After the Storm

Everyone seems to be well, a few a bit bedraggled but doing well.  Thank the gods and landvaettir!

I spent a couple hours working on the meat bird pen and settling everyone.  The muscovies are still in with the hens until I can do more work on their pen and coop...most likely tomorrow after work since I am still fighting being sick...scratchy throat and all.

I got more of the 2nd layer of fencing up on the meat bird pen but ran out of the fencing so I put the two turkeys in and will put the goose back in later but the ducks will have to wait.  I have to wait until my next paycheck so sometime next week I should be able to get all the meat birds settled in one pen and that willl make it better for everyone...more room for the other birds and then I can get everyone set for the winter.

The two boys back in their pen enjoying some grain.







In the meantime...everyone is getting along and were happy muching away.

Lancelot (he is handsome and knows it!)with Cynric (he is an almost all white Muscovy)

Lancelot with some of the girls...the one in the back is Sabrina (the Momma of all the ducks I have now except the black and white ones)

Hens and Henry enjoying some grain and a bowl of oatmeal in whey...definitely need to demud everything but they are mostly good and dry and safe.

A little wet but runnin around like happy featherheads.  Arthur and Merlin are fast friends now.



Everyone munching together, still need to put the
trash cans and tarps back where they belong.



Mr. Buff (since he is staying I should give him a permanent name) and Big Tom enjoying the "fruits" of my labors yesterday, all the apple and tomato peels.

Preserving and baking during the storm

Well, it is around 10:30pm and we still have power, thank the gods (and knock on wood). I pray we keep it on! Hail Thor! Hail Njordhr! Prayers were said to Freyr and landvaettir for safety of the land and critters...I will see how all is in the morning.

I have kept busy and spent much of the day cutting and slicing and baking and such. I made basil pesto and lemon balm pesto and put in freezer. I have 4 pints tomato paste canned and 6 pints and 1 quart apples (more to do tomorrow).  I have a dehydrator full of tomatoes for sundried tomatoes.  I was also very bad and made Oatmeal Apple cookies and for Trollie, Oatmeal, Peanut, Bacon cookies. 

Dog Biscuits Recipe below (I changed it a bit from what I found online):

2 1/2 cups oatmeal flour (ground rolled oatmeal)
2 tsp baking powder
2 pieces bacon crumbled
1/2 cup peanuts ground
1/4 cup bacon grease (might need a little more)
1/4 cup water

I mixed it all up and rolled into cookies on a parchment lined sheet.  Baked at 325F for 15 min, then shut oven off and let them sit in oven for 30 min.

My prayers and thoughts to all my friends that everyone and their property is safe from the storm.

Harvest time and preserving in the storm

I have a basket full of tomatoes in the crock pot to make sauce...if power goes out, I will transfer to stove on low.  Another basket full or 2 going in dehydrator.  I will be making pesto shortly from the last of the basil.  Going to puree the lemon balm too.  I got an arm full of both.  I have 2 more baskets of tomatoes, red and green that I took from the garden, figured might as well since I was fighting the slugs for them and who knows what the storm will do to them. 

I left the brocolli, cabbage, cauliflour and kale hoping they will do okay..they aren't quite ready yet.  So, lots more to do but getting some things done.

Tomatoes, Sage, Parsley

one of two baskets of tomatoes

Red Peppers, Eggplant, Basil and Lemon grass

Waitin for the storm

Well, I have a couple things on the porch to organize but the rest is done.  I worked my butt off yesterday... I cleaned all the rabbit cages and got them all set.  They had time in the fresh air and 'ahem' conjugal time.

The following pairs were together so we will count 30 days and pray for more babies! I mixed the Silver Fox buck with the Harlequin but the other two are full bred Rex and Harlequin.  Rowan still taking care of her babies... sadly I no longer have Am. Chins to breed.

Holly and Darroch
Hazel and Ronan
Cassia and Telsy

Rowan and one one of the babies

I didn't get a chance to clean out the small coops but I got all the rest of the featherheads to a more secure place.  The boy muscovies are in the pen with Merlin and Arthur, along with Mr. Goose and Mr. Black Turkey.   
















Big Tom my Standard Bronze tom and Mama's boy

 Here are my turkey boys trying to get everyone's attention.  Luckily Big Tom and Mr. Buff get along pretty well.

