Talkin' Turkey centers and Strawberry patch chatter

It's not much to look at, but once the morning jobs were complete, a couple of hours this afternoon were spent in the sewing area tidying up some scraps and cutting the centers for the final 15 Talkin' Turkey blocks.  It was certainly a putzy job between taming the scraps and cutting because the size of the squares isn't the typical Bonnie "nice."  2 5/8"... yuck.

The morning was beautiful!  72 degrees and breezy, low humidity -- PERFECT for any outside work.  The strawberry patch was tilled under at the end of the last year's growing season, but not before transplanting the young 'daughter' plants shooting every which way. 

And we DOWN-SIZED!  I finally understand why most gardeners only keep their patches for two years (or 3 years max) before replanting.  Our strawberry saga began in 2012 (The planting post) with 18 plants.  18!  It IS kinda cool to think that our patches over the years started with one simple 'whim' purchase of so few plants!  We've moved the patch only twice before, leaving it stay at its new location 4 and 3 years, respectively.  Too long!  Our last patch (it was on year 3 last summer) was soooooo overgrown with all the new plants; our berries were so small.  But year two produced AMAZING fruit, in abundance! So, my new process now will be one of two things.  Either a) keep the patch ONLY two years; meaning set up a new patch after next year's growing season, OR b) keep the patch for about 3 years BUT thin out (cut away) some of the spreading daughters.

Regardless, the patch this year is smaller (by design) and producing ample fruit for the needs of my family.  Two batches of jam were already made with Sunday's picking, and now each harvest will consist of processing some into 2-3 cup packages of smashed and slightly sugared mash for freezing after vac-sealing, OR simply placing the berries in 3-lb bags for wine batches (my recipe used for strawberry wine suggests 3 lbs/gal.) 

And all those strawberry tops end up being treats for the ladies.  We lost all of our chickens after last year's (2019) winter, and with the crazy-busy schedule we had with a graduating senior and two other girls VERY active in Spring and Summer sports, we never raised any new gals for the year.  However, shortly after the beginning of the Stay-at-Home orders this March, a local neighbor and I struck up a conversation while picking up eggs from her one day, and... a week later, 6 new ladies joined our property.  Since, we've also hatched out a incubator full of eggs, and we have eleven 2-month old chicks in the adjoining pen.  Sadly, we had more chicks, but a hungry owl obliterated half of our coop before we were finally able to SECURELY "owl-proof" the roof;  those are some smart birds!!!

The rest of the day consisted of the normal household chores;  cleaning up the kitchen and laundry.  The threatening dark skies finally rolled in at early evening; thankful that the storms lost energy and only provided the much needed rain rather than severe weather.  Kayaking posts are certain to come this summer as well seeing as we've already been on the lake and rivers a good half-dozen times already.

Ahh... summer!

A five month catch-up...

Whoo-weeee!  Five months, to the day!

First, there is NO way to catch up on everything that has gone on during the last five months.

Second, I've come to realize the journaling time-log aspect of this blog is quite useful to document our year-to-year gardening, chicken-hatching, quilting, running, and 'other' activity.  The most recent example:  we started a new strawberry patch, but wanted to know how old our original patch was.  Logged in to the blog and found..... June 19, 2012's post.  

So, rather than be overwhelmed with the undertaking of catching up on EVERYTHING....

let's start small.

I AM still taking quite a few pictures and posting (excessively) to FaceBook.  (LOL -- if you're still a follower and wish to, look me up and send me a friend-request.)

Therefore, the last five pictures on my phone....

Time is very relaxed, but very full around the place so far this summer.  Three full weeks into summer vacation already;  it is simply flying by!!!

The only project I have underway in my sewing room is Bonnie's Allietare mystery that I finally broke down and started.  It's an amazing design, as always!  My color palette is of sea and sand, so "Vetro di Mare" ("Seaglass") will be my rendition.

The mug in the picture was gifted to me by a senior girl in my AP-Statistics class;  she knows me so well!!!

We continue to love our chickens.  We hatched out 20 in April, but sadly, all but one met a very sad end via predators!  I was sickened, and we took charge in reenforcing all of our brooder houses, box and ground coops.   The one that remained, Hector, has been hanging out with our meat-birds.

Then, five of our hens decided they wanted to sit on eggs, almost all at the same time.  So.... we let 'em!

