True Farm-Life Endeavor

16/10/2020

From bush to bowl and it was soooo good! ❤️ My own tomatoes and basil.

25/09/2020

Chamomile. It’s easy to grow and it tastes so much better from your own garden. Make harvesting easier by plucking blossoms with a fork, dry them on a paper towel and put them in a jar for winter! Ahhhh, it smells like relaxation ☺️

04/09/2020

It’s green chili harvesting season in New Mexico! The smell of roasting green chili is ADDICTIVE! Did you know that you can purchase NM chili seeds from NMSU? Its where these ones came from. Here’s the web address: https://cpi.nmsu.edu/

01/09/2020

Let's talk squash.
Zucchini squash is supposed to be one of the absolute easiest things to grow for beginning gardeners...this is the first producing plant I've had in 5 years. This is also the first time in 5 years that I've seen bees in my garden- I have made an effort to plant flowers this year even though it rankles my pragmatic side to plant things I can't eat!
See the picture on the bottom right? That's a male squash blossom. Male? Yes, male. That blossom produces the pollen needed to fertilize the female squash blossom (on the top right) so that it produces...Zucchini! Bees get into the male blossom and transfer it naturally to the female blossom and "BAM!" a vegetable is born.
If you don't have bees or other pollinators hanging around, you have to do it MANUALLY 😈. Taking a small paint brush to collect male pollen and transferring it to the female blossom in order to get vegetables- I don't know about you but I had better things to do than manually impregnate squash the last few years, which probably why my squash plants sucked.
My advice to you? Plant flowers and use natural or bee-friendly methods of fending off unwanted critters.
Happy Harvesting!!
-CAT

13/07/2020

Have you ever had an egg yolk liquify and bleed into the white when you crack it into a pan?? Check the egg shell! The pic on the left is bacteria, my guess would be salmonella but I didn’t have a science kit to test so 🤷‍♀️ Don’t eat an egg if the inside of the shell looks wonky- when in doubt throw it out! Eggs should hold their shape (like the pic on the right). Happy egg eating my darlings! I’ll be attempting sourdough eggs Benedict soon 😋🐔❤️

21/05/2020

Sometimes I bite off more than I can chew... okay, I do that a lot. Lately yeast has been hard to find so I decided to try my hand at Sourdough- 'cause, you know, it's a natural leaven and I bake so how hard can it be, blah, blah, blah. Sourdough is hard....like really hard. This is a picture of my 2nd (no, not first) loaf...and I bake. I realized that I really suck at this so will I quit? Never. Like the idiot I am I have decided to conquer sourdough in all it's glorious forms!!! So far, I've made 3 edible loaves (out of 6)- not good loaves, EDIBLE- there's a difference. There is also an enormous pan of Amish Friendship Bread in the yard that was thrown to the chickens...because my husband spit it into the garbage after tasting it, gagging. Do you know how bad it is for my husband to spit food out?? This is the man who manfully swallowed my infamous Albino Meatballs during our first year of marriage (which I have never lived down by the way). I threw that pan out last week...and it's still there...😐 the chickens won't even eat it. That's how bad this situation is, the darn cannibalistic chickens won't eat my sourdough. *Deep Breath* I'm going to conquer this! PS, more baby chicks on the way!!

27/04/2020

I found the "egg-eater" today. Do you know what an egg-eater is? It's a chicken that eats her own and fellow hen's eggs.
I raise egg laying chickens! I don't raise meat chickens because I don't currently have the endurance for that escapade. I've butchered ducks and guinea fowl and I dragged my unsuspecting parents and in-laws into it (I'm pretty sure they'll never help again, it was such a fiasco 😂). BUT, there are few things worse than going into your coop to collect eggs and finding one of your hens smashing and eating your eggs- it's surprising how territorial you get over those little round things. There isn't much you can do to "train" that out of a chicken...your options are pretty limited. You can try to prevent it by collecting your eggs early every day (unless your chickens prefer laying in the afternoon like mine), and maybe keeping wood or ceramic eggs in the nests so that they learn they can't break them? The only tried and true method I've found is to "cull" the bird from your flock. That's a fancy term for kill. If you do nothing and allow the chicken to continue egg-eating, she will teach the other chickens in your flock to do the same and then there's really no purpose to having chickens unless you really enjoy feeding and cleaning up after the feathery p**pers! So, be prepared to deal with the more heart-wrenching issues that come along with tending chickens...Though I am interested to see if "home-grown" chicken tastes better than store bought 😉❤️🐔

22/04/2020

So, I’m great at coming up with ideas-like repurposing an old dresser to use as a bunny hutch. BUT I have no clue how to implement those plans- THANKFULLY I’m married to an engineering genius. All his plans come straight from his head...which is sometimes his downfall: it’s not uncommon to find him staring intently at a current project, lost in imagination 😂 I’ve long stopped going to the hardware store with him for this very reason. 3/4 of the way through this project of my concoction he looked at me and declared this would have been so much easier if we had made it from scratch and why did we need to use an old dresser?!? Sorry Dear. So here it is! Our new bunny apartment complete with a p**p-shoot and removable drawer.

