chickens / eggs / family / fire / hay / knitting / once a month cooking / sheep / updates

Farm Update

I’m still here! Haven’t posted much this week due to the time change (I think!). I seem to be stuck in my old schedule and going to bed much later which means I’ve been dragging and tired all week. We’ve also been pretty busy, so I thought I’d fill you in with what we’ve been up to: I know the video is a little dark but can you hear the little lamb sounds!? We had twins born yesterday. The mama had me worried as she started to have a vaginal prolapse a couple weeks ago. We fitted her with a harness truss, which is basically baling twine tied around her in a way that encourages her insides to stay in. The harness truss worked well, so well in fact that it was trying to hold the babies in! Brian came home to find feet poking out, cut the twine, and helped to deliver the first baby. Then, when he had me on the phone, another set of feet appeared! Both mama and babies are doing great, and she is showing great natural mothering instinct. So, we only have one ewe left to lamb and I think she’s getting close. She

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Lamb #2 !!!

Look what I found this morning! Lily, one of the first two lambs we brought to the farm, now has her own lamb. This one is a ewe lamb, and she is jet black. I thought the other baby was black but she is more like gray compared to this little girl. Who knew!? I’m off to work, just wanted to share the good news!

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garden / heirloom seeds / planting / spring / starting seeds

I Started My Seeds!

I’m not exactly sure if this was the right time to do it, but I did it. The weather will never be exactly right in Michigan anyway. Here’s what I started on Sunday: Snapdragons – 9 cellsBaby Dolls – 9 cellsPing Tung eggplant – 9 cellsLong Purple eggplant – 9 cellsAmish Paste tomatoes – 36 cells I used equal parts of peat moss, vermiculite, and perlite as a starting mixture. The plastic cells and trays are being reused from last year. I’ll be starting another batch of tomatoes in a few weeks as well as some other flowers, my herbs, broccoli, and some others I’ve forgotten. Right now I have the tray down by our corn burner to stay warm. This next goal is to get Brian to hang up my new lights so the seedlings can go under there once they sprout. It feels like spring it finally here!

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gifts / Git 'Er Done 2009 / updates / wal-mart

Git ‘Er Done Update

I got quite a bit done during the week to make up for not doing much last weekend. We had a nice day where I opened up all the windows and stained a new batch of trim in the basement. Then I took advantage of the nice weather this weekend and took all that trim out on the porch to polyurethane it. Today I finished the trim in the kitchen, all but one piece that I need to do on a jigsaw so it fits around the countertop. Speaking of the countertop, Brian & I finally put the endcaps on. Now you can’t see the old butcher block counters that are underneath. It doesn’t quite cover everything from this angle but unless you’re 3 years old it looks pretty good when you walk through the kitchen. It was not a fun project – you have to cut and file it to fit and then heat it up so it sticks. I have enough pictures to do a step-by-step tutorial, let me know if you need that info. Remember me talking about painting the window frames? Here’s a pic of what I painted (the reddish brown part). Now here’s how it

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Knitting Fun

My Mom, knitting happilyJust thought I’d share a few pictures from that sock knitting class we took. Last Saturday was the last of 3 sessions. We were all sad that it was over! We all had our socks finished or almost finished and felt confident enough to start another pair on our own. I’ve already knitted a baby sock for my cousin and started on a pair for Brian. The project I’m working on in the picture is a large felted tote bag. That was technically a Christmas present for Brian’s Mom only it still isn’t quite finished. MeThis afternoon I’m started a new class to make “felted clogs”. They are like thick slip on slippers. The class is only two sessions and I thought it would be a great way to replace all the slippers Brian had that Maci chewed up. I’m also hoping to meet some new people since my Mom and my friend Steph were the only other people in the sock class. Here’s Steph! What activity do you use as an excuse to get together with those you love? Have any knitting projects you want to share?

