Wednesday, May 20, 2009

I'm a Sponsor!

The bags I made last month, well I ended up charging less than usual due to the fact it is a charity event.




Yay for me!

Monday, May 18, 2009

I finished a quilt

I was having suffering from sewers block at the tail end of winter. Needed to make something other than bags and was itching to make a quilt. The plan is to try to sell it at one of my summer shows.
I made this quilt top, or bottom in March. (its reversible)
Here is the other top, or bottom, before quilting.
Some of the fabric has sea creatures on it so I quilted it with watery swirls.



Here is the top or bottom all washed and puckery.
I love the puckery.



I finished binding it on mothers day.


Speaking of Mothers Day, the guys went to get Chinese take out while the girl and I made egg drop soup, hot tea and set the table for out Mothers Day lunch.
I know that was forever ago, but this pic was on the camera when I down loaded the pics and I couldn't resist.




Thank you for all the birthday wishes to my girl.
She likes to decorate her own cake, she got her cake decor skills from me.


Tuesday, May 12, 2009

It's a party!

Tomorrow my baby turns 13. I know what you are thinking, "How can such a vibrant YOUNG woman be the mother of 2 teenagers?" I know, me too! Snirt.


I asked if she wanted a dinner out at a restaurant (rare treat) or a party. She picked party. So that means I need to clean and cook, she's worth it.


*


Speaking of party, this Sunday with be the circle of art auction.


My bag I donated is in


this video from last years auction at about 14 seconds in. Don't blink or you'll miss it!



Maybe next week I'll have time to put my feet up.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Feeling Broody

I got my first batch of chicks 6 years ago, and ever since then I was hoping to have a broody hen so I wouldn't need to buy chicks. I like the idea of having some self-sufficiency around my mini farm.
Last summer a couple of my Golden Laced Wyandotts went broody. I got fertile eggs from my dads Jersey Giant and from under 2 hens I got 6 chicks. Sadly raccoons found their way in, I lost all the chicks and one of the moms.
In the fall, one of my Dark Cornish went broody. I didn't want chicks during the cold winter so I placed wooden eggs under her, she snuck in a real one when I wasn't looking and we ended up with our Uno.



Here is our Uno today. She is from our Silver Spangled Hamburg roo and a Dark Cornish Hen.
So Unos mom (i call her my baby mama) went broody again in February. I was taking care of my Dads chickens then so I took 4 of those eggs and another 4 from mine. The four from my dads were duds as well as one of mine, an egg eater got 2 so we ended up with one again.
This is Winky today, I believe she is a pure Dark Cornish (and a girl).
Are we destined for one chick at a time?
*

I had a few more Dark Cornish (the queens of broody) go broody.
Hoping to hatch out some chickens for meat this year, I left the 2 Dark Cornish roos free to roam with the Dark Cornish, Partrige Rocks and Golden Laced Wyandott hens. They are all dual purpose breeds.
I separated our SSH roo, he's a smaller breed and put him in with our Americaunas. I had read somewhere if you cross a white laying breed Roo with a green laying egg hen, you may get more green egg layers. We shall see if that is true.
So 3 weeks ago, I placed 9 eggs under one of my broodys (7 brown, 2 green) and yesterday morning, I heard the sweet little peep sound coming from under this dedicated mama.



By the time I went to bed, six had hatched and by this morning the other 3 were dry, fuzzy and looking adorable.
This broody hen was in the box next to the first hen and thinks some of them should be hers. The one below is on some eggs too.




I moved the mama and chicks and she keeps trying to get in and claim some as her own. She got in once already and had a little chick under her. She has her own clutch that should be hatching in the next couple of days, if she will stay put.




In the last few days I noticed this Dark Cornish is in the Broody way. She wouldn't even leave when Hoot wanted to lay an egg so she just moved over.



That's not all!



This hen is Broody Too!
My husband found a wild goose egg out in the yard yesterday, do you think I should try putting it under her to see what happens?


That's Crazy!


Dark Cornish are a friendly breed, have tasty meat, not as pretty as some breeds but are wonderful if you are looking for a broody hen.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

all work and no (well some) play


I noticed I only had 5 posts on my poor neglected blog this month. With this one its 6, wahoo!
What have I been up to? Well thanks for asking.









I got that job I was shooting for back in January. They originally wanted 10 bags, then 15, now 20! I am thankful they chose me and grateful for the work.



I am also grateful hubby is the bread winner, I'm just the breadcrumb winner but this makes my crumbs a little more substantial.


I also needed to finish a bag for the Circle of Art auction. They need it by Friday so I'm squeaking in just in time.
*
It hasn't been all work. On Fridays, the boy has soccer so I dropped him off and went fishing.
I have been chomping at the bit to re-stock our pond. It's worse than we thought, all the little fish are gone too.



I caught this small large mouth. Ok, that sentence makes sense to fishing people.

(hubbys hands, mine aren't that large)


I'm not sure what exactly this one is, it looks like a bluegill but has a very large mouth. Sort of like a rock bass but it doesn't have the red eye. I caught a couple more that were smaller but beggars cant be choosers right?



I had to go back and pick up the boy, so while I was away I let the girl use my pole and tackle.











AND THIS IS WHAT SHE CAUGHT!! The little shit.

A 22 1/2" striped bass. I guess the important thing is that we are slowly stocking the pond back up, not important which one of us does the catching. It sure would have been fun to reel this one in though. She was grinning from ear to ear when I showed back up. That's my girl!

*


Speaking of the girl, you all know how she likes to take my camera and surprise me with photos.


Here is just a couple of the dozens she took of her troll doll collection.




Cute little baby troll.



Well thats my quick little update. I'll try to do better next month.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

second road trip

I have to admit I was a bit disappointed at the weight of the last tiny egg. I mean it was so small, but at .7 oz it was a giant compared to smaller eggs out there. Imagine my delight when last eve, while gathering eggs, I came across another tiny egg. Even smaller than the now huge .7 oz.

See the difference?




How's about now?




So this morning, I packed up my tiny little jewel,


put it in the car,



my farm helper was thrilled to go,
since it's family, there is no need to dress up,



I held my breath,




Wow, only .4 oz.
Makes me appreciate how tiny a .2 oz would be.
OK chickens, keep up the good work and give me more tiny eggs, this is fun!


Monday, April 20, 2009

Peer Pressure


A couple of weeks ago one of our hens gifted us with a tiny egg. I guess it has been going around.

Ceecee left me a comment about hers and asked if mine had a yolk. And Danni who weighs her eggs requested I weigh mine.


Great, I don't have a scale, I could take it to the Post Office but I go there regularly and don't want to be known as the weird lady who asks you to weigh tiny eggs, so what was I to do.



After putting some serious thought and a couple of naps it came to me, my stepmom has every gadget known to man, I bet she has a digital scale.


I called, she did, road trip!










I packed up my little egg and drove the 2 miles.


We weighed it.




See. Danni won, hers was only .4 oz.




I didn't want to crack the shell so I poked a couple of holes,


and blew. (Sorry no pics of that one, who knows what sort of people that would attract)




It was mostly egg white, a strange little yolk and some alien like substance hovering around.

Well ladies, there you have it.