Long Days and Short Nights

I know I've been posting a lot of school related posts and curriculum reviews lately. Much of the science and curriculum posts were written a while back, and lately, other than a few review products we're enjoying... school has been the farthest thing from our minds. We do take a pretty good break from May Day to Labor Day. This week all of the local schools are starting up, and I am SO thankful we aren't. This summer has gone fast enough!

The theme of the summer seems to be long days and short nights, and not just because the sun stays up later than in the winter. I don't know how year-round schoolers do it, frankly! From garden bounty to can, to summer sports and fairs, we haven't had a break!

In June we had baseball and softball. With all four kids playing, we were at the ball-fields 6 days a week. Most of the games ran from 6-8, but some from 8-10... or back to back and we did 6-10! We had practices called off for snow, and games in 100 degree heat. It was a crazy time. The final games finished up the day before the 4th of July. We celebrated the 4th by climbing the local landmark, Scott's Bluff. It was a 3 mile round trip in the dark, but watching the city fireworks from the top was totally worth it. I just shouldn't have worn my sandals.

The next weekend was our 13th anniversary, and the local parade. The following weekend we had my in-laws as houseguests and Tyler's 12th birthday. The weekend after that we enjoyed a visit from my cousin Andi and her boys, and we hiked the Bluff again. Only two days after they left, my brother and his sweet wife and son came to stay for a week. It was a wonderful time, and of course... we took them hiking up the Bluff. ;) That put us well into August.

The day after they flew home we began the county fair, and spent an entire week driving across the county to care for our animals at the fairground.  The week went quickly and we tried not to miss a thing. Tyler and Emma both participated in Poultry Showmanship, Breed Showing, and Market Showing. Mayda participated in Cat Showmanship and Poultry Showmanship. Wyatt behaved himself very well considering he was bored and tired most of the week. :)

Finishing out the weekend was another great visit from Hubby's folks, and they got to watch the kids in the 4H auction! Wrapping up the fair by attending a concert with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band really topped it all off. And all the while all I could think of was: "Would it be crazy to cat nap during a super-loud concert?" I was SO tired!

In June we had to completely replace the motor in Ben's truck, and are only just now getting caught back up on those bills. Due to the crazy ball schedule, my garden nearly died of neglect, but it's finally coming around. I put up my first batch of jelly, and can see salsa season coming right around the corner.

The kids really pulled out all the stops and helped put up 200 ears of corn on Monday. Emma did all the blanching herself, and Tyler did all the cob cutting. That left me with shucking and bagging. They are getting to be such a great help! And did I mention my hubby butchered all the fryers the day the fair ended? That Grand Champion Cornish Rock is now in the freezer in an unmarked gallon freezer bag.

All this isn't to complain, but really just so I can write it all out, and remember later why we didn't go camping this summer (although our camper turns out to be a really handy guest cottage!).

And to be thankful... for all this!
The health to enjoy it.
The energy to accomplish (9 miles of up and down the Bluff in less than 30 days!).
The garden to enjoy.
The chickens to entertain us.
The cool nights.
The hot days.
The generous friends.
The cousins and family visitors.
The neighbor dogs we pet-sat. (all 6 of them, from 4 households!)
The beans replanted.
The weeds pulled.
The clothes we get to wear and enjoy. and wash. and dry. and fold. (maybe)
The sunsets we photograph.
The sunsets we savor.
The hugs and snuggles.
The late night conversations.
The early rising sun.
My early rising son.
My Father whose grace is enough.
A woman mentor who helps me see how to fill up, so I can pour out...
    and pour and pour and pour...
The farmer's markets.
The special granola orders.
The wonderful rains.
Beautiful flowers.
The flood in the basement from a freshly burst pipe.
The basement floor now nice and clean.
The guests coming tomorrow, and Saturday, and Monday...
The great review products we've enjoyed.
Our love for each-other.
The sweet spot of parenting (kids old enough to help and care, young enough to like to be with us!)
The anguish on my knees.
The friendships mourned. missing.
The friendships beginning anew.
The loneliness that draws me to my Father.
Enough stuff to get us through.
Of late nights.
And early mornings.... where His mercy is new.

All is grace.
<3



©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

WW: County Fair

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@ 5 minutes for mom

©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

Late Season Fryers

This year we will be taking fryers to the fair. We have some cute layers too, but the fryers will be our bread and butter, pardon the pun. :)

This year only meat birds can go in the auction ring. The 4H auction is where the kids earn the money for caring for their animals all year round. They manage their money, and it's been a GREAT learning experience. In previous years we have auctioned off a pretty looking hen, but this year, the cornish cross get the spotlight.

