Mushrooms and Wings

We went mushroom hunting today. All we found was this lone mushroom and a stem ... Grampa found them. I'm not known for my mushroom hunting prowess, but Grampa usually finds a few. I don't know if we were to early or to late. Whenever I've been mushroom hunting, I've managed to find lots of toad stools and other non-edible mushrooms, but today we didn't see much of them either. For those of you that don't know, this is a morel mushroom. They are very easy to distinguish from other mushrooms so that makes them very popular here. You don't have to worry about accidentally cooking up a poisonous one!



We also gave all the chickens a haircut this week. We have 168 producing hens and 3 roosters. Yeah, I know, we tried to get rid of all the roosters, but then we were given some chickens with a couple of roosters and one of the pullet chicks turned out to be a boy. It is hard to sex those things when they are little. We decided it would probably be a good idea to keep a few roosters around just in case something happened that would keep us from being able to get chicks through mail order.



Apparently some animal rights groups think chicks shipped through the mail are starved in the process. Not true at all. Just before a chick hatches, the stomach muscles form around the yoke sack. This gives the baby chick a good three days worth of food and water. God created them this way because chickens tend to hatch over a period of 3 days. This way, the mother doesn't have to leave the nest until they are all hatched. She can keep the early hatchers there until everyone is ready to go out and find food. Chicks are shipped priority and generally arrive to their destination within 2 days, most of the time overnight. They do not starve!



Anyway .... rant over ... here's the mess from our barber work. We cut one wing so they can't fly over the fence and into the garden. It's like a haircut. It doesn't hurt the chickens, just keeps them at ground level. Some of you may think that chicken's can't fly. They actually do a little. They only go up around 5 or 6 feet, but they do fly.



My census job ended yesterday. It was supposed to last 14 weeks. They lied. There was no more work for anyone as of today. Oh well! It was fun while it lasted. The farmer's markets will be in full force in a couple of weeks. I'm planning to spend the summer baking and making noodles unless something else comes up.



We will have chives, lemon balm, radishes, eggs, noodles, some dried herbs and peppers from last year and banana bread to take to the farmer's market in Burlington this week - maybe some green onions and lettuce, but they are a little on the small side as of today. We'll see.



I sold all but 5 of my blown goose eggs. Would have sold them too, but I had hidden them and Grampa didn't see them when the last lady came to buy. Oh well, I need a few to decorate myself. I also have a bunch of blown guinea eggs. They are smaller than chicken eggs. You'd think they'd break easier, but those things are tough little critters. They should be really good for crafts.



I was looking at my herb garden today. I have some cilantro and basil coming up! I took my chicken guard off it a couple of weeks ago so I was wondering if they would devour the seedlings as they sprouted. So far the chickens don't seem to enthused about cilantro or basil. That's OK with me!



On a side note ... the birds are building a new nest in my stove vent. I guess we just have to keep chasing them out.



Well, as usual, the fonts on this post seem all messed up. I really need to take some time and figure out what I'm doing to them, but that's low on the priority list. You all will just have to put up with me.




God Bless You All!

It Didn't Work

Well, I don't know what the "enclosure link" stuff is all about. I added a Tea Party News section on the side bar. I'm sure we will be doing more along this line. Grampa is very passionate about politics. If you want to read his speech, click on the "We Made the Front Page" link.



GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

Introducing Donald and Daisy

Let's try this again. I was trying to correct my typos on the title and somehow this thing decided to publish itself.

We went to a hillbilly auction today. Scrufftiest bunch of people I've ever seen outside a biker bar - Grampa and I fit right in :) We bought a couple of ducks. Grampa suggested we name them Donald and Daisy. I like it!

We used to have a couple of ducks. One thought it was a chicken. We named it Daffy. He was lots of fun. So much so that Blue wanted to play with him. We lost almost all our small flock of chickens and the wanna be chicken when he was a pup. He knows not to play with them now. Some people says that once a dog has killed a chicken he will get the taste of it and you won't be able to stop them, but they are wrong. Blue only wanted to play and he's learned he can't do that.

