ChristmasTraditions and our Kindness Elves - First Week

Its Christmas Time again!
Definitely my most favorite time of the year.   


As with many of you, I am always trying to find some Christmas traditions for our family, that are not only fun, but that help me teach my kiddos about the true meaning of Christmas.  We tried the Elf on the Shelf a few years back, but, while fun, didn't seem a good fit.   Last year, because of the move out to the farm, we did only basic decorations, and didn't get to much more then just putting a tree up, and reading the Christmas story on Christmas day.  But this year, I think I have found something that we all LOVE.

Meet the Kindness Elves!

Are they not the cutest!?  I first saw them last year here The Kindness Elves while browsing ideas for our family, but as i said, didn't take the time to put them into action.

This year I took a much closer look at them, and decided they would be a good fit.   Because the original ones are so popular and sold out within hours of becoming available this year, I simply purchased a  bendable doll house family, and added felt hats.  Nothing fancy, but the kids love them.

They are fun, not only because I can use them to make sure we get all the fun things in that I want to do for the holiday season (bake cookies, read Christmas books, give gifts to the neighbors), but because I can also have an elf for each kid, and have each one do some separate kindness (leave small notes under their siblings pillow, do brothers chores today to help him out...).

Here is a look into what we have done so far:

To start out, on the first of December, the kids received this in the mail..

Then, the next morning, they woke up to find a small elf door has appeared, along with their elves and their first kindness activity:  Work together to build gingerbread houses.  The Elves even brought the supplies!

The Kids were soo excited!  They picked out which elf must be there for each of them, and couldn't wait to get started.  

Next day, the elves showed up with new cookies cutters, and instructions to bake cookies that could be later shared with the neighbors.

Day 4, The elves found the craft drawers, and wanted the kids to make notes to go along with their cookies, and to deliver the cookies that afternoon.

Day 5- Our elves asked the kids to make sure the house chores got done quickly, so that they could then play quietly while mom prepared for the birthday party that was going to be the next day ;)   They brought along some fun new seek and find books for the kids to use to stay out of the way...

Next day, we were actually celebrating #3 and #4 child's birthdays, so the Elves showed up with small gifts for the birthday kids, and another small package of gifts that the birthday kiddos were told to share with everyone.  (I forgot to get a picture)

For day 7 - The Elves showed up with markers, and color pages.  It was time to make some special cards for the mail lady, and package them up with some Christmas cookies to leave in the mailbox as a thank you surprise.

I believe I am having as much fun with them as the kids are!  I made myself a calendar so that I could write in "elf ideas" as I though of them, and make sure they lined up with our schedules for that day...

Today, the Elves showed up twice!  They came after naps,  letting the kids know that they were going to be going to see some Christmas lights, and that they needed to be extra kind to each other while getting their hats and gloves gathered together before 5oclock tonight. :)

Can't wait to see how the rest of the month turns out!

If you want to start a similar tradition, check out this blog, it has fun ideas on kindness tasks for your elves to do each day.


How about you?  What are some of your Christmas family traditions?   I would love to hear!


Blessings,

#allmanfamilyfarm

Let's Get it Done.

Wondering what's been going on lately around our funny farm?   The last week has proven to be fairly productive.

Maybe it is the cooler weather that has spurred us into finishing up our to-do list, or maybe it is just that Jeff has been home more often again, but either way, we are making a dent in the list!

First off, get the chicken run up...FINALLY!    We have an amazing neighbor who said he would lend us his tractor and post hole digger, so I ordered in the necessary fencing materials, and had them delivered out to the house.  Turned out that the timing was perfect.   The next day (Sat)  was a pretty nice day for this time of year, and not only did Jeff have the day off, but my dad and brother were able to come up and help out as well!  What a blessing!   We measured out the space, marked the ground where we wanted the posts, and fired up the tractor.  

William just loves riding in the tractor, and isn't that other guy a total hotty!

First two holes went in so nicely, we were on a roll....until the third hole.  It didn't matter how much we pushed, pulled, and drilled, we could not get a hole deeper then one foot deep.   When you are trying to get a three foot hole, that is a problem.   

