Scissor Truss Eggmobile, Part II...and a Short Break

You've probably noticed that my posts have been spread a little thin these days (or maybe that's just my modus operandi?), so I wanted to let you know that while I have several ideas for posts swimming in my head (garden update, plumbing DIY, home and upholstery updates...to name a few), I'm going to leave you with a few photos of our Scissor Truss Eggmobile and take a week or two off from blogging.  As you probably know, springtime is a busy time for homesteads, and when you throw in some extra activities we've taken on, life can start to unravel. 

And if you have young children, you'll know that interruptions like breaking off curtain rods or just needing time with Mom can make focusing on writing a little bit difficult.

So please forgive the hiatus, and know that I will be back just as soon as we complete a few projects and get back into a manageable routine!

As usual, feel free to post comments and/or questions!

We have yet to enclose the ends, put up roost bars, hang the nest boxes, and install the bolts so we can actually haul this thing.  We're planning on tackling this Thursday evening.  Think we can get it all done???

A sense of scale.

Well, maybe I'll sneak back on here with some photos of the completed project...

Let Them Eat Toast

I need catharsis right now.  Or maybe just some sympathy.

I made this recipe for spiced pumpkin muffins with a streusel topping.  I highly recommend it, as it's been a pleasant part of my venture into soaking flour (you can read more about my dilemma here).  And it usually works great, like this:

Yesterday's nice, plump muffin.

Today, they looked like this:

I found walnuts at the bottoms of the muffins.  I think they got streuseled.

A few of them made it to the cooling rack, but we may be eating toast for breakfast.

I did do a couple things differently.  I was out of butter last night, so I soaked the flour only in kefir, not in the kefir/butter/honey combo.  But I've done that before and haven't had problems.  I also melted the butter shortly before adding it into the batter, so maybe I should have let it cool.  Not sure, but I do wish we had pigs!

I will, of course, try this recipe again since it's worked so well before and I like to compete against myself.  And I'd welcome any troubleshooting ideas!

Scissor Truss Eggmobile, Part I

After much blood, sweat, and trigonometry, we are ALMOST done with our modified version of the Polyface scissor truss eggmobile (i.e., portable hen house).  Click here to see a video of Joel Salatin's version.  Ours is a bit smaller and also enclosed, since we don't have a kick-butt farm dog to ward off predators at night.  Here are some photos of the project, followed by some after-the-fact concerns, per usual.

The base with one of the trusses.  This baby will (hopefully) move on skids.

Four little trusses, all in a row.  It's roughly 12' long by 8' wide.

Side bracing.  The key to structural integrity is to triangulate everything.  Again and again.

Chicken wire on the floor of the hen house will allow droppings to fall through.  We built a ramp down the middle, which you can see in the next photo.

Rafters and bracing.

We actually got it under roof last night, but it was too dark to take photos, so I'll include those in a later post.  But now for my concerns:

1. Our version is narrower and taller than Polyface's, which makes me worry about how and if it will turn.  Although most of the weight is at the bottom, I wish I'd made it shorter.  I designed it at this angle so we could fit the nest boxes in...though in the end, we could have used something else for nest boxes.  It's about 7' from ramp to peak.
2. I've heard that predators can tear through chicken wire, so I'm a little apprehensive about using it on the floors and to enclose the ends.  I know, I know, I'm contradicting myself.  The good news is that we haven't had any predator problems yet.
3. This was not the cheapest thing in the world to build, and it's really too big for our one little flock.  We're hoping to marry our current layers with our new chicks when they get big enough, but what if it they turn into the poultry version of the Montagues and the Capulets?

The good news is that it will shed snow well, we can use it for hay storage in the winter when the chickens are in the hoop house, and that I'm linking up with the Homestead Barn Hop! 

Click here or the button below to read some fantastic posts!

so much depends...

upon a red wagon
that used to carry children

and now carries
water
toys
garden tools
branches for the goats
buckets of weeds
chicken feed
and
kelp for the cows

How do you haul?

Rural Thursdays.  Check it out here.  And I promise, this is my last rip-off poetry attempt.  Probably.

Homestead Where You're Planted

I think about ways to save money a lot.  It's one of the reasons we're doing what we're doing.  But truth be told, there are a lot of ways out there to save money, couponing being one of the most popular.  I tried a bit of that, but like many people, can rarely find coupons for items - especially food - that I actually buy.

