A Broiler Raising Experiment

When it comes to raising chickens for meat, I have always preferred hatching my own.  Sometimes though, life just gets in the way and you just don't have time.

 

Earlier in the year I'd gotten some rooster chicks for very very cheap from a local man.  They butcher out nice, but were much slower than even my heavy traditional breeds.  Also, for some reason we had a much higher than average mortality on them, and I ended up with less chicken for the winter than I like.

 

So last week I came across a deal on Ideal Hatcheries website - black or red broilers for $1 per chick.  You've probably seen me say it before - I despise broilers because of the unnaturalness of them.  They grown freakishly fast and cannot reproduce naturally.  At least, the traditional Cornish cross broiler don't.  I did a little research, and the red and black broilers grown more slowly than the Cornish, but more quickly than the traditional breeds.  They also will breed if allowed to grow to maturity, although the hens aren't really good layers.

 

This late in the season, my only option to add to the freezer is broilers, so I'm taking a chance on the reds.  I'll try to post occasional updates to how they perform.

Preparing For Isaac

The last few days have been an absolute flurry of activity around the farm.  Being so close to the Gulf means that we watch the Weather Channel and keep a constant eye out for tropical weather. 

 

When Katrina made landfall years ago, my husband was already living with some friends down here in Central Mississippi, while I was still in Middle Tennessee packing and trying to get our farm sold.  For him, the worst was being without power for days and the exorbitant gas prices.  For me, it was the days of not being able to reach him and just the general unknowns.

 

Watching Isaac roll through the Gulf on it's way to New Orleans, it was a bit of deja vu.  Although Isaac didn't bring the severe winds, it has brought plenty of rains.  Most of which have yet to reach us as of this morning.

 

Days ago, when it seemed certain that we were in for some Isaac-related weather, we put our farm plan into action.  Being several hours away from the Gulf means not only having time, but the hurricane effects have lessened by the time the storm reaches us.  We worry primarily about power outages, since we are far enough into the country that even a typical storm can knock our power out for hours.

Our Plan:

 

1.  Make sure all vehicles have full gas tanks and are parked high enough to avoid any low spots that may flood.  You might be wondering about this one, seeing as how we live so far inland.  While we expect some power outages, the purpose of keeping the vehicles full is twofold; for one, if the power does stay out for an extended length of time, we have the opportunity to leave if needed.  The second reason should be obvious to anyone who remembers Katrina, regardless of where you live.  Any hurricane in the Gulf tends to make the gas prices rise!  This is because offshore drilling stations go on lock down, as to the processing facilities. 

As for the parking, too much rain in too short of time can cause flash flooding no matter where you live.  The higher up you can park the better.  If you need to leave you don't want to go out to find your car is stuck!

 

2. Ensure all gas cans stored in the garage are full.  Why bother if your cars are full, unless you have a generator, right?  Well, that depends on you I suppose.  We have a Coleman dual fuel camp stove that can be operated on Coleman Fuel or regular gasoline.  Having those cans full means that I can have extra gas if I need to evacuate for some reason, or still cook if the power goes out and stays out for a long time.

 

3.  All mobile poultry pens moved out of low, potentially floodable areas. Pens are turned to allow winds to pass through. This is one that I learned the hard way.  When I first began building mobile poultry pens I covered the back and the center, leaving just the end with the door open (and covered in chicken wire of course).  For two years I never had a problem, until one afternoon when I sudden storm blew in from an odd direction and pushed a pen back some twenty five feet, killing a hen and breaking the leg of another.  I had thought it a fluke until a few months ago when another store flipped a pen completely backwards, though no birds were injured.  Now all my mobile pens have been made more open, and if turned into the winds allow it to blow right through.

 

4.  Poultry house vents on the rain ward side should be plastic covered to avoid wetting the inside.  Even with a considerable overhang, rains can quickly drench the poultry house if enough wind is behind it.  A stapler, 5 minutes, and some 4 mil plastic and the problem is eliminated.

5.  Anything and everything that might be blown over is put away or stakes down.  Pretty self explanatory I think. 

 

6.  All stock tanks full.  This one I learned from a regular thunderstorm.  A full tank goes nowhere, but a partially full tank, if it takes enough wind gusts to get rocking, will eventually fall over and promptly blow across the yard (or field).  Full tanks are a must!

 

7.  Check flashlights for batteries.  Should be a no-brainer, but I've read stories where people sat in the dark during Katrina simply because they'd forgotten to check the flashlight batteries.  We use rechargeables, so a few days ago I took them out and recharged them all, plus made sure the extras on hand are fully charged.  You just never know.

