Wherein We Set Up Outdoor "TV"

Yesterday we finished building and installing our "big screen" outdoor TV.  It gets one channel.  The chicken channel. It's our fave!

 

We can also change the channel by picking up our chairs and moving across the street to the big green barn (in the background) they get the cow channel!

The Off Grid Legend Of Washington State

I have a confession to make. A little secret if you will...

I really enjoy watching The Legend of Mick Dodge on NatGeo. (The National Geographic Channel)

Farmer John saw the advertisement for it and set it up to record.  I, in all my high and mightiness, laughed at him.  "You're really going to watch that?"  I thought it looked silly. 

But despite the quirkiness (and earth worshipping world view) of the "star" of the show, Mick Dodge.  I found myself strangely drawn to his lifestyle.

He lives in the Hoh rainforest of Washington's Olympic peninsula. But he lives a bit more than off-grid.  He makes his home in trees and stumps and eats off the land, bartering for what little of the "real" world he needs.

Now I don't for a moment believe that what I'm shown on the show is the total "reality" and a little internet research proves me right. But I like the concept of his life.  It has a freedom to it that so many of us tied to the grid and slave-wage jobs don't have. (Though I also confess that I have no intention of crawling into stumps to sleep if I have a choice.)

I have watched two episodes so far.  In the first show we met Dodge and a leather working off-grid friend.  I was in awe of the handcrafted goods this man makes.  In the second show, Dodge finds one of his hidden bows (for defense against bears and cougars) stolen and needs a replacement.  We then see him in barter action.  A burl he finds in a clear cut and some juice made from wild berries is traded (with the leather worker from the first show) for a pair of buckskins and then the buckskins are traded to a master bow maker for the needed bow, which we get to seen made.  No money! Just work and ingenuity! I am inspired to see what I can find or produce that I can barter with.

It will be interesting to see what else he does and who else they introduce on the show and what crazy ideas I get from it. 

Has anyone else seen the show? What do you all think?

It's Amazing What One Can Do With A Toilet Paper Tube

We are toilet paper users.  I applaud others who have retired their dependence on said item but as for me and my family, until our budget can no longer justify it, we will be users of the paper.  My laundry doing daughter thanks me for this decision. We have stopped with paper towels and napkins but for bathroom necessities we will stand firm.

What this does leave us with is a lot of empty tubes. Rather then just throw them out we use them in a few different ways.

1. Kid's craft projects and play toys.  They are free to build, cut, tape, color and be creative with these to their heart's content.  They are only limited to their imagination. Bowling is a common game.

2. Re-purposing into useful items.

Two tubes taped together make a perfect storage tube for ponytail bands.  My daughter created this on her own.  She plans to color it to make it prettier but it could also be papered, decopodged or painted.

3. Fire starters: I got this one from watching an episode of Extreme Cheapskates.  Toilet paper tubes plus dryer lint!

What things do you use your paper tubes for?  What about dryer lint.  I've thought about trying to craft with the lint.  Am I crazy?

You Might Be A Homesteader If...

Your husband gives you these for Christmas!

To go with this that he got me for my birthday. (Click the comments to find the answer.  Mr. Herrick Kimball of The Deliberate Agrarian guessed correctly.)

You also might be a homesteading/fly fishing/bamboo fly rod building kind of guy if you get these from your wife for Christmas...

And you might have homeschoolers in your household if you purchase things like this for Christmas...

And what celebration would be complete with out cookie decorating! (And eating.)

  

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

What Is It?

Well, it's my birthday gift from my husband...

Bet you can't guess what it is!  I don't have any nifty prizes or anything but if you guess it correctly you have the satisfaction of knowing more than I did.  I had to ask after I had opened it.  "I know it's a chicken but "what" is it?"

My nine year-old thinks it's a Barbie "Chicken-Horse".  What do you all think?

Slip Sliding Away

I love snow.  Blizzards? Bring 'em on. I love to watch it fall, I love to see piles of it everywhere.  I have been known to throw a snow ball, build a fort or snowman, sled down a hill or go for a walk in the silence that snow brings.  However, I have to admit, I'm really a snow bunny.  I prefer the lodge or in my case the living room couch where I can cocoon in a blanket and sip hot cocoa.

One thing I don't like to do in the snow? Drive!  I'm native to Seattle.  The PNW city gets some snow but not a whole bunch.  I never really had to drive in it.  By the time I was driving my dad was retired and able to give me a ride if the roads looked bad.  Then he passed the honor on to my husband.  When we moved to Idaho we only had one car so I never drove in the snow there.  When we moved to Texas... ha.... it snowed once and was gone in a few hours.  But here in Michigan... it snows and this year it started early.  I have teens who have to go to the dentist and the doctor and church play practice and guitar lessons and any number of social events.  And since Dad is usually either at work or in bed for these lovely errands guess who gets to drive them.  Me!  It is so not good.

