Country Mama

Coffee Bar, Yes or No?

2018-02-09T10:10:00.000-08:00

Do you have a coffee bar in your house or want one? I never really thought about it before, but ever since I found out about them, I've wanted my own, so I created a space for it. I've found myself enjoying coffee a lot more and I've started getting up early every morning to make my husband and I a cup. First I started with my twelve cup coffee pot. I found a glass cutting board that I wasn't using and laid it in the middle of my coffee bar. On the cutting board, I put my cannister's and other items. In the left corner, I put an antique coffee pitcher, with a handmade cotton decoration and hung my coffee cups on the wall to the left. This is what it looked like.

After a while, I decided it just wasn't functional enough for what I wanted, so I went back to the drawing board. I kept some elements and added others. I stopped by the Dollar Tree and bought a few more items just for this project. I also got a one cup pot from my mother, that she wasn't using.

We use it more than we do the twelve cup pot. I'm still going to keep the big pot just in case we have visitors. The items I bought were two office items, a couple of black baskets like this.

I use the pen basket for trash, such as used sugar packets.

I use the long basket for the sweetener packets and the lids to my travel mugs. I also got two small cannister's with a flip down latch and a friend gave me another jar that was also a Dollar Tree item. In the two cannister's I bought, I keep sugar and creamer. In the one my friend gave me, I keep stevia, just in case I run out of packets.

I should also tell you, the coffee mugs came from Dollar Tree also. My husband bought them with plates and bowls, for my Christmas present. Also for Christmas, I got four metal travel cups with lids while playing Dirty Santa. I incorporated them into the project as well, for those days when we're on the go. My husband uses them on those mornings he works.

I bought the cow creamer at Walmart. It's one of the Pioneer Woman dishes. I use it to keep my stirring spoon in for now. I have thought of buying those small coffee straws and putting them in it, but I kind of feel like for us, that would be a waste of money, so I will just keep using the baby spoon, I'm currently using. I always just wash it after the morning rush and put it back. I also keep a set of coasters out and available, so that my tables don't get that coffee ring on them. I keep my tea boiler and my tea bags here too, because of how convenient it is to just grab the pot, toss a couple of bags in it and fill it up at the sink. We're Southern, so sweet tea is a must in our household, though, I've really cut the sugar down a lot, to save us from being diabetics someday. I do think once we're moved into our new house, the tea boiler will go somewhere else. I want the coffee bar to be just that, a coffee bar.

Here's a picture of the final project.

I admit it's a little busy. My husband says it's too much turquoise, but I like it. I would love to be able to stack items, but I don't have much room under the cabinet. I hope that once we get moved, I can set it up on a table with no cabinets above it. I want one of those two tiered galvanized trays I see everyone else using.

Since doing this, I find it easier to get up in the morning because I don't have to wait long to get my caffeine fix. I get up at four thirty, put myself a cup of coffee on then clean up any mess left in the kitchen from the night before, while I drink my coffee. I then put my husband a cup on around five, because he gets up a little after that for work. While it's making, I will get his lunch box ready for the day, then go back and fix his coffee the way he likes it. At five thirty, he gets his coffee and lunch, walks out the door, and heads to work. I then wake my daughter for school. She likes her coffee a little weak, so I just reuse my husbands coffee grounds to make hers. I'm sure all of this would be easier with a K-cup machine, but mine isn't made for those, and to be honest, I like that about it because I can buy my coffee in bulk and fix it as strong or as weak as I need to, depending on the person.

After my daughter leaves for school, I sit down and relax until my son wakes up, then it's breakfast time. I've thought about the idea of a breakfast bar, as well. Maybe if my kitchen wasn't so small, this would be a good idea. Then again, I'm a stay at home mom, I can just fix breakfast. Oh well, maybe that's something for all of you working moms on the go.

HEALTHY PEANUT BUTTER BANANA KNOCKOFF

2017-06-14T19:59:00.001-07:00

With me being on a strict diet and my three year old being lactose intolerant we can't have ice cream. So today I got a little creative. I cut up a large banana and froze it, then this evening I put it in my food processor with a tablespoon of peanut butter and a little bit of lactose free milk. I didn't measure the milk but it was probably a quarter of a cup or less. Surprisingly, it tasted like icecream and everyone loved it. My family is a bit picky when I try knew things. I knew you could freeze banana and do this because I'd seen it on pinterest. I've tried frozen peaches before but they hated it, saying it tasted too much like yogurt. My mom loves frozen yogurt and is a diabetic so I gave that to her but they all enjoyed this quick easy little snack. it was healthy, quick and hit the spot. My craving for something sweet has been satisfied and my son finally got to taste something similar to icecream. He loves it, but lactose free ice cream is so hard to find around here. Often I feel guilty when we get ice cream and he doesn't. Now I can fix him something special that he can eat when everyone else is eating ice cream and he won't even know the difference

Kitchen Appliance Update

2016-11-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hey y'all,
I wanted to show y'all my new and improved small appliances. All it took was a couple can's of spray paint and about fifteen minutes of my time. Then I just let it dry.