 

8.  Make sure oil lamps are full and matches or lights are nearby.  An oil lamp is so much nicer to have during an outage than a flashlight.  However, finding a match, especially during a crisis, can sometimes be difficult.  We plan ahead by putting the matches out by the lamps after I checked their oil level.

9.  Empty buckets are in the garage.  A million uses, and a million reasons to have at least a couple 5 gal buckets.

10.  Garage door is sandbagged.  For us, if enough rain comes down, our garage will flood due to some poor construction when the original builder put the house in.  A few bags of sand will keep the garage dry and gives us one less thing to worry about.

 

11.  All laundry is done and put away.  The key here is just about giving yourself one less thing to worry about. 

 

12.  Dishes are all done and put away.  This is two fold.  One, peace of mind.  Two, hygiene!  If you loose power and/or water, you don't want a sink full of dishes starting to smell. 

 

13.  Make sure there's a good supply of foods that require no cooking.  For me, I made some comfort snacks, including brownies and oatmeal raisin cookies, as well as two loaves of bread for sandwiches.  With a propane grill, a charcoal grill/smoke and also a camp stove I also have the option to cook meals if we choose.  On the water front we always have two cases of bottled water on hand for emergencies, as well as a five gallon bottle of water with pump. 

So as I sit here waiting on Isaac to arrive, we hope everyone out there are being safe and prepared!

Another Bunny for the Farm

I wrote awhile back about the two young rabbits we added to the farm in preparation of starting a rabbitry.

Today we've added another.

A friend that I used to work with called the other day asking if we wanted a rabbit.  Apparently it was her grandson's, and she sort of inherited it.  It's been a house rabbit but now my friend's husband has been told by his doctor that due to allergies the bunny must go!

Never one to turn down a friend, I drove the hour out to her house to pick up the rabbit.  She's a lovely two year old lop, white and black.  She had her own cage and is very friendly, so she's come to stay with us.

Since I now have two lop eared ladies, I am thinking of doing lops and New Zealand rabbit breeding.  Lops for pets, Zealands for eating. 

Now I just have to build that rabbit house....

Learn the right way to raise rabbits!  Raising Rabbits Essentials e-books!

Rediscovering Line Drying

Honestly, I've never been a fan of line drying.

 

As a kid, during the summer's while my mom worked and I was babysitting my younger cousin's in our home, one of my duties was laundry.  My mom had one of those big square clotheslines in the backyard and during the warm weather we didn't use the dryer at all if it could be avoided.

 

My dislike of the clothesline was twofold.  One, I hated dragging those baskets of heavy, wet clothes into the yard and spending the time to hang each item from the pins.  For two, I never liked how stiff the clothes felt.

 

There are other things to dislike about line drying.  Bright clothes can fade.  Birds can perch on the line and re-soil (even stain) your clothes.  Neighbors might seem your unmentionables. Items can blow off.  And if you have a dog that can reach your line.... well.... you might come up missing an item or two.  Of course there is always the risk of your friends and family asking you if you're having money trouble when they see your clothesline (yep, seems strange, but I've had a couple ask it).

 

Regardless of this, I'd been kicking the idea of putting up a clothesline for awhile.  Even with all the negatives, there are definitely some positive reasons to do it.

• For one, you save electricity.  I realize it's not much per load, but added up over time the savings can be quite large.  And if you run A/C in the house in summer, your home cooling will benefit from not using the dryer as well.  Not using electricity is also helpful for the environment, and who doesn't feel that's important?
• Another thing that's wonderful about line drying is that your clothes smell wonderful!  Unless someone is out burning or some other noxious smell is in the air, your clothes can really only benefit from a good airing out.  There's a reason all those fabric softener companies try to market their items with outdoorsy scents!
• Depending on conditions, your laundry may dry in half the time!  Yesterday it was 90 degrees with a breeze.  By the time I had gotten an entire load up (15 minutes or so), the first items were nearly dry.  Much, much quicker than the dryer.
• If you have enough line space, you can finish laundry in less time.  The average washing cycle for a large load of clothing is about 30 minutes (though for some HE machines it can be longer).  The average drying cycle is 45 minutes.  So that means that for each load you lose 15 minutes of time waiting for the dryer to finish.  If you are doing multiple loads like I do, that can add up.  I did four loads of laundry yesterday, so line drying saved me quite a bit of time!
• Line drying saves your clothes wear and tear.  As the drum turns in a dryer, your clothes are rubbing up against each other.  Think of this like very fine sandpaper.  Sure, it's not doing much harm, but over the life of a garment you'll loose more fiber that you will using a line dry method.
• Exercise!  Okay, so I had to through that in.  Yes, line drying will make you get out and move!  Instead of standing in one spot and going from washer to dryer, you're going to have to put things in a basket, carry them outside, hang them, then come back later to take them down and fold.  A little more work, but it also is going to but a few more calories and get you a little more fresh air!

