Hello Spring

Winter on the Open Prairie - A sea of sienna.

Winter came and went on the ranch.  I have to say, that after last year's nightmare of a winter, this one was a breeze.  We had our cold snaps, but they didn't last.  We had snow, but it was never a lot, and it didn't stay around long.  (I think I spent more time on the tractor moving alpaca manure than moving snow.)We had ice and fog as thick as a down blanket. We had a lot of wind, which made the cold even colder. But here we are, March 1st. 

Oh, I'm sure it's going to still snow, but again, it won't last.  The sun is high.  Even the thick ice on the 1800 acre lake below us is gone.  Only the thin ice that forms each night on the still water greets each morning, but is gone by noon.

The flocks migrating snow geese fill the skies like a cloud of smoke when disturbed from the lake or when coming in to roost on the water at night, and when leaving by the thousands each morning.  The sound is alien, but joyous.

I've been busy on the ranch this winter doing all the little things that don't need to be done outside.  Things that you can manage inside as to not waste a lovely day outdoors. My shop on etsy.com, GnomeGnomeOnTheRange, is up and running.  It has some antiques, some weaving, lovely pillowcases, and soon will have wonderful gardening aprons and what I call Orphan Barrel Dresses for Toddlers, and of course, an array of alpaca yarns.  Which are going fast, so don't wait too long to get yours.  For my spinning and fiber art friends, I also have bags of cleaned and washed alpaca fleece.

I gutted and remodeled another bathroom. Yes, the ugly urine yellow one on the lower level has been brought into the 21st century and is now a lovely shade of stormy sea blue, and the floor is cherry.

We decided to add another 10 trees to the orchard and the irrigation that goes along with them.  The trees are all heritage grafts, to include one from a certified Johnny Appleseed (Chapman) tree.  How cool is that?  The trees should be here at the end of the month.

I built a small animal chute, which will hopefully help with alpaca toenail spa day. (Now, I just need to catch a victim, em ...volunteer.)

I built a second Top Bar Hive.  This one went much faster than the first, due mostly to the fact that I'd done it before.  It has a few changes from lessons learned last time around and is painted a lovely glowing blue shade of Hydrangea/Lilac/Wisteria.

I earned my State Teaching Certification, which required me to take a modern Human Resources College course to update. It was an 8 week course that I took as a full time job, and finished it in 10 days- 24 essays and papers.  I thought my brain was going to explode and my fingers were going to fall off.

I earned my State Food Handler's permit so that I can now sell baked goods at my friend's floral shop along with the honey and eggs.

I earned my CHP certification, and was awarded this year's Swiss and Royal Canadian Mounted Certifications.

I created a custom Tartan design for the Ranch and it was accepted into the Scottish Register. (I'll share it when the official paperwork gets here.)  I'll be getting it warped onto the loom this week and hopefully have the sash done for my DAR convention at the end of March.  OH....

I was accepted into DAR, Daughters of the American Revolution, and have continued to do research to add to my long list of patriot ancestors.  It is time consuming, but fascinating.  I had a fellow etsy.com artist design me a custom wardrobe and it is gorgeous.  LOL.  On a day you feel like a giantess, I suggest you put on a 18th century bumroll, and all 3 petticoats and jacket, and see how slimming your 21st century clothes make you feel.  Although I am perfectly comfortable in my period costumes and wish I could wear them all day long, all the time like my fellow online blogger Thea ,but it's just not practical here.  She's an inspiration.

My friend Kelsey, had her re-Grand Opening of her new shop in Stromsburg, Spindle Shuttle and Needle.  In celebration of that event, I made her a large 4 foot square Dala horse of her very own for outside the shop.  Shops all over downtown have them in support of the town being the Swede Capital of the State.

We've been playing with making our own Farmer's cheese and we're hooked.  We especially like plain with cinnamon and honey, but garlic-onion-black pepper is our hands down favorite.

I've taken to grinding my own wheat in a KtichenAid Grain mill which turned out to be total garbage.  I had to grind it 6 times to get it to the quality of flour and it almost killed my machine, and I have a professional machine! 
I switched to the NutriMill Plus Mill which takes all of 2 minutes to grind two weeks worth of fine flour from high quality red wheat berries. Those I order from Minnesota, and have come up with a delicious 100% whole wheat sandwich bread.  I've been making it once a week. 
It freezes well and makes a great toast, which is high on my 'must' list for a bread.



