Happenings At The Hyatt House

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Home Videos (Kids, Chickens, and Puppies)

Everyone likes to share home videos and I am no exception. So here are some of my recent home videos.

At least once a day eggs must be collected from the chicken's nesting boxes. For some reason the chickens love my shoes. I think they think my shoe laces are worms to eat.

http://youtu.be/4PZQ6uWw0hU

Sometimes I wear muck shoes instead.

http://youtu.be/_A9XFiV7B-E

On January 3, 2014 Bella had triplets. The first few days Bella was very protective of her babies and would refuse to leave the shelter area where she had the babies. We had some cold nights so we kept them locked in the shelter with alfalfa and a bucket of water for protection against the cold and protection against the other goats who would want to steal the alfalfa. After a few days it warmed up and was no longer necessary to lock Bella and the kids up at night. Goats are a prey animal and so it is important for kids to grow fast and be able to run away from danger.

The triplets are only 12 days old in this video. The does have white ears and the buck has black ears. Brown doe is named Cocoa. Black doe (white ears) is named Pepper. Black buck (black ears) is named Coal.

http://youtu.be/2lDLlcph7aM

We are in the process of building raised garden beds using the abundant supply of rocks on the property. On Jan. 19 we brought Bella and her kids into the garden to eat. Nubians need a lot of extra nutrition that alfalfa provides so they can produce lots of milk. Our other goats really don't have need of that extra nutrition right now so we have been separating Bella from the rest of the herd to eat. Of course she wants her kids with her, so we brought all four into the garden while we were working. The kids mostly played while Bella ate.

http://youtu.be/zNqXIZhB8rc

In this video the kids are 'helping' Rick build the rock wall.

http://youtu.be/6gP__6aKOis

A quick video of our Great Pyrenees pups at about 20 weeks old. They are growing fast.

http://youtu.be/0QGCsyIWNk8

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Bella Had Triplets

Most evenings I go to bed early and wake up early. This time of year the sun surfaces around 7am. No matter what time of year it is and what time the sun comes up, my day officially begins before the sun even rises. Then when it does rise, the chickens need to be fed and let out of the coop, the cats need to be fed, in addition to a number of other morning ranch jobs. When the sun rises, it doesn’t matter if it is below freezing outside or a warm beautiful sunny summer day, there are animals to be tended too.

Yesterday was no different. After getting up and working for a few hours, I decided to return to bed before the sun rose. The sun had already made its appearance when Rick opened my bedroom door and yelled, “GET UP, WE HAVE BABIES!!!” I was instantly fully awake and out of bed. Rick was correct. He had looked out the living room window and spotted babies. By the time I was dressed he had already put on his jacket, gone out to check on the new arrivals, let the rest of the herd out to graze so they would leave Bella and her Babies alone, and returned to the house to report she had triplets. I grabbed the camera, the bowl of chicken food which I handed to Rick who let the chickens out of the coop, and then I too headed to the goat shelter to view the newest members of the herd.

Bella (proud momma) with her son, Coal.

The girls

Cocoa (doe)

Pepper (doe)

Coal (buck)

Friday, January 3, 2014

Happy New Year

It is hard to believe but 2013 is now history and 2014 has arrived. This past year has been one of much activity. Rick spent most of the year on construction. A few of his larger projects included a 2^nd goat shelter, and a chicken coop. A few of the smaller projects included a milking stall and milking stand, retrofitting a dog kennel into a baby chick home, and many household repairs. I spent the year gardening and learning how to preserve the bounty by drying and canning, and milking a goat and learning how to make cheese and other items with the milk. We also spent several months caring for children whose parents weren’t able too, helping folks in town with home repairs, donating food to a few families in need, and driving elderly friends and neighbors to doctor appointments and the auto body shop to have deer damaged vehicles repaired, etc..

Both Rick and I wish we had accomplished a lot more than we did. Our To Do List seems to grow faster then we can cross off each item as completed. We accomplished a lot in 2013 but there is a lot more that needs to be done. We have all of 2014 to continue working on that list.

On January 1, 2013 six goats and two cats called this place home. One fact of ranch life, even if all we are talking about is a small hobby farm, is if you breed animals then you either have to harvest them for food or sell them. No matter how much one may love the animals that are born, there is a limit to how many can be kept. That fact is even truer when it comes to boys. We started off the year with one buck and three wethers (castrated bucks). Then in March Lawn Mower gave birth to twin bucks. By the end of July all but one wether had been sold. Sport, our special needs Boer wether, has a home here for life as he is truly a pet. But the rest of the boys had to go. Bambi kidded a doe, who we named Susanna.

