Duck, Duck, No Goose

Well, I have added to my menagerie in my backyard. I got myself 3 ducks. 1 Pekin duck and 2 Rouen ducks. The Pekin is a female named Ivy. One of the Rouens is a male and his name is Drake and the female is Ivy. We took a long drive yesterday to pick them up and had a great time talking about different things. The ducks were originally part of 2 different households. I called on the Pekin and found out that her neighbor was getting rid of her 2 Rouen ducks and thought it would be good to have more than one duck so that the other didn't get lonely and the two Rouen just couldn't be separated :). We brought them home last night and put them in the dog's old crate we used when they were inside, threw some pine shavings down on the floor and plopped them all in there together. I went out this morning to let them out and what did I find? A nice warm duck egg! I guess it would be good to mention Ivy is 2 and the Rouens are 1. Ivy laid an egg. Brant scrambled it up for me (a bit undercooked) but I ate what was cooked and kept waiting for it to taste bad or gamey or something but it actually tasted really good! Almost buttery. I am going to save them until we have a dozen and then I am going to make a puff pancake with them and some rolls (with my handground wheat of course!) We put up a temporary fence around the garden because otherwise the ducks would eat all the lettuce and leafy greens. We got a little kiddie pool for them and they seemed to enjoy that. I went outside several times and turned the garden hose on with my sprinkler attachment and sprinkled them which they seemed to love! They liked playing in the pool but really loved it when we turned the sprinklers on to water the lawn. I included video of them in the sprinklers. Lily doesn't seem to like Ivy very much though, I guess because she views her as competition for Drake. She chased her around all day today and bit her and even though Ivy is twice as big as Lily she let her do it. But later on this evening I think Ivy had enough because she started biting back. I tried putting the three of them in the crate again tonight but the two girls just fought so I put Ivy in a wide laundry basket, I had been using to put my weeds in, sprinkled a good layer of pine shavings and then put another basket on top of it so that she couldn't get out but she still had standing room. Brant has requested we let him get the egg in the morning so I told him he could. He went out twice before he went to bed to check and see if she had laid one yet. I put them in the shed with Rex so hopefully they don't keep him up all night with their prattling. Rex seemed to enjoy the water as well. I went into the shed at one point and thought the dogs had licked him to death but I found out he had run through the sprinkler trying to get away from Jasmine (she was being annoying as usual). Anyway, they are a lot of fun to watch so far and Tyler seems to really enjoy them. I know the boys are loving it. Brant has been outside pretty much all day helping me get the fence ready and playing with the ducks. He also made his own snorkeling device with the leftover PVC pipe from the fence. I also got an awesome tan/burn. Anyway, today was a great day!

Yeah I am Home

I just got back into town today, yeah! I was very happy to see my boys. I haven't seen Ty yet but he should be home for lunch any minute. The chickens are doing great and they are getting bigger! Rex is fluffier and almost fluffy enough to shave! Hopefully, in the next two weeks I can shave him. My garden is doing pretty well for not being watered everyday for the last 5 days but it is still looking good. I forgot my camera back at my mom and dad's so I had to use the old camera so that is why they are just stills and some video with music. I was able to pick a handful of blueberries so I will be trying to come up with something to make with those. I will also be making some whole wheat rolls today from the wheat I ground up before I left. I will post a video on those as well.

My Chickens at 5 weeks

They are getting bigger every day! I was reading over the weekend that roosters start crowing at 6-8 weeks so Buster should be cock a doodle dooin in the next few weeks. Which will be hilarious if it is around 8 weeks because my entire family will be out here camping in my backyard for the reunion and they are going to have an early wake up call. Anyway, just thought I would show how big they were before I left for my girl's weekend thing. I will take some video when I get home tommorrow if they have substantially grown. I am hoping everything has gotten bigger since I left. I am really excited to check on the tomatoes and blueberries. I also can't wait to check on Rex and see how long his hair is! I am hoping within the next couple of weeks I will be able to shear him for the first time. I am also going to be setting a schedule for myself with the wool or I will NEVER get it all done. I also received my Merino raw wool I ordered a while back in the mail so I have to clean that as well. I also tried my hand at carding and I think I have that figured out and have made my first few rolags. (I will explain what those are later). Anyway, I think things are coming along really great and I am very satisfied. I do need to finish weeding the side garden along the fence because that is where I am going to be planting the cabbage and broccoli seeds. Hopefully my sunflowers and Nasturtiums have grown since I have been gone and I can get those planted here in a little while as well? I have my loving husband, two adorable children, animals I love and a garden waiting for me and I can't wait to get back!

Germination of Seeds Day 5

Okay, so I know I wouldn't show you anymore about the seeds in the paper towel until I was ready to plant them but I just can't help it! I took these images around the 5th day. I have been out of town since Thursday so this is what they looked like before I left. I can't wait to see what they look like now! I will have to post some video tommorrow of how everything is looking because I have been gone for 5 days! I can't wait.

