"Sweet Tweet"

I am always amazed by a child's capacity for LOVE and COMPASSION.  As parents, witnessing our child display these virtues is always a proud moment.  This week I witnessed so much love between my children; and being the mid-point of summer vacation when their patience with one another can be waning, it was a welcomed experience.

I was hoping Erin would be ready to write personally about her journey as a mother bird but she's a sensitive one.  Though it was a VERY hot day (33C), the early part of Monday morning saw us mowing the section of pasture around the barn.  While mowing, Erin noticed a little bird come hopping out from the long grass.

Even though the words "don't touch the baby bird; lets see if its mother is close by" were on my lips, the compassion for a frightened animal and the fear that she might have hurt it moved Erin quicker than my mouth could form the words.

She immediately cradled the little creature while I searched the long grass for any sign of a disturbed nest or a panicked mother bird.  None were found and so "sweet Tweets" made his way to the house with us and a bed was made up for him in a blue recycling bin.

This is the time where I had a heart to heart with my daughter.  Baby birds are SO hard... so hard to keep alive.  Mother birds are some of the busiest moms out there - flying back and forth from the baby to find food and deliver the nutrients.  An attempt to help this little one was going to be a big commitment.

I've never figured out exactly what the secret to fostering baby birds is.  Protein - mealworms and bugs; got those in abundance (these will also give the baby the hydration it requires - giving water even from a dropper can drown a baby bird).   Grit - small pebbles to sit in the crop of the bird to grind up their food; perfect, just happen to have some chicken grit at our disposal.   Dear Erin wrote down this information I gave her, collected some tweezers for feeding and set her watch to remind her every 45 minutes to feed her little ward.

Erin was a phenomenal foster bird mom.  She had her sister Sammy catch little green worms and flying beetles to feed 'sweet Tweet" and even asked her older sister Nicole to do a feeding while she helped me with an errand.

Monday night passed with little 'sweet Tweet" sleeping in his bin on a roost Erin had made and our tired little Erin got a good night's sleep... until the hungry chirping began with sunrise at 5:00am.  I should mention that this little guy turned out to be a chipping sparrow - one of the most vocal of American Sparrows.

"Sweet Tweet" ate less and less each feeding on Tuesday morning and became quieter and quieter.  I could see that he was going downhill and there wasn't anything that I could do about it except affirm to my daughter with the crocodile tears that there wasn't anything more or anything different that she could be doing for this little one.

Erin took the passing of the infant bird quite roughly... as I expected she might.  A couple of hours alone in her room passed before she was ready to hold a 'funeral'.  In this time, I witnessed compassion from my other little ladybugs.  The younger two made "I'm sorry" cards while Nicole plotted on how we might surprise Erin with a pet hamster.  Thankfully, Erin healed just fine without a hamster moving in (whew!)

Jeanette

Raspberry harvest

Good morning!

I'm still exploring the property, usually on my after dinner walks.  A lot of the gardens and tree lines had become overgrown with weeds and vines making it near impossible to see WHAT was underneath.  One evening last week my two little ladybugs and I were pleasantly surprised to find raspberry bushes.  Not one or two but SEVEN bushes!  Seven bushes that we counted full of ripe fuchsia berries.

To be sure we did have what I thought we had, I used my cell phone to compare pictures and descriptions of various berry bushes.  We do have red raspberry bushes.

Moving at the end of June, I knew I would need to wait until fall to break ground and prepare soil for spring planting of my dream veggie garden so this little find made me very happy.  Though my raspberries wouldn't get a hungry family through a cold winter, I had a few homestead recipes that called for frozen or preserved raspberries!  I enlisted my helpers and we set to work collecting ripe berries.

With dreams of red raspberry preserves in my head, I didn't notice right away just how many berries WERE NOT making it into the bowl.

In the end, a bedtime snack of yogurt and FRESH raspberries tasted just as sweet!

