Side Yard Before and After

Pardon my blogging hiatus.... lots has been going on.  This post is a quick before and after of our side yard improvement, nothing jaw dropping here.

The cleanup started about a year ago to this date when my parents visited.  My Dad cannot sit still and has to always be busy with something.

 After the brush was cleared we were able to get the two trees cut down.

Then Jonathan tore up the area (since it was all weeds and crab grass), re-seeded it and such.

Last our neighbor put up a new split rail fence just a few weekends ago.  He has been wanting to do this project for some time.  Sweet!

Not the best before and after pics, but here it is again-

After-

So thats about 1/16 of our yard.  Now onto the rest.

We are currently dealing with a flooded basement after all the rains, about 1" standing water throughout.  Basement guy was here today for an analysis of how to fix the problem.  Looks like we will be doing some home improvements in that area soon.

Tadpoles Arrived

The majority of my childhood was spent outdoors.  Not only because I liked being outside but my mom would send us all outside to play to get out of the house.   Having a large yard is my favorite asset as a stay at home mom.
We have been anticipating spring and tadpole 'season'.  Little man and I decided to go hunting for some yesterday.  We had heard the frogs singing their mating songs a few months back (concluded this due to the time of year, not because I speak frog) .  At first we scoped out the ornamental pond behind our porch (that is in process of being cleaned up).

Initially we became quite excited with finding little swimmers squirming about the pond.

After further investigation I realized it was mosquito larvae (gross, but not surprised.... add item #156 to the to do list,  treat ornamental pond).

We headed to the 'wetlands' at the back of our property and found all sorts of things to investigate on the way.

Anyone know what kind of caterpillar/larvae this is?  I suspect some type of moth with those spines (a complete guess as I know nothing about this type of thing).

We were pleasantly surprised to find an abundant amount of tadpoles in the pond!

Very interested.

I easily caught one and brought it back to the house.  I think it's name should be Tad.... or Polly.

I love this stuff.  Soon it's little legs will be popping out.

After looking into how to keep a tadpole to its final stage (frog-hood, I made that term up), I decided I didn't want to deal with it right now (though its not extremely involved, so call me lazy).  I told little man we would just come back to the pond and check on them regularly, which he was fine with.  So I released our little pet.  Hoping our local mallards don't exterminate them all.

Pig update!!  I talked to the farmer and our piglets are NOT EVEN BORN. :(  This means we probably will not even get them until July (since they nurse on their mommies till about 8 weeks old).  In some ways this is a burden off our shoulders since we don't have the new water line to the pasture dug yet.... and Jonathan is still working on the custom gravity feeder.

There is plenty to do in the meantime.... I think I need to get these kids some ear protection.

Keeping Chickens - Is It Worth It?

This post is solely based on OUR chicken farming 'experience' and if it has been worth it for OUR family.  There are too many factors otherwise to make a blanket statement that chickens are worth it for everyone's situation.  Just sayin'. :)

For inquiring minds, we only have a whopping number of 3 chickens at the moment.  Two Ameraucanas and one RI Red/Delware cross.  Not sure if thats even enough to classify as a flock?

The Cost of Keeping Chickens
We purchased our hens from local farmers as pullets (a young hen, less than a year old).  All three for $36 total.  We choose pullets over baby chicks because we didn't want to buy incubation/warming equipment, and wanted birds that would start laying that same season.  This also decreased the chances of accidently receiving a Rooster.
Chickens don't need much thankfully.  They need water, feed (less to none if allowed to free range) and shelter.  Our upfront cost for all chicken equipment was around $300.  Jonathan built a chicken coop from all new materials and we purchased a decent gravity feeder and waterer.  MTV Chicken Crib post here.

Our feed costs are low since they are typically free range/pastured most of the year.  We supplement with a natural feed (roughly $14 per 50lb bag) on days we don't let them out and through the winter.  Yearly feed costs are about $50 or less.

