Rain, Clouds and...Dirty Eggs

Remember that last post where we had been super productive and got a lot done....ya, nothing else has really gotten done since.

Not for lack of motivation, more because of this crazy Washington like weather.  I truly don't think we have had but a glimpse of the sun for the whole month of May, and I am not excited about it.   Don't get me wrong, i LOVE the rain, and I don't even mind the snow.  It is the lack of sunshine that makes me grumpy, and this week has been the worst.

Just look at my driveway!

 and my muddy dog!

We are all restless, even the dog!  Well, I guess I can't say all.  Our ducks are having the times of their lives.  They LOVE the weather.  As soon as a few drops of rain fall from the sky they come running out from wherever they were taking a rest, making a bunch of noise, and waiting for more rain to fall.  They are quite funny, and we find pleasure in watching the out the window.

Thinking about it now, I guess we have gotten a few things done, I think the clouds outside just make my thinking a bit foggy.


We were able to work more in the "garden".  The boys and i took the compost pile, (old cow poop!) and spread it out over the area that we planned on making the garden this year.   We had quite a good time doing that actually, and got really good at flinging poo over our heads and onto the surrounding ground.  It may not sound like the most desirable task, and it wasn't without its incidents, but we were laughing, brushing poop out of our hair, and having a marvelous time!

Then, thanks to my amazing inlaws who gave us their rototiller, My hubby turned that field into a much smoother and less grassy garden bed :)  It is starting to look so nice!  Just waiting for the weather to clear so we can get the fencing around it to keep my chickens out, and my tomatoes and such can be planted!  It is always such an accomplishment to see your plants in the ground. Can't wait!

 

 

Also, the older boys helped me put together the bottom part of the nesting boxes for the barn.  There will actually be three of these stacked together to give plenty of room for our ladies to lay their eggs.  We had to hurry up and finish, as the rain started up again just as the last screws were being put in, so it hasn't gotten painted yet,  but we went ahead and put it in the chicken coop so that the ladies could check it out and be comfortable with it.  Only a few more weeks until we start getting some eggs!  I am just a little bit excited!!  Ok, maybe even a lot excited.  I even put a countdown timer on our FB page so that I can know how long until we will have eggs to sell. Yup, just a little excited. 

Speaking of eggs, if you are going to be buying any from us, then you might as well know right now....

I DO NOT WASH MY EGGS!  

Yup, that right. If you are getting eggs from us, they might just look like this...

See those little brown specks, those are probably poop, shavings, or feathers.  I know, gross right! 

Let me explain.   God gave eggs a natural coating on the outside called the "bloom"  in order to seal the pours and keep potential baby chicks and their environment clean and safe.

Because of this coating, bacteria has a hard time getting into a dry egg. Pretty neat right?!   However, any washing removes the bloom and allows air and bacteria to be drawn inside the egg, shortening its "life"

Unwashed eggs will last at least two weeks (we have had ours last over 4 weeks!) unrefrigerated, and three months if refrigerated. On the other hand, washed eggs need to be refrigerated, and will last about 2 months, but still wont taste as fresh as an unwashed egg of the same age.

So, In order to keep our eggs as fresh as possible, we leave the washing to you :) I recommend that you simply wash them right before use. This will keep them fresh and delicious as long as possible, while ensuring little bits of "whatever" do not get into the yummy things you are making.

Does that mean that you are going to get eggs that look like this?

Absolutely not.  We work hard to keep our nesting boxes clean and dry so that the eggs come out as clean as possible. But, should we ever get one like this, I promise to remove the big chunks, because, well, that IS just gross! :)


Blessings on you this week!

  

www.facebook.com/allmanfamilyfarm      allmanfamilyfarm@gmail.com

Lovely day

People often ask me how I like living on the farm, and I tell them quite honestly that I LOVE it!.  I love the space, the freedom, the open sky, the views, the animals.... everything about it (except maybe the wind?)  But today was one of those days that make living out here even better.   The sky was clear, and the sun was warm.  There was as light breeze blowing. Just enough that it made you want to turn your face to the wind and just enjoy it as it swirled your hair away from your face.   Heavenly.  

