Turkeys and Chicks

Last week we got our shipment of baby chicks.  We ordered them a couple of months ago and chose a shipment date.  The chicks were shipped through USPS.  I called our local post office the week before to give them a heads up and leave phone numbers.  The post office called us the morning the chicks arrived so we could go straight to pick them up.  Baby chicks are able to survive without food or water for about three days.  It is always best to get them both as soon as possible though.

We ordered mille fleur (W's choice) and Polish (my choice).  The Polish is front and center in the second picture with the cute little puff on top of her head.



Our baby turkeys are growing and doing very well.  They love the roost and late in the evening all six bunch of close together.  It is still too early to tell the boys from the girls. 

Garden Update

We continue to get rain, rain, and more rain here.  First it was just from some storm system and then it has been from Alberto.  Rain is good but too much can be a problem.  For my little garden it mostly means dropped blossoms from the tomato plants and some things not growing quite as well.  For the local farmers in a few fields, it is the danger of losing crops.  We take what we get though.

The largest pumpkin vine in the compost pile is starting to bloom.  I keep turning it away from the main garden area and will run it toward the front part of our property.


This week was all about moving things to take advantage of the cooler temperatures and rain.

I moved marigolds along the side of the pheasant and turkey pens.  These were free to me but would have cost more than $200 if I had purchased plants.  This is just a small section of what I planted. 

I moved the marigolds from this bed giving me space to transplant some tomato plants.

The tomato plants were mystery ones that came from this pot.  I chose the largest ones to give the others a chance to grow.

Cucamelons

I had nematodes get into the cantaloupes and ruin one-fourth of the plants.  I planted a few marigolds and seem to have stopped them in their tracks.  The other plants are doing well.

Tomatoes that formed before the rains. 

Hibiscus

Celosia

Lemon and Blooms on the largest lemon tree we set out

Mystery Citrus (to the left of the stick)

Pomegranate

Kiwi

We chose a good year to plant the fruit trees.  Normally I would need to be out there twice a day watering.  Instead I have watered them twice since we planted them and that was right after planting.  All are putting on new growth.  I do need to take some time to weed around them later this week.  

Weekly Goals Update: Week 21

1.  Disaster Preparedness
Week 21 was an emergency fuel supply.  We have this to a certain extent.  We do keep some extra gas on hand and try to not let the fuel in the vehicles get too low.  I would certainly never last 2-3 months, but I not a prepper.  I am just trying to get by.  I think in a "walking dead/zombie apocalypse" situation none of this would help too much.  I am not focusing on super awful disaster survival.


2.  Makeover the Garden
I moved some marigolds to other parts of the yard.  I also transplanted some tomatillos and mystery tomatoes into raised beds.  We are still getting rain almost every day.  This week I want to set up the last raised bed.  I am also temped to add a few more herbs to the garden.  I will have to decide before the free shipping offer at Seed Savers Exchange expires tonight.


3.  Organize Recipes
Nothing done on this goal.  I spent too much time in the garden again.


4.  Have 13 No Spend Grocery Weeks
I skipped shopping this past week bringing my total up to 5 no spend grocery weeks.  I am hoping to get a couple of these in during June.  My plans are still to shop only twice per month.


5.  Focus on Saving
One of my big savings this week was to fill my garden with plants flowers from other parts of the yard.  I have piles and piles of marigolds so I am using those around the chicken house and pheasant/turkey pens.  As soon as I set out the plants, I started seeing pollinators visiting them.  Since we have garden plants and fruit trees scattered all over the yard, pollinators are a great thing.  More pollinators translates into more and healthier produce.


6.  Etsy Store
This past week I researched what I needed to do as far as collecting sales tax.  Can I just say it all makes my head spin slightly?  Ugh!  I think I have it figured out, but I need to do a few more things before I can actually get my shop up and running.


Cheryl asked how my husband's job hunt is going.  He has applied to several places and has had one interview.  We are doing okay money-wise for now.  Not having a mortgage, car payment, satellite bill, etc has certainly freed us up to be patient.  We are still praying that the right thing will open up - whatever that may be.

Weekend Book Reviews

Defeating Dementia by Richard Furman, MD, is an insightful look into the connection between Alzheimer's and artery health.  The book explains dementia and the stages of Alzheimer's.  It focuses on five risk factors, and changes that can be made now.  The book is a mix of medical information and the journey of an Alzheimer's patient.  While there is no cure for Alzheimer's, Defeating Dementia does offer hope.  This book offers encouragement to families dealing with the disease or hoping to prevent it.  The ending of the book brought back memories of my own grandmother and had me in tears.  It did make me optimistic for the future.