Cage Free, Organic, Vegetarian Fed, Free Range, Pastured?
I just want to briefly touch on the above egg carton labels.  From my reading there are no regulations on these labels.  So cage free could just mean not in a cage but still confined in a barn to feed.  Free range could mean close to the same thing, maybe some 'outdoor' time.  Organic means no hormones, meds, non natural chemicals, etc. including in their diet.  Vegetarian fed means just what it says..... but chickens are not vegetarians.... they're omnivores.  Pastured is the only label that means chickens are allowed to roam and forage in the outdoors.

Health Benefits  (I had to do math, which I dislike!)
The Incredible Edible Egg
Thankfully lots of research has been done to back this up.  As I mentioned in my pastured pork post, animals are what they eat.... so are hen's eggs.  The study listed at Mother Earth News says-
 "Our testing has found that, compared to official U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrient data for commercial eggs, eggs from hens raised on pasture may contain: 

• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 7 times more beta carotene
• 4 to 6 times more Vitamin D (their bodies convert the received sunlight to vitamin D, like humans do, which 'enriches' the egg)

Study from Mother Earth News article here.

So I did math for a side by side comparison showing the possible nutritional difference.  Mainly because I was a little skeptical if the above findings made a major impact.  Here's the breakdown that gave me a headache figuring it all out (stinking unit of measures).  I will let you decide if the difference matters to you.

Another note: This chart is based on my reading and research, I am NOT a doctor nor a certified smarty pants.  I did the best I could with what I found to provide only helpful insight.  Feel free to inform me of any mistakes, seriously.

Do Hens Earn Their Keep? (i.e. Pay For Themselves)
Our RI Red mix lays 1 egg a day almost every day of the year.  To be on the conservative side I will say she lays 330 eggs a year (since she misses some in the dead of winter and while molting).  The other two lay for three seasons, taking a break during winter and molting season.  So we'll estimate their laying at 233 eggs each per year.  That gives us a total of 796 eggs per year, or 66 dozen.  Think thats more than you can eat?  You would be surprised. (from a quick google search the average American eats 250 eggs per year, thats just one person to re-iterate my point, there are 4 egg liking people in our house).
The price of commercial eggs here is currently $2/dozen.  66 dozen (what we get in a year) at that price would be $132 yearly savings.
The price of local cage free or organic eggs (not pastured) here is currently $3.25/dozen.  66 dozen at that price would be $214.50 yearly savings.
Pastured egg are hard to find for purchase (they are not at my standard stops anyway).  A farm near me sell them for $6.50/dozen.  66 dozen at that price would be $429 yearly savings.

Hens will lay eggs for a solid three years then begin to teeter off, becoming less productive.  Using the cheapest egg price that would be $396 worth of eggs over three years.  So yes, they do pay for themselves.  Remember we only have three chickens, the more layers you have, the faster they would pay for themselves (again, in regards to our situation).  Lots of people sell their excess eggs which turns a profit even quicker.


Taste-
I can again vouch (as I did with the pastured pork) that pastured eggs taste is superior to store eggs.  Commercial egg's taste are noticeably bland in comparison.  Below is a picture comparison of the two, store bought on left, fresh on right-

Photo compliments of Flumgummerie Farm Blog

So I don't feel it is fully fair (in regards to worth) comparing commercial egg's price to pastured egg's price.  It's a higher quality product all around.

One last argument-
Since we have eggs constantly accessible, I have found that I cook with them more.  I make more meals with them (breakfast, lunch AND dinner), and take egg dishes to more potlucks.  Eggs do NOT just have to be breakfast meals, though we love breakfast for dinner, but paired with other ingredients can make amazingly and seemingly fancy dinners.  For example, to name a few-

• Top toast, asparagus, ham, swiss cheese and cream sauce with an over easy egg (Rachel Ray's more involved recipe here)
• Mix ricotta cheese and chives in with scrambled egg (ridiculous)
• Top lentils in a mustard vinaigrette with an over easy egg (could make lentil haters none haters, Jonathan LOVES this one)
• Top a steak with a fried egg (steak and eggs!)
• Add a hard boiled egg to a salad (Cob and Chef salads have it)

Anyone else have an egg dinner recipe to share, or any other egg dish they love?

