New improved mobile chicken coop

So hubby has redid our new chicken/turkey mobile. He added the water and feeder to the outside of the coop instead now. This means I don't have to go into the coop anymore on feedings. I am really happy with this coop. It just needs the pulls in front to help pull it and I am all set.

As you can see its already being put to full use. We got the 4-H broilers we bought from someone in there now. Hoping to keep them in there a few more weeks to eat some grass get fresh air etc..b4 we have to butcher them.

Today on National Geographic we watched a show called Dooms day preppers. What a neat show on prepping. Some people may think they are a bunch of nuts but I think it was a good show to help show how to prepare for any kind of emergency not just the end of doomsday.

I have what some people might call a Bug out bag in my car, to me its just a emergency bag with essentials in case we get stuck & have to start to walk home. One of the things I learned tonight to add to my pack is some dry socks put in baggies. The kids and I almost wear the same kind now so this is good especially if our feet get wet you need to keep dry feet.

Another good tip I learned tonight was on preserving eggs & cheese. This comes in handy not only for prep food in case of emergency but also when my chickens lay a lot in spring I can now store them with mineral oil for months if kept cool, this way in winter when they stop laying I will have some eggs available.

Also learned I can buy cheese from store, and wax it for longer life. Wow didnt know about that I need to learn more. Her site is awesome and if you live in Utah you need to go see her and take her courses.

http://preparednesspro.com

Will I watch them again. Heck yes! Can't wait for the next show. I kid hubby and tell him we will be on the next show next yr. What are we prepping for? To be self sufficient on our farm so don't rely on store bought product for foods is our main goal, this way we will be ready for any emergency that may come are way just have a better fruitful life is all we want.

Paleo Diet should be called the Farmers diet

http://thepaleodiet.com/ 

Paleo Diet should be called the Farmers diet
NOTE: It became so big here I decided to create my own Paleo blog to keep track to read more on this diet check out...http://paleofarmersdiet.blogspot.com/

My husband and I started the Paleo diet for 30days another name they like to call it is the "Cave man diet" I think more of it as the "Farmers diet". The main reason I call it this is because most of the stuff you will be eating can be found on a farm like meat, veggies nuts & berries, so unless you live on a farm or fish a lot this diet can be pretty expensive. To keep it frugal you need to have some connections or know how to get this stuff other then the super market......No wheat, Pasta, beans etc..

The diet consist of a lot of lean meats of fish, chicken, some lean pork, all kinds of veggies, fruits & nuts (except peanuts) To help on this quest of our for 30 days maybe longer I bought myself a "Superwave oven" sort of like the Nuwave oven but it was cheaper plus it had a glass dome not plastic, I despise plastic. I am cooking everything in it so far its coming out really good. I did try to make turkey bacon in it, I don't think it came out that well. I made sweet potato fry's my family loved them.

So we have taken out of our diet all processed foods & sugars trying to eat more raw as possible.
We have also omitted dairy some people worry about not having calcium but I am not too worried about that right now since we eat a lot of green leafy stuff which will substitute for it, if we do drink milk its raw milk so easy for our stomachs to digest.  After 30 days I will bring back on cheese & yogurt but I really want to make my own from raw milk.

As for the meat luckily a few months ago I stocked up on pasture raised ground meat from a farmer, our fridge is loaded with lamb meat, & I just purchased 21 broilers from a 4-H boy. We are going to keep them on grass for a few weeks to get them healthier. We have pigs that will be ready for the butcher in May along with some stew chickens. I checked out our local flea market on Sat and can find veggies/fruits there a lot cheaper then I do at HEB our local food store.

I have tons of pecans to eat so I have bought some other nuts to mix them up with them for snacks. It is going to be expensive buying all the vegetables right now till we can get our garden growing again.

