Too Cold for a Picnic

As I wrote in an earlier post, I am building two children-sized picnic tables for my school's fundraiser, which occurs in February. Out in the Green Barn, I have a nice workroom, complete with all of my tools. However, right now I have a brooder taking up 50% of the floor space, and it is really cold out there! So, I got out my little portable propane heater and lugged everything I needed into the garage. It wasn't much warmer in there!

I cut all of the pieces with my chop saw and then took the first pieces to assemble into the family room so I could figure out how to assemble the table in a warm place. Who writes instructions? It seems as if the person writing the directions for most of the things I have had to assemble has never put one of the things together, or doesn't speak English as a first language. No offense intended to anyone out there.

Here are a few shots of the project:

My favorite construction pencil. I stepped on it.

(you could tell that already, couldn't you)

Great inventions. I love my blaze orange square. It's hard to misplace.
I have seven tape measures. I guess you could call that a collection.

The table taking shape. I don't know what I needed the flashlight for.
Maybe I was looking for a pencil.

Hey, that looks like a picnic table! I don't know how it will look when finished.

The moms of the third grade are planning on decorating it somehow. Maybe they'll paint it, or just stain it. The battery in my portable drill died before I could tighten all the screws, so if you look closely on the table top, you can see a few of the screws needing attention.

I am getting a yen for some warmer weather. Anyone want to join me for a little picnic?

News

With the help of our school district's foundation, I was able to purchase this incubator. It is the Hovabator Genesis 1588. I also purchased the automatic egg turner. Now I have both natural and mechanical egg hatchers!

This is what the automatic egg turner looks like:

(Both photos courtesy of Home and Barn Basics Web Site)

I'm so excited about having this incubator as now I can hatch out my own chicks at a considerable savings. Two fifth graders in my school approached me about hatching chicks for their science fair project. Normally, Michigan State University is a great source for fertilized eggs, but they are in the process of changing their available breeds and they would only have white leghorns available. However, Angelo, who is the manager of the poultry farms at MSU referred me to his boss' parents, who happen to own and operate the Eagle Nest Hatchery in Ohio. I immediately called them and spoke directly with owner Kay Karcher, who walked me through all of her available breeds. With Kay's help, I decided to order fertilized eggs of 12 Rhode Island Reds, 12 Black Sex Links, and 12 Light Brahmas. All three of these breeds will lay nice, big brown eggs and the roosters (which I am expecting at least 18) will grow into 4-6 pound fryers in a short time. The fifth graders are especially goofy about the name Black Sex Link. The reason they are named that is they can be gendered at the time of hatching because the hens are all black and the roosters have some white or gray on their heads. These chickens are also known as Black Stars, but the fifth graders are leaving the original name. (The things that make us giggle!!)

The fifth graders will oversee the entire process and they will be in charge of the incubator, which with their teacher's permission, will be located in a quiet place in their classroom (is there a quiet place in a fifth grade classroom?). They are planning on setting up a twenty gallon aquarium with a heat lamp to display 5-10 of the newly hatched chicks throughout the duration of the science fair.

My insanely jealous third graders are only appeased by my promise that they will be able to name a chick, hold them and cuddle with them before they head to their home in the green barn.

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More School News

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Each year, my school holds a Family Fun Night. This is a fun-filled evening of free games and food and also an auction, which is our PTO's main fund-raiser. Every year, the teachers each donate a special item, like lunch with your teacher, or in my case, Gym Night for 20 kids. We eat pizza, brownies, Skittles and then play fun games in the gym and/or outdoors, if the weather cooperates.

This year, I am also offering a "Farm Basket" of goodies from our farm. I'm not sure at this point what I will put in there, but it will include eggs, blackberry jam and syrup, Crab apple jelly, grape jelly, tomato sauce, apple butter, apple sauce, and anything else I can coax out of the ground. I want to make soap like Kim over at Achorn Farm, and would love to paint like Laura over at Laura's Watercolors, or make fabulous jewelry, like Gwen over at Desideratum, but I think I'll stick to more basic things.

I did, however, find the plans for a fun looking children's picnic table and am planning on building two of them to auction off. I was thinking about painting them white and then decorating half of the table with MSU (Michigan State University) colors and the other half with UM (University of Michigan) colors.

Drawings courtesy of move.com.

I may have to build some more of these to have around the farm!

If Broody is successful with her first hatch attempt, I will have chicks this Wednesday or Thursday. I will let you know next week how that goes.

And the Winner is...

This week I offered my Lucky Horseshoe I have hanging over the door to my chicken coop. I found it on a shelf in the barn basement and hung it up to keep all the luck for my chickens and my barn. In the spirit of the season, I wanted to pass this along.

I had a "random selector" narrow the 31 entrants down to 3 and the winner is...

Carl Humphreys Sr.!

Congratulations on your amazing, world-class prize!

I want to thank all of you who come and visit me. It always makes my day to interact with you.

Thank you...

Happy New Year to each of you!

Woodland Pond

One of these days, I'm going to do something with this cute little pond. Right now, I mosey around it, looking at the tracks in the mud, startling hundreds of frogs, stepping over the poison ivy and in the spring, I search for (and find!!!) morel mushrooms.

When it gets dry in August, it is the only water I know of around here and the loads of wildlife take their turns drinking. Right now, they can do that in secret, because the pond is completely surrounded by brush and little trees. Maybe it should just stay our secret.

I have had thoughts that range from clearing most of the small trees and brush from around it, to building a little summer screened house (more like a deck with a roof and screening) so we can sit/eat/sleep out here without a gazillion mosquitoes constantly fighting over drilling rights.

I also have had thoughts of cutting a path that winds around the pond and allows us a nice little walk through this woods. This means a "to the death" battle with poison ivy. I actually have a little patch of poison ivy on my foot right now!




This is prime morel territory. By spring, the leaves will be packed down and more deteriorated, and the morels will push their way through this clutter so we can see them! MMMMMMM, yum!



If you look closely in the middle of this path, you can see a deer trail heading to the water. I basically followed their path to the pond and I mow this regularly.


Speaking of poison ivy, take a look at this thick vine growing up a large poplar. It is a poison ivy vine. It is over an inch across and you can tell by the hairy look that it is poison ivy. It goes up the tree about thirty feet and has its own branches sticking out. I'll probably take my saw and cut through this sometime this winter.

Do you have any poison ivy stories?

My dad tells a story about one of his employees, who was a botanist by training. Apparently, my dad and this botanist, let's call him Tim, were walking through a potential building site and my dad pointed at a vine and said, "Watch it, that's poison ivy!" Tim, said, "Nah," "poison ivy doesn't have berries. I think it is a winterberry." My dad, who knows just about everything, stood his ground and said, "I know poison ivy when I see it and that is poison ivy!" Tim said "bah" and picked a berry and popped it into his mouth and began chewing. He immediately spit it out and said "It isn't winterberry." About ten minutes later, Tim began complaining about his throat and after a few more minutes, my dad was rushing him to a hospital for treatment of a severe case of poison ivy that almost closed his entire throat down!

Changing of the Guard

Quail Update

As many of you may recall, I hatched some Coturnix Quail in my third grade classroom last March. After a week-long stay with my students, I took them home to the farm where they have been living contentedly and laying 9 eggs per day, almost without fail. Well, I was thinking about winter coming and making plans for survival. I came to the conclusion that I needed to do a little down-sizing. I put the 9 quail hens in a Freecycle ad and immediately received five or six responses. I contacted them to see what kind of situation they each had and I chose a family with five young children who live on a little farm in the next town over from us. This family came over and the children were all googly-eyed over these little feathered bundles. They each caught one and gently held it and placed it into the carrier. The little girls were already coming up with names; "mistletoe," "twinkie," and "featherball." The boys looked at me and said, "That ain't what we're namin' 'em." That made me laugh, because the boys had been talking up a storm and none of them talked like that!! (poor grammar, I mean).

I will do another "hatching" in my classroom again next spring, but this time I will hatch chicken chicks. Here is a link to the types of eggs Michigan State University offers at their Poultry Farm. They provided me with an incubator and the eggs hatched exactly on the day I requested! Any ideas as to what kinds I should get? Maybe Angelo (Farm Manager)would give me a mix! I'm leaning towards the Light Brahma breed right now.

I gathered the last batch of quail eggs and dedicated a little breakfast to them. I made a little omelet with cheddar cheese and some salsa. The heirloom tomato was still warm from the morning sun. Coffee with cream on the side!!


Out with the old and in with the new!

The hens started laying this past week and the eggs are mighty good!! The yolks have a strong orange color and are full of flavor. They are a little on the small size right now, but they'll get bigger as the hens mature. The brown one is from a Cuckoo Maran and the white one is from Floozie, the Buttercup. The quail eggs are on the left side!!!


School starts tomorrow

Oh yeah! I have a job. Tomorrow marks the beginning of my 10th year as an elementary teacher. I started a little late, and have been trying to catch up ever since! I have 26 students with names like Naomi, Max, Caleb, Cruz and Varun. It's always exciting to start fresh, but I'm starting to feel a little jittery!! What's up with that?!

Freecycle

Yahoo has created a unique way to give things away and also receive things free. Freecycle has been around for a while now and it has hundreds of local "groups." I belong to the Mid Michigan Freecycle Network and I have been able to give many things away and also acquire some good stuff, all for free!

Things I gave away:

Nice telescope
1950's portable kitchen table and 2 chairs
A lot of perennials
Older pots and pans
Reese hitch
3 Roosters (2 Cuckoo Marans and an Ameracauna)
Quail Eggs (I gave these to a nice lady who loved my chickens)
Laundry sink
2 Lazy Boy style chairs

Things I have received:

Ice cream maker
Wood stove for Ruth's studio
Nice telescope (same one I received! I wasn't using it)

I highly recommend this as a way to recycle your stuff that is collecting dust, and also as a way you can get some stuff you need/want.

You can post either a want ad or an offer ad. Everything is free. The people I have run across have all been "salt of the earth" kinds of people.

I encourage you to click on the link and take a look. You are able to check right away if there is a local group for you to join. You may need to open a Yahoo account (free). You can then go and look at the messages that have been posted and find out if someone has something you'd like, or maybe someone is looking for something you would like to get rid of.

I like the idea of this, and I support it!

Found Objects

Over the years we have acquired things that we have found. I'm sure you all have stuff that you have found. I would love to see yours! Or at least hear about them.


Hand Pump

I found this in the milkhouse of a former little farm we owned, and I just couldn't leave it behind. It was not hooked up to anything, it was just standing in a corner behind some old boards. I would love to get it working. Does anyone have a working hand pump? How difficult is it to get this thing operational. I know I can call the local well company and they would gladly drill a new well for several thousand dollars, but is there an easier (cheaper) way?



Log Jack

I found this simple, yet useful tool out in the meadow here at our farm. It was near a pile of wood someone had cut many years ago. Maybe it started raining, or the woodsman (woman) was called in for lunch and got distracted. Who knows, but I feel fortunate to have found it and use it whenever I cut logs with my chainsaw. It would make a great gift for that special woodcutter!

The Cutter

This old wind vane is an action figure. When the wind blows, he saws the log. It needs a little TLC, but it still works! I found this in an old corn crib underneath a fence at the same previous farm. The stick he is attached to is a hand-made handle from one of Ruth's father's rakes. I have the rake part hanging in the tool shed. Gwen could make these. (She probably already has!)

What's he looking at?

Wheelbarrow

This old wheelbarrow was next to the green barn underneath a tangle of blackberries, (it also had three old, metal wagon rims lying around it). Ruth has put it to good use with flowers.

Look at the way the wheelbarrow was assembled. It makes me think it was homemade. I think the tire needs some air or something.

Watering Trough

This was in the basement of the green barn. I used it as a brooder for the quail this spring and it did a great job. I would like to find a use for it. Anyone have any ideas? The bottom is not in great shape and has a large rusted hole in it. It is 2' x 4' and about 17" deep.

I have other found stuff: old doors, windows, wooden sled, etc.

What have you found that you treasure?

Tag I'm it!

I’ve been tagged! Ali at Henbogle tagged me to share six random things about me, and then tag six others.

I actually enjoy reading what people say about themselves.

So Here are my six random things:

1. I was "Baby of the Week" on the Soupy Sales television show in the 1950's.

2. I like (no, love) to eat potato chips after 9:00 pm.

3. I went to seven different elementary schools as a child. Springfield Elementary, Pleasant View,(twice) Burbank, Edison, Marycrest, Plymouth and Huntley. Not a military brat, a Kmart brat. My dad built most of them in the midwest and we followed the stores.

4. We have lived at our farm longer than any home since we married, (5 years). We've been married for thirty years! (I think this is our 13th place)

5. I don't like clothes. Ruth and I will go clothes shopping for me and I will hold something up and ask, "Do I like this?" She inevitably shakes her head.

6. I graduated with honors from Michigan State University. However, the first time I went to college, which was right out of high school, (Univ Wis at Oshkosh), I had a 1.26 GPA after two semesters. I LOVED TO STUDY!

I’m tagging:

chickengirl at chickengirl This is a creative and energetic young lady who has a great outlook on life. She also has lots of great stories. She raises White Silkies.

Stiggy at One Man and His Chickens Stiggy is transforming his property and himself and allows us an inside view of his life in England.

Tammie at The Unusually Unusal Farmchick Tammie is a young Hippie. She is a Homesteader and is having a great life. She lets us in on all the ups and downs of life on her farm. Lots of creative and ingenious ways to make things and have fun.

Sandy at Through a Dusty Lens Sandy is a California girl with lots of artistic ability and good insight into the world around her.

Paula at The Fraker Farm Paula has a great life and is so good at sharing her stories with us on her blog. She has hens that you won't believe!

Loring from Icono-Curmudgeon-Clast - Loring Wirbel's Rants Loring is one of the most knowledgeable people on the internet. If you read his blog, you will become smarter and better informed. He also has a great sense of humor and a lot of wit.

I could pick on many more of you. If you feel left out, believe me, you will get tagged very soon. My apologies if any of you have already been tagged for this meme.

Tag Rules:
Link to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on the blog.
Write six random things about yourself.
Tag six people at the end of your post.
Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Let the tagger know when your entry is up.