Fingerprint Pussy Willows

I got my Family Fun magazine the other day and fell in love with this project because it let all of us join in. Draw the branches with brown marker and we used light brown paint on a paper plate to dip our finger tips into. The magazine used an ink pad for black pussy willows and that was nice too. My older boys even enjoyed this..maybe because it led to a brown fingerprint on each others faces....boys!

Once the paint was dry we went in with the same marker and put little "stems" for each of the pussy willows to attach it to the branch. I have this hanging on my kitchen wall and I love it. My 3 year old wanted to add the rain. My kitchen is painted "silly old bluebird" blue and the blue rain drops are so pretty. I think she has the artists eye:)

Teach your daughters....

"Well-behaved 

 women 

 rarely make history"

I know this, but it's something that just dawned on me that I need to teach my daughters to not always be "well-behaved"

Sometimes teaching our children to be happy adults makes them a bit hard to handle as kids we need to get to bed on time. I have to remember this when I get upset at my kids for being strong-willed. Thank goodness they are and may they always be and be full of self confidence to keep them safe and engaged in the world around them.

I've had some self-conscience girls in my classroom when I was teaching middle school and I feared for them. When you see a timid girl who needs some praise and confidence..give it to her before someone else does that will take advantage of her. I hope my girls are tough soft ball players who always know they can do their own thing and not need to follow a crowd for acceptance and would knock you out if you raised a hand to them...same with my boys of course but less of the knocking to the ground would be best:)

"Lubba Lubba" Trail Mix

“Lubba Lubba” Trail Mix

This was named by my 2 year old daughter who walks around with a tub of this stuff whenever she can. I’m sure it’s not all that different from any other Trail Mix or ‘GORP’ but I’m including it as a reminder that having a bag of this stuff in your bag while you are out can save the day…through in an emergency juice box and you are set for a picnic at all times. It’s not messy so I’ve pulled this out everywhere you can think of and it’s even saved the day for my older kids not to mention when I’ve been pregnant I was never without food!

Just throw it all together in whatever containers you like. I reuse a clear pretzel jug and ziplock baggies. Just leave out what you need to in order to keep it gluten free.

Mini pretzels

Dry roasted peanuts lightly salted.   (watch these, I just bought some and didn’t read it first..they have MSG in them! Crazy. I keep that stuff away from my family)

Craisins – we love blueberry and cherry flavored..yummmmmm

Cheerio’s or rice Chex cereal

Almond slivers

Small amount of round candy to make digging fun if you wish. I like chocolate covered raisins because I can tell myself it’s not real candy and the dark chocolate kind has antioxidants. I can totally justify dark chocolate raisins at any time.

Trying to keep my chickens happy in the winter.

So far my son is convinced that global warming is the main concern in upstate NY. It's December 22 and it's about 40 degrees outside. They are hoping for snow for Christmas Eve and it may happen. While my children aren't pleased about this wonderfully warm winter my hens are very happy. I've been able to have them out in the tractor a few days. It has been easier to keep water in its liquid state for them with this warm spell. I would like my winter days to be no colder than 40...actually 50 degrees. I'm not a winter person. There is nothing I like about being cold...but here and I and I'm really trying to make the best of it. I bought myself a treadmill to keep me from going crazy. It's the best money I've ever spent on "recreation".

I have my coop full of wood chips and hay. I have been keeping the water in the run area but I do need to find a better solution. They tip it in the coop and I can't have it getting wet in there. I did have a small waterer in a pan, but they wanted to roost on it. When I had it in there we did have a very cold spell.... 10-20 degrees! The water actually didn't freeze, so that tells me the coop will work for them.

I've been bringing them into the garage for the past 2 years. It got so messy in there last year when they kept breaking out of the make-shift coop that we decided not to do that this year. The lawn mower will never be the same... I'm a bit nervous about keeping them outside, but all the breeds I got are selected because they are very cold hardy. There are 6 of them to keep each other warm and the coop is pretty good. I tried to insulate the walls with that foam insulation... STUPID mistake. They ATE it!

I've read a lot about the deep liter method, so that is what I'm doing. I've caulked around the outside for any drafts on the northern side of the coop. I did leave some slits around the southern facing windows for air though. I just can't be sure if I'm letting in too much cold or if it's the right thing to do for air circulation. I've read many warnings about the need for circulation in the coop, but it does get COLD up here. I think I'll put some kind of cover on the slits to keep direct wind from blowing in.

I don't have a heated waterer, but I'm home all day and I'm neurotic about them and like the idea of checking on them a few times a day. They are so happy to see me come out with warm water and oatmeal. I don't provide them with any heat except an occasional milk jug of super hot water. I place it in the corner of the coop to dissipate some heat when it's super cold. I don't supplement light for them either. I did when they were in the garage last year and they kept on laying. I haven't had more than 1 egg a day lately. They need a break. 2 of them are in the first year, 3 are going on their 3rd year and 1 I'm not sure of because I adopted her. I'm guessing she's about 2. They all seem very happy and healthy. So I must be doing OK for a city girl.

