Im Seeing Red

Mostly in our garden we grow weeds.  I am an incredibly good weed grower.  It just comes naturally.  There happen to be some plants that are coexisting with the weeds- we have tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers to name a few.  In one garden bed last year we added in a bunch of rabbit poop to compost. This year we planted a tomato plant and pumpkin plant in it.  We lovingly refer to the tomato plant as our tomato on crack.  I am not sure if this plant just got lucky, or if the poop really helped but this sucker is huge!  For the longest time we had huge green tomatoes and now they are ripening to red.  I am freezing what we dont eat fresh to be used in sauce later when I have enough. 

 This one tomato weight 1 pound 1 ounce!

One day's garden haul.  Eggs, Goat milk, tomatoes and peppers.

Pickled Eggs

Has anyone ever tried pickled eggs?  I for one have not.  Maybe because I grew up in California and not the south, pickled food was not a big staple in our diet.  That said, it is one of the most basic ways of preserving food so I am trying new experiments.  Last week we had a surplus of eggs (before we knew we were getting pigs). I turned to the internet (man, what would I do without the internet?) to get ideas on how to use the eggs.  I love the idea that pickled eggs will still be there in the winter when the hens slow down, or stop laying all together.  Not knowing if I like pickled eggs I only made two quarts.  I am thinking I will slice some to top off a salad?  If you like pickled eggs, how do you eat them? At least they look pretty in the jars for now!

Its a Duck Egg

We got our first duck egg this week.  Unlike the chickens who lay in the nest boxes, the duck just lays where ever she feels like it on the ground.  Every day is like an Easter egg hunt trying to find where she laid an egg.  Her eggs are typically smaller than the jumbo chicken eggs.  Yesterday however, hubby found the mother egg.  This sucker is huge!  My suspicions were confirmed when I cracked it open.  Its a double yoke!  Double yokes are a not so unusual occurrence in both duck and chicken eggs.  This is the first that we have personally found.

Can you see how HUGE the double yoke egg is compared to the first?

New Farm Additions

Meet Buddie the Buck

On Sunday I drove down to a farm to pick up a new LaMancha buck (Mocha is a LaMancha and Latte is 50% LaMancha).  I ended up coming home with the buck as well as two piglets!  We have been wanting to get pigs, American Guinea Hogs to be precise, to help with our surplus of milk.  In doing research a lot of people have recommended growing pigs on milk (and feed). You can also feed pig eggs as long as they are cooked.  We are now up to 5-6 eggs a day.  Whatever eggs we don't sell we will boil and give to the pigs.  I am hoping to raise them extremely frugally since we are already paying for chicken and goat feed. They are already gobbling up the milk from this mornings milking!

They need names...One castrated boy and one girl

Not your average day off

Today was my day off. A day of rest before the business at the bank that is friday and sat. My plan was to have a girlfriend up this morning. The afternoon found on the schedule- picking up ducks and selling a bunny. Sounds simple, right? Well, my girlfriend came up around 11, with her two kids and Nana. We walked around the farm playing with the animals and feeding the goats. When it came time for them, her 5 year old declared she wanted to stay here forever. Quite a compliment! We agreed that she would miss her mom too much, but she could stay for the afternoon. I didnt mind if she tagged along to get the ducks. Her mom, her nana and her baby sister all went shopping. Not exactly sure what I should do with a 5 year old for the whole afternoon, I called another girlfriend. Maybe she wanted to join us on our duck outing. She did, lured by the idea of a road trip and lunch out. The 5 year old and I drove to girlfriend M's house. We picked up her and her two boys (4 and 2). My truck found the backseat crammed with 3 carseats (they all fit!). Together we drove up to PA to get some ducklings. Kid conversation is hilarious! They entertained us the whole way up.

