Another Addition to the Homestead

Our little homestead keeps growing and growing. This time we are adding another person. Eric and I are having a baby at the end of July! We are so excited to share our life with the little one. We are really looking forward to making baby food, growing more food, and teaching our child to garden, hike, and raise animals.

This picture is how we annouced the baby to our families.

Chicken Drama

A week after the chickens were traumatized by a hawk, there was another attack in the chicken coop.  Our dogs learned they they could open the coop door by clawing at the clasp. Normally the door is locked, but recently it wasn't.

We thought the chickens were safe from predators in their coop, but we hadn't realized the dogs new trick. One day Eric looked out the window and he starts screaming, "Shadow has a chicken!" He was on the phone, so I ran outside. I started yelling Shadow's name before I was even in the backyard. Both dogs came running towards me. The chicken that was in Shadow's mouth also came running into my arms.

I carried the bitten chicken into the house for a closer look. The dogs happily followed behind me. There were a few feathers missing and some exposed flesh on the chicken, but nothing looked serious. Another chicken had similar injuries under one wing. The rest of the chickens were safely hidden in a lumber pile. I made sure that all chickens were safely locked in the coop.

A few weeks after this awful incident, I noticed that a chicken was moving around the coop...even after I put fresh food down. I picked her out of the coop and realized she was having trouble walking and was squirting out watery poo.

After a little online research, I realized she wasn't getting enough food because she was still hurt from the dog attack. I made a temporary home inside our house for our injured chicken. Since she wasn't walking around, I hand-fed her and put water within reach. She was eager to eat and enjoyed human company.

We know that chickens are social birds, so I spent a lot of time talking to her and Eric brought in other chickens for a visit. The hurt chicken was pooping normal within a day, standing within two days, preening within three days, and walking within four days. She came to greet us whenever we brought food. 

By the eighth day, the now healed chicken was back outside with the other five chickens. I know that reintroducing a chicken can have problems, so I waited for any bullying. One other chicken picked a fight, but our healed and healthy chicken stood her ground and no one else bothered her. I'm so happy that our chicken was able to get better because I feel awful that it was our dog that hurt her...an accident that didn't have to happen. I will continue to watch our chicken and make sure she continues to heal

First Farm Loss

Someone had an early morning Thanksgiving feast...and on the menu was one of our chickens...

For the past few months we have been letting the chickens roam free in our yard during the day. Our new fence gives us this freedom. Then at night the chickens go back to their coop and we lock the ramp for the night.

Yesterday morning Eric went outside to put the chickens in the coop so that we could let the dogs run around in the backyard. When Eric walked into the yard he watched a hawk fly away from the yard and into a nearby tree. He searched and searched for the chickens. One chicken was hiding in the coop and two more where covering behind some pine trees.

After no luck finding the other chickens, Eric came inside the house and told me what just happened. My heart sunk. "Are Sunny and Scrambles safe?" I asked. (We named three of the seven chickens due to their personalities). "Yes," he said. We ran back outside and Eric checked the garden shed. As I was walking to help Eric look in the garden shed, I saw it. I saw the heap of black and white feathers. My heart sunk even farther. I told Eric that I could never be a farmer. But here we were gathering the rest of the terrified chickens and putting them safe in their coop.

Losing a chicken was bound to happen. In fact, I'm not surprised it hadn't happened earlier. We have had the chickens outside for over a year. But the first death is always the hardest. Eric buried our Barred Plymouth Rock behind the garden shed and placed a rock on top. I guess I'm thankful that the chicken who died didn't have a name.

Now we are left with the question of whether we let the chickens roam free again. Now the hawk knows where dinner is. We plan to keep the chickens cooped up for a few weeks, and I guess from there we will make up our minds what to do next.

Who is watching who through the window?

Low Tunnels for Beginners

I apoligize in advance for the lack of posts this fall and the shortened information. We both are getting slammed at work and time with house projects. The "To-Do" List never ends. There are so many things I want to get done this fall, but just haven't had the time.

Cold weather is starting to creep in. We've had a beautiful, warm fall the past couple weeks, and now it is time to turn on the furnace and add an extra layer of clothing.  We are tucking in some of our garden plants for the Fall as well.

In August (or was it September) I planted a few seeds of plants that love cold weather. Carrots, green onion, radish, lettuces, pac choi, spinach, mache, and arugula. We could've also planted broccoli, but we are still waiting on this spring's plants to produce the head...so maybe we will see broccoli this Fall. Most of these plants should still be protected when the temperatures dip.

After reading an inspiring article from Mother Earth News, we decided that low tunnels were a good choice for our small homestead. We drilled long screws into the wooden frame of the garden beds, with 4 inches of the screw still sticking up. Attached a PVC pipe and then covered the hoops with fabric. Each 12'x4' bed has four hoops, and we can add more if needed later.  To save some money, I repurposed bird seed bags to fill with rocks and hold the fabric to the ground.

Since the growing plants are protected, I was able to remove the garden fence and allow the chickens to stratch in the empty garden beds. Everyone wins!

Wild Grape Jelly

I love this time of year when the landscape is dotted with all sorts of colors: yellows, reds, greens, and purples. I love the colors more if they guide me to free food. On our hike through a field the other day, we spotted many vines of ripe wild grapes.

Research needs to be done before harvesting wild edibles. It is very important to be 110% confident that you know what you are harvesting. We have learned about wild grapes over the past couple years, but this was the first time to gather the grapes. There are a few look-alike plants, so caution is needed.

There isn't much that one can do with wild grapes: juice, wine, or jelly. Don't let their tart flavor off the vine scare you away. Most recipes dilute the grape juice with water and sugar.

The grapes were on state land, and at first I didn't know if it was okay to harvest. I know for most people it is a "don't ask, don't tell" philosophy. But I was still nervous running into something while I was cutting off the grape clusters. Everytime I heard a car drive past, I ducked in the bushes. I'm still not sure what I would've done if someone actually saw me. My nerves were eased though when Eric called a local DNR office and found out that harvesting nuts and berries is legal at this spot.

Many pounds of grapes were needed for just a few pints of jelly. But it was worth it!

And another addition to the homestead!

I just realized that I forgot to share the news of the latest addition to our homestead. Shadow, our second dog. We actually got him in April, but I completly forgot the news. Koda, our first dog, is a very kind and social dog, so we thought he needed a friend.

Our decision literally was last minute when we found ourselves driving to the Humane Society. While we were driving, I kept saying that just because we were looking at dogs, didn't mean we had to get one. Well, long story short...when we saw Shadow, he smushed himself against the viewing window and gave us those loving eyes.

Shadow and Koda have been the best of friends ever since.  Now that makes two dogs, seven chickens, and two rabbits on our homestead!

Camping with Koda and Shadow

Canning Season

Well, I'm a little overwhelmed right now with all the things happening this season. There seems to be a surplus of produce everywhere I look. Recently the CSA farm was selling grade B organic heirloom tomatoes. So we bought 30 pounds worth and turned them into 21 colorful jars of diced tomatoes. Next on the list: salsa, tomato sauce, and pear butter...watch for updates!

Heirloom tomatoes usually have cracked skins. But thankfully the outside imperfections are only skin deep and are removed when prepping the tomatoes for canning. Their insides are gorgeous. (Is there a lesson here?)

The chickens enjoy canning season too.