Just a short post to announce that we now have 6 chicks- 2 black sex links, 2 marans, and 2 brahmas. We decided we wanted to build a coop this weekend, so I went a little crazy and took the kids to the only feed store in our area that still had chicks.
We plan on having a flock of around a dozen, so as other breeds we like come in for fall flocks, we plan on getting more. I'm looking forward to snagging some buff orpintons and wyandottes.
Not much more to tell for now, we've only had them a couple hours. I guess it's going to be harder than I thought though, because my normally gentle daughter likes to grab them by the neck and make them flap. Good thing they won't stay small for long!
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Triumph!
Recently, I managed to check one more thing off on my list of accomplishments. I finally got around to publishing a bit of my writing, and though it's not much, I have a couple of sales. I would like to turn it in to a viable hobby, but it's enough to know that I have at least done the minimum.
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Positive Experience
Just a short post (where does the time for wordy posts with pictures come from when you have little ones?) to share the lovely experience I had with Stark Bro's recently.
I purchased 8 bare root fruit trees from them in the fall and got them planted successfully. 7 of the trees started getting leaves in March and by this point look like normal trees. My Montemorency Pie Cherry only had 2 leaves by April and those fell off in early May.
I called up the company and told them that my tree died and a week later I had a replacement (free tree and free shipping). It's taller and has more limbs than the one I got in the fall, so I'm hopeful that it will live. I desperately want some fresh cherry pie!
I purchased 8 bare root fruit trees from them in the fall and got them planted successfully. 7 of the trees started getting leaves in March and by this point look like normal trees. My Montemorency Pie Cherry only had 2 leaves by April and those fell off in early May.
I called up the company and told them that my tree died and a week later I had a replacement (free tree and free shipping). It's taller and has more limbs than the one I got in the fall, so I'm hopeful that it will live. I desperately want some fresh cherry pie!
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Waiting for Winds of Winter
Yes, I am a fan of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, as well as the show Game of Thrones. I try to be patient by rereading the books, but I'm having a hard time waiting to find out what is going on. All of the fan theories are interesting and I poke around fan sites about once a week to see what people are talking about.
I ordered the seeds for the garden last night. I had a few last minute items to add on. My husband was concerned that we wouldn't have room for all of the items, but I pointed out that we'll only have a few of each plant. I'm interested in trying the hubbard squash, but we'll likely only have 1 or 2 vines. The same is true for pie pumpkins. The majority of the garden space will likely be for tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumbers. I'm excited to make pickles, so we'll need to grow quite a few cukes.
I've been searching for more information on backyard chickens lately. I'm hoping I'll find a good book on the subject. It seems strange to need a lot of information of raising chickens when people had their own backyard chickens just 50 years ago, but no one in my generation seems to know anything about raising poultry.
I ordered the seeds for the garden last night. I had a few last minute items to add on. My husband was concerned that we wouldn't have room for all of the items, but I pointed out that we'll only have a few of each plant. I'm interested in trying the hubbard squash, but we'll likely only have 1 or 2 vines. The same is true for pie pumpkins. The majority of the garden space will likely be for tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumbers. I'm excited to make pickles, so we'll need to grow quite a few cukes.
I've been searching for more information on backyard chickens lately. I'm hoping I'll find a good book on the subject. It seems strange to need a lot of information of raising chickens when people had their own backyard chickens just 50 years ago, but no one in my generation seems to know anything about raising poultry.
Monday, January 5, 2015
More about our House
I meant to share more about the home buying process, but it ended up being such a busy time that I neglected blogging.
We viewed just a few homes, though I looked at hundreds online. We didn't want to waste our realtor's time, or our own, with homes that didn't look like what we wanted.
There are just a few towns in our area, but there was one that stuck out as being family friendly. I only found a few houses that looked interesting here, but one ended up being just right for our family.
