Happiness is Homemade

I can't believe it's already been a week since my last post and it's been hoppin' on the farm! We had a lot more success than struggles this past week on the farm and it has definitely put a little more pep in my step. My mountain of laundry is now a mole hill (with 3 kids that's about as good as it gets), our chick carnage stopped, my seeds are FINALLY started, we celebrated Easter, chicken egg production is full throttle, Chelsea had horse riding camp and another vet clinic, the coyote tank is ready for use, and our chicken tractor is in the final stages of completion. Here's how our homestead helped us create a lot of homemade happiness this past week.

What jeet for Easter dinner?

I know you've all been patiently waiting to find out...was our skinless ham a success or did we eat pizza????

Drum roll please 🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

Winner winner ham dinner! It was absolutely delicious 😋 It was the best ham I've ever eaten. I realize I'm biased but I'm also truthful to a fault. It was better than anyone expected it to be. Apparently when I cut the 12 pounds of meat in half to get it to brine faster, it was slightly uneven. I pulled both pieces of meat out after 3 days (assuming 1 day/2#) but the larger piece needed probably another half day because you can see where a very small piece didn't get completely cured. Regardless, it worked and it was awesome. As for the rest of our dinner, it was extra special this year...the entire meal (excluding salad and dairy) was from our farm.

We had home grown/home canned corn, homemade and canned cranberry sauce, sourdough discard dinner rolls (these were 🤤🤤🤤), sourdough discard Au Gratin potatoes (potatoes from our farm), Italian Easter bread with naturally colored eggs from our chickens, and two homemade pies. I took a chance on proofing the Easter bread overnight in the refrigerator and it worked out perfectly as our breakfast bread!

There's an ongoing joke in our family that it wouldn't be a holiday meal if I didn't mess up the rolls BUT not this year! The sourdough rolls were easy, fuss free, and better than any rolls I've ever made (although, that bar is low). I'll be making them again later this week for leftover ham and cheese sliders so be sure to follow our Facebook page and IG to see how I make them!

Want to talk about a huge helping of gratitude? Sit down for a holiday meal that your family poured love into for an entire year. My heart (and belly) was very full ❤️

Chick-date

After losing one more chick last week, we made an adjustment to the brooder. I noticed the chicks seemed to be huddled too closely together and were nearly trampling each other. We decided to try adding a second brooder light on the opposite side of the tank and setting it higher than the first. That seemed to do the trick. The chicks behavior improved within a day and we have had no more untimely demise. I'm not convinced this was 100% of our problem initially but I am glad the additional heat has helped. We have never needed 2 brooder lights before but we've also never done more than a few heritage style chicks at a time either. We are continuously learning as we branch out and try new things.

Mobile chicken hause

The guys are really turning out to be quite the architects! There were canvas tarps in the barn when we moved in a few years ago and we are going to repurpose them for the tractor. They are reasonably light weight for how durable they are; unfortunately, they're just a little too narrow to cover the entire length. After I was asked to opine over a solution (I love throwing in my 2 cents), we decided to zip tie 2 of them together through the fastener holes to prevent introducing additional ways for rain to enter. After mulling things over we also decided to add chicken wire underneath it to give an extra layer of predator protection and structural support. If this proves sturdy against the elements, it will have significant advantages to our current chicken tractor.

Rain, rain, and more rain

It has been an absolute monsoon here and our field is already prone to flooding. I think I'm going to start loading the animals two by two if it doesn't stop soon.

The good thing is, our coyote tank is successfully setup to capture all of this glorious rain.

Dave has been hard at work getting the coyote tank hooked up to our gutter system off the barn. I went over to see what he was getting into for the day when he said "hey, if I pass out in the tank while installing this valve, can you start drilling some holes?" I mean 😳 I am terrified of heights and I hate tight spaces so I was the natural choice to climb in there instead. At least he could lift me out if something went sideways. So, here I am...climbing into this giant tank that was shin deep with water to install a valve with ill-suited tools.

I'm writing this so I didn't pass out or die but it's definitely not a job I'm eager to do again.

Horsin' around

Emily decided to try riding camp with Chelsea over spring break. She said she had fun but she never worked up the courage to actually get on a horse 🤪 I'm starting to get grey hair... I'm not saying this is why but it's definitely not helping.

Chelsea's riding instructor told us she was ready for her own saddle so we decided to invest (and I do mean invest 🤑🤑🤑) in a quality pre-loved saddle for her. She also learned how to wrap a horses leg properly to help reduce inflammation or provide protection in case of an injury.

I love that her riding program also emphasizes the importance of properly caring for your horse. She needs to love the work as much as the fun. I've been very slow to jump on the horse wagon but I've come to appreciate how it aligns with our lifestyle and values.

Papa is coming to visit us this weekend and that means I'll be making a very special chocolate cake (I'm sneaking some sourdough into it 🤫). I'll also be getting my raised garden bed ready, planning our new greenhouse, Dave is building a feed bucket hauler for the little tractor, and who knows what else. My life is like our new batch of birds...you never know what you're gonna get. See yinz next week!

Don't forget to drop me your comments and peck the like and share buttons! Yinz never know who might be encouraged or entertained by our wild and crazy adventures 😊