That one time we put security cameras in the barn……

I am happy to announce we are getting eggs from our chickens once again. Even happier to announce that being home means I’m able to collect the eggs before they freeze, most of the time.

That one time we put surveillance cameras in the barn

This was not always the case, however. We had egg eating. Lots of egg eating. I wasn’t able to figure out who exactly was doing it either. So we set up our surveillance camera system in the barn to watch the birds. Oh how exciting we are, I know.

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Even still we weren’t quite able to determine who it was. I suspected it was some of the white chickens and so I separated them out. Still no eggs from the other chickens, and no eggs from the separated whites.

Naturally my reaction was that a cull was in order and thus we separated out all of the older, egg laying chickens with the turkeys for kill day. I had 6 immature chickens still so I was fine culling out the older birds. IMG_2950

I’m unsure how many of the chickens were actually killed. We had some escapees. One wriggled out of the kill cone and a few flew over the fence while I was attempting to catch them for slaughter. Whatever the reason for their escape it appears they have all been “scared straight”. We are getting eggs and no one is eating them. Joyous day! We have chickens and are only getting about 6 eggs a day but that’s fine for winter. Also I noticed that someone is laying on the ground and the pigs are eating those eggs. We’ll take care of that issue later.

I rode a pig today.

I rode a pig today and I wouldn’t recommend it. Pigs are big and strong and can scream really really loud. I’m not sure who was more upset about the situation, me or the pig. The pig probably, I was decently amused I admit.

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So there I was hunched over pouring 3 gallons of warm water into their rubber tub when B.L.T. shoved himself underneath me. This knocked me off balance and I landed squarely on top of his back. There was a second of frozen silence before he started screaming bloody murder and bucking as hard as a small pig can. I landed on my side with a nice view of angry pig prancing about.

B.L.T. calmed down when food was divvied out but I don’t think the turkeys we acquired the 23rd will ever recover from the trauma of it. The male did enough gobbling to make me consider putting us both out of his misery.

As for Rocker-Digger, he simply watched out of the corner of his eye as he gulped water like a pig left in the desert for months.

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I am sincerely thankful for the lined Carhart overalls Husband gave me for Christmas. I was nicely protected from a rageful pig and the cold, hard ground.

Oh and as for why I’m not using my wonderful auto waterer it’s because I fear the pigs would break it. They love to drag things about and are particularly fond of things with any sort of cord.

Review: Valcolomba Merlot 2012 and Bellavitano Merlot Cheese

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Wine:

          Valcolomba Merlot 2012          $6.99

Description:

[from back of bottle] made from merlot grapes grown on dry farmed vineyards in the Maremma region. The Mediterranean climate gives this wine the intense bouquet, depth and softness typical of the coastal Maremma region.

Cheese:

Bellavitano Merlot Cheese

Description:

[From cheese makers website]By wedding this rich, creamy cheese to the berry and plum notes of Merlot, we’ve created a marriage of flavors destined to make your taste buds say, “I do.” On that note, if you invite a few friends from our pairing guide — say, toasted walnuts, thin slices of prosciutto and semisweet chocolates for dessert — the honeymoon never has to end.

Wine Review:

We rather enjoy surfing the bargain bin at the local liquor store. A nice adventure to be sure. This wine was one of those bargain finds at $6.99.

Smoother than expected. I felt like it was a really fruity flavor. Almost citrusy.  Very nice fruity aftertaste. I think this might be my favorite merlot thus far. The Bonterra is amazing with food, a really enjoyable wine I’d highly recommend. This wine, however, is just an enjoyable solo drink. I didn’t want to eat any cheese, as I was stuffed from dinner, so this wine was a really nice surprise as I could enjoy it thoroughly alone. I wouldn’t say this wine is a dessert wine, per se, but I enjoyed it as such. I’m sure this is enjoyable with food but I can only vouch for it’s solo qualities thus far.

We will say that there is no sediment in this wine and we like that quite a lot. I can’t say I’m a fan of gritty wine.

Cheese Review:

My husband absolutely loved it with the cheese.

My husband loves this merlot cheese. We’ve reviewed it before here.  He constantly buys it. He always buys merlot to go with it. He says the Bonterra wine is the best thus far with the cheese but this wine certainly was pleasant with it.

Kitchen Remodel Stage 2- In the bathroom

Kitchen Remodel Stage 2- In the bathroom

I am officially unemployed. How terrifying. I’m keeping busy though. I have a kitchen to remodel and I’m getting right to it. Unfortunately this kitchen remodel comes with a bathroom remodel. The only available wall to move the fridge to requires that the fridge be sunk into the space so as not to obstruct flow. Luckily our 1/2 bath is there and way larger than it ever needs to be. So today I removed the bathroom vanity, sink, faucet and part of the wall.

Found an interesting wire from who knows what. Looks like they did a great job with it. I am sure that’s up to code. *sarcasm*

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The sink needs to be moved about 2 feet. I was hoping to simply cut the pipe, cut a new hole in the floor and move it without messing with the set up of the drain pipe. Alas I am probably going to have to cut it in a few places now. Perhaps I’ll simply replace the whole set up. I hate this one anyway.

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I’ll only be able to move the wall back as far as the light fixture. That lovely hole in the ceiling let me know where the beam ran. The good news is I won’t have to put in an extra electrical outlet as we’ll just consume the current bathroom outlet. It’s not needed in there. Only Husband uses that bathroom anyway.

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I work fast. Did this during the kids nap.

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Stay tuned for the removal of this wall and the rest of stage 2. I am so excited to build a better pantry here. Plus as soon as that fridge is moved and the new pantry built the main wall is coming down. Terrifying!

 

 

Big snow!

Yes, another picture post of our snow harvesting.

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The snow was deep. About 8 inches. The kids really loved it. Mostly

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I was totally impressed with my snow collection though.

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That’s a 3 foot deep krater filled to the top.

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And the swales are even with the berms. So about 3 feet of snow collection there as well.

Earthworks are a total success!

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The commercially farming neighbor isn’t keeping any of this moisture.

How to grow pear trees from seed

How to grow pear trees from seed

Last winter I had a good attempt at growing apple trees from seed. I actually did a pretty good job until summer, when I no longer watered my tree seedlings and they all died. This time around I will have more time and hopefully will not repeat my mistakes.

I’ve found the hardest part is finding pear seeds at all. Most of the store bought pears I’ve gathered have 0-1 seeds in them. I was lucky, though, and found organic pears from Colorado at our local King Soopers. Naturally, I bought two of each variety. They had a lot of seeds in them so I’m hopeful of success.

So, just like apples I cut the pears up, divided out the flesh to the kids and collected the seeds. I cleaned them and placed them on a clean paper towel in a plastic cup. Then I add a small amount of water to the paper towel, put the cups in a plastic bag and wait. I find times vary by seed, though 2 months is pretty standard. I check weekly to removne any molding seeds and plant out germinated ones. Once you see a nice root growing you simply plant out to compost filled plastic cups, water and voila, easy peasy.

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