I'm quitting the chicken farming life....

Last night we went to lock up the girls and all of them were outside the coop.  Turns out that the oldest hadn't opened the coop door, so none of them could go back inside.  As I walked around picking them up from various spots and putting them back in the coop (and silently cursing him) I kept counting them.

The numbers weren't adding up right.

For an hour we walked around in the dark looking for piles of feathers.  I was sure the fox got them.  I even got the dog, brought her into the goat pen, and let her off her leash to walk around with us.  No sign of chicken feathers but I knew the girls wouldn't have gone far so the fox got two of my girls that should start laying any time.

I didn't sleep well and had long detailed dreams about them and that stupid fox all night.

I woke up feeling depressed and seriously considering getting out of the chicken life...  It's just too hard dealing with them getting sick or hurt or dying when I've named them and grown attached.



I walked out to feed the goats and there was the neighbor's guinea, who's been getting closer and closer to our birds when I let them free range.

And then, there was RebaSue*** (named today).

RebaSue

Alive!!!!

My heart was about to explode I was so happy and relieved.

A moment later, the other missing bird came out from around the corner.

Alive!

RebaSue walked right into the chicken run, but the second one I tortured by snatching her up and hugging her.

No really, I literally hugged her several times before I put her into the chicken run.

She didn't appreciate it, I'm sure.



***RebaSue has been named after Reba and her song "I'm a survivor" because this bird was the one that survived the caking of the rotten egg that exploded and now survived a night in the woods with a fox.

I may be a real canner now

I have been determined to can and have things for this winter so on Sunday we went to a you-pick farm about an hour away.  This farm had the biggest selection of produce to pick, but wasn't the friendliest place.

We ended up picking over 20 pounds of roma tomatoes, a few zucchini and squash, less than a pound of string beans, 2 pecks of asian pears, and 4 pecks of peaches (3 yellow and 1 white.)

The veggies

 We still had the 20+ pounds of tomatoes from Saturday's farmers market visit as well.

So, Sunday night, I got to work and the kids helped to boil and peel the tomatoes.

Boiling

Icing

Peels and seeds from the first few tomatoes

Peeled and coring  

 Once the tomatoes were peeled and cored, the boys disappeared and I scooped out the seeds and squeezed out as much water as I could.  Then I mixed them up in a big pot to make spaghetti sauce.

The start to the spaghetti sauce

 It smelled so good, even our new renter kept stopping by the pot to smell and comment on it.  I felt like the tomatoes weren't breaking down enough so I chopped them up with some special scissors that I got from Pampered Chef a few years ago and decided to let it cook overnight.

This picture doesn't do it justice.

 It smelled so good then next morning, and then I canned it.  I only got 3 quarts and one pint.

Spaghetti Sauce

I almost don't want to eat them since we only have three jars.

Then I got to work on the peaches.  I found a new recipe last night that sounded much easier and faster.  I simply had to peel the peaches, slice them up and then drop them into the jars.  I added about a fourth to a third of cup of sugar part way in the jar, and then filled it with water.

Filled with peaches and a little sugar poured in

Added the water and got the air bubbles out

There were a LOT Of peach peels.  I used the food processor to chop up a lot of them and then send the oldest out to the coop with treats for the birds.  I did try finding an idea on using the peels, but all I could find was peach peel jelly and I didn't think I had the energy to attempt it.

Just one of the two bowls of peels

This was definitely easier and quicker and I wasn't as worried about making things fit in a complete jar as I just stopped peeling and slicing when I knew I didn't have enough left to make another full jar.  I ended up with 13 big quart jars.

Canned Peaches

Then I got to work on the salsa.  This time I was going to make my own seasoning from a recipe I found online.  I left the jalapenos out since I don't like spicy food.  I managed to get the boys to come peel the tomatoes while I diced them up.

Again, this smelled so good.  (At this point, things got too messy and I got too busy to remember to take pictures of everything.)

Salsa in the pot

 As soon as this finished simmering for thirty minutes, I canned it.  I managed to get 10 pints and then two half pints that I wanted to use for gifts.  There was another pint jar that was about 3/4 full, it wasn't enough to can so I happily put it in the fridge to eat soon.

Mild Salsa

 I still had another 12 pounds of tomatoes left so I had the boys peel them and I sliced them up to make canned quartered tomatoes in their own juice.  The only thing that surprised me about this was how long they had to sit in the water bath.

We got 8 pint jars and one half pint jars of canned tomatoes.

Canned tomatoes in their own juice

Now I just have to cook the green beans and squash as I don't think there is enough to can, and decide what I am doing with the Asian pears.

 He insisted on being Vanna White in at least one picture.

In other good news, I wore my tennis shoes the entire time I was working today and my back wasn't killing me like it did the last time I was canning, and was barefoot.