I found an enormous, antique, bread dough trough that was brought here by homesteaders in the 1880s.  I scrubbed it down, dried it, and rewaxed it.  It is now ready for use, but I almost don't dare.  I might break it in this week or next.  She's almost too pretty to use.

The seeds for this year are on order.  The sweet potatoes are in jars on the window sill sprouting starts for me.

The chickens and alpacas are doing their best to entertain us all while they themselves are going stir crazy.

Twill Place Mats fresh off the loom.

So here's to the last day of a productive Winter, and to a busy Spring!

Knit, Knit, Purl. Knit, Knit, Brrrrrr.

The Arctic chill has come and gone.  We were on the western edge and our windchill made it down to -27 degrees.  The actual temperature was -9.  It honestly wasn't so bad.  We've been far worse, for far longer.  All the animals have places out of the wind, so it's not a factor for them.  It doesn't matter how cold or windy it gets.  They still want fed and watered twice a day.

The unfortunate human has to pick through the racks of drying winter clothes to find all the correct layers and then fight to get them on.  This is about the time you remember you forgot the warm chicken breakfast up on the stove, so the boots have to come off and you have to fight the stiff legged coverall legs up and down the steps and then wrestle the boots back on.  All this has to be done before you start to get hot.  Too late.  Unlock the door, and then remember you haven't turned off the alarm yet, which cannot be done with bulky gloves on.  Off come the gloves, and you dig into a deep pocket for your cell phone.  Sigh.  It's up on the coffee table.  Off come the boots, up the stairs, down the stairs, boots back on, alarm off, gloves on, and NOW you can trudge out to the workshop.  There, two 5 gallon buckets are filled with steaming water from the sink, the chicken bucket is filled with feed and scratch, and everything is balanced on the buckets.

The lower level takes on the look of a camp laundry, or the outerwear
section of Tractor Supply about October and stays that way until the
beginning of March.

Happy with their breakfast of chicken feed and warm
mixed veggies.

The trip to the hen house is downhill, but in the full blast of the wind.  The open area is notorious for ice and the journey must be taken carefully, made easier by the new lower center of gravity of carrying about 65 pounds of water.  The hens can hear you coming.  What was a quiet island in the field, now fills with the excited chatter of two dozen birds happy to hear your boots crunching through the ice topped snow.  When the door is opened, hopeful beady eyes look past you at the bleak landscape and then lock eyes with you.  They understand they aren't going outside today.  The ice has to be broken on their heated water dish.  It's too cold for the element to keep up.  The hens gather along the trough and you oblige and fill it high with feed and warm veggies.  Satisfied, they ignore you as you turn to leave, locking the door behind you.

"You're late." "We've had to amuse ourselves."

Next are the alpacas.  Warm and snug in their own vicuna coats, made all the better by their fleece lined winter coats, they wait, annoyed that they are taken second in line to the feathered blobs.  No matter when you go out to feed them, you're late.  Every feeding is treated like they haven't seen food for days and days.  Everyone has their favorite dish, but somehow Angus feels everyone is getting better food than he is and must sample from each and every one of them.  Growls and spitting follow, but it's all show.  Everyone lets the little guy in, and they know he'll move on after a mouthful.    Ice is broken, water is topped off, hay is thrown, and feed buckets are nibbled upon.

Our hearty human warrior, treads the whole path in reverse to make sure doors and gates are closed and locked and to put now empty buckets away, noting anything that needs accomplished outside during the day.  Upon entering the house, off come the countless layers of winter gear.  The whole routine is repeated about an hour before sunset.

It honestly isn't hard, too much time, or taxing, but adding the winter gear makes it suck more energy from you, and I swear it would take less time to manage to get ready for a space walk.