When we got to our destination, the kids were super anxious to see the baby ducks. We were taken back to a barn, where the girl explained why she was selling her flock. Apparently a fox broke into their barn 2 nights in a row, killing over half their flock. Roosterless, the flock has no protection. She decided to cut her losses and sell the remaining chickens and ducks. Our ducklings were born on 4/5. They are Welsh Harlequin and super adorable. As anyone who has read even one post of my blog knows, I am a sucker with a capital "S" when it comes to animals. Did I want any chickens she asked? Well.....ok. We picked out 3 banty (mini) chickens that will lay green eggs! We stuffed them all into the duck carrier and headed back home. The new additions rode in the cab in the back where the kids kept a vigilant eye on them. The 4 year old kept exclaiming he saw an egg. We told him he was wrong, they wouldnt lay an egg on the car ride...never tell a 4 year old he is wrong unless you are dead sure. When we were home and unloading everyone, there indeed was an egg. A green tinted egg that matched the 5 year olds sweater. Strike one for the smart adults. The kids were all passionate about holding the ducks.

Once everyone was settled in the barn, we all played outside before retiring in to make cookies. A guy stopped by to buy a bunny for Easter. I made back half of what I spent on the ducks/chickens (did I mention they came with a bag of feed? awesome!). We had a grand afternoon of baking cookies and talking. Dinner was made, Hubby came home to spend time with the kids before everyone left.

Hubby and I are now exhausted and its not even 9. Having kids around sure made the day go by fast. I still got my to-do list checked off and had fun doing it. It was priceless to see the kids in the goat pen feeding everyone hay and treats. I am sure the animals had a blast too. Tonight is supposed to be in the 30s, so I have the ducklings inside where they will stay warm. And I miss having cuteness in the office since the baby bunnies moved out...There are soft peeps coming from their cage as I type...

A Green, clean kitchen, Pink Hydrangeas and Blue Eggs

We continue noticing colors around Victory Garden Farm. This week I have vowed to keep the kitchen clean, and the counters as clear as possible. The mixer stays on the counter, covered by an antique needlepoint from Pella, Iowa. The coffee corner stays and the rest of the counters are just that. It is so refreshing to have a clean kitchen!

Hubby surprised me tonight by bringing home flowers...of the potted variety. He knows I love hydrangeas and he brought home four new plants! Two of them are blue and are already planted in the ground. The remaining two are pink, and I think they will be exchanged tomorrow for blue plants. The pink is a bit much.

We have been getting 1 blue egg a day. Today we had a total of 13 chicken eggs! The blue is really obvious when you see the eggs in person. The pictures dont show the true color difference.

We were hit with a big storm this weekend, and although muddy, we cant complain too much. There was a tornado semi-nearby so things could have been a lot worse. The radio was telling our area to take cover until the danger was passed. So I baked a cake instead...while the mixer had power.

Today was gorgeous and we got to work outside. I had a new friend over to the house along with her two girls. Watching the girls amazement at all the animals made me smile. We are expecting more thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow. I will enjoy the time to hunker down and knit or spin.

Dont count your chicks before....

