Working on the Chicken Tractor

Today was a fun family Chicken day. We worked on building the tractor as the birds grazed in the front yard. I had been afraid that they would wander off and that's why they needed penned, but now I'm thinking it's so dogs, racoons and others don't get them. The Buffies stayed in the same 8 foot area. Last year we had 4 of our 30 year old ash trees chopped down. Apparently it didn't kill the trees because we have bushes growing from the stumps. The birds found one of the stumps/bushes and claimed it as their own. They would get under the bush, and up on the stump (in the middle of the bush) and peep out from time to time.
They did venture out and take in some weeds and grass (and bugs) from other areas, and would come to the driveway and look at us building their new home.





Here is My Man and The Boy laying out one of the sides.....














And me, stapling the poultry netting down.





UG! Not a lovely picture!!








The Boy has adopted his favorite birdie, Buffy. I saw him carrying Buffy all over the yard, in the wheelbarrow, and I think I saw her take a ride on the razor scooter at one point. Muffy and Stuffy may be going back to their orginal farm this week as I'm pretty sure they are roos and not pullets. So we will switch them out for girls. I don't want to spend a season taming them only for them to become "Chicken n Dumplings." :)






A Boy and His Bird! It's a beautiful thing!!











We ran out of screws for the tractor, so we will finish it up, hopefully today (as long as it isn't raining too hard.) Stay tuned! More pictures on the way!

Two more chicken pics!

I updated yesterday's post to add some pictures of the birdies. Here are two more. I will get some better pictures of them tomorrow. I'm on my way for a double shift at work, but knew you were waiting with baited breath (so would that be fish breath?? OK, not as funny as most jokes, but did I get a grin??) to see a few more pictures.

Strawberries

So this post is WAAAAYYY overdue! I had it in blogger and never posted it! I'm sorry! This should be dated back in June. The Boy and I went strawberry picking and got 14 pounds of the biggest, juiciest berries. Here he is picking out the best ones.















And our 14 pound haul after it was all said and done!
















Then I spent the next two days cleaning berries and putting up jam. I ended up with 14 containers of freezer jam (two didn't even make it into the freezer!) And 12 jam jars of traditional jam. I did have a live and learn moment that I will need to take a picture of for here... So after you water bathe the jam, while it is hot, you put the jars upside down so it will vacuum seal, but then you should turn the jar back over after about an hour while it cools. OK, so I didn't remember to turn them back right side up and all the jam jelled at the top of the jar leaving a 1 inch void at the bottom of the jar. Sigh. Live and learn. I could reboil them and get it back down, but it tastes the same either way right??



















And if my chicken obsession wasn't scary enough :) Check out these two berries I found. One looks like the front half of a chicken and the other one looks like the back. So I put them together so you could see my chicken strawberry! Some people see elephants in cloud, others see trolls in tree bark ;> Me, I see chickens in strawberries. (OK, her head is little, but check out that tail!)

I HAVE NEWS!!!!

Today we got our Buffies!!!

Today (ok, techinally yesterday) was a busy and FUN day. We took a road trip! One of our customers opened a weekend rental log home down in Hocking Hills. Today was their open-house so we went down to support them.

So we spent about 4 hours hanging out and talking with the various folks that came past to see the place. My Man had great woodworking conversations with the man that basically built the cabin, and another friend that does rehabbing of old houses. There were some older folks (one 84!) that have lived in Pickerington their whole life and they had great stories of places I knew before they were the places I knew. The owner of the cabin was the long time milkman for Pickerington. Either he or his dad actually delivered milk to us out at the house in New England Acres. How 'bout that!

Then we started home. They lady that was chick-sitting was right on the way, but when we called no one was home. I called her mom on her cell phone and she wasn't going to be home until 7 pm (it was only 4:30) We decided to get some dinner and head on home because I had to work tonight. She called while we were still at On the Border. Apparently, she didn't get the message I left saying I'd pick the birdie up a different day.

So 5 miles from home, we turned around and hiked it out 20 miles back the way we came to get the girls. They are so pretty! And BLONDE! Like me! They have huge feet (also like me-grin). I figure they must be like puppies and grow into their feet. The mom showed us around her farm and her animals. She has 3 beautiful golden retreivers (also blonde like me!), and about 100 chickens. She raises "Buckeye" Chickens which is a breed started in Ohio and fairly rare to find. She also has 4 alpacas. The Boy got to feed the alpacas and check out all the different birds. My Man was most interested in the 100+ old trees on the property that had a minimum of a 14.5 foot circumference. We put our girls in the box we brought and took them home. They cooed and peeped the whole way home.

