Summer treats, sewing, and turkey update

Today's high was 88 degrees (F). Tomorrow and Friday will be the same. So its time to start making one of our many favorite summer treats.
ICE CREAM SANDWICHS!We like to make ours with homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. If homemade ice cream is not all gone, we use that. But any store bought Vanilla or yummy frozen yogurt ice cream will do. Here is a recipe we made for today's treat:

Chocolate chip oatmeal cookie ice cream sandwich's
1 cup margarine or butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (OR use 1 cup all purpose flour and 1/2 cup cake flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
3 cups Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or raisins
About 1 quart vanilla ice cream, softened

1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. Beat together margarine and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
3. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Stir in oats and chips; mix well.
4. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
5. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack. Cool completely.
6. To make sandwiches, spread softened ice cream on bottom side of one cookie; top with second cookie. Wrap airtight; freeze.

Makes about 2 dozen ice cream sandwiches or in the case of our family more like 10 sandwich's.

Finally done with our picnic set. This is the double sided picnic table cloth/ lawn blanket. I made matching all natural muslin napkins with the honeycomb stitch for decoration. I also made a coordinating utensil pouch. The lip opening has a section of old window blind to give it stability and keep it closed. Of course you have already seen the matching Baby "Napkin bib" to complete the set for our family.( see the above link for picnic set post). There are no rock pockets as I had planned but the 2 fabrics I used make it medium weight. I really love those colors together. Makes it great for summer and perfect for our Fall outings as well! I am now working on sun dresses for the girls and a purse for myself. Now when is the next rainy day?...
On another note- Looks like one of the turkey chicks has a deformity. No surprise since they are commercial breed. Just feel bad for it when I see its one leg twist backwards. It gets around very well and has adjusted to its situation. Hopefully it makes it for the next 5 months. Along with the ducklings (and any roosters) I hope hatch from Bonnie's egg sitting, The 2 turkeys will be going to "Camp". I am looking for a different processor then we used before. The chickens came back off tasting & I am not the only one who had that to say about the place. So off I must go to search for another butchering facility....
Sweet Dreams,
~Tammie

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Long weekend picture story and video.....

Frog caught/held her first hen (Dr. Seuss), all by herself

I do believe she is going broody! Yahoo!!Tomatoes are almost knee high! (hey! stop looking at my dirty garden feet!)Cilantro finally poking its head out and taking form!Lettuce bed- still needs weeding.....But look how green the butter crunch is!(In the picket fence arena are Lil' mans pumpkin/broccolli/& cauliflower patch-don't ask...).

And click here for a very short film of lil' man and Delilah. His facial expressions crack me up. This video really shows a glimpse into his personality.

Sweet dreams, ~Tammie

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Grape startings from Freecycle!

Candice grape "startings" to be exact! An explanation of its qualities excerpted from Henry Fields:
"Completely seedless red fruit has a pleasant tang, tender skin and plenty of juice. Ripens late Aug. through Sept. Candice Red Seedless tolerates subzero cold
Versatile and fast growing, a grapevine can bear in just 2 years. One vine requires about 8 ft. of trellis or fence, with each plant producing on average about 15 lbs. of fruit per year. All grapes are self-pollinating."
I was so excited to be chosen as a lucky recipient of the grape starts. There were 6 in the cup. All nicely intact and ready for transplanting. I have desired to grow grapes here but they seemed to never grow from the vines I have purchased from the stores. Not surprised since only 1 out 6 blackberry/raspberry/blueberry vines/trees I have purchased survived. This is its 2nd spring/summer and still is less then 6 inches tall. Lots of leaves, but no height.
We decided I would put 2 each of the grape startings in 3 different spots around the yard.Different soil conditions and locations to see which they do best in( and that way if a few die, I still have the others). 2 up by the veggie garden on the hill, 2 by the sunflower garden, and 2 by the front steps next to my heirloom roses. Those were put there so I can hopefully move them with us when the house sells. Thank you fellow Freecycler! Now I just need the captain to help with a grape arbor....
Look what we saw walking the country roads with their 6 babies:
Panda has put a request in for swans. Ummm.... no. I don't think so Honey. They may look pretty, but they cost $170. I can buy a goat in milk for that kind of money or something else PRODUCTIVE and contributing! Swans are just pond ornaments to me. Not worth that kind of money.
We are all still very sad and missing Dawg. I still tear up thinking of him and have to leave the room so no one sees me cry. It still hurts that he has passed on and left a void in our lives. When the children are putting on their plays or dancing for us by his grave stone, I cant help but picture him hopping right in the middle. Fluffy white tail wagging, pink tongue off to the side of his mouth and doing his little paw in the air give me a treat dance.
I share this with you because The Captain has asked if he can get another dog. Lil' Man asked that same question everyday since it happened. While at the hatchery, there was a sign up that an Amish boy posted of his pug/toy fox terrier puppies for sale. So The captain wanted to "just see". Put the long story short, he really liked them but they were not ready yet. Wont be until June 11th. The boy said he was thinking $100- choice of male or female. I've never paid for a dog- EVER! Thats alot of money to me for a mixed breed. But the Captain has brought those puppies up everyday since. I guess I should let the boy have a puppy. But I still miss Dawg..
Sunny Dreams,
~Tammie

