What We Have Going On Now

We are working to get certified for our eggs and to sell plants. Our goal is to have a working farm even if it is only on 1 acre. It can be done just takes planning and work. We are hoping to one day expand our borders. We are planning on making the front yard raised beds with paths. We can grow flowers, herbs and maybe some veggies out front. Our garden spots will also be changed over to raised beds and tire beds. Tires are great to use to grow plants in and make great compost bins.

We have added rabbits to our animals. Right now we have mixed breeds that make good pets. We have gotten 1 New Zealand doe that is the start of our meat rabbits. We are looking for California and New Zealand bucks and does to use for meat breeds.

We are looking at getting rid of some of the breeds of chickens we have and just go to mostly sex links for egg production. The Silkies will be our birds that will be only used for selling. They are a great bantam breed that are good mothers and go broody a lot. They are also show birds.

Our garden is doing ok this year. My Egyptian Walking onions are walking out of the garden. I am going to have to thin them. Our peanut beans didn't come up but the blue lake and turkey beans are doing good. I will be putting rattlesnake beans out in the week to grow along with the corn. My broccoli did well this year so we have fresh broccoli. I didn't put out much because last year it didn't do well. This year I got it out earlier. We have already had lettuce, spinach and peas that have already run their course. We don't eat peas but mom liked them. I will be putting more of those out for the fall. I have to get watermelon and cantaloupe out still.

We are going to start trying to grow our animal feed also. This probably take some time to get going but one day it will happen. We can't free range our chickens so the goal is to get them off commercial feed by raising what they need to eat. Which means worms are in our future too.

I have got to start getting some canning done. I canned pintos last year and loved having those instead of store bought. I also canned tomatoes with peppers which we use a lot of. My goal this year is to can more beans and a variety black, kidney, white and pinto. I will do the tomatoes again too. I am not making much jelly this year. The last 2 years I have done a bunch of jelly so we are going to eat that up this year.

We may try to raise pigs again this fall. We learned from the first try all the things not to do so we think we can do better this time around. I would love to have some fresh beef but we don't have space to raise one.

I will try to get some pics up soon. The bunnies are just too cute. We have 2 litters we are trying to sell so if you want a pet bun just let me know.

You know you are a chicken addict when.............

You turn your big bath tub into a brooder. LOL 78 chicks sex links, buff orpingtons, welsummers, australorpes, cuckoo marans and 1 light brahma. Aren't they purty.

Life on the Farm

We are loving the life on the farm. Hearing the roosters crowing sometimes as early as 4:00 am is kind of cool. They do not wake me up I just woke up and heard them. If I slept on the end that they are located they might wake me up. If walk outside here about 6:00 am you can hear roosters everywhere crowing it is so peaceful.

We are up to 42 chickens:

Barred rock hens 10

Rhode Island Red hens 7 Roo 1

Mutts hens 2 Roos 2

Buff Orpingtons hens 7 Roo 1

Black Jersey Giant hens 5

Ameracauna/mutt? 7 we think 2 maybe 3 might be roos too young to tell

I am getting some seedlings started in the house. I have started sweet basil, parsley, eggplant and a lettuce experiment. I will take some pictures and show. I will be trying some spinach and radish indoors tomorrow. I will do that then take a pic for here.

I just wanted to check in since I had not written in a while. I have some other things I want to write about I just need to find the time.

The pictures are of my two grandchildren. The Bishop and the Princess. You got to love them.

Americana or Mutt that is the question

My husband is now a chicken addict. I have to say I like them too. These were sold to us as Ameracana. We are not so sure. They are 3 months old. We are not sure how many roos we have. I am now thinking the white one is and the one with his butt towards the camera in the last pic. They seem to be the leaders in this small flock.

My DH made this tractor for them so they are working my garden. Today is the first time they have had straw, they like it.

Our Ladies Today

Ross was feeding them cicadas. They love those things. We are so enjoying these chickens.

Here are the chickens Ryan

They are bigger now I will get a more recent picture up.

Hillbilly Chicken Coop

This is our chicken coop. First let me say we are not carpenters. lol Like you couldn't tell. :P All the black plastic is to keep the chicks warm.

Johnny made the inside a little smaller for right now so that we could keep the chicks warmer. We moved them out there today. They have been in a spare room in the house. They are getting so big they needed more room . We hare really hoping they will be warm tonight.

We have 12 Rhode Island Reds and 12 Barred Rock. We should have eggs by August. Yay!!!

This is Ross' 4-H project. Johnny and I are excited about it though. Ross is ok withit I guess. But he is only 10 so how excited should he be. lol

We will try to improve the look as we go. We are going to paint it. Later we will probably add windows too. I will show you the pics as we go.