another egg that is. Seems one of the girls has decided to lay her eggs up by the waterer. hmmm. It might be the smallest one, Lettie. The others pick on her so she is kind of a loner. I sure do wish she would lay it in the nest box though. We are up to six eggs a day. They are really noisy when they are going to do it too lol. I told my husband that it probably freaks them out the first time they lay. Minding their own business and then ooohh have to go to the bathroom and ouch out pops an egg. Anyway we need to eat some eggs cause they are piling up ;)
Talk to ya later
Denise
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
More eggs please
The girls are up to 5 eggs today so only 3 more have to start laying. I guess our talk a week ago got through to them lol. My lavender jelly did actually set up! I'm so proud of myself, I actually got jelly to work. I had it on toast this morning (homemade wheat bread) and it tasted so good. DH got out the papaya salsa last night and really liked it. He ate 1/2 pint of it. ;)
We got our dehydrator the other day. It's an Excaliber. Cant wait to try it. You can even do yogurt in it. Need to try that out. I was going to buy a yogurt maker but if I can use the dehydrator that will not only save me money but also space in my kitchen.
I started our first batch of kombucha today. Will have to let you know how it turns out.
It's all good!
Denise
We got our dehydrator the other day. It's an Excaliber. Cant wait to try it. You can even do yogurt in it. Need to try that out. I was going to buy a yogurt maker but if I can use the dehydrator that will not only save me money but also space in my kitchen.
I started our first batch of kombucha today. Will have to let you know how it turns out.
It's all good!
Denise
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Canning, canning over the ocean blue...
Sorry I'm feeling a little silly today. I canned cucumber relish today. Got 5 1/2 pints. Smelled pretty good. Still have some pepper relish that I did last year that we havent eaten yet though. Got some pears and apples and will be making some good things with them.
I still have some cukes and green and red peppers left...we wont go there
Talk to ya later!
Denise
I still have some cukes and green and red peppers left...we wont go there
Talk to ya later!
Denise
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Wanted chicken escapee...reward
Just kidding about the reward although we did have one of the ladies make a run for it this morning. Hubby woke me up and said one of them is loose and I need your help catching her. So I whipped on some clothes and went outside. He was talking to her trying to get her to come closer, no deal so I kind of herded her towards him and he caught her. This is the second time one of the ladies decided to take a little take off ;) The first time she went out the coop door and landed on the top of the run wire. She was looking down at all the others "how did I get up here and how do I get back to you guys?" Hubby was freaking out. He was afraid that she would fly over the fence. I dont think that any of them would. They just want to be closer to us and dont have a problem going back in the run or anything. Today the one that escaped (Matilda I believe but I was only half awake) flew out the egg box as hubby was trying to put in new bedding. She was just doing her little chicken dance around the outside of the run like she belonged there.
We have been getting one egg a day. 7 total so far. The shells are pretty hard so I guess we are giving them enough calcium.
Our blueberries are doing fine. I am collecting them every other morning. They are slowing down in production. The pieces of garden hose are working really well to keep the birds away from the berries but dont seem to make a difference to the bugs which nibble on some of the berries. I suppose they were thirsty since we hadnt gotten any rain for a while but they should stop because we did get rain yesterday and today. I hung out clothes today thinking to get them dry before the rain started...WRONG...it poured on them but I just left them out in the rain since according to the radar the rain was supposed to stop before afternoon and it did. Boy did the rain get them soft!
I made some wheat bread today from the wheat that we ground yesterday. I should say that hubby ground it and ground it and ground it. It takes a while to get fine flour. As I said I made bread but and here it comes...it didnt rise as much as it should have. I was so discouraged. Hubby said that he would eat it though anyway. I cut it up a little while ago and tried a piece. It actually is pretty good even though it is really heavy. I think I might have had my water a little too hot for the yeast. I said that I would make more but didnt have enough flour to make another two loaves...hubby gave me this look, you know, the look. I guess he didnt want to grind any more wheat...guess I'll wait another couple of days before I mention it again. I would have ground some more today but my wrists are kind of sore from the kneading. You had to knead for 15 minutes and then let it rest and then knead for another 10 minutes. I'll toughen up though and be making bread out the yazoo in no time ;)
Hubby's co-worker brought him some more cukes along with some green bell peppers yesterday. I went through my cookbooks and have found a cucumber relish that I am going to try. Got some red bell peppers tonight at the farmer's market so maybe tomorrow I will make up the relish. I had done relish a year ago but it was my grandma's recipe for green pepper relish. Really good! And very useful in other recipes. You can make your own tarter sauce with it, use it in sandwich spread (Grandma used to use a can of deviled ham and add relish and mayo to it) and of course use it on hotdogs and hamburgers. Yesterday I made up 5 pints of mild papaya salsa. I had a can of papaya in my pantry that had been there for a while. Dont know why I had it just did so used it up. I have a couple of cans of crushed pineapple and found a canning recipe using that so will be making up some other "stuff"...
Hope everyone has a great week!
Talk to ya later,
Denise
We have been getting one egg a day. 7 total so far. The shells are pretty hard so I guess we are giving them enough calcium.
