Sleeping Beauty

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this. She was sleeping with her stuffed chipmunk in her shirt.

The weather has been cold here in Maine with heavy frosts in the mornings so we decided to bring the girls in the barn. They were in 2 seperate coops and and we had made previous attempts to intergrate with no luck. They are territorial and can be downright nasty to one another. It took a bit for them to adjust but they are all good now. Above is a Leah's old doll house (that she never used) converted into a laying box with a few minor adjustments the girls are now laying there. The fencing was leftover pieces we had hanging around.
Meet our new additions, Cookie & Gretta.

Back to the naughty chickens...last Friday John butchered 30 meat birds, so he thought. Long story short, one had jumped out and was found the next day. Initially I thought "lucky bird" until a few of the others chickens picked on him so bad that I had to kill it. For the first time John was not availabile to do the dirty deed, so it was left to me. Initially I was a bit distraught and called my neighbor for advice. He had several suggestions for me and I opted to use the kids BB gun to put this poor bird out of misery. Another thing to add to my list of firsts for the year. :(

On a final note an article about China's recent scare, tainted eggs. Another reason to grow your own and/or buy local.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Wordless Wednesday

http://www.vintagewings-millersfield.com/fallfoliagetrips2008.html

Aerial photos of Maine's foliage....enjoy, I did! (just a couple words!)

Carmel Apples

Add two tablespoons of water and warm
Dip and roll

ENJOY!!

Potpourri

“This is the true joy in life, to be used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, to be thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap. To be a force of nature instead of a feverish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am a member of a community and as a member it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can before I die. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch that I want to make burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”
George Bernard Shaw

I came across this over at Super Hero Journal and had to post...hope she don't mind!




I was tagged back in September by Coast Rat and I am just getting to it and I am going to break the rules....yes I am a rule breaker all the way! What fun would life be if you followed all the rules? I am suppose to tag 6 others but if you want to play along, it is up to you. The deal was that I share 6 random things about myself.

1. I have never flown in a plane!

2. I had to kill an animal today for the first time.

3. I worked as a waitress in high school and nursing school.

4. I work out primarily for my mental health.

5. I am not scared to say I am sorry when I am wrong and I stress that to the kids. It is ok to make mistakes just recognize and live up to it.

6.I love being a Mom!



Lastly a tag Callie got from YD's

Again please join along if you want!

Please answer the following questions:

1) What breed are you?
German Short Haired Pointer

2) How old are you?
I think I am around 4 or 5, who keeps track when they are having this much fun?

3) What is your full name?
Callie

4) Do you have any nicknames?
Naughty

5) Where do you usually sleep?
Right where my human mother's legs are suppose to go in her bed. She has to sleep sideways in order to accommodate my position of comfort, isn't that sweet of her?

6) What is your favorite thing to do?
RUN and bird hunt with my human dad aka Maine Man

7) What is something unusual/interesing about you?
I like to go to bed early and sleep in but when I am up I spend most of my day outside, weather permitting. I put some mileage on during the day. I usually will not even stop to be patted if I'm outside. Oh yeah, one more thing.... I am a female and I hump, some say that is "unusual".

8) Who is your best friend?
Maine Man

9) Did you go to obedience school? If so were you "TOP DOG" or did you flunk out?
I can't remember if my previous owner brought me, I think not! I was a handful when the fine folks from the Achorn Farm took me in. I would take off for HOURS and HOURS and Maine Man nearly stroked out screaming like a crazed man. Our new neighbors thought he was psycho and so did I for that matter. I was just excited that I could finally run for miles and miles and all the new scents around here, I just couldn't help myself. Then Maine Man came home with a collar with some prongs sticking out and lets just say I never ran off again. He doesn't even have to use it any more, I hear the beep and I come running!

10) Can you do any tricks?
Not really unless stealing butter off the counter counts. And, I am one hell of a good bird dog...that should count for something!

