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juststartn
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| Posted: July 12 2008 at 1:18pm | IP Logged
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Books, I am so not a country girl. I grew up JUST outside Atlanta (literally, just outside the perimeter, NW side of town, right off of 75). DH and I lived on a 1/4 acre in NC. So now we are here on 10 in OK. Where are you (general geography here--don't have to get specific)? If you start your birds too late in the year, you may have problems with the weather. RIght now, we're expecting another 50 the week of the 23d (don't know if I mentioned that). We're going to be putting them directly outside, in their tractor, rather than coddling them along inside for a few weeks. Saves us the energy from the fan and the smell/bugs (even though we clean it out regularly, it still has that "tinge", iykwim  ). They will be able to supplement their regular purchased feed with grass, seeds, bugs, etc--a far more cost-effective, "natural" diet. We use chicken tractors, for all of our birds at night, and the oldest/biggest are roaming during the day. Soon we'll be letting our future layers roam as well, as they are getting big enough to do that. The freezer birds are NOT going to be allowed to free range. Too much risk of loss, frankly. And they aren't the smartest of birds either---which for a chicken is saying ALOT. We move the tractors once/twice a day. Feed/water them twice a day. And they get whatever scraps I throw their way (this week they got a watermelon I had bought and had gone bad , all of the leftovers from my jam and pickle making, and any and all of the dc's leftovers from mealtimes. Its very efficient, and so far, they will eat EVERYTHING. The best part  is when I come outside with a bowl--the birds will literally FLY towards me...running as fast as their little legs will carry them.... My two geese (Percy and Abigail--they were to be Amelia and Abigail, after the Gabble sisters in Aristocats, but then we realized we had a male and a female, lol) like to follow me around, period, and the ducks follow the geese. They show me how hard they are working to fly, occasionally Abigail lets me stroke her back, and I get to tell them how lovely they are, and what big/beautiful birds they are getting to be...lol.
The chickens are really quite easy, as long as you make sure to take care of their basic needs.
The garden thing, well, we've got clay. Deep, thick, black, gooey clay. We've managed to lighten it a wee bit by a thorough application of manure (5 tons, shoveled out of the truck/trailer by moi, mostly). This coming fall, we're mixing in a truckload (at least) of sand, more manure, and we'll be putting pigs on it, in a rotation, to try and till it up, manure it, and otherwise just liven things up a bit, while providing food for the freezer. Our "home lot" (not incl the pasture) is 2 acres. And we still have PLENTY of room left for the dc to play and run, and move the birds around, and the garden. We're already planning on putting in some berries this fall, maybe. Maybe not til spring. We've figured on putting in two long rows, and two-three shorter ones. Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, maybe some huckle and elderberries, too. We're making sure to lay the rows out wide enough to put the chicken tractors thru, to keep the bugs and weeds down, as well as run the tractor pulling the mower behind it, just in case, lol.
No, I am not incredible person. The floors need vacuuming, the dc need baths, and I'm plain old tired. But I know I *have* to--how else am I going to deal with 20 lbs of cucumbers, 27 lbs of blackberries, 12 lbs of strawberries, and a half a bushel of peaches? LOL. They are all taken care of now. Course, I have more pickles coming in, and the beans (which generally didn't do that well) are slowly trickling in (we're hopefully going to use every one we've gotten tomorrow when we have some church friends/neighbors over for dinner). We planted some cabbage (DH wouldn't even let me waste my time with lettuce, as we planted too late), but we've got maybe 3 good heads. Out of a full 60 ft row! Ugh. And these are still pretty tiny, and I can only hope that they make it. The ones that have made it seem to be the long season one, the Danish Ballhead. It doesn't get harvested til late, so I'm hoping we'll get at least one head (I really like sauerkraut, lol).
Our corn got hit by borers, so we're just praying I dusted it in time to get it "safe" during the tasseling and ear production part of the growth process...
So no, I am no expert, I just read ALOT. And haunt online forums at night. LOL
Rachel (who pickled some more cukes this morning--got 8 qts of dill spears put up for DH)
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: July 12 2008 at 6:16pm | IP Logged
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Double meals don't work for me. I've tried that before...not sure why...
Rachel...I don't know what to say. You really are a "jump in and just do it" kinda gal!  Me...I'm more of a think about it for a million hours first kind of person.  Hats off to you. I loved your pix of your Chicken Hut. We are going to make a pasteured PVC type pen for our meat birds so that we can take it apart and store it easily. That's the plan, anyway...
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~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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MarilynW
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| Posted: July 12 2008 at 6:23pm | IP Logged
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I just got started in a small way - I bought a huge pack of fresh chicken from Costco this morning - and now I have several chicken meals for the freezer - 5 spice chicken, Moroccan chicken with couscous and chicken/asparagus casserole. I also made a chicken casserole for angel baby and mushed it up for him.
I am totally wiped out after cooking and cleaning up (dh and kids at the pool)
oh yes - I also made an icecream cake for angel baby's first birthday tomorrow and a mini banana cake for him to stick his head into!!!
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nissag
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| Posted: July 12 2008 at 9:20pm | IP Logged
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I was in the middle of posting it all to my blog when my computer hiccoughed. I lost the whole thing, so I'll try to re-post Monday!
Sorry about that.
Blessings,
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Nissa
Deacon's wife, mother of eleven, farmer, teacher, creator, cook.
At Home With the Gadbois Family
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JeniferS
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| Posted: July 13 2008 at 11:33pm | IP Logged
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I've always loved the idea of freezer/once a month cooking! I attempted it in a small way a few years ago but never really got into the swing of things.
There was a stuffed bell pepper recipe that I just loved! I made it with brown rice and ground beef. I'd make it whenever bell peppers were on sale and always ended up with about 12 stuffed peppers. You could make it as spicy or non spicy as you'd like. I'm going to look for the recipe to post.
I also usually get 4 meals when I make spaghetti sauce. I make it once in a large pot, eat for dinner that night and then I have three freezer bags for later in the month. This is my favorite thing to grab when I have no dinner plans and want to heat up something yummy!
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Jenifer, mom to Harrison, 7 and Olivia, 5
The Way We Learn
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amethyst
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| Posted: July 14 2008 at 12:31am | IP Logged
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juststartn wrote:
we'll have close to 75 chickens in the freezer before Thanksgiving...
Rachel |
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Rachel, how long can you keep chickens in the freezer? I want to buy bulk myself (and make use of our large freezer) but I read that you can only freeze certain meats for 3-6 months.
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nissag
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| Posted: July 17 2008 at 9:14am | IP Logged
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I have uploaded my 2008 Menu Planning section from the Simple Gifts Home Management Book to the Simple Gifts Email List files section, if you are interested.
Please do not distribute copies as it is copyrighted material. You may print one copy for your own use.
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Nissa
Deacon's wife, mother of eleven, farmer, teacher, creator, cook.
At Home With the Gadbois Family
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: Seasonal Menu Planning/freezer cooking