Coach Wooden's Forgotten Teams by Pat Williams and Jim Denney is all about John Wooden's summer basketball camps.  I am a huge college basketball fan and have a great respect for Coach John Wooden.  I completely enjoyed this book. The life advice (not just what relates to basketball) is inspiring.  It was great to read that he was the same with young campers as he was with UCLA players.  I think the current college basketball culture would do well to draw from the wisdom of Coach Wooden.




disclosure:  I received these books from Revell but was not otherwise compensated for these reviews.  All opinions are my own!

Weekend Book Reviews

Siriously Delicious by Siri Daly promises a mix of nutritious and not as nutritious recipes.  It covers everything from breakfast to sides to desserts.  I did mark a few recipes that looked good including the Greek nachos and homemade samoas.  I thought overall the cookbook was best for beginners .  All of the recipes were good, but a serious home cook would most likely be bored.  I make variations of many of the recipes already.  If you are a new cook, this would be an excellent cookbook to start your journey!

Nicola Temple's Best Before:  The Evolution and Future of Processed Food fell a bit flat for me.  I could not decide if the author was in favor of or against processed foods.  She mentioned that hand making pasta at home was more difficult than using a machine to make pasta at home.  If the ingredients are exactly the same, I hardly see a huge difference.  I also found it confusing that she said buying a frozen lasagna and bagged salad were better since they eliminated food waste.  I would much rather discuss ways to use up fresh ingredients instead of being told to choose convenience.  I prefer an author to take a firm stand on a topic.  Plenty of people "ride the fence" on issues as a safety net, but I want substance and conviction.

Bad Neighbors by Maia Chance is the second book in the Agnes and Effie Mystery series.  Agnes and her great aunt Effie get a test run of the Stagecoach Inn when a tour group needs a place to stay while their bus is repaired.  When Agnes goes to pick up the senior guests, a mechanic at the repair shop has just been found murdered.  To make matters worse, her boyfriend Otis is the only suspect.  Agnes must juggle the inn guests and investigating the murder all while being stalked by the murdered.  I did guess the killer's identity before it was revealed, but it did not make me enjoy the book any less.  I adore Agnes, Effie, and cousin Chester and am already looking forward to more of their adventures!

disclosure:  I received these e-books through NetGalley but was not otherwise compensated for these reviews.  All opinions are my own!

Five Frugal Things

Happy Friday, everyone!  No big plans here for the holiday weekend with more rain expected.  I need to do some freezer cooking and start working on June's menu.  I hope everyone has a great day and a fun and safe weekend!


Now on to this week's frugal doings......

1. W and I took a road trip, and we were gone for most of the day.  We split an order of fries and a drink to go with our cheeseburgers.  We both had plenty to eat and stayed within our budget.  While we were out and about, I found another small item to add to my secret sister gift stash.
2. The rain kept the temperatures cooler here which is good for the electric bill.  I am not sure how long it will last, but we are enjoying it while we can.
3. While W was cleaning an area of the yard, he found four fig limbs that had rooted giving us four more fig trees.  We put three into pots and one into the ground in our new fruit orchard.  I realized that we have 15 fruit trees planted in our little orchard spot and all were free. 
4. We ate squash, strawberries, and lettuce from the garden. 
5. I used some random vegetables from the refrigerator to make a quiche one night. 

Garden Update

We have been getting rain every day here which is good for the garden.  I managed to get a few things done in the garden though.

I planted some herbs and marigolds around the chicken pen.  You can see that the chickens nibbled on them although I did put up some netting to protect them a bit.

Pears which I hope will survive the squirrels this year.

One of our fig trees

The mystery tomatoes

The eggplant is getting larger and also has several friends.

One of several tiny tomatoes

Cantaloupe

Cucamelons

Hibiscus

The pumpkin growing in the compost bin has grown through the fencing.   I plan to keep it turned out of the garden into part of the yard and hope the chickens do not eat them all. 

Turkeys

I was hesitant to add turkeys to our little homestead, but now I would fight you over one of them.  Warren bought a royal palm male last year.  While Whitey still does not have his tail feathers, he thinks he looks fabulous.

