Thursday Thoughts

When its sunny, it is usually very cold....

Today was a brilliant sunshiney ... and cold.... day. It was minus 9 this morning, but did warm up to slightly above freezing, which made for a beautiful day.

So, just a few goings on.

Chickens:  

A second hen has begun laying, so we are up to two eggs a day. As sometimes happens with young hens, we are getting double yolked eggs rather frequently.  That will sort itself out eventually.  When a hen is ready to begin laying, her comb will change from pale pink to deep red.  All the young pullets now have red combs, so I suspect we will soon be getting half a dozen eggs a day.  They happily ventured out in the sunshine today, staying on the straw i scattered over the snow.

Turkeys: I have dubbed the two young Toms that now regularly visit our feeder as Emmet and Will.  Emmet is a little handsomer I think.  I  felt so bad for them in the storm, that I mixed a banquet of feeds and scattered it under the feeder. I mixed sunflower seeds, sprouted peas, whole wheat berries, dog food, and some leftover cornbread.. oh, and some freeze dried mealworms. They relished everything, except the peas. Those were mostly left in the snow. 

Wild Ducks:

I saw the wild mallard hen again, and this time she was not alone. A second hen was swimming in the river too. I guess they are ok.  

Apple Cider Vinegar:

It smells strongly of vinegar when I walk by the shelf where they are kept.  I wont disturb the jars for another week at least, amd then we will check to see how they are doing.

Barn and Garage Plans:

We are still tossing around ideas, but I am getting really excited at the prospect.... 

There are lots of little tasks every day. I am painting some furniture, choosing paint colors for one room, keeping up with sprouting greens for the chickens, firewood and kindling, making yogurt every few days, dehydrating and vacuum canning various vegetables.

Today, mushrooms were on sale, so I bought a bunch, and will dehydrate them tomorrow and  put them in jars.  Dried mushrooms will substitute for fresh in almost any recipe, and are so easy to dehydrate, and great to have handy at a moment's notice.

Tomorrow it is supposed to snow all day again, so I plan to work inside on some projects.

Weather:cold, sunny, brilliant day.

Wildlife: The ducks... glad to see there are at least two of them.

Training: five mile easy road run.

I am up to 45 pushups.

Galatians 6:5

For each one should carry his own load....

Steve works full time at his job. we laugh that he works to support my farming habit. I am here, and it is my job to oversee the household.  We make a good team.