Then we introduced them to the puppies. They were so intrigued with the new scent. I'm sure they wanted a MUCH closer look, but I know they really ENJOY chicken so they got to sniff from a distance. We took some pictures, and I collapsed on the bed for 25 minutes before coming into work. WHEW!

As My dear Man said, he needs to buy me a farm for my chickens, which I added, "Yes, lets buy a $250K farm for my $10 chickens!" He also asked that I hold off buying a cow for now. Haha.

Are you depriving your kids? by Jill Cooper Kansas

One of the main questions I get asked about frugal living is, "Won't I be depriving my children if I live the frugal life?" Maybe I can answer that question with a question. How am I depriving my children by having them drink water for every meal instead of juice and soda? Isn't one thing doctors are always complaining about is that we don't drink enough water? Cutting out just one glass of soda per person per day for a family of four would save $547.50 a year and make them healthier.

How am I depriving my children by having them eat an apple or homemade granola bar for a snack instead of a bag of chips? Obesity is a major problem among children in the United States. If you cut out just one bag of chips a week you would save $104 a year and make them healthier.
How am I depriving my children by having them walk to school or to a friend's house instead of always driving them there? Lack of exercise is a big problem. You would save time and wear and tear on your car by having them walk and make them healthier at the same time.
How am I depriving my children when I don't buy them every toy they see and want? We wouldn't dream of giving a baby on baby food all the chocolate that he wants because we know it would make him sick. His body can not tolerate that much chocolate even if he desires it. In the same way, an older child can't emotionally deal with the overload of toys. I, as an adult, become stressed just from trying to buy a bottle of shampoo. Have you ever noticed how many options you have? Trying to make a decision can be overwhelming. Do I get it for thin, fine, dry and damaged, or colored and permed hair? The list goes on and on. In the same way when a young child looks at mounds of toys, he can become very stressed over choosing which one to play with. If you watch, you will notice that they tend to play with the same couple of toys over and over. If you didn't give them all the toys they asked for and bought one less brand new toy at $10 a week, you would save $520 in one year and you would help relieve them of some stress.
It is no wonder our children stay confused. We insist that they should eat healthy yet we take them out to eat three to five times a week at McDonald's. We give them a bag of carrot sticks in their lunch because it's healthy and then give them a bag of chips when they get home from school to get them off our backs.

We want them to have strong character yet the moment they whine or cry for another toy or some candy at the store we give in out of guilt. We are afraid that if we don't give them what they want, they won't love us, so to rid ourselves of uncomfortable feelings we say yes. How can we teach them to be strong in character when we are so weak?

How could our society and way of thinking have gotten so mixed up that we think a child is deprived if a mom chooses to stay home and not go to work? We have come to believe that moms should work outside the home so that children can have the most expensive clothes, education or material things. (Note I didn't say best but rather most expensive since the most expensive doesn't mean the best.) If a mom goes to work so a child can have all those things it's not considered depriving the child of anything but his mom. Which do you think does a child more harm — being deprived expensive things or his mom?

For you stay at home moms: Before you become too puffed up with pride be aware that too many social, church and school activities can deprive your children of you just as much as working. Do all things in moderation.

Cows we're considering..

Dexter
These small cattle originated in southern Ireland in the 1800s, bred by farmers with small holdings in the mountains. The cattle foraged in rough country adjacent to the little farms and though they roamed freely they were known as the Irish House Cow. The breed may have begun by crossing the Kerry (small, fine-boned dairy breed descended from the Celtic Shorthorn, brought to Ireland 4,000 years ago) with another breed, perhaps the Devon. The first Dexters imported to America were not recorded; no distinction was made in those days between Dexters and Kerrys. The first recorded Dexters were imported in 1905.
Today the breed is few in number but there is growing interest in these small, gentle cattle since they need less feed than other breeds and thrive in a variety of climates. Mature cows weigh less than 750 pounds; bulls weigh less than 1,000 pounds. There are two varieties--the short-legged beef type and the long-legged Kerry type, but both can appear in the same herd, from the same matings, and both have good milk and beef production. Most are black, but some are red, and all have horns. Cows give more milk for their body weight than any other breed (including high producing dairy cows). Calves are born easily and grow fast, maturing by 12 to 18 months of age as finished beef.