Final Dill Pickles

I got, what I think is, the last of our pickling cucumbers from the garden.  There were several funny shaped ones but I wanted to can them just to be funny.

And then we went to the farmer's market and bought almost 20 pounds of pickling cucumbers this morning.

And I got to work.

It took me about two hours and I ended up with 10 quart jars, 2 pint and a half jars, and 4 pint jars.

I'll add these to our other stash once they cool off and then we will see how long they last.  I hope they will last until next summer when I can do this all over again.

Tomorrow... I have to start the 20 pounds of tomatoes that I bought....

WE canned!!!

Yesterday we went to the farmers market to buy pickling cucumbers.  The pickles were so good and we wanted to make sure to have more.  They didn't have any pickling cucumbers and I didn't want to waste a trip, so we bought peaches and tomatoes to can.

Tonight we made salsa and then we made peach pie filling.  I say we because, for the first time, the boys really helped.  The youngest helped peel the tomatoes and wash the peaches, the oldest helped core and dice the tomatoes and peeled the peaches.  It was nice having extra help to get the work done and it was great to have the jars on my counter this evening.

As long as the jars all seal, and as long as the half-filled jar of salsa that is in the fridge tastes good, then I'll buy more tomatoes and try to make some more salsa from scratch.  We are planning to get more pickling cucumbers on Saturday, when the farmers market promised they would have more. 

Laundry Day

I have been wanting to line dry our laundry for several months.  The first hurdle was that the clothesline posts that came with the house were being used to hang a hammock, and the kids pulled one of them out of the ground (again) after having a ridiculous number of kids sitting on it at the same time.

So last week, we dug a new hole about 4 feet deep, filled it with concrete, and then added some boulders on top.

A few days ago I discovered that after the oldest had used the washer, it suddenly didn't work anymore.  I didn't notice this problem until after I had loaded it myself and then came back and hour later to find soaking wet, but still dirty clothes.  I couldn't just leave them, so I had to hand wash the entire load, squeeze them dry, and then put them in the dryer.

Today I bought and tied up the rope lines on the clothesline posts, and then cleaned and filled the two plastic pools we have.  I decided to try out hand washing and drying, for the heck of it.

This was the wash cycle

Okay, really, this was the washing cycle

And the rinse cycle

And the line dry

We did cheat, because we had so much to wash and dry, I ended up putting a lot of things in the drier once they only felt slightly damp.

It was a fun experience but I kept wishing I had that crank machine that would squeeze the water out of the clothes.  :)  Now I need to find time to sit down with the washer machine and figure out what is wrong and actually fix it.

Amazingly pickled

When I made the next batches of pickles last week, I was a bit nervous.  We hadn't tried the first batch of pickles since they needed to wait four to six weeks, and I'm a bit picky about how I like my pickles.  What if I made this second batch and then when we tried them in a few months, they tasted horrible?  What a waste that would be.

I decided yesterday to crack open a jar from the first batch.  It had been seven weeks since they were made and I figured if they tasted bad, I wouldn't make any more.

I passed a pickle to each of us.

I have to say, they were some of the best darn pickles that I've ever had.  My reaction was "Darn, we should have made more pickles...." and I started wondering where I could get larger jars and more pickling cucumbers.

The oldest agreed with me that we need a lot more jars of pickles to line the basement walls.

Guess who is at it again

I walked into the coop four days ago and saw Silkie Sue in a nest box.  I just knew.

I don't want any more chicks!!!!

She only has 5 eggs under her and I've marked them all.  Every day I move her over and check for extra eggs, I've pulled out two that were freshly laid by other birds.

I guess I'm going to let her hatch them, but I'm not sure how that will work since she's now up on the highest nest box, which is about 4 feet off the ground and not a safe place for chicks.  As soon as they hatch, I'm finding them homes.

Canning peaches, berries, and pickles

A couple days ago I went to a local farm and picked raspberries, blackberries, and peaches.

The next day I got to work on some of the berries and peaches.  I made blackberry pie filling first and then froze a tray of blackberries.

Then I got to work peeling and slicing some of the peaches to can.

I ended up with 2 jars of blackberry pie filling and several jars of peaches in medium syrup.  Amazingly, things went smoothly, all of the jars sealed, and the kitchen was not a complete disaster area.

So today I decided to get to work with the rest of the peaches and berries because they were starting to go bad and to take care of the cucumbers from our garden.

Once I got the peaches and cucumbers sliced up, I realized that there were probably a few more cucumbers that had grown so I went outside to get the few I should add to my batch.

Twenty minutes later, I had pruned the tomato plants and collected all of the produce that was ripe.

Finally another zucchini, and those are yellow tomatoes :)

I ended up making a bunch of jars of pickles and three jars of peaches in light syrup.  I also got the rest of the raspberries and blackberries frozen in trays and I poured the left over peach syrup juice frozen in ice cube trays because I heard it can be used to make drinks later.

