Life With A Yard: 2012

Monday, December 31, 2012

2o13 Memory Jar

I've seen this Memory Jar thing posted all over pinterest and Facebook, and even though I completely wrote it off as silly before, today got me thinking about what a great idea it actually is.

William and I were talking this morning about all the things that happened for us this year; I completed my Dental Program, got a job with a great Oral Surgeon, moved back to the states from Japan, bought our first house, renovated our first house, got chickens, got more chickens, started hatching our own chickens, spend our first Thanksgiving together since we've been married, among countless other things, the problem is; beyond the big points, I don't remember a whole lot about any of the other things that happened, or any of the adventures we took together this year.

I grabbed some sparkle paint [buyer beware: you'll need to add a polyurethane coat on top or the glitter will just rub off and you'll transfer it onto every single thing you touch or come in contact with!] and put a pretty bow on it.

Now, for 2o13 when something good or exciting happens, we will write it down and put it in the Memory Jar. When next NYE rolls around, we will sit down and open it together and reminisce about all the awesome stuff we did in 2o13.

I think this is a great idea, especially for people with children [they grow so fast and do so many new things!]

I can't wait to start filling ours up with memories.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Tis The Season!

To spoil the chickens, that is!

From a great post a good friend plastered on my facebook page, I couldn't help but want to try it out for myself. Chicken garland.

Incredibly easy, good for the girls [and Mr. Splash] plus, it gives them something to do on these dreary, rainy North Carolina days.

I picked up some chicken friendly vegetables at the grocery; Brussel Sprouts, Cherry Tomatoes, Radishes, Mushrooms [though you can substitute for whatever veggies your flock likes to pick on] Used my drill to pre-drill holes through the brussel sprouts and radishes, there was no way my needle was going to do the job on this one, and I threaded plain twine through them, creating a cute festive treat pattern.

The girls were very hesitant at first, all of them looking at me like I'd lost my mind, or that the string of treats was going to get them!

But I sweetened the deal by dropping a few of the cherry tomatoes I had left over on the ground in front of the garland. Once they figured out that this stuff was edible, they dove in like they hadn't been fed in days!

I made an extra long garland that I'm going to hang in the coop once they go in tonight. I can't wait to see them go after it.

This is a great idea for anyone looking to give your girls or boys something to do. Not only is it good for them, it also prevents boredom.

Here are some pictures of the flock figuring it out.

Fun, easy to make chicken treat garland.

Hung on the garden fence for easy access.

Very untrusting of it at first....

But, in the end they figured it out.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Chicken Update

Lots of things have changed for the chickens in the past couple of weeks! Poop Chicken has finally started laying eggs! [Hooray for me, I truly thought that she was never going to start producing] but not only did she start laying, but she lays them in the nesting box in their coop. I was a little nervous after reading stories about how chickens lay all of their eggs randomly throughout the yard like a little Easter bunny.

Popcorn Chicken

Poop Chicken

Our First Egg!

Poop Chicken

So, eggs. We're getting 1 a day at the moment, but I'm sure that may change when it finally starts to cool down around here. Here we are December 4th and it's 73 outside. Wonky weather!

The chicks are growing so quickly! We definitely have a rooster too! One big splash I've named Mr. Splash. He's a big, goofy, gentle guy who is scared of his own shadow. I'm sure he'll come along as he grows.

Bella Chasing Thor

Loki Napping In The Sun

The Babies At 2 Weeks Old

We have another batch of eggs coming. This way I have better pickins come spring when it's time to turn Mr. Splash loose on the hens. I will be selling hatching eggs from them, but I only want the best looking chicken stock for breeding. No shoddy hens here. The eggs are due to arrive yesterday, so I assume they'll be here today, which will make them due to hatch Decemeber 24th/25th. Christmas babies. We'll have to name them things like; Noel, Angel, Snowflake, Icicle, Fruitcake, you know...stuff like that.

