Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The Talented Husband of Mine




 Our chickens were attacked by a dog, this is one that survived.  Dr. Byrd fixed his broken leg, yet another use for Duct Tape!  The leg doesn't want to heal straight, but I think he'll survive.  Now he can add broken chicken legs to his animal fixes, once I had to hold the cat so he could stitch up a wound she received jumping on the fence.
 His green house is bursting with green, just waiting to be planted, it's just amazing to me. Left to me it would all be brown.
And his pea trellis he just built. I love it, so do the
peas,it's only been a couple of days and they are
already crawling up it. Soon it will be covered and
you won't be able to see how cool it is......

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Feedbags And More Feedbags

 I started making market bags out of our old chicken feed sacks, when my friends saw them they started saving all of their similar tough plastic feed bags for me too.  I think I'm almost done with the last 15 I received, and  I know there are more waiting for me........
 I think I've given all of my friends one, and now I have them listed on my Etsy shop.  I have chickens, dogs, cows, bunnies, birds, it's crazy, who knew there were so many different kinds of these plastic bags.  I find that I am shopping for chicken food by what's on the bag, and if I have it already!
My biggest problem I've noticed is when I go upstairs in my craft room now that most of my stuff is stashed in one of these bags......I keep thinking this one is cute, I'll just keep it for me.......I think I best start using them for gift bags next.

Monday, May 16, 2011

How Does Your Garden Grow?

 I have the ultimate "brown thumbs", even my dad who had a fantastic green house quit giving me plants because I'd end up killing them.  We don't have any house plants, and I dread getting one as a gift, because I know it will be dead the next time that person comes to visit, and it will probably still be sitting where I put it all brown and dead the next time they come over. Fortunately for me my husband has 2 perfect green thumbs.....our new place has a huge fenced in garden area to keep the deer and other critters out. It has raised beds that were begging to be planted. It also came with a small green house that hadn't seen anything green in a long, long time.(Looks like I had been taking care of it)  My husband has been ordering and starting seeds, tilling and planting in the raised beds, and now we are starting to see results.....
 The starts in the green house are just about ready to get put into bigger pots or the garden itself.

 I don't go here, I'm afraid everything will turn brown if I step inside the fenced in area.....
 A neighbor gave us some rhubarb starts, I'm really hoping we'll be able to eat some of this, this year.
The raspberries I can handle, I cut out the old vines without managing to kill the new.......maybe there is hope for me yet.  I can't wait to pick!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Chick, Chick, Chick

I didn't think I liked chickens. The last time I was around them I was a teenager, they chased me, they are mean, and boy are they stupid.So, of course the husband had to have chickens on the mini farm. But, in his defense he has had chickens before, so he knows what they are all about, how to take care of them, and most of all he's not afraid of them. And he built a fenced in area for them and me. Our first batch of about 19 were so pretty, and not mean at all. It worked out great, we let them out to run amuck and at dusk they go into their pen to roost for the night, how easy is that. I did not realize though that I had to keep an eye on them when they were out. Within a couple of weeks of this routine, I was home alone, the chickens were out, and I was in the house minding my own business. Frank got home from work to find dead chickens all over our 2 acres, it was devastating. Some dog had come into our yard to chase and kill chickens. Some had escaped across the street to the neighbors house, one had gotten on a branch across the creek (Frank had to put his waiters on and go rescue her), but over half of our flock had been killed. And of course we had company coming for the week-end who showed up in the middle of all this commotion and aggravation. It was absolutely heart breaking.
Now I am older (by a month), and wiser, this will not happen on my watch again, plus I have a shotgun by the back door. Now we only let them "free range" for an hour in the evenings. We have bought more and have hatched 7 in one batch and 3 in our latest batch. And guess what? I am NOT afraid of chickens, we have a ton of fresh eggs, and they are absolutely hilarious to watch because they really aren't very smart, just entertaining. I have not passed the insanity on, so the grandkids love them too!

Monday, May 2, 2011

Wrap it up!

I've been wanting to try crocheting the pineapple pattern forever, it always seemed so daunting though. And it's true, once you get the hang of it, it's really not that hard. It was actually kind of fun, since every row is different until you complete a pineapple. Now, I'm addicted to pineapples!

Here are two of my latest "pineapples":

(Sorry, Janice, got your eyes closed...) This tank top was featured on Knit and Crochet today, and it was so fun to make, I've made 2 already. It's made with a cotton yarn, but it seems kind of thick, but a thinner thread almost seems to have no shape, but I think the finished top looks great.

I've been holding onto this gray cashmere yarn for a few years now, I was planning on making me a sweater with it, but since that never happened I used it for this shawl. I found this pattern in a book that was given to me for my birthday this year.

I love how this came out and the cashmere makes it feel so nice against your skin.
That's Kodiak sneaking in the bottom there.............Both pieces have both been listed on my Esty shop. OH! And I had my first sale yesterday!!