Rogue Chickens

Around here, it seems like every week, 

we get a new covering of the white stuff.  

While I confess, it has been beautiful...

....some would probably  

call it brutal!

Some of us are loving it...

and some of us are wearing down, 

and growing very weary of it, 

because of all the work it creates!

Could he get anymore wood on that cart!?!?!

Winter can be tough for all of us.  

But thankfully, we have coats and gloves,

and warm homes. 

But during times of  extreme cold (and heat), 

I feel bad for all the critters who make their home outdoors.  

So when I came across a pair of rogue chickens,

I felt compelled to rescue them.

Nearly every time I turned onto my country road,

 I would see a pair of hens pecking around for food. 

The problem is, because the ground has been covered with snow for months, 

they were pecking at the gravel along the edge of the road.  

Needless to say, the risk of them becoming road kill was HUGE. 

They were living here, in these pines.

One Sunday after church 

we nearly hit them.  

So after lunch we went back

 and wrangled them up.  

(should have had a camera for that!)

They had literally made themselves

 a little den in that mound of snow between the trees.  

They seemed to be in good condition, though very light weight.

They have been eating well now for the past 2 weeks,

 and are beginning to adjust to the other girls.  

 These girls are very sweet,

and very shy.

 They both appear to be Araucanas.

  

So hopefully,

 sometime in the near future 

they will give us some pretty blue/green eggs!!

  

Juicing for Health

Do you Juice?

I love to juice.  Folks have differing  ideas on the benefits of juicing.  

But I for one enjoy juicing and feel sure it is beneficial. 

And I can personally attest to the healing power of juicing a few apples and a about a fourth of a lemon for winter colds and flu. 

This is the best time of the year for juicing with all the fresh goodies from the garden. It's also a good time to experiment with fruit and vegetable combinations while giving your immune system a little boost.

This week, I combined all the fruits and vegetables that I had on hand.

 I started with organic carrots and apples.

 (Always try and juice organic produce.) 

We have lots of red beets, cucumbers, tomatoes and grapes.  So I added these colorful veggies to my juice as well.  

Look at those lovely colors!

While I was making a mess, I juiced carrots and tomatoes together to use as a base for a pot of vegetarian vegetable soup.

 (It's pretty potent so I thin it down with vegetable broth)

One complaint of folks who don't see any benefit to juicing say it's because the pulp (fiber) is removed when juicing.  

But I get plenty of fiber in my diet. 

 (I eat lots of veggies!)

And around here,

nothing (absolutely nothing) goes to waste!

We eat anything!

If you've never juiced, I highly recommend giving it a try.  

You will need to invest in a juicer.  

But you can start with a less expensive model or

 a borrowed juicer would be even better! 

Or perhaps a friend could allow you to give theirs a test drive! 

I have nearly worn out my beginner model, and am ready for an upgrade!

 There is lots of information available on the web to get you started.

I began my juicing journey with this book. It is filled with recipes and nutrient counts and the benefits of dozens of  fruits and veggies you can juice.

 If you are already a juicer, I'd love to hear some of your favorite concoctions. Perhaps I'll even post them in the near future.

Bottoms up!

BTW, juice is best if consumed immediately.  But if you can't drink all of it, store it in the fridge with a good lid and finish it asap.

Gone Wild!

It's been along time since my last post.  

My apologies....

Our summer has been nothing short of WILD!  

Early in the season, we moved the chicken house.  

What an ordeal.  

I had this wild idea to move the chickens closer to the house where I could keep a closer watch over them (and hopefully out of hawk view), and closer to a water source.

I told hubby that if it was a big deal, we could just let it go.

But he said, "No problem.  We moved stuff all the time on the farm (where he lived as a child)."

So move it he did!

So the house has been moved

 and the fencing is in place.

The girls are happy.  

All is well in the hen house.....at least for now!

More wildness..........

I've been trying to get some cleaning and organizing accomplished this summer.

I am the queen of organizing- that's just my opinion of course ;)

My craft area is the worst place to keep under control.  

Just 1 hour of crafting and the place is trashed.  If you craft, I'm sure you know what I'm talkin' about!

My goal was to clean, purge, organize and.....

well just jazz things up a little.  

The problem is, however, that I share my craft space with my husband.

So now you see my problem.  The testosterone drips from the walls of our office.

So what's a girl to do?

I say if you can't beat 'em!

Join 'em.

So...

off to Michaels I went!

I came home with these...

Yep, 2 rolls of handy dandy duct tape!

I also picked up a can of black paint.

I used duct tape to add some WILD touches to my side of the office, and the black paint to paint some missed matched furniture.  

I used boxes, baskets and jars for organizing craft supplies.  

The black piece of furniture is actually 2 completely separate pieces.  I found an old bookcase in the basement...

Painted it black..

and made it a topper for my grandma's old Hoosier bottom (that was also painted black).

I decided to pull the L-shaped desk away from the wall, that way all my stuff is handy and quickly available.  I don't even have to get up, just roll around on my trusty chair.  

And in case I forget why I'm in the Wild room...

I made this with my favorite gadget..

the Cricut Expression 2

While I still have a lot of things I want to do to make this room work, I have the bones of what will make a functional space.  

With any luck, it should also bring out the 

wild side 

of my creativity.

I love to make cards.  But what's even more enjoyable than making cards, is giving them!

And so since making cards is one of my favorite crafts, I'll leave you with a sampling of cards I made recently using the Cricut.  

I cut a page of trees on vinyl

(taken from the family reunion cartridge)

and made every effort to make each one look just a little different.  