All chicks are 3-4 weeks old:  Peckers has 12, Daisy has 14, Blackie#1 has 4 (after losing one), and Blackie#2 has 6.  I can NEVER tell these two black hens apart!!!!!

Our fifth, sadly never hatched any;  I have a feeling she left the nest too long from time to time.  We had set another incubator full of eggs, and we were hoping she'd hold off long enough to take an interest in playing Mama to them, but to no avail.  So, we have another 17 in one of the brooder boxes, motherless.  It is our most protected brooder, so they should be safe.

Most of my outside gardening time is spent in our vegetable gardens, however a wee bit of time was spent cleaning out my small perennial flower bed out front yesterday.   Some wild milkweed showed up last year, and after being scolded by child #2 for pulling it out last year, I left most of it be this year.  The fragrance of the milkweed blooms is amazing!  Candace says it reminds her of lilac blossoms.  Will wait and see if any Monarchs are attracted to it this year.

Summer school was underway for the first two weeks of summer.  This past week (third week of summer), Candace took part in the Prairie Fire theater production of Jack and the Beanstalk.  This was the first time she was able to take part in any Prairie Fire production;  she played Gabby, villager child #2 (bottom, second-from-the right, in purple).

While Candace has been heading off to summer school everyday, Caitlyn has been working in the local strawberry patch, picking berries everyday at 6 a.m.   Paul and I both wanted her to know she's working for her college savings and that 75% of anything she made was to be placed in the bank.  The other 25% was completely hers, if she cared to spend it.

For quite the longest time, she really didn't mention anything that she really wanted, but early last week, she said...."I know what I want now -- a kayak!"

She met her goal yesterday.  There were definitely a couple mornings when she gave me some puppy dog eyes, asking if she could have a vacation day, but.... she ended up persevering, and hopefully learned some discipline along the way.

We can't wait to try it out!!!!  (We also bought a second one for the family).

Today is forecasted to be absolutely gorgeous, so we're thinking of heading to the lake after dropping Cassie off at work (she's three weeks into working at McDonalds -- a whole 'nother new adventure for this growing family).

Happy Sunday!  

Early August happenings...

I took a moment to go through my phone pics to see what I've been up to lately... 

;)

Part of the basil patch was harvested to make some Pesto.  Paul, Cassie and myself are quite fond of Pesto... on crackers, on toast, on pizza.  When planting in the spring, I elected to plant an entire package of seed.  Heehehehe.... I don't think we need to do THAT again!  We literally have basil growing out of our ears.  Some friends were invited over to help manage the basil;  we still have LOTS left over.

Excitement in the mail!!!!!  KatieZ contacted me earlier about some cotton yarn she had in excess and wondered if I was interested in working out a deal.
?!?!?!!   Ah--yah!  Candance and I were both excited to tear into the box of goodies!

And later that day, while the girls swam, I elected to finish crocheting up some Crochet-top kitchen towels.

Also on the mail-front....
Cassie gandered out to the mailbox one day...

... to be followed home by her posse!

Some shifting of chicken houses needed attention due to the newest (and FINAL) hatchlings of the season.

Big Mama with our 22 youngest hatchlings (first week of August).  She is protecting them nicely in the ground brooder, which was NOT the original plan, BTW!
Nope, nope.  Originally, we were going to have her start brooding them in the house-brooder.
But..... it seems that another Mama was interested in even MORE chickens on the Skattebo ranch!



*forehead slap!*
Yes folks---there is a chance to have another dozen or so chicks on the property in another week or so!  And, I KNEW there was a reason for the dwindle in egg production in the upper coops!

Anyway, yah, so the house-shifting started!
We started by kicking Carlos (rooster) out of the 'new' coop in order to allow the 27 oldest chicks of the season to have safe access to their permanent housing.  Together with two other year-old hens, they are now housed.  (29 birds there).
Carlos and two other older hens departed the 'new' coop together and are now mingling quite nicely with our main rooster, Steve, and his posse of 9 hens.  So...., what is that?.....another 13 birds.  (42 so far).
Then, the 14 'teenager' that had been in the ground brooder were moved into the temporary housing that the older chicks HAD been in.  (we're up to.... 56).
At that point, we were able to move Big Mama and her 22 chickies into the ground brooder (78 now; I already counted Mama as one that belonged to Steve).
So... I THINK I've taken care of counting everyone..... add to that another dozen or so that the newest Mama will hatch.... Yah.  About 90 birds.  That's fun, right?!?!!?

