Duck Escapees

     I think the ducks have "Cabin Fever".  I just did the morning chores late. (it's middle afternoon -- my bad)  I left the duck coop door open a bit like I always do when I bring the food and water, and instead of waiting for me to be done, they all made a mad dash for the open door!  Uhhggg!  Now, they are happily going from dog poo pile to dog poo pile chowing down!!!!  My husband said, "what Lucky Ducks!"  All I can think of is whether I want to eat tomorrows eggs!

     It is not going to be easy getting them back in.  First of all they don't want to go in, and second of all there are 4 foot drifts out there that they are walking on top of and I will sink in! 

Eggshells & Coffee Grounds

     I've already started saving eggshells.  Not for Easter --- for the slugs.  :-)  The coffee grounds I'll wait for just a bit.  I started using the eggshells and coffee grounds last year, the second year that I ever planted cabbage. 

     The first year I planted cabbage, the heads were demolished -- it seemed like overnight!  Last year my organic cabbage was beautiful!!  ...and did I have a lot of it.  For what ever reason I started 1/2 flat of cabbage seed in the house last year, and every single one took.  (I had to plant them) That's a lot of sauerkraut and cabbage salad, when I am the one mostly eating it.  ---- I have got to get the rest of the family eating sauerkraut, it's so-o-o-o good.  I donated a lot of cabbage to the food pantry last summer. I didn't really expect all that cabbage to get to the full head stage.  They did, only because I sprinkled crushed eggshells (sharp on a slugs' little soft belly) and coffee grounds (I don't know why -- but it works) around every plant, and kept it up till harvest.  Lots of times I didn't have enough eggshells ready to go, that's why I'm starting early to save them.

     We will be making sauerkraut together this summer.......maybe you want to plant some cabbage too?

I always let the eggshells dry out for a day before crushing them.

Ordering Trees/Bushes

     Rick (my husband) and I have been getting our order together from the Menominee Conservation District in Upper Michigan. We ordered from them last year.  The trees and bushes were absolutely beautiful!  So strong and healthy.  We learned the lesson of not ordering more than we can plant in the next day or two from when we get them.  Rick and his brother ordered 200 Norway spruce and some apples last year.    ..........let's just say the chiropractor could have used a chiropractor :-) They are ordering 100 Norway spruce this year and some wild apple trees for their hunting land.  Hopefully they spread it out over two days.  They won't get any help from me :-) 

     I will be planting what I buy for the homestead.  Last year what I bought from them was; 5 elderberries,  5 sand cherries,  5 nannyberries, 5 highbush cranberries, a Wolf River apple tree, and a flowering crab apple.  Everything is alive and well.

     This year I'm buying 5 nankin cherries, 5 more highbush cranberries (part of a windbreak), a Lodi apple tree, 5 hazelnut trees,  10 forsythia bushes, a Stanley plum, and a Victory plum.  That's about all the holes I can dig.  Actually, I will have most of the holes dug and ready before they come.

     Why such an array?  Am I really interested in feeding the turkeys and deer?     uuhhhh No.  I'm sure they will take their share though.  Everything being planted has a reason.  It's either food for our table, with any extra going to the pigs, ducks, and chickens, or, I am specifically planting it for winter feeding of the chickens.  (all those small fruits I will dry).  The forsythias are for early feeding of my bees (and because I love them blooming so early in the spring too :-)........and I might make some sand cherry wine this year. :-)

   

Gardening Without Gloves

     Two true statements  --- I hate wearing gloves when I garden. My hands and fingernails, and cuticles look tough all summer.  :-)  Sometimes I start out wearing gloves, and before I know it I'm forgetting to put them on.  Maybe there is something deep inside me that needs to feel that dirt. I don't know.

     I'm thinking about this because I spent another day planting seeds.  Even using potting soil, my fingernails and cuticles are taking a beating.  The potting soil isn't so bad, but I don't even want to know what I might be digging in outside when I know I have improved the soil with chicken and cow manure.  Cleaning up is really important.  Colloidal Silver Soap is what I like to use.  Any nice moisturizing soap (love the french milled soaps) could be used, but, it has to be a bar soap.  I like the colloidal silver soap because it is anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and moisturizing.


I buy mine at the health food store.