21/04/2020

Okay, let’s talk store-bought vs. farm fresh. It almost physically hurt to purchase eggs after these last few years...but I persevered for you! For the sake of science! 😂. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You see the darker yolks? Those are from my chickens in the last couple days, the pale yellow yolks are from the store (the carton says they were packaged in TX and I live in NM so I really don’t know when they were laid). Both will work just fine but I truly enjoy eating my eggs...they’re richer and more flavorful for sure 😊❤️

15/04/2020

I love farm fresh eggs.❤️ But how to clean them? There is a lot of disagreement about this...some say to dry spot clean, others wash with water and still others use sanitizing solvents like bleach. Eggs have this awesome bacteria fighting layer called bloom- it helps to keep bacteria out of the egg itself. It’s also the reason fresh, unwashed eggs can sit on the counter up to 2 weeks. So technically you can give your eggs a good dry scrub and you’re good to go! If you choose to wash your eggs they must be refrigerated and should only be left out 2 hours so bacteria doesn’t develop. It’s also important to wash the eggs with warm water as cold water opens the egg’s pores and potentially sucks in more bad bacteria. It’s also the reason you shouldn’t soak your eggs in water. If you feel the need to sanitize your eggs, make sure you dilute whatever it is your using. I don’t like the idea of bleach soaking into my food, so I’d probably use vinegar but it’s your personal preference 🤷‍♀️❤️

13/04/2020

We are learning so much about bunnies! Meet Clover, she is a mini lop and so sweet ❤️

12/04/2020

11/04/2020

Step 4: Baby Chicks!
Now you have chicks, congratulations! Put them in a container where they will have room to hop around for the next 4-6 weeks. Attach a heat lamp to the container (where it won't fall off and melt/catch fire!)- your birds will need to be kept warm until they are fully feathered. Get some bedding from your local feed store- I use pine or straw. Don't use cedar- it's toxic to chickens. Place your feeder and watering dispenser in there too and check on them daily-we usually check on them twice a day to make sure they haven't fluttered out in the evening. You'll probably need a covering for your container after a few weeks as those adorable feathery chicks will be perching on the sides! Chicken wire works great to mold over the top and you're chicks won't find themselves on the outside freezing on a cooler night...PS try to put your chick container out of your house if at all possible- I’ve only ever smelled one thing worse than warm chicken p**p and that’s warm duckling p**p! 😵💩

10/04/2020

Step 3: I Know What I Want, Now What?
So, you have made a place for your squawkers live and decided on the type of chickens you want, now what? Well, you have a few options:
1. Go to your local feed store and buy the baby chicks they have for sale. I use my local Old Mill and they are awesome! If you live in a small community like I do, all those good old country folks should be able to tell you everything you need to know about the chicks they have. You need to watch out for “straight run” chicks and “sexed” chicks. With straight run chicks you are taking a chance with hens and roosters because they just don’t know if the chickees are male or female. If you buy ten chicks, it could be 50/50 OR you could end up with 10 roosters- unlikely but possible. Now, feed stores usually sell chicks between March and May and if you miss that deadline you’ll have to come up with another plan.
2. Order directly from a hatchery. I have ordered chicks from https://www.freedomrangerhatchery.com/ and ducks and geese from https://www.metzerfarms.com/ and I would highly recommend either of those hatcheries. The cool thing about ordering from a hatchery is all the information about each of their birds is laid out right there and you can pick and choose from some really cool breeds. You can even order “sexed” birds which mean you know that they will be hens. The downside is that the shipping price is pretty high and they ship your birds in the mail—YOU have to pick up a box of live birds from the US Post Office EARLY and ON TIME…it can be stressful because you just spent a lot of money on these tiny little egg p**pers and they could die if you take too long to pick them up. Be prepared because a couple of them usually do die in transit and you’ll have to deal with that.
3. Buy an incubator and hatch your own eggs at home! Tractor Supply and Amazon sell them. Remember, you get what you pay for. That $35 incubator looks like an amazing deal until you realize you have to manually take the temperature, humidity and turn eggs by hand every 2-4 hours…for 21 days. This is such a fun option, especially if you have kids! You’ll need fertilized eggs which you can order from a hatchery or buy from your local crazy chicken lady. I recently put 22 eggs in an incubator and hatched eight, so there’s no guarantee! And they will be “straight run” chicks so, once again, you may end up with eight roosters.
4. You can also buy chicks or fully grown hens from locals around your area. I would definitely exercise caution with this option- I have not had good experiences buying from locals. It could be great! Or you could end up buying a load of antibiotics and probiotics and trying to keep sick baby chicks alive- the ones I got from a lady on Facebook ended up p**ping blood and dying on me while I’m trying to diagnose chicken illnesses on Google. Half of them lived and I had to quarantine them from the rest of my flock so illness didn’t spread. I probably won’t buy from someone I don’t know again.
So, use your common sense and have fun!!