We talked about it for a min, and decided to continue on and drill down as far as we could on each hole, and then fill them with water to soak as we went along the line.   About the time we got around the first time, extra help arrived (my dad and brother).   It is a good thing they came.  Even after soaking, those holes were no easy thing to drill.   For the last few it took all 3 guys ( I got to run the tractor!)  leaning on a post they had tired to the auger to get the holes in, but we did it!   

 

Little Leverage....Little More.....All three! 

While the holes were being drilled, we started putting in the posts.  Of course we had to have a little fun while working!

Just making sure the holes are the right depth mom!

  We ended up getting about half the post put into the ground before we called it a day.   We were all tired and sore!   

Over the next couple days we worked on the fence.  The rest of the poles got put in one day, then the H-braces cut out another.  Got the braces up, and finally, the fence itself!    

Actually, we still have some work to do on it.  We are having special gates made so they are the right size to fit.  Once they come in, we will finish tightening up the fence, install the gates and THEN we will finally be done.   For now though, my chicken ladies are safe from those pesky coyotes! 

Sorry for the poor photos, but here are the chickens, out enjoying their new space. 

Along with the new fence, we also have several other things going on.  We got a new batch of chicks on Tuesday, 70 of them actually! As cute as always.

  Some will replace the chickens we have lost to coyotes, but many of them we will raise this winter so that come spring when people are looking for layers, they are ready to go.  

We also thought that we would be having puppies in the near future, but an x-ray today shows that to not be the case.  We were all a little sad at the news, but will probably try and breed her again when the time comes.   

And if that isn't enough babies for you, we will be getting baby pigs TOMORROW! Six of them :)   We will probably keep 2 for later breeding, but the other 4 will be for supplying our family with delicious meat.   I just LOVE sausage ;)   I will get pictures as soon as they arrive tomorrow afternoon.   Oh, and if you were wondering what happened to the other pig we were going to add to our farm family, she is still on the way.  She just didn't breed as expected, so we are waiting for her. Hopefully she will join us in the next month or so.    

And the last bit of exciting news?  Looks like we may be having baby bunnies in the next week or so.  not totally sire, but mamma bunny is getting awfully round in the middle, so Matthew has high hopes of baby bunnies in the near future.   We will keep you posted.   

I think that about wraps it up for farm news.  Our family is all doing well. Kids keep getting bigger, as does my belly!  This week makes 20 weeks pregnant, so we are half way there.  Maybe we better start thinking of names.  Nah, we still have another 20 weeks before we have to do that!  Actually, I think in the state of Wyoming, you have about a year before you actually have to name your child, so I have a long time to figure it out ;)

Thanks for checking in with us.  Hopefully I will be writing again soon, to tell of more news.  

Greetings from some of the animal crew

Blessings!  

#allmanfamilyfarm

Molting Chickens? What's that, why should you care, and What you need to know as a Farm Fresh Egg Consumer.

Fall means cooler weather, beautiful leaves, campfires, and, for chicken owners, it can often mean the beginning of the "molting season"

What is molting?  Simply put, it is the process of those beautiful laying hens shedding off old feathers, and growing in new.   This is a very natural part of the chickens lifecycle, but it can be a messy, lengthy, and "disruptive to egg laying" event.  Each chicken has about 8,500 feathers.   Some birds will looose them all, making them look very much like the cartoon chickens who finds herself embarrasingly naked.  Most of the time however, they loose feathers in patches, making them look extremely ragged and unkept.

Why should I care? After all, I'm just the friend that buys the eggs, I don't have anything to do with the chickens!    While you might not have anything to do with the chickens, molting season means you may have to take a break from those farm fresh eggs for a while and buy.. *GASP*  store bought eggs!   While chickens are molting, they use up huge amounts of the protiens in thier body to make new feathers. Because of this, they often don't have the nessesary exta proteins and vitamins to continue laying eggs during the molting process. So for a few months, generally in the fall or winter, but it can be anytime, they stop laying altogether, meaning no yummy eggs for your friend or farmer to pass your way for up to 6 months (though thankfully usually only a month or 2) !



Can anything be done to speed up the molting process?  I LOVE my Farm Fresh eggs, and can't believe I might have to buy some from the...  *gulp*... store! 
Most chicken owners are aware of the molting process and do their best to aid their chickens thoughout the processs.   By changing thier food rations to be higher in protein, adding in extra sunflower seeds, mealworms, and other high protien foods in moderation, (too much can cause liver failure) the molting process can indeed be helped. However, each chicken is an individual, and handles molting in a different way.



