Fall garden

This is the fall garden with my first attempts at growing kale. Surprisingly, it has done really well, and I really like the taste. Also, the spinach and lettuce is doing great. The collards, one bed was eaten by some unknown pest.

Culled another chicken

Unfortunately, we had to cull another one of our chickens. Admittedly, I miss her. How can anyone care for an animal for 2 1/2 years and not get somewhat attached? But I know she was just a farm animal. She had some health problems that I was not able to resolve.

What is up with these two?

These two hens crack me up! Apparently, they want to sit in the same box to lay eggs. There are only three hens in this coop so I know they are not over-crowded. Also, I have tried adding an extra box, but they still insist on sitting in the same box. So I gave up and decided to let them work it out between themselves. Two sitting in the box, while one is waiting, that is too funny!

Two new rain barrels

We recently purchased two new rain barrels; but unfortunately, they are not set up yet. We need cinder blocks to place the barrels on and rock to help level the blocks. After we get these set up, that will give us 6 (65 gallon) rain barrels. That may seem like a lot of water; but really, it is not that much. In our area, we have been in a drought and have been steadily using the water from our other rain barrels to water the garden, and actually ran out of water. So we had to use tap water to water the garden. In my opinion, the plants seem to respond better to rain water as opposed to tap water. And of course, during a disaster, the extra water on hand would definitely be a plus.

Bread making marathon

I am on a bread making marathon today. I ground wheat and made two loaves of wheat bread, and mixed the dry ingredients together (except for the yeast) for two other loaves. All of that went into the freezer. Also, I made wheat pancake mix. Now my house is really hot from the oven being on. I wanted to make something in the Dutch oven this evening, but it is too dry outside so I am a bit concerned about starting a fire.

What to do with tomatoes?

I am trying to decide what to do with these tomatoes. My options are canning them, making something like salsa, or giving some away. I have already used up some tomatoes when I made soup the other day. These are Better Boys, Romas, and Early Girls. And there are more of them in the garden that needs to be picked.

Some are hot, some are not

I am talking about jalapeno peppers. Some are really hot, and some are not that bad. This evening, I picked the only jalapeno pepper that I had on one of my two plants. It was a relatively small one. I was making creole corn muffins, and I thought chopping up a jalapeno pepper would give the muffins a nice flavor. As I cut into the pepper, it somewhat took my breath away, then I started coughing. That is how strong it was. Then I proceeded to finely chop up the pepper. After a few minutes my fingers started burning even after I washed my hands. Wow! I made sure not to touch my face or eyes. And the creole corn muffins turned out nicely and tasted great with the pot of vegetable beef soup that I made.

Squash Bugs

This year we have a serious problem with the squash bugs killing squash, cucumber, and zucchini plants. Some of the options (without using pesticides) we have discovered are hand picking the ugly things off, crop rotation, and not using mulch because they seem to hide under the mulch. We ended up planting those plants over again and are still battling the bugs.

Read about the squash bug

Urban Survival

In just about every area of my life, I have to be constantly seeking more knowledge. My philosophy on knowledge, often times we have to empty ourselves of the wisdom and knowledge that we "think" we have in order to grow. So I thought maybe focusing on urban survival skills in the next couple of weeks might be a good time to learn some new skills. Kody Lundin is a good teacher on this subject and an interesting character as well. Check out his video on YouTube:

Urban Survival Story featuring Cody Lundin

Stuck in my head

I have Reuters as my home page so every time I visit their website and see this horrifying image of the Pelican covered in oil, my heart sinks inside of me. Perhaps because that image only reaffirms my belief that humans are recklessly destroying the environment and (for the most part) the earth.

Rain barrels

These are the rain barrels we have been using to water the garden. We have four (65 gallon) barrels and would like to get two more to place on the other side of the house.

Spinach quiche

I had this bed of spinach that was getting ready to bolt so I decided to use some of it to make spinach quiche.