So here's some tips to get a good line dry:

1. Don't forget the fabric softener.  The fabric softener will help keep the wrinkles out while drying.  It's always good for keeping your clothes from getting too stiff.
2. Turn bright colored clothes inside out.  This keeps any fade from being noticeable.
3. Hang shirts by the hem, not by the shoulders.  Nobody likes those strange looking pinch marks that clothespins make, so put them somewhere they won't be seen.
4. If your line is in the sun, try not to let them over dry.  The longer they are out the more likely you are to get stiff clothes.

What do you do if your clothes do end up stiff?  A quick fix is to take the load, or the parts of the load that need softening into the dryer with a fabric sheet.  Turn it onto a low heat and tumble for a few minutes.  I know, you're thinking, how is more heat going to help?  Well, remember that fabric softener you washed the clothes in?  Most of the fabric softeners on the market today work best when heat activated, just like laundry detergents do.  Applying a little heat will activate the softener and relax your clothes.  Your body heat will also do this if you choose not to use the dryer.  And while I realize that using the dryer to relax your clothes seems to defeat the point, consider the fact that you won't do this to everything, and 10 or 15 minutes of a warm (not hot) cycle is still using far less energy than a full cycle.

 

Wondering how you can get started?  Get some pins, find a place to put a line, and go!  Hardware stores and home improvement centers either still carry or can get you the big square line dryers if you desire them, but you can put a line just about anywhere. 

 

Now, I'm funny about not wanting a line out in my backyard all the time, so I purchased a retractable unit at Lowe's for about $16.  It has a 49' line, and comes with all you need to mount it.  In my case, I was able to attach the unit bracket to the house, and the hook that the line attached to on a nearby tree.  My line is roughly 30', and the excess is looped around a knob at the base of the unit to keep tension.  When not in service I just unloop the cord, unclip it from the hook, and it rolls up.  When winter comes and line drying becomes not an option, you can remove a pin and take the unit inside for storage.  The bracket and hook stay in their location for quick set up the next time.  Easy peasy.

 

Happy laundering!  Until next time!  :-)

Raising Turkeys Near Chickens?

There's a lot of talk on the Internet and in books about how you cannot raise turkeys anywhere near chickens.  I'm sure that if you live in an area that has a high run of blackhead disease that may be true, but over the years I have never had a case of it.

To start with, I think there are two main things you need to be mindful of - where you got your birds, and how you manage your flocks.

When I was a teenager, my mom raised bronze and white turkeys in with her chickens.  They ate together, drank together, and roosted in trees together.  We had poults hatch and they lived in the same environment with no dreaded blackhead.

Two years ago when I started my own flock, I listened to all the hysteria.  Don't let poults contact the ground until they are three or four months, don't let them around chickens, disinfect all your equipment weekly, blah blah blah.  I listened... and promptly disregarded it all.

I disinfect my brooder and all equipment before the birds arrive, but other than a weekly scrub that equipment doesn't get disinfected again until it's ready to be used by the next batch. 

My turkey poults get moved outside at about six weeks.  Honestly, by the time they hit that age, you'll be surprised at how big of a brooder you'll need! They go out into a mobile pen so that they can be protected but still have access to grasses and bugs.  The mobile pens run the same ground as the chicken mobile pens.  In fact, one of my pens is an 8'x12' divided into two 8'x6' areas.  Right now, one side is chickens and the other is turkeys.  They've been out there for months and everyone is just fine!

Now then, my birds came from hatchery stock, and everyone arrives here as day olds or are farm hatched.  We are careful not to let other people enter our poultry areas (with few exceptions), and we never bring in new adult birds.

We keep our pens clean, and move our mobile pens around often enough that they are always in a clean environment. 

I'm not saying that we'll never have a case, I'm just proposing that maybe a little practical experience might be more in order than complete paranoia.

Seasonal Check: Fire Safety

While working on my fall checklist, and thinking about the upcoming heating season, it crossed my mind that I hadn't checked on the fire extinguisher in... oh... three years?

