Chicken tractor and Sheep

 Putting up the fence in the front yard.

 Wala, chicken tractor.  And chickens wanting some treats now that they see us.

 Maggie and her sidekick Daphne.

 Another view of chicken tractor.

 Treats!!

 Mama (Abbey) sheep with her two boys and Damsel in the back.

 Eggs.  Pretty.

 Chicken tractor with Maggie and Daphne.

Sleeping sheep are so cute.  :)

Big Blue, Pup and Chickens

 Daddy got a big blue truck.  Going to take two sheep to get them harvested this Thursday with it.  Don't let us down blue. 

 Guarding our Miss Maggie Mae here. 

 The chickens loved following Maggie in the yard while they ran around. 

 Going to go look for worms in the dirt. 

Sir Edmund.

Tree is out of the garden area

 They cleared a path to the tree and their extra trucks parked on the highway.

 Also getting a couple bushes next to the house that might be part of the cause of the garage wall being pushed inwards.

 Clearing the path.

 Ready to push the tree over when cutting is done.

 Maggie and our tree stump in our garden area.

An hour and a half later and this is how much its been snowing.  :P   Our tree and bushes in chips.

A New Pup and Seeds - The Homestead is Starting To Take Shape!!

 Woohoo!  Seeds for the garden and we have a supply of milk jugs for winter sowing!!  Yes!!

Our new pup.  A nice mix of Great Pyrenees and Anatolian Shepherd.  I don't know if I'll get any other breed again after meeting her.  So great with the other animals and so patient with the kids!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Raw Cranberry Sauce

Writing this here so I remember what changes I made to the original recipe.

2 Small apples ( try one small or half a med. next time, taste and adjust)
1 Large orange
3 dates (leave out to warm to room temp.)
1/2 lemon
2 cups cranberries


Turkey

Cut up and cooked in its juices: Julia Child style.

Notes:  Need larger stainless steel pan, 17lb turkey was too big for our pan.

Stuffing

Same as last year.  Try pork instead of ground beef.  Soaking walnuts overnight def. got rid of the bitter taste.

Our New House

I know its been awhile since I have posted here.  We have finally settled down in a new place and are starting to be able to get things started in the direction of the way we want it in and out.  Lots to do, but were excited to be doing it.  It our new home.  It feels so good after so long of being out of place to have our own place.  Here is the link to zillow about our new house.  Pics will come along soon that we will be taking.  I have lots of plans and want to have before, during and after pictures.  You can see in the zillow pics that we had carpet in the kitchen and dining room.  That has been replaced by laminate floors, such a relief.  Soon I will be posting about the breeds of chickens we will be getting, goats, sheep, etc.  What we plan to plant in the garden and how we want to set it up.  : )

I will leave you a picture of our ladybug infestation.  From what I heard is that there was another invasive species of some kind and 10 years ago they brought these specific ladybug specie in to help with the overpopulation of the other bug and now you have overpopulation of this specific ladybug.  Confusing?  Yeah, sorry.  : P

New Additions and Garden

 5 Buff Orpington Pullet chicks.  Shhhhhhhhhhh.........  hubby doesn't know yet.  lol

 Garden is a work in progress.  I will be putting down cardboard first and soon the compost.  The neighbor and I are probably going to split a truck load and get wood chips delivered.  Just call your local arborist and get them.  They are trying to get rid of them because they usually have to pay to get rid of them.  They will be happy to deliver you a load.

 Winter sowing seeds my friend Michelle and I sowed. 

First tomato. Of course, this is variety James planted.  My green thumb.  :D

No Poo Update

So I posted awhile back about going no-poo.  Meaning no shampoo.  Well, I finally did it and I love it.  Just baking soda and vinegar now.  My hair isn't getting oily like they said it would.  I think because I was just rinsing my hair out most days and then just shampooing it on Saturday nights before church.  The vinegar makes my hair oh so soft too.  So, if you missed it last time, here is the no-poo recipe.

Poo-Free Recipe

I have been doing like she suggested and put about a Tbls of baking soda in my hand and make a paste with warm water and then put it on.  Works great.  And then I do the rinse with the apple cider vinegar once or twice a week.  Feels so good and is super easy.  They say it can take 3 months to get all the oil out of your follicles, but I haven't really had to go through that so far.  Love it!!

Poppy Purry

Our new addition to the family.  James took these pictures.  They came out really well.  She is about 10-12 weeks old.  She is such a sweetie. 

The Chickie Nursery

 Hen and chicks.  So cute.  She is the hen that gets along with both Abbey, who is the blue hen in the second pic and the other hen.  She shared chicks with the other hen.  I found this am the 7th chick, the one who we put in the incubator yesterday to warm up was gone this am and when I checked on them early and made their pen bigger the dark hen, a.k.a. by my son as the bad hen, pecked one of Abbey's chicks.  As soon as I saw her do that I made a quick decision and picked her up and we will sell her as a laying hen.  We don't need any mean hen's especially when these two do such a nice job raising babies together, hopefully we can do it again this Fall or next Spring with these two.

Here is Abbey's butt, sorry, they were too busy scratching and 3 of the 6 chicks.  3 of them are on the other side of the fence, they can get through there for now, which probably saved Abbey's chicks when the other hen was attacking, but they always come back through to be with their mamas.