Here’s Feburary’s garden harvest totals.  Not much, much too cold for crops to grow, but now it’s pratically summer outside!

Eggs 127
beets 1.5lbs
beet greens 3lbs

My dad, ever the negotiator, worked out a deal with the guy for us to get a breeding pair of turkeys.  They are Bronze Breasted Turkeys and are about a year and a half old.  They have just recently mated and the female has given us one egg, but I don’t think we’ll get a clutch as they are freaking out in their new digs.  Here’s what they look like:

We wanted to give them a clever name, so I decided to go with Don Tomissino, from the Godfather, and being as Don Tomassino is an Italian name, his girl had to be Italian as well.  I named her Dona Valentina since I got them on Valentine’s Day.

So far, they are having a bit of trouble settling in.  They don’t want to go into the coop at night.  I figure the previous owners must have let them sleep in the tree or on the roof of the chicken coop.  Last night it was full dark before Valentina finally went inside.  Tomassino had already run inside about 10 minutes before her.  He could have let her know!

We’re thinking if they do hatch a clutch of poults, we’ll have to add on to the coop and give them their own little enclosure.  I hate to let them out of the chicken run until they imprint on the coop because with the woods around the house, we’ll never see them again.

Of course, the feed store doesn’t carry turkey pellets, so I’ll have to buy some game bird feed.  The previous owner told me to feed them corn/chicken scratch, but the chickens are HOGGING it all up before the turkeys even come out of the coop in the morning.  I’ll have to come up with a better plan.

Does anyone know where i can buy acidophilus to put in the waterer?  I’m sure I could do a google search, but I’d rather buy from a recommendation.

Eggs:  16 eggs
Chicken:  19lbs (dressed)
baby lettuce :2lb
mizuna:  11lbs
radish:  1 bunch
oranges:  30lbs

Fast forward to Monday and I’ve come down with whatever Ethan has.  Redd acted like he wanted to get sick last night and Rhys has been complaining of a queasy stomach 1st thing in the morning and has been refusing breakfast.

Enter LOTR.  We need a House of Healing.  I would be able to rest in an airy, warm environment.  People would bring me healing chicken bone broth soup or gumbo made from an old hen thick with collegen.  Someone could brew up a huge batch of homemade ginger ale and Rhys would feel better.  I wouldn’t be at home, so I wouldn’t continue to see the mounds of laundry that needs doing, floors that need sweeping, groceries that aren’t getting bought and dishes that need washing.  The beds would be the right amount of soft/firm and they’d have the right amount of blankets that would keep me at a perfect tempature for my body to heal quickly.  Sigh.

The reality is I’ve been at work and everyone one else is at school, sick or not.  On top of Ethan being sick with cough/flu thing, he had an infected ingrown toe nail that we had to visit a poditrist yesterday to deal with it.

Since Redd got laid off, we don’t have medical insurance.  I did have a large amount of cash set aside in case we needed something medical done.  When I called to schedule Ethan’s appointment for his foot, the nurse was astounded that I would be paying cash.  So astounded, she called me back the next day to make sure that we didn’t have medical insurance.  Then they questioned me again yesterday at the office.  I guess they don’t see patients without some sort of Medicare or whatever.  Since I paid cash, I did receive a nice discount.

I figure if I had bought the high deductible insurance we were considering, I’d still have to pay up to the deductible, which would be around 5,000.  For now, this is ok, but I still have a niggle of a “what if”.  My savings account is about 1/2 of what it originally was, so it’s back to “gazelle intense” savings to bring that back up.

Redd has something planned for Saturday, but as crappy as I’m feeling, I don’t think we’re going to go.  Total bummer.  Maybe I”ll be feeling better.

My Welsummers are finally laying eggs!  Ethan went out into the coop yesterday to see if our one remaining hen who lays had given us an egg and he saw an egg on the ground.  After looking around a bit more, in the very back of the coop in a hidey hole, there were 3 more eggs.  Needless to say, we were all very excited.

Now, to keep the Red-tailed hawk away from my girls!

We’re out of school today due to an incoming ice storm.  Possibly we’ll be out on Friday as well.  You’ll hear no complaints from me or the boys!  It’s wonderful to have an unexpected day off.  I’m actually surprised they don’t make the staff report.  Humph.

I’ve had some successes and some failures at work.  More success than failure, but the failures were more public.  The successes were huge, but behind the scenes.  That’s ok, it works.  That’s what happens when you ask God for humility.  He gives you a big ole helping spoonful of it!

We lost a hen to a red-tailed haw yesterday.  As we drove up the driveway, I saw there was a bird in the run that didn’t move like a chicken.  Sure enough, Senor Halcón was chowing down on Blondie.  Ethan ran in there to chase him off, but I was afraid the hawk would turn on Ethan.  The hawk actually got caught up in our secondary fencing, but was able to get away.  Rooster Cogburn was having a FIT, bock bock bocking his little heart out over the loss of Blondie.  Rhys was mad because RC didn’t fight the hawk off, but he’s not going to put his own life in jeopardy for a hen.

We’re in the process of saving money to change the flooring in our living room.  We’re going to go with a fake wood for now.  Even the cement foundation would be better than the carpet we’ve got in here.  Probably by May, we’ll have the money to pay for it up front and I plan to use the Memorial Day sales @ Lowe’s to get something for free.

I have a garden update, but all of my information is in my office.  I had grand plans to work on the blog during slow times at work, but there just haven’t been any this week!  Look for the update early next week.  I’m also going to update my 2011 reading list.

