Day of Firsts

Today was quite a day here on our little place...

Started out with the first real harvest. I have picked a few items here and there over the past several days, but this was the first *haul*.

Then upon returning from town, picking up the children, we found that Maybelline has hatched her first baby!

Finally, I made the first batch of canned goods of the season this evening. It has been 2 years since I canned anything. Jalapeno jelly!!! It was pretty much a "have to do today" or the jalapenos would have ruined. I had a few I had picked the other day and added them to the ones today to have enough to make a batch of jelly. We love Jalapeno jelly!

So it's been a very busy day here at Eason Acres; just the way I like it!

With teamwork

We're going to give it a shot.

Even though I posted a couple of weeks ago about re-homing all of the chickens and the goats. About not really being a farmer....

It seems that really is my calling. But it takes teamwork. I cannot do this alone.

I am not a "farmer". I am a mother and wife providing for her family.

Last weekend, I pulled out the seeds from last summer that never got planted because I broke my hand, and decided, since the place where the old house sat won't grow grass and turns into a mud puddle when it rains, that I would give it a shot at being a "front yard" garden.

I was skeptical. I planted a few live plants (peppers, okra, pickling cucumbers and zucchini), and some seeds (2 types of corn, 3 types of beans, yellow squash). I left the tomatoes and lots more seeds un-planted. I decided to stop where I was and see what happened. I was prepared for the worst, for nothing to happen.

Well, to my surprise yesterday, I found lots of baby seedlings that had broken through the ground!!

Here they are this morning!

So today, Felicity and I will plant the tomato plants and the rest of the seeds I have to plant.

Last weekend, the friend that bought the Seramas (trio and all the babies) said it wasn't working out. He said Seramas are too sensitive. Of course, this is after he lost all but 2 babies. Makes me so, so sad, but nothing I can do.

Yesterday, my precious babies came home! Boudreaux, Penelope and Maybelline will stay permanently. I missed them so much more than I thought I would. I love them so much!

The first thing David told me after the laying flock was picked up a few weeks ago is "I'm going to miss those chickens". I knew I would miss them, but wouldn't miss having to take care of them by myself. David pretty much takes care of them when he is home on R&R, that does give me a break.

Well, I do miss them, too!

By hatching so many all within such a short period of time as I did....that was my downfall! Lesson learned, though.

My babies are home. Later in the summer, after vacation, I will either hatch some eggs or order some pullets and we will begin again with a new laying flock.

No goats, now, though. We need to do some modifying on fencing before we get goats again. I do think, though, that I would enjoy breeding the Pygmy goats. So when the time is right, I will buy only registered babies and begin our breeding program. In time.

The children are learning to help me more around the place. Imagine that....taking away all electronics then finally getting help!

With help and teamwork, we can make Eason Acres work :-)

Stretching that chicken into 8 meals

Wow! I never dreamed one while chicken could go this far! Angie really did a great job with this!

Source

Definitely give this a try to see if it works for you. Come back and leave a comment so others know how it works out for you.

One Chicken - Eight Meals

How to Determine Gender of Baby Chicks

You can plan on it every year. Toward the end of February to early March. All of the feed stores do it. They call it "Chick Days"!!! I anxiously await that time of year ever year. Yes, I do hatch eggs of my own and yes, I do sometimes order live biddies from a hatchery.

There's nothing more fun than walking into Tractor Supply or some other farm/feed store and hearing the "cheap, cheap, cheap" of brand new baby biddies! When I hear that, I am SUNK!

Source: penywise/morguefile

Great read!

10 Ways to Sex Your Baby Chickens

Growth and development

of a baby chick as it develops during incubation.

source: Turtle Brule

It is so amazing what can develop inside an egg in just +/- 21 days!  I wonder how this was photographed this way. A big graphic, but very interesting, too.

Chicken Breed Information

Today I want to share with you the link for the most comprehensive list of chicken breeds and their info that is on the web. At least of which I am aware.