Oh yah... one other little minor happening in early August...

I turned 40.  

Ducks, Meat birds, Teen-chicks and Hatchlings

I know.  I know.  I'm waiting for a quilting post too!  There's never a lot of downtime around here lately.  (and soaping doesn't take much time). ;)   Three weeks into summer vacation, and I've been in the quilting room twice -- maybe three times.  SOON though!  (I hope!)

For the past week -- it's been birds of one sort of variety or another.

Paul has been dutifully working on a quaint lil' movable coop.  Initially, it was being built for our teen-chicks that were hatched out about four weeks ago;  they have outgrown the brooder box!

However, after seeing how big the ducklings have gotten at seven weeks old (!!!), they got first dibs on the new digs!  Even with 'pond' installed :D

Our two older (and only remaining ducks from our seven we had earlier this spring :( have migrated over to the teen-duck area.  They stick fairly close to the teens, but no intermingling will happen for a while yet.  King, the white Pekin, picked on our ducklings and teens last year something awful, so... nope.  No intermingling.  Yet.  Prince, the mutt male, had been one of those teens last year.  He started taking over as dominant 'big meanie' when we still had our female, Angel, this spring.  However, since we lost our last female, both of the boys calmed down and have become good buds.

And Afro-Jack seems happy!!!!  Goofy duck.  If he ends up being female----(?).... I guess Afro-Jackie doesn't sound too bad.

Moving the ducks opened up one of our three ground-brooders.  The other two were housing our cross-breed meat birds.  And it was time to take care of those guys too!

Processing 18 meat birds was a family affair.  I know there are mixed feelings 'out there' regarding posting pictures of the process, but.... really?  I think this is our fourth (fifth?) year now of raising birds for meat;  I wasn't really involved much up until this year.  With a nearly empty chest-freezer (low on chicken, hardly any pork, beef mostly gone, zilcho venison!), I now truly APPRECIATE the fact of having full chest-freezers of meat and other garden goodies!  

These chickens here-- these are NOT EGG-LAYERS!  Good lordy.  I love my chickens that I/we hatch and raise for eggs.  They are more like pets to us than simply birds that provide us eggs.

  

But these guys.  They are like beefers, but only chicken versions.  They are bred to grow quickly.  Quickly!  At 10 weeks, these guys are a hefty size for processing.  They NEVER receive names from us, but we take care of them; feed them, water them -- raise them to grow :D

We waited until week 12 almost to the day.  This is the second (or third?) year Paul has used his DIY chicken-plucker.  Yup!  It's another one of those things that I rolled my eyes at when he purchased all the supplied to make one, but now I see the awesome purpose of this machine!  It makes such quick work of plucking those chickens.

The final outcome after a LONG day of processing?  Chicken!  We didn't weigh the final poundage we processed, but this was one of the larger chicken breasts we raised!  That's just a single breast, folks.  The average breast -- probably 1 1/4 pounds.  We sealed some half-chickens, but mostly breasts, legs/thighs and wings.

And, of COURSE, I made stock and rendered down chicken fat (schmaltz).  But that's for some other time.

Since all three of the ground brooders were now empty, the next day was spent reorganizing all the new and old pens in a new location.    The brooder box was hauled down to the new location for easy removal of the teen chicks...

The new-found freedom for some was too much to resist!  As they grow, they will eventually be free-range chickens, but we keep them safe from predators until they reach a few months old.

Watered and fed.  And it was only an afterthought--- we STILL never took the time to count how many chicks there are!!!!! **forehead slap!!**  In this picture----we're still sticking with 34 as our best guess.  One of these days when we start spreading the flock out, we'll get a good count.

These ground-brooders are roughly 8x8;  after another few weeks, these chicks will need more space, but for now, the new house for the next few weeks will be just perfect.  We attempted to remove Mama from the picture and return her to her coop/flock that evening.  It only took about 5 minutes for her to run back down to the babies.  *shrug*  It's all good.  Eventually, these babies will get mingled in with the new coop flock (Mama's flock) anyway.   

