Our God is an Awesome God!

So, about that hundred miler.  It all started innocently enough; with Bryan one of 99 hard core heroes to cross the starting line.  As you can see below, the super crew got right to it. 

Super crew hard at work.  It's 5 o'clock somewhere.

After a good picnic lunch, trip to the gun store, and a game of Frisbee, it was time to check in on our runner.  He looked a little tired but was 15 minutes ahead of schedule.  Go team!

Ok, yeah, here is Bryan at mile 17.  But seriously, check out the legs on that crewmember.

At the 41 mile mark Bryan was still on schedule and linked up with a certain super awesome safety runner. 

I bet you feel safe just looking at this.

Off we went into the night, alone and unafraid.  Things went well for 12 miles into the 23 mile stent, but then one of those things happened.  A turn on the course went unrecognized and uphill we began to climb.  Now, we were just a pair of six runners that missed this turn, and a mile and a half of the way to heaven, one of the runners sensed something was amiss.  Egad!!!  We realized our error, turned around, and raced downhill.  But the damage to time and psyche was done.  More hardship awaited and we limped in to the next crew stop, defeated, though I had completed a marathon.   What we didn’t know at the time was that a lot of prayer and providence had gotten us to that hand-off and Kyle was ready to press on.

The new voice was well received and (with some more prayer requested, received, and effects witnessed) helped to rouse Bryan to complete the next twenty mile stretch right where we told him he needed to be.  The drama was building and Kyle passed the baton to Uncle Todd.

Tag...you're it.  Or is it good game?

It wasn’t until Bryan and Todd were out of sight that it dawned on the super crew (we had some nifty shirts, next time I vote for decoder rings) that our time calculations were wrong.  See, the craziest thing about the Thunder Rock 100 is that it is actually 100.9 miles.  Bryan was going to miss the mark by 15 minutes.  When we passed the information to our runners at the 93rd mile that it would take a 17 minute mile pace to finish within the 30 hour time limit, we saw a defeated soul.  We left for the finish line bracing for the worst.

As runners crossed the drama built.  By the 93rd mile only 50 of the runners who began the course had made it to that point.  Bryan was the last to do so and it wasn’t looking good.  With a little over 20 minutes left, several folks went out to encourage the last few on the course.  One by one they were tricking in and time was ticking away.  All of the sudden a cry pierced the air.  Bryan had been spotted, but surely there was no way he would make it in time.  As a runner crested the hill, a gasping voice exclaimed that it was Bryan, number 17!  Somehow, he had found the energy and shaved 25 minutes off his projected finish time over the final 7 miles.  As he collapsed into his wife’s arms, we knew that we had witnessed a miracle.  Truly, as Paul says in Philippians 4:14 “I can do all things through him who strengthens me”.  Bryan did not do that of his own flesh but through the working of God.  To God be the glory.

Andy

The Craziest Man I Know

Let me introduce you to my friend Bryan. Today he steps off on a 100 mile run. I may be the craziest person he knows as he thought I would be interested in running 23 miles with him through the dark woods of Tennessee.  Maybe I am the craziest person I know, because I said yes.  So hopefully the plants are growing and the chickens ornamenting; in the meantime, Bryan will be running and I will be helping him achieve his goal.  Tomorrow I am sure I will be sharing stories of his successful run!  Go Bryan!

Andy

Garlic Roulette

I am very good at growing things accidentally.  Boy #2 brought home a craft he had made at preschool which consisted of some soil and grass seed on a plate.  You get the idea of what’s supposed to happen here.  For the sake of safety and mess containment, it came home inside a zipper sandwich bag.  Instead of lovingly taking it out and displaying it in a sunny window sill and carefully misting it regularly, I tossed the whole bag on top of the fridge and forgot about it.  A few weeks later, I spied the bag, and curious as to what I had tossed up there, I pulled it down to discover that the grass had sprouted and was about an inch long, and the whole pile of dirt was covered in a mossy coat of mold.  Oops.  Zippered sandwich bags make excellent miniature greenhouses.

Later in the cleaning binge, I found another zipper sandwich bag in the refrigerator.  Most of a head of garlic had been put in the bag last fall….or maybe last summer….or maybe before we moved last June.  It had overwintered beautifully in the refrigerator and had sprouted some lovely green tops.  So I planted it.

I don’t know where the garlic originated.  The packaging has probably already composted back into dirt in some landfill.  Or at least in my fairy-tale imaginings of how a landfill works.  It might have been grown in Oregon, in which case, we do stand some of a chance of harvesting garlic.  It might have come from Florida, in which case my odds of success are low.  Even if it was originally from an organic farm in an Indianapolis suburb, my odds are still pretty low based on my history with garlic.  The last time I planted it (and I used starts that were intended to be planted in a garden), it didn’t do squat.  So, do I feel lucky?

