Mother Nature

Here in Missouri, it's not uncommon to have wild swings in temperatures. Case in point - just ten short days ago, David and I snuck away to the Lake of the Ozarks with some friends and were enjoying 70 degree weather.

Our private dock on the Lake.

We caught up around a bonfire at the lake's edge at night, feeling comfortable in light clothing.

Today, this is the reality in our part of Missouri.

That's me, under about twenty layers of clothing. We ended up with 11 inches of snow, and this morning when I woke up the temperature was -10. That's not the wind chill, that's the actual temperature!

The chickens and Emma kitty are not coming out of the coop, and who could blame them. I have been refreshing their water every several hours and taking the chickens hot oatmeal and scrambled eggs to warm their crops. Baby is hanging out in the garage and the indoor cats are watching all the action from the warm house.

Duchess is built for this weather, so she is having a blast running around in the snow. I do put her in the coop at night as well since it's getting so cold, but during the day she is out and about.

The guineas, hardy as ever, are just fine as long as they have a perch to rest on. Some of them have found their way to the coop, but others are still outside like this old timer.

We're all hanging in there, but not exactly happy! It seems the snow is here to stay as the forecast does not show us getting above freezing at all, so we'll just have to get used to it for now. As I say nearly each year, spring can't come soon enough!

Have you been buried in snow this winter?

~Tammy

Feathered Friend Friday: Chickens And Ice

Welcome to our "Feathered Friend Friday" series. Each Friday I write a post with facts, photos, or stories about our chickens and guineas. If you need to catch up, you'll find all the FFF posts here.    

We haven't had super cold temperatures for a few weeks now (thank goodness), but for most of winter every morning I would have to chip the ice out of the chickens' water pan. It would freeze solid overnight so I'd have to break up the ice and refill with fresh unfrozen water each morning.

For some reason, the chickens always went for the pieces of broken ice first before drinking the actual water. In the dead of winter, they go crazy over ice. Go figure.

Goldie's high stepping cracks me up.

Do you see Emma?

Eventually when they had eaten all the smaller pieces, they headed over to get a drink of water and a bite of food to start off their morning. It was kind of a funny ritual every morning to make me smile when I was freezing while breaking up chunks of ice and dreaming of warmer weather.

Now that we are into weather above the freezing point, I can look back and reminisce at these photos and smile even bigger knowing that soon enough they will be foraging for grass and bugs, not chunks of ice!

~Tammy

Clearing The Camera

This winter just won't let go! It is into March and we are still getting winter weather and David is still getting more snow days at school. It's past the point of ridiculous. We got another blast of ice and snow over the weekend, so we've been spending our days hibernating inside.

Which means lots of human-kitty cuddle time...

Kitty-kitty-kitty cuddle time...

Hot coffee and freshly baked cookies...

And judgy looks from Gizmo when I haven't changed out of my PJ's all day long.

Even the guineas are hibernating. They fly up into the trees to roost at night, and if we've had snow and ice before dawn, they refuse to fly down.

But really, who can blame them? I'd stay in bed all day as well if I could!

Here's hoping spring really is just around the corner.

~Tammy

Shared with Maple Hill Hop 

Feathered Friend Friday: Beautiful Light

Welcome to our "Feathered Friend Friday" series. Each Friday I write a post with facts, photos, or stories about our chickens and guineas. If you need to catch up, you'll find all the FFF posts here.  

In the summertime, I am constantly taking photos of our chickens. Bright green grass and colorful flowers provide such a gorgeous backdrop to all my pictures. And the chickens just look so darn pretty in the middle of a lush summertime landscape!

This winter has been so stark that I have struggled with taking my camera out to the coop. The past few weeks I've just felt completely uninspired by the lack of color and freezing temperatures. I really missed snapping shots of my girls and boys, so I was searching for any bit of inspiration when this happened.

I noticed the most beautiful light streaming in through the "hay room" where everyone gathered to get a drink and bite to eat early one morning after being let out of the coop. I immediately sprinted back inside the house (careful not to slip on the ice) and grabbed my camera so I could get a couple shots.

One of my favorite things about photography is how I've learned to see things differently and take time to notice what I used to just glance over in my haste. Now I am constantly finding beauty in unexpected places and I feel such a rush when I can capture something in a way that makes others see the beauty in it as well.

So in the dead of winter I may not have a colorful landscape to inspire me, but now I know that if I just keep my eyes and mind open, the light will always find its way back in.