These chickens have been bred to grow fast, and to make a lot of meat, not for beauty. They routinely outgrow their feathers, just because they grow SO fat and fast. Even so, they are cute in their own way. This year we are raising 10. Last year we had 115 (but earlier in the season, just for meat), so the 10 feel like no work at all. They have become Emma's main chore, and she seems to be loving it.

Read about last year's meat birds (more recent post to oldest):

• Chicken Processing - and a fried chicken recipe
• Chicks' New Play Yard
• One Month Old -Fryer Chick update
• Chicks - 19 days old
• Chicken update - 12 days old
• Chic Pic
• Chicks are here!
• Waiting on [chicken] Babies

©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

4-H fun at the Fair

This year the county fair wrapped up our first year with our very own homeschool 4-H club. It was a year for learning the ropes and for having fun in the process. It was our second year showing rabbits and chickens, as well as the kids first year in photography. It was also Mayda's first year participating in Clover Kids! Emma received a purple ribbon for showmanship and Tyler took a silver medal. They both got purple ribbons for their photography and took blues for their animal breed classes.

With the help of 4-H curriculum ,we studied several fun subjects: fishing, trees, poultry, rabbitry, photography, and more. Other subjects in the works for our club include: woodworking, electricity, cooking, and heritage studies.

We also attended the county fair out east where Ben's folks live. The kids had a ball riding the rides and enjoying a typical midwestern county fair. It wouldn't be summer without it.

Processing Chickens and a Fried Chicken recipe

Recipe First:

I used a Food Network recipe from Paula Deen, but of course I tweaked it a bit. :)

Ingredients

3 eggs

1/3 cup water

About 4 Tbs hot red pepper sauce 

2 cups self-rising flour (I used bisquick)

1 package of crushed saltine crackers (my addition)

1 teaspoon pepper

House Seasoning:
1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder
Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

1 (1 to 2 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into pieces

Oil, for frying, preferably peanut oil, but I used Canola with good results

Directions

In a medium size bowl, beat the eggs and mix with the water and enough hot sauce so the egg mixture is orange. In another bowl, combine the flour, crackers, and pepper. Season the chicken with the "house seasoning". Dip the seasoned chicken in the egg, and then coat well in the flour mixture.

Heat the oil to 350 degrees F in a deep pot. Do not fill the pot more than 1/2 full with oil.

Fry the chicken in the oil until brown and crisp. Dark meat takes longer then white meat. It should take dark meat about 13 to 14 minutes, white meat around 8 to 10 minutes. With mine, it was dark on the outside before the inside reached temp (these chickens were thick!) so I put them in the oven and baked them until they finished.

We weighed the chickens at 8 weeks old and they ranged from 6-9 lbs before processing and about 4.5 to 6.5 lbs after. We found a grocery sack and a fish scale worked really well for weighing. The last week of their life the 110 chicks were eating about 75 lbs of feed a day! Not to mention they ate so fast it made them hiccup! 

Here are all the posts about this flock (newest to oldest):

Chicks' New Play Yard

One Month Old -Fryer Chick update
Chicks - 19 days old
Chicken update - 12 days old
Chic Pic
Chicks are here!
Waiting on [chicken] Babies

So we finally finished processing our Cornish Chicks. We did 80 the first weekend (6 hours) and 30 the second weekend (3 hours). With all of the families who helped with the cost of the chickens also helping with the butchering, it went pretty well. I can't imagine if we hadn't had all this good help. We found a few things really made a big difference. One was getting the water temp exactly right for dipping before plucking, also the mechanical plucker was a wonderful tool, and a good pair of game shears (heavy duty scissors) worked well for removing the tail, legs, wingtips, etc. Brown paper covered all the tables for cleanliness and easy clean up, but wasn't so slippery as plastic would have been. My hubby is so smart, that was his idea!

After everyone left, we de-boned/separated 11 of my birds before freezing, since I knew I would use them more than whole chickens. When you do that many, it goes pretty fast once you get the hang of it. Here's a video... not amazing, but it will give you an idea.

The Chicks' New Play-Yard

At 5 weeks old, the Cornish chicks are pretty well feathered out. I find that they aren't as smart or as quick as the layer type chicks, but they can be trained to do just about anything for food.

Bunched up at night to sleep.

When they arrived in the box all 100 fit into a 2' x 3' square, and the brooder felt enormous at 6'x12'. Soon they outgrew that, so we put the layer chicks (25 of them, plus 15 Cornish chicks a week younger) in the brooder. We gave the Cornish chicks full range of one wing of the barn, and they certainly love the space, except at night when they bunch up. 

But the whole purpose of raising our own meat chickens was to get healthier meat. So while I'm thrilled about the non-medicated feed my local grain supplier mixed up for us, we still wanted these little guys to get out, forage, and enjoy fresh air. This week they were finally feathered out enough, and the weather has been plenty warm for them, to enjoy getting out-doors in the daytime. 