So I thought I'd start a series about frugal living to encourage others in leading healthy, full lives without going broke.  I'm cheating a bit on this first installment, because I recently submitted a guest post to Money Saving Mom and am providing a link to it below.  "Homestead Where You're Planted" is the original title, and will suffice as the title to this post as I mull over a catchy title for the series.  Sorry - I'm spent right now.  Let's just say that running over a pothole and ruining two tires is not going to be a money-saving topic I address.

But at least we can (grudgingly) have the repairs made, thanks to other ways we find to save.

In the meantime, click here to read my Money Saving Mom post: "Save Money by Skipping the Grocery Stores"!

I'm linking up with Rural Thursdays!

I'm a Mama Hen Again

But at least I didn't have to sit on any eggs.  Take a peek at our new peeps:

Barred Rock.  We have 31, and two are probably roosters.  We find that the hatchery always sends a couple extra.  These will be our new flock of laying hens.  Maybe I'm imagining things, but they seem sweeter than the Rhode Island Reds we got last year.

Cornish Cross.  We ordered 60 and got 62.  These are rather delicate birds, prone to foot problems, but they make wonderful broilers and are ready to butcher in about seven weeks.  I know, it's hard to imagine looking at this cute little guy!

And here's Mystery Chick.  So far, so good, unlike last year's little terror.  You can read here about Napoleon, our little Dominique Dictator.  Our neighbors got chicks several weeks ago and their two Dark Brahmas looked just like this.

Though the anticipated early morning ride to the post office to pick these little guys up is honestly a lot of fun, we'd eventually like to find a more sustainable model to follow.  For instance, why not let the hens hatch out some eggs?  We haven't spotted any broody girls yet, but we're watching.  As far as meat birds go, Cornish X do not reproduce well, but are the quintessential American meat bird.  We've been thinking of trying Freedom Rangers at some point, which are more of a heritage breed, but need to research the possibilities of letting them breed, too.  And we're not quite ready to do that...

Any other spring chickens out there?  Click here or below to check out the Homestead Barn Hop!

Are Your Fruit Trees Surrounded?

Last spring we planted twenty-something fruit trees from Stark Brothers, and placed the trees up at the front of the property, which was an otherwise useless space.  I admit that I wasn't the best caretaker of said fruit trees last spring and summer, as various bugs took up residence in the leaves.  This spring, however, I have determined to be more preventive, especially because I've heard that our mild winter neglected to kill off many pests, and that we're in for a rather buggy summer.  In other words, we're doomed.  Well, at least our plants are.

Since I'm also determined not to spray chemicals on my trees, this spring I'm trying Surround, an organic, clay-based spray that is supposed to protect the leaves and fruit from many destructive insects.  But it's apparently harmless enough to humans that you can eat it...not that I would.  Anyway, we first heard about Surround from Edible Landscaping, but it looks like it can be ordered from several places online if you do a Google search.

Young pear tree sprayed with Surround.

The first round should be sprayed on the leaves after the flowers fall off in the spring, and then after heavy rains (it takes a pretty heavy rain or two to wash the Surround completely off).  Generally, it needs to be re-applied every 7-14 days early in the season, and every 14 to 21 days later in the season when there's not as much new growth.

A downside of Surround is that, as you can see, it turns your trees white.  Does anyone know of other options if aesthetics are a concern?

Baby pears sprayed with Surround.

I will keep you posted on how well Surround protects our trees, but the only issue I've really had so far is with application.  After ruining four junky spray bottles, I broke down and bought a gallon sprayer from a big box store.  However, I'm not thrilled with it because it was cheap.  I'm also not thrilled with my thrifty self at the moment, because I never seem to learn that you get what you pay for.  I did a quick search on Amazon, and there seem to be some good sprayers out there in the $20-$30 range.  Any recommendations???

Here's some other unrelated, unsolicited advice regarding fruit-bearing trees:

1. Plant them instead of ornamentals.
2. Since they can take several years to bear fruit, the earlier you plant them, the better.  If you move to a new place, plant them before you unpack your toothbrush.  Seriously.
3. The first year, if your trees bear fruit, pluck all but maybe two or three off of each tree.  I know, it's painful.  But the trees need to focus their energies on forming strong roots, and if the fruit is allowed to ripen, much of that energy will be concentrated on the fruit and not the roots.  Strong roots = better fruit in the years to come.

Note: Surround has not, in any way, endorsed or sponsored this post. Its purpose is to educate others about my experiences as well as glean from the experiences of others who may have used this product.

I'm linking up with Rural Thursdays!