I've also converted that raggedy old shed into a massive chicken coop/chicken palace. It took two full days of work by myself but it turned out awesome. The only change that I want to make in the future is to install a window for better ventilation, or at the very least, a grate at the top of the coop. For now, I'm just leaving the doors open all day to air it out, plus the babies like the sunlight and they lay sideways and stretch out their legs and wings like little sunbathers.

The Babies Greet You At The Gate

The Entryway with Fence & Gate

Fence with Chicken Ladder [For Roosting At Night]

Oh yeah! [See, I told you that lots of stuff has changed for the chickens] I am researching and testing out fermenting the chicken feed. It's better for them, they require less feed, it aids in digestion and will get them nice and fat. I'm getting my stuff together for it now. The hardest part was finding the unpasteurized apple cider vinegar with the Mother in it...Walmart sells it, but I definitely stood and stared at the wall of vinegars for 10 minutes before I found it...but, I'll have an entry on that after it ferments and I try it out with the hens. Everyone has said that once their birds get a taste of the fermented feed [FF], that they look at the regular food like it's poison. I can't wait to try it out.

2 Stacked 5 Gallon Buckets [drill holes throughout inner bucket]

Add Feed, Water to Cover Feed, & A Few Glugs Of Raw, Unpasteurized ACV

Look! It's Fermenting!

Monday, December 3, 2012

Make Your Own Laundy Soap

I was shown an article a few weeks ago about how to make your own laundry soap, and save a ton of money. I, personally, am always excited when I find new ways to save money on things that we buy on a monthly basis [laundry soap and fabric softener are definitely 2 of those things]

I was immediately against it, I've had a hard time with soaps and my washer in the past...one expensive duvet cover + cheap soap = a green and tan spotted waste of money.

But, after some thinking, and re-reading of the instruction article [yes, you can make your own 3 gallons of laundry soap for under $20] I figured, what the hell, right? If it sucks, then at least I can say that we tried.

So, without any further ado; Make Your Own Laundry Soap.

Ingredients:

Most of these items can be found in the laundry aisle of your grocery store. If you happen to shop at WalMart, all of these items are literally stocked next to each other in the laundry aisle.

1 4lb box of Borax

1 4lb box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda

1 3lb box of Arm & Hammer Super Wash Soda

1 3lb tub of OxyClean powder

2 bottle of Purex Crystals fabric softener [not required, but totally recommended if you want fabric softener and detergent in one batch]

3 bars of Fels Naptha soap [or Zote Soap if you can find it]

You'll also need:

A storage tub and a cheese grater.

Directions:

1. Grate the bars of Fels Naptha [or Zote Soap] using the cheese graters second to largest edge. The article said to use the small side, and I tried that, but you end up wasting more than half the soap trying to grate the soap using the small side, I had no problems with the bigger side and the grating part didn't take long at all, and it kind of looks like shredded cheese when you're done.

2. Start layering all of your ingredients a little at a time into the bucket or storage tub, and mixing together thoroughly. I used a wooden pasta spoon and it worked really well.

Once you've layered and mixed everything together, you're done! Just make sure that you clean up really well where you were layering the materials, as the soap will make the floor really slick, and if you're like me, you won't think about it until after you fall on your arse, lol.

Don't be surprised or nervous when you use this soap and it doesn't foam up like store bought ones, the lack of foam doesn't mean that it's not working, just that you won't get build up of foam slime anywhere in your machine.

It works just as well, if not better than anything you can buy in the store, and for homemade soap, the stuff really does smell amazing.

Either way you slice it, for less than $20, that's a LOT of laundry soap.

We are storing ours in a big cylinder tub, but I'll also filled the old oxyclean tub for easy access. You can also use [and I recommend using] the Purex Crystals jugs, as the tops have a measuring spoon built in, because, get this....you only need 2 Tbsp PER LOAD...yep... 2 TABLESPOONS of this soap per load [that's the second line on the Purex Crystals cap in case you're wondering]

The above pictures have the Purex Crystals cap filled to the 3rd line. Whoops.

Well, there it is. Homemade laundry soap that cleans well, smells good and won't break your bank. Plus, if you're anything like me, you'll love it for no other reason than that you made it yourself.