I usually have first breakfast before I go out to the barn in the morning.  When I get in I work on my Norwegian for a while, then it's time for second breakfast.  Yes, it's a real thing.  Not just for adventure seeking Hobbits.  You have a very small something - a piece of fruit, toast, or a yogurt; just too keep your growling stomach from freaking out the animals, and to keep you from eating one of them.  Then later, you have a real breakfast- cereal, grits, eggs, or the like.

If I'm not leaving the ranch for the day, this is where all the other adventures of the Ranch come into play; projects (I'm almost done with the bathroom remodel), art, Ranch management books, housework, planning notes, writing, or KNITTING!

I've been doing it a long time, but have had lapses in activity levels when we lived in warmer climates, and when I was constantly chasing a child around and juggling home schooling.  Now I can be found spending quiet downtime before bed, or the later half of my lunch break, perched on the sofa, my toes hooked on the edge of the coffee table tackling some new found pattern.

The 7000 stitch wrap. Done in Aran
weight yarn and #3 needles.

The Bubble Bauble Hat.  A
quick 5 hour knit on #8 Circs,
and with Pantone colorway skeins.

Go into any yarn or knitting shop and you will find a sign that says, "Knitting, it's cheaper than therapy."  Some days I wonder if it's the knitting that is driving me to insanity.  I recently finished a project that took a couple hours a night over the course of a month.  It's over 7000 stitches.  By the end of it I was sick of looking at the yarn, sick of counting, and ready to lock my needles away until next winter.  I took a two day break, found a new skein of yarn I LOVED and couldn't wait to tackle and I was off and running again.

I am a member of Ravelry, which just about every fiber artist knows about.  I've been on there for years, and after all this time JUST found the filing cabinet!  I had no idea I could track my yarns and needles!  How handy when you're out shopping to make sure you don't buy duplicates or if you come across a sale and only want to fill in the holes of your supply.  Since The Boy needed to go to Omaha for an exam, I visited a local shop, The Wooly Mammoth Yarn shop, as they carry my most favorite needles in the WHOLE WORLD, the Kollage Square needles.  She is discontinuing them, so I used my Ravelry account to identify the missing needles in my basket and stocked up!

Well of course I had to get my things on there.  I am a huge fan of organization.  Upon opening my basket, I realized I wasn't at all organized in this aspect of my hobby.  Everything had to be sorted and put in its proper place.  Certainly I could work faster if things were in their place!

The previously piled, junk cabinet, freshly cleaned, a new shelf and cubes added
for yarn sorting.  The new Knitting cabinet.  It's like having your own yarn shop
in the house.

I'm a Portuguese knitter, which means I use a pin on my shoulder to keep my tension and only have to move my left thumb to move the yarn.  It is much easier on my work tired hands.  If you suffer from arthritis or have trouble keeping your tension, I highly recommend it.  I use a magnetic pin/hook which I purchased from a great jewelry artist on etsy, who makes them from upcycled vintage broaches.

What's currently on the needles.  I wanted a nice looking utility hat
for around the Ranch.  It's a brushed cotton that, surprise, self stripes!  My
knitting pin is resting on top, waiting for me to stop typing for the night.

Golden Goodness

Christmas this year was spent in quiet solitude.  Not only because we live in the open country, but because Mother Nature decided to grant the wish of those, who for some unknown (to me) reason, want a white Christmas.

A snow storm falling throughout Christmas Eve, a huge shopping and travel day, meant we were staying home.  The morning was spent revving up the tractor and the snowblower and clearing not only the long driveways and around the chicken coop, but also the 450 yards of road we are responsible for.  The blade on the tractor made quick work of the white plague, but with the temperature hovering at 7 degrees, and the windchill well into the negatives, it was still a long, long hour.

The hens took it in stride.  The Icelandic chicks are still sleeping outside in the run, which hasn't dipped below 0'F, even though we woke up to -17'F this morning, with a windchill of -30'F.  No one is allowed outside at these temperatures as the slightest breeze will rob their fluffy feather coats of their stored body heat.  So, the past few days they have been stuck inside with extra feed, treats, and pats on the head.

But I digress.

After the snow was taken care of, and the residents of the hen house given plenty of attention, we resolved to spend the rest of the day in the quiet warmth of the house.  I snuggled into my spot on the sofa and disappeared into my latest good book.  A half hour later, I was finished with it. Hmmm....what to do next?