I kept hearing over and over how turkeys were dumb, but I think it is the people dealing with the turkeys who had the problem.  Both Whitey and our other tom, Frank, like for us to talk to them.  If we do not greet them, they will gobble at us until we say hello.

Last week we were finally able to find a royal palm girl.  W named her Wanda.  She is much more talkative than our other girl, Jane, who was sadly killed by a large fox earlier this month.  Hopefully by next year we will have some royal palm babies.

We do have some eastern turkey babies from Frank and Jane.  They should be on the ground next week so I can share them with you!

Weekly Goals Update

1.  Disaster Preparedness
Week 20 involves having a one month food supply.  Most of the time this is no problem at all.  Living out in the country means at least a 45 minute round trip into town for major things.  While I could drive to either little (but bigger than mine) town on either side of us, I generally am not a fan of going somewhere unless I have a good reason.  This time of year it is pretty easy.  Neighbors are constantly swapping vegetables that are in their gardens.  I keep a good supply of basics on hand due to our location.  Would we love every meal I could come up with (especially those near the end of the month)?  Probably not, but we could eat.


2.  Makeover the Garden
This past week with all of the rain I spent time pulling weeds.  We have tea weeds here.  I prefer not to use weed killers, chemicals, etc.  Instead I pull them up.  This is best done after a good rain which we had several of this past week.  I made really good progress in the main garden.  This week my plan is to finish in the main garden and clean around the newly planted fruit trees.


3.  Organize Recipes
I am determined to get through at least one section of my recipe notebook or maybe sort through some recipes I tore out of magazines.


4.  Have 13 No Spend Grocery Recipes
We did our main grocery shop this past week.  This week my plan is to skip the grocery store.  To make that a bit easier I want to do some freezer cooking this week.  During the summer we are usually out in the yard late.  Quick meals make life so much easier.


5.  Focus on Saving
I picked up an item on clearance ($0.55) that would be perfect for one of my secret sister gifts with a couple other small items added.  I planned laundry around the rain days.  I picked up a free photo from Walgreens and ordered a free one from Snapfish.  I found a great deal on contact disinfecting solution with free shipping so I stocked up. 


6.  Goal #6
You might have noticed that I skipped the "Have Fun" goal last week.  I found that I needed to adjust this goal given our current situation.  I still plan to enjoy life, but I need to work on growing a business.  I have chosen to focus on crafty items.  I am planning to open an Etsy shop.  My new goal will be to open and grow an Etsy shop this year!

Weekend Book Review: Breaking the Fear Cycle

Maria Furlough's Breaking the Fear Cycle touches on a subject to which everyone can relate.  While the Bible tells us to not be afraid, in today's world that is difficult.  Mrs. Furlough uses her own story of the loss of her son to help others overcome their fears and put their trust in God.  I cried at times reading her story and coming to terms with the life God wants His children to lead.  The book is backed by scripture and offers concrete steps to overcome fear to live in peace.  This is an excellent book to read as a personal Bible study or as a group study. 


disclosure:  I received this book from Revell but was not otherwise compensated for this review.  All opinions are my own!

Weekend Book Reviews

Shot in the Dark by Cleo Coyle is the seventeenth book in the Coffeehouse Mystery series.  Claire is the manager of Village Blend, which is the new dating hotspot thanks to a dating app.  When the coffeehouse is the scene of a hookup gone wrong, Claire struggles to save the Village Blend.  I struggled to get into the storyline.  I did enjoy the mystery portion of the book, but I suppose I have been married for too long to be fascinated by the dating app plot.  This is more of a personal issue than anything wrong with the book.

Jane Willan's first book in the Sister Agatha and Father Selwyn Mystery series is The Shadow of Death.  Sister Agatha is a mystery writing nun living in Wales.  When Jacob, the church caretaker, is found dead in the Abbey's cheese aging room, Sister Agatha is the only one who believes it is murder.  Once the strange events at the Abbey start piling up, Sister Agatha plans to use her mystery novel skills to solve the murder.  I adored Sister Agatha, Father Selwyn, and all of the nuns at the Abbey.  The book was full of action as it had a side storyline in addition to introducing all of the characters.  I am already looking forward to the second book!