So I didn't get ANYTHING done....

I went home and fell asleep, and next thing I knew it was time to go to work for my double shift. I love that my family takes such good care of me, but sometimes I have things to do and don't care to sleep the day away. Sigh...oh well, maybe tomorrow. I'm only working a 12 hour shift then.

Mid July???ALREADY?

It's been awhile for posting as we've had tragedy and mayhem in the family. A very good friend of the family died in a tragic car accident leaving our son's 7 year old best girlfriend without her father. We've been doing all that we can to help and My Boy is having some trouble with the loss as well. He has issues with me going to work, so we're trying to work through that. Add to that the other deaths and sicknesses all around...

ON the homesteading side.....we went and looked at "our farm" again on Saturday. Boy I sure do like that place and the more we learn about it the more fitting (not saying perfect!) it is. We discovered this weekend that it has also been "reversed wired" which means that basically if you lose power you plug one plug at the front of the house into a generator and you have power. This is also good because it goes along with my hope to go "off grid" within 5 years using solar and wind power.

The barn lean tos are deeper than I thought so we will have plenty of room for the animals I am hoping to start with, and plenty of room to expand. Plus the orginal barn that has been redone is solid and tight and will be great for equipment and feed. The orginal hay mow is still intact for our hay, and there is a door at the back of the barn below the mow, leading into the animal part of the barn. Our initial monetary outlay is going to be the fences. Wood is expensive, but looks the best. I'd like to do wooden slat fences with wire mesh on the bottoms. We may be able to do it pasture by pasture because I don't think we will get all the animals right off. We will start with the chickens....OH, the chickens are being chicken sitted at the moment...we'll go get them tomorrow, so I should have pictures soon!

Then I think the next animal is going to be a cow. I found a Dexter, which is a great homesteading cow. It tends to be smaller than regular cows and it is considered a "dual breed". Some cows are best for meat, others for milk (just like with chickens and eggs) A Dexter is a good meat breed, and gives about 8 gallons (OMIGOSH) of milk A DAY, and are good mommies. I found one for a really reasonable price that is going to calf the first week in August. I told My Man that she was going to be his birthday gift! HAHAHA!

Well, I will do a better job of posting. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day though. I will be working an 16 hours shift at work and we are taking the first trailer full of stuff to the storage unit (already, I've been hunting for something I already packed!) and unloading it. My Man needs his trailer for the next load of wood for beds. OH, and I have to upload HIS newest creation for his bed line...very cute. He's still swamped with orders, praise God. I just wish we were in the new place so he could work more efficiently and not be so cramped. Soon hopefully. Plus we are to pick up Muffy, Buffy and Stuffy, and a bushel of cucumbers for me to make my first pickles! And I need to pick up other canning supplies too. Oh, and torrow is supposed to be a library day....that may get pushed out. I may not get the supplies done and I may not get pickles actually done until Wednesday, Thursday. On Tuesday, I'm working a 12 hour shift, then on Wednesday, I think I am taking the Boy and his little girlfriend to see WALL-E. Updates tomorrow, I'll do better, i promise.

We put an offer in.....

Now she's going to talk to her kids, and I am going to check with the bank to see if we can qualify for just a bit more than we have. NOW, we have to get this house on the market ASAP!!! So I won't be on much as I try to get everything done. I am praying that I can get the house on the market this weekend...yes I realize that is in two days....but I did take the next two nights off! I'll update when I can! Pray for us, and pray for the seller of the house. Pray that God would quickly send the perfect buyers our way....and if you know of anyone looking for a house in Westerville, send 'em our way!

Love ya! Rea

Sorry for the delay in updating!!

So much has been going on! We have been farm hunting and today...I think we found the place!! HORRAY! We just have some hard things to work through...one-praying and discerning that this is God's will for us. Two-figuring out if our customers will drive the extra 25 minutes north of Polaris to buy beds and Three-selling this house!!! Oh, and FOUR-finding the cash to buy it~! Would you pray with us?