09/04/2020

Baby chicks are hatching!! I was so excited that I actually caught it on video ❤️ The only downside to hatching your own chicks is that you don’t get to choose between roosters and hens- so, here’s to hoping they’re all hens!😂

08/04/2020

I’ll have an video of some new baby chicks hatching in the next couple days! If you want chicks and don’t mind spending money on an incubator, this is a great option for you. They come from super basic ($35 and requires a lot of work on your part- like rotating the eggs and measuring temperature and humidity levels) to super fancy (above $100 and does most of the work for you). You will need access to some fertilized eggs which you can get on any local chicken farm that has a rooster or you can order them from a hatchery. This was my latest impulse buy and right now my kids and I aren’t regretting it 😉😁❤️

08/04/2020

Our newest family endeavor! Rabbits- we’re already learning so much 🥵

05/04/2020

It always amazes me how plants grow so differently. These four were started on the same day and here we are 4 weeks later. Yellow squash, watermelon, cabbage and Big Jim green chili. I'm most excited about the green chili seedlings this year- it's the first year I've been able to get them to germinate! I have a "gangrene" thumb and kill plants more often than not but I'm persistent! 16 years in and I'm still learning new things! By the way, did you know that you can buy chili seeds that are native to New Mexico from NMSU?? I was so excited to learn that last year... https://chile.nmsu.edu/seeds

05/04/2020

Meet Goose-Goose and Frank, the Emden Geese. They are responsible for the dinosaur-like eggs y’all have been seeing. Why do we have geese?? I don’t know-ask my husband 🤷‍♀️ All I can say is that there is a reason I took this video with a fence between us 😁

04/04/2020

Keeping Chickens

Step 2: Choosing your chickens
Okay, the chickens have a place to live, right? Good. Now you need to decide what to buy. Well, if you’re Jane Doe you head to the nearest feed store and get the cute ones! Surprise! Those adorable little chicks get ugly quick! And they p**p…a lot. (We’ll talk about taking care of chicks on a different post.) Come to find out the chicks you bought are meant as meat chickens and don’t lay many eggs but gain a ton of weight in a short amount of time and proceed to eat you out of house and home. Or you buy 10 straight run chicks and find out later you have 5 roosters and 5 hens…bwahahaha! I’m laughing hysterically- it’s funny when it’s not happening to me. So, what kind of chickens do you buy? Well, what are you going to use them for? Meat? Eggs? Pets?
Meat chickens are those that get exceptionally large in a short amount of time and then…well, you eat them. These are breeds like Cornish Cross, Jersey Giant and Orpingtons. Some of these breeds are a great dual purpose bird- meaning they lay lots of eggs and they’re suitable as meat chickens. (See https://morningchores.com/meat-chickens/ for a more extensive list). I have not raised meat chickens yet…and I probably won’t because I raised meat ducks. All I’m going to say is it was a learning experience…maybe enough of an experience for my entire life…I might be traumatized.
Now for the egg layers! The best egg layers in my experience are White Leghorns. We have nicknamed them the “crack heads” of our flock. They are twitchy, flighty and unfriendly and God help you if you ever have to catch one! BUT they lay the most and biggest eggs of all my chickens (280-300 eggs per year)- that white egg on the far left is from one of my White Leghorns. Black and Gold Sexlinks which are hybrid birds- lay 200-280 brown eggs a year and they’ve always had decent temperaments. My Australorpes lay 250 brown/pinkish eggs a year and are new to me this year. My web research said they were aggressive toward other chickens but even the Australorpe rooster I have is one of the sweetest I’ve ever seen- a sweet rooster is crazy rare! Golden Laced Wyandottes (200 eggs per year) and Ameraucanas (250 Blue/Green eggs a year) are also great egg laying choices with decent temperaments.
I will give a big resounding NO to Blue Andalusians- I’ve had egg eaters from this breed and it sucks to have to deal with that! I wouldn’t recommend Rhode Island Reds unless that’s all you’re getting because they have a nasty reputation as bullies.
Pets?? Okay, hands down the best bird I’ve owned for its friendly nature and egg laying ability is the Buff Orpington which lays 200-250 brown eggs a year. These darn things will jump in your lap and ask to be pet if you spend enough time around them. They also have a tendency to get broody in warm weather which can go two ways: you take advantage of the situation and hatch some chicks or you come up with circuitous methods of collecting the eggs so you don’t get pecked every time you need her to move.
Identify which type of chicken you want. Do you want it to be friendly? Do you just want an egg producer? Whichever you choose, be aware that chickens only lay this productively for 5-ish years but they will live much longer. See https://morningchores.com/egg-laying-chickens/ for more information!