I absolutely love how the crockpot turned out.

The Food Saver needs another coat of paint, but I ran out of black before I could get a second coat on. Also, I think I'm going to go back over it where I left it white. I originally wanted to see the food saver label, but now I just think it turned out tacky. The mixer turned out great, as did the crock pot. I love the crock pot. Now let me tell you why I didn't paint it black. Our color scheme for our new house is going to be turquoise and terracotta. Now the crockpot isn't turquoise but it was as close as I could find at Walmart. The reason I went with this color though was because of the inside pot. I just didn't think it would look good with black paint and a splash of color right in the middle of the table just looks so pretty to me. This is not the original lid that came with the crock pot. The one that came with it was old, warped and plastic, so I threw it away. I had a couple of old metal lids that I lost the pot's, years ago, so I picked the one with the plastic knob and painted it to go on top. It looked so good, my husband asked me why I didn't paint them all the same color. It looks like a brand spanking new pot instead of the old vintage one, I bought for a dollar at a yard sale. What do y'all think? Should I paint them all the turquoise or leave them black to match my large appliances? I may have to go back with some different paint later and redo the plastic pieces of the stand mixer, such as the top and bottom of the blender. I didn't realize it but I bought the wrong can of spray paint. This one didn't specify that it could be used on plastic, so fingers crossed that I won't have to fix it later, but if I do that's alright. If y'all decide to do this project, make sure the paint you buy is made for all surfaces like the turquoise paint is.

Anyway, I made a video of the process, and I have posted the link below.

Be sure to check it out.

https://youtu.be/bdt3fWXI-1w

Catch ya later!

Plastic Tote Brooder

2016-04-22T20:00:00.001-07:00

on the way home

Well I finally found me some buff orpington chicks. I couldn't believe it. I walked into my feed store and I saw a light on back where the chick pens are and a few people standing back there. I didn't hear them chirping but I asked if they had chicks and they said yes. "What kind?" I asked. "Banty's and buff orpington..." "that's what I want." I cut her off before she could finish. I finally got around to asking the price which surprisingly turned out to be cheaper than the hatcheries online and the other feed stores that had chicks. Good thing none of them had buffs or I would have wasted money I could have saved buying at my local feed store. I just hope one of these babies turns out to be a rooster. They are straight run, so who knows. I may have all pullets or I may have all roosters. I just hope I have at least one rooster, but it would be nice to have a couple of them be pullets. We'll find out in about ten weeks. Also, I would like you to notice the holes I drilled into the sides of my brooder. This is new. Last year I cut a big square hole out of the top of the lid and put a metal grate over it. I didn't really like that too much, so I changed it up this year, partly because I have a big puppy, that still has some learning to do and I don't want her thinking the little babies are snacks for her. I had an extra lid laying around for the tub, from an old one that I had before. I didn't want there to be any holes in the lid in case of rain blowing in on the porch and things of that nature. My first plastic brooder like this was clear and I had a hawk fly down and land on it trying to get to them. Luckily it didn't succeed but I changed to the blue brooder the next year. What I did was drill three rows of holes on each side of the plastic tub, then I cut out a hole for my heat lamp on one side. I had it a little too high and the lamp touched the lid. So I put the cord through the hole and used my lamp clamp by sticking the clamp end on the outside and the smaller end that holds the lamp, I put through the hole. Then I had to attach the clamp to something to hold it in place. It worked perfectly and better than my original idea. I lined the bottom with news paper but am planning on getting some shavings for it this weekend or next week. I didn't want to use my big waterer and I gave my small waterer's away, last year. What I really want to do though is fix up a waterer and feeder that isn't sitting on the floor of the tub. I am thinking about a rabbit feeder and maybe even a rabbit waterer. One of the things I hate more than anything with raising chick's is how nasty their water and feed bowls get. If I could get them up off the floor so they can't jump on them and poop on them, then I am on top of things. I do have some rabbit feeders but they all have the wire mesh in the bottom and the chick starter falls right through. I'll have to get a new one without the mesh. As for the waterer, I have an extra rabbit waterer but I'm not sure if they can drink out of it. I'll have to research this a little, maybe even experiment with it to see.