Some say this is a lot like the atkins I disagree since they encourage you to eat lots of veggies and fruit.  We plan to add a little more carbs with Gluten free products after the 30days. Its going back to the basics like I said a "Farmers diet" Note: My husband is following the book completely and more likely he will lose faster then I will, he has omitted fruit from his diet for the first 30days. I am trying to eat it only in the morning sometimes for snack. I need some kind of sugar or I will go mad! lol 

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Ways to save on the Paleo diet: (Will be adding more as I continue)
Check craigslist: Farmers advertise there as well as individual people on selling stuff. Check out the "Farm Garden section"
Check out local farmers market. Eat whats in season.
Raise your own chickens most cities will allow so many chickens in your area check out your State regulations.
Barter with a friend who likes to fish. 
Find a whole cow, pig, lamb on craigslist and go halfs with another family tell them to take to butcher for you. (Make sure you know how the animal was raised)
Join real foods group look for them locally thru facebook or yahoogroups.


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Special Note: When I first started this I didnt realize I was going to have such a withdrawal from sugar & that my body was going to get sick from detoxing. By the second day I thought I was going to crawl out of my skin it was then I realized I addicted I was to sugar! By the third day i was fine full of energy. Fourth day i started to get sick with what I thought was a cold aches, pains, sneezing like crazy, nose running. So for the fourth, Fifth & Sixth day I treated it like a cold. I took more vitamin C but I took cold meds at night cuz I couldnt sleep.

By the seventh day it was completely gone its then I realized it wasn't a cold but my body detoxing. If I had only know it was my body detoxing I would have skipped the cold meds and drank more herbal teas and water. So this is warning to all who may start this it may not be that your getting sick but your body detoxing.Two weeks into it I tried to sneak a capachino drink & I thru it up and had stomach pains all day I guess that goes to show that my body doesen't really want that sugar anymore. The body knows what it really wants!


Recipes I am putting on other site when I have more time:



Paleo Recipe sites:
http://paleodietlifestyle.com/paleo-diet-recipes/
http://www.paleo-recipes.com/

Paleo Blog site:
http://www.paleotable.com/
http://www.primalprimadonna.com/sides/gaucamole-deviled-eggs/

Gathering recipes for the super bowl
http://paleodietrecipes.net/super-bowl-paleo-diet-recipe-bacon-explosion.html

Sweets
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/flourless_honey_almond_cake.html



Gluten free sites:
http://allrecipes.com/recipes/healthy-recipes/gluten-free/
http://www.elanaspantry.com/
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/gluten-free/
http://www.food.com/recipes/gluten-free
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/

Plastic Barrels ideas

Just as I love the many ideas of pallets I love barrels too! So I decided to start collecting ideas on how to use barrels.

This is a friend of ours that we just helped build this hydroponic system for her small farm.

 

Of course these are always great for water catchers!

Here is a link to a guy that made a huge water catcher with the barrels

 http://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/articles/adams/audrey/water_barrel.htm

Gardening:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Double-Decker-Drum-Composter/

Movable garden containers

http://greenfusestock.photoshelter.com/image/I00004JPgz_ssbGc

Kids:

Kids car made out of a barrel cute! 

http://daddytypes.com/2008/12/17/first_dump_out_the_dry_cleaning_solvent_diy_pedal_car_from_a_55-gal_drum.php

This guy made a sled for his kid out of a plastic barrel. Lucky kid!
http://whitetrashrepairs.com/white-trash/barrel-sled/

These people made a raft for their pool out of barrels
http://www.captainfletch.com/projects/boats/barellraft/barrelraft.asp

Animals:

This forum had a few good ideas for dog houses made out of barrels

http://www.easttexashogdoggers.com/forum/index.php?topic=3637.0

So this was harder then I thought collecting these, I would think there were more ideas out there. Just need more time I guess to look.