Tuesday I had to drop off and pick up my eldest at a babysitting gig.  Of course this family has a long, steep, curving driveway up to the house. (With tons of trees lining the drive.)  I generally choose to stop at the bottom and let my daughter walk up to the house and down also.  But Tuesday, oh Tuesday, I forgot my phone at home whilst going to pick her up.  I didn't want to walk up to get her so I drove to the top.  I am an adult after all. This backing down a long, curvy, steep, tree-lined drive shouldn't be a problem.  Never mind that it is covered in snow.

Half way down the drive and "thunk".  In avoiding a tree, I failed to see the utility pole and backed right into it.  No big deal.  I was going slow. No damage.  I just put the vehicle in 4 wheel drive and drove forward. Of course what I couldn't see because of snow was the slope away from the driveway towards the tree I had missed.  The car moved forward and promptly slid down the slope and met the tree most intimately.  Okay, I'll just back up and be on my way.  NOOOOO... I end up digging the wheels down, down, down.  Now I am stuck and parallel parked between the tree and the pole. (Apparently the only time I can successfully parallel park is when I'm not trying to.)

Long story short, it took the grandfather of the kids my daughter was sitting, and my husband about an hour to dig and pull the car out.  Sigh... why do these things always happen to me.  Now I have a nice little dent in the front passenger fender and a busted tail light. Perhaps a move to Key West might not be a bad idea.

Now for the praises!  No one was hurt, the damage is small, both my husband and the grandfather were available to help, it was still light out and there was a break in the weather, they got the car out.  Big picture time. Big picture. Thank you Heavenly Father.

Lessons learned: Remember the phone so I can text my arrival to my daughter and not have to drive up to the house and if the phone is forgotten, don't be lazy. Park the beast and walk up to the house!

Free Foraged Food & Turning 9

I love nothing more than getting something for free.  It gives me great satisfaction.  My husband surprised me on Labor Day.  He was one of a few managers that had to go to the warehouse to "walk" it and make sure everything was okay since it was closed for the day.  He asked me to come along because there was a lone apple tree on the edge of the property and the apples just fall to the ground each year.  We were gonna pick those apples and make use of them. (We had permission.)

We didn't get too many because we didn't bring a ladder (I had to stand on the hood of the car) but we did get enough for a pie.

One our way too and from the warehouse I pointed out to him every "stray" apple tree along side the road that didn't look like anyone did anything with.  They were stand alone trees at the edge of fields and had fruit littering the ground. I told him we should go ask permission from all those landowners to access the apples.  I had been thinking this for a couple of weeks and John was surprised that I was thinking along the same lines as he was.  What can I say... the budget is miniscule and free food is enticing.

I also pointed out an apple tree on the road by our house on an abandoned bank owned property.  Again with no ladder we couldn't get the good apples but we got a bag full of apples that had fallen on the ground and we fed those to the chickens with the intent to get more if needed.  It takes so little to make us happy.

Yesterday was a day of celebration. Reagan turned 9!  We cancelled school and she chose to spend the morning at the mall with her big sisters, trying on clothes and then spent the afternoon with her dad and brother shooting air guns and bows/arrows.  Oh to be nine and have so many interests!  She is currently latch hooking away on her birthday gift.  Happy Birthday #4 child. We love you!!!!!

Does This Qualify As "Red Neck"?

You see this bucket sitting neatly under the tree?

Yeah... this one...

My husband saw road kill on the side of the road last night on his way home from work...

yep...

He stopped and scooped it up and brought it home.  At least he had the decency to inform me before I wondered why a bucket was sitting under the tree and opened it!

Actually, Farmer John has a good reason for bringing road kill home as disgusting as it sounds.  He will put it in our "protein out of thin air" chicken feeding program.  NO... the chickens don't eat the road kill.  You can read about the process here.

I recently read a book by the CEO of Duck Commander, Willie Robertson.  He said when he was little and his dad ran a crawfish fishing biz that they would always scoop up road kill to use as bait.  They had an entire freezer full of it.  Ewwwww!!!!!! I'm gonna have to put my foot down if Farmer John wants to do that. I think one bucket is my limit. But I guess we are in good company  Maybe we should start a biz called Chicken Commander and we could have a reality tv show called Chicken Dynasty? Whadda ya'll think? Red neck enough for you?

Grandparents, Shopping & Beestings!

Grandparents:

 

Mom and Dad Schuh

We said goodbye to my parents today.  They headed toward home this morning.  I always love when they come and I hate it when they leave.  I love living in Michigan except for being so far from family.  The spot where they parked their trailer looks sadly empty.  Sigh. 

 The entire clan posing for the camera (set up on the BBQ)

 Closer pic with me at the camera... the way I prefer it!