The house we decided to buy is a small ranch, about 1,200 sqft. It is on a quarter of an acre and is tucked back in an older, quiet neighborhood. There were just two trees here, an apple in the back yard, and a young maple in the front. We planted our 8 new fruit trees, and we're planning for blueberries in the spring.
We haven't made up our minds yet about backyard chickens. Our town has no limit on the number of chickens and even allows roosters. I would love to raise our own eggs and have a source of manure for composting. The coops are fun to look at online too. The only drawbacks of chickens I can think of are cleaning up the coop regularly, and the increase in rodents and snakes in our yard. All of the neighbors have chickens though, so it likely wouldn't be too much trouble.
I've been working on my seed order for spring. It's exciting to be planning a large food garden. I know we want asparagus, green beans, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, lettuce, melons, and some squash. It's going to be hard to figure out exactly how much more will fit, and how many plants of each thing to do. I think it will be a bit easier next year after using the yard for a year.
We viewed just a few homes, though I looked at hundreds online. We didn't want to waste our realtor's time, or our own, with homes that didn't look like what we wanted.
There are just a few towns in our area, but there was one that stuck out as being family friendly. I only found a few houses that looked interesting here, but one ended up being just right for our family.
The house we decided to buy is a small ranch, about 1,200 sqft. It is on a quarter of an acre and is tucked back in an older, quiet neighborhood. There were just two trees here, an apple in the back yard, and a young maple in the front. We planted our 8 new fruit trees, and we're planning for blueberries in the spring.
We haven't made up our minds yet about backyard chickens. Our town has no limit on the number of chickens and even allows roosters. I would love to raise our own eggs and have a source of manure for composting. The coops are fun to look at online too. The only drawbacks of chickens I can think of are cleaning up the coop regularly, and the increase in rodents and snakes in our yard. All of the neighbors have chickens though, so it likely wouldn't be too much trouble.
I've been working on my seed order for spring. It's exciting to be planning a large food garden. I know we want asparagus, green beans, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, lettuce, melons, and some squash. It's going to be hard to figure out exactly how much more will fit, and how many plants of each thing to do. I think it will be a bit easier next year after using the yard for a year.
Friday, January 2, 2015
Pruning an Apple Tree
I never really updated on the housing situation. We found a house we liked and ended up buying it in late September. It is a small house in a rural town. There isn't much of a yard, but it is larger than what we had at the rental house.
Our small house came with a young apple tree that no one ever pruned. I looked up the basics and gave it my best shot today. It seems like the most important things to remember are to trim away crossing branches, avoid crooks between branches (bugs live there), and get rid of some older limbs to make way for newer branches (new growth tends to be more prolific). I guess time will tell how well I did. There were just a few wormy apples on the tree in Fall 2014, so I'd like to at least get rid of the worms.
In addition to the one original apple tree, we planted 3 apples, 2 cherries, 1 peach, 1 apricot, and 1 plum. We ordered them from Stark Bro's. They have a good selection with reasonable prices. They also prune the trees for free. The only gripe I have with them is that the trees didn't ship on time and the company never contacted me. I had to call them several times before I found out when the new shipping date would be. Despite the shipping delay, I plan on ordering some blueberry bushes from them in the spring.
Our small house came with a young apple tree that no one ever pruned. I looked up the basics and gave it my best shot today. It seems like the most important things to remember are to trim away crossing branches, avoid crooks between branches (bugs live there), and get rid of some older limbs to make way for newer branches (new growth tends to be more prolific). I guess time will tell how well I did. There were just a few wormy apples on the tree in Fall 2014, so I'd like to at least get rid of the worms.
In addition to the one original apple tree, we planted 3 apples, 2 cherries, 1 peach, 1 apricot, and 1 plum. We ordered them from Stark Bro's. They have a good selection with reasonable prices. They also prune the trees for free. The only gripe I have with them is that the trees didn't ship on time and the company never contacted me. I had to call them several times before I found out when the new shipping date would be. Despite the shipping delay, I plan on ordering some blueberry bushes from them in the spring.
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