        

Mr. Buff, my Jersey Buff tom

The babies are doing okay, though I have lost two now, both were Australorps. :-(

this is the little "suprise", don't know what he is yet

So, now we just wait and see what happens.  I really hope we keep the power on because it will be rough to keep them alive.  Right now they are chirpin away in the bathroom. 

Prepping for the storm

Well, like many today, my thoughts are of the pending storm  This one could be a doozie for several reasons but having grown up in Florida and spent highschool in New England, a hurricane INSIDE a nor'easter does not sound like a whole lot of fun! I have experienced both and yikes!

And, of course, my thoughts are mostly about my animals right now  With the heavy rains we got this summer and the damage they caused just in illness from nothing drying out, lots of rain is not what I would like to see right now.  I have spent the past couple months spreading everyone out into bigger pens with more space.  Now I need to bring everyone back in and hope that the pens I spent so much time and energy on will hold....they are not exactly structures of great construction! Sadly construction projects of any kind are not my forte'!  Definitely an issue for a homesteader who has no partner helping her.

Anyway, so, I already had a long list of "to do" for the weekend since it is my first full weekend at home for awhile, it has gotten a bit longer and rearranged:

Clean the yard - I have been working slowly on this for several weeks...cleaning out the shed for the new chicken coop resulted in some homeless items that need to be secured elsewhere like bicycles and stuff. This was already on the list, now it is a necessity

Secure doors on coop and rabbitry - this was also a priority but is more so now.  Remember my lack of carpentry skills?  The doors are not exactly straight or super sturdy yet but I will be working to make them more so.

Extending Muscovy pen - they are getting big and have outgrown the temporary pen and need to expand.  This may be put off a bit though since I am not sure how well the pens already put up are going to hold and I will be moving the Muscovies to the chicken shed for the storm...probably seperating out the "meat birds" from those I am keeping too when I let them out again.

Garden: Well, I had ideas of planting one more crop of spinach and kale but I am not sure that will work well because they will probably be washed away.  I do still plan to get the straw bales around the winter greens and cabbage.  I will need to harvest everything else now though...all the herbs and such.

Freezer: I had already planned to try to consolidate everything into one freezer, now I am definitely going to spend some time doing that, in case we lose power I want everything jam packed in there so it will stay frozen longer. 

And speaking of electricity, babies with no heat lamp is going to be a problem....so I am praying we keep our power on! And the babies are coming back into my bathroom Sunday just in case.

Lots more on the list but these are the priority now... I figure I will spend the real rainy portions of the storm doing homework, I can read by candlelight if necessary.

Babies!

My chicks finally arrived.  I ordered babies months ago (before I realized how poor I would be this time of year) but it was timed after the craziness of October was over.  I didn't do well with the baby hatching this year.  I tried to let everyone hatch their eggs naturally.  The turkeys never came to term...I finally had to toss them after 8 weeks of 3 hens setting!  My goose and duck eggs were stolen right from under the Mommas (I believe by a snake...only thing that could have gotten into the pen and taken the eggs with no shells or evidence).  My chickens hatched all of 1 egg they were brooding and the baby disappeared.  So, definitely incubating next year and no more free ranging babies either!

However, that doesn't help me have new hens for the Spring.  I also have a motley crew left and some hens are getting older.  I have decided the breeds I really like are Austrolorps and Buff Orpingtons (though I would love to get my hands on some Lavender Orps).  I have 1 Buff hen and 4 Australorp hens and Henry my Australorp roo.  So, I ordered mostly Buff babies....girls and 2 boys and then about half as many Astralorp girls.  I added two Americauna girls who will hopefully become friends with Merlin my Americauna roo. 

Both Orpingtons and Australorps are listed as "recovering" on the ALBC list.  The Orpingtons are supposed to be meat birds and the Australorps are bred from them to be egg layers.  I liked them both as egg layers and for their temperment.  I would like to raise more threatened heritage birds but for now...practical and sustainable is what I need.  My turkey and rabbit breeds are more threatened...the Jersey Buff turkey is "critical" so I feel good about raising them and they are local to the Mid-Atlantic.

http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/wtchlist.html#chickens

Anyway, my plan is to have these girls grow up and be added to my laying hen stock.  I will have more eggs to sell and when I raise new babies from them, since I will have roos and hens from both breeds, to sell the babies too and, of course, keep some for myself in the spring.