It was also the type of day that made you want to get everything done at once.  This time of year, you never know what tomorrow, or even the next hour, is going to be like.  It can be sunny and nice in the morning, snow in the afternoon, and be 70 degrees all the rest of the day.  So when a nice day comes along, you learn to take advantage of it.  

On the bucket list for our day:

Pens cleaned out

Barn cleaned out and re-organized 

Chicken nests cleaned with new bedding

New outdoor enclosure for the goats

Fencing for the garden

Barn painted

House clean, laundry ( i know, not outdoor things, but they still have to get done)

Area around the house cleaned up

Lilac bushes planted

Snowball bush planted

Grass watered

Yard cleaned up of toys (and dead mice! Penny is an excelent mouser, but likes to bring them for you to see)

Pictures, picture, pictures!

I am sorry to say, not everything got finished.  But we did get a good portion of it done or at least started.

Pens got cleaned out

Goats got a new little hut

One side of the fencing for the garden got put up

 This was my weight training for the day.  I had to pound in 5 7 ft t-posts BY HAND!  No fancy post pounder.  Just me standing on a chair, hefting this hammer that weighs at least 5 pounds, up in the air, hammering away at the posts until i got each one over a foot into the ground.   I'll tell you what, by this summer I am going to have some fabulous arm muscles!  

Lilac bushes got planted

Yard was watered

Children Got watered :)

Snowball bush planted

A few more things stashed around the outside of the house found their proper homes.

and ONE SIDE OF THE BARN GOT PAINTED! WAHOO! 

Aren't my helpers just the cutest?!  I certainly think they are.

Yup, I'm feeling pretty acomplished right now.  And tired.  Ok, mostly tired, verrry tired.  It is a good thing I know someone who makes this wonderful muscle salve........

Oh, and pictures!  I did actually get a chance to snap a few while we were out today.  

 William helped us paint for a while (as evidenced by his shirt) but when he started to paint the dog, we stuck him in the pen with the goats instead.  Which he loved.

 Just starting to open their eyes

 Are they not just adorable?  I think we have 3 boys and one girl, but it is a little hard for me to tell at this age.  

 

Our handsome (and noisy) Guinea. Katie asked me who spilled paint on his head. LOL

Little goats sharing a meal 

Smiling Chicken 

Doesn't she just look happy?

Resting 

I also took a few video clips of the kittens.  The second one is my favorite. What a great mommy.  

which is your favorite?

Mamma decided I had had them out long enough! 

And now.. I am off to bed!  Blessings! 

Improvements

I am such a slacker when it comes to blogging! So many things have been going on, and the weather has been *mostly* getting nicer, that by the time a have a moment to write, I would rather sit and do nothing that requires thinking.



But, we have so many fun things happening right now.  

Where to start...  I think the first thing we finished up since the last post was our chicken coop.  Well, I wouldn't say it was finished, but it is getting better.   We took the chicken run from our big chickens, and drug it over to the side of the barn.  It didn't fair well during the move, and we ended up taking a lot of it apart, and kind of re-doing it, but we got it up. After it was up, the boys and I worked on cutting out a small hole for the chicks to use to get outside.  We made it so that when the door opens it becomes a ramp for them to walk down.

It is so fun to watch them the first time you introduce them to the outdoors.  They are completely afraid of it.  A few of the braver ones peek their heads out, but it took a couple hours before they even ventured out onto the ramp.   Even the slightest noise will send them right back in again.  It has now been over a week, and they are just now starting to go our farther then a few feet from the barn.

Because we are not yet sure how we want the final layout of everything, we didn't make the run permanent, in that we didn't put the corner posts into the ground, but just have the whole thing sitting there so it is easily mobile. This is good, because even now we have decided to change it around a bit, but doesn't leave it looking very impressive. lol  That's ok.  We are more about functional right now then decorative.

I guess i don't have many pictures of the chicken run, but if you look to the right of the barn, you can tell it is there :) and on the roof is Katie, helping her dad out with the shingles. I love watching my kids help there daddy!

Another Improvement we have been working on is there to the left of the barn in the picture above.  

We fenced in that area and along behind the barn in preparation for this little guy. Meet Chocolate Chip, or as Heidi calls him, Chip:

 Aren't they both so cute!