But let me back up and tell you about what has transpired in the past few weeks...we found a property right here in Westerville that had about 4 acres and a huge 30X60 pole building...perfect for my Man's business, but the sellers were less than friendly and we couldn't "inspect" the building without being not only prequalified (we are...they requested we be if we even wanted to see the house) but also either have buyers or a proof of a bridge loan to see the barn again. So, I really don't think they want to sell. We wanted to be out of Westerville since we don't use the school system and they have HUGE taxes.

We looked at another property in Johnstown. Beautiful! We were excited when we drove past that a goat came up to greet us. We called to find out the details and went to go see it this past Wednesday (6/11). It comes with the goat and has an option for the horse as well. Unfortunately the pole building for the business does not have a floor or is insulated. Nor is it on seperate power. What a disappointment, especially for the Boy, as he already had taken to the goat and horse. (He's going to make a great country boy!)

Then today (6/14)..I had found this property on Craigslist (have I mentioned my {hearts} for Craigslist today??grin) back in April maybe? I had told one of my coworkers about it and she asked me if I was getting obsessed because I was constantly bringing it up. Well, it was out of our price range and too far North (I thought) . They lowered the price this week and it looks as though distance wise it is further away, but it's highway miles and takes the same amount of time. It's outside of a little town called Marengo. It has 5.177 acres, and a 1900 square foot ranch home with a full basement. And it is the prettiest house I've seen. I can't imagine living in such a pretty house! It has a 1500 sq ft insulated pole barn, and a restored barn with three lean-tos perfect for animals. The lady selling the farm is beyond sweet! She said she would include her two tractors and the golf cart (!). The Boy is thrilled for not only the space to run, and the woods to play in, but her late husband built a playhouse on stilts (with power) He's already planning sleepovers with his buddies. Course, I'm already planning my fields, gardens and what animals to run where! BIG GRIN!

So I need to get busy decluttering...man, I am such a packrat, this will definately be a challenge! We have a curriculum fair on Tuesday, so maybe I can sell some of this stuff.

Previous plans.....

This is a repost from my private blog...It was orginally written on 4/22/08...so somethings have fallen by the wayside. I haven't gotten the garden in like I had hoped because every extra minute has been spent trying to find a new place and it seems silly to plant a bunch and then leave it. I've reposted this because I have new readers that are not aware of my "slight chicken obsession...." No no, I do NOT have a problem!


BUFF ORPINGTONS!!!
So here they are....Buff Orpingtons...and if you don't believe the name here is a link to go to the hatchery to see....I could not make this up people!!

http://www.meyerhatchery.com/get_item_dobop_buff-orpington-pullets.htm

BTW, in case you wanted to know, but were afraid to ask...a pullet is a female bird, that has not yet matured to a laying "HEN" They are hens once they start laying.We will be getting 3 baby Buffs (second picture) in about a week. They will be Buffy, Muffy, and ahem Stuffy.I will post pictures of building the "Chicken Tractor" as soon as I actually get around to assembling it.I have gotten quite an education on Chickens in the past three weeks....ask me a question...I can answer most of them. If the smell is really bad then you are running them in the same area too much and they don't have enough organic material to eat. If you "free range" them, (A chicken traction is a modified free range because they aren't really free but they are grazing like a free range chicken) you only need about 1/3 the feed as penned chickens and the green material keeps the amonia smell at bay. You can put diatamous earth down and it will kill all pests not only on the ground and not hurt pets or chicken, but you can feed it to the chickens and it will keeps them from getting worms on the inside too! Plus you can put it on your dogs bedding and in the carpet and it will pierce flea eggs and fleas. (We had a really bad flea issue last year, so this is great information!)

So this is what I am doing this summer. If I can't have a proper farm...I am going to "Homestead" the property I have. I am not the only crazy surburban farmer out there either. There are whole forums that I have been reading homesteading.org, backyardchickens.com, and some others I can't think of right off hand. So far....this weekend I dug up about 140 splits of lillies and sold them. I have people coming tomorrow to pick up about 60 more. I may sell about 40 more after that, but then the rest I am going to relocate to another area of the 'farm' to regrow and multiply, so I can sell splits again next spring. Who knew??? In their place right by the front of the house is going to be the strawberry patch. Strawberries are a crop that you plant in a somewhat permanent place because it's the second year that you get the best batch. You don't really plant seeds, and once you have good plants you shouldn't need to buy them again. The "mother" plant sends out "daughter" plants on a vine (kinda like a spider plant) and then you cut the vines and you have new plants. TADA!! There are everbearing which means that they give you a small amount of berries all season long and then there are June bearing, which means...they bear most of their crop in June. All at once so you can put up jam. Which is my plan. I have 10 everbearing, and 20 June bearing plants. They are close enough to the house that we can cover them to keep the birds off. I am thinking that the lilly rizomes that I missed this year will pop up again next spring and then I can dig them out of the patch. That's a good warm patch next to the bricks, and very close to the hose, so we can keep them well watered.


