My Babies Are Growing Up!

 

My little chicks are heading into their teen years.  They love being out of their brooder as long as the big chickens are kept away from them.

The older chickens we acquired have pre-developed habits that are bad. In order to protect our little ones we keep them separate.  I tried to introduce them and it didn't go well.

We are in the process of creating a permanent home for the big chickens and the little ones will move into the chicken tractor.  Once the little ones have grown (11 ladies and 1 cockerel) and are laying then we will bid farewell to the older chickens.

 This is "Snowball" our cockerel.  Our four year-old named him before we knew it was a him.

 This is Samantha, "Sam".  She is the only other chick we can tell apart from the others at this stage.  The first day we tried the big and little chickens together she got attacked and all the feathers on the top of her head were pulled off and she was bloody.  She was clearly traumatized and I thought we might lose her.  But I pulled her out and cleansed her wound with witch hazel and lavender essential oil (1 Tbsp. of witch hazel and a couple drops of lavender eo) dabbed on her head lightly with cue tips.  Then I put her back in the brooder with food and water and pulled out another chick to be her companion .  Later that evening I collected the rest of the chicks and put them all back in the brooder because I wasn't going to risk putting the chicks in the tractor with the big guys.

I had nightmares that night.  I thought for sure I would go out and find her dead in the morning.  I felt so guilty and was ready to throw in the towel with the animals because I really felt it was my fault for forcing the chickens together and expecting harmony.  Next morning I went out and she was doing much better.  And now, a week later, she is totally back to normal except for her bald head.  Poor thing.

 Here are Sam and Snowball together.  They seem to have a strong bond.

Taylor enjoys the chicks while the big chickens look on from the locked chicken tractor.  We just haul out the chicks in a cardboard box and corral them up in the evening and take them back to the brooder.

5 Years of Leaves Moved In One Day

This homesteading thing... whew... it's a lot of work.  It may be a simpler life but it isn't easy.  We had an opportunity to help out our pastor recently.  He had been saving his very ample supply of yearly leaves in an ever growing compost heap... for five years.  This heap was a breathing, growing monster in the back corner of his yard.  He had dreams of setting up a great system but the time to work on it escaped him and it was apparent that it was time for the dream and the pile to go.  His fence and neighbor relations on the other side of the fence were falling down.  Enter the Lewis clan.

Would we like to have all that compost and leaves for free if we would haul it out of there?  Why yes, free stuff for compost, we will most assuredly come get it.  Little did I know that when my husband and I said yes to this that I would be required to come along and help along with all the kids.  My understanding of the situation was that it would be good father/son bonding time. 

So last Saturday morning all of us slumped out the door early with tools in tow; shovels, pitch forks and rakes. We arrived at Pastor's home around 10:00 am and didn't pull out until around 2:00pm.  We shoveled, forked, raked and hauled load after load into our be-tarped trailer and then traveled the 30 minutes back to our property very carefully as the trailer was riding low because of the weight of the leaves.

Then of course we had to decide what to do with all of it.  Do we dump it in a heap somewhere on the property, do we run it through the chipper and shred it so that we can mulch our fence lines or do we start new garden beds with it?  Secretly I was hoping for dumping it in a heap.  That seemed like the quick fix and I was exhausted.  But dumping it in the back forty would mean hauling it by wheel barrow to where we would need it thus actually creating more work.

We decided to make garden beds for next year.  We were able to back up the trailer to the general area where we wanted the beds.  We laid the leaves down for one and then remembered that we have a lot of cardboard left over from moving here last year.  So for the second bed we laid down cardboard and then covered it with leaves.  Then we called it a day.  We still have more leaves sitting in the trailer waiting for us to make at least one more if not two beds.  This way we will kill the grass, create more topsoil and not have to till or if we do till we won't be fighting growing grass which is a bugger to weed.

I came to two conclusions while doing all this work.  1. Farmers don't need to go to the gym. 2. Large families and farm work go hand in hand!  Without the help and hard work of our children we wouldn't have stood a chance getting those leaves moved.  Thanks kids!  I love working together as a family.

