoping for a much lower amount and a return to the weather of the weekend, but it looks like winter is back and here to stay for at least another week. I’m ready to do more than think about the spring garden. Instead, I will knit and spin, make a warm comforting stew for supper and sit tight.

What I’m knitting, Beaucoup in Happy Feet, a light baby sweater for a spring baby, and Honey Cowl of Green Dragon Terminator color is Heat Wave.

March 3, 2014
Easter Egg Hunt

The cold winter has taken a toll on egg production and on the cleanliness of the coop. I use the deep litter method. For you non chicken raisers, that involves starting with a very clean coop, putting down a few inches of pine shavings or fine straw, then piling dry straw, leaves, etc on top and stirring it up every day or so like compost, adding more straw or leaves as necessary. If this is done correctly, there is no odor and in the spring, you have a coop full of hot compost to add to your pile for further decomposing. Because we have hay fields and they are mowed and baled each year, I squirrel away 2 round bales that are stored near my coop and covered with a tarp for use in the coop. I know, you aren’t supposed to use hay, but so far I haven’t had any problems. Because hay generally isn’t as dry as straw, I do have to fluff and turn it daily and keep all ventilation holes open whenever the temperature is above freezing, but because of the cold and snow this year, the birds are spending more time indoors than I would like. As a result, it has been harder to stay on top of the turning and fluffing.

It isn’t spring yet, but I was beginning to detect odor and knew that something needed to be done. Leaving the compost part in place, I removed most of the hay from the coop and threw it in their run. Pulled out the last of one of the big bales that had gotten very dry and added a new thick layer in the coop.

The chickens are very curious whenever I am doing anything inside their coop and they always come to supervise. They lean out the open doorway, peck around in the corners, and get just where I need to be. As soon as I put an armload of hay down, one would push it around and make a bowl shaped nest in it. I would shoo one away to put hay down and another would be there. By the time I finished layering new hay in the floor of the coop and under their perches. Removed and replaced the old hay from their nesting boxes, I had about half of them in the coop making “nests” in the floor of the coop and trampling down the fluffy new hay.

I’m betting that today’s egg collection will be an Easter Egg Hunt throughout the floor of their coop. Funny birds. I just wish spring would come so that the egg production picks up. At least I have gotten eggs all winter.

Live is an adventure on our mountain farm.

March 1, 2014
Just Another Winter Wednesday

Flurries of snow; winds do blow; bone chilling cold; but tonight is Knit Night with friends, hot tea, and fun.

February 26, 2014