~Tammy

Shared with Maple Hill Hop 

Feathered Friend Friday: Winter Weary

Welcome to our "Feathered Friend Friday" series. Each Friday I write a post with facts, photos, or stories about our chickens and guineas. If you need to catch up, you'll find all the FFF posts here. 

This winter has obviously been an extreme one for most of us, and we definitely haven't seen a colder winter here in Missouri since we got our first flock of chickens four years ago. The chickens and guineas are hanging in there and being good sports, but I can tell they are getting just a little bit tired of all this wintry weather - just like the humans are.

Last weekend we got some snow as you can see in the photo above, then a couple days later we got a lot of ice on top which has basically turned our world into a giant ice skating rink. The temperature this morning was only seven degrees, so the ice isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

The other day I was giggling at the guineas as they were slipping and sliding as they tried to walk across the run, then karma got me back as I found myself falling flat on my butt while trying to feed the chickens. I think the guineas laughed a little bit. Luckily I had tons of layers on so my fall was padded and didn't hurt!

Even in this tough winter, our young hens are amazingly still producing eggs for us. All season long we've been consistently getting between three and six eggs each day, so we have plenty of eggs for us and some to sell which helps with the feed cost. 

For the most part everyone is still in good health, but Cam has developed frostbite on the tips of his comb and wattles because they are so large. And some of the chickens are sneezing and snotting a bit, but hopefully they will clear up when the weather turns a bit warmer.

It will eventually get warmer, right???

~Tammy

Shared with Maple Hill Hop 

Black Bean & Quinoa Soup

With this never-ending winter, the only thing I want to eat lately is soup. A big bowl of warm, hearty soup really hits the spot when it's cold and icy outside.

We are very fond of Mexican style soups, especially ones with plenty of lime and avocado that are best when eaten with a giant pile of tortilla chips. I've made this black bean & quinoa soup several times since finding the original recipe here, and it's quickly becoming a favorite.

Black Bean & Quinoa Soup
Adapted from The Post Punk Kitchen
Serves 6

Ingredients:
1 T olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 t ground cumin
1/2 t dried oregano
1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes
14.5 oz can chopped tomatoes with their juice
1/2 cup quinoa (I used red quinoa)
2 carrots, chopped
2 bay leaves
4 cups vegetable broth or water, divided
14.5 oz can black beans with their liquid
1 cup corn
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Additional toppings:
Avocado
Radish
Cilantro
Lime juice

Directions:
Preheat a 4 qt soup pot over medium heat. Saute onion in olive oil with salt & pepper for about 5 minutes or until translucent. Add garlic, cumin, oregano, and red pepper flakes and saute for about 30 seconds or until fragrant.

Add the tomatoes, quinoa, carrots, bay leaves, and 2 cups of the broth. Cover and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Add the other 2 cups of broth, black beans with their liquid, and corn. Cover and bring to a boil, then remove lid and simmer for 10 more minutes.

Add the nutritional yeast and let sit for about 10 minutes so the flavors can blend. Remove the bay leaves and ladle into bowls. Top with lime juice, cilantro, avocado, and radish and dig in.

The additional toppings are optional of course, but what really makes this soup shine is the creamy avocado and lime. The nutritional yeast is optional as well, but I find it adds a nice depth to the soup with a hint of cheesy flavor that makes it even more delicious (you could use Parmesan cheese in place of the nutritional yeast). And you have to scoop up the soup with some tortilla chips! The salty, crispy chips add another layer of texture that takes this soup over the top.

Do you eat a lot of soup in the winter?

~Tammy

Feathered Friend Friday: Switcheroo

Welcome to our "Feathered Friend Friday" series. Each Friday I write a post with interesting facts, photos, or funny stories about our chickens and guineas. If you need to catch up, you'll find all the Feathered Friend Friday posts here. 

Since we were hit with temperatures way below normal earlier this week, we had to figure out how to keep all the animals safe and as warm as possible. We performed a few housing switcheroos with Duchess and Baby staying in the garage, Emma hanging out in the guest room, and our sweet Roosty Roo taking up residence in the guest bathroom.

We kept the chickens tucked away in their coop for a couple days while it was really bad (they didn't want to come out anyway) so we knew we had to separate Cam and Roosty. Cam is our head rooster and he does okay with Roosty as long as they have space, but when they are enclosed together Cam bullies Roosty and chases him into a corner where Roosty cowers in fear.