Our blueberries are doing fine. I am collecting them every other morning. They are slowing down in production. The pieces of garden hose are working really well to keep the birds away from the berries but dont seem to make a difference to the bugs which nibble on some of the berries. I suppose they were thirsty since we hadnt gotten any rain for a while but they should stop because we did get rain yesterday and today. I hung out clothes today thinking to get them dry before the rain started...WRONG...it poured on them but I just left them out in the rain since according to the radar the rain was supposed to stop before afternoon and it did. Boy did the rain get them soft!
I made some wheat bread today from the wheat that we ground yesterday. I should say that hubby ground it and ground it and ground it. It takes a while to get fine flour. As I said I made bread but and here it comes...it didnt rise as much as it should have. I was so discouraged. Hubby said that he would eat it though anyway. I cut it up a little while ago and tried a piece. It actually is pretty good even though it is really heavy. I think I might have had my water a little too hot for the yeast. I said that I would make more but didnt have enough flour to make another two loaves...hubby gave me this look, you know, the look. I guess he didnt want to grind any more wheat...guess I'll wait another couple of days before I mention it again. I would have ground some more today but my wrists are kind of sore from the kneading. You had to knead for 15 minutes and then let it rest and then knead for another 10 minutes. I'll toughen up though and be making bread out the yazoo in no time ;)
Hubby's co-worker brought him some more cukes along with some green bell peppers yesterday. I went through my cookbooks and have found a cucumber relish that I am going to try. Got some red bell peppers tonight at the farmer's market so maybe tomorrow I will make up the relish. I had done relish a year ago but it was my grandma's recipe for green pepper relish. Really good! And very useful in other recipes. You can make your own tarter sauce with it, use it in sandwich spread (Grandma used to use a can of deviled ham and add relish and mayo to it) and of course use it on hotdogs and hamburgers. Yesterday I made up 5 pints of mild papaya salsa. I had a can of papaya in my pantry that had been there for a while. Dont know why I had it just did so used it up. I have a couple of cans of crushed pineapple and found a canning recipe using that so will be making up some other "stuff"...
Hope everyone has a great week!
Talk to ya later,
Denise
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Found another egg
Yes there was one hidden in the nesting box in the corner that I didnt see when I went out the first time. No wonder they were so loud this morning. There must have been two laying at the same time. They didnt want me messing with the eggs, they wanted me to pet them, silly girls.
Talk to ya later!
Denise
Talk to ya later!
Denise
First Egg!!!
I'm doing a happy dance today. One of the chickens laid the first ever egg for us this morning. I even called my hubby at work to tell him. I know, nuts right?
Talk to ya later!
Denise
Talk to ya later!
Denise
Monday, July 5, 2010
Fireworks
Last night (the fourth) and the night before (the third) we had neighbors shooting off fireworks. I must say when you live in a subdivision you really really dont need those loud things going off. The houses are pretty close and everyone ends up with bits and pieces of firework stuff in their backyard. It was one of the reasons we put up a fence. Needless to say the girls did NOT like the loudness. And hubby did not appreciate the fact that they shot off fireworks until 1:30 a.m. on the third and 11:30 on the fourth cause of course he had to work in the next day. I went out last night to check on the chicks and they were out of the coop piled up in a corner of their run and were very upset. They stayed out all night as far as we can figure and I sure do hope that they will be roosting in their own little coop tonight. I dont think it is good for them to be out like that laying on the ground. I was so happy when I got up this morning and they were none the worse for wear. I was so afraid that one or more would have kicked the bucket from the stress of those fireworks. What really gets you is that the ones setting off fireworks dont work their on welfare. The neighbors that work could not afford so many. Ticks me off! Spending my hard earned pay for fireworks...any way I'm just glad the girls made it through the night.
Since I had off over the holiday (I have such nice bosses ;) and no they dont read my blog) I canned some pickles. Hubby's co-worker was nice enough to bring in cukes and banana peppers for him. A whole shopping bag full that his neighbor gave him well actually left on his porch (sneaky gardener lol) So I found an old recipe that used onions, peppers and cukes for pickles. I got 11 pints. Now ask yourselves what are two people going to do with 11 pints of pickles, why give some away of course. Cause there is no way we would eat that many pickles. We just dont eat pickles all that often. Today I canned some lavender jelly. Cant wait to taste that. I got 9 4oz jars of that. I think I'm going to have to buy more canning jars. Now if I can just find more space....
Talk to ya later!
Denise
Since I had off over the holiday (I have such nice bosses ;) and no they dont read my blog) I canned some pickles. Hubby's co-worker was nice enough to bring in cukes and banana peppers for him. A whole shopping bag full that his neighbor gave him well actually left on his porch (sneaky gardener lol) So I found an old recipe that used onions, peppers and cukes for pickles. I got 11 pints. Now ask yourselves what are two people going to do with 11 pints of pickles, why give some away of course. Cause there is no way we would eat that many pickles. We just dont eat pickles all that often. Today I canned some lavender jelly. Cant wait to taste that. I got 9 4oz jars of that. I think I'm going to have to buy more canning jars. Now if I can just find more space....
Talk to ya later!
Denise
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