So, FINALLY!  Teen ducks and chicks are happy in new housing!

And just in time....

Seventeen new hatchlings (so far) from the incubator have now taken up room-n-board in the brooder house.  We're keeping track of how many chicks we get this time!!!

How many more do we expect??  Another two have hatched since moving these guys this morning, and there were 35 total eggs in the incubator.   There are always a few that don't survive the hatching process;  always such a sad time.  Your guess is as good as mine.  

RSC14; Fall life; apples; chickens getting older -- the good stuff :)

Angela's (SoScrappy) got the right idea choosing orange to be the color for September...

Mother nature is giving us reds and oranges and even some eggplant purples to enjoy as the days are starting to get cooler (and the nights even colder!)

Despite the cooling temps, the garden (slowly) continues to produce lil teaser crops of tomatoes so that I can make up half-batches of spaghetti sauce each weekend.

Sadly, the colder temps haven't killed the ragweed pollen yet.  Last Sunday, I opened up a brand new box of kleenex, and by that afternoon, only about 1/5 of it remained.  Ugh.  I wasn't a pleasant person to be around.

Regardless, the day was a super productive one.  Apples consumed us all day.... 

Candace was the first to sample the 2014 apple juice...

Cailtyn and Candace were a dynamo team with the foodmill, making apple sauce from the remains of the apple juicing session.

And yesterday, with 3 bags of apples STILL left from last weekend's preserving, I gave a new recipe a try:  Amish Apple Pie filling......

Ummmmmm..... can you say Y.U.M.!?!?  Definitely a winner winner :)  Now, I just need to learn how to make pie crust...

Truly, one positive about the cooler (but not COLD!) temps is the increased time we've spent in the hot tub.  Last Saturday at 8AM, with temps only at 37 degrees, we relaxed in the 102 degree water for about 20 minutes before tackling the corn crop harvest.

And just when chicken life finally has calmed down, we decide to make one final move before the snow starts flying.   The 10 "teenagers" (who SHOULD be laying eggs ANY day now!!!!), received some new coop-mates this morning...

The 10 chicks, who are no longer chicks, have been moved in to their new digs;  the New Coop.  Cassie and I watched the interaction between the two flocks for about half hour without too much excitement.  We are fairly certain the 10 chicks consist of 5 roosters and 5 hens;  the biggest rooster (the white/black speckled one closest to the waterer in the picture) doesn't have much fear of the pullets/teenagers.  He marched right over to the feeder, and amazingly....the pullets didn't bother him either.  There were only minor lil' scuffles between the chickens so far;  for the most part, each 'flock' is staying with their peers. Eventually, I'm fairly certain the 20 of them will all play nicely together.  Although----with 5 roosters....... we may need to problem solve.  But, that'll be a thought for another day.

"Shorty" here keeps sprouting and turning into an AMAZING young lady.  Fall life is keeping us all on our toes;  volleyball games, schoolwork, housework, garden work.... there isn't much down-time, certainly.  Cass has become such a wonderful helper!!!!!

And then there are odds-n-ends in the quilting, sewing and crocheting world that fill the tiny lil' moments of free time...

Scrappy Log Cabin blocks 

Red Heart's Prairie Star

I actually have an entire afternoon ahead of "downtime!"  I could sew, but don't think I'm gonna.  I could crochet....but same thought of not really wanting to.  

Truly, instead, I think I'm going to get a few plans in place for school lessons this week.  Considering I don't even know what I have on the agenda for tomorrow for my Algebra 2 class, I think some computer/school work time is my best option :)

Happy Sunday everyone.

Chickens keeping me away; Fall Ripple and Celtic Solstice updates [LONG!]

Life with the family and animals continue to fill the days...

we're working hard

{{Cassie and I stacked another couple dozen loads of wood}}

playing hard

{{Caitlyn and Candace --moreso Candace-- were enjoying some mud created when watering the garden}}

and stealing time for a mid-day nap whenever downtime happens!

{{Cassie SHOULD have been cleaning her room!}} LOL

and enjoying some evening s'mores around our little rock fire ring.

BUT, life also was offering up frustrations!

Truly, part of the reason I've been so quiet in blog land was part depression due to our chickens.  Yah, yah... sounds stupid, but...