Henderson's Chicken Breed Chart

It is my go-to page so many times when I am wondering about a specific breed.

These are the precious Seramas that I hatched and raised. This was taken in April 2010, when they were three months old. They have all since gone (all under different circumstances) and I miss them dearly.

Chickens and water

THEY . DO . NOT . MIX.

This was my own fault. I will not go into it. Did I cry? You betcha I did.

Please do not leave water in an open trough or bucket where your chickens can have access to it.

It is bad news for the chickens.

On the better side, when I walked up on this scene, there was an additional Buff Orpington chick in the water, gasping for air, almost lifeless. I ran and grabbed it out of the water, sat down with it in my hand and put it under a heat lamp so that it would warm basically from the inside out.

As she would gasp, I would hang her with her head dangling down, so as her lungs opened up, water would run out. It worked! After doing this a few times, she stopped the gasping and then went into making all kinds of sounds and songs. I am guessing this was her way of clearing out her lungs and air passages more.

Then I wrapped her up and held her close to me so she could get warmer on the outside and also dry. She made some of the prettiest noises...maybe she was thanking me for saving her life.

I was with her, holding her and petting her and talking to her for probably an hour or a little more. I unwrapped her and sat in the sun with her. She began reaching for my finger to hold with her feet. I sat like this with her probably another 15-20 minutes. Then I decided to try to see if she could or would walk.

She made it!
This happened in June, 2012.

Winter Coop Care

This is a great series full of information. There are 4 parts, be sure to click on the links within the posts to each next part.

Source: The Garden Coop

Winter Chicken Coop Care

This is big. HUGE for me!

I have loved chocolate colored animals for as long as I can remember. I have a chocolate Poodle (had one when I was younger, too). Chocolate Labrador Retrievers....GORGEOUS!

So to say that I love chocolate Orpingtons is an understatement.  I first heard of them about four years ago and was instantly in love and wanted some, but there were none to be had in the United States at that time.

Source: Greenfire Farms

Isn't that fellow gorgeous!? The dark, chocolate brown is just amazing to me!

Source: Greenfire Farms

These photos are from Greenfire Farms. One of (if not THE) first importer of true British chocolate Orpingtons.

AND the farm from which I have hatching eggs arriving today!!!!!! So in 22-23 days we will have little chocolate Orpington babies here on our little homestead!  I am so excited!

Meet Maybelline

Those readers that have been reading my blog or on Facebook with me know that I adore the Serama breed of chicken. Love, love, love! Seramas are the worlds smallest breed of chicken. Yes, a bantam, but not like any other bantam (or large breed) of chicken you will ever encounter.

I have had several on different occasions, either had to re-home them in the past or they have crossed that Rainbow Bridge.

On September 29, the most precious, loving and all around special little Serama pullet hatched at my house.

Maybelline - 4 days old

Maybelline is from the Castle Delight Seramas line. I have waited a long time to have some eggs from my friend, Laura, and finally I have a little pullet!

Maybelline - 5 days old

She arrived on this earth with a special sweetness about her. An immediate attachment to me. I have adored all of the Seramas I have hatched, but Maybelline found a place in  my heart that no other chickens have.

Maybelline - 12 days old

When she hatched and was brown. I thought maybe, just maybe, I would finally have a chocolate colored chicken.

Maybelline - 34 days old

She didn't stay brown, but I love her all the same. One day I will have some chocolate chickens! Until then, Maybelline lives in the house, in a very large cage. She was living with a pair of Seramas I had hatched from other lines, but they weren't nice to her at all, and now live elsewhere. David and I both decided they had to go, Maybelline is too sweet and special to have to live with bullies.

Maybelline - 2 months old

The photo above was when Felicity was home from school after she had her tonsils removed. Maybelline acts like one of the dogs. I let her out of her cage at least once a day and she wanders around the family room, but mostly wants in someone's lap to hang out.