I COULD break out the next book on the pile (my 10 year old kindle died, so I am back to paper).  I COULD bake cookies.  I COULD clean.  (LOL, ya, that wasn't happening.)  I already had laundry running. I finally decided to crack open the internet and peruse the great www and see if I could find a recipe to play with some of my antique cast iron gem pans.  One recipe had me clicking on another, which gave me yet another idea to type into the search engine.  On one page an add popped up on the sidebar, as they often do.  This was an add for Lyle's Golden Syrup, which I haven't had in the house since about a decade when we lived near a store that imported items from Great Briton.  It's been so long that I didn't even remember the taste of it.

Seeing that ad made me think of Treacle Tarts.  YUM!  I then wondered what else could be created with the glorious goo.  A quick search revealed a long list of pies, tarts, cookies, quick breads, puddings and custard.  My mind was whirling with possibilities, but where to find Golden Syrup?  Even if it wasn't Christmas Eve there wasn't a store within at least an hour drive that MIGHT even carry it.  I was just about going to give up, when I thought to myself, "why not google it?  At worst the internet will say no."

YOU CAN make Golden Syrup yourself and many reviews said it was better than the stuff you can buy.  Well, I'm stuck inside all day, why not make a batch?

I came across several recipes, which were all basically the same.  It all came down to reducing sugar, water, and lemon juice down to a syrup after bringing it to a boil.  There were several methods for this and after several I got the gist of it and tossed some ingredients in my smallest pot and got cracking.

Golden Syrup

2 cups of granulated white sugar
2/3 cup of water
fresh juice from one lemon - try to make it pulp and seed free
1 Tablespoon of Light Kayro syrup (this keeps crystals from forming) If you are opposed to using corn syrup, you can omit it, you will just have to wash down the sides of your pot with a brush dipped in water as you reduce the liquid to send the sugar crystals that form there to whence they came.

Add all three items to the pot and set the burner to Medium, Medium/Low.  You want to SLOWLY heat the liquid to dissolve the sugar.   When the liquid is clear, slowly raise the temperature until the liquid comes to a simmer, NOT a boil.  Stir it about every 15 minutes.  I tested the liquid every once in a while by placing a drip from the tip of a spoon onto a white plate.  As the liquid reduced and came closer to the right consistency, the drop would stand up more and more on the plate: going from a gooey pool on the plate at the start, to being pale yellow pearls near the end.  If you have a candy thermometer you are shooting for about 225'F, and the remaining liquid will be about half of what you started with.  My super slow approach took about two hours of minimal hovering.

I let the mixture cool about 15 minutes before I poured it into a clean glass jar.  It is the most lovely shade of deep, honey.  My first taste brought back every memory of that sweet, citrus tang!

Now what to do with it?  I almost don't want to part with any of it!  After the holiday, I really didn't want to to tackle another sweet.  I am sick of sweets.  What to do? What to do?  Back to the internet!

Again with the pies, tarts, cakes, cookies, quick breads, custards, puddings. Wasn't there anything else I could do with this amazing stuff?  Sure it looked fabulous on the top shelf of the refrigerator, back lit by the icebox bulb, and it was amazing right off the spoon, but that privilege has always been reserved for sweetened condensed milk.  Just when I was about to resign myself to a nice Treacle Tart, I found it.

GOLDEN SYRUP Sandwich Bread - DEAL! It's cold out, and nothing beats the smell of bread baking!

It is a straight forward put out by the BBC Food Channel, and I couldn't believe there were no reviews on it yet.  Don't let the metric measurements turn you away.  1oz of Golden Syrup is about a Tablespoon.  I used kosher salt for the sea salt.  1/2 an ounce of fresh yeast is roughly 2 1/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast (or one envelope). 8 ounces of flour is roughly 2 cups of NON-packed flour.

If you CAN weigh your flour, I do recommend it.

I used my KitchenAid mixer with the dough hook to put this together.  I placed the flour, salt, and yeast into the bowl, and then added the milk, syrup, butter combination to the bowl. I turned the mixer on to level 1 until the flour was fully incorporated and then turned it up to level 3 for three minutes, scraping the bowl down as needed.  After turning off the machine, I covered the bowl and let the dough rise until doubled, about an hour.