Here is a pic of my Australorp roo, Henry.

To the right is Ms. Buffy, my Buff Orpington girl who is actually getting on in years.

And to the left is Henrietta, one of the Australorp girls.

Tuesday Primal Dinners

Tuesday night dinner was crab cake, sweet potato fries and cucumber salad.

Crab Cakes:
local crab meat (from my wonderful barter arrangement)
almond meal
eggs (from my chickens, of course)
fresh parsley from garden
old bay (of course)
lemon pepper
- mix together, saute in bacon grease

Sweet Potato Fries:
large local sweet potato (from CSA)
salt and pepper
- slice in thick slices, drizzle with olive oil and saeson, bake for half hour to 45 min in 350 degree oven

Cucumber Salad:
cucumbers (local farm)
fresh lime or lemon
salt
- using a peeler, peel slices of cucumber including skin
- squeeze lime juice over slices, salt and toss together

Little bit more progress

I was away for the weekend and my brother took care of the animals.  He did a great job but one of the baby silver fox died, so I came home to that. *sigh*

Also, Mr. Royal Palm turkey has made his choice, he is freezer bound.  He escaped over the weekend and went to fight with Big Tom and Mr. Buff.  He originally lived with them but was fighting like crazy in the spring, I thought it was just the time of year. Well, he was kind of a jerk where he was with the ducks.  Now it is just him, Mr. Black and Mr. Goose in a pen.  Today he got out again and was beating up Henry, my rooster.  Henry is valuable so that was the last strike.  I can't have anyone intent on hurting others that are important to me and the success of this homestead.  I have another Royal Palm that is a teenager so I am not sure if it is a he or she yet.  I do want to continue this breed so I guess I will have to figure that out in the spring...hopefully I can find a mate for her or him.

I got a bit of work done outside today.  I got most of the 2nd layer of fencing on the new "grow out" pen, so hopefully that pen will be secure.  I want to put the ducks to grow out in there but am concerned about the owls...it is high enough that the ducks shouldn't fly out but without netting on top I am a bit worried. (and I don't have the money for all that netting and the support it would take over that big an expanse). Hopefully in a few weeks I can finish that...so I have to decide if I risk the ducks or no.  I think they will be healthier if I put them in the larger pen then finish the permanent home for the girls and two drakes I am keeping of the Muscovies and the girls and one drake of the Khaki Campbellsin their own new home.  Decisions...

So, one more step...

Progress and loss

Well, it has been one of those weekends...take one step forward and couple back.  The end of the week I noticed that Berkana was losing weight.  I upped her food and added treats (yogurt and oats) and apple cider vinegar to her water.  It was too late though. Saturday morning I knew I was losing her.  I have had this happen twice before, the first time I lost my original Silver Fox buck about a year and a half ago within a couple days.  The second time about 6 months ago I nursed Rowan back to health and she is doing great now.  I try to run my hands over the rabbits every couple days so I can see if there are any troubles. I am very sad I did not catch Berkana in time.  She was a good girl and a good momma. I am not even sure what was wrong, I can only think maybe cocci.  But I have been very careful to make sure their food and water was clean.  I can only think that maybe it is because of the chickens.  I have been trying to figure out how to deal with that for awhile now.  I tried netting off the tops of the cages in the rabbitry so the chickens couldn't roost on top but that didn't last long, they found ways around and through the netting.  So, I have been converting the shed to a coop for the past couple weeks but it has been taking awhile with the amount of work to get it done and the amount of time I have between school and nasty weather.

So, this afternoon, after picking pumpkins for sauce and butter, I finally finished the new coop door and moved all the hens in there and locked them in for the next couple days. Wednesday I will put the doors on the barn and lock everyone out of the rabbit barn and then let the hens out of the coop.  By then they should be used to it and go back there to roost.  Some of the hens already lay their eggs there so hopefully it will be good.  It is actually more space than in the rabbit barn. So, that is the progress.

