Getting Feathers

It's been a while since i've updated on our little peeps.  All of our new chicks are getting bigger and getting all their feathers in.  They lose that cute little fluffiness so quickly, and take on that awkward teen-age bird look for while.  Many of them have already made it through the awkward stage and are beginning to look like miniature chickens.  We are also beginning to get a few signs of whether we have hens or roosters.

My two wild hens, who were never given proper names are always hiding with their babies  They make it so difficult for me to get a good picture of them. i've found that my best attempt to get a photo is to throw down some corn and then step back and sit quietly.  My pretty black hen has three of these peeps. The one in the left corner belongs to my brown hen and i believe it's a girl.  Of the black hens three, so far it appears she has two girls and a boy.  The little black peep is her mini-me.  It appears to be a girl and looks identical to her mama with the black feet, comb and beak.

 This pretty fellow is an americana-cross i believe.  He has a longer neck and a bit of a beard (common with the Americanas) and he is already getting a comb.  No sign of blue tail feathers yet, which is usually a definite sign it's a boy.  It will be a while before i know for sure, but i'm pretty sure this a rooster.

The third little peep, i believe is the Buff Orpington cross. She has a heavier shape, short neck and super soft feathers.  She is looking like a hen so far...although some of them develop later, so it's still just a guess.

Of the four new easter-egg chickens, there appears to be 3 hens and one rooster.  Happy feet has the prettiest pattern.  Her feathers are all different shades of gray.  She is an extremely sweet bird and everyone's favorite. She loves to roost on shoulders.

 This is one of the two 'twins'.  The kids named them Jumpin' Jack Flash and Rascal. They both look completely identical, so i'm not sue which one is in the photo. :)  So far, they both appear to be females.

 

 The kids have named this one Rooster-boy, for obvious reasons. :)  So far it's the only one to be getting a comb.  He is also the only one that doesn't have a tail, which seems kind of odd. i'm not sure if he's slow in getting his tail feathers or if he'll be rumpless which is common with true aruacanas. His featehr feather pattern is similar to Happy Feet, except that he has a pretty russet red color.

 

Sunny's peeps are all getting their feathers too, but they are so tiny. Sunny is a smaller hen, and i'm guessing the Bantam roosters is the Daddy. So the babies just seem extra small compared to all our others.  They have more feathers now than they did in this photo, but i still can't tell if we have hens or roosters yet.

We've been really lucky so far this fall, in that we haven't lost any babies/chickens yet. This time of year is terrible for predators, and it isn't uncommon for my wild birds to get picked off one by one. Last fall we lost all of our roosters but one because they insisted on sleeping in the trees.

 All three of my mama hens refuse to stay in the fencing, and like to scratch around at the edge of the woods and across the street so they are especially vulnerable. i was hoping that hatching out eggs from the domestic hens, they would be a bit less wild.  However, my mama birds teach their babies well. They teach them to scratch, forage and fly out of the chicken pen.

Fall Garden-Rual Thursday

This week the temperatures really dropped.  We started our first fire of the season, this is by far the earliest fire we've ever had to start. We typically do not start burning wood until Thanksgiving. 

Our first killing frost is predicted for this week, and the temperatures have been dipping down to around freezing all week.  Despite the low temps my garden is still hanging in there.

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My main fall garden is still thriving.  i have a few zinnias still blooming,then a row of zucchini that have never produced. The plants are small and stunted. They developed downy mildew and never recovered despite my attempts to treat them with organic copper.  The plants have continued to bloom, but have never produced any fruit.

 

i have 5 rows of blue lake green beans that are just beginning to produce.  This garden somehow managed to avoid the frost that hit my other gardens. It's on the other side of the driveway, and down a bit lower than the other beds. Although the other gardens survived that frost, all the plants had a bit of frost damage, while these plants all look untouched.  Would love it if the frost can delay a couple weeks, but i'm not really counting on it. 

 

Swiss chard is doing fabulous. These is such an easy plant to grow. i actually have this planted in three different garden beds.  The cabbage worms don't seem to care for it, and other than an occasional snail i have very little problems with  garden pests or disease. Swiss chard can be used like kale or spinach in recipes.  i've even made baked Chard chips and they've very good, just a bit thinner and more delicate than kale.