Only one problem. Chip can jump over the fence!  Yup! But thats not even the whole story.  

The first day we brought him home he slipped though one of the holes.  We spent over 30 min chasing him around our otherwise unfenced property trying to get him back in.  If you have never chased a goat, you have no idea how quick and nimble they can be, especially at this age.  He would dart past us and take off toward whichever direction we were not. We tried standing still and calling to him, we tried food bribery, we tried waving our arms around and making loud noises to scare him in the direction we wanted him to go.Nothing was working very well.  We would just about get him back to through the gate, and he would take off again.   He was determined to figure out where we were hiding his mommy, and was non to sure about these new people of his.   After dashing back and forth and finally recruiting the help of every kid available (even william) we were able to herd him back to where he belonged.  That night, because we were afraid he would get out again, and until he became familiar with us, he spent the evening in the barn in our big dog kennel.  The next day, we went to work on the fence again.  We put up more panels staggering the wholes to cut their size in half.  We also wrapped chicken wire around on the inside to make it harder for him to squeeze through.  We thought we had it. He was more friendly with us now, so we brought him out to the pen, and watched as he ran around a little, and then settled down to munch on his food.  YEAH!  Or not.  He is fine in the fence, as long as a human in in there with him.  As soon as you walk out the gate, he starts crying like he is dying, backs up a bit, and takes a running jump right over the fence.  Oh well. at least he is friendly with us now and doesn't try to run away anymore!  So he spends his evening in the dog crate in the barn, and during the day gets to run around with the kids.  I am hoping once we pick up these cuties next week, he will be happier to stay in his pen.  

If anyone wants to bottle feed a baby... these will be bottle babies for a few weeks.

One more addition to our farm family has been made, much to Kristi's absolute delight.  Meet Checkers.

She is going to be our barn kitty.  We picked her up from my parents, and the really fun part is that she should be having kittens any day!  She is an absolute sweet heart.  She already is friendly with the goat, and doesn't mind Penny much at all.  She leaves our chickens alone, and just sat and watched the ducks today when we put them out.  LOVE HER!  Kristi has waited years for a cat, so she is extra special to her.  This morning she went out early and hadn't returned by breakfast.  I sent Matthew out to find her, and he came back saying she was fine, and that Checkers had fallen asleep on her lap, and she didn't want to wake her up, so was just sitting out there petting her.  

It is the moments like that that make me love farm life so much.

Oh, speaking of ducks, since that nice new pen isn't being used by the goat, we decided to move our ducks out there and put in the swimming pool for them.  They weren't too sure about coming out of the barn at first, but after we caught them and put them in the pool, they had a blast!  It is so fun to watch them as they play and dive and splash in the water.

Oh, and I almost forgot to introduce you to our newest chicken friends. Meet Gizmo, Stripe, and Mohawk.  

(sorry, my picture wont load right now. I will update it soon. but i promise they are cute!) 

I think that is about all the farm excitement lately. On another note, if you could pray for my father-in-law that would be great! He ended up in the hospital for the last month due to a fall. He suffered a spine injury and nerve damage. He is improving and should be coming home on Thursday, but it will still be a long healing process. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time... blessings to you!

The Barn

So it is after 10:00 in the evening, and I should totally be going to bed, as we have an early morning tomorrow, but my hubby is gone for the night, and I just can't seem to get to sleep.  So what better time to blog right?

Want to know the big news around here? WE GOT OUR BARN UP!

It isn't a big barn, more like a shed, but thats ok. It is perfect for what we need right now.

We ordered a kit from a local lumber supply store, and decided to build our own, instead of ordering a pre-done one.   No problem right?!  We could totally do this!

Pre- building day:  We had the store alter the plans from a 12x20 barn to a 10x20 so that we wouldn't have to go through the permit process (anything 200sq ft or less does not require a permit) This seemed to work fine.  We asked them to deliver everything to our house Friday morning to save us some hassle, and we recruited my mom and dad, younger brother, and an unsuspecting friend to help us out.   All was going according to plan.

Day 1 -

My family arrived about 10 oclock with a trailer full of goodies.  A Skid Steer for moving dirt and anything else we needed it for. Extra saws, saw horses, hammers.... We were ready to work!