So what do I do while these chickens are molting?   First, be patient with the farmer.   They are missing their eggs as much as you are, and will start selling them again as soon as they can.   Secondly, take a deep breath, and prepare to make no new egg dishes in the forseable future because you just might not be able to force yourself to buy those dull, uncolorful eggs from the store... ;)

P.S  to all of our personal customers, no need to worry yet. Uur chciekens shouldn't go through a full molt until later, maybe even next fall (usually they are around 18months), and by then i should have younger ones to take over the laying so that you can continue to enjoy your fresh eggs.   However, chickens are a bit unpredictable, so I promise to give you a heads up if I feel you might need to prepare yourself for a few weeks of store eggs!

Thanks for checking in! Until next time, blessings to you!

#allmanfamilyfarm

#chickenmolting

#whyshouldicareaboutmolting

Newness

I'm sorry it has been awhile since my last post.   Summer has been busy, A lot more busy then we had planned.

I know many of you follow this blog just to keep up with what is new for our family and farm, so lets do a quick recap of the last few months.

June

*  The boys and I finished up the nesting boxes for our chickens and got them installed into the coop.

*  Coyottes got into our birds, and we lost 4 of our ducks, our Guinea, and about 10 chickens :(

* Our littest kiddos were in my Sister-in-laws wedding, are they not the curtest!

*  Started gathering our FIRST EGGS!

 *Older four got to go to kids camp at our Church for a week

*Started gathering enough eggs to begin a regular delivery system.  Set up drop sites in town, and got eggs to some happy customers :)

* Had fun with the farm animals

* Made it to the park for play dates and fun!

JULY

Started July off with tuns of fun.  The kids and I spent the fourth at my parents house, playing in the hottub, sliding down the slip n slide, and setting off some fireworks.  It was a beautiful day.

Later that week, we got the shippment of  30 new chicks, and 8 more ducks that we had ordered to replace the ones that the coyotes had gotten.   When they came in, the kids and I were just as excited as we were last time.   They were so cute and adorable!  

We cleaned up and rearanged the other side of the barn, and got it ready for the new babies

Once the babies were settled, it was time to focus on our youngest.  He was turning 2!  Because of his love for Minions, we decided to go all out and do a minion party.  It was a lot of fun.  I can't believe he is already two!  Slow down little man!  In honor of his birthday, we all dressed up in minion shirts and went to see the new minion movie that actually came out on his birthday.  Always fun when you have that many kiddos LOL.

The rest of July was filled with Cheyenne Frontier days activities, animal chores (and house chores) , parades, BBQ's at friends, Playing in the creek, and the fun news that we have decided to add a bred Berkshire Pig to our farm.   Her name (as decided by the kiddos) is Pepper and she will be joining us in the middle of August, and should have a litter of adorable little piglets the middle of Nov!   

 














 





August 

August has also proven to continue to be full of surprises and fun.   Our second daughter Kristi turned 9 and got to have a roller skating party with her friends.

We took all the kiddos down to the fair in loveland to watch my father in law compete with his stock dog, hearding sheep (or goats) around the pen.   After that was done, we hit the bouncy castles, had a HUGE shaved ice, kettle corn, and then spent the rest of the day haging out with Jeff's parents at their house.  It was a lovely day.  

We also acuared a sweet little pot belly pig.  Her name is Petunia.  She came to us via a friends, and has really settled in here.   The kids all love her, and she has taken quite nicely to the goats.  She loves to be pet, and her little tail wags just like a dog's when she is happy.   

Other then that, the animals continue to grow, as do the children.  Michael lost his first top tooth, due to a collision with his sisters head, the kittens are becoming quite the little mousers, the ducks give us all laughs, and the girsl and I have had some great times in the kitchen both cooking and cleaning.  We really do love our life.   

Oh, and one last surprise before I go......

Yup, looks like we will be adding another one to our crew.    And before you ask...

No, we weren't planning on more

Yes, we do know how this happens

Yes, we are excited for the baby

No, I don't really want to be pregnant and fat again lol

Yes, we love having a big family, and 

 YES, we know God has a plan for this baby (just as he does with all our kids), and we are excited we get to be apart of teaching a training him/her up to serve Him.  

Blessings to you all

#allmanfamilyfarm