In 2012 our herd was formed by ranchers giving us abandoned kids. This is meat goat country and so most of the kids we were given were Boer and/or Spanish goats. Bambi was the exception. A friend had found her in the middle of the road and eventually she was given to us. Bambi is a mixture of diary breeds and a small breed (possibly pygmy or Nigerian Dwarf). I learned to milk a goat on Bambi. The problem with meat goats is their main purpose in life is food, which of course ends their life. Bottle feeding a kid creates a love affair with cuteness which makes it really tough later on when a decision has to be made. Keep the kid as a pet which costs money in feeding and caring for it, sell the kid, or butcher the kid and eat it. It is very tough to kill, butcher, and eat someone you have fallen in love with. As we were pondering this dilemma, I started learning how to make cheese and other dairy products. There is a market for such products and a decision was made that we would be better off with dairy goats. There are already large ranches of meat goats all around us so competing with them is not a sound financial decision and having to butcher the goats ourselves is not something we are ready to do emotionally. But dairy goats are different. At least the females have a purpose in life other then winding up on a dinner plate. So once we sold off all the goats we needed to sell, we went dairy goat shopping. It didn’t take long to find two Nubian does to bring home.

Goats have not been our only focus this year. Last May a box of baby chicks arrived in the mail. When I look at that tiny box now, it amazes me that 14 chicks could even fit in there. Within a few weeks they were too big to fit in that box and today they are grown up and laying eggs. A few weeks after the chicks arrived, a friend in town gave us her entire flock of mature chickens. Most were hens but two roosters were included in the batch.

In April we were given a dog that had been dumped out here but sadly we realized that she is not a country dog. We named her Sweet Pea and though we really tried hard to find a way for her to fit in here, we finally had to face facts; Sweet Pea was a liability. Since she loves to chase goats and chewed through everything and figured out how to get under fences, we had no choice but to keep her chained 24/7. Keeping her just wasn’t fair to her. She is now living in a loving home in San Antonio. But we still wanted a dog. Not a pet, but a livestock guardian dog. After a lot of searching we located a breeder of Great Pyrenees puppies and brought two cute fluff balls home. A couple weeks ago we took them to the vet for their (16 weeks old) checkup and rabies shot and each pup weighed around 45 pounds. We named them Abraham and Sara. As livestock guardian dogs, they live outside with the goats and chickens.

We may have started out the year with six goats (only three lived here a year ago) and two cats, but we ended the year with six goats, two cats, two puppies, 22 hens, and two roosters.

It is now 2014 and as everyone knows time does not stand still. Bella will be kidding sometime during the next few days. She has a history of having twins, so that is what we are expecting. Two of our goats (Lawn Mower and Belle) are spending a few weeks hanging out with Fred on a friend’s ranch. So we hope to have more kids this summer. Both Bella and Belle are Nubians, a dairy breed, so we will have milk for our own use and plan on working towards creating a product we can sell. We also plan on ordering more chicks. We are gathering enough eggs now for us and several families but with more chickens we hope to start selling eggs to bring in a little cash.

Since this is a non-profit ministry, we are dependent on tax donations. Realistically, chronically ill people simply do not have the financial means to contribute towards this work. Sadly though we are always trying to share with others the work that is being done out here, often healthy folks simply forget or do not understand and therefore rarely donate. A few have sent in donations, but not many. Some folks have supported this ministry by installing the Good Search toolbar onto their computer and regularly use it, and though that yearly check is extremely helpful and valued, it simply is not enough to cover all of our expenses. So some of what is produced on the ranch must be used to generate an income so that we can continue with the mission of helping the homeless chronically ill.

In closing, goodbye 2013 and hello 2014. I pray that when we look back at 2014 we can say it was a great year.

Bella was with several bucks last summer but clearly she waited tell the very last day to become pregnant. We are expecting babies any day now.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Fall and Winter Brings New Life Too

The calendar says it is fall but it has been feeling a lot more like winter lately. We even had freezing rain in November, a very rare occurrence for fall. Both fall and winter are associated with death. The garden slowed down and finally I flung the doors open to allow the goats to finish it all off before everything died, along with any nutrients beneficial to the goats and chickens. The days have been growing shorter. A few months ago we had to wait tell after 8pm before the chickens would return to the coop for bed, but now it is dark by 6pm. The shorter days and colder temps have killed off all the grass, caused the leaves on deciduous trees to change colors and drop their leaves, and just makes the world appear to be dying or going to sleep for a season.