My sons new blog:)

My beautiful, talented, crazy smart, awesome son is starting  his own blog...if your kid like gaming they might like to read his reviews... http://bangamereviews.blogspot.com/

Upstate NY Snow...

Tears on my keyboard for the next 6 - 7 months...that's all I have to say today:(

The Fox won't leave!

I have really had enough of this fox! The gray fox that was here the other night hasn't been seen since. However, this red fox has been here every day! The movie I took of her (I say her because I also now have a picture of her going to the bathroom across the street) was at about 11 AM. The pictures I just took today were at 1 P.M.. This fox is running for the whole day it seems. I wonder if it's too late in the year to be feeding babies? I do know that she isn't shy and she has NO fear of me. She will just stand and look at me. Yes, it kind of freaks me out.....

Move on Mrs. Fox... my chickens are not for dinner!!

Fox in the window

Wow, I just had a stare down with a red fox and even with calling my family so they could see him he didn't move. I heard my Easter Egger "Jumper's" sounding the alarm and I know to listen to her by now. She is amazing! All those hens owe her their lives on more than one occasion. I ran out to the run and couldn't see why she didn't want to go into the coop. It was about dusk and they are usually like clock work. She was standing in the run on the Lilac tree limb I put in there and just squawked and squawked with her head up like a newly crowned beauty contest winner.  I knew there was danger close by. She's the only one who will sound the alarm like that. Perhaps it's because she has spent time in the mouth of a coyote??

When I ran out of the basement door I must have run right past our visitor without knowing. I ushered Jumpers in once I saw the coop was safe and counted to 6. 6 lovely hens sitting on the perch. They just make me happy to watch:) I can't imagine why anyone with a yard wouldn't want a couple of hens in it. I love my girls and no one can convince me that they don't love me....except for one of them, but she's coming along.

Once everyone was in and calmed down I started walking back into the house.  There is a very small cement patio with a retaining wall at the basement entrance about 12'x12'. Right in front of the window standing on the retaining wall between me and the door was a rather large (the biggest I've seen around here) red fox with a black tip on it's fluffy tail and a dark black mask on his eyes. Just gorgeous! He stood there and starred at me and acted like he wasn't planning on getting out of my way. I started screaming for my family to come out to the deck and look down at him. My sons came out and watched him as he jumped off the 18" wall and ran a bit into the yard and stopped again to look at me.

We had direct eye contact for what seemed like 10 minutes. It was a good bit of time and when you look an animal like that in the eye it makes you feel like you are special. I would have liked it more if I didn't know that he would make a main dish out my beloved hens if he had the chance. I have a tomato plant sitting in the garden that I didn't clean up yet with a few extra ripe tomatoes that the bugs got before I did. I figured that I would allow some to just sit there and see what happens. This is one of the only gardens I'm keeping for next year since we are having grading down. I had tons of tomatoes this year that volunteered from neglected plants last year. I think my plan didn't take into account that other animals besides my girls would like to nibble on the ripe fruit left there. I did realize that my compost pile had fox visitors last year. I put a stop to that and am looking for a tumbling compositor on sale.The welcome mat is gone.

It was nice to meet you Mr. Fox, but you are not welcome in my yard.

Time to slow down

We have had the best week I can imagine up here. It's been 75* and sunny.....perfect! I still have some garden clean up to do but since the carrots and beets stay in the ground longer I'll have to wait to clean out one of my gardens. The rest are still a mess, but done. Now is the time to prepare them. We are having some grading down around the house to prevent more flooding at Hurricane Lee ruined everything in the basement. So, the gardens that I have been using will all have to be moved and I'll start over next year. So far right now I'm taking a break until I can start planning for next year..... maybe I'll start that next week:)

Salsa from the garden

I have my fingers crossed. I've never canned anything before. There are hundreds of tomatoes in my garden that are only there because they wanted to be. I kept some old plants there from last year when I got lazy and depressed that I didn't get any tomatoes out of all those plants I grew from seed. They all got the early blight and I didn't get them all bagged. I know I should have, but it got late and I had two babies under 2 1/2 years old. I pushed them all out of the way and planted broccoli in the box and figured that I just wouldn't grow tomatoes for a few years. To my surprise the seeds from the rotten tomatoes completely took over and I have huge bushes of Roma tomatoes that fill at least the 4'x8' area. HUNDREDS of tomatoes all completely perfect! My other plants over the coop did get the late blight and I bagged the up except for one that was covered in tomatoes. The plant is pretty dead, but the tomatoes are perfect. I'm not kidding, not a spot, sweet and perfect. The plants that seeded them selves....totally healthy...the only plants that did NOT get the late blight the other gardens did.

I'm pretty new at gardening and I never have time to do what I want to out there, but I know this isn't what I expected. It's my best tomato year ever! So, now I need to do something with them and Salsa is one thing my kids will eat every day. I found a great site: www.pickyourown.org


My tomatoes await.... fresh out of the ice water.... so exciting..:)