Homestead Happenings

I've finally gotten around to planting some seeds. I feel like I'm already late in the game with seeds.  I need to get outside and actually sow some spinach and other winter, early spring seeds.  Here's what little I've started so far.

Last year I bought one dill plant from the local nursery, and I harvested the seeds from the flowers once it dried out. This is the first time I've tried this with dill, and I'm pleased to see sprouts this week.  Yay for free herbs, right?

I always try to save plastic seed starter cups whenever I buy plants from the nurseries.  I had to buy quite a bit last year since I moved to Maryland mid-May.  I couldn't start any seeds last year.  These are spaghetti squashes.  Funny, usually I start tomatoes first.  I'm always stressed to get enough tomato plants so I can preserve them.  Right now we're on a spaghetti squash kick though.  I grew one plant last year. I got one squash from it.  Ate it around January.  My goal is to get 20 squashes.  Not plants, but harvest at least 20 squashes.  So far, these are 5 plants.  I'd like to plant the entire packet I bought to reach this goal.

I got some free plywood this week from the local small engine shop.  They put their pallets and extra plywood out back for people to pick up.  So far our new chicken coop has cost us around $30 in supplies.  Hopefully I can pick up some more wood this week and keep it as cheap as possible.

And now for some sad news.  This is our spare rooster.  We're going to have to butcher him at the end of the week.  He appears to have some kind of tumor and has always been a runt and somewhat sickly.  I've raised this fella from the time he was 2 days old.  It will be our first butcher for us, and I'm testing the waters with how I feel about this.  We've talked about raising meat birds, and if I seem to be ok with this process then we may end up getting meat birds later on. 

The good and bad, right?

What's going on at the homestead?

Ok, ok...I can't really call myself a homesteader.  With an acre of land, a few chickens and a small garden plot I'd say I manage to grow roughly 10% of our food.  We live in a small house with a large yard, not a farm.

This week we're beginning a new project of building another chicken coop.  I've scoped out craigslist the last few weeks and managed to get 8 pallets absolutely free.  One guy was nice enough to even drop his off at our house free of charge.  He's getting a dozen eggs as soon as my girls pick up their laying...that's for sure.

I don't like giving my birds medicine of any kind, however this girl pictured to the left is sick.  My other two adult gals have started laying eggs again, almost an egg a day.  However her comb and wattles are pale red, not a bright vibrant red and she hasn't started laying yet.  This morning there was a tell tale sign of coccidiosis in some feces, and I'm almost certain it was hers.  I'm starting her on medicine for it today, because left untreated it would kill her and possibly the entire flock.

I'm also buying a few more chicks in the next few weeks from the local farm supply store.  They have a chicks night out, and I want some pretty egg layers, also known as Easter Eggers.

So overall, we've spent about $50 this weekend on supplies for coop building, and medicines necessary for the birds.  And for the next few weeks we'll have to toss out any eggs collected because we're medicating them.

Chicken Coop Inspiration

Hubs and I are beginning our project of building a new chicken coop.  We've been inspired by some people who put together some nice chicken coops for a relatively small amount of money.  I have some requirements of this coop we're building.  It has to be functional, easy to clean, and cute.  I don't want some ugly eye soar in the back yard.

image: http://helicopterstudios.blogspot.com/2010/05/chicken-coop.html

And then these nesting boxes build from extra wood laying around.

image: http://www.aranchmom.com/2011/05/crazy-chicken-coop.html

Currently we have about 8 pallets to begin working with and lots of inspiration and ideas to keep the cost way down.  We keep chickens to help supplement the food bill, and it just doesn't make sense to dump hundreds of dollars into a coop when we're just trying to save money.  Right?!

image source: http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hinkel-haus-made-of-pallets-recycled-wood-pickets

This last one is my absolute favorite.  He went into a lot of detail too about how to put together a coop, but I think he spent way more than I'm looking to.  I love love love this house though!