Brrr!

We finally got a hard frost this morning! I don't mean to say it like I've been waiting for it. It just seems to be later than normal this year!

The goats were at tad chilled this morning. See the green butt on Savannah on the left? Definitely bred.



The Swiss Chard is looking slightly pitiful this morning. It's a little slumped over.


I think the zinnias are finally finished now. I love the ice crystals on the petals.


Check out the turnip greens!



And look what I found. See the plants closest to the camera? They're been eaten!!! Not sure what it was. Probably a bunny. That bunny better move on out of my garden before it's too late!


I'm full of threats, but I don't know if I could actually hurt a bunny. Depends. I probably could if it eats all of my kale!!

21 Long Days

About a week ago I put 2 eggs into the incubator. Remember? The plan was to set eggs on November 5th so they'd hatch out on Thanksgiving when all the visiting family could be a part of it!

I set two eggs early because my American hen stopped laying and I really wanted to hatch some of her eggs. They're still in the incubator. I can't tell yet if they're fertile or not. Green eggs are extremely hard to candle!

Last night, David brought home his multimeter (something like this) from work so I could use that to double check the thermometer that came with the incubator. I wanted to be sure the eggs would be kept at the right temperature. The multimeter temp was reading 2 degrees cooler than the cheapo thermometer that came with the bator.


I put 18 of my brown eggs into the incubator at midnight, the morning of the 5th, after I adjusted the temperature. I woke up this morning and the temperature was reading several degrees too high, so I really hope the eggs weren't damaged!

Now the temperature is under control, and we should be good.



And what did I find in the mail today?!!

Eggs all the way from Squash Blossom Farm, halfway around the country! Susan sent me 7 beautiful eggs, and they arrived just on time, safe and sound!! I unpacked them, marked them (an "X" on one side, and SB on both sides so I could tell them apart), and got them in the incubator (which is pretty darn full now).




So, hopefully we'll have some chicks soon. 21 days is awfully long time to wait if you're impatient, like me.



Ooh, and more exciting news. Savannah (the visiting goat) was bred today! She's going to stay for at least 21 more days to make sure she doesn't come into heat again though.

Two Dogs

One of my bff's, Jenny, asked me to make two felted wool dogs for her sister's wedding. Her sister has two labs, Bella and Chevy. She wanted a figurine of each of them to sit on a table at her wedding on November 14th.

This is my first commissioned work, and I was really nervous, especially since it was for a good friend (well, her sister). Oh, the sister doesn't know about these, by the way. They're a surprise!

I finally finished them last night!

Meet Bella, the white lab.








And Chevy, the black lab. Jenny said Chevy's head isn't blocky like Bella's, so I tried to reflect that.











I'm really excited to see how the bride-to-be likes them. It's a heck of lot of pressure making something for someone's wedding!

I'm glad they're done. No more pressure!

Devin Time

Kylee stayed with her mom last night, so it was just me and Devin for a little while yesterday afternoon.

We took the training wheels off his bike. Yep, he's growing up fast. You know what? It's hard to take a picture of a boy zooming by on his bike!

Love this picture!


Shoot, I missed him!







And he's great at helping out with the animals!



He's great at feeding the chickens.



I didn't let him feed the goats though, because they like to mob the food person.


It was time to put the plastic on the chicken coop windows. I wanted to do something more substantial, like plexiglass. I just ran out of time and money this year, and the plastic was free! I asked Devin to take some pictures of me.



Oops, where ya goin', Dev?

Devin even got in on the action. Yep, it's nice having a very capable 6 year old around.

Voila! Now I need to put the wood trim around the windows and they'll be done! I've been saying I need to put the wood trim around them since it was built....

My motto: Why do today what you can put of until tomorrow? Haha!! I kid! Well, mostly kid.

Applesauce: Part 2

The applesauce saga continues!

Yesterday we left off with half cooked down apples. I finished cooking the apples (when they're soft and break apart easily) and then put the sauce through the food processor to get the chunks out.




I put it back on the stove to get hot and added cinnamon and a touch of nutmeg. I'm not sure how much cinnamon...just add what you are comfortable with.