Making Homemade Yogurt

I obviously got a wild hair up my arse because I also made homemade yogurt last night. The process was really quite simple. I took a quart of whole milk and brought it to a boil (180 degrees) and let it boil for 2 minutes, then you take it off the heat and let it cool to 110 degrees. To speed up the process you can set it in a cold water bath until it reaches the lukewarm temperature. I then added a jarful of plain yogurt (with live acidophilus) to a bowl and scooped some of the milk into the bowl and mixed it together. Once it was smooth I poured the mixture into the rest of the milk. Mixed it and then poured the mixture into the 7 jars that came with my yogurt maker. I then placed the jars in my yogurt maker, set the timer, turned it on and left it. 7 hours later I had yogurt. I placed it in the fridge and let it set for an hour before I tried the first jar. You are actually supposed to wait at least 3 hours but I couldn't wait. It was pretty tangy all by itself and quite runny but I added some strawberry jam and a little sugar and it was quite good. I think I will try another jar today since it has now been sitting for 5 hours, I wonder if the consistency will be thicker? If not I will be adding powdered milk to my next batch. That is supposed to thicken it up a bit. Brant tried the yogurt with strawberry jam and some sugar and he said he really liked it. I think I will find a recipe for some good homemade granola so that I can top my yogurt off with that. I think Tyler would like it that way as well, or for him I can just buy a large box of Cheerio's. I will be trying different yogurt recipes in the next couple of weeks and I will let you know how they turn out. Maybe I can use some fresh blueberries from my blueberry bush? mmmmmmm, yummy!

Making Butter

Okay I know I am off my rocker but I sure am lovin the ride :). So I did some searches last night and learned how you can make your own butter at home! So I went to the store and grabbed myself a pint of pasteurized whipping cream. I washed out a Mason jar I had sitting around, let the cream sit on the counter until it was room temp, poured it in the bottle, put the lid on and started shaking, and shaking, and shaking. The boys and I took turns and shook it for probably a half an hour?? You need to shake it until the solids in the cream have clumped together like in the video, don't shake until it is fluffy like the end video it will go rancid faster. pour the buttermilk out into another container (can be used in another recipe such as pancakes or rolls) put cool water into the jar, put the lid on and shake again. Repeat the cold water process until the water comes out clear. I have read that this is a very important part of making butter. Now mix in about 1-2 tsp of salt (optional but I like the flavor and it actually helps it keep even longer). Then you put the butter into some kind of mold or container that you want to store it in and put it in your fridge. Voila! You just made butter. It really tasted good and I can't wait to make some whole wheat rolls from the wheat we just ground, slather some of this butter on it and enjoy! Very COOL stuff.

Tregan Tumbling

This has nothing to do with my plans for this blog but I caught Tregan on tape doing this and thought it would be cool to share with everyone. He is doing two backhandsprings and a tuck. Love you and miss ya,



Kaci

Grinding Wheat

Hey there, so I have had a very, very busy day. I got up and took care of my animals and then watered all the plants. Then, my wheat grinder and yogurt maker came, YEAH! I am so excited. So I took 2 cupfuls of wheat berries and started grinding away thinking it wouldn't take to terribly long. Boy was I wrong! I have probably ground the wheat for a total of at least 2 hours off and on all day and I am still needing to grind more but I am definitely getting closer. I would like to have enough flour to make a loaf of bread in my bread machine. We are leaving tommorrow for the weekend so I don't think it will be done before we leave but if I am I will stick the ground flour into a gallon size ziploc bag and stick it in my refrigerator so it will be waiting for me when I get home. The boys helped out alot and they seemed to enjoy it, even Tyler pitched in a bit. The next batch I do I will be making tally marks for everytime I put it through the blender so that I can have a better idea of how long I have to grind it for.

Washing Raw Wool

Okay so here is a quick overlook at what it has taken for me to wash the raw wool that I got from Ty's co-worker that owns Hampshire sheep. It takes quite a bit of work but I am just doing a little bit at a time until it is all washed and then I will go through and show how to card it and possibly even dye it. It is a lot of work like I said but hopefully it will be well worth it.

Update on Veggies

This is a short clip of what I have added to my garden and the progress everything is making. I am so excited things are starting to look really good. I never thought I could have found so much peace and contentment in gardening and taking care of my animals. It is GREAT! I got an email the other day from a lady looking for someone to take her 3 ducks. I wanted them SO BAD!! But I was a good girl and I turned her down. I just have to wait until we move and get more land and Tyler said I could get some more animals. I can't wait.

Handspinning- My new Obsession!

So, I was doing research on chickens and came across some video on youtube about handspinning. It looked so relaxing and monotonous (which is my forte) that I had to try it. But before I did I wanted to make sure that I could knit. I spent about two weeks watching youtube video after youtube video, checked out books from the library got some yarn and knitting needles. I then spent countless hours knitting and unknitting until I got the two basic stitches for knitting down. I then ordered my spindle kit! I got it from an alpaca farmer in WY. The kit came with a top whorl drop spindle and an oz of alpaca. I didn't know how soft alpaca was! It is so soft but has a very pungent smell that I did not care for so I sprayed it with my perfume. I spent the next couple of days watching youtube videos and practicing spinning. I was hooked! I started buying lots of wool and roving and have been a spinning monster ever since. I even got some raw wool to process from Greg at Tyler's work. He has a substantial herd of Hampshire sheep. But I will go into that with my next blog. So anyway, here are some clips of my progress with spinning.