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My poor apple tree & "Nature boy"

Last year, I sprayed the apple tree with an oil based "organic" spray from gardens alive. Did not help at all. So this year it seems they have doubled their inforcements and taken over the poor thing!I assume aphids. It did make me smile to se the black ant attacking- or so it appears.
The fruit have been formed no more then a few weeks and they already look like this:I fear there will be another apple-less harvest from our yard. Since we are bringing in the bees, I am double positive my hands are tied. The animal pen resides under its branches, so chemicals are a NoNO anyway. I read jalepeno sauce/puree,tobacco,garlic and something else mixed and sprayed- but the thought of me spraying this 30ft or taller tree just made me laugh. I tried that last year and after climbing through its branch's still could only get the main half of it. Why did the previous owners let this thing get so massive?!
Nature boy (aka lil'man) and I were walking the grounds perimeter while Frog took her afternoon nap. He quickly spotted this:I have no idea what it is. Do you? Nature boy quickly found a use for it.Reminds me of those little yard trolls especially the way he is sitting.
I leave you with a look at the "grain skating turkey diva champion".I swear she's smiling...
Sweet dreams, ~Tammie

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Hatchery trip and our local Bee Man....

Today we made way to the Meyer Hatchery in Polk Ohio. Since it is not that far away, we were able to do a pick up order. No shipping fees and no minimum amount. We picked up 1 day old- 5 Delaware hens, 4 buff silkies-unsexed, and 2 broad breasted bronze turkey's. The turkey's are a tom and hen which were promptly named Tommy Lee and Pamela. One of the turkey's are pictured (to the left) with a bit of grass greenery in its beak. The tiny one in front is a silkie and the taller yellows are the Delawares. So far all are doing well but soon the turkey's will need to be on their own, away from the chickens. These will be butchered in the fall (turkeys) for Thanksgiving and Winter Solstice. If there are any rooster silkies, they will go to the auction house. Captain feather sword is the only silkie roo allowed here.
While at the hatchery, we spied a few of their chicken tractors. This was our favorite out of the selection they had sitting out front.You can see through the front door clear through the back door. The "school house" roof top has vents on the sides and the bottom larger roof has hinges for opening. On the right side are 3 sliding little doors to collect eggs from nests you place there. The Run is about 5 feetX5 feet and 3 1/2 feet tall (estimating) -which also has hinges to open the top cage portion. The Captain has volunteered to help me build one like this, but I will not make the school house roof top. Not my style. I am hoping for one to house Mr. & Mrs. Turken. I would like to put the Broad breasted Bronze turkeys in the pen I have on the upper hilltop, where the Turkens currently are. This will also keep Mrs. Turkens eggs pure from other roosters.
Later in the afternoon, The Local Bee man stopped by. He is scouting for more territory to place hives and had placed an ad on the local craigslist. I promptly called to see if our place would be acceptable. So while in the area, he stopped by and seemed pretty stoked about our hill and its GREAT southeast sunny location. It will be within 50 feet of the gardens and the apple trees. There are flower trees, roses,various other flowers and gardens abound in the neighborhood).
I asked if he had a lot at local farms and he shared his experience. He had a bad one with some farmers who started using chemicals that killed off 8 of the 9 hives he had there. He is looking for more friendly grounds such as our neighborhood/land.
We also spoke of the bee shortages and he informed me that all the Bee keeper people he knows have seen a drastic 70-80% DECREASE in the swarms. One Bee man in Medina county had 89 hives last year. This year he is left with 11! That is a massive hit.
We hope to have our very own hive setup on the hill, within the next few months. He will also come out 1x a week to mow a circle around the hive in his suit, since the bees do not like mowing. we will get 10% of the honey our bees make after the first establishing. So as soon as the swarms start up( which are late since they usually begin in early May), he will be out and we will have our very own beehive! Well, not OURS, but kinda ours. Our very own Foster Bees!
I would like to take this moment to encourage all of you to reach out to your local "Bee men/Women" and inquire if you too would be a good candidate to house a beehive or two on your bit of Homestead. Maybe if there are more sites in SAFE environments we can help at least a little with the bee population.
Honey dreams,
~Tammie

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grey water waste solution & you silly kid....