Resourceful

My mom picked up some canning jars at a lawn sale. They must have been from LONG ago because as you can see they were priced at $1.99. Well I guess it is ok that I invested in lots over the summer because they do not loose their value. I think she said she paid $3/box.
Before last year I only had a couple canning jars kicking around my cupboards. Now you never know where you'll find them! I even bought some of the 1/2 gallon ones...they have so many uses, I'm addicted. They also sell the plastic covers so after you open a jar you can replace with that so the metal doesn't get rusty prematurely. They also work great for dried goods: beans, almonds if you buy in bulk, flour, sugar. I even drink out of them. Nothing like ice water with a straw straight from a mason jar. I also like to store broth and soups and stew in them. By summer I will have them filled with goat milk. I CAN'T WAIT!

We were not able to get into the butcher for 3 more weeks for the meat birds so John decided that today was the day. While I worked and the kids were in school he processed all 30 meat birds. That is a whole lot of work to do by yourself! He's the man I tell you!!!!
Total weight was about 120lbs and we did not have much money tied up because John bought extra birds and sold them which paid for a bunch of their feed and the cost of our birds and he did the processing which saved us $90.
Our freezers are maxed out. Not sure what we will do when he gets his deer and oh yeah the pigs?????

Just made my third batch of homemade laundry detergent. I will not go back to store bought. 1 batch last me about a month and costs only a couple dollars. It also gets my clothes squeaky clean! It is environmentally friendly the materials used in it's makings are borax, washing soda, and fels naphtha soap. Then their is 3 less plastic jugs that have to be produced. I also really like the all purpose cleaner. I have learned that the way to make all these homemade things work is to do it in quantity so you do not have to add these to your already busy weeks. Always looking for ways to save time and money! Last batch I made made enough to fill a half gallon jug, I used an old vinegar container. Now when my squirt bottle is out I fill it up quickly and viola I have just save myself $3 and that is one less isle I have to go down in the grocery store. Slowly I am distancing myself from the grocery store shelves....


On a final note I'd like to share of few good post I read this week


*7 reasons why it is better to buy used goods
*making pumpkin puree
*roasting sunflower seeds
*childhood memories and pumpkin pickles

ENJOY THE WEEKEND!

Sweet Smells of Fall

The last two weekends Flower Girl has made applesauce. It was another one of those firsts for me. I had never made homemade applesauce. Isn't that sad? Especially when your 6 year old tells you how to make it then proceeds to make it herself and the only assistance you provide is coring the apples. When she first mentioned that she wanted to do this and she "knows how" because she did it is school I was hesitant for a moment. Then I thought what the heck! Worse case scenario, pig food. It took her about 2 hours peeling, cutting, and then adding it all to a crock. Flower Girl's recipe as follows: "about 17 apples cut up small, 1 cup of honey, and a cup of cinnamon." We decided to do a half a batch and I convinced her to use 1 T. of cinnamon i/o a cup...she agreed and it was the BEST APPLESAUCE we've ever eaten! She cooked it on low over night in a crock and we ate it up in no time. She was some proud and so were we!


With the change of seasons you think of all the chores you won't have to do and then before you know it there is a whole other list of chores and need to do's before the next season.
Winterizing the house, setting up house for the critters in the barn, planting garlic, and back to hauling wood...yes our wood stove has been running for nearly a week. No complaints I feel fortunate that we have the wood to burn and do not have to depend on oil. My Maine Man worked hard all summer and put up about 9 cord. I am so thankful that we have him. Without John, we could not function! There is not a thing he does not do (except toilets and he would if he had to) We love him so and appreciate all he does!
It has been brisk here in Maine and some folks even had a bit of the white stuff today...soon we will be shoveling.

We have also been trying to get caught up on some inside tasks that have been patiently waiting through the gardening season. I've painted both the kids floors, (they have the old wood floors) painted the mud room "barn red" (love the color), and we soon will be putting up trim work in the kitchen....yeah ha, it has been 2 years coming.

I took the turkeys to the butchers last week. That was an experience! They were so big I did not have a cage to hold them so their last hours were on sheets in the back of the heated suburban jamming to "I've got friends in low places" by Garth Brooks. What a way to go.
I had one moment of feeling bad but it quickly passed. They had a good life!
I did not watch them get processed but I watched the ones after except for the initial kill, it was not that bad.

We ate our first "farm fresh turkey" last weekend and it was wicked yummy! (yes I'm a Mainer)
With the left overs I made turkey pie, turkey barley soup, turkey salad, froze a bag for stew and I made stock. We have 3 more in the freezer, the biggest weighed 30lbs.