A quick trip to the laundry room and sure enough, empty.  Probably been empty for quite some time too.  We were already walking that unsafe line of only having one in a two story home with attached garage. 

So guess what got added to my shopping list for my next run to the hardware store?  Three brand new fire extinguishers!

Fire safety should really always be on our minds.  I'm guilty.  I know it.  I strive to improve.  When you consider that a grease fire can burn down your house, or a bad wire, or even a malfunctioning toaster.... It should make you a little nervous.  I hope everyone out there isn't thinking that it'll never happen to them.  Because we all know that that's the most dangerous thought process you can have.

While you are looking at whether or not your fire extinguisher is any good (and I hope you at least had one!), let's not forget smoke alarms.

I like to think I'm not the only one who forgets the monthly (or quarterly) checks of the smoke alarms.  With all the work we've been doing on the house, somewhere in my mind I'd missed the fact that we had just one smoke alarm left. 

I did check it though.

And of course, the batteries are dead.

Realistically, one smoke alarm is just not enough.  I counted it up and it looks like at bare minimum I need 9, but can get by with 6 until the remodelling in a few rooms is finished. 

That's a few more items for the list.

Of course, we do have a bedroom on the second story that could easily be blocked by fire.  The room has a window, although not a very large one.  I think for the sake of doing things right I'm going to get another small fire extinguisher for that room and a fire ladder.  (And a smoke alarm, but that's part of the six I already counted).

I think that will cover us. 

I know I had added all that to my list for next time, but the more that I think about it, the more I think that today might be the perfect time for a trip to town...

Be safe!

The Rising Cost of Canning Equipment

Has anyone noticed the rising cost of canning jars, lids and other canning equipment?

As I can more and more each year, I find myself adding to my jar supply.  Recently I realized I was out of both pints and half pints, and seeing as how I plan to make some pickle relish I knew I need to pick up some more.

Earlier in the year I picked up both smaller cars for $7 a dozen at a local Fred's.  (Quarts were $8 a dozen).  Now, these aren't Ball, but they work just fine and I've seen no difference in the jar quality.  When I went to Fred's this time, jars are sold out for the year.  Bummer. 

Usually this time of year the Wal-mart carries them, but when I went by they were sold out as well!  I realize that lots of folks can, but this was the first time I couldn't find jars.

I figured I would look at Kroger's since I had to pick up a few things, but was not prepared for the $12.53 price tag.  I realize these were Ball's, but they were standard jars, not the Elite series or anything that (might) justify the cost.

Ridiculous!

I checked back at Wal-mart a few days later and found that they had gotten some in, and the price wasn't unreasonable - $8.26 a dozen.  More than I would like to pay, but not terrible.  I picked up four dozen pints but they had not half-pints.

Now lids are a whole different story.  The Ball lids at Wal-Mart are (in my area) a 12pk for $1.63.  That works out to just over thirteen cents a lid.  Compare that to the bulk lids at Lehman's for $64.95 a sleeve (345 lids), which works out to just over eighteen cents each. 

I still have a decent supply of lids since I bought a bunch of 12pks at the end of last year for $1 on clearance.  I hope to get lucky and find a deal like that again. 

Other things like pectin, granite canners, even canning starter packs, are up.  Just another sign of the ever rising costs in this country?  Hard to say.  My suggestion is if you want to learn to can, get started now since I doubt prices are going to come down.  And if you are a canner now, stock up! 

Homemade Pizza

We love pizza.  Just about any kind - pepperoni, supreme, BBQ chicken, chicken-spinach-tomato... doesn't matter.  We love it all!

Tonight we're having a homemade pepperoni, mushroom, black olive with a tomato sauce base. 

I broke into pizza making slowly, at first using the pre-made store bought crusts.  After I learn the basics of good bread making, it seemed only natural to make my own pizza crusts.

Little did I know, that homemade crust is far easier than most other baking!

My go-to recipe came from the Internet.  I'd site the source but I honestly don't know where I picked it up. 

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water (approx 110 degrees)

1 tablespoon white sugar

1 packet of dry yeast

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (can mix in some whole wheat, but don't use more than half or your dough will be dry)

Directions:

1. Stir water, sugar, and yeast together until dissolved.  Add olive oil and salt.  Stir in flour until well blended.
2. Let dough rest for 10-15 minutes.  If it's cool in the house, cover with bowl with a towel to conserve the heat from the water.
3. Dip fingers in a little olive oil and pat dough into a pan, onto a pizza pan, or onto a pizza stone.
4. If desired, sprinkle dough with seasonings (I usually put a little garlic powder and some Italian seasonings on.  Top with your choice of toppings.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes in a preheated 425 degree oven.