After the hour, I placed the dough on a floured board and cut the dough into two pieces. I kneaded each piece just until the dough was well shaped into a tight ball and put them into my larger bread pans, 5x10x3 inches. The recipe calls for greasing AND flouring of the loaf pan. Next time I would skip the flouring.  It left a pasty, floury coating on the loaf and isn't needed if the pan is greased.  I prefer the new Pam canola oil in the pump spray bottle, but whichever method you prefer is fine. A final rise until the dough doubled and then follow the rest of the instructions.

Following the baking directions for time and multiple baking temperatures works beautifully!  This recipe yields a lightly golden loaf, that is moist, soft, delicately flavored, and fine crumbed.  It rises well, which I am guessing is due to the vitamin C (lemon juice) boosting the yeast.

Happy Baking!

Good Bye WINTER!

Hello Spring? Meteorological Spring began on March 1st and Astronomical Spring began March 20/21st, depending on your time zone.  Someone forgot to tell mother nature.

The longstanding rules for March are relatively simple:
1.  The crocus and daffodils will make their presence known just about the time you want to start crying into your snow shovel.

2. The magnolias will bloom one gorgeous morning quickly followed by a windstorm that will rip them to shreds faster than you can grab your camera. (As I type, winds are howling to 40 mph and will make it to 50 later.)

3.  Said winds and milder temperatures will make you want to go out and fly a kite, at which point they will either stop for the rest of the month, or will pick up to speeds that will drag you and your kite into the next county. (Although, that's not a big trick for us.)

4. In like a lion and out like a lamb..OR..Vicey Versey

5.  Little girls will be out and about in their frilly Easter dresses and new white shoes and tights and it will be snowy or muddy on Easter.  You could move Easter to the end of July and this will still apply.

6.  There will be three measurable snowfalls after the forsythia bloom.

See?  Those are fairly simple.

So last week I was cutting through the yard after pruning the apple and maple trees, trimming the deadfall off of last summer's  perennials, and I spied them.  There were only two, but they were there.  That was Thursday. On Saturday, the day of the Spring Scouting Camping trip, the boys were greeted with snow showers.  Not an all day event.  Not even a wide spread event.  No, it was one of those days were you could watch individual snow and graupel showers pass by over a neighbor's field, but not your own.

  One minute you could be standing in blinding sunshine, the next the skies would grow dark and the neighbor would be watching the snow fly on your place.  It made for some stunning photos. It made for interesting camping.

On Sunday, we decided to change our scenery a bit and head out and visit a long advertised Consignment Sale.  Every year Lodge 389 of the ZCBJ holds an enormous sale, with the benefits going towards the lodge.  If you cannot find it there, it doesn't exist!  8 rows of stuff 1/3 to half mile long each!  The walk from the car matches and exceeds that, but it is so worth it if for no other reason than to people watch and experience the bidding action.

There are three auctioneer trucks that resemble open sided food trucks.  The auctioneer stands inside and auctions off either one item, or a lot of items.  When bidding is done, the truck simply pulls forward, the crowd following.  It was a blast!  The auctioneers each had their own style, but all of them made calling sound like singing.  I LOVE IT!

One particular GIANT combine was fun to watch.  The thing was pristine even though it was 20 years old.  I HAD to watch to see how much it went for.  The bidding started at $25,000, but had no bidders.  It was lowered to $15,000 and went up from there.  Two older gentlemen, no strangers to country auctions, nodded their heads almost imperceptibly to raise the bid.  I swear I didn't even blink for 10 minutes.  Doc said he had an itch on his nose, but didn't DARE to move to scratch it.  To our, and everyone else's amazement, the combine sold for only $18,500!!!!  UNBELIEVEABLE!

There were ducks, rabbits, chickens, peacocks, miniature horses, goats, implements, junk, cars,

campers, boats, trailers, firewood, just an unbelievable amount of EVERYTHING!