Maybe next year.  :)

Jeanette

catching bugs with Sammy

hi i am sammy i love bugs.  i once caught a dragonfly.  on the weekend i caught a moth and a butterfly in the pasture.   we looked at them then let them go.

my sister found a ugly bug in the barn.

here is a spider with her egg sack.

and here is a cicada shell from a cicada.  it was on a tree.

thank you for reading.  from Sammy

One month in our forever home

It is hard to believe we have been in our 'forever home' for a month already!   It feels like home; most surprising is that it feels as though we've always been here.

We are working away on the barn and I hope to have some before and after photos to share soon.  In the meantime, please enjoy a clip of our ducklings enjoying their first outdoor swim.  Though they are still living safely in the warm brooder, we have had a few afternoons warm enough for them to venture out and feel the sun on their backs.

Until next time,
Jeanette

THIS girl... {wordless wednesday}

In three months I will be the mother to a teenage daughter...

I'll be happy if she sticks to kissing ponies over boys.  :)
Have a wonderful Wednesday,

Jeanette

On being a Mother Hen...

I had an awful sleep last night.  I am on my third cup of coffee and it is only just 11am.  Let me tell you why.

I am a horrible Mother Hen.

Over the past twelve years as a human Mom,  I have gotten very good at "sleep-hearing" my children overnight when they have been in distress but resting through the normal sleep noises such as talking, kicking and trips for glasses of water.  However, being a Mother Hen during the midnight hours has been a whole new experience.

Recently, a couple of our little chicks have learned to roost up on their feeder.  When this happens, their siblings kick up quite a fuss.  A cacophony of chirping and squeaking and confused looking poultry follow the bird's ascension.  This in turns causes me to awake and peek in to ensure that all is well within the brooder.

This guy... this guy right here.

As I look to construct some lower roosts for these guys today I find myself considering their upcoming move to the barn or coop.  Will I sleep better?  Or most likely, will I be tiptoeing out into the dark night, transversing damp grass and skirting prickly evergreen trees to put to rest any worries this Mother Hen may have over the well being of her little chick family?

I best be stocking up on coffee.

Jeanette

Farming SUCCESS! Mealworms.

Happy Monday!

Enjoying a little taste of success this morning.  

I had read a lot of chicken articles that stated that mealworms make great chicken treats.  We found ourselves in town last week and ventured into a local Petsmart store.  They had cups of 50 mealworms for $2.50.   Sounded like a doable venture so my little ladybugs and I purchased four containers along with some wheat bran from a local bulk store.

We quickly set up a tupperware container with our wheat bran and some potato slices and added our worms.  We had to see if our research was correct about chickens enjoying mealworms and offered our chicks a few worms (It is true!  The chicks went nuts for these little morsels.. the ducklings?  Not so much - however seeing a flock of ducklings chase a housefly is certainly worth the price of admission.  :)  )

Fast forward four days - Sammy spotted our first darkling beetle in our mealworm farm!  From what I understand of the lifecycle, this beetle should happily lay eggs which will grow into the larvae which is the tasty morsel that the chickens will enjoy - the 'mealworm'.  Now to decide whether or not to split beetles/eggs/larvae as some people choose to do or whether we leave them as one big happy mealworm family.

Much like housing our poultry in the basement, the mealworms were also positively received by our visiting friends last week - one friend who is also a 2nd grade teacher pointed out that mealworms are often wanted in the classroom for teaching children about lifecycles.  For all my teacher friends - consider me your mealworm source. 

 

I may not have had any real influence on the positive outcome but I will take any successful farming learning venture - big or small.  :)

Jeanette

Busy kids!

Good morning,

A little update on what the kids have been up to...

Today I would like to say a big thank you to our friends that drove out to visit this week - and an even bigger thank you for appreciating the fact that we DO have livestock in our basement for the time being.  :)

We had a great week - after our sad goodbye on Wednesday the girls had some friends out to visit which was just what they needed.  Nicole and her friend even baked a cake using duck eggs on a rainy afternoon - they did a great job.  The duck eggs made a moist, dense cake.