The Web-Mistress

A Plague of Biblical Proportions

A nice quiet day was in progress.  The day job was going well, there was good sun, seeds were germinating, plants were growing, and then, thanks to some kids that decided to enjoy the weather and backyard, I received a plea to let them keep a certain amphibian captured invading the homestead.  Now, the point of the homestead exercise is to teach them where food comes from, know the conditions in which it is raised and grown, and maybe even teach some science along the way.  So, I could only imagine they decided to try a dish with some international flavor.  To my chagrin, they actually wanted to keep it as a pet, going as far as to name it Aphrodite.  Impressed as I was with their grasp of Greek mythology and the concept of irony, I was not pleased they didn’t want to rustle up an afternoon snack.  My kitchen has been over taken with this creature and I am sure I understand what the Egyptians went through.  I am still holding out hope for a snack, though.  Anyone have any good recipes?

Andy

Odds and Ends

Good news!  It appears that none of our chickens are retarded.  I thought it could have gone either way for a while, but it seems that even the slowest of our birds has finally caught on with how the whole coop thing works.  It took a while for all the birds to make a habit of going in on their own at night.  For several nights I would find 2 birds laying on a third in a corner and wondered if they were protecting the dumb one.  Then, they seemed to get bored with that and left the last one out by herself for the next couple of nights.  I couldn’t figure out what her malfunction was.  But, BEHOLD, all 8 chickens have been waiting for me in the coop the last two nights.  I am not sure I was prepared emotionally to care for a special needs bird.  And I don’t think she is quite big enough to make a meal out of.  All is well for now though.

Our first harvest of the year netted 3.6 ounces of beautiful radishes.

After the last post, I (I mean the Web-Mistress) did some research and we realized it was harvest time for the radishes.  There are still a few in the ground ripening up; however, we harvested most of them.  They taste spectacular.  They aren’t too hot or too woody.  I am very happy with how this first crop turned out.

Any early harvests for you?  Let me know how it’s going.

Andy

Healthy Growth

Wow, it is amazing what a little bit of water and some warm sunshine will do for a garden.  I know this should not be a surprise but, at our last house, we did not have a full sun location for our small garden and we only saw moderate growth and crops.   All of the raised beds we are putting in here are full sun and it is amazing to watch the plants respond with some regular water and long hours of sunlight.

The berries that we got from Indiana Berry continue to do well.  I did not have any previous experience with bare root plants but both the strawberries and raspberries we planted are growing well.  Once we got the blueberries into the sun, they greened right up as well.  I still need to get after the soil on those, but they are off to a good start.

It is looking like our first crop of radishes is getting close to harvest.  It would probably serve me well to figure out exactly when to pick them, but that is a minor detail.  I was able to get a couple more beds built and managed to get winter squash, green beans, bunching onions, cucumbers, beets, and pumpkins planted.  The ever supportive Web-Mistress was quick to comment that the pumpkin bed looks as though it needs a bra.

The most important crop we have planted, though, were the sunflower seeds our four year old had picked out when we got our seed packets.  It is killing him that he has to wait to see them sprout.  Hopefully, his patience will be rewarded.  And just maybe, it will keep him out of my garden beds.

Andy

Turning the Page

May is here.  The days are warming up and it’s time to really get the gardens going.  Around here, the adage is to not plant until Mother’s Day.  The real danger of early planting reared its ugly head last week with the cold snap that killed the marigolds which had been planted along the chicken run.  But a look at the 10 day forecast shows no temperatures lower than the 40’s so it will be time to get out and planning this weekend.

This afternoon, the strawberries went in.  We bought 50 bare root plants from Indiana Berry and while I don’t expect any berries this year, next year will hopefully yield some good jams and pies.  As you can see from the picture above, the individual plants are hard to see (trust me, they are there) and there is plenty of space for runners to fill in.  According to the planting guide we received, I expect the number of fruit bearing plants to triple this year.

I will let you all know if we manage to get the beets, onions, pumpkins, green beans, and winter squash in.  What are you planting this weekend?  All in all, it should be a great way to spend my birthday weekend, even if the Web-Mistress lost count and added years to my age on my cake.

Andy

Completion and Clarification

It is done!!!  The coop is complete.  One final push was all it took and the girls weathered their first night in it yesterday.  I left them out until it was dark to see whether or not they would venture in on their own.  When I got around to checking on them a little after 9, I only saw three chickens and assumed most were in the coop.  I soon realized my error and began pulling chickens off of the clown car pile by the fence.  At least this group of survivors was following their instincts to stay warm.  I loaded them into the coop and noticed that none moved away from the door as I went inside.

This morning, when I went out to open the coop, it didn’t appear any movement had occurred and I was met with what can only be called “chicken stink eye”.  But with the growing light they began to explore the rest of the coop and I did see them venture forth by the time I headed off to my day job.

Now for the clarification.  If you are still reading, the Web-Mistress took issue with any insinuation that she might be other than a crack shot.  So, for the record, I am sure that should any rabbit come along it will meet a swift and terrible end.

Andy

Soft Opening

The chicken run is done!  On Friday, I was able to get the final boards up and complete the fencing on the run.  After a run of poor weather and honey-do’s (see Bait and Switch), a beautiful day netted results.  The run nets out to about 20x30 behind our garage with a separate area for the coop.  We used cedar 4x4s topped with some solar lights for posts as part of the 5 foot high run.  The lights have a nice effect at dusk.