(FYI - Roosty was a "pullet" we got at the feed store several years ago, but he turned out to be a boy. I couldn't part with him, so we just incorporated him into our main flock and got some more hens so that he and Cam wouldn't fight so bad. This was before we let Ellie hatch out her chicks last spring and got four boys out of the five chicks. These four roosters are in their own free-ranging flock because six roosters together would be way too many).

We didn't want Roosty to have to go through the emotional trauma of hiding from Cam for several days, so we brought him into our guest bathroom. It works really well because we have a corner shower enclosure and we put pine shavings on the floor just like in the chicken coop. When it's time to clean up, we just remove the shavings and hose the shower down. It's actually the perfect setup!

The morning after we brought Roosty inside, we were awakened by his crowing at dawn. It's a little shocking to wake up to a rooster crowing inside your house, but he is the perfect alarm clock because he goes off every few minutes and we can't hit the snooze button on him. A while back our hen, Liliana, was staying in here while recuperating from an injury, and I remember being startled by her "egg song" after she laid her egg each day. The cats went a little crazy, too!

All in all, we had a total of five cats, one dog, and one rooster in the house earlier this week. It was a little crazy, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm living my childhood dream!

~Tammy

Feathered Friend Friday: Getting Chickens Through Snowstorms

I mentioned on Monday how we had our first snow of the season last weekend, but thought I would expand upon what you can do to make it easier on your flock when you do get a good snowfall. All chickens are different and they each have a distinct personality, but for the most part they do not like snow.

In the Coop
We got our snow overnight on Thursday, and when I opened up the coop Friday morning the chickens were pretty shocked at what they saw and refused to leave the coop. Even some of the guineas who never like to be confined took up residence in the coop.

Our coop is fairly large, but when chickens are confined they can get stressed out and bored easily. As a result, they may peck at each other and cause injuries. It's best to keep an eye on them and make sure everyone is behaving. You can give them some distractions like a flock block or other treats to peck at, and provide tree stumps or additional perches for them to explore. Giving them some extra bedding like dried leaves or straw will also keep them busy while they scratch and kick through the piles.

Outside the Coop
It took my chickens a good three days before they would leave the coop. I managed to finally coax them out by shoveling a path so they didn't have to walk in the deeper snow and throwing some scratch and black oil sunflower seeds on the path to get their attention.

After a while they do get used to the snow and will venture out further and further, even walking through some of the deeper snow.

Dietary Needs
My chickens do eat more in the winter, so I make sure to give them plenty of feed each day. Water is also very important in the winter so depending on the temperatures, sometimes the water will have to be checked throughout the day to make sure it isn't frozen over. I use black rubber pans (like this one) because they don't crack like the plastic waterers do when they get frozen. It's easy to just turn the pan upside down and kick the bottom to remove the chunks of ice.

Scratch is meant to be a treat and not their primary source of food, but I do provide a bit of scratch in the morning to get them going and in the evening before they go in for the night. It helps to keep them warmer overnight because the act of digesting the scratch increases body temperature.

Here we are a week later and the snow is still on the ground and the chickens and guineas all seem to be used to it. They venture out like normal and aren't as grumpy as they were last weekend. I can't say the same for the humans, because I just wish the snow would melt already! We don't usually get much snow here in Southeast Missouri so I'm not as used to it as some of you in the more northern regions.

If it snows where you live, do you give your flock any special treatment?

~Tammy

Shared with Saturday's Critters, Maple Hill Hop  

Our 2013 Christmas Card

I really lucked out several months ago when my mother in law forwarded me an email with an incredible deal on Christmas photo cards. I was able to create my card quickly and easily online, but the best part was the price - it was just over $3 for 20 photo cards and envelopes with free shipping! It was awesome to mark one thing off my Christmas to do list so early, and at such a low price.

For the front of the card, I used a favorite photo taken last year during a snowstorm (it's also the new blog header photo). The back of the card was left blank for writing a personal message to the recipient.

Prints of this photo are for sale in my Etsy shop as well.

Use the code "BLOG5" to get $5 off any order over $25!

I was very pleased with how the cards turned out and can't wait to get them all mailed off. Do you create personalized Christmas cards each year?

~Tammy

PS - Here's our 2012 Christmas card.

PPS - Don't forget to visit Daisy, Staci and Sue today for their posts in the Homemade Living series. Next week I will share my post along with Mary and Jackie.