We walked miles and miles.  We didn't buy anything but lunch, which was amazing!  Hot dogs, hamburgers (from Franks Smokehouse in Wilbur), pork sandwiches, soda, chips, and KOLACHES!  If you've never had a kolaches, think of it as a flattened brioche bun with a dimple of deliciousness in the center.  The filling can be poppy seed, coconut, blueberry, cherry, cream cheese, pineapple, apple, you name it.  It's the Czechoslovakian version of a little Danish roll.  I love them.  The women of the lodge start baking them weeks before the sale and wrap and freeze them.  I missed out on my coconut one, but was perfectly happy with my cream cheese, and Doc with his blueberry. 

I highly recommend visiting the sale if you are in the area this time next year.


Daisy update. 
She has just finished sitting for her 8th day.  She hasn't kicked any eggs out of the nest yet.  She gets up a couple of times of day to eat and poo.  A few of those times, Meriwether will go and sit on the eggs, but quickly gets off when grumpy Daisy returns.  Olive tried to babysit today, but refused to get off.  We had to move her to let Daisy back on.  Broody begets more broodys.  But I HOPE not in this case.

I am going to try to candle eggs the next time she gets off this weekend.

She's doing great.  Even when our temperatures dropped into the low 20s two nights in a row.  She just loaded up on food and hunkered down.  I made sure to feed her lots of mealworms as a good girl treat.


Acreage Update

I ordered 10 cu yards of fabulous composted earth from the local county composting site.  I got some last year with some incredible results.  This year I needed to repair some horrible landscaping errors by that landscaper we hired last year.  I also needed to fill in some problem areas in the yard due to years of neglect and erosion.  I used the tractor to move giant piles of dirt to the approximate locations, but the final spreading and feathering had to be done by hand.  After 5 hours of that, I could feel no part of my body, but everything hurt at the same time.  We are expecting rain, which should settle it all down some for me to rough it up a tad and throw some clover seed down.

I also purchased a drag harrow for the back of the small lawn tractor, or the large one, to drag compacted places in the hayfield to break up the sod a bit so that I can throw some forage seed down to continue to soften the soil and add nutrients as well.

I get all my seed from stock seed farm,which I cannot recommend highly enough!

I also purchased four large red bud trees for somewhere in the pasture, and a pussy willow, whose home I have yet to figure out.

The barn and garage have both had a thorough spring cleaning.  The yard ornaments are back in their fair weather locations.  The patio furniture is all out.  See rule #2,#3, and #6.  Yes, snow and a windstorm are coming.  Sigh. 

You're Never Really DONE With Your Chicken Coop

Some things should never be finalized in either spoken or written form:

1. "I have plenty of chickens."(LOL, we all KNOW where that is going in a hurry. We're already talking about letting the first hen to go broody in February hatch a small batch of chicks, from our own eggs. But I'm not so far gone as to banish current broodies into chicken Jail. So there is hope for me yet!)

2. "I'm going to give up coffee/tea/soda/chocolate."  Uh huh. 

And the really big one...

3. "I am DONE building the chicken coop."

In a brief moment of overwhelming emotions, mixed with pure exhaustion, blood sweat and tears, we may, in a blind fit of stupidity, put our hands on our hips, puff up with pride, smile, and announce loudly to the world, " The CHCKEN COOP IS DONE!"

If you are truly lucky, the only ear things within earshot are those little fluffy butts scratching and pecking at the ground, and even THEY are quietly laughing at you.  A little higher up the scale would place your Significant Other, children, or possibly nosey neighbors in earshot.  Not knowing any better, they too will share in your misguided triumph.  At the top of the scale, you cannot possibly contain your enthusiasm and you take a million photos and (GASP) POST them online.  And not just anywhere online, you go to the nations largest Back Yard Chicken Forum, where you've been lurking and playing for months on end.

Sure, no one replies to your post, or says it outright, but all the other posters are thinking it. ... " Suuuuure you are."  Then they giggle to themselves, a little snort escaping their nose. 