Here at the ranch though, fall and winter is not a time when everything is dying or sleeping. Believe me, we are not resting. Yes, on days when the temperature is below freezing we are less motivated to go outside and work, but we are not taking a break. There is always something inside or outside that needs to be done.

Nature also is not taking a break. It may have slowed down a little, but a lot is still happening. For instance, there are a lot of plants, like garlic, which are planted in the fall and apparently need the colder winter weather in order to grow properly. I did not plant any garlic in the garden but it is something I am considering doing in the future. Some animals go into heat during the fall months in order to have their babies in the spring. So while it may appear that nature is taking a break during the winter, the exact opposite is actually taking place.

So, what is happening here? First, a little over a month ago we brought home two livestock guardian dogs (LGD), Great Pyrenees (GP). They are in the process of learning their jobs, which is to protect the goats, chickens, and other future animals, from predators. There are a lot of predators around here who find baby goat and chicken very delicious. This year coyotes have been a real problem for other ranchers, but cougars have also been seen. Raccoons can easily kill a kid too. But wild animals are not our only concern, which is why we decided we needed LGD’s on the property. We named them Abraham and Sara.

(The puppies checking out their new home the day after we bought them.)

Last summer we purchased several Nubian does. Nubians are dairy goats and are known for producing wonderful rich milk. Both does were supposed to have been bred but only Bella clearly is pregnant. Both does spent several months with a buck and it is unknown when Bella actually got pregnant and therefore it is a guessing game when she will kid. So every day when we go outside to let the chickens out and tend to our other morning tasks, we look to see what condition Bella is in. We are guessing that some time in the next week, or two at most, we will be seeing little baby goats running around.

The timing of Bella kidding could not be better. During the past month Bambi, the only doe we have been milking, has been drying up. I have literally been milking Bambi right into a dog bowl and feeding it to the puppies. Bambi just isn’t giving us enough milk to make it worth the effort to keep it. So we are in desperate need of a fresh doe to milk. Once Bella kids, we will once again have an excellent source of yummy milk for drinking and cooking with.

(Bella)

As for Belle, if our suspicions turn out to be true, we can take her back to the breeder to be bred again. Since selling us the two does she has found a new buck that is a lot more eager than her previous buck was.

And lastly, last May we purchased 13 Rhode Island Red chicks that have now grown up and have started laying eggs. Yesterday I collected 10 eggs, the record so far. I have been able to share our egg bounty with several families.

(The Rhode Island Reds lay the smaller brown eggs. Donated chickens lay the Jumbo size eggs.)

The calendar may say it is fall and winter may just be around the corner, but there is a lot of activity happening here.

(Puppies today--they sure are growing fast. Bambi looking away.)

Saturday, November 16, 2013

The First Freeze Arrived

This fall we have had a few cold fronts pass by us, but last Tuesday was the first cold front to bring freezing temps. Wednesday morning it was a brisk 28f (-2c) when I went out to milk Bambi. The milking stall is made out of pallets and is basically outdoors, so we did not waste any time getting that job done and returning to the warm comforts of the house.

The cold front actually arrived Tuesday morning. The day started out pleasant enough in the mid 50’s. But as the weather folks predicted by the time we finished the morning farm chores we could literally see the front coming. I looked out the back door window to see what looked like a roll of atmosphere heading straight down upon us. I did not think to grab the camera but we both knew the front was here. The wind immediately picked up and with each passing hour the temperature dropped throughout the day. It was definitely a day one wants to stay inside, but we had a job to do. Rick has been dealing with some health issues and had not yet winterized the chicken coop. Even though he was not fully recovered yet, there was no choice. We went out together and spent most of the day putting up siding around the chicken coop bottom to keep the cold wind from blowing into and through the coop’s floor, which is made out of one inch square welded wire. We used plastic to cover the windows that line three sides of the coop. These windows are covered in chicken wire, no glass, so it is imperative they are covered to keep the wind out. It took most of the day but we got the job done and now the chickens have a decent place to be when the weather is not fit to be out in.