Stay warm!

New Year’s Day, we harvested our roosters.  We ended up with 10 roosters that were ready.  It was a nasty, grey day and it got colder as we progressed.  I was a bit nervous about the eviscerating, but after reading this blog post on having all the innards come out at one time, it was much easier than I anticipated.

There were several disappointing factors with the harvest.  1st off, we were under the impression that Welsummers were a dual purpose bird.  At 20 weeks, they were crowing and should have been mature enough for the table.  After plucking and de-heading, there really wasn’t much meat.  I think, on average, I got about 2.5lbs of cleaned meat per bird.

The other thing I was disappointed in was the plucking.  We followed the directions for heating up the water to between 160-180.  The feathers themselves came out fine, but what was left behind was the feather point.  Like what you would use if you were writing with a feather.  This stayed under the skin.  If I pressed upon the skin, it was like a blister was popping and some fluid would come out and it was really grossing me out.  We decided just to skin the roosters rather than worrying about getting every little thing off.  We made this decision since the roosters were so small and it would take 3 of them to fry up enough chicken for a meal for our family.  Yeah, we really love fried chicken.

Here’s a few photos, but be forewarned, it’s pretty gross.

Rhys was a great helper.  He plucked, he fetched things, and I think at one point he even bled one of them out.  Ethan was the chicken catcher as he couldn’t bring himself to kill one of them.  He actually did better than I expected as he is very tenderhearted.

As you can see, all of the innards come out attached to the butt.  All I had to clean from the cavity was the lungs and the testicles.

After tallying up all the feed cost plus the cost of all the chicks but not including the cost of supplies to build the coop, we ended up paying about 2.45/lb for the meat in my freezer.  I actually cooked one of the chickens for dinner last Friday night and I have to say, tastes like chicken LOL.  Seriously, a bit meatier than chicken, sorta like dark meat turkey, but with a chicken flavor instead.

If/when we raise meat birds again, I’m very tempted to just go with a Cornish Cross.  I was so disappointed in how little meat there actually was per bird.  I understand that Tyson or whomever injects their birds w/growth steroids and the like and we didn’t, but at the same time, I’d love to only have to roast one bird and have it feed us for dinner.  I don’t know, probably not.  Maybe we’ll go with Freedom Rangers or Delawares.  Even a Rhode Island Red or a French Moran would probably dress out bigger.  Any advice from other chicken raisers?

The parameters I set for this year-long running total was if something was grown/sold local, it was considered “local”.  So, veggies and eggs from the farmer’s market or friend’s home that I actually paid $$ for the item are “local”.  If it is+ 100 miles, that was stuff I bought at the grocery store that is not grown locally.  The third parameter I set was local owned, but grown greater than 100 miles.  Examples of this is Blue Plate Mayo, which is a company in New Orleans, but it’s more than 100 miles from me and I’m sure the soybean oil is not manufactured in New Orleans.  Community Coffee is another example as coffee beans do not grow in Louisiana, but CC’s is a locally owned company in New Orleans.  We live almost 100 miles from New Orleans, so while not technically “local”,  it’s close enough.

Here’s the breakdown:

Total Local Purchases:  $1446.49
Homegrown:  $388.15
Total + 100 Miles:  $3415.46
Total local < 100 miles:  $306.98
Total Grocery:  $5555.18

26% was locally grown and purchased, 7% homegrown,   61% was grown/shipped/made +100 miles, and 6% was < 100 miles.

I’m actually disappointed in how small the percentage of locally grown/purchased/homegrown  is.  I really go out of my way to buy things locally, and it’s not even half of my grocery spending.

I read all the time on blogs and homesteading articles of people “who grow everything they eat”.  Wow, looking at my totals, I’m actually more awed than I already was by the particular comment.  Only 7% of my food total came from homegrown.  Adding up the pounds grown, I came out with a total of 240.5 pounds.  Either I need to get my garden more efficent, or we need to cut down on our consumption of things grown out of the 100 mile radius.

I guess I can cosole myself with the fact that I’m doing more than most.

I shocked by how much I  spent on groceries!  Jeeze, $5,555.18?  Really?  It sure didn’t seem like that much!

I’m debating on next year whether or not I should include animal feed in grocery costs.  I feed the animals for them to feed me.  What do you all think?

I’m submitting this to Simple Lives Thursdays.

Yesterday I walked out to throw the compost and I see the dog romping around with some kids and other dogs.  The dog owner comes outside and immediately begins yelling for the dog to get inside.  Apparently her husband (shack up?? boyfriend??  babydaddy) let the dog out instead of trying to restrain it.  She starts yelling at the boyfriend and it escalates into fists.  Yes, she was hitting him, he was punching her, she was throwing rocks at the back of his head, he was slapping her to the ground, you get the picture.  All of this in front of God and everyone, including little kids checking the mail.

911, what is your emergency?
I’d like to report a domestic disturbance.
What’s the address?
xxx Blank road
Can you describe the people involved?
White male, thin, wearing pjs and a black shirt.
Does the woman need an ambulance?
No, not yet, but soon if you don’t get here.

3 Sheriffs showed up not long after.  I wasn’t the first person to call 911.  I don’t know if he got arrested, I went back inside and was reading my book.  Domestic disturbances/drunken behavior are common place in the darn trailer park behind my house.

Personally, I think that dog is more trouble than it’s worth and she should get rid of it.  And I’m not just talking about the canine dog she’s got either!

May the peace of Christ fill your hearts this Christmas season.  Merry Christmas my friends!