In Which I Make a Trendy Wreath

The primary reason for making a trendy wreath is this bizarre need I have to create things with my hands.  It's not pretty when I go for long spells without making anything.  Oh, sure, I make meals every day and bake all the time, but that just doesn't do it for me.  I need instant visual gratification.

So I made one of those deals with the yarn wrapped around and around and around a straw wreath.  The whole thing cost me about $4 since I had the fabric and buttons already.  I like to think of it as autumn with a touch of elegance (work with me here, okay?).

I found that it was a relatively easy project, but I did originally use a muted yellow for the "flowers" and found that to be too much color.  I also found that the glue gun was the best thing I ever bought and that along with Google Earth, winding yarn around a wreath gives me vertigo.

Made by me, inspired HERE by Homemade Ginger. 

Since this cost me all of $4 (hint: Joann Fabrics takes multiple, competitor coupons), I'm linking up with Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways #46!

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Maybe by then the dust will have settled a bit.

But in the meantime, here's a small peek into what we've been up to:

Making applesauce.  I think I had the heat too high in the pressure canner for this round, though I'm open to suggestions.

Freezing a bushel of corn, and now persimmons.



Inventing weapons.

Remember "business in the front, party in the back?"  Byron's beautiful landscaping, completed this summer.

Baby chick, growing up.

Our biggest change, and a tough decision...sending Akea to public school.  She's adjusting well.

This may not seem like much, but somehow, days are full with homeschooling Charlie, wrestling with finicky bell waterers, baking, cooking, more baking, preserving, homework, cleaning.

I'm linking up with Rural Thursdays and Farmgirl Fridays.

Table, Farmhouse Style

A couple weeks ago I donned one of those heavy-duty air filtration masks that made me look like a cool chick on a DIY show (minus the designer jeans that never seem to get dirty).  I wish I had a photo (maybe), but I do have a couple photos of the farmhouse table we had made, finally finished!

I used four coats of Waterlox, the final being a satin finish.  The center is the leftover heart pine flooring we couldn't use in the house; the frame is walnut from an old beam.

The legs are also walnut, reclaimed from an old table.

One project down...many more to go.

I'm linking up with Rural Thursdays and Farmgirl Friday!

Reclaimed Projects

Since we put hardwood floors in the back of the house in April, our renovation has been somewhat on hold.  I won't bore you with the details as to why, but if you've ever worked on your own home renovation, you probably understand.  Because by the way, this isn't exactly Sarah's House.  Sarah gets to hire contractors and go shopping for cool fabrics.  We do most of the dirty work ourselves and scrounge for deals to fit a very tight budget, so it's east to get burnt out.

Lately, however, we've reclaimed some of our projects.  And I don't use the word "reclaimed" lightly:



A reclaimed mantle we bought a couple years ago, and repaired and painted last week.  To be installed in Akea's room.

The new dining room table.  This was Byron's brainchild, after he struggled with what to do with the leftover heart pine flooring that had been original to the house. 

If you're new to the blog, we had to rip up the flooring in the hall, parlor, and dining room in order to repair some serious termite damage.  We were able to reuse the flooring in the hallway and parlor, but because of the termites, we didn't have enough for the dining room.  So we've been tripping over the extra flooring for two years, until Byron had this fabulous idea.  Why not use it for a 9' long dining room table?  So we contacted a carpenter we'd randomly met a couple years ago, and he used reclaimed walnut legs, an old walnut beam, and our flooring to make us the ultimate farmhouse dining table!  I just put the first coat of Waterlox finish on it yesterday, so more photos to come.

Reclaimed walnut legs.

On one side of the table, we'll place this church pew from the early 1800s.  Originally almost 10' long, the carpenter cut it down so it would fit the table.  The seat will be Waterloxed (hey, I made a new verb!) and we'll paint the sides and back.  Byron wants brown and I want an accent color.

Another view of the bench.