This video isn't great, but you can hear how she responds to me. All of the other chickens I have had never have done this. She does it all the time.

Maybelline - 3 months old

She is really learning to pose for the camera, eh?

Maybelline - 3 months old - Jan 3, 2012

She's an awfully special little girl.

Now, to just get more eggs and hatch Maybelline some cage mates :-)

We have new girls!

A local friend of mine gave us 7 hens & pullets today! Well, total of 12, but I was picking up some for yet another local friend, so we kept 7 for ourselves. Since we had the bloody massacre here in September, it is nice to have more chickens around. We were down to just one American Barred Holland pullet and two babies that we hatched from Trader Joe's "fertile eggs". We are about 99% sure they are white Leghorns. BUT it seems one is male and one is female. Way to go! (I have a trio of Seramas in the house...babies, though)

We had to do some creative rigging on the barn, since it is set up for horses (previous owner of this place) and I wanted to keep the new ones secure for a few days while they learn where their home is now.

Anyone that knows what the wind is like in the Texas panhandle knows that the plastic won't stay stapled up there like that for long.  After doing that, I changed directions and used an old "heavy duty" (and I mean HEAVY DUTY) shower curtain liner that I got for the kids bathroom, but quickly hated and removed, and stapled it around the lattice. This worked perfectly. So later this week, I will get 1.5 more pieces of the latice and two more of those shower curtain liners and create three of those panels and take down that awful looking other stuff. They will work perfectly for shelter from the wind, rain and snow.

Looks awful, but only temporary for a few days. Most importantly, the girls are secure and protected from the elements. Heat lamps keep it nice and noticeably warmer in there.

A happy day!

I wish I could say the pins are out of my hand, not until Wednesday. BUT....

We have a brand new baby chich that hatched last night!!! It is a Serama (who would have guessed, eh?) from hatching eggs I got from my friend, Laura, of Castle Delight Seramas. I have waited so long to hatch some babies from her eggs!  This hatch was awful. Because of my hand injury and not feeling so great, I would forget to turn them on schedule and several times, the humidity got way too low before I caught it.  Next time...we will have a much better success rate, I am sure.

So "Tidbit" is an awfully lucky and strong little baby with a huge will to live. This is the tiniest little baby chick I have seen, much less ever hatched myself. From head to tail, it is only 1.75 inches long....that includes it's beak!

I'm calling it "Tidbit" for now...once we can tell the gender, it will get a *real* name.

Pip!!!!! 9pm 7/20/2012

under the heat lamp

The ash trays that I use for biddies food and water (with the glass marbles to prevent accidental drowning) is 4.5 inches across. You can see just how tiny Tidbit is.

Finally...something I am able to do with my injured hand <3

Have a great weekend!

May in a nutshell

I posted about the beginnings of my garden on April 30, then I looked up and it was mid-May, then May was gone. Oh how I have missed blogging. I am going to share with you in photos a re-cap of how May went for our family. You will realize, then, why I missed posting.

My birthday is May 1. I turned 46 this year. I don't feel it and if you ask most folks, they will tell you I don't act like I am 46 years old.

Vintage Postcard postmarked Jan 1910 and its mine :-)

David got me a Kindle Fire for my birthday and I just love it!  THEN a couple of days later he surprised me and was able to take his R&R two days ahead of schedule, so he arrived on the 6th instead of the 8th. While he was in route coming home from overseas (he is a civilian contractor over there), I used the information I got when I watched "Homestead Blessings: The Art of Making Candles" to make beeswax tapers. The night I was working on these, I was continually texting with David while he was in a holding pattern waiting to get on his flight home.

We traded in my 2009 Dodge Caravan and David's 2004 Avalanche in on a new truck! It is a 2012 Ford F150 Crew Cab. The new models have so much space in the back seat, it would compare in side to a small car.

This gorgeous machine drives amazingly & rides like a car!

