Christmas is Coming...

On Tuesday, I was looking to bake cookies, but knew I’d eat the dough. So I settled for making cinnamon ornaments instead. I mixed equal parts cinnamon and applesauce. Instead of baking them on the lowest setting in the oven for a few hours, I put them in the food dehydrator and dehydrated them over night. This seemed to work wonderfully and it helped me to prevent them from burning. I made different Christmas shapes and also a gingerbread man. Though the gingerbread man has a skeleton pressed into him! All I need to do is paint the skeleton white and they will be finished. The other shapes are already hanging on our tree.

Speaking of tree, my husband and I decided to get a small tree with a root bulb. The idea is to plant it in the yard when we are finished with it inside this year and either dig it back up or cut it for our tree next year. I’m hoping it lives and we are able to do this. It’s already decorated, but I haven’t got any photos of it yet. They will come soon :-). This weekend we got a lot of snow. The chickens and ducks did just fine in the snow.  The chickens had a little heat and the ducks have a small enough house that they huddle and keep themselves warm.  I’ve been making sure they have enough food and corn in the evenings to keep their little bodies warm. They are also still producing eggs like crazy and I don’t have much light on them either.

First Snowfall of the Season

Yesterday was the first snowfall of the season. My chickens and ducks were born in February and April respectively of this year (2013).  This was the very first snow they have seen outdoors. They were kept inside as chicks and ducklings so they haven't seen this wet and cold stuff (yuck!) yet. They did okay. The ducks love playing in the snow by scooping it with their beaks and rarely go into their little house.The chickens did alright too. They just hopped around in the straw that I have down for them and enjoyed the extra heat in their coop.  I have 11 hens and they are still laying 7-9 eggs per day. I couldn't ask for more :-) The only problems thus far with the cold is that the waters are freezing. I hate the cold and frozen waters are no fun. I will try to attach some photos of my feathered friends to this post. Hopefully it works!

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog.  I'm very excited to be documenting my EGGcellent adventures.  I will be writing about my experiences with regards to raising chickens and ducks, homesteading, canning, baking, gardening, and becoming more self-sufficient. The farm life makes me happy.  It's what I love to do and I'd rather be on a farm than any of the fanciest places in the world.  Feel free to check back from time to time to see the updates and changes. Happy farming!