On one afternoon while cleaning out the barn, Derek found a wooden panel that reminded us of a window pane without the glass.  Not sure why, but the girls and I were inspired to paint it!  We spent a quiet afternoon painting this wooden frame as well as some plant pots before beading some wire.

 In short work we had ourselves a nice little piece of white and turquoise garden art for our raspberry bushes to grow around!

With sunny skies on Saturday we spent the day mowing the lawn, stacking firewood and working on the exterior of the barn.  To unwind at the end of the day we treated ourselves to family movie night on the deck - a big thank you to a very generous friend for use of his projector.  The girls chose the movie 'The Box Trolls'.. a cute little movie.  I enjoyed the cool breeze, a book and my glass of wine.

Jeanette

Baby PB...

Our first taste of nature here on the farm.  Our little 'runt' chick - a little guy half the size of his brood-mates passed away this morning.  We had called this little one 'Pasty-Butt' or "PB" for short because upon arrival his (or her?) little butt was a little messy - a common ailment for stressed chicks.  Being good little mother hens we wiped with warm water and warmed him back up as needed.  We noticed early on that this little guy had a short flat tail end and a residual umblical (is it called  a cord?) on his tummy.  Over the couple of days after arrival we noticed that he ate and drank but less so than the other little chicks.  We did our best to help with that by bringing the food closer to him and monitoring him to be sure nobody was stealing his supper.

It was my opinion that this little one had an umbilical hernia and so I made sure that the area was clean and dry and I hoped and I prayed.

This morning we noticed just how much little PB was sleeping - nothing was rousing this little one - even ducks stepping on him.  I had an inkling that he was slipping.  He died wrapped in a piece of pink fleece in my hands. Each of the girls took a turn holding him and saying their goodbyes.

Its funny how it became second nature to look for little PB every time we entered the brood room - pointing him out to one another whether he was sleeping in a chick pile or scratching the bedding with his mates.  I am also a little surprised at the very different displays of grief from my three eldest ladybugs.

Nicole in a very first born-practical way reminded us that though she was sad "there wasn't much else we could have done for little PB and we still have 51 other little babes to love".

Erin was very sensitive in her goodbyes; sobbing and taking the passing very much to heart.

Sammy was hoping for a miracle.  She even asked if she should sprinkle her tears onto little PB.

It was a difficult morning.  The girls have decided to paint a rock in memory of PB and place it in our garden.  :)

Everyone else in the brooder has soft yellow down covered tummies giving me confidence that our other little babes are doing just fine.

Jeanette  

Brooding...

CAUTION!!  Photo heavy post!!  Baby Photos!!  :)

Hello!

Our family has grown... by 52!!?

It has been a plan of ours to have laying chickens here at Schnick Acres.  Our first thought was to purchase 10-12 laying hens, however after some thought we decided that having a full flock (hens and roosters) suited our homesteading goals more.  After searching online, Derek found a poultry breeder that specialized in  heritage birds well suited for our colder Canadian climate.

This is where fate takes its turn.  Derek found a breeder of Chanteclar chickens with her last 'batch' of hatchlings for the season due to hatch within a day or two!  The timing would see us with egg producing birds before the winter snows arrive.

Having originated in Quebec in the early 1900s, the Chanteclars are very tolerant to our cold winters - one of only TWO poultry breeds to have originated here in Canada!  They are a very gentle, friendly bird that is sadly on the US Conservation "critically endangered" list and on Canada's RARE bird list.   We did some reading and decided that this might be the chicken for us.  We also corresponded with JoAnn the poultry breeder via e-mail.  Her answers were so clear and concise with a light hearted humour to them ("you can't get in over your head with chickens - if your flock becomes too much or too big, you can just eat them!")