While the kids were spending some days with their father, David decided we would take a road trip and head to the casino in Clinton, OK. It's only 2.5 hours away and was nice to spend the time together. On the way back, we stopped in. Shamrock, TX and saw the vintage gas station that was depicted in the movie "Cars".

David being his typical silly self.

"Look at that price! $.38 per gallon!"

Then we headed on down I-40 back toward Amarillo and stopped in Groom, Texas to see the GIANT cross.

The next adventure was to Palo Duro Canyon. It is less than a half-hour from our house.

Even though I have been several times....the canyon is still gorgeous to me!

Whew and I am only to the 13th!

We have been trying for the past couple of months to decide what to do about where to live. I currently have 1.17 acres with a 1981 very small manufactured home on it. David and I have gone through so many scenarios about what we want. This piece of land keeps calling us thought, to stay right here. So, we ordered a new manufactured home! OUR NEW HOME! Together. It is 320sf larger than the one the kids and I live in now. NOW this little homestead is OURS. We just found out yesterday that the home is built and will be in Amarillo sometime this coming week.

 

Ours is hunter green on the top and beige on the bottom.

We went with a single-wide because we don't want to put too large/pricey a home here and price it out of the area when one day we decide to sell the place.

The next thing I have to tell you is not easy to talk about. Many of you that have been reading my blog back to my old one, are familiar with Roosevelt, our Serama rooster. He hatched in my hand on January 2, 2010 and played a vital role in Gregory learning to talk. One afternoon, Felicity went out to the barn and found him dead. We don't know what happened. But I am thankful that David was here. The kids and I were in tears for quite a while. Losing Roosevelt was a huge loss for the kids and I.

Rest in peace our special little man.

Next, we headed to David and I's hometown, Leesville, Louisiana. I am the youngest of eight kids and we have not all been together in one place since 1983, when we buried our father. This weekend...we were all together! I am not sharing photos, because I don't know how they would feel about it.

Margo our Poodle, Petunia our Chihuahua

Bailey, our Maltese mix

Yep, all FOUR of our dogs went on the trip with us. (Ariel is in a later photo) They all did amazingly well and enjoyed the travel and meeting all of the new people.

I started and finished my first ever knitted project while we were on the road!

My daughter, son-in-law and first born grandchild, Madeline.

On Saturday of that weekend, we all headed out to Toledo Bend Lake for a day of fun in the woods (and on the water).

Toledo Bend Lake

Later that week, David and I enjoyed sitting out by the pool at our hotel and watched the kids swim.

Favorite things to read for me while watching the kids.

David was "pondering"...I don't remember what, though.

This was really the first time to swim in a big pool for Gregory, to the best of my memory. He loved it! It took him a few minutes at first, but then he realized his floaties wouldn't let him go under water.

Felicity loves to swim. She is now 11 and as tall as me! She is such a wonderful big sister to Gregory, too.


Oh how I miss the green of Louisiana! I love the State flower, Magnolia.

Then before we were ready, it was time for David to fly back overseas and the kids and I to come back to Amarillo.

We stopped in Canton, TX at a little place called Dairy Palace for lunch and Gregory actually ate BEANS AND RICE!!! Of course, I mashed it all up together, but he ate it! This is MAJOR for him! He still has such problems with food textures.

At the end of our first day on the road headed back to Amarillo, we stayed in Dallas. I took the kids to Bass Pro Shop because I thought they would think it was pretty neat. We were in that store for 2 hours! Felicity really enjoyed it...Gregory not so much.

We were all exhausted at the end of the day. Even Ariel our 3 month old puppy.

I ended the month of May with 15 fewer chickens due to a dog that got into the yard while we were gone. BUT on a better note...my first harvest of the year. HERBS!

 

Basil, Chamomille, Oregano and Cilantro.

Hope you enjoyed your little tour through our month of May. I will be back to blogging now and am so glad!