We celebrated by grilling burgers and corn.  I would like to say the corn was well received by the family but the kids were more interested in chucking their ears into the newly completed run than actually eating any of it.   This led to loads of entertainment as the chickens didn’t seem to realize the kids wanted to make it rain like Pacman Jones in Vegas.  The bird-on-bird fighting over the first few ears was a sight to behold.  Eventually, they settled in to clearing cobs in a shockingly effective manner.

In the end, I was thrilled to check a pretty major project off my list.  It feels great not to have a brooder full of growing birds and not have a place ready for them.  The birds seemed to dig their new surroundings and the kids love seeing chickens in action up close.  There might even be a grand opening if I can just finish the coop.

Andy

Cold Crops

With the frost on the ground the last couple of days I am certainly glad we have waited to put most of our vegetables in until Mother’s Day.  We did, however, get a raised bed going for some cold hearty plants.  The snap peas and radishes are up and doing well.  The carrots, lettuce, kale and broccoli are all showing signs they want to grow.  The carrots and snap peas each got their own 4x2 section of the bed, while the other 4x4 section was divided into triangular plots for the rest of the plants.

I built the bed using untreated 2x6x8s.  This gave me a nice 4x8 bed, the frame of which was then treated using boiled linseed oil.  The linseed oil helps to preserve the wood but is nontoxic, a must when working on projects which are going to be part of your food supply. 

We sowed all of the plants in this bed directly in the soil.  I do have a ton of plants started and under grow lights, more on those a bit later.  The radishes are from Ferry-Morse and the rest are heirloom seeds from Mountain Valley which I purchased at Costco.  So I will see how these brands do and let you know.

My only real worry so far has been rabbits.  I haven’t seen any signs of damage to the plants but have a trusty .22 at the ready.  One can only hope the Web-Mistress is a steely-eyed killer in the event Peter Rabbit shows himself while I’m not home.  Eventually I hope to get some fencing up when all of my raised beds are built.  Until then I can only hope that I get to share a recipe for rabbit stew in a future post.

Did you plant any cold tolerant vegetables?  How are they doing?  Send me some pictures and let me know what brand of seeds you used.

Andy

Bait and Switch

Well, some of the projects underway had to get put on hold yesterday.  Since we moved into the new house, the Web-Mistress has wanted a new couch.  Unable to agree on anything, I had been able to put off this purchase for some time.  However, with some upcoming hosting, I knew I had better come around or else.  So I mentioned IKEA to her and after some web browsing on her part, I was sent a list of couches which met with her approval.  On my way home from my day job I asked if she wanted to go with the IKEA couches and she replied “they are open till 9”.  I rightly understood this as a cue to go so when I got home I began to load up the car.  The Web-Mistress came out, wished me luck and drove away…

Now all of this wouldn’t be so bad, but the nearest IKEA is TWO hours away across state lines.  So instead of helping her with couch shopping, I had to referee four hours of driving and got to inflict my herd on an unsuspecting store.  We managed to survive, got an acceptable piece of furniture, and might have even come home with copious amounts of Yuengling.  So it wasn’t all a loss.  Hopefully I can return to the gardens and chickens this weekend and make some progress on the ongoing projects.

Ornamental Chickens

The ring on the left isn't as nice as the one on the right but costs the same.

Since this blog purports to be about chickens, let me introduce you to my flock.  We picked up eight chicks from Tractor Supply Company in early March that were labeled pullets.  Funny thing, I haven’t seen any eggs yet.  So what I really bought were glorified lawn ornaments.  Given what I have spent building their coop and run, I am currently producing the most expensive compost around.  When August rolls around and they allegedly start laying, I will give them credit for pulling their own weight.  Until then, though, they are merely helping my four year old fulfill his lifelong (I know, right) dream of becoming a “chicken farmer”.

Now, we went with TSC chicks because, never having done this before, it seemed best to not pay a whole lot for each bird.  I mean, should they all have just up and died I would rather be in for $10 rather than $40.  I will admit I was probably too invested in their survival.  Between the stressing over every degree of movement in the temperature being read out on the digital thermometer and the countless trips to the garage to check on the babies, you would have thought I was running a NICU ward.  I finally had to remind myself that people have been raising chickens for thousands of years with much less technology and I should probably relax.

So we will see what sort of eggs these eventually produce.  As best I can tell, we bought Isa Brown chickens.  Anyone have any favorite layers I should consider for next time?

Welcome!

Greetings!  Thanks for stumbling across my little online homestead.  In 2014, my wife, the Web-Mistress, decided that our .1 acres in an upscale Indiana subdivision did not offer enough yard for our growing boys.  Wisely, I agreed to put our house on the market and we were blessed to both sell it and find two acres and a lovely fixer upper in a sleepy little bedroom community in central Indiana.  With the extra space came the ability to pursue a homestead where we are trying to grow chickens, a garden, and some kids (the first two being to feed the third).

This is my attempt to chronicle our adventures and connect with you as we discover what some country living is all about.  There will be some exceptional experiential learning, some failure, and most of all a good time.  So stick around and see what happens.