Remember my re-upholstery project??  Here's the chair I finished.  I never managed to get to the matching chair or the sofa.  But there's always next year...

A Very Small "First"

We've experienced a lot of "firsts" in the past year.  Byron and I didn't grow up homesteading/farming.  Heck, I don't even think I had a garden until I was married!  We've raised chickens for meat and eggs, are raising two steers for meat, were given goats, planted fruit trees, created The Biggest Garden Ever (which since has become The Garden of Everlasting Weeds), and the list goes on.  And didn't I just see that July was declared the hottest July in the history of Julys?

Sometimes, you can have too many "firsts" at once, even if they do take place over the course of a year. 

But then in the midst of feeling overwhelmed, you get a first like this:

One of our Rhode Island Red Hens got broody.  So we thought we'd stick a few (three) eggs under her and see what happened. 

Byron is great at telling when an egg is fertilized.  Basically, he grabs some freshly-laid eggs, a flashlight, and disappears into Charlie's closet for a few minutes.  It's a talent I can't mimic or explain.  He was right on all three counts, and here's how we know:

Egg #1: I accidentally collected Egg #1 and stuck it in a carton, in the fridge.  I'd had a brain fart and thought we had put two eggs under Broody Hen, not three.  Thankfully, Byron caught my mistake, and of course he had to go crack it open to see what was inside.  Let's just say that's not the only chicken I accidentally killed that week, but more on that later.

Egg #2: This egg hatched today, but the chick was dead.

Egg #3: This egg hatched today, and the chick was alive.  Here's Baby Chick with Mama Hen:

We placed them in the brooder, away from the other hens.  Any ideas on how long we should leave them in there?  Byron found the chick outside of the nest box initially, so we were a little concerned about leaving them with the other hens.

So we'll see how well Baby Chick does.  Mama Hen seems to be getting the whole mom thing.  She's even abandoned three other eggs we put under her to take care of this little one.  Okay, so maybe that's not optimal parenting, but we're talking about a chicken here. (UPDATE: As of last night, she was sitting on the eggs again and had Baby Chick tucked under her wing.)

Before I sign off, a lot of people have asked me what it means to have a broody hen.  Here's what I know about it:

1. Something kicks in (hormones??) to drive a hen to sit on the nest box ALL THE TIME.  She'll only get up maybe once a day to eat and drink.  This means she's broody.  She wants to be a mom.
2. When a hen gets broody, she clucks a lot, especially when she's off the nest.  It's like some sort of chicken paranoia.
3.  You'll also notice that her feathers get ruffled, literally.  She looks like a mom, and moms have no time to groom in the morning.  Kind of like this:

Mama Hen bristles at me and my camera.

4.  Eggs take 21 days to hatch.  They really do need to be at a pretty consistent temperature, so if Broody Hen gets confused and goes and sits on some other eggs, you may want to move her or the eggs so that the eggs can incubate.  Watch your fingers; she'll bite!
5. Mark the eggs.  We made a small "x" with a Sharpie, but it might be better to put the date on the eggs so you can know when to expect your little hatchlings to, well, hatch.
6. From what I've read, the death rate of new chicks hatched this way is pretty high, so don't be disappointed or give up if it doesn't work the first time.

As always, thanks for sticking with me through this rather busy season!  I'm linking up with Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways and Rural Thursdays!

Got Drought?

Every year, I begin a garden with visions of bushels of tomatoes, beans, corn, and squash making their way into my kitchen mid-summer.  Enough to can or freeze, and enough to share with friends.  Though this ideal never materializes exactly as I'd like, there's always excess of one crop where another crop fails. 

However, it's been almost three weeks (maybe more?) since we've had a long, soaking rain.  Our area has had some rain, but it seems to skip over our part of the county, sort of like the parting of the Red Sea...only not so much fun.  Weather follows patterns, and in the past we've avoided tornadic activity that would have otherwise sent us into the crawl space.  So that's the silver lining in this non-existent cloud. 