A special thank you to Pastor Sam and Miss Jill for giving us the leaves and to Pastor for helping us move them and to Jill for providing tasty refreshments and lunch!  We look forward to sharing yummy produce from our gardens with them!

 The start: 10 feet long and three feet high

 

 From the pile to the tarp

 

 Across the yard

 

Into the trailer

 

Finally full!

 

 A new home and more tarp filling and pulling

 

 The first bed done!

 

Mosquito Part Three (Finale)

We've all felt the itch of mosquito bites.  Even with all the precautions mentioned in Part One, Part 2 A and Part Two B, you can still end up itching.  Lady mosquitoes (male skeeters don't bite) inject their saliva into your skin when they bite.  The saliva prevents blood clotting and allows the insect to feed uninhibited. It is the saliva that creates the bump and the itch.

The best method for relief is not to scratch but if you are like me then that isn't happening.  I have no will power in this area.  The options I choose from then are:

1. A baking soda paste- mix baking soda with a bit of water to form a paste and apply to each bite.

2. Bath in your tub with 1 cup of baking soda and 1tsp. lavender essential oil.  Soak for 15 to 20 minutes. (This is my favorite and feels heavenly!)

3. A drop of tea tree essential oil or lavender  EO dabbed on your bites will bring relief.

4. For a splash: 1 part apple cider vinegar mixed with 3 parts water.  Stand in tub and splash on areas that are causing you discomfort.

5. You can dab neem base oil onto your bites and also aloe vera.

Of course there are always the standard OTC remedies too: Benedryl (topical and pill), calamine lotion etc.

To purge your body of toxins from the saliva of the mosquitoes drink red clover tea.  It is actually a really yummy herbal tea with no stimulants. (Pregnant women or those having surgery should avoid drinking it.)

There ya go folks.  Have a great, mosquito bite free rest of spring and summer! I'm off for a baking
soda and lavender soak! Thank goodness these skeeters are only supposed to be around for a couple of more weeks. They are special type thanks to our spring flood. You can read about it here!

God's Plan For Us!

Leviticus 19: 30

 

Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.

 

 

I am so thankful God designed the Sabbath.  I look forward to a day of rest!  My body and soul need it!

Mosquitoes Part 2 For Real This Time

This is the post that I tried to do yesterday and failed because of technology problems. And as I sit here typing I am itching something fierce!  Western Michigan has a small mosquito problem right now.  It's pretty bad everywhere you go.  So what can you do to avoid the itch?

1. Wear light colored clothing, long pants, long sleeves, collars high, and leave as little skin available as possible.

2.  Keep a smudge or smokey fire burning near you. To make a smudge tie together dried lavender stalks, dried peppermint sprigs, dried mullein and dried catnip sprigs and light on fire.

3. Crush a handful of leaves of a mosquito repelling plant (see here) and rub on your body as needed.

4. Watch what you put in or on your body.  Lotions, soaps, shampoos and perfumes can attract insects. Eating sugary processed foods attract them also.  Eat a wholesome real food diet rich in nutrients to keep your body chemistry from attracting interested bites.  You can take vitamin B6 supplements but it would be so much better to get your B6 from real food: Bananas, potatoes, tuna, beans. Mosquitoes are attracted to the carbon dioxide you exhale so eat lots of garlic and onions too.  This is a case of bad breath being great!

5. Use a natural repellent.  Repellents block your pores so the mosquitoes can't sense the warmth and moisture of your body.  Though DEET is the most effective repellent it is a chemical cocktail of yuck.  Would you rub nuclear waste on your body?

To make a repellent take 2 cups of witch hazel, 1/2 tsp. each of citronella, lemongrass and lavender essential oils and 1Tbsp. of apple cider vinegar, mix together and put in a spray bottle.