Fixing the floor of my rabbit pen

2016-04-22T19:37:00.000-07:00

Moved the Pens back to back

Well today I replaced the floor of one of my rabbit pens. I've been meaning to do it for a long, long time now, but I kept putting it off because I just didn't feel up to it. After finding my stapler and my husband buying me a new drill, which I love by the way, I thought there is no sense in putting it off any longer. I got right to work on it today, after I moved the pen out of the bushes which was no small feat being the only one homether than my two year old son. He helped by staying under Mama's feet. I kept running him out of the bushes and distracting him with the dogs. I was scared to death he was going to get on a snake. I ended up moving both of my big pens, and let me tell you, those things are heavy. I cut the wire underneath it completely off. I know it was put there to keep animals from tearing into the pens but it holds all their loose hair and rabbit pellets. It had the pen smelling awful. So I cut it off and let all of that mess fall to the ground. I then had to take the sheet of tin off the front of the pen so I could get to work on it. I still need to work on the door, and I think I'll use the extra foot of wire I had left to put on the inside of the door. After I removed the tin, I laid out my roll of wire and snipped the corners where the landscaping timbers go. Then I stapled the end down and rolled it to the other end stapling as I went. I then cut a foot of wire off the roll and again snipped the corners for the landscaping timbers. I then proceeded to staple everywhere I could. The more staples you put in it the more secure it is. I wouldn't mind going back tomorrow and put a few more longer staples in it. I sent my daughter to the store with her grandma to get me some more staples and made sure to tell her I wanted the longer ones. For once she listened and got me just what I needed to finish the job. I did go ahead and move the rabbit back into this one so I can do some maintenance on his pen. One thing I want to do is remove the roofing tacks in the front of the pen holding the tin in place. I will replace them with tin screws. I also want to inspect the wire on the inside of this cage as well. Before I put him back in it, I am going to cut the extra wire off the bottom like I did the other pen. My next project is going to be the smaller cages. I really want to make them the actual pen for my breeding pair. I finally found me a new doe. Im going to get her this weekend, but first I've got some work to do on the pens. Anyway, the two bigger pens will be for the grow outs. I can separate the males from the females and have plenty of room for them to move around. I don't intend to have a lot of rabbits, but it will really just depend how things go down the road. I just want two or three rabbits for breeding, no more. I intend to let this be my daughters project. It will be a good learning experience for her and a 4H/FFA project. Of course, I will get something out of it as well, because what she doesn't sell will end up in my freezer, just as my chicken project will do the same for me. I intend to breed three different colors of orpington chickens, buff, blue and blue/buff crosses. You can find out all about that in an earlier post. Anyway, we have what I believe is a broken red new Zealand buck. I don't think he's a standard rex. His fur doesn't appear to look velvety to me. I've found pictures of broken red new Zealand's that look a lot like him. I could be very wrong though, as I've never seen a Standard Rex rabbit or even a Mini Rex up close. I've only seen pictures on line.

This is a younger picture of him, right after I got him

This is a good picture of him now.

