Egg and Rutabaga update

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It's been almost three weeks since we found our first egg. It was a few days before we found any more. When we did, we discovered that they had made a nest under the coop in the sheltered part of their yard and had been laying a couple of eggs each day!

Since then we've collected two eggs a day most days and have been enjoying our very own fresh eggs. It took a little convincing to get them to lay in the nesting boxes and not in nests of their own creation, but we're getting the hang of it.

It seems that only the Buff Orpintons are laying. We have two each of four breeds of chickens with four different (possibly five if the Easter Eggers vary) egg colors. Even if any of the other girls showed any interest in the nesting boxes, it is easy to tell whose eggs we find.

It is common for chickens to not lay, or not lay often during the shorter daylight months. It may well be that the other girls will wait until spring to bless us with their eggs. It's doing to be exciting to open up the nesting box to find a clutch of different colored eggs.

Another update: after cutting open the happiest rutabaga, I couldn't help but cut a slice and propped it up on my windowsill. After a couple weeks, he's still smiling! Although he's gained a few wrinkles with his advanced age.

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a topper for our tree

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I love traditions, and I love celebrating. A loved tradition that my husband and I have been able to bring along and make our own is our Christmas Tree. As we continue to purge and downsize our physical belongings and the entourage of stuff we possess, our tradition of a little tree has been able to stay with us. While it was originally a necessity because of the size of our apartment (and budget) it has become a matter of pride. 

 

Our little (rarely over 4ft tall) tree sites on a side table and fills the room with as much delight as a tree twice the size or twice the price.

Collecting ornamental treasures has been a delight of mine since I was very little but never quite had the "what to put on top" question quite worked out. Growing up we often put humorous or something that happened to be at hand - such as a hedgehog dog chew toy, or a duck puppet - but I wanted something that could be illuminated and celebrate the lighting of the darkness, just as the tree itself. 

I made a simple paper star and could not be more thrilled with the results! I can't find the tutorial I used but it's the same as this one. 

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Happiest Rutabaga

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Since the end of our farmshare we have been gathering vegetables from farmer's markets, my step-father, and our own stores and gardens.

From the Coventry winter Farmer's Market we got some rutabagas a couple of weeks ago as I'd wanted to make a better Upper Peninsula (of Michigan) pasty.  I made some improved ones a few weeks ago and while they were fantastically delicious, I knew I could do better. 

I cut into one of the rutabagas and found this:

The happiest rutabaga!

Happy rutabagas are tasty rutabagas.

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We got an egg!

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We moved the chicken coop to their winter spot. There's not enough left growing on the ground to be able to leave them in one place for more than a day or so. We've moved their pen to a spot in our back yard where it will stay until spring. We will spread dried leaves and other bedding materials in their yard and they will poop, scratch, and peck it to lovely compost throughout the winter.

As Joe went to move the coop he found an egg! Our very first pullet egg!

 

A pullet is a chicken that is less than a year old. The first eggs laid by a chicken are smaller than regular eggs.  After a bit they get the hang of it but as someone who appreciates lots of little things, I've always loved the little eggs!

Here's our egg on the left with a store-bought egg on the right. Hooray for our chickens!

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Our House in the Storm

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I've just about gotten everything ready for our mini-Thanksgiving break and so have time to come up for air and make a post. 

Just about three weeks ago our area of the country was hit by an extra early snow storm - before leaves were even off the trees which caused a fair amount of trees to break and caused quite the rukus. Our street was out of power for a full week with our house just a little bit longer. 

Both my husband and I were out of town (in different directions) for the storm itself but our dearest cousin Ben was able to snap the following picture:

Joe arrived home the following afternoon to no power and a clear front door, 

thanks to the marvelous Ben! 

The night after that I arrived home with some supplies from where I had been ( where they still mostly had power). I started up the charcoal grill and stewed and steamed us up a warm supper. Thank goodness for cast iron pans! 

As I cooked Ben once again came to our rescue and connected the chimney pieces I'd brought home for the woodstove we'd bought and brought home a week or so before the storm. (How is that for providence!) 

With the woodstove and a small generator my mum found for us mid-week we made it through the full week without electricity with very little loss or even hardship. I am so thankful for the preparation we did for the hurricane (that we didn't end up needing then) and for the extra measures preparedness measures we now have. 

Living without electricity for a week definitely simplified life and allowed us to really spend time together. Our routines and life during that week evoked daydreams of frontier living and lent a satisfaction, sense of accomplishment, and hardiness we both crave in our normally-electric lives. While we were relieved when we finally had power again, there was a bit of sadness at the return to the hectic higher-speed life of modern conveniences.

I hope you all made it through the storm even half as well as we did!

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Garden Bed Cleanup and Planting Garlic

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Due to a week without power (almost two without internet) following a freak pre-haloween snowstorm I'm a bit behind on posting. I've had a couple saved up and here we go!

The week before the storm I finally got around to cleaning up the garden beds - with a little help from the girls!

They take bathing and cleanup rather seriously. I also got a chance to use the new dibble I bought at the Garlic Festival from good friends Hope and Hugh Davis of The Farmstead. Jake chewed my old one and they're so helpful I'm happy to have another.

I'm so excited to try two new varieties of garlic this year (also purchased at the Garlic Festival), Bavarian Purple and Russian Giant as well as planting about a third of our harvested garlic from last year.

We did have a couple little incidents. I called home from school just after class and Joe asked me if I was interested in garlic chicken. One of our buffys (the blond chickens are buff orpingtons) had escaped the pen and had found her way to the as yet un-mulched garlic beds. We'll find out how much she managed to find before she was stopped but Joe said she pretty well reeked of garlic. The following day Jaker got into the bed and had a bit of a snack on the manure I'd worked into the soil but left a shiny clove of garlic.

Now the beds are mulched and even weighted with sticks to prevent any more snacking and we're looking forward to more garlic and scapes next year!

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New Windows!

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Work trips, being sick, school deadlines, our newest addition to the team, as well as the work that goes with the change of seasons would be enough but on top of that we got all of our windows replaced! 

 

The change is definitely noticeable. Our little snug house just got much more snug! We will also feel the benefit in warmer seasons when we will have the option of opening each and every window! Not only will we be able to get the darned things open, they all now have screens! We knew it would make a difference and that we would love it, we just didn't know how much!

New Addition to our Homestead

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With a house that is more than 75 years old, there are lots of places where the darned varmints can easily come in to escape the cold. In a place like this mouse-catching is a very valuable skill. While we've caught a few with traditional traps and even found one of the less-than-intelligent ones in a water jug one morning, it was time to bring in an expert.

Meet Thelma our new "barn" cat. 

When she's accustomed to our rhythm and a little older, she'll spend her days outdoors and her nights in our walk-in basement encouraging the tiny critters to find another residence.

She loves visitors and purrs loudly for a rub and a snuggle. At the ripe old age of four months it's important to spend a lot of time with her and get her accustomed to people and the rules of our home.  Stop by and meet her, we would all love to see you!