To make a rub on massage type oil take 1/2 cup base oil, (I think olive oil would work good.  I would avoid coconut oil unless it is unscented.) 5 drops each of lemongrass, geranium and catnip essential oils and 10 drops of basil and eucalyptus essential oils.  Mix and use.  I do not recommend a spray bottle because the oil will clog the sprayer.

To make a balm take 3 Tbsp. of base oil (olive again is my choice), 1 Tbsp. of neem oil and 1Tbsp. of beeswax and heat together on a low heat.  Cool slightly (but not too much for the beeswax to solidify) and add 20 drops of catnip EO (essential oil), 10 drops each of lemongrass, rosemary and thyme EO's and 5 drops of cedar EO.  Pour into a container and let harden.  Rub on.

For the more adventurous herbalist try Joyce A. Wardwell's repellent salve from her book, The Herbal Home Remedy Book. She uses fresh plantain, lavender, peppermint and thyme to make infused oils which she then turns into salve with the addition of beeswax and cocoa butter. (Again, I would recommend an unscented cocoa butter.)  The entire process takes a couple of weeks though because the herbs need to soak in the oil.  It is a plan ahead project.

Well, I'm off to make some bug spray and soak in a lavender bath with baking soda.  I'll share about the bath on Monday.  Here's to an itch free summer!

Mosquitoes Part 2 (Friday Read & Write)

I am a little bit of a natural cosmetics freak and I had an entire long post written about natural mosquito repellants but wouldn't you know that my internet disconnected during the writing of it so nothing saved and when I went to add photos I lost most of the post. (I have a love/hate relationship with technology.)  So in keeping with Friday's theme of reading and writing.  Here are some of my go to books on the topic and tomorrow I will try again with the real post.

 

The Herbal Home Remedy Book by Joyce A. Wardwell

The Herbal Body Book by Stephanie Tourles

Organic Body Care Recipes by Stephanie Tourles

Making Aromatherapy creams and lotions by Donna Maria

Natural Beauty at Home by Janice Cox

Mosquitoes Part One

Since Creek Cottage Homestead has been inundated with mosquitoes lately I started researching the best ways to deter them.  Unfortunately it seems the only really effective way is with poisons/chemicals and that is just not acceptable to me.  There is not one "natural" solution that can be called the end all of mosquitoes.  There are, however, many different ways to deter them that when employed all together just might make outside living a little more tolerable.

1. Don't give them places to lay their eggs. Make sure to empty toys, birdbaths, kiddie pools every few days.  Keep your grass cut!

2. Employ predators: chickens, bats, purple martins and dragonflies.  Each species will help but don't expect them to totally clear up the population.  Chickens are limited to where you keep them.  Bats will eat the skeeters but will usually go for the biggest bugs it can find which might not be mosquitoes and it can take up to a year for bats to settle into bat houses. Purple martins are daytime eaters and mosquitoes are early morning and evening creatures.  Dragon flies need a clean, fresh, permanent source of water to live near and it is not recommended that you purchase them.  You either have the habitat for them or you don't.

3.Employ cultivated plants: Citronella/West Indian Lemongrass, bee balm/horsemint, marigolds, Ageratum/flossflowers (Ageratum is not to be rubbed on the skin.) Catnip, Scented geraniums, Peppermint, Rosemary, Lemon balm, Garlic, Clove, Eucalyptus, Tea Tree and Lavender.

4. Employ wild plants: Vanilla Leaf, Sagebrush, wormwood, mugwort, Pinapple weed, nodding onion, bergamot, snowbrush, sweet fern, cedar

The plants in three and four really work best when crushed and rubbed on your body but just their presence around outside areas where you like to gather may be enough to keep yourself at least slightly less itchy.  Take note of what you plant.  Some plants may not overwinter well and will need to be planted in containers so they may be put inside or in a greenhouse .  Any plant with attractive flowers will attract wasps and bees. It may be best to not put them on table tops or up close to where people will be sitting.

Tomorrow I will discuss how to avoid being bitten in Mosquitoes Part two!