Another Blog Gone

Since discovering the wildly amusing (and addictive) world of blogs, I must admit that there are some I read daily.... even if they don't post daily. These are the ones that I feel like I know them so well based on their blog alone, even if they do use fake names and I have no idea where in the world they are. Who cares? They're my blog friends (okay, they may not know me, but I know them and therefore, we are friends. ha)

I'm assuming that with the giant ice/snow storm that has much of the eastern U.S. shut down, that bloggers from the affected areas aren't posting. Which gives me time to flip thru and check on some of my fave blogs. ( I allot myself 1 hour a day for blogging - and spend 99% of it reading.)

Anyway, another one of my favorite blogs has bit the dust. Domestic Accident is no more. Her blog was eye candy... pink and black with a vintage looking avatar. She talked about her kids in a way that I can totally relate to mine. There was just so much to her blog that I loved... and now, poof, it's gone.

Lisa, I hope all is well in your world. I'm gonna miss ya.

Peanut Butter ~ From Scratch

In light of the recent peanut butter snafu, I decided to adventure into making our own... as a prelude to maybe growing our own peanuts this year. My kids eat nearly 60 pounds of peanut butter a year. I have no idea HOW they consume that much, but they do. I've been tracking it.


We started with a a 2 pound bag of roasted, unsalted peanuts from the Seed & Feed store. It was $4.45 for the bag. Emma, Aubrey and I had fun shelling them. We opted to remove the red skins too, but you could leave it on. (I have a few picky eaters and I wasn't sure what they'd say about red flecks in the PB.)

I weighed the peanuts after shelling - 1 lb 6 oz. Popped it into the food processor and added about 3 TBS of oil. Most recipes I've seen call for peanut oil, which I didn't have. So I used canola oil. Veggie oil would work too. Just be aware, you'll need to store it in the fridge. I also added a pinch of salt and about 1 TBS of honey. (The kids are so used to store bought PB which is sweetened, I thought a bit of sweet would help ease the transition.)

I processed it until the processor starting whining, loudly. Spooned it into a container and noted it was about 2 cups. We all did a quick taste test and decided it was VERY peanuty in flavor and sticky too. Reading online recipes comments I discovered that store bought PB has oils as well as other additives to ensure it's not too sticky. Also, if I had opted to process in a blender, it would've been smoother.

Overall, it was very easy to do. But, in the future, I'd like to find a much cheaper source for peanuts. I did pick up a 3 lb bag of shelled, roasted Spanish peanuts for $6. I'll use them to make PB too, but I may opt to not remove all the skins.

Incidentally, in my hunt to learn how to grow them, I read that Virginia peanuts are the largest sized and what is typically found in a grocery store. You can buy raw peanuts and plant them in the spring. I'd like to know if anyone has grown them or have a thought about buying raw to plant. I did several searches for heirloom or organic peanuts, but didn't find exactly what I was looking for. And, I'd love to get info on yields too.

As a bonus, I read that a peanut plant can process nitrogen from the air and deposit into the soil, so it would be an excellent crop to put into rotation following corn.

Seed Savers Challenge

I've committed myself to starting all my veggies from seed this year. Some are already started and others will be direct sown. As part of this plan, I've bought exclusively Heirloom seeds for the express purpose of being able to save them for next year. Thus, my intention is to not have to buy new seeds/plants ever again. How's that for frugal?!

Join in the challenge by visiting here.

In a future post, I'll list my garden plans... although, I want to do it in a non-boring way. I've tried so hard to read what others are growing this year, but the super long plant lists just make my eyes cross. Maybe it's just me?

Cha Cha Is Magical

My oldest son is hard wired to find fun things to do with his cell phone. The latest and greatest is Cha Cha. If you have ever found yourself needing an answer to a question RIGHT NOW and your go-to person wasn't available, Cha Cha to the rescue.

To try it out, I sent in a silly question and had a response in less than 2 seconds. A correct response, I might add. It's not mobile search, it's mobile answers, according to the website. Basically, on your cell phone, you send a text message to 242242 and put your question in the body of the text.

The funniest thing we've done with Cha Cha is settle an arguement. It can explain a phrase or quote. You can get current weather stats anywhere. I asked it to find me the closest gas station that was open on a Sunday evening in rural Kansas.

Regular text fees from your carrier apply, but the Cha Cha service is free. I think you can only ask 4 questions every 72 hours. Be sure to check out the website and the Tips & Tricks section. It has shortcuts for jokes, stock quotes, movies etc. Oh, and the confessions page is the great testimonials from other users.

Two other helpful services I have in my cell phone's speed dial list:

Google via text is 466453 ~ I use this when I need an address or phone number and I'm not close to a computer. Much faster than accessing the web via my cell.

Mapquest 1-800-373-3411 - gives you voice activated directions for free (also has a free download for blackberry users - from your blackberry, go to it's web brower and visit m.mq4m.com)

Nesting Boxes Done

After several days of head scratching, Jerry figured out how to build and attach the nesting box to the coop. YEAH!! I'm so excited! The chickens figured out pretty quickly what they were for and we had our first 3 egg day. Having the box outside the coop makes for easy egg collecting and cleaner shoes. All that's left is the siding and a paint job, and our 6 month project will be completed.

Here are two of the lovely ladies, Pot Pie and Chipmunk. They are on the outside of the chicken run looking into it. I do think the phrase "bird brain" is right on the money. Sometimes, it takes them four or five tries to figure out how to get back inside the run - and it's a 6' opening.