Two weeks ago Wednesday (July 2), I went out for my morning walk about the yard.  My first stop is ALWAYS the chickens to see how the two flocks are gettin' along.  As I approached the south chicken-run, I saw one of the new chickens, dead in the corner of the run.  Uh... not a good feeling.  And I knew INSTANTLY who the predator was.  THE OWL IS BACK!!!!  Two years or so ago, we ended up putting a trail-camera out when we were losing chickens on a nightly basis.  I haven't done research at all to know why owls prey on chickens the way they do;  I only have my hunches.  Ya see, owls don't carry chickens off {I think they are too big to fly away with}.  So, owls essentially eat on the spot, starting with the head/neck and then help themselves to the 'goodstuff' inside.  It was clear to see that Pepper (chicken) perished at the hands/talons of an owl, just as our chickens in the past had.

The new chickens had been living in a tarped-off, makeshift coop in the south chicken-run while they waited until the new coop was finished.  Our 5 original chickens were in the old/established coop.  Combining two groups of chickens isn't as easy as putting everyone together in a room and saying "be nice to each other."  However, that day -- I opened up all the access doors to allow them to mingle at their leisure.  I was hoping that after a 1 1/2 weeks of being in each others' presence, albeit separated by a chicken fence, that they would have become acquainted enough to get along together.  For much of the day, the two groups kept their distances from each other.  Steve (our rooster) and Rex (the new group rooster) came within feet of each other without any scuffle.  Cassie and I kept a tight eye on the chickens all day since we were working out in the garden for much of the day.  As we saw the roosters edge closer and closer, we thought that combining the two groups may be easier than expected.

LOL.  And then, they close the gap and held their lil' scuffle!  It lasted all of 30 seconds, and Steve scurried away with Rex standing tall-n-proud as the dominate rooster.  Recall that Steve was new to us just a few short weeks before receiving the new flock;  he came to us from a farm that had 4 other roosters.   I think he's always been the lil' rooster that scurries away!  

Anyway, despite really really really wanting to house both groups of chickens in the safety of the chicken coop that night, Cassie and I set out to problem-solve the makeshift tarped area as best we could to keep the owl out;  Paul was working night shift.  

The next morning, bright -n- early at 6AM, I took my morning walk.

...... :( :( :(

Rex, the new rooster, had been the newest victim of that owl.

Losing Pepper the day before was saddening, but I hadn't attached myself all that much to her;  she was one of the crowd.

But Rex!  **sigh**

I was mad.  I was frustrated.  I truly was fighting off the first stage of depression probably.   I.  Was.  Bummed!

So, I texted Paul right away.

"Rex is dead.  Owl.  It's a done deal.  The two groups are being combined tonight!"

And that's what Cassie and I did.  As soon as all the chickens were starting to settle in for the night, Cassie and I wrangled up the 12 remaining hens from the new group and shooshed them into the chicken coop.  Some needed a lil' persuading, and there was a small amount of scuttle-butt pecking between some of the hens, but..... the chickens were ALL going to safe from mean Mr. Owl that night. 

And the coop has been put on lock-down everynight since then.  The access doors are closed once all the hens are safely in the coop.  And I've been setting my alarm for 5AM every morning to let them all out.  The things we do for our pets, right? :)

By the second night, most of the new hens had made their own way into the chicken coop without any persuasion needed;  and by the 4th night, all of them were in the coop on their own freewill by the time I ventured out to close up the coop.

The new coop is nearly completed now.  In fact, Paul plans to move it into place tomorrow!

However, there is a new plan in the works for this new coop.

Since the two flocks (our 5 original chickens and the 12 new {remaining} hens) have been mingling on a daily basis for over a week, we are going to keep them all in the old coop to continue to establish their routine.

The NEW coop is going to be the new Skattebo's Chicken Sanctuary for our 9 adolescent chicks that have been growing up in one of the 8'x8' temporary chicken-tractor-style rearing boxes.

AND..............

... for these guys!!!!!

Last Monday (7/7), I was ACTUALLLLLY working on my Celtic Solstice.  And making GREAT progress too!  The final borders were in the works when I happened to peek into the incubator that was sitting on table next to my layout area.

OoooooohhhH!!!!!!  The EXCITEMENT was simply too MUCH when I saw those lil' peck holes!!!!!