The first freeze always means the end to the summer garden. I have been preparing for this day for the past month. The day before our first cold front of the year we went out to the garden and picked all the green tomatoes off the branches. I spent the next few days trying new green tomato recipes and canning the results. One recipe, Green Tomato Chutney¹, has proved very delicious. We opened one jar and devoured the contents within a few days. Once everything that doesn’t do well in chilly weather had been picked, I started pulling up plants and feeding them to the animals. Plants belonging to the nightshade family (tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, etc.) are poisonous to goats. On the other hand, except for potato leaves, chickens can eat them. So day after day I pulled up a few tomato vines and tossed them into the chicken’s yard, much to their delight. While the chickens enjoyed tomato vines, the goats enjoyed melon vines and other goodies. I also spent time removing anything from the garden that might be dangerous to the goats or items they will destroy it if they have the chance. So on Tuesday, with the temperature dropping by the hour, I removed the last item from the garden and then flung the connecting gate wide open. The three goats that lived here last winter immediately headed for the garden and started gorging themselves. The others needed a little coaxing, as they seemed unsure if they were allowed in there or not. Once inside the garden, with freedom to return to the goat enclosure whenever they desired too, the garden cleanup begun. By the end of the day there was hardly a green thing left. It would take another day or two to finish the unripe melons and squashes, but soon even that was gone. But there is still much to eat as the weeds took over the place this summer. I will leave the gate open as long as my environmentally friendly cleanup crew is hard at work.

We are now prepared for the colder months ahead, but the animals need special attention until spring arrives. With the onset of colder temps comes a lack of green plants for the goats and chickens to eat. I have been experimenting with sprouting grain (fodder) for the goats and soaking grains in water to ferment them for the chickens. The chickens go absolutely crazy for the treat and I am told fermented grain² is extremely nutritious for them. I just started fermenting the grain this week so I am still experimenting with how much to give them and what else they need to be healthy. But it is clearly a popular food. I also know they like whey (what is left after making cheese) and just today I made them some yogurt as this was suggested to me too. As for the goats, I have been busy growing the fodder in plastic trays but am not too worried about them this week since they are still busily cleaning out the garden. Once that job is done though, I will have to be more diligent in making sure they have plenty of fresh food to eat.

But in the mean time, this is Texas and the cold weather has gone away for a few days. As I write this it is 69f (21c) outside and no coat is needed today.

_______

1. Recipe can be found in the Complete Book of Home Preserving. I have been unable to locate this recipe online. If you wish to have the recipe please email me.

2. To learn more about fermenting grain to feed chickens: http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com.au/p/fermented-feed.html

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Preparing Vs. Prepping

Almost as soon as I posted last time I started thinking that post sounds a bit like I could be mistaken for a prepper. In case you have not run across the many online prepper groups or the TV program Doomsday Preppers, let me explain. Extreme Prepping is the act of preparing for some doomsday or catastrophic event. While most preppers fear an economic collapse of the U.S. government, which anyone who is paying attention to what is happening around the world, knows is inevitable, there are many other fears preppers prepare for. I am not an avid fan of the TV program Doomsday Preppers but I have watched a few episodes. A few of the natural disasters people featured on the show are prepping for include, solar flares destroying the electrical grid, meteorites hitting the planet, a polar shift, mega-earthquakes, etc. The individuals preparing for these disasters all fear that when these disasters occur, there will be riots and looting as hungry city people look for food wherever they can find it. So prepping involves much more than just making sure you have enough food to last a few weeks in case of a natural disaster. Extreme preppers literally prepare not only to be able to survive for a year or more, but also to defend what is theirs, with deadly force if necessary. The goal of an extreme prepper is to stockpile one or more year’s worth of food and water, and stockpile weapons and other items for protection. Often extreme preppers will talk about ‘bugging out’ or having a ‘bug out place’ which simply refers to a place hidden away where they can escape to and hide protected from the disaster and riotous mobs they believe will soon follow. Bug out locations could be a bunker buried in their own back yard or a private hideaway nestled in the country where they believe they will be safe. Extreme preppers often spend $50,000 or more stockpiling food and other supplies so when that disaster occurs (natural or manmade), they will be able to survive.

Let me make myself very clear. I am not a prepper. Personally, I do not believe prepping and Christianity are even compatible. Prepping is about fear. Preppers say I must prepare for the disaster, I must take care of myself and family, everything is up to Me. If preppers even believe there is a God, their behavior communicates that God is not in control so they must take whatever action needed to be in control of their own life.

Christianity on the other hand is about faith and putting ones trust in God. 1 Timothy 1:7 says fear comes from demons. Jesus also told us not be anxious about tomorrow, but to trust God instead (Matthew 6:25-34). So clearly faith and fear are incompatible.