Grampa made some connections yesterday that may open a market to restraunts in St. Louis. It looks very promising and we are excited! It just seems like God keeps opening up markets for us. Our only problem is meeting the demand.

Our first farmer's market this year will be in Burlington on Thursday, May 7th at the riverfront. Hope to see some of you there!

Oh ... and this has nothing to do with business ... I'm just so incredibly proud of Grampa! He's always been such a private, shy recluse, but he made the front page of the county newspaper with the speech he made at our little Tea Party protest in town. The editor gave me a link you should be able to use now and also when it goes into the archives.

I'm experimenting here. I added the link as an "enclosure link" We will see what happens. Hopefully you'll be able to find it and click. Anyway, the paper printed almost his entire speech word for word. I'll post it on the side bar if it doesn't.

Well, lot's to do!



God Bless You All!

Hanging Here and New Life

Yesterday I came across a hanging. Over the winter, a couple of birds took up residence in my stove vent. Their nest wasn't interfering with how the vent worked and since I tend to be a terribly lazy person at times, I had pity on them and decided to share the warmth of my house for the winter. Yesterday, I went to evict them because their nest was starting to drop materials on my stove. To my surprise there was a bird hanging by the neck from the vent by a thread! We had heard a lot of fighting out of them over the winter, but I didn't think it was that bad! I am a HORRIBLE person. I laughed.



Grampa has some gardens coming up. He's got beets, radishes, kolorabi, lettuce, spinach,onions and peas coming up. He's hoping he'll be able to get some potatoes, broccoli and tomato plants in this week. The farmer's market in Burlington will be starting May 7th. Hopefully we'll have some veggies ready to go by then.


Mutant chickens anyone? These are Cornish Crosses. I really don't like these birds. They are the ones raised in most commercial poultry opperations. They are bred for meat production at the expense of feather and bone. It's how they get those gigantic chicken breasts you see everywhere, but they never get all their feathers and they tend to have problems with broken legs. To me, they never really look healthy, but Farm & Home was practically giving them away and they were already 2 weeks old. They are ready to butcher between 8 and 12 weeks old so they were pretty big when we got them. They aren't going to be pastured, but we are giving them lots of hay. They don't seem to understand what to do with real vegetables like normal chickens do. We figured if we can't sell them, we will put them in our freezer.




We just got this shipment of baby chicks in this week. We have 100 Golden Comets, 25 Black Asterlops and 25 White Leghorns. These are all breeds that have a high egg production record. The Golden Comets and Black Asterlops have brown eggs and the White Leghorns have white egg. We're planning to alternate new chick purchases between high production and color.

Well, I'm off this morning to work for the US Census. I love this job! I get to tromp around the country side and see all the beautiful places God has created. I get lots of fresh air and exercize and ... I get to punch buttons!


God Bless You All! ~ Love, Grama Sue

Happy Easter!

I am so ready for Easter! The Kearns kids came and decorated for me last week and then DH brought this little girl in a couple of days ago! I've named her Shorty. I love to call kids shorty cause they almost always grow taller than me, but this one will always be shorter than me!

Remember that God loved you so much that He gave His only begotten Son for you! Jesus is the Lamb that was sacrificed for your sin!

Happy Resurrection Day!

Goose Eggs and Garden

Spring is springing! At least for a few days! The robins have invaded our yard in earnest and the temps have been above freezing for a few days. That will probably change of course. It's the Midwest you know!

Grampa has been busy planting lettuce, onions, kale, spinach, peas and radishes. Our gardens are set up so we can put a green house over each one, but we are missing the tubing we need to do this so we just put plastic on the soil for now.


Our biggest problem is keeping the chickens from scratching up all the seed. They love to scratch around in the loose dirt and find all the goodies we don't want them to find. We are trying to figure out how to fence the gardens in this year since we haven't had much luck fencing the chickens in the pasture.