It was only Day #19;  I truly wasn't expecting anything until Tuesday (day 20).  {{Chickens have a 21 day incubation period -- Interesting Fact #1 for the day}}

ANYWAY... for the rest of the day, I was sitting at the computer, researching endless topics on chicken growth, chick hatchings, time from peck to hatch, etc, etc, etc....

And then on Tuesday (day #20), 10 of them hatched safely...

On Wednesday (day #21), three more hatched.

We lost two who were fully grown and were even able to make a peck hole, but weren't able to make a zip line to get out.  By the time they were checked on Wednesday, they were no longer moving or breathing.  Four others, for one reason or another, were also not able to hatch despite giving them 2 more days of incubation time.  So, 13 of the 19 hatched.  And we are more than okay with that.

Stinkin' CUTIES!!!!!!

I have been asked what breed they are.

Ha......that's a good giggle.  Steve is part Ameraucana;  Big Mama is Ameraucana (she lays the green-blue eggs).  Three of her seven eggs hatched, and all of hers are bleach white chicks.  The other hens we have -- ??? I'm not really certain of their breeds;  I think some truly are mutts.  Therefore, these chicks----- they're kind of like a lot of us.  Part Ameraucana, part this, part that... ??

We really don't have a care in the world what kind they are.  We enjoy their eggs.  We enjoy them as pets.  Names are already being given.  We have a Bear (the only black one), Rapunzel (or Eugene/Flynn if she ends up being a rooster), Blondie (the lightest of Big Mama's), Chipmunk (for obvious reasons), Chubby Cheeks (another of Big Mama's -- classic sign of an Ameraucana, I think :)), and that's it for now.  The rest will be named as their personalities start to show.

So, now... with these 13 new hatchlings, we have 38 chickens on the property (not including the 4 meat-bred birds (Cornish Rocks) that are still awaiting their time in the chicken plucking machine.  They are bred for meat.  Fat, big chickens! 

So, back to the new coop.  Once it's placed into its new location tomorrow, the 9 adolescents will move into it, and will have access to the north chicken run.  Eventually, the 13 new hatchlings will be incorporated with them;  that'll be another interesting week or two when that happens.

Hair?  Or paint brush?

 

The other animals are enjoying the days of summer with all the extra attention from me and the girls.  

I'm not saying that coffee is going to remain on Tristen's breakfast menu, but she certainly was persistent at licking the lil' bit of coffee that was still in my cup.

The nest of duck eggs has a Mama Mallard sitting diligently.  She started sitting on July 1st, so it'll be easy to keep track of when these lil' guys should hatch.  {{Ducks have a 28 days incubation period -- Interesting Fact #2 for the day}}.

Amidst all of the animals and gardening (oh lord!  I haven't even started on the gardening yet!  Strawberries and raspberries gaLORE!), I have been sprinkling in some crochet and quilting projects.  Celtic Solstice remains on the basement floor, with all borders attached and backing fabrics beings auditioned.

My Fall Ripple was worked on heavily on Wednesday (July 2) with hopes of seeing a finish.

Sadly, with all of the chicken fiasco and gardening that happened later that afternoon, it didn't.

But, it's getting closer.  I predict another 5-6 hours.  It should be a good Twin-sized afghan once finished.

My ADHD is starting to affect my crochet world as well as my quilting world!  I was enticed to start a Summer crochet challenge sponsored by the Crochet Crowd -- the blame will go completely to Judy.  Paul and I had stopped at a local ReStore store (a local donation place).  There was a small bin of yarn that I emptied;  some classic vintage yarns came home with me.  Together with some scrap yarns, the challenge is underway!

Hopefully, I won't be away from the blog for so long again.  But truly, losing the chickens was enough to have me not caring about blogging.  Yeah, go ahead.... call me crazy chicken lady.  It's okay.   {{I actually prefer Crazy Chicken Guardian, though.}}   I've really been working on the challenge of trying to get everyone to get along ... and be happy.

To close:

Caitlyn is taking a Science/Nature Photography class in summer school.  I'm simply amazed that my camera has the capabilities of producing such a COOOOOOL picture!  Look at the COLORS on this guy!  And having the background blurred like that....so cool!  That lil' girl is simply going to have to show me how to do this. ;)

And of course, how could I forget to mention Friday, July 11?

Paul and I celebrated 16 years.