This pizza is just wonderful, and I love that you don't have to pre-cook it like a lot of pizza dough recipes!  The dough will make a large standard crust pizza, or a medium deep pan crust.  You can even divide it into two medium thin crusts - just adjust your time.

Once you've made homemade, you might as well throw out those take-out menus and use that freezer space for something else... because there is no going back!

Enjoy a slice for me!

Making up the Fall Work List

Every year about this time I start making up my fall work list.  These are the little must-do's before the really cool and wet season starts.  I'm lucky that we live so far into the south, so even my fall items don't have to really be completed until early to mid October.

So far the list reads something like this -

Pull all of last year's hay out of the barns, inspect, and restack. 

Clean poultry houses and put fresh hay in egg boxes, new shavings on the floor.

Clean out the llama barn and lay fresh straw.

Move all poultry to winter housing.

Fill woodshed.

Check gasket on wood stove.

De worm goats, donkeys and llamas.

Plant fall veggies.

Cover unused garden beds with manure.

Seems simple enough, but when you add in the extra projects (ongoing house renovations, building a new rabbit house, finishing up the outdoor runs on the turkey house), it really might take me another month or two!

Let's not forget that apple season is coming as well, and when that happens I will be up to my elbows in making applesauce, apple butter, pie fillings and canned apples.  Of course, I'll be drying apples too!  Sweet potatoes will be available by late fall also, and now that I've survived my first pressure canning attempt, I plan to put up some of those as well.

Somewhere in there I need to make time for another round of chicken butchering as well.  Hmm....

No matter the season, the farm life never stops!

Taking the Plunge into Pressure Canning

I started water bath canning a few years ago, and have enjoyed making my own salsas, pasta sauces, relishes, pickles, jams, jellies and syrups.  The itch to can more has always been there, but the fear of pressure canning has always held me back.

There are just so many things that can go wrong, from exploding canners to broken jars, and of course, the threat of botulism.  (Although I think if you've water bath canned for any length of time you've probably gotten over the fear of botulism.)

My mom, who is one of the best cooks I've ever known, does not pressure can.  She tried many years ago on some corn and after discovering all of her jars had exploded and ruined a good couple hours of work, she gave up.  I've kept this knowledge of exploding corn jars in my mind and quite honestly, I think it's really held me back.

Since we started butchering our own chicken, the idea has been building in my mind.  At the end of processing I always end up with a pretty healthy amount of cooked, pulled chicken that ends up vacuum sealed in the freezer.  Not terribly easy to use without some forethought or some defrosting in the microwave.  Then there is our journey into the prepper lifestyle, and a freezer, though wonderful now, just may not always have the electricity to run.

I'd purchased a Presto 23 quart pressure canner back in January.  It sat in the corner for months, nearly taunting me, until I broke it out in March to can some strawberry jam.  (The nice thing about a pressure canner is that most will easily double as a water bath and/or a pressure cooker.)  I wanted to try my hand at the pressure canning, but just wasn't ready.

Yesterday the day came.  I was finishing up the vacuum sealing process of Thursday's butchering session, and just kept looking at the bowl of pulled chicken.  Finally I decided to just go for it.  I pulled out two quart jars and three pints, heated the chicken up, made up some extra broth (bouillon cubes), and began heating the water in the canner.

Not long after, the jars were filled and sitting in the canner, and this is where I started to get nervous.  I read the canning manual.  I reread it.  Then, I read it again.  Do or die time.  I put on the lid and adjusted the heat.  Watched for the steam.  After 10 minutes of steady steam I put on the pressure regulator.  After several minutes the canner was making noise but no movement on the gauge. 

Ummm...

A few minutes later, still no movement.  Uh oh.

So I removed the regulator and turned down the heat.  Google led me to a page that said that sometimes, on the first pressurized load, the dial doesn't immediately read.  Relieve pressure (done), then try again.

I'd put extra water in, so I did the 10 minutes of steam again.  Then added the regulator. 

And waited....

And a few minutes later, the dial began to move!  Success!  Well, at least to this far. 

At 10# I dialed the heat back to medium as most online sources suggest.  I should have dialed back sooner to get and keep 11# like I wanted, simply because I was canning on a smooth top range and they don't make temperature adjustments very quickly.  The pressure climbed to 12# though and stayed there, and my manual said that a difference of 1# to the high side isn't a problem.