So Ben built them a sweet pen off the wing of the barn, and we opened the "hog-door" the first morning with the feeders outside and waited for them to run out. 

No. Way. This was new and scary! They wouldn't go out, even though in the mornings they are "starving". So we set them out by hand, all 100 of them. That night we set them back in through the door as well. 

The second morning they knew the food was waiting outside and as soon as we opened the door, they rushed out. We only had to help about 30 out the door. That night about a third went in on their own, and we had 2/3 to put in by hand. 

The third day we were predicted to have record high heat, and we worried that the sun would be too much for them ( I can cool the barn with fans).  So we didn't want to put them out... but this time they rushed the barn door as we went in with feed and some escaped. They ran around the corner to their pen, trying to get through the fence to get in! They knew where the food should be. Silly birds. 

Today was cooler and they enjoyed going in and out of the barn from the hog door, enjoying the safety of their pen, and the comfort under the chokecherry tree. Now if only I could train them to all go in at night, like the laying hens do. Until then, I shall continue to tuck in my baby birds one at a time, by hand. :)

~~~~~

Here are a couple fun pictures of the new laying hens:

Rhode Island Red

a Dominique

Other Chicken Blog Posts:

Chicks' New Play Yard

One Month Old -Fryer Chick update

Chicks - 19 days old

Chicken update - 12 days old

Chic Pic

Chicks are here!

Waiting on [chicken] Babies

Linked up here:
The Chicken Chick!

One Month Old - Fryer chicks update

One month old on the left, and one week younger on the right.

The Cornish Chicks are one month old today. They have been on the fryer feed (pellets) for about a week now, and have gone through about 3 bags of it so far. Before that, they were on un-medicated chick starter/grower, mostly because it came in "crumbles" and they couldn't eat big pellets yet. I have a set of chicks that is exactly one week younger, and they are still on the crumbles. Hopefully everyone (except the layer chicks) will be off crumbles by the end of the week.

Don't forget, here they were about 10 days ago:

chick on right is 19 days old (other is 7 days younger)

and the week before that:

chick on the left is 12 days old (other is 7 days younger)   

Related Posts:

Chicks - 19 days old
Chicken update - 12 days old
Chic Pic
Chicks are here!
Waiting on [chicken] Babies

Wednesday Chicken Giggles

Mayda is walking around the house with a Cornish chick on her shoulder, referring to him as her pet parrot. (privately she told me, "He's a Fryer, I feel bad for him")

Chicken update - chicks are 19 days old

Yes, I know I post a lot about chickens. But they do represent 92% of the population on our farm right now... Soon we will be eating chicken and the numbers will fall in line a little better. :)

Here are a few of our older bunch:

our Black Australorp Rooster

The Rooster was showing off...

                   

dust baths are an important part of life

I'm out! nanner nanner!

checking for eggs

showing off the Rhode Is. Red wing feathers

And for the finale, remember these Cornish chicks from last week?

12 days old on the left, 5 days on the right

12 days old on the left, 19 days old on the right!

Related posts:

Chicken update - 12 days old
Chic Pic
Chicks are here!
Waiting on [chicken] Babies 

Chicken update - 12 days old

This chicks we ordered were hatched on April 16th, so they are 12 days old today. This week we began restricting the diet of the fryers (Cornish Rocks), so they wouldn't overeat and kill themselves. As you can see, these chicks are bred to GROW... and eat and grow they do! For comparison: here is a chick that I got from the feed store that is exactly one week younger.

12 days old on the left, 5 days old on the right!

The chicks are feathering out pretty well, and soon the Cornish will be able to venture out of the brooder to the area of the barn that will be their home, which will be about right for the laying hens (20 weeks to maturity, compared to the 8 weeks to maturity for the Cornish), to move to the brooder, as they outgrow their basement play-pen. :)

Cornish

We think we have identified our mixed lot of laying hens as: Dominiques, Black Stars, Rhode Is. Reds, Buffs, and a single Leghorn. We'll see how right we are as they grow. :)

Laying hens

Related posts:

Chic Pic
Chicks are here!
Waiting on [chicken] Babies
Early April 2012 Spring Garden: Cabbage, Broccoli, Dill, and Radishes
2012 Garden, Part one: Cold Frames, lettuce, and potatoes

Counting my Blessings:

#82 School year done

#83 Bowling fun

#84 only lost 2 chicks out of 140!

#85 getting a few new chicks at the feed store

#86 finding devotional encouragement after feeling SO strained and drained

#87 the blessing of being home with my children (my favorite people)

#88 freedom from my allergies, a gift from God!

#89 rain

#90 cool breezes

#91 planting cucumbers

#92 free kindle books

#93 kids who read, and read, and read!