Miss Josie, 

(my constant companion who relaxes while I craft) 

and I say

Thanks for stopping by our WILD ROOM.  

We hope you all have been inspired to do something wild today!

linked up to...

http://1840farm.com/2013/07/from-the-farm-blog-hop-41/

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/07/clever-chicks-blog-hop-42-with-two.html

Chicken Love....a Sign of Spring

What is it about these little creatures that make them so lovable?

It is a sure sign of spring when you hear their sweet chirping when you walk through the doors of your local farm store.  

They are so cute, you just can't get one.

Oh no, you have to get as many as you can.

And choosing the variety you desire is no small task. 

This year, however, I chose chicks according to their egg's size and color, and according to their arrival date at my local farm store. 

I wanted the chicks to all be the same age to avoid the older ones pecking on the younger ones.  So that narrowed down my choices.  

Even though I didn't get every chick on my chick wish list ,

I am delighted with the choices I made....

4 Ameraucanas

4 Welsummers

1 Black Jersey Giant

 ( we have a white one and

 she lays LARGE eggs:)

1 Buff Brahma

and 

1 Silver laced Wyandotte

( okay, so I chose her for her beauty, I admit it!)

My daughter bought 4 little chicks too, and added them to our little table top brooder.  

I quickly made this Fresh Eggs Daily inspired

brooder.  It was easy to do. Check it out.

She tried to mark hers with a Sharpie.
 It didn't work out so well.
 The markings were gone by the end of the day!

For the first week, everyone enjoy watching the chicks.  

Even the dog.  She was fascinated by all that cheeping.

Of course the grand babies loved them.

It's amazing how fast  chicks  grow.  By the end of the first week they had lots of feathers and were trying to use them by flapping all over the place.  They reminded me of the Wright Brothers.  

I had to move them from their little brooder into this large crate.

(and to the laundry room)

After just 1 week, little tail feathers were emerging. 

ca-ute!

After 2 weeks, I moved them yet again.

This time to the tractor coop.  

Hubs brought the coop portion (minus the run) to the garage. So I could closely watch them, and make certain they are warm enough. (He's a sweet hubby)

At 2 1/2 weeks old, you can see they are growing and changing quickly.  They have officially become awkward looking teenagers- but still very adorable!

So while we're talking chickens.......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WARNING......

This story is not for those with a weak stomach or anyone who may be eating breakfast!

But if you're a tough ol' bird like me...

Keep Reading....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everyday, 

for more than a week,

every morning when I went to the chicken house,

I would find this....

It's a little nest, made my a little creature in a "nesting" box.

So every morning, I swooshed it out. 

This went on for at least a week.   

Until one morning, when I swooshed it out of the box,

little pink baby mice fell out!

Sorry to say, that within seconds,

the baby mice were

GONE!  

The Girls are still smacking their beaks!

The next day, 

Ms. Mouse had built a new nest.  

Why? 

Well, I had to get ugly with Ms. Mouse.  

(I'll spare you the details)

She's gone now.....at least I think she is.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll leave you with this final picture I snapped the other day....

a wonderful reminder that spring is near!  YEAH!!

linked to

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/03/clever-chicks-blog-hop-25-polka-dot.html

Something to Crow About!....and talkin' chicken

A belated Happy New Year to you all!

I'm hopeful that you, my blogger friends, will be richly blessed in the new year.

And I hope that 2013 will give you something to 

Crow about!

Isn't this guy handsome?? 

 You may remember the post over the dilemma of his name.    

Well, today, he still remains nameless. 

 I have decided NOT to name him.

  

Well, except for those moments when he gets called

BAD__SS!!  

(excuse my french)

 I don't think he will be here long.

So he shall remain nameless.

He's BAD....

to the bone!

It seems he's always lookin' for a fight.  

He challenges me every

time I go to the chicken house. 

Oh, and he loves to fight with the dog.  

Watch....it gives new meaning to the term

"Chicken Fight"

These two actually seem to have a love /hate relationship.

And I admit, that darn rooster is quite the entertainer.

But he's also a pain in the butt!

I'm pretty sure the girls aren't all that impressed with him either.

He's quite the bully.

Speaking of the girls...

they have been enjoying some special treats lately.

We had snow 3 different days the week of Christmas.  

But I was able to un-snow some grass that was coming up in the garden.

They also enjoyed some 

Kale.

They really enjoyed the Kale!

The girls appreciate those green treats, especially in the dead of winter!

There is  a portion of our garden that wasn't tilled under and planted with barley, last year's cover crop.  So I have been slowly cleaning out the last morsels of the garden (cabbage, kale, turnip greens and more)......

AND I've been anticipating this coming year's crop!

  (BTW, the seed magazines have been filling our mailbox!)

While I was in 

Treat Mode...

I decided to give the  birdies a treat.

Several years ago, I made these cute little spiral  suet feeders.  It was easy...

I just took some wire I picked up at Walmart (I think 18 gauge) and wrapped it around a spice jar. 

Added a handle.

And filled it with suet.

The birds love it!

That's all for now.  In the next post, I'll share some of the 

Stuff

that's been keeping me from blogging.

Until then....

Please enjoy some recent  snapshots  taken around the homestead.

Chicken tracks!

Fuzzy butts.....LUV!

Yikes!

Snapped this picture out my kitchen window.  Watching this squirrel
made me laugh.  He appears to be reading the sign, which should
bring him some relief ;)

This pic was taken through the living room window.
What a beautiful Blue Jay.

Aww, my little sweeties!!

Linked to

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/

and

http://thismindbeinyou.blogspot.com