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| The coop is almost done |
A few more finishing touches and it's complete. We put up the outdoor run on Sunday with the help of our neighbor Jim. We still need to make a door and put up the solar predator lights & solar motion detector spotlight and I think that's it. Tonight the chickens moved to their new home...
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| Settling in. This is as clean as it will ever look :-) |
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| Looking through the other door with the hanging waterer & feeder. |
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Bubbles (the rooster) was the first one in tonight. We had a trial run on Sunday night to see if he could figure out the ramp which was pretty funny. Not how he reacted to the ramp. It was how he followed me back into the barn. He is just like a dog :-) He follows me everywhere. So tonight, I just put him down in the grass & he walked behind me to the coop. I locked him in & got the girls. I carried them. Wasn't sure if they would follow me & I needed to get other things done before sunset. They all settled in quickly. Tomorrow I'll let them out & see how they handle the great outdoors. I will leave Vinnie & Tigger in the house. Not sure what their reaction would be to the chickens walking around the yard. Tigger is so playful I'm afraid he'd get pecked at by Bubbles. Vinnie went & sat down by the coop as soon as I let him out so I think he will protect them.
Speaking of Vinnie...he hurt himself on Friday afternoon. The vet said his knee is injured. He started to run & must have twisted it. Poor guy. He already has a bum leg so now he is kind of hopping. He is on pain meds & arnica & is supposed to be resting. Hope he gets better soon. He is my shadow most of the time & I hate to leave him inside.
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| Big barn...little coop |
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| Going down our driveway with the thrasher |
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The Amish have been thrashing the oats for the last couple weeks. They brought this McCormick-Deering thrasher up to Eli & Lizzie's last week to do theirs. The horses in the back were used to "brake" the machine as it went down the hill. It's like living in the 30's or 40's around here sometimes :-).
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| Beautiful pine after the grime is removed. |
Last week I started to work on the pine boards for the floor. The wood looks great under all that dirt. It does take time to do each board, but it will be worth it in the end. I have about half done now. I need to work on them when there is no chance of rain. Tomorrow I'll have to find another project to work on, which I have many. Taking the indoor chicken cage down is one of them along with playing with my new "toy", a steam juicer. It is almost time for the elderberry harvest. The steamer should make it so much easier.
Another thing I did last week was buy six dozen ears of corn from the Amish down the road.
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| Part of the corn I preserved. |
That was a lot of work! I will not be doing any more this year. I tried both ways. First, I blanched the whole ear & cut it off. Then I tried cutting it off first, before blanching. Both ways have their drawbacks. I chose to freeze not can the corn. Mainly because I have yet to use the pressure canner I got a couple years ago. I will be trying it this year though. I promise (to quit being a chicken about using it).
Some of you might have noticed that I started a new blog about the garlic we grow. I have set up a way to order the garlic, but haven't figured out the shipping yet. It is after 11pm so I gave up researching PayPal for the night. Hopefully, I can figure it out soon. I'll let you know :-)
Have a great week!
9 comments:
We have a large Amish population in our area...it's fascinating to see them work with their horses. Looks like hard work, but yet, such a simple life.
You crack me up, naming a rooster Bubbles!
That coop looks just great! I do wish I had the time to have chickens!
It´s funny but I was wondering how the Amish did when they were harvesting things like oat. I just couldn´t think they did it by hand :-) :-)
Dogs always hurt themselves it seems :-) :-) My two old boys are both limping right now :-) But young Nova seems to be able to go through anything without injuring her self :-)
I made Aronia jam yesterday and I can´t describe how it tastes but I do like it :-) :-) I think it will go perfect with waffles and ice cream :-)
Have a great day!
Christer.
What a fun update post. I especially love the image of the bar and the coop. So very cool. :)
Sometimes, the best way is the old way. Far less work, if you don't mind feeding the machines! Use the dadburned pressure canner! I had one and loved it! If you're so nervous, start a fire in the grill and use it outdoors. Put tinfoil over the grate to protect the bottom and let it rip! It's going to take longer to get the water heated up but that's not going to hurt the canning process. Just be ready to count the time from when the weight starts hissing. That's how I did mine because it was so big, I didn't want to harm my stove burners. Good luck!
I will try the pressure canner, I promise :-). There are things I need to can, so I have too.
The coop looks great. What fun you're having up there. But we miss you down here. I can't wait to meet your animals.
It is a lot of fun, but a lot of work too. Miss you too.
What a beautiful chicken coop! Lucky flock you have there.
Found your blog and love that you are a "chicken" about using your pressure canner......I just found one at an estate sale and paid almost nothing for it, I hadn't bought one sooner because I was afraid to use it!
Love your chicken coop and run, we just built our run and feel we need to expand already!
Look forward to reading more of your posts and checking out your garlic.
Denise
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