The small jar is a gift for someone

I just can't figure out why my back hurts more from working in the kitchen all day than it does when I work outside all day.

Meeting with an attorney

I haven't updated about the land situation.  A few weeks ago I met with an attorney to just find out what my options are and if there is even a reason to get an attorney.  I know I can't stop the county from taking the land, but I also saw that the money they offered me did not take into consideration that my property value would decrease which would be pretty bad if I ever decide to sell my house.

The attorney has had many cases like this before, and many with my county, and he has won.

I explained that if he can get me $2,000 more, but then he charges me $2,000 to $5,000, then I would rather just accept the money that is being offered.  There would be no point in doing something that will get me less money in the long run.

He went through all of the paperwork from the county and I learned the following things.

My mortgage, and apparently many/most mortgages, have a clause in them.  They say that if eminent domain occurs, the money that the county or state pays goes to the mortgage company.  I won't ever see a dime of it, but it will be put towards my mortgage.  In 20 years I will be happy about that, but who wouldn't want to see some of that money now?

The amount that was offered to me really doesn't include anything besides the land.  There was no compensation for my property value decreasing.  There was no compensation for my standard of living changing.  There was no compensation for the loss of the trees (that not only provide nature and shade, but also lower my electric bills in the summer and create a noise barrier from the traffic that is going to increase substantially after the road widens.)

The attorney said that he would work for me and would only charge me a fraction of any additional money he gets me.  Meaning if I walk away not earning any additional money, he doesn't get any money.  If I get $1,000 more with his help, he only gets a fraction of that $1,000.  I think that's a pretty good deal.  He also wrote a letter to my mortgage company on my behalf asking that his fee be taken out of the settlement, so while I won't ever actually see or get the money from the county, his bill will be paid from that money.

My attorney did tell me that this could go to another step in which the county takes the land while we are still trying to negotiate, and we end up going to court.  A jury of peers will be selected and then in one day we present the case, they see the land, and the jury decides what to do.  Obviously, I'd rather not go that far, but I also need to protect myself, my kids, and my animals from what will happen when they take our land and so many of our trees.

And now for pictures to help explain how much land they are taking.

Stake #1 marks the existing end of my property.
They will move the drainage ditch to be between Stake #2 and #3, closer to the house.
The trees and bushes between stake #3 and #4 will be cut down for the electric company to move their lines back.
The trees between stake #4 and #5 will be cut down for the "temporary construction easement".

These are stakes 4 and 5 where the trees will be cut for the construction area

This is the left side of the driveway, from the red line forward is where the trees will be removed for the construction area

Looking toward the house, the trees from the red arrow forward will be removed.  The red arrow is pointing at the tree in the BACK.

 I think the picture above does the best job of showing just how many trees are being removed between the road and our home.

You can see the two stakes along the driveway by the trees that show what will be removed there

I should also point out that while they are cutting down all of my trees, across the road where the large community is, they are going to build a very large "privacy wall" to protect those houses from the noise from the traffic.

The county negotiator and my attorney are coming to the house today, in an hour.  We will be looking at the stakes so my attorney, and then going back to their office a few miles away to try to negotiate.

The Nokesville Road Rooster has a Facebook Page

With all of the publicity that the rooster has been receiving, and the things that the boys put together last night, I decided that the Nokesville Road Rooster needed a Facebook page.

Yesterday, the boys created a fundraising page online to raise money to replace the rooster, and get him a friend.  http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/replace-the-nokesville-rd-rooster

I had also decided to do some online yard sale stuff to raise some money and offered to babysit and tutor as well.

It was then that I decided to create a page for the rooster (click the image to go the page).

I figured this would be the best way to share updates about our efforts to replace him but then I also thought it would be a ridiculous (ridiculously funny!) way share how the rooster changes once we replace him.  I thought we could post pictures of him each time that he is painted and if we are ever feeling creative enough, we could post a random status update.

This morning, I finally agreed to let the youngest do a lemonade stand.  He has been asking me, and I kept saying no, but I finally gave in.  Tomorrow I will let him squeeze lemons and make lemonade and then in the afternoon I will let him and the older son set up a stand on the road to sell lemonade and raise some money.  I even said that maybe I would bake some goodies for them to sell.

I also decided that since so many people in the community have shared their enjoyment of seeing the rooster changing for the seasons, some people that donate will get to come paint him however they would like to.  :)  So far two people are on that list!

Then, I received an email from the Bristow Beat, the online local newspaper, asking for information about the fundraising.  I'm not sure how he knew we were trying to raise funds, but I told him what we were doing.

I can't believe a silly rooster that we put by our mailbox as a sort of joke has turned into something so big.  I am in awe at how supportive the community is and how much they enjoyed seeing him.