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recipe

Brian’s Tater Tot Surprise

Here’s a great, and quick invention that Brian made up for dinner the other night. He was really craving nachos and we didn’t have any chips. So instead… First, he browned some hamburger with seasonings to taste. Then he spread out a layer of tater tot hashbrowns on a cookie sheet. He sprinkled the whole pound of burger over those and then sprinkled a generous amount of shredded cheese on top. Then he baked it in the oven I’m not sure that the picture does it justice. It really looked quite appetizing even though I’m too picky to try it. He topped it with ketchup and had two helpings so it must have been good. I love it because it is so easy and quick! Plus, it was really fun to watch him make up something that he liked. I’ll have to experiment with fresh shredded potatoes and see how that goes so I don’t have to make a habit of buying the tater tots. Any quick meals you want to share? Or substitutes to calm your cravings?

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Git 'Er Done 2009 / painting

I Painted My Fridge!

After 1 coatYou guessed it – this is part of my Git ‘Er Done 2009 project! I was sick of looking at it, and a new one certainly wasn’t in the budget. We got a new stainless steel & black stove in the fall so the dingy yellowish white fridge was sticking out like a sore thumb. I went to Lowe’s and picked up Rustoleum brand Stainless Steel paint for appliances. It was the only roll-on appliance paint they had so I took it even though I was looking for black. I got the paint and rollers for under $30. Supplies needed:Window cleaner (could be homemade)WashclothsDrop cloth or old sheet to protect the floorFoam rollersPaint trayStir stickScrewdriver to open & close canTapeNewspaperPaint (obviously)Gloves & long sleeves (or paint thinner to get your hands/arms clean!) Lay the drop cloth around the base of the fridge. Clean the fridge with window cleaner and allow it to dry. Paint the seals and crevices first, then you can roll over them and make the edges smooth. Roll on the first coat. I left the paint on the roller and in the tray sit out while the first coat dried and it kept fine. You

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Ham: It’s What’s For Dinner

Since pig raising has fallen to the bottom of our list after getting our own lambs to market and raising broilers, we still buy ham from the store. Brian goes once week to the local meat market and gets lunch meat. A lot of their meat comes from local raisers so it is nice place to buy from. However, the costs add up even when we buy what’s on sale, and you never really know if the special came from here or out of state. Awhile back we picked up a ham at Meijer. Meijer is large chain store that has its headquarters here in Michigan. I really like the stores and they seem to carry a lot of locally grown and processed foods. Anyway, we bought a $20 fully cooked boneless ham at $2.79/pound. Here’s what I got out of that: 10 thick ham “steaks” = 3 dinners for us plus leftovers for lunches10 thinner slices = 2 weeks worth of lunch meat2 end cuts chopped up = 1 batch of ham soup or stew I froze them all in labeled bags for future use. We had the first set of ham steaks tonight and they were delicious! I’m

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challenges / chickens / cleaning / fire / fruit trees / garden / Git 'Er Done 2009 / pears / planting / pumpkins / to-do lists / updates

Git ‘Er Done 2009

As many of you know, Brian & I bought his family’s farm around Labor Day of 2007. We’ve been working on the house and yard since the early spring of that year, even before we bought it. Things are far from finished as we start 2009, and I don’t want to deal with this again in 2010. I’ve made a detailed list, room by room, of what projects need to be completed this year. I first posted about all this work in this post. I wanted to share my list but wasn’t sure how to set it up. After reading over at Green Resolutions I really like the way she sets up her checklist and shows updates. I’ve decided to use a similar format for my project list. Thanks for the inspiration GR! I’m going to title this segment “Git ‘Er Done 2009”. This will mostly be for my benefit, to keep me motivated and accountable. I’ll try to include some before and after pictures and maybe even offer some good how-to advice. I avoid debt like the plague so these will all be pay as you go projects. Feel free to read along. If you would like to join

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dogs / Git 'Er Done 2009

This is why…

…I’m glad that new dog bed cover only cost me $1. This is also why we needed a new cover in the first place. Once every few months the “puppy”, now 1 1/2 years old, feels the need to destroy something. Bitter apple spray seemed to stop her from chewing up the bed at night. Unfortunately I left it lying too close to her cage today when I went to work (for her brothers to lay on) and she sucked it into her cage. The good news is I might be able to fix it, the even better news is that if not I still have the other half of the sheet to make a new one from! This was at least sort of funny, much less tragic than a few weeks ago when Brian lost 2 pairs of slippers to the little mutt in the same week!

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