With the thought of perhaps needing to brood a larger number of chicks, Derek set to building a larger brooder.  This posed a dilemma.  Our temperatures this summer have been fluctuating dramatically and our overnights have been cold making putting baby animals in the barn or the workshop unsuitable options.  Wouldn't it just happen that my craft room would be the perfect size for our brooder box?  And it has ceiling tiles that can be removed to expose floor joists for hanging the heat lamp and a door to keep out our MaineCoon cat, Micro.

With brooder box set, chick feed purchased, our family took a drive to meet 'JoAnn' at CirrusHill farm in Meaford, Ontario on Saturday morning. What an amazing experience.  JoAnn treated our family to a tour of her farm where we were able to see many different types of poultry and ask all of our chicken questions.  Walking her farm, we were greeted by flocks of  turkeys, chickens and guinea hens who were interested in seeing what we were up to.. or if we had a treat or two at least!  There were also some horses to catch Nicole's eye and friendly farm cats for Krista to 'love on'.  We spent a wonderful two and a half hours in Meaford.

It wasn't long into our conversation with JoAnn that we sensed her real admiration for ducks and it wasn't too much longer after that that I sensed Derek's interest in adding ducks to our feathered family.  We brought home ten little Welsh Harlequin ducklings.  Welsh Harlequin ducks are also on the critical endangered list.

In the end, we brought 42 little chicks and 10 little ducklings home with us.

Now as anyone with farm experience will tell you, you need to plan for a premature passing or two.  I feared the worst when we opened up our transport boxes at home and I worried again after their first night in their new home, but I am very pleased to say that we still have 52 little chirping mouths and scurrying feet in our nursery.

And now for the cuteness overload:

Little duckling

Ducklings make good pillows for little chicks.

A whole lot of cuteness and a whole lot of poop.  :)

Jeanette

It's easy to be GREEN

Hey there!

Moving to a farm and taking on more of a homestead approach has led to some great discussions with our girls here.  One such discussion took place yesterday...

Our location does have regular garbage and recycling pick up as well as 'green bin' pick up.  The girls were familiar with the process from our last home as well as from school etc.  However they were very curious about what actually happens to the green waste and how the same could happen here in the large green "earth machine" composter I had found hidden away under some pine trees.

I had spotted it back in the spring when we had come to look at the house and had thought 'cool, they have a compost set up'.  Upon closer inspection yesterday, I came to the conclusion that sadly it had never been used.  So, I dragged it out from under the trees, scoped out a location that made sense to me (behind the garage along the path to the barn and one day veggie patch) and rallied my troops.

I explained that we could set up the earth machine composter, allow the worms and microbes to eat our kitchen scraps and make lovely dark soil for our gardens!  Of course, the big question was HOW this was going to happen?!  With some discussion, the older two girls and I summed it up for the littles as "the earthworms will eat our leftovers and POOP out dirt.  The explanation worked... a lot better than our 'where do babies come from' conversation.  :)

The first thing we did was dig a few inches into the soil where we planned on putting the composter.  We turned this over to allow worms, microbes and moisture to get to work immediately.  Next, we set the composter in place, screwed bottom into the ground and we were ready to go!

I had read over the earth machine website and began with layers of green and brown (old leaves, clippings) as well as our kitchen compost.  We then added a little soil on top and used a pitch fork to mix it all together!

Though I was sure there were earthworms already present and ready to work, Sammy took it upon herself to collect some to add to our compost.

As with many aspects of life on the farm... now we WAIT and hopefully HARVEST.

Jeanette

Never-ending Granny...

Good morning!

We had a very wet and rainy afternoon here yesterday so as the littles snuggled up to watch a movie on the back deck, I took to some HOOKing; it had been a couple of weeks. ( I'm talking crochet here.  :)  )  And with the rain coming down in sheets I didn't feel too guilty about indulging in some yarn time.

On my Granny love Pinterest board I had pinned a free e-book from the crochet crowd for a never ending Granny square afghan.  I thought I'd start with a three strand version...