Friday, October 12, 2012

My English Orpingtons

I've had such bad luck with this breed [not it's American cousin, but only with attempting to bring in the English lines into my flock] My first 70$ dozen arrived looking like someone at the USPS had put it on the ground and then repeatedly stomped up and down on it while someone else drove a forklift into it.

Needless to say, not 1 egg made it.

The seller gave me a discount for my next dozen, but even at a discount $120 [shipping not included] I ended up with 3 babies, who thankfully, are all looking like hens.

Lucky for me, my 3rd batch only came from SOMD [Southern Maryland, where my parents live] I think that the shorter travel time really helped me out.

I've managed to hatch 7 out of 12. One pipped on the wrong end and needed a little help and the next 5 popped right out, ready to meet the world.

Chick #7, who I've already named Sweetie [<--- I can't help but be original!] was a mess, she didn't even pip and airhole in the egg until almost 18 hours after her sisters and brothers were born. I went to bed last night thinking that she'd be hatched and fluffy by morning.

I get really nervous anytime I have to assist a hatch. My second batch of EOs, I assisted egg #4 and it turned out that the reason he couldn't get out of the egg was because both feet were badly deformed. He couldn't walk, and thankfully, my saint of a husband was able to cull him while I was out of the house. I hate having to cull a chick. It seems incredibly unfair and unjust for someone or something to create such a helpless form of life and then let it be born with no means to survive outside of the egg.

I thought that I had learned a hard lesson with that hatch, and vowed that I would never hatch another egg, that if it didn't hatch on it's own, there was a reason for it.

But I digress.

Chick #7 I couldn't wait any longer to decide on, it had been over 72 hours and if she didn't get out soon, she was not going to have the strength to get out later. I worked on her egg for 10 minutes every hour, wrapping her in a warm damp papertowel to keep the inner membrane from drying out and "shrink wrapping" her into the egg [this is a common problem for incubators with humidity issues...the inner membrane dries out and shrinks to entomb the chick so that they can't move to get out of the egg. Without intervention, the chick won't make it on their own]

Shrink wrapping didn't seem to be the problem with this egg, she was just tired from all the struggling to get out.

I removed sections on the shell and outer membrane small sections at a time, she was so tired she barely chirped at me...I don't care if she chirps, as long as she keeps breathing. I had to take my time and the inner membrane is full of blood vessels and veins that the chick absorbs shortly before hatching, and if you knick one, the chick can very well bleed to death. For a while there it didn't seem like she was absorbing the blood and it had me worried that I was going to lose her, so I kept working on the outer membrane and shell, talking to her and telling her that she had to hatch, that she was a pretty little splash and that if she helped me out, I'd let her in the garden for grubs (when she's older)

I had 40% of the outer shell and membrane removed by noon today, she had absorbed most of the blood so I peeled the inner membrane off of her face, hoping that if she could get her eyes opened, she'd be more willing to do some work.

I put her [pretty much completely hatched] back in the incubator and took a break to go clip my friend's chicken's wings [I'm not a huge fan of wing trimming as it does take away a large portion of their natural defense from predators...but when you live close enough to neighbors that you'd rather not piss off by having your chickens fly in and out of their yard on an hourly basis, you're not left many other choices]

When I came home, she was out and moving around the incubator. I'm just waiting for her to fluff up and dry so she can meet her other sisters [and hopefully a brother or two]

In the meantime, here are some pictures of the other 6 fluffy babies...pretty much the sweetest little balls of fluff imaginable.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

This Old House. [Reborn]

And now comes the fun part. The After pictures! We took this house and gutted it. Found original hardwood from 1970 under the carpets, we also found that the entire subfloor in the dining room was rotted to the point that 3 of our contractor [and one friend] fell through it during the process of replacing all of the subfloor and joists.

The majority of our work, was under the house, besides the tile and hardwood that we added and stained. We replaced the front door, the garage door, the back door as well. It doesn't seem like we did that much in retrospect, but that 45k in renovations had to have gone somewhere.