 Lord of the Pies by Nell Hampton is the second book in the Kensington Palace Chef Mystery series.  Carrie Ann is the personal chef to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.  She is put in charge of a bridal shower but must borrow another chef's kitchen.  She leaves a pie as a thank you, but becomes a suspect when a waiter is found dead in the pie.  When other chefs are poisoned, she sets out to clear her name before she becomes the next victim.  I enjoy the royal setting, and all of the characters in this series.  I read the previous book in the series.  While I highly recommend it, it is not necessary to enjoy this particular book.  This is a fun twist on the typical cozy mystery, and I look forward to more from the series.

disclosure:  I received these e-books through NetGalley but was not otherwise compensated for these reviews.  All opinions are my own!

Frugal Doings

This covers a couple of weeks since I missed posting last Friday.

*I called to get Toby some flea medicine from the vet.  I learned that they were offering a free dose which meant that Toby is flea free for free.

*I made infused water with strawberries and mint from the garden.

*I planned laundry around the incoming rain.  I saved up everything that would dry easily on the drying racks inside to wash on the days with the most chances of rain. 

*I opted to use marigolds, which I have piles of, to plant in the large planters on my front porch.  Buying new flowers was tempting, but these were free.  They will also hold up well to the heat.

*I picked strawberries, lettuce, and squash from the garden this week. We also ate some blackberries and raspberries in passing.

*I reused some envelopes to mail off some items that I sold on eBay.

*W has been building a turkey pen using items we already have.  He should be able to complete it for nothing out of pocket.

*I picked up a few clearance items over the past two weeks.  One was a nice light jacket for W.  I also got a few things to donate and picked up a few things for gifts. 

*I signed up for a couple more free magazines. 

*I transplanted some tomato plants to other parts of the garden.  I took advantage of the rain softening the dirt to pull weeds.  It took time but was cheaper than buying and spraying chemicals.

Weekly Goals Update: Week 19

1.  Disaster Preparedness
Week 19 was food storage tools.  Aside from the freezer I depend highly on the Food Saver.  I use it to vacuum seal our stock up deals.  This week that will include tea and coffee.  I also use the jar attachments to vacuum seal things I dehydrate.  I also love my Excalibur dehydrator.  For years I had the cheaper round version and rarely used it as it took so long to dehydrate anything.  I saved up for the Excalibur and during the garden season use it almost daily. 

2.  Makeover the Garden
I have continued to work on this area.  We got nearly all of the fruit trees planted last week.  I have had to water them several times, but we have rain in the forecast for the next seven days.  Today I am planning to set out some herbs and move some marigolds.  I also need to get the pineapple plants into containers. I want to put out some more wildflower seeds too.  If there are some breaks in between showers this week, I plan to do a bit of weeding in the bee garden.

3. Organize Recipes
If it rains all week (which would not hurt my feelings), I will spend some time on my recipe books.  I have some new favorites to print and add into the books.

4.  Have 13 No Spend Grocery Weeks
I am planning a big grocery shop to last us at least the next three weeks.  That means I should have two more no spend weeks to add to the total. I sat down over the weekend and wrote out a meal plan. I am looking forward to staying close to home for a couple of weeks.

5. Focus on Saving
My church started a women's ministry group earlier this year, and I was put in charge of the Secret Sister ministry.  When I finances tightened, I considered just being in charge and not participating.  Since the focus was on prayers and contact rather than gifts, I opted to take part.  I had some extra bucks expiring at CVS last week.  I was able to use them along with some sales and clearances to purchase four months of small gifts for my "sister".  I also took advantage of free shipping on Joann's to order a skein of yarn on sale.  I will use it to crochet her a pair of fingerless gloves for winter.

Garden Update

I am hitting just the high points this week in the garden post.

I have some volunteer pumpkins (and a few weeds) growing in the compost pile.  We had to put wire over it to keep the chickens out.  None of the pumpkin seeds I planted have sprouted.  I am not sure if they were bad or if the chickens ate them.

I was worried that the lemon balm I moved to the herb boxes was not going to make it.  This week it has started putting on new growth.  Yeah!

The bee balm has started to bloom!  It is nice to see some color in the garden.

Some of the old tomato seeds are sprouting.  I have an extra raised bed saved just for them.

The cantaloupe seeds are sprouting.  I am not a fan of cantaloupe, but W and my mom love them.  Hopefully we will have a decent harvest this year.

The older tomato plants are full of blooms.

I even spotted a tiny eggplant!


We planted some of my fruit trees this week too.

Kiwi

Loquat

Pomegranate

The bee garden needs weeding, but I need it to rain first.

Does anyone know what this flower is?  I suspect it was part of the mix of seeds I planted last year.