That's where I'm at.  Sure I THOUGHT I was done with the coop.  Then I had to build the run.  Then the coop needed more ventilation.  Then it needed a fan.  Then it needed a summer perch.  The roosts needed rearranged.  I didn't have enough nest boxes.   The run needed a stronger roof.  The new roof needed a new waterproof cover.  Well as long as I was up there, wouldn't a rooster weather vane look adorable up there?  The girls needed a ladder to play on in the run.  The run door needed a drop pin to keep it from blowing in the wind (as much as I loved using logs, NOT!)  I wanted to try fermented feed, so I needed Doc to build me a trough.  The upper window needed a rain shield.  Lights, both in the run and the coop, needed installed.  A timer needed installed.  Another webcam needed installed. The list just keeps growing.

Back when Fall was at its peak, the lower angled sunlight caused me to realize the sunshield was blocking too much sun.  So a clear shield needed put up instead.  At this point I realized that, HOLY SMOKES, winter is JUST around the corner and I still need to Winterize the run!!  Small wood frames with shower curtains stapled to them would NOT cut it this year.  The wheels of thought and process kept me up nights trying to figure out what I was going to do to block the wicked prairie winds, yet allow air to flow and still keep out the snow.  It also had to be reusable and hearty. 


What I came up with is nothing short of brilliant. The same corrugated pvc panel that I used as a sun and rain shield on the upper windows also comes in clear.  It is easy to install, simple rubber washers and self tapping screws.  It also trims easily with scissors.  My plan was to use three long, 12 foot, panels to completely block off the north west side of the run, leave the south east short end totally open, and cover the lower 2/3rds of the north east wall. 

Of course as you work, your plans change as you go along.  I did cover the entire north west side, but decided to put one 2 foot tall panel along the bottom of the south east end.  This would block the wind at the chicken level should it happen to be blowing from that rare winter direction.  As I was putting up the north east panels, just before I put up the last, upper panel, I had a great idea.  Why not build a 2x4x12 frame and mount the panel to it, and hang it from the run on hinges?  Then I could prop it open on nice winter days for fresh air and close it on snowy/windy/rainy days as needed? 

Well that set off a whole set of projects, since you cannot just build a frame, you have to get the hardware (LOVE habitat for humanity RESTORE), then it needs props to keep it from blowing in the wind.  Then you find out that the wind on your hill is strong enough to lift a bull elephant and fly him like a kite, so a ridiculously heavy panel and frame is no problem.  But this will release the prop, which allows the panel to fall and slam shut, loudly.  Sigh, redesign.  But before I decided to redesign the props, I decided that the north west side of the coop would really benefit from a lift window as well.  More screws, more hardware, more custom cuts, more planning, another panel frame, more painting, and another trip into town.

I now had all of my supplies.  Doc made me yet another frame, which was now screwed, glued, and painted.  Now all I needed was a day where the wind was NOT howling.  I used one of those rare days to move 3200 pounds of hay, pitchfork by pitchfork, into the garden for the overwintering soil.  The location where I had the hay stored outside, was rich, black and WET! Even though we haven't had any real rain for almost 7 weeks. Composting at its finest.) Sure, I cannot feel my arms or my back, but as long as the earthworms are happy, isn't that what really matters?

I digress.

Today was the day.  Winter is coming.  There is a blizzard warning for the panhandle, and a high wind warning for the midlands, and as of this morning for the whole eastern side of the state.  It is just another reminder that the season waits for no one.  Today was almost 65', and the winds never made it past 25 mph.  It had to be today.  I got to work first thing in the morning.  The panels on their frames and hinges were already up, and their end locks were installed.  I still needed to install the extra panel supports, and figure out how on earth to make and fit the props.  To make matters MORE interesting, each one was a different size.  But once I got the design down, it was just a matter of adjusting the size.



I installed pieces of 2x4 on hinges that can be flipped up out of the way, the panel dropped and locked when the winds or weather come.  On fair days, you can flip them down and lock them into place with a clip to keep the winds from lifting and dropping the panels.  A bonus is that they, the top window panels, can stay up all year!  They will act as extended rain shields for the run. 

Of course no project is adventure free, and mine certainly are no exception.  My two sets of roofing screws needed two different hex heads.  I had two different types of screw heads going, Phillips and star.  I kept needing more screws, or different screws.  Wood pieces needed multiple trips to the drop saw.  I can't tell you how many trips I made from the barn to the coop.

