Strawberry Projects, Take Two

I knew I had to get these strawberries taken care of before they go bad so I got in the kitchen and started washing and cutting this morning.

One gallon of strawberries

One gallon after they've been hulled

The parts the chickens will be thanking me for later

 I decided to start off with the jams.  My first batch was going to be a four-berry jam.  I found a recipe for triple berry, but the bag of mixed berries that I bought to go with the strawberries had three in it (blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry).

I had to mash up the fresh strawberries first.

And then mash up the mixed berries.

 And then the cooking got started.  The jam only has fruit, sugar, and pectin.  Pectin is what makes it turn into gel.

You're suppose to fill the jars up and I had this tool that had a cool way to measure how full the jar was.  The math teacher in me was all excited when I noticed it.

Things did get a little messy.

But things turned out well.

It tastes great.  The only issue was that some of the jars didn't seal.  This was my first time canning and I was doing the hot water method.  I have a few theories as to why they didn't seal so hopefully the next batches won't have the same issue.  This just means we have to eat the jam sooner than I planned.  I can't complain about that.

The youngest son declared it good.

I started another batch of strawberry-rasberry jam and my fingers are crossed that the jars will seal.  We've already tasted it, and it's just as good as the first batch.

 The dried strawberries were also done so I peeled them off the screen.

And sealed some for saving.

Then I made some fruit roll ups.  I made strawberry-banana flavored ones and I'm about to make 4-berry ones as well.

Last, I made some strawberry-lemonade concentrate.  I froze them in ice cube trays and later I will transfer them to sealed bags for storage.  I'll just have to add some water and it will make a great summer drink.

I'm tired, and it was a lot of work, but I'm so glad that I did it.  I need more practice to make sure I can seal the jars properly and find more counter space to work with, but hopefully by this summer I'll be a professional.

We still have a gallon of strawberries left so I'll be drying more of them tonight and then I'll be done.

Until we go picking again.

One small step towards homesteading

I ordered a dehydrator a couple weeks ago and it's been sitting on the table waiting for fresh produce for too long.  So this morning we went to the local farmer's market and bought some strawberries (and some yummy bread and pure honey) and then we went strawberry picking to get even more strawberries.

They measure by the gallon and we had over four gallons.  We picked three baskets/gallons ourselves and we bought 5 quarts.

As soon as we got home we got to work.  I washed and cut the tops off them while the youngest used an egg slicer to slice them up and spread them out on the dehydrator trays.

Six trays of strawberries are drying today and should be done between tonight and tomorrow morning.

A cookie sheet of strawberries is in the freezer.  Once they're hard, we'll seal them with the FoodSaver and put them in the basement freezer.

Then we'll start on making jams for the first time ever.

Goat updates

We still have all five goats, but I think there is someone coming to look at getting one this weekend.

For a couple weeks I was always coming home to this scene:

Yes, the boogers were getting out, and they were actually getting back IN the pen too.  Luckily, they were sticking close to home like Jenny and Kelly do and so far they hadn't broken through the fencing to get to the garden.

 But they sure like to play.

They really are fun to watch when they are running around or playing with each other.

And when they're just standing around, they're the cutest darn things ever.

Chicks in Prison

Although I would push the coop door closed, each day I would walk out to the chicken run and see a chick head or two peeking out from around the door.  They kept pushing it open and poking their heads out.

Then the weather got really hot and I realized they must be dying in there, but I don't have time to cut and secure a screened window to keep the other chickens out until this weekend so I decided to prop the doors open and just block the doorways so they couldn't get out and the big girls couldn't get in.

Now, every time I go outside I see a bunch of birds in chick prison and it makes me laugh.

The good news is that it's Friday, so tomorrow I can cut new windows into the coop for better ventilation for them AND for the next three days, when I let the adults out to free-range, I'm going to let the chicks come out into the chicken run for their first taste of the outdoors.

Good Night

Since the youngest chicks needed the smaller coop, the bigger chicks needed to move in and share the large coop with the big boys and girls.  They weren't too happy and were actually huddled up by the smaller coop door when I went out there last night. 

I had to catch each chick and put it into the big coop, and by the time I would get the next chick and come back, the first one would have already come out of the coop.  I finally got all nine of them inside and then I went in to help them settle in.

This guy was the first one to jump up on to the roost with the big girls and Clyde.

Some others decided to stick together around the nesting boxes.

 Australorp wasn't happy sharing and actually started pecking at the girls next to her.  I decided to help some of them out and I picked them up and put them on the roosting bars.

A few were brave on their own and jumped up to the roosting bars.  Clyde wasn't thrilled.

Meanwhile the goats were all tucked away and ready to go to sleep.

No More Birds in the House!

The chicks that my students hatched and my buff orpington chicks are 6 weeks old and starting to try to fly, so it was time for them to get out of my house.  I cleaned out the smaller coop where the first batch of chicks had been sleeping at night and moved these guys in.

And at night, they all went to sleep together.

Another illness?

The other day I noticed that Mary Anne's feet and legs looked strange. It was as if they had warts.

I did a little research and found out she has scaly legs.  These are actually mites that dig into the legs and lift the scales of their skin up.  It can cause serious injuries and even kill the birds if it gets bad enough.  

The best solutions that I read were to wash and clean their legs with a tooth brush scrubbing between the scales and then to put on various treatments.  Some of the treatments were easy, like Vasoline.  I purchased a spray that said it would help and got to work.

I cleaned each and every chicken.  I did see some signs of possible scaly leg on a few other birds.

And then I even saw lice on one of them.

 I had gotten rid of the lice a few months ago, it was an quick and easy fix.  However, since we feed the wild birds with our bird feeders, my chickens are bound to get lice again (and again and again) since the wild birds will continuously bring it back.  Luckily, I have the supplies on hand to clear up lice and so I treated each of the birds for lice as I was cleaning their feet.

Another pair of clean feet with signs of scaly leg.

They were not very happy to have me holding them down and doing this.

Mary Anne's legs were definitely the worst.  After I cleaned them, it was even more clear how bad things were so I decided that I would buy some cream I read about and re-treat them on Monday after work.

I've heard stories about birds falling asleep while being held.  I wasn't so lucky, but Mary Anne did close her eyes when I'd touch her beak.

A Clean Coop makes for Happy (Egg-Laying) Chickens

I finally got the coop cleaned out and the improvements made.  

I raised one roosting bar and added a third.  This way they aren't pooping on the backs of the birds beneath them.  I still need to add poop boards (boards that catch the mess).

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And I bought these shelf thingys and added the front boards to create an edge for the eggs to not fall out.  I need to add a piece of plywood at the top to create an angled roof so the birds won't sit on top (like that one.)

There is even space for me to put the chicken feed can!  This means I have more space in the  mud room!  

And this must be great news for the birds because look what they finally left for me

Pretty Eggs

 While there are NINE eggs, I have to admit that one is from yesterday afternoon and two are guinea eggs.  But still this is the first time they've laid six eggs since the new coop was built.

And check out those colors!

Just in case you missed it, look at the funny shape to the one on the left

One step forward

Between work that I got done yesterday and then work that I got done today after working all day, I'm getting closer to feeling like the garden looks good.  Looking good means I'm a little closer to having it actually produce this summer.

I spent about 40 minutes fixing the fence to keep the chickens out.  I pinned down the bottom all the way around since they were finding spots to sneak under it.  In the three hours of free range time today, not one got in.

I added a wire fence to the back of the garden where the berry bushes are

Added a wire fence along the row for the green beans to grow on

Put all the tomato stands in

And made four more potato piles although you can't see very well in this picture