My peas are also just starting to bloom. They had a very slow start sprouting in the summer heat. Now they are thriving, but i don't think i'll be getting any peas from them before they succumb to the frost/temps.

 

Kale is always a fall favorite. My Rebor kale has been producing all summer. i planted a new crop for the fall, and with the lower temperatures it has much more of a purple color than it did over the summer.   i really love this variety of kale. It is thick and hearty, cooks wonderfully and makes the best kale chips.  i planted several varieties this year, and the cabbage worms devoured most of them.  The Redbor has been somewhat resistant to them. It seems i didn't start getting any worms until after i pulled the other kale, and even then the worms have been manageable. 

Fall is also the perfect time to plant lettuce. i planted several varieties of leaf lettuce, romaine, and buttercrunch.   i have quite a bit of rocket arugula that reseeded its self as well. 

My broccoli plans had a rough start with all of the cabbage worms. The temps have gotten cold enough, that the cabbage whites are not as active.  For the fall i planted regular broccoli, violet cauliflower and Romanesco Broccoli.  So far all the plants are doing well, although the Romanesco Broccoli plants are still pretty small, despite being planted at the same time as the others and so i'm not sure they'll make it to harvest.

My pepper plants are still loaded. Many of the peppers are tiny, and will never make it to harvest. i may attempt to cover these on nights that frost is predicted or go below 32.  i may even dig up one of the small plants and keep it inside. Peppers are can grow all winter if given enough warmth and light.

Look what the Autumn fairy dropped off at our house!! We found these huge pumpkins and butternut squash left in our yard. We have no idea who dropped them off. At first we assumed it was the folks down the road that have in the past blessed us with several different fruits and veggies, but it wasn't them. ???  So i want to shout out a huge THANK YOU to whoever it was, just incase they read this blog. My kids are so thilled with the giant pumpkins. We only grew 4 year and they are all very small compared to these.  i love butternut squash, but didn't even plant it this year because i have so many problems with the squash borers and pickle worms. This was quite an unexpected blessing.

Glass for sale

My husband's shop mate is in need of a little help.  He has lots of glass to sell.  These pieces are priced low to move them quickly.  You can view all available work here.  Prices are listed, shipping is $2.50 on pendants and $5 on belt buckles.  i can give measurements for any of the pieces upon request.  If you see a piece you are interested in, please comment on the actual photo.  Thanks!

Battle Scars of a Homesteader.

Over the years, i've gotten some pretty good scars from everyday activities around the homestead.  In the spring my arms and legs are always covered in scratches from raspberry and blackberry picking. Year round, i have little cuts and scraps from chicken wire, barbed wire, and goat fencing.  My hands are usually blistered and callused from shoveling compost/manure and working in the garden.

Casper my wethered male goat has caused many bruises to my calves and thighs. This is usually caused by a quick flick of his head when i'm giving him hay, not a malicious attack. Those darn horns inflict a pretty nasty bruise without him even trying.  If i had known how dangerous they were i would probably have de-horned him.  He's has gotten me a couple times pretty good. 

  

Yep, this one is definitely going to leave a mark. :(
This week i've been working on processing apples. i've been canning apple sauce and pie filling using my water bath canner.  i always boil the jars in the water bath canner before filling them.  In the past i've sustained some pretty nasty burns from the apple sauce itself. When it starts boiling, it will often erupt randomly similar to a volcano and spew hot out apple sauce everywhere. i have a decent sized scar on my inner wrist from making aple sauce last year. i lifted the lid to stir it, and a large bubble of apple sauce explodes and landed on my arm. 
   Having learned my lesson last year, i made sure my arms were covered this year.  i wore long sleeves and because it was a bit chilly that morning i also had on a sweater that fits snuggly on my arms.  i wasn't too worried about getting burned again.

However, it wasn't the apple sauce that got me this time, it was the boiling water.  i typically do most of my canning in pint jars, because i was gifted about 100 of them a few years back.  They are the perfect size for applesauce. This time i was also making pie filling, and my recipe called for quart jars.  So i used my big canner and had it full of quart jars and boiling water.

