Happy Thanksgiving To All Of You!
Instead of painting a traditional turkey for the holiday, I painted a Thanksgiving Rooster. It matches my home decor.
Category: Farm Fancy
From Bad to Worse: The Mucked Up Trench
Like all good horrors, the story must go from bad to worse.
We were tickled with delight to discover, as we dug with a shovel beside our house, that the perforated drain tile was collapsed (hence the reason our yard stays marshy around the deck. It’s simply stunning that our basement hasn’t flooded). Our excitement grew as our natural spring continued to pour out of the ground dousing the clay soil. A splendid gray paste formed that stuck to our boots and shovels like wet cement. Since the lower walls of our trench decided to crumble inward, we had to take the trencher through it again. However the wet clay in the bottom of the trench spewed upward and formed a mound. Staring at the mucked up mess, we knew there was only one solution. We cut a new big butt trench into our lawn.
Once the second trench was done, we leveled it and went to work on digging further around the collapsed portion of drain tile. We found a bit of tile at the base of the house that was still round enough, so we patched in a connector, and threaded the new tile through the trench.
Thanks to our reinforcements (my parents and my husbands’ parents), we were able to complete this project in 22 hours of backing breaking labor. If not for the help…goodness…I shudder to imagine.
In the Trenches: Another Day on the Farm
Today we tackled the big project of replacing the perforated drain tiles. Finding the old tiles and digging the trenches is no little feat, let me tell you. It’s takes a strong man, (a.k.a my husband), and a tough assistant, (a.k.a me). It also takes a big butt trencher that we rented. And with all these factors added together for success…eight hours later, the project still isn’t done.
Our land has a natural spring that runs under our house, so when we built two years ago, the builders directed the water toward the back of our property. We then dug a small pond for the water to flow into for our flock of chickens. However, the pond would be fuller if the builders hadn’t used perforated tiles. Hence, today’s project.
We have blisters. We have sore backs. And our feet ache. But what can I say, it’s just another day on Cordero Family Farm. And it will continue again tomorrow.
Haircuts for Hens
Much to my surprise, Helga didn’t peck my finger off as I gave her a spring “haircut.” And by haircut, I mean that her flight feathers needed to be clipped.
Every spring, the girls all need their feathers clipped because they’ll start flying over the pasture’s fence. And when my crazy chicken named LaFonda Flash gets over the fence, its nearly impossible to catch her.
Meet Helga, my feisty hen, who today was actually in a lovely mood. Must be the sunshine. You will notice several feathers lying on the grass. Evidence of the “haircuts.”
Waiting in Line
The truth is that no one likes waiting in line. Even chickens.
This morning, I heard loud squawking coming from the henhouse and decided to investigate. Inside, I found the dilemma. There were six hens needing to lay eggs and only three nest boxes. Poor girls. Waiting and labor combined, not a good combination.
Tap the Sap: Making Maple Syrup
When February comes to a close, we get ready to tap our trees. For us, it’s a fun experience that our whole family can be a part of, and trust me, not many things are as sweetly delicious as freshly boiled syrup. We finished our last batch as few days ago. If ever you wondered how syrup is made, I’m about to tell you.
#1 Drill the tree and put in the spiles attached to buckets or milk gallons. Collect the sap each night and refrigerate if the night doesn’t get below 38 degrees. Sap will sour just like milk.
#2 Once sap is collected, it can be boiled down. We’ve created an outdoor evaporator. It’s very efficient, however, it still takes awhile to evaporate the water from the sap in order to only leave the syrup. It’s a tedious process and requires constant supervision and skimming off the foam.
#3 When the sap begins to darken and thicken, bring it inside to finish in order to control the boil on a stove top. It is ready when the syrup is 7 degrees above boiling.
#4 Pour syrup into jars and seal. Maple syrup is great as a breakfast topping, ice cream topping, in coffee, and to replace sugar in baking.
Spoiled Rotten Hens
My chickens are not just hens…they are my girls. Each have a name and each are spoiled rotten. Believe it or not, my hens like being held and petted. My children adore catching them, though I’m not sure the girls like being chased. At least, its good exercise for all of them.
When I saw the little ladies shivering this winter, I went to work to make better accommodations. Heat lamp, electric waterer and extra grains.
The only thing I didn’t do was sew sweaters. But boy, it would have been cute. I like the patterns below.
Sweater References: reginadrangel.blogspot.com, hencam.co.uk
Starting from Scratch
It’s easy to take things we buy or use for granted when they come already packaged and produced. That’s why I like trying to make things from scratch. It makes me appreciate the end result much more. My husband and I continue to grow on our hobby farm (Cordero Family Farm) in order to become more self-reliant. Here’s a picture tour of my continued learning in canning, cooking, and baking from scratch.
Loving Dairy Cows
Today, we visited my friend Diane at her dairy cow farm called Indian Trail Farms. Touring her barns is like therapy for the soul. No moos about it…I’m in love. I could let those sweet cows lick my hands and nuzzle my face all day. They’re adorable.
I was so impressed with the magnitude of the operation at Diane’s farm. They have cows being born every day! Number #20 pictured below was born the morning of our visit.
My son Gabriel thought he entered cow heaven.
For more information on Indian Trail Farms, and the beauty of running a cow farm visit my friend Diane’s blog at http://www.afarmwife.com. She is an amazing blogger and gifted farm wife. Diane’s blog is both entertaining and poignant. Also, she has a farm store with great products via her web page. Some of those products include: her own t-shirt line with fun farm sayings and a children’s book she wrote called “Where’s Charlie?”
Our Crazy Summer
Dear Readers, I apologize for the few and far between posts this summer. It’s been crazy and a little chaotic. Therefore, I haven’t been real busy writing, but I have been busy making memories with my husband, my children, family, friends and of course…our dog, cats, and chickens too.
Here are a few photos of our crazy cool summer:
- We became honorary Dutch dancers at Dutch Village with my British friend (aka-my brother from another mother), Kyle, during his visit in June.
2. We used our imaginations and pretended to be secret agents, tigers in the circus, fairies with special powers, models in a runway show, etc.
3. Celebrated my son turning two-years-old on June 16th!
4. We picked blueberries with family who visited with us in July.
5. We school shopped for my daughter who is going into Kindergarten!
6. Doctored my daughter when she got stung by wasps four times around her elbow.
6. Velvet has been laying double-yokers. What a champ!
7. Took a family camping trip, and we all stayed in tents!