The Boy and I have already started over 30 tomato plants of 3 different varieties, 10 pepper plants, and 12 brussel sprouts. We also have a red potato sprouting for the potato crop, and have started a yam as well. The left rear yard will be the first place we will run the Chicken tractor as we will be planting corn over there. Corn really takes a lot of nitrogen out of the soil, and chicken poo is....nitrogen!! Plus, this is one of the sunniest places in the yard, but somewhat wet too. The tractor is 4 foot by 8 foot and should be in each area only a day or two. So I figure if we get them out there by May 12th and being they will still be little, keep them on each patch 2 days. ...we can plant each patch 4x8= 48 corn stalks. x 2 each week, for 3 weeks. so let's do that math...ummm...288 stalks with an average of 2 ears each. 576 ears of corn...hmmm...perhaps I need a bigger deep freeze. 'course, I will maybe sell some...but mostly, I want to put up food for our family. The seeds will cost about $7, not a bad return. We will also plant POPCORN! Also on that side of the yard we will be planting a "sunflower house." You plant sunflowers about a foot thick in the shape of a box with the middle empty and a space on one side. Then after they are up about a foot, you plant climbing beans and cucumbers between them. Within a few weeks you have a house for THE BOY to play in.

Also already accomplished...this weekend! I posted on Craigslist not only my lillies to sell, but that I wanted to buy blackberry, black raspberry, red raspberry and blueberry canes or brambles. I had 3 very nice folks offer to give me some! So I went out to one guys house and he gave me about 12 red raspberry starts, and 6 blackberries. I have someone else that has black raspberries that I still need to go get. SO....I pulled up my roses out of the weed patch behind the barn and replanted them in the headless goose garden (a whole 'nother odd story!) . Then THE BOY and I wet down about 8 weeks worth of newspapers and laid them out to smother the weeds and grass. This will eventually breakdown, but the roots and leaves from the weeds will become organic material and the worms will work their way up through the papers. Then we haulled 6 loads of compost from the woods. It was all our leaves last fall, but the snow and Chuck the buck and Zoe the doe made the pile into some beautiful dirt!! And dumped it in rows/mounds around our new bushes.


CHECK \/

I need to get a few barrels to start saving rain water for the gardens. I should be able to get a few of these free from a restaurant throwing them out. I found plans online to make them into irragation with a faucet at the bottom. Plus, you can also mount one with a wagon to move about your garden to plant. Now I know you are concerned about the misquitos that will try to live on the top of the water. How will I keep them at bay?? You get feeder gold fish from the store and put them in the water. Now only will they eat the eggs, but the bugs, and alge that starts to grow. TADA! (If you get fingerling (which are the kind you eat) fish...you can grow them all summer and then have them for your table in the fall too! I'm not sure which I will do yet. MY MAN likes wild fish...I prefer them to be square, and breaded with cheese!