That does not mean we can be lackadaisical about our future. Trusting God does not imply that we do not have to prepare for tomorrow (Proverbs 6:6-8), just that it should not dominate our lives. Instead common sense should prevail. A common sense our forefathers practiced when they canned their summer harvest and prepared for the harsh winter ahead. Sadly with the easy accessibility to grocery stores filled with what appears to be an abundant supply of food; people, including Christians, have gotten lazy about being prepared.

The U.S. Government recommends that every one of us keep a three day supply of food and water in our home in case of an emergency, which I find a joke. The truth is to be properly prepared for a natural disaster; a two week to one month supply is more realistic. (Just ask a friend of mine who was without any electricity for 3 weeks after a hurricane hit her area a few years ago.) Yet very few people even comply with the three day recommendation. It seems every year we hear about an approaching storm and long lines at the grocery store as people rush to buy food and other supplies. The day before a blizzard is due is not the time to go generator shopping, yet folks wait tell then to look for such items. Grocery stores, even supersize stores, only carry about a 3 day supply of food. So when there is a run at the grocery store, they run out very fast and have no way to resupply their shelves quickly. The time to prepare for any future natural disasters is today.

As stated earlier, I am not a prepper and never will be. I am a Christian who believes in living a healthy lifestyle. I am a Christian whose goal is to live as sustainably as possible. The food available in today’s grocery stores is grown all over the planet. It is flown or trucked in from far off locations, which is not sustainable. The soil the food is grown in is often depilated of nutrients. The food is picked way too early and so lacks the taste and nutrition of what is grown in my own garden. More and more food is grown from genetically modified seeds which have never been tested for safety in the environment or as a food source. No one really knows the long term dangers of what we are doing to the food supply, because no real scientific testing has occurred, but there is growing evidence that those changes are harming human beings.

Even if God were to tell me personally; that an economic collapse of the US. economy will never occur and I will never again experience a natural disaster, I would still choose to live a more healthy and sustainable lifestyle.

Finally, do not forget this property was purchased in order to provide a safe place for chronically ill homeless people to come live. God healed me of a chronic illness and I know He is still healing others. But the chronically ill will not hear that God heals if they are homeless, hungry, and no one will help them. Neither I, nor AOCCCI have an unlimited amount of financial resources to feed and house everyone who will one day come for help. But by growing our own food, canning the surplus in preparation for winter, learning to make cheese and other products from our own goats, etc. we will be able to help those who truly need help.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

A Season of Learning

WOW! Life has been so busy and crazy I have not had the time to even think about posting. Sorry about that. I have been meaning for some time now to share what is going on here.

First, taking in that family was not an adventure I enjoyed. The entire family stayed for one week. That was long enough. It was clear the father and oldest daughter, neither of whom wanted to be here, needed to leave. Their presence was causing a huge amount of problems and the father not only did not want to help with the workload, but preferred to just sleep all day long. After one week they were driven to San Antonio where we had secured a place for the 2 of them to live for awhile. The father was then able to start looking for a job. The 3 youngest children stayed with us. It was not easy being surrogate parents to kids who had never had to live by rules before. At first it was not that bad but as time progressed and they became use to living out here the situation went from bad to worse. I think if we had been provided legal guardianship of the children and they knew this was permanent, things would have been different. But as it was we did the best we could. Thanks to others we were able to send them all to a Christian Adventure Camp near here and introduce them to Jesus. The beginning of July we took them to their father who even though he is still unable to properly care for them wanted them back. So that family is back together and peace has once again returned to the Ranch.

Second, with or without children in the house, life goes on. The 3 goat kids born on the property have been growing nicely. Eventually it became necessary to sell Lawn Mower’s bucklings. The moment they were born I knew that day would come. Lawn Mower’s boys could be used as breeding bucks and each was sold to a different buyer. I used a reseller service so I have no idea who purchased them but I am assuming they went for that purpose. It also became necessary to sell off the twins, Zorro and Boots. Last January we had the twins castrated so selling them was more difficult. I placed ads on Craigslist, advertising them as pets. This area happens to be at the crossroads of several geographical areas on Craigslist. I placed the ad in one area and later while looking for something else in the San Angelo area I found someone looking for pet goats. So I contacted him and told him about the twins. Well, not many days later we loaded the boys into our homemade goat-tote and took them to their new home in San Angelo. They seemed scared but they quickly settled in to their new surroundings. On July 1^st I had 8 goats, but by the end of the month I only had 4 goats.

