A TRIP TO THE GARDEN, CHICK STYLE

With our temperatures in the 80's this weekend, we decided to get the chicks accustomed to the outdoors a bit!  Since my garden is fenced in, we took them there so we could watch over them a bit easier.  My girls helped me keep an eye on them. 

 They were very curious of all of their surroundings! 

 They will be two weeks old on Monday and are still primarily in their brooder requiring a temperature gradient between 85 and 90. 

 They became very adventuresome in the garden, exploring everything that moved, and even things that didn't!

Needless to say, I think they enjoyed their outing greatly.  Their feathers are starting to form very well and they are even starting to use their wings a bit!

About two or three more weeks in the brooder and they will be ready for their new outside home and coop!  Happy Gardening!
Mindy

AN UPDATE ON THE CHICKS

We took the chicks on a small outing to my garden on Thursday, 08/09/12.  They had a fun time, however, we decided it was a bit too hot and humid so we cut it short so we would not stress them!

Well the chicks are growing very quickly.  They are very curious and are even trying to use their wings a bit!  We now have a screen over the top of their newly enlarged brooder.  Their first week the temperature in their breeder needed to stay at 95 degrees.  Starting on Monday we will keep the temperature at 90 degrees.  We will decrease it by 5 degrees each week until they are ready to go outside at approximately five weeks!

This little chicks name is Toy, she is really a sweetie!  This is the chick my daughter has been working with to tame. 

Happy Gardening and Farming!  We will keep updating the status of the chicks on their journey!

Mindy



MY EXCITING NEW ARRIVALS!

The post office called me this morning to get me the time that my chicks would be available to be picked up!  We ordered them from Meyer Hatchery and boy did they get here quick!  They were hatched on Monday and I received them on Tuesday!  Meyer Hatchery is great about allowing small orders, with the minimum order being three chicks this time of the year!

We had the brooder all ready and waiting for the chicks arrival!  We have all of the necessities, including a heat lamp with a red bulb.  They require 95 degree temperatures for their frst week.  

 The chicks took well to eating and drinking, which is a very good sign!  No troubles so far.  They are very entertaining to watch.

 After their long journey, they all took a nap!  How cute!

We look foward to watching these little girls grow up, it is hard to believe some day soon they will be laying some yummy brown eggs for us!

Happy Gardening and Farming!

Mindy

PICKIN' CHICKENS!

With a lot of hard work, research, and much anticipation, our chicken coop is built and our chicks have been ordered.  Our dreams of collecting fresh eggs are steps closer to becoming a reality.  Even though there is still work to be done in receiving and raising up our day old chicks, our dreams are one step closer.

In the days prior to this, there has been a lot of research done including research on chicken coop requirements, coop location, and chicken care.  Another important part of raising chickens is deciding the breed for you.  We will be raising hens for egg-laying.  In our decision making process, when researching different breeds, we took into consideration only breeds that were heat and cold tolerant to our location in southern Indiana.  Due to the size of our coop, we decided we would need a smaller sized hen.  We also had a preference of having the largest brown eggs that we could get and still fulfill the above issues.

The chick we picked was the GOLDEN BUFF, AKA Red Sex Link.  This breed is one of the most exceptional brown egg layers.  They lay large brown eggs and the hens  weigh around four pounds.   This was our chick!

There are many hatcheries you can order from and have your chicks delivered to your local post office.  In the spring you can also get chicks from many farm stores.  We have ordered our chicks from Meyer Hatchery.  They will be arriving next week!  How exciting!  I will keep you posted on their arrival and our progress!

Happy Gardening and Farming!

Mindy

AND THE FARM GROWS AGAIN! SHADE GARDEN ADDITION

OUR MINI FARM GROWING AGAIN!

With a slight break in the temps this weekend, my very talented husband finished the new addition to our mini farm!  My brother had given us a set of cages he received for free from a friend of his, and my husband's mind started working!