The second step back was that 2 of the baby bunnies died.  Four of them are very fat and huge and the two that died were about half their size so they obviously were not competing as well for milk.  I know it means the four will be healthier most likely but it is sad. 

Every loss is hard for me to take emotionally.  Financially it is also rough, I am really trying to keep my babies (the breeders) healthy and to have their offspring feed us or sell to bring money in to feed the rest of the animals, particularly with such high feed costs now, so every loss puts me back in that goal. 

One step at a time though and I will hopefully get there. 

Rest in peace sweet Berkana.

World Tree Rabbitry with pics!

Rowan, the Mama

I finally have some pics of the bunnies...very quick ones but not too bad considering the light and the state of the cages (as soon as the hens are "relocated" after the coop doors are built, they are getting a really good scrubbing!)

 

Ronan, the papa.

Silver Fox:
Buck - Ronan from Whitmore Farms in MD
Doe - Rowan from Skogafell Farms in NH

the pile of babies

fuzzy pic of baby



Heather

Berkana

Ash

American Chinchilla:
Buck - Ash
Doe - Berkana
Mixed Silver Fox/American Chinchilla:
Doe - Heather (from Ronan and Berkana)

Holly, mama to teenagers

Harlequin:
Does - Holly and Hazel
Buck - Darroch










3 of the teenagers - not in their pen because they found another way to escape!

Hazel

Darroch and Telsy



Rosemary

Cassia

Rex:
Does - Rosemary and Cassia
Buck - Telsy

a day of squash and soap

Well, today I did not get the coop doors done as planned.  It turned into another chilly wet day.  I don't mind the cooler weather but the rain is miserable to work in.  So, one more delay.  *sigh*

But, it was a good day anyway.  I spent the day with a good friend, we ran some errands, picked up my weekly milk, got a bushel of apples at the local farmer's market (and guiltily shared fresh pumpkin donuts!).  We then made a batch of soap (1/2 lavender and 1/2 heather for me).  It has been many months since I have made soap and the last batch didn't come out as great as I would have liked - I tried a different method and it seemed great until it cured.  This is my regular recipe which is very simple and consists of olive oil, coconut oil and palm oil with goats milk.  This time I used a solid block of frozen milk instead of ice cubes.  I get my goats milk from a local friend and she froze the milk in portions just for my soap making, which is very cool.  The mixing of the milk and lye took quite a bit longer and it never got as hot as it usually does so the lye mixture and oil was mixed together at a cooler temperature.  The trace happened much faster.  So, in a couple weeks time, we will see how it turns out.

For lunch today I sauteed up spaghetti squash and made pesto from the basil and lemon balm in my garden.  It was quite tasty.  For dinner I cut up a butternut squash and baked it in the oven with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper.  I made a batch of bacon and then sauteed sage from my garden in the bacon grease and sauteed the baked squash in the sage and bacon grease.  I topped the squash with the bacon and shaved parmesan.  Quite tasty.  The rest of the bacon was crumbled and mixed with baked/mashed sweet potato and salmon with fresh parsley from the garden for tasty salmon cakes!

Baked salmon w/artichoke and sundried tomato; Kale and Kielbasa soup

Well, today is rainy and chilly so my outdoor plans for working on the coop doors has been postponed... so now I am studying and watching cooking shows as background noise. Study days make the kids happy. They see that study blanket come out and they pile on... nicely keeping my feet warm!

I figured I would post my recipes for the weekend so far.  Friday night I made a baked salmon.  I get salmon from a local seafood shop and luckily have a wonderful barter going exchanging farm fresh eggs for fish weekly.  So, with a salmon ready to be cooked, I stuck it in a pan and covered it with sundried tomatoes and artichoke hearts with a bulb of garlic to roast on the side.  The sundried tomatoes are mine, I make a big batch every summer (a gallon container) from my own or local farmer's tomatoes.  I use my dehydrator and store them in olive oil and they last me through the year.  I love sundried tomatoes but I hate the price and the other junk in the store bought ones!  I believe this year I will have the same as last year, a big fall harvest of my own roma tomatoes...there are tons of green ones on the plants now, last year they did the same thing and I had a big harvest the end of October!  So, I will have lots of sundried tomatoes and hopefully some more sauce too.  Anyway, dinner Friday night was the salmon that I baked along with a simple salad, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber from my CSA.