Electricity: Making windmils out of plastic drums


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UPe6A_UVPc&feature=relmfu

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUYepkTlioU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQKb8qvuqdw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yTGf1xL_LY&feature=relmfu

rain barrels, plastic barrels, rain totes, rain catchers, barrels, food totes

Well its been a busy Oct/Nov here on the Farm. as you can see our orchard did outstanding this yr I am still picking pecans! Below is our new piglets, first time raising them, and no they will not be pets. They are cute and I have a hard time not falling for them.

I've sold a lot of pecans already this yr plus did some awesome trades. I did a few homemade jelly trades from the northwest I am happy cuz I can never get any fresh jelly around here much plus I also traded for a bread maker hardly used.

I've send some to our soldier and I need to send some to family now. I wish I could send some via mail to sell but the cost of postage is just not really worth it plus the cost of someone buying it compared to just buying it at store I dont know.... However our pecans are non sprayed and it is from this yrs crop. While store bought is sprayed and you never know how old they are you know.

Well so much to do I got to get cracking...get it?? cracking? lol

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Well we picked a few bags of these mustang grapes this summer, it was about the only thing that grew around our farm this summer. At least I will have jelly to can. We are still waiting on pecan season, that won't be till the end of Sept. All around us Texas is burning up, its getting scary now.

It always rains on my birthday week so I am hoping it follows tradition and rains on my week. My dads been away from this heat, he went to visit family in Calif but now its getting hot in Calif too so its time for him to come home. Not much going on right now, just been hiding out in the house its been too hot to go outside to do anything.

We did wake up early in the morning and started clearing up some of the pecan orchard for pecan picking. I need to prune the roses they say, I've been trying to water when I can, but we have restrictions right now. We need to move some fencing to the garden to cover up my black berries then let the sheep take over the garden, keeping them in there for days will clear the area for our future garden for fall or spring. Thats about it dull Summer. Hot hot.

Fall can't come fast enough

Our pecans are almost done!

Fall is so close to us I can taste it but sure don't feel it in our triple digit weather in Texas. I made announcement to my family this yr I am going to get out our fall stuff really early from the shed. If we can't have cool weather here it will look like fall in our house!

My daughter made these flower arrangements for fall can't wait to put them up.

Well as you can see from the picture above our pecans are almost ready! They will start falling down at the end of Sept and continue to fall till the start of Nov. This is a busy time of yr because I will be out there fighting the squirrels picking them morning & afternoon before the squirrels can get their hands on them! I pick in the afternoon too because the winds we have in the early evening hours will knock some more down and the racoons at night will eat them if I don't. The squirrels are a pain because they only eat the tip of the pecan and leave the rest to rot! Luckily my sheep will find those and finish them off!.

After I have gathered enough I take them into Hondo to get them cracked I learned long ago to do this instead of manually having to do this by hand. Hubby bought me a machine pecan cracker but it still takes one at a time & it takes a long time. I barely have enough time to peel the pecans I have!

I will take these pecans and store for us in a freezer for this coming yr for Thanksgiving and Christmas cooking as well as sell a few & this yr I am going to send some to the soldiers. You would think with 80 trees I would have a ton but not all the tree's are still producing and not every yr the tree's produce.

Everyone thought because of the drought we wouldn't have pecans but with the canal's constantly running the roots of our tree's are constantly getting water. The water runs underground about 3 feet & you will hit water. We found that out the hard way when trying to build our septic tank lol.

Sam

Boy Scout camp vs Girl Scout camp

My son trying to catch a fish.

Well summer is almost over for some its been one hot summer here in Texas the worst in Texas history. My son went to day camp then summer overnight camp. The first day of daycamp my daughter & I went to, to help. I was impressed a bit with the camp location but not the program or how it was run.

Impressed:
1. Ranch is donated to use by the owners each yr. Pretty camp
2. The arts director/BB gun director/Archery Fishing director all had it planned on what they were going to do. The boys got there they went over safety and they did it!
3. Director did a fantastic job on the safety of the boys in keeping them safe.