We were discussing the noise the guinea fowl make the other day. Grampa hates it. I pointed out that the sheep are actually louder. He told me the sheep make money. He doesn't know how to make money with guineas. He was telling me he didn't want to listen to anything that didn't make him money. "Shoot," he exclaimed (with a great big mischievous grin), "I wouldn't even keep you around if I didn't think you were worth something. You make me dinner every now and then (and then he said some other things that can't be repeated in polite company)" Don't worry, I did hit him! Good thing I know he loves me. I just have to apologize to my daughters-in-love. Devan and Tristina, it's genetic. When your husbands are stupid, just take into account where they come from ;)



So ... guinea fowl anyone? Grampa says he will sell them at the Burlington Pigeon Swap if we've still got them by then.

I have nearly 50 hand-blown goose eggs ready to decorate and available for Easter. We have been getting 2 ever other day so I will have a few more by Easter. They have just one small hole on the large end. There are several simple crafts you can do with your kids that are really pretty.


Of course you've seen my golden goose eggs - very simple, just spray paint them gold and put them in a basket! I have golden goose eggs and smaller "nest eggs" in this basket.



Last night I used a glue gun to attach some sparkly cording to these eggs and then spray painted them with glitter spray. I've also rolled eggs in glue and then in glitter for a stronger sparkle effect.


Some sites that look interesting are:

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/easter/ribbon-eggs.shtml

http://freestuff4kids.net/2008/03/06/13-creative-ways-to-dye-and-decorate-easter-eggs/

http://www.ehow.com/how_2163885_decorate-easter-eggs-tissue-paper.html

http://crafts.kaboose.com/oil-and-food-coloring-marbled-eggs.html

I've got some chicken eggs that I've blown too. Here's a picture of them with a goose egg.


I don't have to many chicken eggs blown and on hand, but it wouldn't take long to get a batch together! Thought I'd take the biggest and the littlest chicken egg in this picture and put them beside a tape measure so you can get an idea of their sizes. The little one is a pullet egg ( from a hen that has just started laying). We should be getting lots of these in browns, blues and greens soon. The large one was a double yolker. They are fairly rare.


This next picture is of a typical sized chicken egg next to a goose egg.


Goose eggs are not only bigger than chicken eggs, they are also much thicker. They still break, but not as easily. This makes them easier to work with for crafts.


If you are interested they are 75 cents each plus shipping. Call or e-mail to order.

I'm taking a goose egg pie to a sick friend this afternoon.

Recipe:

2 goose eggs (or 4 chicken eggs)
1/4 cup milk
1/8 tsp natural sea salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced ham or bacon
1/8 tsp garlic
1/8 tsp chili pepper
1 cup grated cheese

Whip eggs and milk until well mixed. Add all remaining ingredients except 1/2 cup cheese.
Pour into oiled pie plate. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours. Then cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until firm. Add the remaining 1/2 cup cheese to the top about 5 minutes before it is done.

This recipe freezes well. Just put the uncooked mixture on a level place in the freezer. Then thaw in refrigerator before cooking.

God Bless You All! ~Grama Sue

Spring is teasing us! We have a few days of warm temps then we plunge back down! All the sheep but 3 have lambed. We have 24 little ones so far!



The geese are loving this weather and giving us eggs. I have a supply of blown goose eggs if anyone is interested! $0.75 each plus shipping.


Our chickens have gone off strike status. We are getting around 20 dozen a week now. We are also getting a few pullet eggs from the chicks we bought last fall. By next month we should have 40 to 50 dozen a week. Still not enough to fill the orders we have, but getting closer. We have ordered another 150 chicks, but it will be late October before they start laying.


I wanted to show you all some of the variety we have in egg colors. When I took them outside so I could get a good picture this little hen was very interested!



She seemed to be asking, "What are you doing with my eggs?"



I bred some blue roosters to my brown egg layers last year. I am so pleased with the khaki color that resulted! It is fitting for a mom that has 2 kids who are full time military! If you look carefully, the egg on the upper right is two toned. We've been getting one like this almost every day.

I have updated my Beyond the Paycheck intro on the right side of the blog website. The first two paragraphs are the same, but I changed the end. If you get this by e-mail and would like to check it out you'll have to go to the website.

I'm thinking I probably ought to do this monthly during the winter. Come summer though, I hope to have at least a menu of what we available on a weekly basis so local folks can order home delivery.

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue