Baby Chicks, Turkeys and Ducks!

Baby cornish cross chicks, turkeys, laying chicks and ducks. They have plenty of room, they're just all huddled together since I was taking pictures of them.

With the weather trying to get warmer, it's that time of year ~ BABY CHICKS!!!

Last year, we raised a few heritage breed turkeys and they were delicious! We decided to raise 20 Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys this year, yes, for meat. We also have 33 Cornish Cross chicks, for meat.

In addition to what we're raising for meat, we added 3 little Khaki Campbell ducks (for their eggs and because they're so cute) and laying hen chicks- 4 red-sex link, 2 Americaunas, 2 Brown Leghorns, so far. I'm picking up 2 Faverolles next week and possibly 4 Black Copper Marans- they lay the really dark chocolate colored eggs, with maybe a couple cross Maran/Americauna for olive egg layers.

While we've had issues with predation, especially with the laying hens, we've been extremely successful with raising poultry for meat. We really don't eat much pork, except for bacon. We do buy that from a local grocery store. We do the best we can with what we have. I would love to buy a pig from a local farmer this year (because we do like pork!), and a lamb. But for now, we have chickens and turkeys to raise. And our 3 little ducks!

Nixall

Nixall is Seriously Clean stuff!! It's the Anti EVERYTHING- bacteria, virus, and fungus. AND, it's NON-TOXIC, safe to drink!! They just received the EPA/FDA results that they even kill CRE! You know, the superbug invading hospitals that makes MERSA look like a mild cold. Yep, it kills that & MERSA by the way!


There's also loads of practical in home uses. Here are just a few:

Can be taken internally- great stuff to really kick illness, colds, flu, virual or bacteria based illness. We will put Nixall in a humidifier and put Eli in his play tent with the humidifier so he's breathing it in when he has allergies/cold/cough. We call it his "Nixall Tent"

Veggie and Fruit Spray to helps them last longer. We've had strawberries last for up to 2 weeks by spraying them with Nixall

Air Deoderizer- just spray. You can add Essential Oils too, if you wish

Preservative for Liquid Soap Nuts

Diaper Pails

Any type of Skin Rash, including Diaper Rash

Stinky Dogs- including ones who have been "skunked". Will take the skunk smell away within minuets

Smell of Smoke


The company has Veterinarian reports of using it successfully with Parvo, both in disinfecting facilities and treating infected dogs (giving it internally).

Wounds and burns, even sunburns.

Staph and MERSA- We have a friend who used it to successfully treat a staph infection she had in her eye.

Poison Ivy, Sumac, etc.

Black Mold- yes, the nasty stuff. Use Nixall full strength for this.

This is my MUST have for my home!

Bug Repellant and Bug Bites

It's that time of year again ~ BUGS!!! Here's what we use for bug repellant and then, if we forget the bug spray, we have the bug bite cream. It is possible to be outside without all the chemicals and toxins!

Bug Repellant

Liquid Soap Nuts- click here for more information on where to order, how to make, etc.
You can add various essential oils for repelling bugs, but liquid soaps nuts work just fine without any EO.  Some EO I like to add include: cedarwood, lemongrass, tea tree oil, catnip, geranium eucalyptus, lavender and peppermint. This isn't a complete list of bug repelling oils. Citronella is one as well, but I really don't like the smell. Neem oil is a great bug repellant, but oh, the smell :( I save that smell for the garden, away from me!

Bug Bite Cream

This is for those times we forget the bug repellant!

Green clay powder
Apple Cider Vinegar

Mix together to create a paste. Dab on bite(s).

Simple and effective itch relief.

Additional Summer Solutions...

Nixall is AMAZING stuff! Click here for more information and ordering.  It's a 10:1 dilution with water (10 parts water: 1 part Nixall) so one quart will make 10 quarts!

Here are just a few uses- focusing on Summer Uses:

Poison Ivy relief- just spray on infected area several times a day. Relieve itching and clears it up fast! Milo got into hemlock and got a really nasty rash which was quite resilient. He used Nixall on it anytime it started to itch. It did take awhile for that rash to clear up, but it did and with minimal itching.

Wound care for scrapes/cuts/burns- including sunburns- Just spray on affected area. Eli is constantly scraping his knees like any active 4 yr old should be in the summer. We just spray him down. It keeps the affected area from becoming infected plus promotes healing. I've personally used it for sunburn relief. It instantly takes out the sting of a burn- sun or let's say, hot broth splashing on your arm. Yes, I did that one too, ended up with a 2nd degree burn OUCH! But with Nixall, it cleared it up within days.

Ticks- The ticks are BAD this year! This isn't a "proven" use for Nixall, but it's what we noticed. When I spray myself down with Nixall, I don't get ticks. When I don't use Nixall, I find ticks on me. Also, when I have a tick, I spray it with Nixall- they have either backed out, or been very easy to remove.

Preservative for Liquid Soap Nuts- with the 10:1 dilution rate using liquid soap nuts, Nixall will act as a preservative, keeping your solution from going bad.

Frugal Green

I always hear people say it's so expensive to be green. I am so confused by that because we do it because it saves us money!! Then I realized why some think it's so expensive. They haven't discovered the world of DIY.  Have you seen the cost of "green" products! YIKES!! So, I'm starting a Frugal Green section, showing how easy and cheap it is to be GREEN!

Here's a list of home products I make:

Laundry soap
Fabric Softener
Shampoo/Conditioner
Lotion
Deoderant
All Purpose All Purpose Cleaner- including mirrors/windows
Air Freshener
Lip Balm
Hand salve
Body Wash
Bug Spray
Bug Bite cream- that sounds kind of funny, if the bug spray worked then why would I need the bug bite cream, lol!! The bug spray works WHEN WE REMEMBER TO USE IT!!
and soon, toothpaste- just waiting to finish up the commercial toothpaste we have

It seems as though I make more of our stuff, but that's all I can think of for now.

If you would like to start stocking ingredients for upcoming recipes, I HIGHLY recommend these products:

Soap Nuts from Green Virgin Products- great price, great product. Most of my cleaning products have liquid soap nuts as it's base. You don't buy liquid soap nuts, you buy regular soap nuts and then make the liquid. It's easy, I promise. You just have to be able to boil water.

Nixall- anti everything. great disinfectant.

Baking Soda, Vinegar, Liquid Castille Soap, Borax (optional), Various Essential Oils

I use Emulsifying Wax for my lotion. Some people take issue with emulsifying wax. If you're one who does, then you won't like my lotion recipe. If you don't and want to make awesome lotion for literally pennies for commercial lotion, then I recommend buying Emulsifying Wax from Mountain Rose Herbs. You might want to also pick up some beeswax while you're at it.

Containers: I've tried reusing my old spray bottles, but I think there's a conspiracy for the spring in the sprayer. They always seem to break. It's like they know you're not going to buy the commercial stuff anymore and they don't want to participate. I don't even have luck with the spray bottles in the cleaning section, the empty ones that are supposed to be for cleaning and should last. They don't. The best spray bottles I have found are in the laundry section at Wal-Mart, with the irons and ironing boards (I know, Wal-Mart). They are 16 oz. and work for more than just a couple of spritzes. Also, they're a dollar apiece. We use them for all kinds of things- well, water based things that is.

Natural Brew

Back in August a good friend told me about this Natural Brew Recipe. It sounded like pretty potent stuff! It's an Anti-Bacterial, Anti-Fungal AND Anti-Viral concoction. We made some up and the results have been short of miraculous. Anytime we feel something coming on, we take an eyedropper squirt. By morning, it's gone. A good friend had a serious sinus infection (she was so swollen from infection, she had black eyes). We gave her some and told her to take it every 15 min. She was infection clear within 2 days- whereas any other time she's been that sick, she's ended up in the hospital. We joke with her that the hospital bill would have been at least $20,000, so she can write us a check for $10,000- a savings of half, lol!!

Here's the recipe of this little concoction:


Equal parts of

Grated Horseradish root
Grated Ginger Root
(these 2 things really do need to be grated, everything else can be coarsely chopped in a food processor)
White onion- It needs to be white, they are hotter than the other onions

Habanero Peppers- I wouldn't do too much to them other than drop them in the food processor whole, you will be straining them later anyway. If you do want to cut them up, please be sure to use gloves.

Garlic

Put everything in a glass jar. Fill with Apple Cider Vinegar until covered by about 1 inch. Let it sit out on the countertop for 2-3 weeks, shaking up a couple of times per day. Strain. Use by the eyedropper full when you first feel something coming on. 

Usually, if I'm going to feel sick, it's of an evening. I will take an eyedropper and feel fine by morning. This has really knocked out any sign of a sore throat, which for me, since I still have my tonsils, can get very serious very quickly. If you feel ill of a morning, depending on how sick you are, take about 3-5 times a day. My friend, who really was past all reasonable preventative care, took it every 15 min.
It surprisingly isn't as hot as you think it would be! However, we won't give it to our son, because it does have a serious kick. For him, we give him a variety of homeopathics for a cold (which is all he's had ever when he's been sick), use Badger's Winter Balm, and Grapefruit Seed Extract (natural anitbiotic/ 3-5 drops in a small glass of juice- we have Noni juice, but any juice would work- just make sure you dilute it)

Don't know what to get everyone for Christmas? You still have time to get a 2 week brew in!

Our Gardens

I’ve had lots of questions from people about our gardens. First, we are not master gardeners. Second, I am more than happy to share what limited knowledge I have and Third, our garden is a work in progress, trial and error, hoping to do things better each year!

About our garden…

Design
We have raised beds- one done one year and then we added the second one the following year. 2 “L” shaped, one “L” flipped so there is a square w/ 2 openings at the top and bottom. Each “L” is 2 cinder blocks high and are approximately 4′x16′, and 4′x8′. They are 16′ long so we can use cattle panels, they are 4′ wide so we don’t have to step into the garden. They are 2 blocks high so we can plant root veggies. We have taken cattle panels and made arbors at both openings to help maximize the space, where we grew peas and then green beans, and birdhouse gourds which took over where the peas were. We also have a smaller, 1 block high strawberry bed and herb garden. 

Filling the beds: Bottom layer is dirt. Then a layer of compost and then bags of Hummert Grow Mix and Manure. We did the bottom half in just plain dirt b/c it gets expensive when filling the beds. If you don’t want to plant root veggies, you can get by with 1 block high and it would save on $$, or just do a portion of the garden 2 blocks high. Milo helped fill the gardens too.

The design and fill ideas came from www.gardeningrevolution.com. Len Pense created this raised bed gardening concept. However, he doesn’t use any dirt. We only used dirt in the bottom to save $$. You can purchase his e-book, which now comes with DVD’s. He also offers classes throughout the year in Strafford, MO.

Square Foot Gardening
The really big thing we discovered was incorporating square foot gardening grids to maximize our garden space. I have a friend who has a small garden space, but he gets LOTS of produce by using this method. This method was developed by Mel Bartholomew and his website is www.squarefootgardening.com.

Pest control/Companion Planting
I planted marigolds in my garden, but I can see I need either more marigolds or just more/different plants. This is called companion planting. Attract the good bugs, detract the bad bugs. I don’t know much about it, but I did get a great book “Great Garden Companions” by Sally Jean Cunningham.

Soaker Hoses- this gets the water directly into the ground, not just randomly watering everything as we were doing with a sprinkler. I was surprised as how well they worked! However, the summer of 2011 was horribly hot- weeks on end of 100+ degree weather :( Here's to hoping for a better 2012 garden season!!

Why?

Original Post March 8, 2011

My husband and I have had a lot of discussions about why we’re developing out little homestead. It would be A LOT easier to just go to the grocery store. We wouldn’t have the responsibility of the chickens. We wouldn’t have all of the work of the garden. It would be easier to leave for an overnight trip without having to get a “farm sitter”. So why all of the trouble and fuss?

Because we can, and we should. There’s a lot of talk about the economy, food sources, and prices. We want to be very careful about just how far we travel down the doomsday road. We don’t want to be doing all of this out of fear, and we don’t want to pass that fear along to our son. Even as my grandparents would talk about the Great Depression, they were able to do it without instilling fear. They didn’t have much to begin with, so they weren’t affected too much by the Depression. The one big difference in how they experienced the Depression, since they were farmers, is that they never had to stand in a soup kitchen line. These stories made a lasting impression on me. They didn’t depend on someone else to do for them what they could do for themselves. In the face of hard times, what we want to pass along to our son is a responsibility for the Earth, a connection to food and the knowledge of how to feed oneself good, homegrown food. We do have an emergency plan in place, but it isn’t our focus. Our focus is, however, the joy of backyard chickens, planning/planting a garden and flowers, cooking meals together, as a family and enjoying those wonderful meals. We are continually discussing plans for what to add to our little homestead next. We are very aware of what we are modeling and teaching our son, what we are passing along to him. Our hope is that we teach him respect, responsibility, awareness and joy for where his food comes from.

We are fortunate that we have 2 acres, even though only about half of that is usable, but it’s still more than what many have. Not everyone has access to land and growing their own. Everything we do here, takes away that much dependence on commercial food production. If everyone, who had access would use it, how would that change our commercial food production? If commercial producers weren’t so stressed to feed everyone, would they be able to incorporate better methods? Would they, even if they could? I would like to think they would. I feel, that as consumers, we have a responsibility in what and how we buy. If you have land, try growing something! Even when I rented a home in Springfield, I tried a small garden, but there was just too much shade. I had one spot with enough sun for a container in which I planted a cherry tomato plant. I did what I could do. Now that I have more, I can do more.

What can you do? Maybe you don’t want to raise chickens and that’s okay. Maybe you don’t want a big garden and that’s okay too. If you don’t want to, or simply can’t, grow and raise your own, find a small local farmer, join a CSA (community supported agriculture), go to the farmer’s markets, and get to know the people growing your food. Every step counts.

Chickens

Original Post April 10, 2010

2 Favorolles and 2 Welsummers chicks

We are new to raising chicks- both meat and laying. Here is what we have learned so far.

Chicks smell. They poop A LOT, especially the cornish cross hens. Maybe that’s because we have 14 of them. Having them this long in the garage has been smelly.

Cornish cross chickens really are mutant chickens. They grow incredibly fast. They outgrew their brooder box, but weren’t yet old enough to go outside in their pasture pen. We put them out anyway, putting an igloo dog house in their pen with their heat lamp hook up inside. So far, so good, they’re still alive.

Did I mention that they poop A LOT and smell? Don’t put the pasture pen next to the house. However, for the extension cord purpose for the heat lamp, they needed to be somewhat close.

Unless you have the space and a plan, don’t do meat chickens and pullets at the same time. Due to the growth rate of the cornish cross chickens, the pullets can’t be in the same space. Plan the chicks to where there are only one set in the brooder box and pasture pen. This is what we had intended to do, but we ended up with 4 pullets that are the same age as the meat chickens- they were given to us and we couldn’t say no, lol. The pullets now need to be outside, but we didn’t want to build another pasture pen. We rigged something up for them, it includes that igloo dog house. It isn’t pretty, but it will do, for now.

Things we will do differently:

Have a bigger brooder box for inside the garage. We will still use the smaller one, it is great for the first couple of weeks. However, we need a space for when they are too big for that box and too young to go outside.

Get meat chickens in April, rather than March. They can go outside earlier without the cold nights.

We had a friend tell us to start pullets in July. This way they will go 18 months before molting- we will get more months of egg laying before their 1st molt.

We will NEVER do meat chickens and laying hens together. We just don’t have the space or the energy. Taking care of one set at a time (plus everything else we do) is enough.

I’m very glad we’re raising meat chickens. They are kind of creeping us out since they do grow so fast. In the future, when we can get the bigger chicken space and coop built, we will probably just do straight runs of dual purpose birds. But until then, the cornish crosses will do.

We are getting our next run of chicks after the cornish crosses have been processed. These will be the dual purpose chickens. We are getting some Americaunas, Red Sex-Links, Jersey Giants, and maybe a few Australops. It isn’t quite in July, but it will be mid-late May. I’m not sure the hatcheries around here sell chicks in July. Since we do have a rooster, we could hatch out our own, but that isn’t going to happen this spring. I do have some fertilized Americauna eggs sitting in the coop in a couple of boxes, hoping someone will go broody.

We really like our chickens and we’re glad we have them. Each year we add something new and each year, we take notes on how and what we can improve on. This spring definitely has been a learning experience with chickens!

 Cornish Cross Cockerels- little boy chickens ;) This was taken just a few days before processing.

How We Clean Our Home

When it comes to cleaning, one doesn’t have to sacrifice a lot of money or give way to harsh chemicals. In our journey to a cleaner, greener home, I decided I was tired of spending so much money on commercial cleaners. I found effective, cheaper cleaning methods, which I’m happy to share with others.

First, the basic ingredients we use:

Vinegar- is good for everything! From cleaning mirrors, windows, cutting through tough grease, to being used as a fabric softener, it is a staple in our home!

Baking soda- wonderful at cleaning sinks, tubs and showers. There are many uses, even beyond what we use it for. It can even be used in homemade deodorant and toothpaste.

Borax- there is a little controversy surrounding just how safe Borax is to use. It does work, I like the extra “grittiness” when using it as a scrubbing powder. It addition to being recommended as a laundry whitener, it is also an effective pesticide. We’ve used it successfully for ants. Don’t eat it, don’t inhale it, use common sense, but I’m sure some people will be more sensitive and won’t be able to use it. In that case, there are plenty of alternatives that can be used in it’s place.

Essential Oils- I use Grapefruit Seed Extract and Tea Tree Oil for anti-bacterial solutions, Lavendar, Lemon, Lemongrass and Orange for good smelling solutions. My favorite right now is the Lavendar/Lemongrass combo.

Dr Bronner’s Liquid Castile Soap- This is another multi-purpose cleaner. I’m pretty sure a person could use this one product for all cleaning- including not only home cleaning (dishes, laundry, general), but also as a body wash, toothpaste and shampoo.

Soap Nuts- Most people have never heard of soap nuts. They grow on a type of tree and have been used for thousands of years by native cultures from around the world. They are simple to use. They also have many uses. They can be used whole in the laundry, or boiled down into a liquid cleaner. We like boil them into a liquid cleaner. I make up a gallon at a time. Bring a gallon of water to a boil, add approx 30 soapnuts, let it gently boil for 30 min, cool, then use in variety of solutions.  They seem to be a bit pricey- usually about $24 for a one pound bag.  BUT, as you will see, they can be used for practically everything and a bag lasts a long time.  I’m still using my 1 pound bag I bought over a year ago!

Towels- We were addicted to paper towels. I knew it had to stop! A friend shared with us what they did to stop their paper towel use. She had purchased inexpensive “flour bag” kitchen towels, then cut them into fourths, sewing under the edges. These are 100% cotton and lint free. Instead of sewing the edges under, we just used our serger to finish off the edges. We LOVE them and now that roll of paper towels just sits there! On a side note, we had already switched to cloth napkins. If you come to our home and see the paper napkins sitting on top of the refrigerator, they have been sitting there for over a year now, as well as the paper plates. Feel free to take them if you will use them. Leave the paper towels though, we do have a preschooler and inside animals and sometimes the things which need to be cleaned up needs to be done with a paper towel which goes straight to the trash can.

Cleaning solutions:

Laundry:  We use liquid soap nuts for laundry detergent and vinegar for a fabric softener/odor neutralizer.  Essential Oil, like lavender, can be added.  For whites, we do use Oxy Clean, but I’m open to trying Borax for whitening.  Also, on my sewing list is to make wool dryer balls.  Wool is a natural fiber,  softens fabrics, eliminates static cling, and adds space between the clothes, speeding up drying time.  I will share these when I get them made.

Sinks/Tub/Shower/Toilet:  I use a mix of borax and baking soda- probably about 2/3 baking soda and 1/3 borax.  Then in a separate bottle, I have a mix of Dr. Bronner’s, water, and vinegar- around 1/3 of each.  I probably don’t need to use as much Dr. Bronner’s as I do.  Also, I use the Dr. Bronner’s Tea Tree Oil Soap.  I sprinkle the dry mixture, then use the liquid mixture for a foaming cleaner.  Scrub, rinse, finished.  In the above picture, you will notice I do use Greenworks Toilet cleaner.  I’m trying to decide which works better.  We do have hard water, but I really think the homemade is going to work just fine for us.

Mirrors:  Once I finished up the bottle of Greenworks Glass Cleaner, I filled it up with 1 cup vinegar, rest with water, with a few drops of Lemon Oil.  Works just as well as the commercial cleaner and it was a great way to repurpose the spray bottle.

General Cleaner:  There are so many options for a general cleaner.  Right now, we’re using a soap nut based cleaner.  At a ratio of 1 cup water, 1 T liquid soap nuts and 1 T vinegar, we keep a spray bottle sitting out in the kitchen for cleaning the counter tops.  I also added a few drops of Grapefruit Seed Extract and Orange Oil, for a citrus smell.  Change the ratio to 2 cups water per 1 T liquid soap nuts/ 1 T vinegar, and it can also be used a glass cleaner.

Liquid Hand Soap:  We use either Castile Bar Soap, or for liquid, we have Dr. Bronner’s Liquid soap, with about half water.  I also use this for a liquid body wash.  Liquid Soap nuts (without watering down) can also be used for a liquid soap.  Essential Oils can be added, like lavender.

Dishwashing:  This is where we need to do some changing.  Right now we are using Ecover liquid soap for hand washing dishes, and then a commercial product for the dishwasher.  I tried the borax/baking soda powder with vinegar rinse and it didn’t work.  BUT, I really think it was a dishwasher problem.  Now that the dishwasher is fixed, I will try that combo again since I have read so many reviews of how well it works.  Other alternatives include, yes once again, liquid soap nuts.  Just fill the dispenser and then use vinegar for the rinse.  We will be exploring these options.

Hardwood Floors:  We LOVE our Eureka Enviro-Steam Cleaner.  Easy to use, works great.  I do add a few drops of Tea Tree Oil.  Before we got our steam cleaner, I was using Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner.  It works great too.  Once you buy the starter kit, which includes the spray bottle and mop, the jug of concentrate cleaner (which you buy separately) lasts forever.  I still use it for spot cleaning, but probably won’t buy anymore when I’ve used it all, but that will be literally years from now (I have about 3/4 of a jug left and bought it over 2 years ago).

Additonal Solutions:

Pesticides:

Ants- sugar water with Borax.

Garden and Chicken Coop- Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth. We’re not opposed to harsher chemicals, when needed, but we use those very sparingly when our option is either use it or lose the garden.  We show no mercy for Japanese Beetles.  I have gotten into some serious discussions over these little destroyers over using chemicals.  At the end of it, we used chemicals and still had a garden, others didn’t use chemicals and didn’t have a garden.  It wasn’t too hard for us to figure out what to do.  Since we have chickens, one thing we did that worked very well was to use the baits.  Yes, I know they attract more beetles but there were already thousands of beetles, attracting a few more wasn’t going to make a difference.  We hung just the baits (without the bags) over by the chickens, the beetles swarmed the baits and the chickens gorged themselves on this beetle feast.  This left very few in the garden, but even a few will destroy everything they can.  We then could use the chemical spray very sparingly, targeting pretty much the beetle itself without having to spray everything down.  And NO, I’m not going to hand pick those nasty little things off the plants a put them in a bucket of water.  That just makes my skin crawl thinking about it.  This year, we are getting some guinea chickens, but I don’t know if they will be big enough in time for this year’s beetles, but they will be for next year!  Side note: guineas are better than chickens at free ranging in the garden area.  They will eat bugs without tearing up the garden like chickens do.

Bug Repellent (for people, animals, garden)- Yes, liquid soap nuts!  1 cup water to 1 T liquid soap nuts and optional 1T Neem Oil (which we did use). 
There are so many options in making homemade cleaners!  I’ve listed what works for us.  Sometimes we just need a place to start since it can be rather overwhelming.  It’s also nice to be able to have a clean home without harsh chemicals and to save money in the process!

Welcome to Our New Home!

I'm getting settled in here at blogspot, finding my way around, and am loving it! Please excuse the unpacking and rearranging, getting everything just right. So excited about our new focus, which includes not only our homesteading journey, but also our homeschooling journey as well!