Pioneer Woman at Heart
One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!
One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.
Adopted Motto
"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
Blooms and more planting . . .
Monday, May 15, 2023
Just the Bits
The weekend was a busy one for us. There was garden prep (needed weeded/tilled), dropped off donations, ran errands and started to build raised beds.
Put the new chicks in with the hens. They are getting along. There were a few pecks and that was it, but the chicks are not smart enough to use the ramp to get back inside for water and food. I have to put them back in several times. They will figure it out.
Some of the flowering bushes we planted last year are blooming now. All of the flower beds are weeded, other than one rose bed.
Saturday, May 13, 2023
Should-a, Could-a, Would-a. ~ Raising new chicks
The Could have: I could have had electric hooked to the coop, and no dust in the house. Our garage is not heated, so their make-shift brooder is in the utility room with a heat lamp currently.
The Would have: I would have had a brooder inside the new coop, making the transition much easier to introduce them to the hens, and again, no dust and mess in the house.
If you follow my blog, you already know that a few years ago, there was a massacre in the original coop. It was inside a barn, but after 12 years, raccoons and opossums, ripped holes in the chicken wire (rookie mistake in the beginning, don't ever use chicken wire), and killed more than half the chickens and all of the roosters.A friend sold me this coop for $75.00. It worked, but has no ventilation, I have to crawl inside to muck it, and the roosts are on the floor, so we had to install plastic roosts higher inside for them. Feed and water is an issue with this coop too. The windows do not open, and it's a hot house in the summer. The sides do not open from the top to get eggs (which makes no sense to put them at the floor of the coop either). Chickens like to roost high. Laying eggs on the floor would encourage egg eating. The entire layout of this coop make no sense for a proper chicken coop. Anyway . . .
I cannot wait to get started on the new coop. We are currently trying to see if the corners of the cement slab behind it (currently covered with trees, rocks, over grown wild growing things the birds planted) will have even corners to work with. Crossing our fingers it works for the new build.
Back to the title of this post....I have to get the chicks introduced and I have a smaller kennel that will fit inside this coop (for now), where I can introduce the chicks and keep them safe for the meanwhile, and get them out of the house. Whew. I will just pull the plastic tray out at the bottom. Anyway....got it figured out for now.
Friday, May 12, 2023
Egg Shells ~ Lilacs ~ Rain moves in ~ Yarrow uses?
I have been saving egg shells for the garden(s), and even when I shelled eggs for egg salad.
Thursday, May 11, 2023
Getting Outdoors ~ Doily Finished
The chicks are about 7 weeks old now, so they got a day of introduction to the hens. They say your chicks should be as large as the smallest hen, before putting them in the coop together. I had to laugh, as the hens were scared of the chicks and they were on the other side of the run fence ha ha!
Updates with the garden(s):
-planted about 100 cloves of garlic for spring planting (it was very difficult to locate organic garlic for spring planting too). As some of you read, voles ate our entire 80 fall planted cloves, so we moved the grow bags this year.
-started weeding the larger rose bed (this one is terrible)
-rhubarb is ready to harvest as well
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
Getting more organized!
One of the recent boxes to go through contained our DVD's. We don't have a lot, but enough that it needed organized somewhere. I was previously on a bookshelf in the closet.
Now they are in a zipper, dust free, viewable carry case that is stored up on a shelf in the closet. They are out of sight, organized in one place, I don't have to dust anything but the carry case, and we can see the movie titles easily. I had to order this online. I could not find it in stores.
I have metal shelving in my kitchen for jugs of water, vinegar etc. I had been using S hooks, but they kept falling off. These magnets hold my strainers wonderfully. I am guessing you could find them in the summer grilling supply section in most stores. These magnets are stronger than the hook magnets intended for refrigerators.
We are also moving the ironing board and iron, along with the holder we have mounted on the wall, to the bedroom closet. It makes more sense. There is an outlet easy to get to, we can store it on the wall, and easily take it down to iron any clothing, right in the closet. Sometimes, just moving something makes the job go much smoother.
Tuesday, May 9, 2023
Rusty Canning Rings