Problem:
1. Program way to long for this Tx heat boys got tired after 12pm they wanted to go home instead we were there till 2pm.
2. Hardly No shade boys forced to be in 100' degree weather tieing knots. They need more canopys.
3. Older boys forced to wear pink hats that didn't fit properly to cover ears, because the current volunteer camp director loves pink, even though I begged her not to make them wear it this yr. I saw three of the boys actually shove the hats to her this yr & refused to wear it.
4. No pool or any water games at all. It would have helped in this heat. Who designs these without water programs!
5. Being told by the director constantly to chill and go w/the flow cuz it was not organized enough for me as I try to direct 22 boys & not sure where to go cuz they haven't figured it out yet.

Summer overnight camp

Impressed:
1.The boys did well entertaining the boys well enough with skits and songs.
2. Nice boating program for the boys.


Problem:
1. Food was horrible & had no nutrition that they ordered at local school cafeteria, they would have been better off preparing their own food!
2. Too rocky the current camp first day there my son sprang his ankles along with others a mother took a plunge down & had to have stitches on her head.
3. Very disorganized boys scouts not set up for classes when the boys arrived so took 10-15 to set up b4 starting each day! And they have been having classes for weeks now.
4. Instead of sleeping with other boys in the tents the parents (who would have been in the tent next door) the mothers insisted their sons boys sleep with them in their tent. These are 10-11yr old boys- Way to go making a man out of your son lol need to untie that string sometime Ma'ma!

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Girl Scout camp:

1. Girl scout camp they have paid counselors there for the summer they have been trained 2 weeks ahead on what they are going to do. They have a plan! Marine instructors would have been happy to their precise schedule!
2. Food is prepared by experienced cooks & at least one night is a cook out per week that the girls do themselves with help from counselors.
3. They go swimming at least once a day or at least have water sports to keep the girls cool.
4. Girls as little as 6yr are staying in cabins without their parents. Yah sometimes they cry cuz they are homesick a bit but by second day they are fine!

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So when I worked at a girl scout camp eons ago I used to gripe about it but compared to the boyscout's I think its a luxury resort lol

I know the boyscouts is run by volunteers but maybe that is the trouble, maybe they need to have some more paid people. From what I heard the director of the boyscout camps runs more then one so he is run ragged between them all.

The director from the day camp though she does a great job in organizing at the start to get it going with all the paper work & is a volunteer, maybe she could listen to some suggestions instead getting all alpha when someone try's to offer any advise or suggestions. Instead of trying to add more programs maybe she can improve on the ones she has already has going. Pink hats need to go don't like my son being emasculated by a color lol sorry but this is big problem with me & apparently the boys too.

So camp next yr? Did the boys have fun? My son had fun in both camps even when he got injured he is a happy kid that just likes spending time with his friends. Other boys there did not look happy did not want to be there. Whined, cried the whole time. Wanted to go home. How was camp? I asked a couple of our boys from our den when they got home. "Glare" While after a week of girl scout camp girls would be crying leaving the counselors & friends.

We are not planning to attend next yrs cubscout day camp while its not a problem to others how she ran it, I clashed w/her to much. Most people have no gripe cause they have never been to no other camp but this one. I was a counselor & riding director for 4 yrs for the Girl Scouts. I know the current director won't change anything with anyones suggestions I found that out this yr. After day camp my daughter & I were sick for a week from being dehydrated even though we drank water like a camel. They didn't allow Gatorade for the boys though the last two days I started sneaking it in for myself though i felt guilty the boys couldn't have it ;/. My feet were so badly damaged from walking and standing for hours I had to wear a cast on my foot for 5 weeks.

Even if I could manage to change the program in the day camp, my son would only be going one more yr so why bother & bust her happy bubble? Over night camp my husband & the other den leader are looking at another camp to go too next summer plus we will be having some of our own cubscout family camping soon.

It was good experience this yr for us and our son. Hopefully next yr will be better!.