We love foraging for blackberries, but as hardy as they are, they've also been affected by the drought.

When you pair lack of rain with 100+ degree temps, leaky water barrels, and a 25+-year-old well (it's not one of those modern jobs that hit the fiery core of the earth), you begin to pick and choose what you save, and what you let go.

This pear tree is starting to drop its leaves.  Saving our fruit trees, most of which we planted in the spring of 2011, is a priority.

The strawberries look like they want to curl up and die.

The cucumbers produced, but everything was kind of white and bloated at one end.  I made pickles anyway.

Ah, corn.  Corn is my white whale.  And weeds.  Seriously, if there's going to be a drought, couldn't some of these weeds die??

So does this drought mean I give up gardening?  Of course not, but here are my thoughts on how I can be better prepared for another drought:

1. More diligence in storing water (i.e., check for leaks the first time it rains in the spring)
2. Create a less labor-intensive watering system.
3. Forge relationships with other gardeners so we can trade our excess.
4. Find reliable, local sources for food through farm stores and farmer's markets.  Buying by the bushel and setting aside some time to can or freeze produce will still save time and money this winter.

And in the meantime, I'll hope for a more forgiving summer next year.

How does your garden grow?

I'm coming out of summer hibernation and linking up with Rural Thursdays again!  Click here to visit the hosts, Two Bears Farm and A Rural Journal, as well as other fantastic blogs.

Perspective, A Couple Weeks Later

I mentioned in my last post that life had become rather overwhelming.  For a couple weeks, I ran things alone here while Byron was chaperoning a student trip to Europe.  I went to Europe in graduate school and we both felt like this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him, and he spent much of his time taking photos and videos to share with us. 

Amid sickness (and we rarely get sick, so go figure), 100+ degree weather, the loss of three chickens, a violent storm that left many people without power for days, and a nasty computer virus, friends and family came to our rescue while Byron was away.  You know who you are, and we are so grateful to you.

During Byron's time away, I've been whittling away at my many responsibilities.  Homesteading has a romantic ring to it, but the reality of it can be a slap of mud to the face - literally and figuratively.  I'm happy we're raising much of our own food - don't get me wrong - but one homeschooling mom and a dad who works outside the home for much of the year can only handle so much.

Here's where I'd like to do some whittling:

1. Number of chicken flocks: Right now, we have four flocks.  We have our Cornish Cross we're raising for meat, and their time on earth is nearing an end.  However, we also have three old Barred Rocks and three guineas who wander around, almost thirty six-week-old Barred Rocks, and 18 one-year-old Rhode Island Reds (two died recently).  This makes for quite the little dance to do during morning chores and during the day to check on water.  We're hoping we can combine the young hens with the one-year-olds, and we may either eat or give away the old hens and guineas in the fall.

2. Water: Right now, I haul water in buckets placed in a wagon to the various animals throughout the day.  We'd like to dig a pond and figure out a pump system, but since we move our animals, I'm not sure if this would be any more efficient than what we already do.  The benefit right now is that I have no need for Jillian Michaels workouts.

3. Goats: We recently were given four Nigerian Dwarf goats, and while they are very sweet, they DO escape and they ARE extra work.  Case in point: we were rather late for some church responsibilities today because when we woke up, we found them wandering around the front yard.  And to be honest, I don't see myself becoming a master cheese maker one day; I see myself pursuing photography or another art form.  Byron wants to make a permanent, fenced-off area for them.  And while I don't mind having a couple goats, I'm not sure we need four.

4. Meals: I make all our meals from scratch, and while that is something I would never give up since you can't beat the nutritional value, I have decided to rotate the same. seven. meals. every. week.  I'm sure this sounds terribly boring, but to be honest, I don't enjoy cooking very much (though I do like to bake) and my family is rather picky.  So with seasonal variations, I shall venture forth into the overly chartered waters of pasta night, burger night, roasted chicken night, and so forth.

How do you simplify your life while trying to homestead?