My boys loving the chance to drive around in the skid steer

Problem 1- No barn.  It was supposed to be delivered about 10. By 11 we still hadn't heard from the delivery people.  Ok, well then, since we had nothing to do while we waited, we decided to move some of the asphalt that we were using for our driveway to make a nice building site for the barn. We had the boys get out the level, and they made the building site nice and even all around.  That turned out nice!  Now if we do get a lot of snow/rain, we wont have to worry about it being soggy under the barn.

 Problem 2 -Still no barn.  By 12:00 I had just decided that we would go in for lunch and I would call and see what was up when the delivery truck showed up! Yeah!  Now we could get started.  We watched him unload everything, signed for the delivery, and then went to eat real quickly so we could begin.  

Problem 3- They didn't send us the right supplies.  Somewhere in the altering of plans, they messed up the supply list, and didn't send us all the boards we needed to build the floor! Hmm.  We got the skids laid out, and then spent probably another half hour trying to decide what to do about the floor.   Thankfully, my husband showed up about then, and helped make the decision.   Now we were REALLY ready to start.

The next part of the building went pretty quickly, for beginners.  We got the floor done before my family had to get home for the evening.

one last piece needed...

Day 2 -

Saturday morning, we we back at it again.

Problem 4 - the missing wood.  Because they hadn't sent us the right supplies for the floor, we had used up other supplies that should have been used for the walls, so now we were short wall lumber.  Hubby and I spent an hour going over the plans, and he put a list together of what we needed to get.

While he was working on the list, I was busy trying to arrange for my parents to pick up some ducks from a friend in town on their way through Cheyenne to our house, to save us both a trip.  Then, since they were already stopping in Cheyenne, and we now had a list of supplies we needed, I called them again to see if they would pick up the lumber on their way through as well.  They agreed to both.  Aren't my parents AMAZING! :)

Also, my sister joined us to help out for the day!  I love my family :)

So, once again we got started on the building about noon. This time though, we had a better idea what were were doing, and we had the right supplies.   During the next 6 hours we build 4 walls, 11 trusses (the beams for the roof), and got them all put up just as it was getting too dark to see.

Day 3

Went to church and when we got back, my parents and sister were already here, working.  They had one panel up on the wall, and it was so fun to see it coming together. Without too many hitches, we were able to put the plywood on the roof, get all the siding put up, and make/hang each of the doors! Come sunday evening, we had a usable building!

We still need to get shingles on the roof, and paint and trim, but we can work on that next weekend... for now we are happy that it is up :)


Oh, want to know the second most exciting news around here?!   MY HOUSE DOESN'T"T SMELL LIKE A BARN ANYMORE! YIPPEE!

Monday, Matthew and I put up a half wall inside the barn, and made space for the baby chicks to FINALLY get out of my house.  Seriously. they stunk. Even when I cleaned the box, they stunk lol.   But not anymore!  Well ok, they still smell like chickens, but my house does not.  

Oh and remember those ducks my parents picked up for me?  We introduced them to our own Little ducks we had gotten on Friday (which i was going to blog about and ran out of time), and they became instant friends!

Today, we took them out to the barn as well, and introduced them all into the chicken coop.  I wasn't sure if the chickens would be nice to them, so we sat in the barn and watched them for about 30 min.  At first the chicks tried to pick on them, but the biggest one soon realized she was bigger then the chickens and kind of became the mamma duck.  She kept running the chicks off anytime they got to close to the others, and by the time we left the barn, they were all happily enjoying the same space.   Another win for our farm LOL.  

Here are all the birds in their new home.  We will get a door put in on the inside, and chicken wire up so they can't fly out as they get older. Then we will add roosts for them to sleep on, and nests for their eggs.  Also, once they are used to being outside and the weather gets a little nicer, we will add little chicken doors so they can get outside to free range :)


So whats next? Probably fencing for our milk cow that we are hoping to get next month. Oh and did you hear?!  You can now LEGALLY buy fresh milk from a farmer! No more milk shares.  So if you are interested once we get our cow..... ;) Oh and we ordered about 200 little trees to start our windbreak, so if you get bored anytime in May and want to come plant... maybe free eggs and milk would entice workers?!