In the midst of all this are the fluff butts, including a rooster who as an odd attachment to my shoes. I had hens laying eggs, and as we ALL do, I put them in my shorts pocket.  At one point, while removing a stubborn screw, the screw stayed and the wood spun counterclockwise.  Yup, you guessed it, slamming right into my pocket - the one full of eggs.  UGH.  Needless to say, this required a wardrobe change.

 

 

Mishap over.  All the props were installed.  The hens were wandering the hayfield and the run and I heard the egg song again.  So I stepped out of the run and was walking towards the coop door.  Simple right?  Two strides to the left, turn and four strides and up the stairs into the coop.  UH HUH.  Two strides left, and WHAMMO! Full force, smack in the nose, right into the window panel wing I had JUST installed, and forgotten about.  Oh ya, stars.  I saw stars.  Pretty, pretty, sparkly stars.

My sunglasses frame took the full brunt of it.  They are flex frames, so they didn't break, but the forward momentum of a human into a 2x4 frame attached to a concrete anchored coop simply refused to move, so the frame was shoved into the bridge of my nose.  Did I mention I saw stars?  I cannot remember.  Now my nose is puffy and stuffy and bruised. But the coop is DONE!

OH wait! No, I did NOT say that out loud!

Out Sneaks October

I honestly do NOT know where the month of October went.  Ask anyone around here, and they'll tell you it just flew by.  Being insanely busy; harvesting, cleaning, putting up, swapping seasonal linens, stocking up, winterizing everything BEFORE it gets too cold to do it, makes the time slip.  Falling into bed AFTER your eyes are already half shut and waking up before they can creak open for weeks on end takes a toll.

Couple that with the utter lack of light.  Luckily, Nebraska doesn't get socked in with clouds from mid August until Mid May like Ohio does.  I'd go bankers.  No, we've been cloud free.  Our lack of light is from the seasonal creep.  And what a bonus, we change clocks this weekend too. I won't bore you with my annual rant about abolishing the time change.  Let's just say I don't think we need it anymore in our 24 hour society.

I DO enjoy this time of year though.  The air masses from the north fought hard all summer long, and have finally won the right to stay.  The air is lacking the stifling qualities of summer.  The days are pleasantly warm, and the nights tease with a chill that requires a jacket, hoodie, and a bonfire.  The setting sun blazes as it sets, reflecting on the changing spectacle of leaf colors and sets the very air alight with gold and red.  The Earth seems to be giving off its last bit of heat and joy before the grey of winter take over.

The girls, despite their full blown molt, have remained moderately productive.  They have slowed down a bit, but I hope the light (on a timer) in their coop and run keep them going just a little bit longer into the chilly season.

I managed to snap photos of MOST of them this past week.  Most are past their ratty looking stage.  A couple still look like the wind blew through them through a knot hole backwards.  The coop looks like an outsourced pillow factory waiting for OSHA to show up after a workplace incident.  I giggle when I see one of the girls finish a dust bath and then shake.  They loose a silly amount of feathers.  I'm sure the neighbors downwind, wonder what on earth is going on over here!

Blogger is acting up, so I will continue this entry on the next page.

Hyacinth - pale,pink/brown eggs - Lavender Orpington

Violet - light tan eggs - Blue Laced Red Wyadotte

Rose - Light Brown eggs - Welsummer
She thinks she's an ewok.

Flora - sky blue eggs - Ameraucauna - she's my biter, can you tell?

Merriweather - light blue - Ameraucana My lovie broodie, snuggle buddy.

Blitzer - light olive- half Ameraucana half RIR
I call her an American Red

Cirrus - green- half Buff Orpington, half Ameraucana
I call her an American BuffO

Daisy - Sand Brown, usually with white speckles - Light Sussex

Donder - Light Brown - Another American Red
Blitzen's Sister



 

Lela - DARK chocolate brown eggs - French Blue Copper Marana
She's a little high maintenance, but fun.

 

 

 

Not pictured - Zap, the rooster - French Blue Copper Maran

Nugget- Dark brown with speckles - Splash Marana
Olive - Deep Olive Eggs - Olive Egger

Lucy - Dark Brown - Copper Maran
Ethel - Dark Brown - Copper Maran

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





One from each of the girls