The clouds could not decide what it wanted to do today so I centered my attention on some of the little things around the outside. Last Spring we had to have the road ditch re-dug due to some major overflowing storms. This had an effect on the drain pipe for the washer. Apparently previous owners had it draining to that road ditch and being re-dug cut it off. Thats the day my laundry room sat in water. Thankfully the floor is tilted towards the outside door.

So where am I going with this? Well we had to find an alternative and having it directed to the sewage tank would cost WAY too much plus who knows what effect it may have afterwards. I kept picturing damage being done to our private in ground septic system which would make us have to get a new one...Not going there. So the most logical solution was to have the washer pipe go through the block wall and another flexible pipe directing the grey water into a downspout pipe, This downspout pipe goes under the hill ledge next to the driveway and ends just past the edge of the wall into the lawn.Is it enviromently safe? I dunno...Is it legal? I dunno... so shhhh... ~~to the right is drain pipe- look close~~This is my solution to the river that flows from it ( and a rock wall that was falling apart into a unrepairable eye sore. This is an improvement at least). I dug 2 ft deep trench's which were lined with big rocks then small then medium size. This acts as a buffer to the soil as well as a filtering system for debri. It has a waterfall effect when the first "pool" fills. It then overflows under the big rock set in the upper middle, into the lower level "pool". From there it has slowed down and barely flows out into the sideline of the newly graveled driveway. It does go under the new gravel but does not wash out the driveway rocks or have messy debri/dirt in the lawn.

In the above picture, look back towards the roof drain pipe and where it meets at the ground. You will also see the washer black pipe coming out of the house. -We planted a shrub but it will take another season before filling out to hide it.- I have more hostas to plant around the cottonwood wood above it and soon the grass will grow through the fresh plantings to make this appear more natural. The picture makes it look worse then it actually is. But you get the idea of my less then $10 grey water waste solution.
Delilah has fit in wonderfully and quickly became a house goat. She goes outside to potty every45 minutes- 2 accidents in 3 days!. The first 2 nights she slept with me on the couch in my arms. It was either that or hear that MAAAA!!! all night long. Last night Panda slept with her but at opposite ends of the couch. Its an improvement.~Delilah sleeping on my garden dirty feet while I make Chicken and dumplings for dinner~

As you can see, she is adjusting to life without momma or other goats, & into a spoiled house goat. It will stop soon. I swear.... but she is just so well behaved! In the dining room, she has her own little nook to lounge in and take her naps. Which today she took a long one after all that playing outside with us. She even went on her first walk up the road. Panda wanted to ride her bike, and I wanted to start leash training our new girl. in the beginning Delilah refused to walk and wanted to be carried. So I did...sucker... Then half way up the road I put her down and she did wonderfully. Ultimately, despite the intermittent sprinkles of rain, it turned out to be a good day.
Gotta go. I hear my name being called...
MAAAA!! MAAAA!!
Sunny dreams,
~Tammie

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Send a woman for chicks &...

She will come home with a kid..... (the one behind the human kid that is)
As I wrote before- If I PLAN to go for certain things, I rarely get them.
Another Doe! I am guessing around 6 weeks old & Alpine but not sure if there is anything else in her. There was a brother but been there. Done that. No more bucks till we are on larger land.

So what's next? Well she needs a name. I thought about Delilah since "hey there Delilah" by the Plain T's came on the radio 3 times during our trip home. ***click here for song & video.***

Lady Chia was not happy either. She actually turned her nose up at me when I sat next to her with the kid in my arms. Would not look at me! I do believe she is jealous.
So why would I buy another goat when Lady Chia has been content by herself?
I couldn't help it! It's an addiction. All this homesteading lifestyle and ways have become such an enjoyment. I get a high from it!I swear I do.
Shake your heads. Go ahead. But come on. Could you have walked away from that face?
As I write this, she sits calmly in my lap. Not a care to be had. Frog LOVES her and she seems to really like Frog.Maybe its the size factor.
Its raining outside so no watering the garden but I need to close the coop up for the night.
crazy dreams,
~Tammie

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