The next thing that we need to do is to get the next huge bag of newspapers and get the garden area covered. MY MAN found a bunch of scrap wood for me, so we will likely make some raised beds for the garden, but in the meantime, I can get the beginnings of the "lasagna" garden going. I also need to cut back the asparagus plants and mulch them really well this week. This will be the year that we will be able to get edible asparagus from the garden. Most of the garden will need to go in on May 9th. Although there are some items that can go in now even though the final frost date hasn't come yet. Radishes, carrots, lettuce, onions, garlic can all go in now. I will be doing companion intensive gardening. That is where you interplant companion plants. Some plants LOVE each other, some HATE each other...so if you do this you have to really know the enemies. Garlic is good near roses. It actually makes the blooms smell sweeter, and not because there is stinking garlic nearby. There is something in the allum. So I will have cucumbers in two of the corn patches. Cucumbers are climbers and when they DON"T have fruit they do fine in the sun, but once the fruit starts to set, they need more shade...well, so you plant it with the young corn...both get the same amount of light at first. The cucumbers climb up the corn and then the corn shades the cucumbers when they set...and another bonus is that racoons won't step on the vines, so they won't be raiding your corn! I will be planting both the salad cucumbers and also pickling cucumbers. I am going to try pickling this year. Both sweet and dill.In the other corn patch will be peas....same theory as above. With the tomatoes will be the carrots. They need the whole season to grow. Plus, if you leave them in the ground until after the first frost (actually up until Thanksgiving as long as there isn't a "hard freeze") they actually get sweeter with the cold.We'll have another set of sunflowers with winter squash growing on it. And a teepee in the middle of the garden both for pretties but also to train more winter squash on. We will also have zucchini, pattypan and rolly polly squash. We will only grow 3 or 4 pumpkin plants off to the far side, so they can grown nuts over the fence. There will be a salad garden with spinach and lettuce, radish. The onions will be grown in a seperate area. I will grow both green onions (I like these best) and full size onions for cooking and for MY MAN's hamburgers. I am planning on doing both yellow sweet onions, and red sweet onions. I will grown 1 plant of hot peppers for salsa and also two tomatillo plants. We love our salsa. I will be canning salsa this year too.Then there will be the bean patch....this will equal the corn field. We will have four tractor lengths of green beans, two of yellow wax beans. We will have peas growing with the corn, and climbing green beans too. There will be two tractor lengths of lima beans, harvested early as we prefer the smaller beans. I also want to look into navy beans to dry because we like to have bean soup in the winter time.What am I forgetting....potatoes, which I mentioned. We will grown both the small red boiling potatoes and also Idaho (ok, Idaho by way of Ohio) spuds. We will also do one yam plant, but our family doesn't care much for them so...I also mentioned tomatoes. We will have heaps of these as well. We will be growing yellow tomatoes, plum tomatoes for sauces, red tomatoes for eating fresh, selling, and salsa. We are also going to grow cherry tomatoes.I'd like to plant a pecan tree this year as well. We may not get to get nuts from it because we are looking for another house that has more land and more room for MY MAN's business.

He's backed up a month right now, and doesn't really have room to have more wood than two beds worth. He would do well with more space.Finally, there will be THE BOY's Garden where he can plant whatever his little heart desires.WHEW! Is there any wonder there is dirt under my nails that I can't get out???

Posted by Rea at 12:14 AM

1 comments:
Niki said...
I really like that a lot of this can be done with Z's help. You can turn it into science lessons on chemistry (canning and pickling), botany, biology, life cycles, engineering and many others. Plus it lends itself to art projects, home ec, industrial arts and business.Good job.BTW - i still think you stole the name of your chicken breed from a 50's crooner; not everything on the internet is true.
April 22, 2008 7:34 PM
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First entry...where we are...

Stuck in Westerville! We are looking for a new property for the homestead. We just can't stay in Westerville anymore. Between the neighbors and the high taxes (for a school system we don't use) it's time to go.

We've been looking for somewhere about 20-30 minutes from church / work (for me), within about 5 minutes from a highway (I71, SR23, SR161), with a MINIMUM of 2 acres (I'd prefer 5) with a pole barn / workshop that is about 1000 square feet. And at least 10% less in cost (but you know more is better!!) These are the absolutes. The "nice to haves" is another barn / building for animals, additional acreage, house about 1800 sq feet. Some trees and a fence already in place. A pond and windmill. And boy-howdy if it already had some alternative energy (solar, wind, or a wood fired water furnace) I would be tickled something pink!

So this is what we are praying for. That and that we would quickly find a buyer for our home while it is still FSBO that will pay a fair price, so we can afford a down payment on our dream and maybe a bit left over for paying off debt...or buying a cow!

Yes, my obsession with chickens has now turned to cows. Now that I know I am getting my "mini-flock" at the end of June, I have started looking at all the ends and outs of cattle-dairy and meat. I don't know nearly as much about cows...yet! But I found a really cute one on Craigslist (have I mentioned how much I >heart< Craigslist??? Here she is...


And she matches the chickens!!

I will post what is going on with getting the Westerville house ready to sell and the little "homesteading" things we are doing in the meantime to keep me content....did I mention we made homemade butter to go with our homemade wheat bread??? Hence...the need for a dairy cow.

(Yes, I realize to normal people I seem odd and somewhat insane currently, but I promise....this is normal...are you scared now?)