Once pressure was achieved, I set the timer for 90 minutes and sat back to wait.  Honestly, I could probably have gone and done other things, but following the advice of the manual I didn't leave the kitchen.  I checked the pressure about every 2 minutes for the first half hour and then....

The power went out.

Ugh.  We live in the country and have more power fluctuations than anybody else we know.  At first I didn't know what to do.  Worst case, if the jars are okay, I'd just drain them and freeze the meat. 

While still in the throws of panic....

The lights came back on. 

Fabulous!  Just a short blip.  It had only been a few minutes and pressure hadn't even dropped, so I reset the timer and continued.

Thirty minutes later....  the power went out AGAIN!

This time I wasn't bothered.  I checked the pressure - still 12#.  A few minutes later, the power came back on.  No harm, no foul.  Reset the timer.

Thirty minutes later.... you guessed it.... power's out!!!  Argh!  Seriously?  This was turning into the canning attempt from Hades.  I didn't worry too much though.  As long as pressure is being maintained, so is temperature. 

I figured the power would come back on in a few minutes.  But it didn't.  When fifteen minutes had gone by, I started to worry.  The pressure had dropped to 11#. 

And that's when it came back on.  Thankfully we were still okay.  We finished out our remaining time with no more troubles.  When time was up I turned off the heat.  When the dial read "0" I removed the regulator and per the manual let the canner rest for another 10 minutes.  Then I removed the lid, and moved the jars to a cooling rack.  Within moments I heard the sweet popping noise of success!  All of my five jars sealed correctly!

Despite the fear and anxiety, I am ready to try again.  In our area sweet corn is hitting the stores and I'm thinking I may take a stab at canning some. 

Wish me luck!

An Experiment in Home Heating

I think it's fair to say that we all have extra junk mail laying around.  If you are like us, you probably feel awful just throwing it away, and burning it doesn't make you feel much better.  Sure, you avoid putting it in the trash, but it's just as wasteful to burn it out back.

Watching "Doomsday Preppers" we saw a family making firebricks out of shredded paper using a pvc pipe mold.  Looked interesting.  So we looked it up and realized there is a small culture of paper brick users out there! 

Now, let me start by saying that we realize you can't heat with JUST paper bricks.  They burn toi fast and you would need tons of them even to heat in the South.  Our intention with this project is to take something unusable and recycle into something that is.  If nothing else, these firebricks should be great fire starters and help extend our wood pile.

So the very first thing you should do is acquire a mold.  According to sites I found online, some hardware stores carry these.  They don't around here, but they are plentiful online.  You can get a single brick maker, or the one that makes four at a time like we did.  I found it on Amazon for about $40.  We thought the time and wear and tear savings made this a better model, as most of the single brick makers started about $25.

The next step is to prepare your paper.  We ripped ours into strips before soaking in water.  For us, we found the paper ripping stage to take almost longer than make the actual bricks, and for this reason I think we may invest in a economical paper shredder.  Anyway, just shred your paper and dump it in a clean container, then cover with water.  Let it set for at least overnight.  A new 32 gallon trashcan is cheap, clean and a great place to store your shredded paper between brick making sessions.

So the next day, grab your brick maker and find a spot to press bricks.  You'll get a lot of water and a lot of ink run off (depending on your paper), so find a spot that will be easy to rinse clean.  Also, expect some paper pulp to press out as well.

Once you've found a good place, scoop up some wet paper and start filling your mold.  My husband found that 3/4 of the way full worked best for him, but experiment and see what works for you. 

Depending on your model, once the mold is full you'll put on the pressing plate.

Next, cross the handles.

And SQUEEZE!  The excess water will run out through the sides and bottom.

Don't be afraid to really put some weight into it.  The more water you get out now, the faster your bricks will dry. 

Furthermore, the tighter the bricks the longer they will burn.

Once you've pressed out as much water as you can, remove the pressing plate.

Remove your bricks and put them somewhere to dry.  Again, getting them out will vary depending on your mold model.  My husband has a great time with these odd DIY projects!



A row of completed bricks!  We'll definitely try using a paper shredder next time, and see if we can't make a much tighter brick.  These will take quite awhile to dry through, so we'll have to keep them somewhere with good air flow.

Our first brick making attempt was a success and yielded 15 bricks in 30 minutes.  If they last as long as mentioned on the Internet, (burn rate of 15 minutes per brick), that's over 3 hours of heating!  Of course, we'll update our blog once we've had a chance to use them.  This far south that may not be until October!  :-)

Why Every Homesteading Kitchen Should Own a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer

If there was one gadget in my kitchen I just couldn't live without, it would have to be my KitchenAid Stand Mixer.  It has to be one of the most diverse instruments in my entire kitchen.