Here are the cages as we received them:

We then decided to move the location of Oreo and Daisy's cage in order for the larger addition to fit in this location well!  We also had this small dog fence on our property as well.  It had some vining weeds growing through it and my daughter worked to remove those.  We are not sure if we like the fence in this area or not, we are giving it some time to see if it grows on us.   If we keep the fence there, it will be an area for the bunnies to get some exercise and somewhat of a safe haven for the chickens.  My husband had mentioned something about eventually building an enclosed area here, instead of using the fence. 

Here is a picture of the finished project.  This is the front of the area!

Here is a picture of the back of the area.  As you can see my husband has built boxes on each side of the new addition!  To the left will be the "chicken coop", complete with nesting boxes for the egg layers!  We plan on creating a ladder for the chickens so that they can enter and exit their coop!

Last but not least, here is the newest addition to our farm, Dusty.  He is a buck that we picked out from our favorite farm, 3G Farms!  A special thanks to them for their contribution to this new addition!


DUSTY

So with the construction complete on our newest project on the farm, now my work begins.  As soon as our temps begin to cool down a bit, I will be able to begin some landscaping for this area.  I have already done a lot of research on shade plants and will continue my research in order to pretty up the newest area of our farm! 

THERE ARE TREASURES HIDDEN UNDER THE WEEPING WILLOW TREE!

Happy Gardening!
Mindy

A CANNING FRENZY IN MY KITCHEN!

Wow are the veggies coming on or what??  I am having a great time harvesting all the veggies from my garden and then taking them in and deciding what creation I will come up with next!  I have been doing lots of research from books and online looking for unique and good canning recipes!  The internet is a wealth of information about canning and canning recipes!  My kitchen has been transformed into a "canning" kitchen!  I have everything set up to make the canning as efficient as possible! 

With my more in depth gardening expedition this year by starting almost all of my vegetables from seed, seeds which individually cost just pennies on the dollar, it has been even more rewarding harvesting my veggies this year!  I have really been motivated to do a lot of canning and spread those pennies even further!  I am finding online and in many books that canning for self-sustainment is really on an increase with the rising prices of food in the stores.  Canning allows you to know what has been added to your foods, as you are creating them yourself with no artifical additives.   If you have never canned before, I urge you to give it a try!  You do not have to fill your entire pantry with food, start off small with just a few small patches of different items, I bet you become hooked just like I did! 

Here is some more of my work:

Below is Mrs. Wages salsa mix.  This is a very easy mixture to work with, all you have to do is dice the tomatoes, combine the ingredient packet with the tomatoes and some vinegar, cook for ten minutes, place in sterilized jar and to the hot water bath canner for 40 minutes.  This is a very good salsa!

These are some pickles I created using some Ball Kosher Dill Pickle mix I purchased at lowes last fall when the marked down all of their canning items!  This was a great steal at 25 cents, regular $2.98.  I was able to get 4 of these for $1.00.  They are extremely easy to make as well and very good for the beginning canner who has cucumbers!

Happy Canning and Happy Gardening!

Mindy

NATIONAL CAN IT FOWARD DAY! YOU CAN CAN!

Happy "National Can It Forward Day!"  I was very busy on this special day of celebration!  If you haven't ever tried canning and preserving your own fruits and vegetables, I will tell you one thing, "YOU CAN CAN!"  It is an amazing way to use the extra fruits and veggies you cannot eat and is absolutely awesome to be able to enjoy these foods in the winter, when the garden is covered in snow!

I purchased this very handy new Discovery Set that Ball offers, and it is amazing for small batch canning and has all the items you need (except for pectin and fruit) to create a "canning masterpiece"!  Ball has really created a unique product to get people to give canning a try!  I highly recommend this product for beginners and small batch canners as well!

Today in the kitchen I made:  Traditional Salsa (A special thanks to my husband for helping me dice up all the onions and tomatoes that I needed), Cherry Preserves, more Strawberry Preserves, Kosher Dill Pickles, and Jalapeno Jelly!

For those of you who have never tried Jalapeno Jelly, I know it sounds a bit bazaar, but it is really good!  You can take a cracker, a bit of cream cheese, and then top it with some Jalapeno Jelly!  Yum! Yum!

Happy National Can It Forward Day!

Mindy