02/04/2020

One of these is not like the others...

02/04/2020

My husband and I have been asked a lot in the last two weeks how to keep chickens, so here's the start of it. I'll upload more in a couple days
Step 1: Habitat
Shelter
Your chickens are going to need a place to live and sleep that is safe from predators like coyotes, raccoons, skunks, hawks, neighbor dogs, etc. This can be anything from a fancy coop sold at Tractor Supply (https://www.tractorsupply.com/…/chicken%2…/poultry-livestock) to a DIY scrap project you’ve found on Pinterest. Mine is an old shed with an attached “fenced patio” area for them to run around in several yards away from my house. I have to take more precautions concerning coyotes but I also don’t have to worry about my kids tracking in chicken p**p constantly.
Where are you going to put your coop? I first put mine in my fenced in back yard which was great to protect them against predators but when I let them out to roam they demolished my garden…and I mean DEMOLISHED. Chickens destroy plants…completely. Chickens also p**p…a lot. So, before you loose your flock on your spouse’s garden, landscaped/manicured lawn or children’s play area remember…anything your family walks through will end up on your kitchen floors. You’re rethinking that 5 second rule, aren’t you?? Mmmm! Nothing says gross like being infected with Salmonella. Just think it through.
It’s important that you know how many chickens you want because a coop that’s built for 6 chickens won’t suffice for 12 chickens. Dummies.com recommends a coop should have 2 square feet per chicken (https://www.dummies.com/…/how-to-determine-your-flock-size…/). Figure out your space and then throw some wood shavings or straw down for them to nest. I’ve decided straw works best for my chickens and it’s easy to clean up and throw out in my yard to later become manure. Don’t forget to clean it regularly. There is some debate as to how often you should clean it. I clean my large shed/coop out twice a year but if it’s a small backyard coop you should clean it more often than I do (https://www.thespruce.com/keep-chicken-coop-smelling-clean-…)
Are you going to let them roam? My chickens are happier when they free range but it also exposes them to dangers like neighbor dogs and hawks (I have lost chickens to both in the last few years). Most chickens roost to sleep, which means that they perch on a bar elevated off the ground. They will also need nesting boxes to lay their eggs. Now this a fuzzy subject for me because sources that I’ve read say these should also be off the ground because chickens prefer…blah, blah, blah. I spent hours creating nesting boxes off the ground and you know where those chickens laid their eggs? On the ground. I’ve even had a couple exceptionally stupid chickens decide to nest under the roosting chickens…that’s chicken p**p central. Ewww. Lay your plans carefully and thoughtfully and then be flexible to change them because you’re dealing with live creatures that don’t give a crumb where your source says they need to sleep.
Food & Water
Chickens need fresh water daily…because they p**p in it. Yes, it’s gross but that’s what it is! So, before you go building your coop out in the boonies consider that you will have to haul water out to them by hand in the winter because the hose is frozen.
Baby chicks will need chick starter. After that laying pellets, cracked corn, scratch, etc. I really haven’t delved into the science of which foods and how much to give chickens for optimum health and laying conditions. The fact of the matter is: my chickens eat what my family eats. How? Because, chickens are garbage disposals. They eat almost ANYTHING. So, when my kids clear the table the scraps go into the chicken bucket for their breakfast the next morning. Do I feed my chickens chicken scraps? Darn tootin’ I do! Because, chickens are CANNIBALS. Those nasty little critters smell weakness and if they draw blood on a flock-mate that chicken may not last long if you don’t doctor it up.
The foods that I don’t give to my birds are: raw onions, sprouting potatoes (because of selenium) and citrus. If in doubt…Google it! Here is one of my favorite online resources: https://www.backyardchickens.com/

More to come later! Feel free to ask any questions you'd like but if you're gonna judge my methods just keep it to yourself, Cupcake! 😉

02/04/2020

02/04/2020