  When i went to take a jar out of the canner, i didn't consider the extra weight it would take to lift it out and dump it. So as i attempted to empty the boiling water from the jar it splashed up into my face, immediately burning me and causing me to lose my grip on the jar.  The jar fell forward, and all that boiling water came rushing out onto my arm, and  literally down my sleeve. It took my brain a couple seconds to really register what had just happened, and then it took another few seconds to remove the tight fitting sweater which was scalding hot and stuck to my arm.

Once i got the sweater off, i immediately put my arm under cold water and tried to 'wash' away the scalding water. The top layer of my skin was literally rubbing off, i knew then that it was going to be pretty bad. :(

i took this picture a few minutes after i was burned.  The blister is now doubled in size, and the light pink area is now a dark red. Thankfully, it is mostly a 1st degree burn with second degree in the area where the scalding water pooled inside my sweater.  i  also had some minor blistering near my wrist, but the worst of it is at the bottom.  It could have been a lot worse!

Despite the nasty burn, i still finished my canning that day and am getting ready to start another batch of apple sauce today.  i am however, taking extra precautions and wishing i had some protective gear to wear.
  

Fall Harvest

It's harvest time here in Floyd County!! With the early frost that hit here last week, i decided it was time to get our potatoes and sweet potatoes out of the ground!  So i have spent the last week digging potatoes.  So far i have dug 2 1/2 bushel (around 125lbs) of red potatoes and around 80 lbs of sweet potatoes.  i still have another row or two of red potatoes to dig.

   Some of the potatoes should be good to store this winter, but many of them have deep pitted scab, cracks or were stuck by the pitchfork when i was digging them. i tried to separate them into baskets so that the potatoes with injuries can be used first.  The others can be stored under the house in the basement. It stays cool down there, and will act as a root cellar.

 

 Although the frost we had didn't kill back the sweet potato vines, i wanted to get them out of the ground anyway.  Instead of actually digging up the entire plants, i used my  pitchfork to loosen up the center cluster and i only removed the large tubers, leaving many of the smaller potatoes and the main roots still in the ground. i figured i'd give them a bit more time to grow in case we had another Indian Summer.  When a major frost hits and totally wipes out the vines i'll get the rest of them dug.

 

i really had a gorgeous sweet potatoes harvest!! Many of them were huge!! i weight some of the biggest and they were almost 2lbs each!  i'm hoping that they cure well, so that we'll have them to eat all winter.  Many of our sweet potatoes from last year, lasted until the spring.  They began to sprout then, and provided us with many slips to plant.

 

 i've also started collecting hickory nuts.  We have several tree on our property, and the nuts are delicious!  i leave them to dry in the sun for about two weeks, and then crack them open with a hammer and use a nut pick to collect the nut meats. They can be used in any recipes that call for pecans.

Apples!!!! This has been a great year for apples!  At the beginning of Sept. my husband picked a bunch of apples from the wild apple tree at the top of the hill. They looked good, but most had worms in the core, and quickly began to get brown spots.  They were not great for storing, but they made good sauce, so i processed them all into apple sauce and canned them.

Recently, i've had my eye on another tree that was completely overflowing with big red apples. i passed it everyday on my way to the school. i  finally asked Kenan if he knew who owned the land it was on, and he did.  So he stopped by one day after work and asked him if he could pick some apples.  He came home with around 55 lbs.  These apples are beautiful! They are crisp and tart, and perfect! 

 

Last night he went back to chat with the man, and came home with over 100lbs more.  The man was happy to give the apples to someone who would use them, and just asked for a jar or two of sauce.  He told us we were welcome to come back ever year to pick as much as we wanted. The apples usually just go to waste. i'm planning to make him a few jars of sauce, a jar of apple butter and an apple pie!

i'm really pretty happy with the years harvest despite all my tomato problems. We have more than enough potatoes and sweet potatoes to last us the winter and to share with neighbors and friends.   If these apples store well, i won't process them all and will hopefully have a nice stash of fresh apples during the winter as well.  My freezer is packed full of garden produce and i have a nice supply of home canned fruits, veggies and jams as well.