Well, I never said the bird feeder and bird bath were off limits, did I?

This is our original chicken tractor. Made out of wood from pallets and a few repurposed 2x4s. It's covered in plastic chicken fencing (NOT a good idea - it breaks easily). It does have a door on one end. We put the flock in here during the day, covered with the tarp as the direct sun was pretty hot. Now that we have the coop & run, this has been delegated to the rabbits and guinea pig to hang out in. It's light weight and easy to move. It was designed to fit over a raised bed but actually stays on the yard. We are going to build an enclosure on one end so that the rabbit can have permanent residence in it. Or, we might use it to raise a small flock of meat birds. Hmmm, we'll see.

267 pounds down ~ 9,733 to go

For this last week, I sent a large bag of misc clothes to D.A.V. I also freecycled a few things. I sent 7 books out thru paperbackswap.com. And we paid down $250 on some debt.

If you're working on debt reduction, I highly advise Dave Ramsey. Get the books from the library, listen to him via internet or just check out his website. He has various ideas ~ not all will work for everybody, but something might spark you. I personally like the giant poster of debt reduction. It's a big spreadsheet that I bought at the school supply store. The debts are listed on the left side and we designated each square to be 'worth' $50. So, we'll highlight as many squares as needed to represent the debt owed. Then, as it's paid (we do the snowball method too), we black out the squares to show the debt going down. It's a very visual reminder of where we stand. I have a smaller sheet for the immediate debt, the full sheet is for the long range debt.

We also have one for savings that we color in as our savings grows. My only caution is if you have people over, they may stand around and read your charts. This bugs me like you can not imagine. So, now I take them down if we're expecting company.

The "Have-More" Plan

A few weeks ago, I was reading the comments section of Tiny Farm Blog and a Sharon posted 2 links to books free to download. I clicked on The Have More Plan by Ed and Carolyn Robinson and decided to go ahead and print it too. It has so many wonderful things I wish I'd known before getting started. In general, it's a homesteading primer. It has how to lay out your homestead, a really nice barn plan that houses a milk cow or goats, chickens, rabbits and storage too. A well thought out kitchen plan. Fish ponds and fruit orchards. It has good ideas on just about everything you could need in your homestead.

I enjoyed the "quaintness" of the prices listed throughout.

I do see the cyclic nature of the back to the land movement. I think the gap in the cycle is closing though.

Who Loves Compost?!

Jerry built me these 2 compost bins that are 5' x 5'. A bit bigger than what I had intended, but they work well. The chickens spend a great deal of their time scratching and pecking and even the horse neighbor stops by to sniff.

Before chickens, it took about a year for us to turn garbage into compost. Now, it's right about a month. I clean the chicken's coop out every other week and add it to the bins. It breaks down faster than I ever thought it could. We are considering doing away with the bins and just heaping it into the garden.

We have a friend that has dozens of rabbits, but doesn't compost or garden, so her bunny poo is heading our way too. And, driving down the road, I saw 3 bags of leaves dumped in a ditch that I snagged. Into the compost it went.

At this rate, we'll have to start giving it away or selling it!

Stop the Draft In Your Laundry Room

When we moved into this house, it was the fall. That first winter, if you stood in the kitchen, your hair would move due to the excessive amount of air coming in thru the backdoor casing, window & dryer vent. (Our laundry room is just off the kitchen.)

We fixed the window & door, but didn't know what to do about the vent. Then, we went to one of our favorite internet sites, searched and found this: replace your dryer vent. I ordered the vent, it was about $25 with shipping & handling.

When it arrived, Jerry took the old vent cover off and found quite a bit of lint for something that was so drafty. I had been keeping the door of our dryer shut and really could have used it as a second fridge it was so darn cold inside.

Anyway, it didn't take him too long to install it. Handyman skills don't come naturally to him but he said it was pretty easy, even with our uneven siding.

It works by having a floating part inside. When the dryer is on, heat forces the floating shuttle up, when the dryer is off, the shuttle is down and vent is sealed from air exchange & pests.

It's even paintable. And, cleaning lint out of it is pretty simple. Just twist off the cap.

Photo source: www.GoodCommonSense.net

The Eggs Have Arrived!!

Last Thursday night, I was dropping D off at a friend's house when I got a text from Jerry saying he had found something in the chicken coop, and could I guess what it was.

I had just been saying how I hoped a snake or rat or other varmit wouldn't get in there (we leave it open during the day) so I didn't even consider it would be an egg.

The text came back in all caps "CONGRATS U HAVE EGG". I was so excited I started jumping up and down and laughing. Now, if you have raised chicks from a day old, only to watch them eat tons of chick food and wait, day after day to get that first egg, you totally know the feeling I had. It was so exciting!

We have 10 hens, most of which should lay brown eggs. But it was a white egg. So, I suspected it was the Leghorns. On Friday, it was warm, sunny and just a wonderful day. D and I were outside watching the chix when one of them started making quite a racket in the coop. We looked and sure enough, she was getting ready to lay. So, I actually saw her lay egg #2. Saturday, no egg, but Sunday, another egg. So, we are up to 3 eggs. I thought it was too early for them to be laying, they're only 17.5 weeks old, but hey, I think I have an overachiever in the bunch. And, it was the the smallest chicken in the flock that laid first.

After she laid on Friday, I watched both roos go into the nest and mimic her... which was pretty funny. None of the other hens seemed interested at all.

Now, if Jerry would just get the nesting boxes done, they would have a proper place to lay.