 The kids... do they look hot and sweaty?  We all were... it was right before we finally got a storm to cool things down.

 

Shopping:

I made two discoveries while out shopping today.  1. If you are looking for flip-flops and/or sandals now is the time to buy.  All the stores are clearing out their summer stuff in order to make room for fall items.  My pair of dress flip-flops (yes, I said dress flip-flops- I might be a redneck.) broke a couple of days ago necessitating replacement.  I found a great pair for $8- 1/2 off. I am pleased.  I was willing to spend up to $15. 2.Sadly, it is cheaper to buy full length pajama pants at Old Navy and Sears and cut them to the needed length (long shorts) instead of sewing your own.  My daughter needed some summer sleepwear and she didn't want the short shorts or full length pants that most stores have.  She was willing (and able) to sew some but the fabric she wanted was $6 a yard (which is actually not that expensive as far as fabric goes) and she needed around 3 yards.  Hmmm... $18 to sew or $10/$12 dollars premade.  For pajamas we'll go with the latter but it is still hard for me to buy something new and then cut it up.  It seems wrong, just like buying jeans with the holes already in them.

 

Beestings:

It would appear that some type of stinging bee-like creatures have made a nest in the ground in my red lettuce.  I was picking tonight and felt a prick.  I thought maybe it was a thorny weed I had brushed against but while inspecting the injury (on my lower leg) I noticed "bees" flying around the area.  Ahhh... I've been stung.  The pain was not very strong at first but boy did that pain level rise.  I had to call harvesting to an end and rush inside to tend to it.  Thank goodness for plain old baking soda and water paste.  It may look funky on my leg but the relief was almost instantaneous.

 

What home-remedies do you use for bee-stings?

Mrs. Q Thinks She Is People!

Mrs.Q wanting to be on the inside.

 

Today was another hot day.  When we weren't down by the creek we were hanging in the back yard under the trees and who was hanging out with us... Mrs. Q.  My dad commented that he had never known a chicken that liked to hang out by itself.  That is when it dawned on me that she wasn't hanging out by herself.  She was hanging out with us.  We are her new flock.  She thinks she's people!

 

The other day when we were gone but my parents were in their trailer they said she stood at the slider door off the deck and cackled and clucked for us.  Today when I was inside for a moment she followed me right up to the door and thought she was coming in.  She squawked with indignation when I didn't let her follow.    She also hangs out under the picnic table when we eat outside.  We don't have a family dog... we have a family chicken!

Martha making Mrs. Q. Jealous.

 

 Martha isn't sure what to make of Mrs. Q and I'm sure Mrs. Q wonders why Martha is on the side of the door she wants to be on.  But here's a hint... Martha uses a litter box and I'm not buying chicken diapers.

Making rope and keeping cool.

 

 When we weren't hanging with the "Q" we were down at the creek.  Farmer John doesn't like to just sit around and he doesn't like to read or write like I do so he gathered a bunch of dried grass along the bank and wove rope.  Very ingenious! Last year, after a shoulder surgery, he used his downtime during recovery to make himself a "straw" hat out of dried daylily leaves.  We'd sell them but it took a lot of time to make and I don't think most people would pay $100+ for a daylily hat.

$100 or more for a handmade hat?

Ingenious Chicken Feeding Contraption

 

Earlier in the day he finished setting up our teenage chicks' "Protein From Thin Air" bucket.  There is a smaller bucket inside the larger.  Inside the small lidded bucket are the entrails from butchering our roosters.  We allowed flies to land in there and lay their eggs.  The eggs will hatch and the maggots will fall out of both buckets. (Courtesy of the holes drilled in each bucket.) Then the chickens can feast.  The smell is masked by grass clippings stuffed in the bucket to keep predators away. You can read about the process in depth in Harvey Ussery's book The Small-Scale Poultry Flock.

Snowball the teenage rooster

 

Clearly the maggots aren't dropping yet or Snowball wouldn't be escaping his enclosure and free ranging in my garden!  He is so funny to watch.  He'll fly to the top of the chicken tractor and crow to let all the ladies know he's in charge!  Only his crow isn't quite developed yet.  My mom thought she was hearing a cat in the morning.  She figured out today it was snowball "crowing".  Keep at it little guy!

Beating The Heat!

Highs for the week are in the 90's with a heat index pushing what the temp. feels like to more around 100!  It is hot, humid and we are going AC free by choice (well actually by budget).  But we still found ways to beat the heat...

 City daughter and Tay sat by open windows and doors, under a ceiling fan.

 Grandma and Grandpa chose outside in the slight breeze under the shade trees.

 

 Andi and Rem chose the coolest place in the house... Downstairs in the craft room.

 

 My favorite place is a little redneck...

 

  ...but it's cool!

 

 Reagan likes the creek too!

 

Even the chickens chose shade!