Saturday I made a dish I remember my Mom making alot when I was a kid.  Portuguese Kale Soup.  I made it without the starches since I am doing my best to eat primal.  There was kale in the CSA veggies this week and I had gotten local kielbasa earlier in the week from a local butcher shop.  This soup is supposed to be made with linguisa but kielbasa is as close as I can get here.  It was a really simple soup to put together.  I used some beef stock that I made from bones I got from the same butcher shop.  I sauteed an onion, then slices of the kielbasa and then the torn pieces of kale in coconut oil.  I put the onion, kielbasa and kale in the beef broth and let it cook for about half hour.  I baked an acorn squash, also from the CSA in the oven for about 45 minutes to have alongside.  I added just some butter (also local but not my own, I need to make some more) and a bit of red pepper flakes and paprika to the squash.  It was a nice fall meal of hearty soup and acorn squash.  The chickens love the skin and the seeds are very good for them so they enjoyed the dinner too!

For lunch Sunday I sauteed up a bit of the leftover salmon, artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoe and roasted garlic.  I added just a tiny bit of taini on top so it was like a salad.  Yumm. 

Now, back to studying, midterms are this coming week!

small progress...step by step

So, the homestead, as usual, is a mess.  It is in a constant state of progress but since it is the Fall and heading towards Winter...it is time to get some major projects done.  Since I had such issues with the duck pen during the constant rains (it still has not dried out!) I had to quickly toss up some pens and put the remaining ducks in the turkey pen....so much work is needed.

The past two nights I have done little bits of work.  I got some more of the second layer of fencing on the new pen up front that currently houses the 2 turkey toms (the black that will be going in the freezer and the Royal Palm which is possibly going in the freezer or he may be staying depending on if my other Royal Palm is a girl or boy) and my lone goose.  It also has an open bottomed crate with the teenage Harlequin rabbits.  The finished pen will be in two parts and be two layers of chicken wire high.  The first section will be used over the winter for a grow out pen for meat birds (currently the turkeys and goose) and for rabbits to be on pasture.  The second pen will be right next to it with a gate between.  In the spring I will move the animals being grown out to the second pen and plant vegetables in the first pen since the rabbits will have made it all nice and fertile and devoid of grass for me! The grow out pen for the rabbits will be an inside fenced area within the larger pen for double protection with a small hutch inside for shelter and netting overtop (so Mr. and Mrs. Great Horned don't decide on gathering dinner there like they did this summer with my teenage Khaki Campbells!).  I will post pics when I am done with the pens (hopefully this weekend).

I also did some work on the other upfront pen that houses the Muscovies, trying to get the pen netted over and secure.  The front yard on that side of the house is divided with the half in front of the porch being the garden, the other half in front of my bedroom for the ducks.  Half of the bedroom side of the yard is fenced in and netted over for a night shelter for the Muscovies, currently my breeders and the teenagers that will be ready for the freezer soon.  The gate opens up to the other half of that side of the yard and it will be fenced off from the garden this weekend.  This will give them about twice the space.  I will extend the fencing to the side yard so they will have a much larger area to roam during the day and then shooed back into the covered area for night...again, so Mr. and Mrs. Great Horned don't decide they are their dinner.

This weekend is going to be a major work weekend for the homestead.  I have those two front pens to finish and then I will be making my chicken hens very mad.  I will be putting the door up to their new coop in the shed (which is a much bigger area than they currently reside at night).  I will then be locking them in for a couple days while I get the door up on the barn and let them get used to their new night time coop before I let them free range again.  I am trying to make the open part of the barn cleaner and less cluttered because that is where the rabbitry is and I can not keep the chickens off the rabbit cages, I have tried everything and they eventually find their way through every deterent...so now they will be banned from the barn once they get used to their new home.

I think those three projects and cleaning up the yard will be quite enough work.  However, I do need to get another batch of applebutter done, two packages sent out with my peach and apple butters to my parents and a class mate and get my camping gear organized again and ready for the upcoming Asatru gathering.  Oh and homework, of course, and a party for a dear friend's birthday Saturday night!

I will update with pics as the weekend progresses!

World Tree Rabbitry and exciting news!