As we flip the calander page to April, we are not starting out on a great note. Yesterday we discovered a dead chick in the chick coop. We didnt think much of it. Hubby cleaned it up, we put fresh bedding down and left it at that. This morning on my rounds, I opened up the coop and pee-eww! it stunk. All the chicks went running out to fill their bellies with food and water. All but the pile in the back corner. I counted at least 6 dead, together in the corner. There was no way I could clean up the dead, clean the coop, and move the chicks back in all by myself in the rain. Just wasnt going to happen. Their old brooder box was available, so I transferred all living chicks to the brooder, inspecting each one as I did. They dont look sick. Hubby's thinks they froze to death, which would explain why they were all huddled together. To say the least, the brooder is small, has a heat lamp and they should be warm. This weekend will call for some cleaning out of the little red coop. Just covering our bases in case it was a virus or something. We have 42 chicks left. Out of 51. There is a saying that goes something like "dont count your eggs before they hatch". well I am ammending it to say "dont count your chicks until they are grown...and not even then" Speaking of grown chickens, we have 19 hens in the big coop. 2 additional hens are completely free. Two Rhode Island Reds we named Rosie and Josie. They were molting when they came to live with us and we kept them in a seperate coop since the other hens would peck them bloody. Rosie and Josie had never laid eggs as they were molting. While hubby and I were cleaning out the barn last weekend, we found 3 eggs. They had to have come from Rosie or Josie, since they are the only true free range not caged hens. Rosie and Josie never bonded with the flock, and refuse to go in the coop with the others. Instead they sleep with the ducks. Yesterday Hubby and I went in the barn to get some straw. Inside a Rubbermaid container Rosie or Josie had made a nest of straw and there sat 4 eggs. I guess now we are going to play find-the-egg game. I am super excited that they are laying now. In a few months we will need to cull out the flock, and they were on my list to go, since they werent laying. Now I can remove them and they have secured their future with us. Every morning I open the back door to do my rounds. Rosie and Josie come running to me. They follow me to the big coop and wait outside while I go in. They follow me into the goat pen, paying no mind to the goats. They follow me to the shed, to the geese, to the chicks. And they follow me into the duck pen where they take their breakfast with the waterfowl. At night its the same routine so you can see why they are some of my favorites. I can pick them up, they eat out of my hand, and I have to admit I like having an entourage following me about. Everything else is going smoothly about the farm. We got snow two nights in a row (which I think is the cause for the deaths around here). Tonight's forecasst doesnt look any different. Hubby and I checked in on the baby bunnies last night. One is incredibly fat, and the others look like they are starving. Normally I dont like to interfere with nature, but I am not about to lose baby bunnies too. We fed them all (except fatty) on Mama. It is incredible to watch them suckle and latch on. They squirm and do acrobatic movements but never let go of the teat. There is a runt, who I doubt will make it. I am hoping she does, but I have learned not to count my baby bunnies either... A pot of coffee is brewing and a hot shower is calling before I have to go to work. I am going to snuggle on the couch with my coffee and lastest book. Just for an hour before I leave... PS

I had to add some happy pictures..check out the bean and pea seeds we started...

And our 6 meat birds who are living in the laundry room until thier brooder is available again....

Eggs, Baby Birds and Snow

Wow, the new year has brought lots of changes. One of the chickens has started laying. She faithfully lays an egg a day. Hubby and I have enjoyed them greatly! One of the ducks has started laying too. However, until today, the shells were too soft. If we touched the shell it would cave in. We started feeding them oyster shells for calcium, and wa-laa today we had a hard shelled egg. Which is now sitting in the fridge along side the chicken eggs. Speaking of eggs, the finches are great egg layers. However usually the mama finch decides to kill the eggs (for reasons known only to her). She will either eat them herself, or push them over the nest. She must have known that 2011 is a new year, and made a resolution not to kill her eggs. For as I write, there is a living, breathing, baby finch hiden in the nest. Anytime we try to get a peak, the mama finch gets quite upset. So we will see soon enough.

The new year has also brought along snow! So far we have had 3 days of snow, with yesterdays being the most yet. It started snowing yesterday afternoon, and we woke up to around 3 inches. I let the chickens out of their coop. The walked around, tried to eat the snow, tried to shake the snow off their feet, and returned to their coop. So much for snow chickens... The goats could care less about what the weather does. They act as if they didnt even notice the snow. The dogs opinions are split. On one hand, Jack loves the snow. He would stay out in it all day if he could. On the other hand, Whiskey hates it. But she hates anything cold, wet or muddy. She will avoid puddles and rain as much as possible. But snow is impossible to avoid. So she waits out the day tucked inside her doghouse. Jack sits on top of the dog house roof so he can monitor the snow fall...

I love the snow. It makes everything have a clean start. I love walking through the snow. I love watching the snow blow off the rooftops. I love the way the snow rests on branches in the trees. I love snow. I am going to take the day, and enjoy it while its here. Happy snow day!