Chicken coop

July 28, 2018

We have spent a few weeks working on building a chicken coop.  

First we built a base inside the shop, then we added pallet walls....

We put on three of the upper doors, and created our own latches for them, 

built a set of nesting boxes, set up for roosting bars...

Today we put a pressed board roof on it.

We have a lot to do still, but it is taking shape.

cleaning entrance
this side will have roosting bars inside it

side cleaning entrance, opposite nesting boxes

chicken entrance
This will let the chickens out into the field

Nesting box door

Nesting boxes, inside a side door

Inside the coop from the roosting door entrance

My Sweetheart and son spent several days taking apart, digging up, repairing and moving some of the existing fencing. Both to reuse what we had, and also to move it closer to where we wanted it.

The plan is to run it roughly from the corner of the shop to the corner of the chicken coop (with a gate by the shop). The from the other side of the coop to a post that is roughly in line with the shop. It is a little off, because the sturdiest post was a little past the spot we wanted it, but it did not make sense to move it.

Post between shop and coop

Fence Posts, on far side of coop and shop

 Today my sweetheart attached wheels to our daughters bunny home so she could move it easier herself.

Bunny Wheels

Cherries

July 18, 2018

This past week we tried out using the cherries. We did a little Cherry Jelly.  

I read about Cherry syrup that could be used on Ice Cream, Pancakes 

or mixed with soda to make a cherry drink. 

My sweetheart loves Cherry-limeaid so we tried to make some. 

I read you are suppose to cook down equal parts: cherries, sugar and water. 

I did closer to 3 cups cherries, 2 cups sugar, 2 cups water, then after straining it, 

mixed it with equal parts syrup and soda, and the juice of a lime or two. 

 It was a hit so we made more. 

Today the girls picked A LOT of cherries and 

we canned 7 quarts of cherry syrup and put another couple in the fridge.

The cherries are about gone now, but my sweetheart can enjoy it a little longer.

Now I want to try to make homemade cider :)

I guess I will have to wait until fall to try that though.

Miracle turned tragic

July 12, 2018

Today while pruning an apple tree my sweetheart found a birds nest with baby birds in it.

We moved onto another tree to leave room for the Mom to return to her babies in the nest, 

then found this...

Moving on to yet another tree, we made a mistake taking down big dead branches 

above our heads with a rope, and accidentally pulled down a nest with at least three young birds in it.  Two looked ok, one looked injured but alive.  

We didn't know what to do. Everyone says that if you touch them the Mom won't come back, but we have an outdoor cat that is sure to hunt them.  We carefully put the broken nest and some straw in a box, and put the box up as high as we could. 

We tried to find worms but failed. 

We remembered some baby chick food that our agent gave us as a housewarming gift. 

Not knowing what else to /do we poured a pile of that in the corner of the box and hope it helps.

Sadly we may have to have funerals later for the birds.

I feel so bad. If another animal had caught the birds for food it is ok, but we just made a mistake, 

and our mistake may cost three young lives.

Yet another reason, this is just not the best time to prune trees.

We will know better now and will be more careful.

Tragic lesson learned.

Love it and hate it

July 9, 2018

Today and this past week we have worked on identifying some of the plants we have.

We were thrilled today to discover one of the trees seems to be a pear tree! yum!

One seems to be a sour cherry tree. Maybe it is just not ripe yet, 

but Emma and Matt said the very red fruit was pretty sour

I am pretty sure this is a Nanking cherry bush

 (a little like currants, but with pits rather than tiny edible seeds)

Emma says it is pretty sour too.  She likes it.

Now I want to try to do something with these red beauties!!!

I am not a cherry fan, 

but the thought of not trying to do something with this bonus blessing makes me sad!

 (Update July 10, 2018 - We picked a few of each cherries and cooked them then strained them to make this jelly. It doesn't taste 1/2 bad. Not so much cherry as sweet with a touch of sour jelly. 

I plan to make biscuits for breakfast to have with it. So fun that it came from our yard!)

We also for sure have several apples, and one or two that might be crab apples or possibly just another variety of apples. 

I look forward to their bounty in the fall!!!

We are so blessed to have the potential for all this fruit. 

I wanted to plant trees and berry bushes right off, but with time and money constraints,

 we decided to postpone until next spring. 

We did order a few raspberry and strawberry plants on clearance, this past week.

I am hoping that will not end up being a waste of money, if they are dead instead of dormant.

Today I also found the first snake. Yuck, why me? My daughters loves snakes!
I think it might have been a baby gopher snake, but I am not really sure.
 I don't generally want look at snakes enough to identify them.
Even the pictures are kind of creepy to me...
It looked black and white to me.
I thought it was just a branch by a thistle I was going to pick,
until it moved in a definite snake wiggle. YUCK

My son made sure to tell me when yellow touches red, your dead. There was not yellow and red...
Not helpful!
How do I tell if it is a rattler before it rattles and tries to kill me????

Pets

June 30, 2018

After our daughter left her younger sister watching the bunny a couple times, that led to harried hunts in the bushes, then under the car, we decided the bunny needed an outdoor enclosure, sooner rather than later. We built this one. My sweetheart had the idea to make it to both go up against the cage, but also can be flipped over and taken anywhere in the yard to use on its own.

Nutmeg can get to grass and weeds under her feet but also likes treats fed to her. the mesh makes a great holder for snacks.

We have a 12 year old cat that mostly stays inside and has mostly scared off mice in the house, but we wanted a "barn cat." We live in the country, surrounded by grain fields. Mice are a given, but I don't have to like it. Saturday our son chose this cat to live in our shed and hopefully hunt mice for us. He named her Senorita Escondida fluffy pants/fluffita, or Keda for short.

She is a brown tabby and very snugly with our son.