     This is what I do, make my hand into a "claw" and dig into the bar of soap, so the soap gets up
under my fingernails.  Then use my nail brush.  A good way to clean under those fingernails just before making supper :-)

     P.S.  I planted perennial daisy, pink wave petunia, basil, purple verbena, parsley, fenugreek (playing around with it to see if it could be a supplement grain for chickens), and more gogi berry.  Looking like a greenhouse around here......

Meet Butsch -- Our New Leader Dog Puppy

     Butsch became part of our household today.  A friend gave him a ride from Leader Dogs For The Blind in Rochester Michigan, and I picked him up in Green Bay this afternoon.  He is a purebred German Shepherd, 9 weeks old.  Usually we get them at about 6-7 wks. old, so he is a little bigger starting off -- all 18 lbs. of him. (He is going to be big.)


Future Leader Dog Butsch



Grandsons Remington and Brayden (cousins) and "off-duty" Trixy.

 
     Future Leader Dog Trixy (Beatrix) is still at our house too.  She has a return date to the school of April 1st.  I will have a 5 week overlap of puppy's.  Trixy will begin the rounds of saying good-bye to the different stores and restaurants she's been a regular at.  Butsch will have to start getting out right away.  Getting them used to people and being out in different situations is important, -- especially before the age of 12 weeks.  Don't get me wrong, they will both be getting out.  I will work Trixy on a lot more traffic outside and longer walks.  Butsch will go with me shopping (quick trips in and out) -- too small for any length of walks.

     I will have Butsch for about 1 year, getting him used to any and all situations.  Then he will go back to the school for 5 more months of professional training.  If all goes well, he will be matched with a blind person and they will train at the school for another 3 weeks.  It is my goal that Butsch and Trixy, will become the best Leader Dogs possible.  They will change someones life for the better.

     I have named all the puppies I have raised for Leader Dogs For The Blind with names that start with a "B" -- except for Smoke (who was named after a childhood dog of mine).  There has been: Booker, Billy, Brinkley, Blackjack, Boone, Smoke, Beatrix, and now Butsch.  If you are at all interested in raising a puppy for Leader Dogs for the Blind, go online and fill out an application.  You don't need to know anything about training, they help you with all of that.  They are in need of raisers right now................


If you'd like to raise a puppy for
Leader Dogs For The Blind
contact them at 
http://www.leaderdog.org/volunteer/puppyraiser/index.php.



Wipe Out Kinda Day




The shovel is on the other side of that drift :-), and it's still snowing.

       As you can see from the picture, we got a lot of snow last night. 10 inches here, with another inch all day today.  The wind is something else and the drifts are huge.  Without 4 wheel drive, our driveway would be almost impassable.  It will be drifted shut again tomorrow, and we'll have to get the guy out to plow again.  We call a day like this a "wipe-out" day.  Businesses are open, but not many people are out and about.  At our chiropractic office the phone just kept on ringing   ----  with cancellations.  My path to the ducks was filled in with a 4 foot drift  ---  my legs aren't that long :-)

     These kind of days are great for staying home and tackling projects.  I used the day to plant seeds.  Things that I would plant outside in about 10 -11 weeks or, in the case of the violas and pansies, things that I wanted blooming for early spring.  So, besides the violas and pansies, purple wave petunias got planted, eight slips from my sweet potato plant that had roots, white petunias, and some purple millet.

     Last year I planted my tomato plants too early.  They were long and spindly by the time it was ready to plant outside.  I had to dig a trench and bury them 3/4 of the way up the stems. It worked, but I made a mental note to not start them too early this year........now if I had greenhouse.... :-)

"Free" Curtain Rods


      I checked out curtain rods at the store today.  $25 per rod (for the ones I liked).  I just couldn't bring myself to pay $50 for the two rods I need in my upstairs loft yet.  Call me cheap.  The thing is, I know there are "free" rods
out in the woods.  It takes a little work to find a nice straight branch to make your new rod, but they do look neat, and you will get lots of compliments on them.  This works best for tab curtains so you can see through to the wood rod.


Box elder curtain rod for my curtain
 panels downstairs.  As long as it is fairly
straight, I love all the nooks and crannies.

 The rods I have downstairs are made out of box elder branches, which

gives me a beautiful blonde color.  Spring is the time to go find your branches

because if you want the bare wood look, the bark just strips off in big chunks



A small plant hanger works
 great for holding them up.



with hardly any work.  When people start putting out their maple syrup buckets you know that the sap is running.  That's when the bark is easiest to get off.  If you wait till the middle of summer that same bark will be "glued" to the wood, and you will be basically carving it off --- a whole lot more

work.