Its nice having them on hand for kids lunches and those egg heavy desserts you might not usually make otherwise.

To end, I wanted to clear up a widespread misconception-  Commercial eggs are NOT fertilized, (can you imagine the poor Rooster in those large operations if this were the case) so you are NOT eating a baby chick.  Therefore....  you do NOT need a Rooster for your hens to lay eggs.

The end-

Chicken Tip:  The fluffy poof part under their tail is called a Vent.  A large Vent can be a sign of a good layer.  The one on the right is our most consistent layer.

Ambitious Boy and Spring Tree Blossoms

A quick non-sense post.  I am about 3/4 done with a post about raising chickens and if its worth it.... for those who prefer to read stuff with purpose. :)


I like this boy's self initiative.  Five cubic yards of compost was dropped off the other day for improving our garden's soil structure.   Without any words little man grabbed his dump truck and did what he  thought needed to be done.  Watching those Mighty Machine shows has done some good, thanks Netflix.

Into the garden-

The spring trees are near full bloom all around our house.  We really like our huge weeping cherry.  Hoping the winter moths don't nibble on the leaves once the blooms drop like they did last year (it's too tall for us to treat ourselves).

The tree is taller than our two story house but the wispy branches make it little of threat in a high windstorm.

Atleast it gives me something nice to look at while hovering over the sink.

Hope to have the chicken post up very soon!

Enthusiastic Yard Work

With the horrible events that took place in Boston this week I have to begin this post by asking for people's prayer.  Sandy Hook is still in our minds and now an exciting event such as the Boston Marathon was turned to tragedy.  Please pray for New England.  For the many that are broken physically and emotionally.  Also for those who seek to do evil, that they would be saved from the evil that they seek.

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'Tis the season to ramp up on yard work.  We're excited to get a new tool to help with yard cleanup.... well some of us were excited-

Little man does not like loud noises.  The leaf blower is a re-fab from our local small engines shop.  I am pretty sure it could double as a jet pack.

I ripped up the old landscaping fabric that had become a weed blanket (weeds and grass were growing all over the top)-

Some Shasta Daisies had spread along the top of the fabric also.  I tried to remove them without disrupting the root system and replant them.

I also planted some Echinacea (purple coneflowers) and Black Eyed Susans.  We hope they grow well here and pretty much take over this bed.

Jonathan is still working on improving the grass in our yard so the kids and I try to water the new seeded areas daily.  On warm days like today it doesn't seem as tedious.  Little girl has shown an obvious liking for playing in the water-

Little man deemed this area in need of special attention-

She followed it around like a dog follows a treat-

More close-ups for the grandparents-

Little man got a spring buzz cut.  I like it better short, Jonathan likes it better long.  We compromise with the seasons (long in winter, short in summer).  Still very blonde?

More water was found to play in-

First garden news of the season.... stuffs comin' up.  Everything has taken its time to germinate with the cool spring weather, but we finally have progress-

The sugar peas germination percentage has been very poor.  After some trouble shooting we will have to try new tactics next spring (poor soil structure is mainly to blame).

The seedlings in our raised bed on the other hand are thriving.  Carrots, beets and garlic are coming up and doing well.

Thanks to a fellow gardening friend I got some free Arugula seeds that I planted today.  I also have parsley and leaf lettuce popping up in pots, and cucumbers (pickling variety) that should start popping up soon.  I check them daily like an anxious kid.
Here are a few planting and growing lists that I find helpful-

• Special thanks to Torie for sharing this site with me.  Mavis shared growing guide here.  General overview growing guide.
• I like the breakdown and information on this one from the Old Farmer's Almanac, here.

I plan to write a post about raising your own chickens and if its been worth it for us.  Thanks for the positive feedback, friends, on the pastured raised pork post. :)  I hope to also post a 2nd year in review of our house updates since the anniversary is approaching (and its been awhile since I've posted anything about the house).