I like making quiche because it uses four eggs, and that is one good way to utilize some of the eggs from our chickens.





Also, I made my own crust, which uses the recipe (without shortening) from one of my previous posts.






And here is the finished product. A good bit of work, but not bad.

Update on the black widow

Recently, she got really fat so I suspected that she was getting ready to lay an egg sack. To get a better picture, I got really brave and stuck the camera lens into the top of the jar. Warning: don't try this at home!


Then today, when I checked on her, she (in fact) did lay an egg sack, just as I thought would happen. Now I need to either destroy the spider or get rid of the egg sack. I will probably just get rid of the egg sack. However, I have to be very careful, and make sure to wear leather gloves because black widows can be very aggressive when guarding their egg sacks. I will probably just poke something down in the jar (like pliers) and pluck out the egg sack.

Black widows

I found this one in my compost pile, not exactly in it but in one of the cinder blocks we use as a border around the compost pile. At first, I noticed the web. Then I started looking around and found the spider. We have so many black widows around here that I can now recognize their distinctive webs. Believe it or not, I actually found one in my garden bed one time. The bed was heavily mulched, and there was a small crevice in the mulch so the spider apparently took up residence. Why do I have it in a jar? Well, I have a strange fascination for the black widow, perhaps because their bites are venomous; and they have interesting markings. Therefore, sometimes I will catch one and keep it alive for awhile. However, I am extremely careful by wearing gloves if I catch a black widow. Thankfully, I have never been bitten yet.

Spider bites: First aid - MayoClinic

This will serve two purposes

This is something we put together with scrap material. Hopefully, it will serve two purposes: for one, we loosened the soil (and added some extra) so the chickens can have a designated dust bath. Unfortunately, they have been digging holes close to the house and dusting there. Also, I noticed that a hawk has been watching the chickens so this will give them a place to hide in the back yard if the hawk comes back around.

Bread experiment

I am working on a bread recipe using a combination of half all-purpose flour/half whole wheat flour. So this is my latest attempt, which turned out the best so far. Each time, I have been making adjustments to the recipe. With this attempt, I used 3 tablespoons of vital wheat gluten and a pinch of ginger. Also, I have read soy lecithin can be added to soften up the texture of bread. If I can find it in the store, I may try that next. The flavor is excellent, but it still has a somewhat dense texture. My goal is to come up with a bread recipe to use for sandwiches, something lighter in texture. Perhaps I am just so accustomed to eating store bought bread so this may take some getting used to. And of course, without all the preservatives, the bread gets stale after only a couple of days.

Three small garden beds

Here is the latest project. We used patio bricks leftover from another project to make a few garden beds. I wanted something to plant in (on the other side of the yard) that looked nice, since it is close to the front of the house. For only three small beds, this was a great deal of work. Those patio bricks weigh about twenty or more pounds so they are very heavy, and trying to get them level with each other is not exactly easy. Also, I think I may have ruined my knees in the process. Definitely, I need to start wearing knee pads. I planted a red pepper plant yesterday in one of the beds. This morning, I noticed my dog had scratched the plant up entirely. Apparently, he was smelling the bone meal. Then my chickens were digging in these beds as well. Thankfully, our main garden is enclosed by a fence. So now, I have to come up with an idea to keep the animals out. Needless to say, this has not been my most productive project. Oh, I forgot to mention getting attacked by fire ants.

Portable Greenhouse

This is my portable greenhouse that I mentioned in another post, not really much to it. The yard cart is practical for carrying heavy things around the yard. The sides also fold down. I had the idea to build a frame that fits inside the cart. Then we added clear plastic and a little duct tape and some staples. At the present, I keep my seedlings in there in the day time. In the evening, I pull the cart under the carport. Tonight, I brought the seedlings inside because the temperature is supposed to drop.