Now, just the mixer itself is an incredible piece of machinery.  Out of the box it will whip, mix, and knead to your little heart's contentment.  Add some accessories and the sky is the limit!

Here's the list of accessories that I think are the best deal going:

The Fruit and Vegetable Strainer and Grinder -  This is my go-to, must-have item for making fruit syrups, jellies and homemade ketchup.  It's quick, easy, and is much easier to clean up than a traditional hand mill.

Roto Slicer/Shredder - Makes shredding potatoes for homemade hash browns a breeze!  Also good for quick grating of carrots for cakes or dehydrating.  If you buy hard cheeses by the brick and want to shred your own this works great for this also. 

Food Grinder -  This has two different size plates and is what I use to make ground chicken or ground turkey.  If you hunt and process your own deer, your could easily make your own deer burger with this also.

Pasta Plates - These little plastic darlings fit in the food grinder in place of the metal disc and food knife and can make angel hair, spaghetti, and lasagna noodles in a breeze. 

Ice Cream Bowl - Okay, this one might be just for fun, but nothing in this world will taste as good as making your own homemade ice cream.  Vanilla is fabulous, but add some home grown strawberries and you have the makings of an epic dessert.  Our nephew stayed with us last summer and thought we made the best ice cream ever.

Something new that I'm considering:

KitchenAid just came out with a grain mill that also works for the stand mixer.  The reviews look promising but the price is still in the $150 catergory.  If the price comes down a bit I might give it a try, but it looks a bit high at the moment.

There are a few things that I still want to get, and one of them is an extra bowl!  Especially around Christmas time when I make a lot of different kinds of cookies that require chilled dough, I would love to be able to just pop the bowl in the fridge without having to empty it into another container (since I need the mixing bowl for another batch).  Also, some bowl lids would be helpful and would avoid all the wasted plastic wrap.

Anyhow, if you don't have one already, I would really recommend checking it out.  

What To Do With All That Chicken!?!

So yesterday I blogged that we butchered out 17 birds.  Because we choose to raise the slower growing dual purpose breeds, that also means that we don't get the big breasts and such that you find on the Cornish cross birds.  The reason for not growing the Cornish is simple to us; if a bird cannot survive long enough to reproduce itself it's unnatural. 

For those that don't understand that, the Cornish cross is a hybrid bird that is bred specifically for fast growth and meaty frames.  These birds do not live past 12 weeks at best, as their frames are incapable of handling the fast growth and massive weights.  IF you could grow one to sexual maturity it would still not be able to reproduce due to it's large breast size.  To raise Cornish cross for meat you must buy the birds each time you raise them.  To us, this is not a sustainable enterprise.

Hatching our own birds gives us plenty of pullets to grow for replacement hens, and the roosters make excellent meat birds.

I hear all the time about how roosters used as meat are tough or gamey, but I have yet to find that to be true.  I often think that people confuse gamey with tasting like actual chicken!  On the few occasions that we've butchered a hen (egg eating, poor performance, broken leg, etc), we haven't noticed a difference in taste at all.  Certainly a bird butchered after a year old is bound to be tougher than a youngster, but you just need to know how to prepare them.  When it comes to cooking chicken, I have always been the Queen of the Crockpot, so age doesn't really bother me.

For this group of birds I had several grand plans.  The first part involved cutting off the legs for BBQ Drumsticks.  The second required removing wings to make crockpotted buffalo wings.  Next I removed as much meat as possible to grind up for sausage and burgers, and lastly the carcasses got boiled to loosen any left over meat to be stripped and frozen for pulled BBQ Chicken sandwiches, dumplings and soups.

It's a long process, and it took all day.  Tomorrow the two smaller birds that I left intact, as well as all the parts will be divided up into meals, vacuum sealed and frozen.  Burgers and sausage patties will be formed, frozen, packed and vacuum sealed to go back into the freezer. 

Nobody said that working towards self sufficiency was easy, but boy is it rewarding!

Chicken Butchering Day

A couple of times each year the husband and I gather up our butchering supplies and thin the flock (usually just roosters).  Today was one of those days.

Usually I hatch my own chicks from eggs laid by our flocks.  We raise them up until 4 or 5 months old, and then the pullets get either added to our flocks or sold.  The roosters, however, head to the freezer.  For the first time I bought a large group of pullets from Mt. Healthy Hatchery and received 25 additional free roosters that we intended to butcher.  Unfortunately we lost the whole group at 6 weeks old to a weasel, and I had to start over.  Since our spring was so busy with home renovations, I ended up getting some month old rooster chicks from a local man for just the cost of feed.  They didn't grow as well as my usual birds and had to be raised up longer, but in the end they did just fine.