    





Works for me :-)



     How do you hold up the rods?  I buy cheap, ($4.00) short, plant hangers and put them

on the wall.  Walla  --  the rod sits in there beautifully.  If I had small children in the house that could possibly pull on the curtains and pull the whole bit down, I would somehow tie the rods down.  (Maybe with fishing line?)

      Try it, your curtain rods will have character.  If you don't live near a woods, maybe a

neighbor is trimming some trees?  Keep your eyes open, I bet before you know it you'll find something.



    

The Best Fish Batter

The Best Fish Batter

1 tsp. onion powder
1 1/2 - 2 tsp. garlic salt
1 - 1 1/2 tsp. seasoned salt (I use the one from the health food store with no MSG)
pepper to taste
2 cups flour

Place all ingredients in a plastic bag and shake well to mix up.

In a small bowl, whisk an egg with a fork, add a dash of milk (a couple TBL.)  Coat the fish in the egg, and drop into bag.  Shake to coat.  Pan fry the fish or deep fry.

(We had perch tonight ----- yum..!)

Love The Thaw - Hate The Thaw

     Here in Northeast Wisconsin we are having our January thaw in February :-)  Up to 45 degrees today!  Only 5 more degrees and we'll start seeing people in shorts ..lol.  The thaw sure helps with everybody's mood.  It does feel good.  I even left the door open on the chicken coop.....And Elton the drake.....well he's out there,... ahh... "doing his thing".  The ducks started laying eggs again yesterday.

     What I don't like about a thaw is, I have to clean the chicken coop.  Winter cleaning of the chicken coop is always a problem.  There is too much snow for the 4-wheeler and trailer.  So, I let the litter build up, which actually helps to keep the coop warmer.  There is no smell or ammonia as long as it is freezing out.  This works good until a thaw, then it has to be cleaned because of the ammonia.

     So, today the coop got a good cleaning.  I only make a pile on the side of the coop for now, like I said, can't get the 4-wheeler back there.  Towards spring I will have to handle that pile again.  But, it is really not that bad.  Keeping Billy (the dog) out of the chicken poo has to always be considered.....I always pile snow on top of it, and then he seems to leave it alone.

     I'm going for the "glass is half full" side of this thaw.   .......I really don't think we are going to have any more "20 below" days.  Hey, we're going to be tapping for maple syrup before you know it!

Cleaned The Frig.......

     I finally got around to cleaning the refrigerator......it really needed it.  It was good to get it cleaned, but also kind of sad.  I threw a lot away.  What a waste.  I was curious as to how much money I was literally throwing out.  Here's how I figured it:

1/4 lb shrimp leftover from Super Bowl Sunday (Yeah Pack!)
        ..............................$ 3.00
Mangosteen Juice...one swallow and then forgotten about
        ...............................29.99
1 lime.....rock hard
       .....................................50
3/4 of an avocado
       .....................................75
3/4 lb. of Havarti cheese
       ..................................6.00
1/2 ring polish sausage
       ..................................2.00
Nitrate free sandwich meat......doesn't last without the nitrates :)
       ..................................6.00
2 Nitrate free hot dogs..........leftover from roasting over the fire New Years Day
       .................................1.00
Homemade Elderberry juice....got pushed to the back....out of sight out of mind
       ...............................10.00
1/4 jar taco sauce.
       ....................................40
1/2 jar homemade pickles....................in there a REALLY long time opened
       ..........2.50
1/2 jar homemade pickled beets.........."       "    "        "          "       "         "....
       ..........2.50
Bolthouse Farms Protein Plus drink....single serve
       ..................3.50
Bolthouse Farms Protein Plus qt.
      ...................6.00
Homemade Barbecue 1 qt....(my canned sauce and grass fed hamburger)                                         
(I just forgot to freeze it!!)
      ..................8.00


                   Grand Total.......................................$77.39

I could use a spare $77.39 in my pocket.  What really hurt was throwing out the things that had cost me lots of time and energy--- elderberry juice, barbecue, pickles, pickled beets.  That is not going to happen again.  Using up leftovers is going to become a regular thing.  And really checking over the whole refrigerator for opened things (i.e the protein drink and Mangosteen Juice) has got to become a regular habit.................. Pray for me  :-)