My rabbitry is called World Tree Rabbitry.  It has taken a couple years to get going but I am finally at a comfortable place with it.  I raise four breeds of rabbits, 2 medium breeds and 2 large heritage breeds.  (I promise pictures soon!)

It is important to me to raise the heritage breeds because I totally believe we need to keep diversity in our foods, animal and vegetable and the heritage breeds are the backbone to all our modern stock, which like vegetables, for the mainstream, have become monocultures.... so, I raise two of the rare heritage breeds to help keep the lines going.  These are Silver Fox and American Chinchilla.  I also raise two smaller breeds, smaller as far as meat breeds go, but they are still much bigger than most "pets", these are Harlequin and Rex.  My breeder rabbits are named and will live with me until they pass on or find pet homes when they retire.  Most of the kits will go in my freezer or be sold to others that want pets or to start breeding heritage breeds.  My Silver Fox and American Chinchilla are pedigreed while my Harlequin and Rex are pure breeds from good rabbitries, I chose not to get their pedigrees.

Silver Fox:
Buck - Ronan from Whitmore Farms in MD
Doe - Rowan from Skogafell Farms in NH

American Chinchilla:
Buck - Ash
Doe - Berkana

Mixed Silver Fox/American Chinchilla:
Doe - Heather (from Ronan and Berkana)

Harlequin:
Does - Holly and Hazel
Buck - Darroch

Rex:
Does - Rosemary and Cassia
Buck - Telsy

Currently I have 6 "teenage" Harlequins growing out and the exciting news!!!!!!!

Rowan kindled and has 6 kits now!!!!! I have had Rowan a couple years and she has failed to kindle every time she has been bred.  I was at the point that she was going to be adopted out as a pet but she must have heard me! LOL I bred all my does at the same time and she is the only one to kindle so far, it is possible there will be more babies when I get home but we shall see...I am just happy she finally had babies!!!!

Hail Freyr!

Introduction post

I am starting this blog for a couple reasons.  First, I have learned so much from other folks' blogs in this journey of learning to homestead, I feel it is time to give back.  Second, so many of them talk about their faith and the part it plays in their reason for homesteading... most of them are christian, which is great but I am of a different faith.  I am pagan, a witch following the Norse gods and part of an eclectic wiccan tradition.  The reason I homestead, raise my own animals and as much of my vegetables as possible is directly tied into my beliefs. 

Living close to the land, being a good steward to both the Earth and the animals that She supports is incredibly important to me.  I was a vegetarian for 25 years and have only started to eat meat the past couple of years.  My reason for not eating meat totally had to do with the industry, the way animals are raised and the monoculture of farms that use an enourmous amount of pesticides and fertilizers that are poisoning our land and waters.  I only eat meat that I have raised or is locally and conscientously raised - no CAFO raised meat.  I am very much a Localvore and believe in supporting the local economy and reducing shipping.  In fact, if it weren't for coffee, tea and the produce I grew up with in Florida - and raised in my families' yards,  (citrus fruits, bananas, avocados, mangoes and coconuts) I could totally live on what is produced locally.  I did not grow up on a farm, I grew up in the subarbs of South Miami with aunts and uncles in the country many hours away.  However, we had a mango, finger bananas, lime and coconut trees in our yard, my one grandmother had avocadoes and my other grandparents had tangerines, tangelos, oranges and large bananas, while my aunts and uncles grew sugar cane and grapefruit.  So, if I could grow all that here, in Delaware, I would be all set!  (wait a few years and it might actually be a possibility!!!)

So, I am a Locavore and a "back to the land" proponent.  I am doing this pretty much all on my own, on rented land and have made many mistakes and learned many hard lessons.  I have only been doing this a few years so I am still trying to figure many things out.  Along this path, I am also trying to learn to lead a simpler, less cluttered life...this is a big long term project but I am making slow progress.  I also work full time and go to school nearly full time.  So, time management is a big issue...plainly there are not enough hours in the day.

I will use this blog to talk about my experiences, the good, the bad, the happy and the sad.  I will also post recipes (since I am just learning how to cook and experiment too), post about the "kids" - them all being furry and featherheaded! And I will talk about the spiritual side occasionally too.

Bright Blessings,

Vanadisflame