Although I'm not going to show you pictures of the actual process, I warn you that if you are uncomfortable with the idea of killing your own food you may want to avoid the rest of this post.  The pictures below are of our setup.

We start the process the morning before when I take all the food out of the pen.  Of course, I leave them plenty of water.

The day of the big event, we get up and feed and water all the other critters, since we are usually exhausted by the end of the day.

Butchering and processing happen on the concreted area of our driveway.  This makes it easy to clean up and is far enough away from the rest of the flock to prevent stressing them. 

This first photo shows stations #1 and #2.  We bring a cage of five birds down and set them beside the table.  Each bird is taken out, the legs are tied together and then a noose is placed on the birds neck.  At the other end of the noose is a loop that is placed on a nail on the table.  Holding the bird by the legs it is then stretched out and the head is removed by a very sharp cleaver.  The headless bird is then placed into the bucket, carried over to the rack at station #2, and hung to bleed out.  Heads are discarded into the white bucket.

 After five birds have been done, the first killed birds are taken to station #3, which is a pot of water filled 2/3 of the way full and  heated to 180 degrees.  The birds are dunked and swished for 15 seconds, pulled out, and dunked again.  At that time they go to station #4.

Station #4 is where all the rest of the process happens.  Birds are plucked, gutted and rinsed before going inside for a final rinse and refrigeration.

You may notice that we do not have a mechanical plucker.  There are three reasons for this.  One is that we never do so many birds at one time that we can't handle the plucking ourselves.  The other reasons are that we don't want to have to store a big drum plucker, and the small drill run pluckers are extremely messy.  Really, once you get good at it, hand plucking only takes a few minutes per bird.

This morning we got started setting up about 8am.  By 9am we were ready to start our first set.  It always takes us much longer to get set up than it does to tear down, mostly because we have to remember where we put everything from last time!

Each set took just over an hour from catching to refrigerating.  We took a small break between each set, and still managed to process 17 birds and clean up by 2:30pm.  And that's even with the 15 or so minutes it took us to catch the rooster that got out of the pen and hid in the grass!

There are several good sites that show the actual butchering process in detail.  I'd be happy to share the two that I learned from if anyone is interested.

Thoughts on the Midwest Drought

It's no secret that the center of the country is in trouble.  Every night on the news is another shot of crops dying in the fields and rivers drying up to nothing.  With all of that comes higher feed costs for us, and for the homesteaders out there, our critters.

Living in the south we saw what the Texas wild fires did to hay prices last year.  We were amazed and then appalled by the number of animals going for cheap or free because even in our state, hay prices had doubled in some areas, if you could find some at all.  We were lucky that we bought early and from a guy that we've been buying from for years.  I shudder to think what we might have had to fork out if not for a very kind and honest hay producer.

The last two trips to the feed store have seen an increase.  From April, feed at our local feed mill is up over 15% and will continue to climb for the foreseeable future.  With three goats, two donkeys, two dozen turkeys, a dozen ducks, 60 chickens and seven llamas, I am concerned.  Not to mention the two humans, a cat and a dog that also live here.  And yes, be ready, because the pet food industry has said that it's foods are getting ready to increase as well. 

As a homesteader, our answer on the poultry front is to downsize, and for us that means butchering. 18 of our chickens are roosters that were already marked for the freezer, but with feed prices what they are, my older hens will be next when the pullets start laying in October. 

Being a prepper means that I've been able to spread out the increases, but with no end in sight I have to be careful about cutting into our reserves.  I am adding two more trash cans for feed, and increasing the amount that we have on hand.  The drought today means that even if things turn around next year, we won't see a return to lower prices until next fall at harvest time at best.  And I wouldn't count on that. 

On the human front, we have enough stored to weather the drought until next year when we can grow and put up more of our own. 

With one in six people in our country now on food stamps however, I am worried that a long term drought is going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back.  As the prices continue to increase it's going to be harder and harder to stretch those government assistance dollars.  Frustrations spill over, and the desperate.... well, they do desperate things.

If you don't have some food put away, please do yourself and your family a favor and start.  Things like this are what we preppers have been preaching for awhile.  The world doesn't have to be coming to an end to make what we do pay off.  It's the hard times that are the bigger threat.

Just some food for thought.