Now that my goat herd was down to those I planned on keeping, it was time to go dairy goat shopping. We decided at least for the time being meat goats are not for us. The problem with meat goats is they are cute and have a lot of personality, which makes it hard to harvest them for food. Dairy goats on the other hand still provide food without having to sacrifice their life. And we can later decide to harvest bucks if necessary. But goat’s milk is very healthy and yummy. So I put the word out I am looking for dairy goats. I quickly got responses from all over the state and started visiting breeders. After a few trips I settled on 3 Nubians, 2 of whom had been with a buck and therefore there is a good chance they are pregnant and 1 young doe whose growth has been stunted due to worms and other issues. Everyone seems to have settled in nicely. We are convinced one of the older Nubians is pregnant and hoping the other one will soon show similar signs of weight gain. We are treating the stunted doe for worms and GI damage naturally as much as possible. She is slowly gaining weight.

Third, last winter I read about Straw Bale gardening and when spring arrived we purchased lots of straw bales and started getting them prepared. It takes about 2 weeks to begin the composting of the bale and have it in shape to plant in. Then it is planting time. I started with one row of bales by one fence and soon as that row was planted, we purchased more bales and set up another row. I also planted in the two areas of the garden I had prepared last year. Not everything I planted has grown well, but it has been a successful gardening season.

Forth, Bambi, one of the goats that kidded this past Spring is a dairy goat. She may be petite but once she weaned her daughter, Susanna, we started getting about a quart a day out of her. We have stopped purchasing cow’s milk all together. Goat's milk is very healthy and many think raw goat’s milk is much better for people then cow’s milk is. It is also very delicious. I have been learning how to make different things, including cheese, out of the milk. It is hoped one day I will have few items I am an expert at making and will be able to generate some type of income from these goats. Or we will just use the milk to feed people who someday will be living here.

Fifth, having a garden creates one problem. What to do with all that produce. I have had the opportunity to share with others in need. I have also shared with a few folks who are not going through a difficult time. Besides sharing the bounty, I have been learning how to can. I planted 2 cucumber plants and one of them is very happy. I have for the first time in my life made pickles. I have tried 3 different recipes. Two I canned and one of them was a refrigerator dill pickle. Just today I turned a bunch of rather large pickles into both sweet pickle relish and dill pickle relish. I already canned it all and it is now cooling on the counter. This past weekend Rick made a ton of salsa and I canned it all. I have also made homemade turkey broth and got 17 jars out of it which has been canned. My butternut squash plant is doing very well also and yesterday I made a butternut squash soup that was really good. So as soon as I have all the ingredients ready, I will be making large amounts of that soup and canning it too. We won’t have everything we need to sustain us through the winter but we will have a good start.

Besides learning to can, I purchased a food dehydrator and am learning to use it. Unfortunately my solar dehydrator was damaged in the microburst last year and needs a lot of repair. I have been told some vegetables, like zucchini and yellow squash, cannot be canned. The 2 ways to preserve it is freezing and dehydrating. So that is what I want to do with all the yellow squash that has been growing in the garden.

Sixth, we now have chickens. We have laying chickens and growing chickens. Back in May my baby chick order arrived and we took on the task of raising chickens. They were so cute and noisy. At first they were in the kitchen in a large metal water trough. It did not take them long to outgrow their home and so Rick converted the 10by10 dog kennel into a chick habitat. There is no way a predator could fly in and grab a chick or crawl under the fence and grab a chick or for a chick to get out. Their coop is an old dog house.

Before we moved the chicks outside we received a call from a friend asking us if we wanted a flock of chickens. It turned out a friend in town was tired of caring for the chickens and wanted them gone. So Rick turned his attention to finishing the chicken coop as fast as possible and then we threw the dog crate in the back of the pickup and drove to town. Our friends would catch a chicken and hand it over to us and we would quickly put it in the dog crate. We left with 11 hens and 2 roosters, who have been named David and Goliath. The chickens spent a couple weeks locked in the coop getting use to their new home while Rick finished the fence around the coop. Once done, we let the chickens out. Now they enjoy their days free-ranging for bugs and greens and anything that looks good to eat and they spend their nights in the coop protected from predators. And we spend our afternoons gathering fresh eggs to eat.

And lastly, I am not the only one out here learning new skills. Recently a neighbor offered us several wild pigs he had caught in his trap. Rick butchered them and we have been eating pig meat ever since. It is really good meat.

So 2013 has been a year of firsts and a year of learning.