Germinating in a paper towel.

I saw this little technique on Youtube. You take a damp paper towel and place several seeds on it. Either fold the paper towel over the top or leave the seeds exposed. I choose to fold the towel over the top. Place the towel in a ziploc sandwich bag and place on a window sill. I started some cabbage, mesclun (a fancy blend of tasty salad greens), and broccoli this way. I also chose to label the bag in case I wasn't sure what seed was what because the broccoli and cabbage look the exact same! The clip below shows day one and day three it is amazing how fast these little seeds come out of their shell when given what it needs. When the sprouts are about 1-2 inches long I will show you what to do next. I also included a clip of the Nasturtiums and Sunflowers that I planted in some biodegradable pots. The Nasturiums as I said in my video are an edible flower and taste a bit like horseradish. The sunflowers, Brant has wanted them for a long time, are going to be planted along my back fence. I have decided to not plant anything that is for aesthetic value only. I would like everything I plant to have a purpose. There is a book out there about edible landscapes so I will check the library and see if they have anything. I would actually like to add a "dwarf" orchard. They are special trees that have been created to stay smaller than a normal fruit tree so they don't use as much space. But where we don't know how long we are going to be here I am not sure that Tyler will be up for that. However, he has been amazing so far and very supportive, except when it comes to the animals I had to beg for them but now that I have them he treats them really well. I think he likes it.

My Vegetable Garden and Berries

So after about a month I have some great progress with my garden. This is again just a bunch of clips of my garden till about a week ago. I have planted peas, beans, Tomatoes (Parkers Whopper and Celebrity), bell peppers, brussel sprouts, cucumbers, strawberries, Swiss chard, Beets, LOTS of different types of lettuce, raspberries and blueberries. I used a mixture of what is called biosolids. We got these at the water treatment plant after I did LOTS of research to make sure that it would be safe for my family. It is really inexpensive here they charged $15 a pickup load full. I then added an equal amount of peat moss I bought at my local nursery and rototilled the two things together. I think I needed to add more peat moss though because I think the soil may be too rich? Half of the swiss chard and beets seem to be dying. I am increasing the water to see if that helps. I go out in the morning and then again in the evening and water it with a watering can or a hose with a sprinkling attachment. That seems to be helping but we will give it a couple of days and see how everything goes. I am very happy with my garden and am planning to do even more!

Rex the Angora Rabbit

Hey here is a video link for my Angora rabbit named Rex. I started handspinning as many of you know if you have read my blog and wanted a cheaper way of getting Angora (it is about $10 per OZ!!) So I figured why not have my own rabbit! I had been doing a ton of research on the internet about the Angora rabbit, the different breeds, what they eat, how they are groomed, the costs, cages, medical conditions, etc. I found that there were no breeders within 400 miles of where I live so I checked out a local newspapers website and looked in their classifieds. Found 2. One was an English which requires way more grooming for $100, and a German for $60 including the cage. I called on the later to find out why he was so cheap and came to find out that he was a rescue and the only reason they were charging $60 is because that is what they had to pay when they received him. The owners he was rescued from had decided to just let him roam free in their yard for two years and never bothered to groom him or cut his hair. Well, angora wool is about 7 times warmer than sheep wool and it gets very hot for them during the summer. When Kara got him his hair was VERY long and very matted. He even had hotspots on his skin from where it got so hot it lefts small burns. And his nose looks like it has had an injury but I have been cleaning it and applying neosporin to try and clear it up. He is still not used to being groomed but I just work with him a little each day and get him used to me and the brushes. I try and keep the wool around his neck and face shorter because that seems to be where he gets the hottest. We also have him in our shed so he is NEVER in the direct sunlight. We put a bottle of frozen water in there with him every morning so that if he gets to hot he can lay on it. I let him out every night around 6 so that he can stretch his legs and eat some grass and not get to terribly hot. His fur is about 2 inches long right now and it needs to be at least 3 for me to be able to harvest it. I will be posting more when I get to first harvest his wool. So I love my bunny and he is lots of fun to watch him.

Our Chickens

These are our Chickens! I have really enjoyed having them. I built their tractor myself (with some help from the boys). I have 1 rooster and 5 hens. The rooster and the brown hen are Brahma Bantams, the two black ones with the pokey tails are Japanese Bantams, and the two white ones are called silkies. The video shows a progression of the chickens from day one. I will be posting updates on them from here on out. My neighbors love the chickens as well. Tommie has already asked her husband if she can have some of their own. The kids like to come over and pet them which is good because that will hopefully make them nice. They are about 1 month old now. I am not completely sure. But these are where I have started with my urban homestead because eggs are around 3.50 a dozen for organic which is what I buy. Eventually I would like to order 25+ meat birds raise them till they are at their peak, slaughter them and have chicken for a year! So I will keep this post updated with the new things that are coming to past at our Urban Homestead. By the way, these videos are not in any order, I was too tired to try and get them in order so this first one is a maugepauge of clips.