The Cornish rocks are ready to go to freezer camp too. I am afraid we are going to have to process them ourselves because we cannot get them into the butcher for 3 more weeks and that means lots more grain, these guys are little piggies. More grain= $. I think we(John) will skin some instead of plucking and we will make ground chicken. I like it for meat loaf, spaghetti, and I bet it would make great meatballs.

Have you ever bragged before and it come back and bit you in the a@!? Like, "we haven't been sick all winter" and then you are all nearly hospitalized. For whatever reason this ALWAYS happens to me. I was bragging it up the other day that we had yet to have any predator problems and boom...Bam Bam our white duck gets taken out. Country Boy's duck of course, poor kid, he is starting to think he has a curse...his goat, his cat, now his duck. We discovered this the day after I was reading Hobby Farm Magazine and noticed that a picture I had submitted months before of the two ducks was published. I was so excited I got the kids out of bed to show them.
Funny how that all happened. Now the question is what to do with Pebbles? I say find her a partner and John says "find her a home"...we will see but it needs to be soon because I feel sad for her. I thought about mixing her in with the chickens over the winter because John wants to get ducks in the spring, not sure how she will do.
Next day I find a beheaded partridge....what next?
On a lighter note we got 2 little kitties named Gretta and Cookie...their sweet but mischievous!

Lastly, check out a post that Duane wrote over at the Funny Farm about mushrooms. Thanks Duane for your informative post and for answering my question!

Here is the recipe for TURKEY BARLEY SOUP

Ingredients:

• 6 cups chicken broth or turkey broth
• 1 to 2 cups diced cooked turkey
• 1/2 cup pearl barley
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 celery, stalks, chopped
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon dried leaf thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (about 2 teaspoons dried)

Preparation:

Combine broth, turkey, barley, onion, celery, carrots, bay leaf, thyme, marjoram, black pepper and parsley in slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours, or simmer over low heat on the stovetop for 1 hour, or until the carrots are tender and the barley is soft.
Serves 4 to 6

here is the site the recipe comes from

Guest Writer - Times are Tight

Above is one of my buddies from nursing school, "city girl" and her little pumpkin. As you can see she was part of last weeks photo shot. She does not have a blog so I pestered her to write a little something up on her recent endeavors. I have learned from her and thought it would be nice to share with others.

Do you remember last winter? You know, when oil prices sky rocketed? Remember how the cost of groceries climbed higher on a weekly basis? I know large oil bills arrived in our mail box every 3-4 weeks and money got tighter all around which meant my grocery budget took a huge hit.

I know I’ll never forget! Because, on one shopping trip the rising cost of groceries literally brought me to the verge of tears! It seemed that literally every item I reached for that day had gone up in price. I’m not talking just a few pennies either! I’m talking dimes, quarters and dollars. Usually, I am one of those freaks of nature who enjoys grocery shopping…so the sting of tears between the produce aisle and the fish counter was not a good omen.

That night I composed an email to all of my friends. In it I asked them if they were having similar experiences with their budgets and what was it they were doing to stretch their dollar week to week? Was anyone willing to have a conversation around this issue? Did they have any money saving tips to offer me?

I hesitated to send it out because I felt financially embarrassed. I soon had found out that I had nothing to worry about and the sense of embarrassment was replaced by the strength and support of those friends. In fact, everyone replied and in doing so took away the feelings of isolation, provided emotional support and put me in touch with some great resources and ideas.

So, if the economy stretching your hard earned dollar so thin you can practically see through it, please read on.

Grocery budgets can be reduced significantly by giving up store and brand loyalty, creating a price book, shopping for sales, buying in bulk, creating a pantry along with a menu plan for the week/ month. It also helps to have a freezer and to learn to cook from scratch if you don’t know how already.

I found the following references very handy:

An e-book written by Lana Dorazio: Saving Thousands Grocery Shopping & Cook Great Food! It was well worth the $19.00 spent. It includes: e book, grocery price book, 50 simple recipes and an exclusive interview with a grocery store manager who gives away the company secrets. Check it out at www.grocerybook.com

Simple Savings Website & Newsletter

An online community dedicated to finding simple ways to save money and reduce debt to improve the quality of life.

www.simplesavings.com

Thanks City Girl for being such a sport!