First Snow Of The Season

So last Friday we got a bit of snow...

It was quite a bit for us! We first got a solid layer of ice on Thursday afternoon, then about 6" of snow on top of that. We were prepared in case we lost power, but thankfully we kept our power all weekend long. Normally the ice is what gets us when the limbs get really heavy and fall off onto the power lines, but we didn't get enough ice to weigh down the branches.

The chickens refused to leave their coop on Friday and were pretty grumpy being stuck inside.

"You expect me to come out there?!"

Even some of the guineas hung out in the coop all day long. Finally on Saturday, a few of the chickens ventured out once I made a path for them and threw out some scratch. A few more braved the snow yesterday, and today it seems like everyone is used to the snow and decided to leave the coop to stretch their legs a bit.

Duchess is in her element when it snows, and she had so much fun running around in all the fluffy snow. And apparently eating it as well.

I was worried about Emma kitty, so I brought her inside into the guest room for a few days. But she seemed like she really wanted to get back outside, so yesterday I took her back out. At first she didn't like the snow on her paws, but before I knew it she was running around in the snow having a blast. I've been keeping an eye on her, but she is doing great outside and seems content to be back where she is happiest.

Did you get any snow over the weekend?

~Tammy

PS - Today Sue is posting her recipe in our Christmas Cookie Tag series. Head on over here to see what she is sharing with us!

Shared with Saturday's Critters, Maple Hill Hop  

Prepare Your Beehive For Winter In 4 Steps

Since bringing home our bees this past spring, we have really enjoyed getting to know more about bees and what it takes to keep the hive healthy and happy. We feel like we have learned a lot so far, but I know we haven't even scratched the surface of everything we need to know. Sometimes it feels daunting, but we are just educating ourselves as we go along and hoping for the best.

It is starting to get much colder here (with the exception of some warmer days this week) so we have begun to prepare our hive for the winter. During the colder months, the bees don't leave the hive at all. Instead, they all form a tight cluster around the queen to lock in the warmth and keep her alive. They do need honey to survive the winter, and one main reason for hives not making it through the winter is starvation. So it is essential that your bees have enough to eat and that you help them as much as you can to keep the hive warm and free from invading pests.

Here's how we prepared our hive for winter.

Step 1 - Remove any extra honey supers.

The honey that is harvested each year is taken from the honey super. If the bees fill up the upper and lower deeps with honey, typically that is enough to sustain the hive over the winter and anything in the super is surplus honey that is safe to take.

However, we have decided to leave all the honey in the super since this is our first winter with bees and we want to be sure they have as much honey as possible. We did remove one of the supers that did not have any honey in it to reduce the space that has to be kept warm within the hive and help out the bees a little bit.

Step 2 - Replace the entrance reducer and install a mouse guard.

During the summer we took the entrance reducer out to help with ventilation in the hive, but in the winter it needs to be replaced. It helps keep the hive warm and also prevents any intruders from entering the hive. We used a piece of hardware cloth we had lying around to create a mouse guard over the entrance. Apparently mice really like to invade hives during the winter!

We will probably reduce the entrance size down even further.

Step 3 - Create a windbreak.

We decide to stack some bales of straw around the hive to help insulate and serve as a windbreak. We left the entrance of the hive open of course, but placed the straw around the other three sides.

Step 4 - If there is not enough honey, feed your bees.

We were able to get into the hive for a quick inspection yesterday since it was really warm, and noticed that a lot of the honey in the super was already gone. Since there wasn't much left, we need to feed our bees. When it's not too cold, you can feed a sugar syrup to the bees. However, when the temperatures dip below freezing, it is advised to feed sugar candy or fondant because the sugar syrup might freeze.

Searching for honey.

In addition to these four steps, some beekeepers also medicate their hive to prevent mites and certain other diseases. We felt kind of overwhelmed with all the opinions out there on medicating, and have not treated our hive at all yet this year. This is one area we definitely need to research more.

Do you keep bees? Have you prepared your hives for winter yet?

~Tammy

PS - Don't forget - today is the first day in our Christmas Cookie Tag series! Head on over to Jackie's blog to see what she has to offer today.

Shared with Maple Hill Hop 

Homemade Living: How To Make Pomanders

Have you ever made pomanders or clove oranges? I've seen them before but never made any myself, so this year I decided to get some oranges and cloves and create some of my own.