I tasted the sauce, and it was a bit tart, so I added a cup of sugar just to take the edge off.



Then I got my canning supplies ready while the applesauce heated all the way. There's the funnel, jar lifter, lid lifter, tongs, and a clean rag. This stuff (minus the rag) comes in a kit sold in most farm supply stores (and even Wal-Mart).



On the stove, there's a small pan of water with the lids simmering, the huge canning pot with water boiling, and the pot of applesauce.



I'm not going to go into the basics of canning, because it's too much to type and there are other people who are WAY more knowledgeable than me. I'll just give ya a brief overview. So I filled hot jars (I put them in the dishwasher so they get nice and hot) with hot sauce. Leave about 1/2" of headspace.



Wipe the rim with a clean, wet rag before placing the lid on.



I had enough sauce to fill 7 quart jars, which is what the water bath canner holds. Perfect!



The jars get lowered into boiling water and processed for 20 minutes.



Then they come out and cool. I must have hard water. See the deposits on the jars?



I'll probably make more sauce and some applebutter sometime soon. We still have over half the apples!


P.S. Have you noticed my To-Do list on the right side of the blog? I've found I'm more motivated to do stuff now. I don't want you thinking I'm lazy, so I need to get to work crossing things off the list!!

P. P. S. I know I said I'd post the video of the apple peeler, but I lied. I'll try to get to it tomorrow!

Applesauce: Part 1

I started the applesauce yesterday. I got to use a new gadget. David bought me this apple peeler from Harbor Freight (known for cheap inexpensive tools), and it actually works pretty well! I think it was only $8, so if it craps out after a year I won't mind too much. It works better on normal sized apples. We got some jumbo Romes, and I have to touch them up by hand after I use the peeler on them. I got a video of the kids using it, but I'm too lazy to upload it tonight. I'll do it tomorrow, I promise!



See what I mean about these jumbo apples?! They're the size of grapefruit.


So I peeled, cored, and chopped lots of apples.



Enough to just about fill this large pot. It's a Paula Dean pot, did you know that? We got it on sale at "the Wal-Marts." It's a nice pot. Once I filled the pot with apples, I added some water. how much? Some. I don't measure anything! Just wing it. You just don't want the apples to stick or burn. Set the burner to low. Low low. Just let it simmer all.day.long.



Stir it every now and then so you can work the top chunks down to the bottom. You can see here it's starting to turn to mush sauce.


Ok, that's enough for now. I've really got to get working on those felted dogs I'm making for my friend's sister's wedding! One is 95% done and I haven't started the other!! Enough apple talk for now!

Captivating Caprines!

You remember Mammoth and June, right? Well, Friday after work I went and picked them up from the breeder's house to bring them home. Yay! Today we added another doe! She's going to be staying with us for a few weeks so she can get bred.

Her name is Savannah, and she's from the county where I grew up (a couple hours away). Turns out, her owner is in the same 4-H club I was in when I was younger! Small world....

I started making applesauce today (more on that later), so I had a ton of peels and cores. I decided to see if the goats wanted any.

Did they ever! They were crazy about them!



I love this picture of the girls. Don't they look alike? Savannah has a very dark head, and June has a brown patch right on top of her head. Plus, Savannah's face is slightly more delicate than June's.


June reaaallly liked the apples. You might notice she has some green on her shoulder. That's because I painted Mammoth's chest with the green marking crayon so I can tell when he breeds Savannah. Well, in the frenzy to get apples, Mammoth managed to mark June's shoulder a few times.



Here's Savannah trying out the hay.



Mammoth and June.



I have 2 metal hay feeders that were originally made for horses, so the bars are spaced pretty wide on them. The hay kept slipping right through onto the ground, so I asked David's Dad if he could weld some cross bars on them. He did it today!



Now they hay stays in there really well and the goats can still eat.



I only hung one feeder at first, but then noticed Mammoth was being little butthead about sharing, so I hung the other one.



Who's this? Oh, it's Savannah.



And this must be June!