After some re-reading and re-doing and multiple trips for snacks for the littles, I had a handle on it and a pretty good start to it.  Perfect timing for a WIP Wednesday (work in progress).

If you love yourself some "Fibre", be sure to connect with me on Pinterest.

Jeanette

Make hay... while the sun is shining

Howdy!

We have been blessed with a week of gorgeous weather here this past week.  We made good use of it and began working on our barn.

Structurally the barn is sound and sturdy.  Its just not pretty... yet.  The barn board needs a good cleaning, the steel roof is beginning to rust and the eaves have fallen off in places.  It has been many years since the barn has seen animals in it.  The last owners had teenage sons that had converted half the barn to a games room.  Pretty cool for teenage boys I have to admit... however I am pretty sure that chickens, ducks and horses wouldn't appreciate the laminate wood flooring, the massive games table or the pin up girls.  :)

Renting a disposal bin we began going through the barn - keeping what was still useable to us while purging the items that were not (including an aged treadmill).  As we were not sure what we might find, the littles were kept busy elsewhere as Derek and Nicole worked away on the barn.

Kubota 1 : treadmill 0

With the interior back to bare, it was time for a wash.  Using his new gas powered power washer Derek and Nicole cleared away years of age from the barn exterior and inches of grime from the flooring inside the barn.

I should note that we had a couple of pleasant surprises!  The original wood barn flooring was intact under the laminate and looked great with a wash, and all the barn boards for the original horse stalls are present and easily slid back into place!

We now have two box stalls with packed dirt floor and a smaller area for chickens!  Our Chantecler chick order has been placed and are ready for pick up very soon... but that is a whole other blog post!

Jeanette

Northern Flicker...aka burnt dinner

Dear Family,

My apologies for the late, over cooked meal this evening.  As I was preparing to cook for you, I wistfully looked out the kitchen window.  The view is always so mesmerizing.

 I watched as our little chipmunk friend washed his face in the bird pond and scampered home for his dinner.  

I watched as the chickadees and the sparrows shared a meal at the bird feeder and the grey squirrel made an evening meal from the dropped bits of bird seed under the feeder.

And then a flicker of red caught my eye.  Red and black and white spots?

Binoculars in hand, a zoom lens for the camera procured from the camera bag and myself propped up on the countertop called a halt to our dinner in the works as I struggled to identify our front yard visitors.

It seemed as though we had some Northern Flickers visiting!  These woodpeckers use their beaks to dig up ants and beetles from the ground spending less time in trees than other woodpeckers.  They come north during the summer to mate.  It was the first time that I had seen these fascinating birds - and I think my excitement made up for the overcooked dinner. 

Here's hoping this pair stop by our place for dinner again sometime soon!

Jeanette

A bit like JUMANGI

Parts of SchnickAcres have become overgrown and are in need of a little TLC.               

Though I do not profess to have a 'green thumb', I can usually tell the weeds from the flowers.  I also have open mornings with lots of help, so I've taken to working away at some of the 'gardens'.  Sammy has adopted the front pond feature as her garden and began decorating it with garden decor while I pulled vines and cut back invasive growth.

Under some of the thick foliage we found wild strawberries!  Both Sammy and Krista thought it was such a treat to nibble away on these while we continued our work!

Along the curve in the driveway are some large boulders (we are on the escarpement after all), and it is here that I can picture adding colour with some beautiful daisies or black eyed susans.  As the girls and I cleared out some old grasses, Krista called out that she saw a SNAKE!  

From my college vet-tech days I remembered that Ontario only has one poisonous worrisome snake in this area - the eastern Massassauga rattlesnake.  This little guy was nowhere near looking like a threat, but a quick read on my phone (gotta love technology) and I affirmed that our little snake was a harmless garter snake.  My little ladybugs were so excited to check him out!

With the strawberries eaten and the snake set free it was time to wash up for some lunch.  I wonder what adventures our afternoon will bring?

Jeanette

Wordless Wednesday - July 1, 2015

View from my morning coffee.

Jeanette