It's really easy and straightforward to make your own pomanders. All you do is gather your choice of fruit (you can use oranges, grapefruits, lemons, limes, tangerines, etc) and stud them with whole cloves. You can get creative and make designs on your fruit, or just completely cover them with cloves.

I found that it was helpful to use something to pierce the fruit and create a hole for the cloves before trying to insert them into the oranges (much easier on the fingertips!). I simply used an ink pen, but you can use anything you have on hand to make your pilot holes. This can also help if you are trying to make a design on your fruit so you can line up your cloves in a certain pattern.

You can also tie ribbon around your pomanders and hang them on your Christmas tree, but I chose to just display mine on a platter. The scent of the pomanders is amazing and apparently if you shake your clove studded fruit in a bag of powdered orrisroot (found at health food stores) the fruit will dry evenly and retain its scent for up to a year!

I got my whole cloves at our local health food store in the bulk spices section, so they were really inexpensive. And of course you can find a bag of oranges anywhere, so this is a great frugal way to decorate for the holidays. They also serve as a fabulous all-natural air freshener with no chemicals whatsoever! Every time I walk past the pomanders I get a hint of the scent and it just screams holidays to me. I think I will make these clove oranges for years to come!

~Tammy

This week in the Homemade Living series, I am joined by Mary and Jackie in posting about how we incorporate homemade items into our lives. Next week Daisy, Staci, and Sue will be up. If you have some free time, please check out the other posts in this weekly series!

Year In Review

Tomorrow marks the two year anniversary of this little blog of ours (you can see our very first ever post here), so as we did last year this time, we thought it would be fun to look back on the past year and see what all we've accomplished. Sometimes it seems like we aren't moving fast enough toward our goals, but seeing a list of all we've achieved in the last year is very encouraging and keeps us excited to continue our journey to self-sufficiency. Here's what we've been up to this past year.

1) Expanded our flock of guineas when one of our hens went broody and hatched out her own keets.

2) Got our first big snow since moving to the country and learned about being prepared for winter storms.

3) Tried our hand at making maple syrup (part 1 and part 2) from our own maple trees.

4) Contributed to our first e-book, Farm to Table through the Year.

5) Developed an easy (and beautiful!) method for drying herbs from our garden.

6) Delved into the world of beekeeping when we brought home our first nuc colony.

7) Added to our flock with five new pullets.

8) Witnessed the magic firsthand of letting a broody hen hatch out her own chicks.

9) Rescued two tiny kittens (Gizmo and Emma) who just appeared in our chicken coop one day.

10) Successfully transplanted fig trees from my grandma's garden and harvested our first figs.

11) Had great luck with planting cucumbers for the first time.

12) Opened an Etsy shop to sell prints of photos taken on our homestead.

13) Grew sunflowers for the first time.

14) Built our own reclaimed wood farmhouse table.

15) Tried a new heirloom variety of tomatoes with great success.

We're really proud of all we've learned this past year and can't wait to see where the next year takes us. We hope you'll continue to follow along in our journey!

~Tammy and David

Ginger Tea

Last week I started to feel something coming on. I woke up with a sore, scratchy throat and a stuffy nose. This has happened several times so far this winter, and my first plan of attack is always making a cup of ginger tea.

All I do is chop up some fresh ginger root (about a 1 inch piece) and steep in boiling water for 5-10 minutes. I strain out the ginger and add a squeeze of lemon juice, a drizzle of honey, and I drink it up.

Usually I start to feel better right away, and by the time I'm done with the tea my throat feels just fine. I absolutely believe that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and I try to take care of things naturally if at all possible and nip sickness in the bud before it has time to take over. Of course if I do get sick and my ginger tea isn't enough to kick it, to the doctor I will go.

In addition to natural remedies, I try my best to stay as healthy as possible by eating lots of fruits and veggies, making green juice at least a few times a week, and getting in some regular exercise. Since I gave up meat and cut way back on dairy a few years ago, I have not been knocked out by illness and I really think my lifestyle changes have helped.

Do you have any special tips for staying well during the winter months?

~Tammy

Shared with Sunny Simple Sunday, Tweak It Tuesday, Eco-Kids Tuesday, Backyard Farming Connection Hop, Tasty Tuesdays, Wildcrafting Wednesday, Le Chateau des Fleurs, Home Sweet Home, Farm Girl Blog Fest, Down Home Blog Hop, The HomeAcre Hop, Backyard Farming Connection Natural Health Remedies, Creative Things Thursday