A Family Affair

When we had just Samuel, it used to be a little easier timing his nap so I could go outside and help process chickens on processing days.  Since Evie's come along, its become a little more difficult.  So instead of trying to juggle nap time, I just take them both out with us so everyone's involved...




Samuel loves playing with his dump truck, ball and rocks and having everyone around.  Evie loves watching everything going on around her.  They keep themselves entertained, are seeing where their food comes from at a young age and are outside getting fresh air.

We also have the Gator near by to transport chickens to freezers.  While it's sitting idle, Samuel loves to pretend he's driving...



We've created a monster by letting him "drive" it though.  He wanders around the house saying "dawive" about 100 times a day.  Dan takes him out in the Gator at least once a day and he usually isn't happy when he has to come back inside.  I think he's going to take after Daddy and be an outdoorsman!

Growing garden

The garden is blooming despite the drought.  Although Dan does have to water it regularly.  So far, we've gotten kale from the garden daily, along with peas.  Our patch of kale looks small, but it just keep going and going and going.  The kale is in the middle of the picture below.  Disregard the weeds and grass all around it.  We do.




For the peas, Dan lined up a few cattle panels we had lying around and used them for the peas to climb up...




He also used a cattle panel for the green beans too, but bent it over so the beans can grow up and over from both sides...




We also have lots of tomato plants this year.  Last year we didn't hardly have any tomatoes and what we did have didn't ripen until really late in the year.  This year, 19 plants made it into the ground.  Homemade salsa and pasta sauce... here we come!

How to eat a giraffe

 First, you lick it to see if it's tasty...





Then you open wide and start chowin' down...





When you're done, you give everyone an innocent "What, I didn't do anything!" look...

Water Wagon

This is our fourth year raising Cornish Cross meat chickens.  When we first started, we only raised a few chickens for ourselves.  This year has just begun and we've already raised 250 chickens and have regular shipments coming.  One of the many things involved in raising livestock is finding a good way to provide water to the animals.

Years ago, when our single chicken tractor was near the house, we used to carry a 5-gallon bucket from the house to refill their waterer.  As we got more chicken tractors, we started carrying as many containers as we could on the 4-wheeler.  Then we bought a John Deere Gator and started hauling water with it.  And although it can hold plenty of 5-gallon buckets, we still have to fill them near the house and drive it out to the pasture with water sloshing around.
 

Enter this:



This is a 275-gallon food-grade storage container.  That's equivalent to 55 5-gallon buckets!  Brand new, these containers cost around $600.  However, if you can get your hands on them after food companies are done with them, you can pick them up for around $75! 

Initially, the plan was to build some sort of wagon or trailer to set this on and pull it out to the pasture near the chicken tractors and move it every so often.  It would have to be mighty strong because 275 gallons of water equals 2,200 pounds!  Then Dan got thinking.  We have an old one-ton (hauling capacity) Ford farm truck that we pretty much only use during the winter to collect firewood.  So, it's summertime job is now what we're calling "The Water Wagon"...



We just backed the truck up to the hydrant, filled it up and drove it out to the pasture.  The container sits at the end of the bed and it has a spigot so all we have to do is set a bucket under it, turn the nozzle and fill 'er up...




Here you can see how close the water is in relation to the chicken tractors...



In another few years, we may come up with something even more efficient.  But for now, this is working pretty darn well!

Samuel and Evie

 I have quite a few pictures of Samuel and Evie that don't really have a theme or warrant a post of their own.  But, they're too darn cute not to post, so I'll just lump them all together here and tell you what was going on.

First up, Samuel.  He thinks it's really funny to be carried around in the laundry basket.  Afterwards, Dan set him down, where he just sat for quite a while...




I FINALLY got a good picture of Evie smiling.  She seems to be getting a little more use to the camera, so hopefully I'll be able to get more now.  She's sitting up well in her seat, strengthening her tummy muscles and playing with toys...




I've posted a few times about what a crazy sleeper Samuel is - laying sideways, head smashed in the corner, bedhead, etc.  The same seems to be true for Evie...




Samuel is on a hat kick again.  He's been wearing it around the house, taking naps in it and of course wearing it outside.  Here, he's wearing it while reading his favorite book, 'Everyone Poops'...




Evie has finally graduated to a big-girl tub.  She probably doesn't care about this very much, but since this is the same tub that Samuel uses, it means I don't have to mess with two tubs anymore, which makes me very happy!...




I'm admittedly one of those Mom's that likes pictures to be staged, but look unstaged.  In other words, I want hair combed, makeup on, clothes neat, etc, but to have the pictures look as if they just happened to be snapped.  I know, I know, it's pretty vain.  I'm working on it.

Fortunately, I have Dan around who doesn't give a jack-diddley-who-ha about how people look.  In fact, it seems as though the only time he grabs the camera is when we're at our worst.  So, below you'll see me with not a stitch of makeup on, Samuel with crazy bedhead after his afternoon nap, and Evie with a bib on to catch her copious amounts of drool...

Pizza dough

For about a year I have been trying one pizza dough recipe after another.  I simply couldn't find one that I really liked and was also simple.  My search may be over.  I've combined two recipes that I liked 'okay' and came up with this one that I love!  This recipe is as simple as stirring everything together and letting it do a single rise.

The recipe below will make 2 large pizza crusts or 8 calzones.  I usually double the recipe, roll out the extra crusts and par-bake them for about 8 minutes.  Then you can wrap in aluminum foil, throw in the freezer and yank one out when you need to make a quick lunch.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 4 ½ tsp active dry yeast
• 2 cups warm water (110 degrees)
• 4 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 teaspoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons basil
• ¼ cup olive oil

Directions

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, combine bread flour, salt, sugar, garlic powder, and basil; stir to combine.  Add olive oil and the yeast mixture; stir well to combine. Beat well until a stiff dough has formed. Cover and rise until doubled in volume, about 30- 60 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

4. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface (it's very sticky!). Form dough into a round, and flour the top liberally.  Roll out into a pizza crust shape. Cover with homemade pizza sauce and your favorite toppings and bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes (slightly less if you're using a par-baked crust).

Lambikins

This spring has been busy for our sheep!  We have 8 ewes that were impregnated last fall by our ram, Rambo.  Unfortunately, Rambo was attacked by our donkey (who was released from her duties due to several attacks), but fortunately not before Rambo did his job.  All of our ewes have given birth and we now have have 12 healthy lambs running around the pastures.

Seeing a tiny lamb, just a few minutes old, up on it's wobbly legs is one of the most precious things to behold.  This year we got a surprise with a black lamb.  Here she is with her Mama watching Dan put a clamp on her sisters umbilical cord...




This little lamb is already playing by climbing up on a pile of stumps...



We'll be sure to keep you posted as the lambikins grow up this summer!