Pie crust without shortening

How to make a pie crust without shortening-YouTube


I have been making quiche to use up some of the eggs from the chickens, and I got tired of paying so much for store bought pie crusts. In addition, I do not cook with shortening and also try to stay away from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils as much as possible. Therefore, this recipe has been helpful, considering many pie crust recipes call for shortening. I found it on a YouTube video. This recipe is easy and cheap to make, which uses a little bit of butter and vegetable oil, instead of lard and makes a pretty good pie crust as well.

1 cup of unsifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons butter (cut into pieces)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons cold water

Mix flour, salt, and sugar together. Add butter and cut into small pieces. Sprinkle in vegetable oil. Cut butter and oil into flour mixture with a pastry blender. Sprinkle cold water evenly in. Cut dough with fork to mix in water. Spread a sheet of plastic wrap on counter. Put dough in middle of plastic wrap. Wrap dough into tidy ball. Chill for 30 minutes. Place a piece of plastic wrap two inches bigger than a pie pan on counter. Lightly sprinkle with flour. Place dough ball into center. Cover with another piece of plastic wrap. Tap dough down into even circle with rolling pin. Roll into 1/8 inch thickness and one inch bigger than pie pan. Remove top plastic wrap. Place pie pan upside down on dough. Place one hand under the wrap and hold center of pan with other hand. Quickly flip over. Position the dough on pan. Remove plastic wrap. Tuck in extended edges. Handling the dough less will make a more flaky crust. Make edges evenly thick. If the crust is to be baked without filling, prick bottom or make a few cuts. Cover and chill in refrigerator for 1-12 hours before baking.

New chicken coop

Well, this coop is not really new. I cleaned this one up and applied a couple coats of fresh paint so it looks like new again. We were using it inside a 10 ft by 10 ft dog pen, and it worked really well for that purpose. Also, we added the awning on the front. I still have to apply some caulking to make it more waterproof. The original plan was to fix it up then sell it, but I changed my mind and decided to keep it. I am thinking about getting some more chickens this spring or just keep this as a back-up coop.

Getting rid of old leaf lettuce

This planter of lettuce I had been growing all winter. The planter was sitting in a small makeshift greenhouse built in a wagon so it was portable. When the weather got cold, I would pull it in under the carport. During the sunny part of the day, I had it sitting in the sunshine. It worked really well for that purpose. However, the lettuce was starting to taste bitter so I finally let the chickens have it. They absolutely love any kind of lettuce or greens. I guess the bitter taste does not bother them.

Neglected my blog

Hi,

Just got back to the blog. I almost forget about it, but I plan to post more and keep it updated. Thanks for the comments.

And then there were five...

Unfortunately, we had to cull one our hens yesterday, which was a first time experience. I will spare everyone the graphic images. So that leaves us with five hens. We have one other chicken on the fatal waiting list, but I would rather do this in baby steps.

This particular hen was not laying any eggs. In fact, I am not sure she has ever produced any eggs. Also, she was not eating much and earlier became sickly looking. Then she started pulling her own feathers out. I isolated her from the flock and did everything in my power to make her better. In spite of my effort, she never fully recovered enough for me to feel confident to place her back with the other chickens. Therefore, we made the decision to cull her. Strangely enough, it almost feels like playing God, making the decision to end another living creature's life. I am not sure if I am totally comfortable with that kind of responsibility; but one thing I have learned, it is definitely a necessary part of raising chickens. By the way, just a little practical advice to make the culling a little easier, do not name your chickens.

Cooking Hobo Style

The Hobo stove is one of the easiest and most inexpensive ways to cook. It is nothing more than a tin can with some holes made at the bottom for air flow. Also, there is a hole on the side to add small sticks of wood. The one in the picture is a #10 can, and the top consists of a small wire grill to hold the pan. Small sticks can be found just about anywhere, but I am currently using pieces I chopped up from a hardwood pallet. I am cooking a steak in a cast iron skillet, which only took about 5-6 minutes. Also, I have scrambled eggs, made toast and boiled water using this stove as well. As you can see, this one is starting to rust so I really need to make another Hobo stove.