Blessings Keep Rolling In!!

This is certainly the busiest time of year and it got busier!

Craigslist can be pretty awesome.  I picked up two of these hutches for $30!  They were in a little bit rough shape, but I cleaned them up, repaired them, and painted them just in time for our rabbit babies to be sexed and separated.  We have 5 girls and 4 boys.

Then, our new to us barn arrived!  Our church gave us their old shed and even paid for delivery!  Completely FREE!  Praise God!  So, my oldest and I got to work and built this:

For these:

And then I had to learn how to milk the one with the blue collar!  I'd never milked anything before in my life and I've never been shown how, but we figured it out pretty quickly.  I'm considering taking on another milker, but I'm not quite sure, yet.

Last, but not least, we have chickens.  From left to right in this picture, we have Lauren (Bacall), Bogie (the rooster), and Marilyn (the white hen).  Hiding is Myrna (Loy).  I'm hoping to get a light brown/tan/cream/blond hen and name her Betty (Grable).  All in all, we want 8 laying hens and we will build a larger coop.

I really feel like I have finally found my niche.  I hope I have.  Maybe it's just the honeymoon period in the fine weather of summer, but I'm loving the sights, sounds and even the smells of having the animals around.  I am so busy, especially with harvest rolling in and homeschooling having started.  I've dealt with escapees and poop....so much poop.  I have more laundry to do, but I feel so happy, like it all fits together and just works.  I hope I can expand on this and while I am so overwhelmingly happy with what we have right now, I hope that someday soon we can expand.  I would be in seventh heaven if we could actually have a profitable, working farm.

Please Help a Farmer In Need

Korona's Dairy Farm suffered the loss of their barns and part of their herd of cattle in a devastating fire.

Dear Readers,

I ask that you take a moment to consider donating to this family farm.  Even if it is just $1.00, $5.00, something, anything, it'll help them greatly.  I grew up just 1/2 a mile from this beautiful farm and went to school with their family.  We all know the farmer in general and farms are under threat, under appreciated and under tremendous financial pressure to just keep going.  Even with insurance, this is a terrible loss and set back.

Our community is banding together to see to it that they rebuild, and as part of the community, I am reaching out to you to please donate.

A fund is set up at:  https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/k155/rebuild-the-korona-barn?utm_source=facebook

You can pay by credit or debit card and you can donate anonymously, too either in name, amount or both.

Thank you!

Chicken Coop for the Soul

It started with a dog house and a wooden crate.  I was determined to turn them into a chicken coop and in 4 hours, I did just that.

And it cost me nothing.  I used materials we already had on hand.

My oldest was my right hand man on the job.  Here we are at the beginning of the project.

Here's the finished product!  (I may paint it since we don't have the chickens, yet.)  The kiddos were inside the pen pretending to be chickens.  The coop is just large enough to accommodate 4 hens.

The project started off well.  I was surprised at how well it was coming together.  Mounting the crate to the side of the dog house properly really intimidated me.  I hit a major snag when the one side of the crate proved too rotten to hold screws.  As I tried to shore it up, the whole back, top and side fell to pieces.  It turned into a blessing in disguise because after rebuilding the rotted out pieces, I was able to make the top of the box removable for easy egg collecting.  The crate made two perfectly sized nesting boxes.  The next intimidating thing was making the door.  Thankfully, it came together so well, so quickly, I was surprised.  

This is likely going to be a temporary coop.  We're still hoping for a barn down back which will house the rabbits, chickens, pig and feed (and two goats we may have on loan until breeding time).  I still hope for a goat barn and dairy at the top of our property near where we have electricity.  That way I can have lights for milking and a have a fridge and/or freezer in the dairy.  

Step by step we are getting there.  Building this coop all by myself (hubby was working) really helps me feel better about my own abilities to work hard and get things done agriculturally.  It's so nice to look out the window and be able to say, "I did that!"  

Now, to just get 4 happy, laying hens in there!  

Busy Playing Catch Up

For several years, Mr. Scott was away from home most of the time due to a career change he made that required traveling.  When he made the change, we were convinced he wouldn't travel much because there was so much work locally.  Unfortunately, the organization kept sending him away from home.  During this time, I was pregnant twice.  (Yes, he did come home some of the time...LOL!)  The pregnancies were difficult and we were all in survivor mode.  Because of this, the house and property pretty much got neglected.  Now that hubby's switched back to his old career (in order to be home with us...that is so important to him....to all of us) and we decided to (pretty much have no choice but to) stick it out here for a while longer, we're putting house and property back in order.

The days have been too gorgeous to ignore, so I've been going out and tackling some things.  I scraped and painted the garage doors and trim.  I repaired and painted the patio railing.  I scraped and painted the front door.  And I weeded out our heavily overgrown back patio (and am envisioning a nicer plan for that area in the future).

Sorry, no pictures.  Flickr isn't cooperating today.

We still have many MANY more projects to do, but it is so nice seeing things come together.  Slowly, but surely.

Oh, and I satiated my feelings of coulda done better with the garden and bought more plants, though I'd better go water them.  I found them shriveled up earlier today!

Content With What We Have

I've been struggling with being content with what we have.  Our garden is doing well and harvest is coming in.

Our pig is a joy to keep and getting bigger by the day.

But, as I gather and care, I get this feeling that I could have done more.  I should have done more.  I get upset that those seeds never germinated, or the wild birds got into that patch, or we don't have chickens or goats, yet and we can't afford a barn yet.  

I actually start thinking, "if this were the old days, we'd starve!"  

Well, thank God it's not the old days and I can run to the grocery store!

And thank God for what we have accomplished just this year alone!  Rabbits, a pig, two raised beds, new bushes, plants, an excellent compost heap and a garden that is thriving.  

I need to remember this and times like these:

Helping mommy shell peas.

He calls crook neck yellow squash, "ducks!"

For the Beauty of the Earth

 Pea plants rising tall and producing!

Lilies are gorgeous this year!

Recipe Wednesday #9: Salmon Loaf/Patties

I cleaned out the shed this past weekend and I pulled out a Griswold cast iron griddle!  It fits perfectly on my stovetop, so the other day I used it to make salmon patties.  It's a simple, inexpensive recipe for a fish dish.

2 cans salmon, drained, bones removed (I buy my cans of salmon at Aldi)
2 or 3 day old biscuits grated or crumbled
2 eggs, beaten
salt, pepper, seasoning to taste (I tend to use garlic and onion powders, paprika and sometimes parsley)

Blend all ingredients together well in a bowl.  Form into patties and fry on medium heat.  Or press mixture into a greased loaf pan and bake, covered at 350 F for 20 minutes or until set and lightly browned.

The best thing is ALL my kiddos love the loaf and the patties, even my pickiest one.