Family Command Center Update

2016-04-13T20:18:00.001-07:00

Every home needs a family command center. With all the different things going on and our schedules being so busy and hectic, it's nice to have it all organized. Kids need a chore chart. Bills need to be organized in a way that makes it easy to find, and sort. An excellent way to do that is to have an incoming, outgoing and a to be filed area. The blue box with the circles is my to be filed box. I'm going to label it later. I made it out of a box that goes on a book. This was actually from my college years and I still had the book, don't need it or the case so I took the case and covered it with contact paper. I wrapped it just like I would a gift except where the opening is at the top. Then I put two holes in the back to hang it. The board on the left was just one solid marker board on right and bulletin board on left. I used washi tape to divide the marker board into sections. My children's chores are listed in the two bottom sections and the upper section is for notes. I glued and taped three envelopes together with washi tape to make individual files for things like coupons and receipts. The to do list to the right of the notes and chore chart is a picture frame with a note card inside decorated with washi tape and check boxes drawn on. To the right of that is where I tack up business cards and sort my incoming and outgoing mail. At the bottom of that is a place to hang keys, but since I don't hang my keys up I used it to hang a basket to put dry erase markers and a marker board eraser in. At the bottom is my calendar with a section on the left to make my grocery list. I still have plenty of wall space available to the left but I haven't figured out what to do with it yet. At the top of the wall, I plan on putting some inspiring words and a picture frame with a family photo. I have seen a lot of different family command centers and all of them had great qualities, just not many that applied to me, so I made it my own. I don't need a menu board as many of the command centers I've seen online. I like to plan it all out that day not a week ahead or even a day ahead. For moms who work out of the home though, a menu is probably a great idea that way you know what to lay out that morning before you leave for work. For me I like instead the idea of having a grocery list here, because I can write stuff down as I discover I'm low on it or out of it. Then when I go shopping, I just snap a picture with my phone. As for the to be filed box, I hate filing things. Its just easier to me to put it all in a box like this one and when it gets full, I have to make myself file it. It would be ideal for me to have a desk under all of this so I can sit down and write out bills as needed, but there's no room for one because of the island. Anyway, I usually pull them out and stand at the island sorting through them, going from one website or app to the next paying them, then I put them in the to be filed bin. The two that I have to write a check for, do not have a website for me to go and pay, so I write those two out and stick them up in the outgoing mail section, until I get around to heading to the post office, usually the next day, or on the way to do my grocery shopping. I like to run my errands all on the same day if possible. I am still looking for new ideas to improve my command center. Anything that will help me improve my hectic life with two kids is great for me. Maybe some of these ideas will work for you or maybe you can throw some ideas my way.

Chicken Tractor Update Part Two

2016-04-09T00:17:00.000-07:00

outdoor paneling covering the nest box and roost pole

Since my last post about my chicken tractor being torn into by an animal, I have finally found the culprit. I still don't know what happened to my rooster but I'm still going with a broken neck judging by the looks of him. You will never believe it when I tell you. You are probably thinking a dog or a wild animal but if you are, you would be wrong. Nope, its none of those things. The culprit is my thousand pound horse who thinks chicken feed is horse feed. Yep I realized this a few nights ago. I laid some wood over the two wholes and attempted to use chicken feed to lure one of my roosters into the pen. This didn't work of course and I gave up trying to catch him but later that night I heard the tin on the pen being knocked around and the dogs started barking. I went outside and found my horse trying to get to the feed. After I run her off, I went to look at my pen and sure enough there was a new hole on the other end of the pen that looked suspiciously like the other two holes from before. Well now that I know the culprit is actually a horse and not a wild animal, I feel safe using my pen. I just needed to patch the holes. As I was walking around outside today, I remembered that I had a long narrow piece of dog wire laying around somewhere. It was just the right size in height to cover the whole lower front where the three holes were. So I stapled it on and trimmed off the excess. As I was doing this I decided there were a few more things I wanted to change. For example I decided the tin on the one side with the section totally and completely covered with wire wasn't necessary. So I removed it and over the nest box I screwed a piece of outdoor paneling. Then to keep it from getting wet at the top I put a piece of flashing or whatever it's called. It's the piece that you put at the upper most pitch of your tin roof. I call it flashing but that's probably not right. (Shrugs shoulders) it doesn't matter as long as its leak proof to keep the rain off of them. Now, one reason I wanted to remove the tin was to allow more sun light in. Chickens need plenty of sun and it just makes more sense to remove the tin as opposed to propping it up and worrying about the wind catching it. After all this could be how my rooster died. As I said it looked like his neck was broken and the tin which had been up earlier had been knocked down or blown down. The rooster was laying on that side with his head next to the tin. Its quite possible that when it fell he had his head out the wire and the tin hit him killing him. There was no sign of sickness, no bloody mess which is why I believe his neck was broke. If I am correct then by removing this tin I will be able to prevent this from happening again. However, I left the tin over the opening on the opposite side. It makes it easily accessible for me to get in and change the water, remove chickens or put them in. This piece can be faced North if the wind is too much, but for now it is facing west. The nest box wall is facing North, so there's no chance of wind getting to them from that direction either. They should be warm enough and out of the rain enough the way I did it. One of the things about my chicken tractor is that its a constant work in progress. I can change things as I determine they need to be changed. I love the idea of a chicken tractor, because you can easily move it, you can update it as you need to and you can free range without actually free ranging. I like my stationary pen. It's not that it's impossible to move. The pen itself pulls up from the ground and folds in half. It's the coop that's difficult to move. I've contemplated putting a wire bottom on it and adding wheels to it. The thing about the coop and pen is that it can easily be landscaped to be something beautiful. Mine may not be that pretty but there are some I've seen pictures of that are gorgeous. People plant pretty flowers around them, grow vines on them. You can do all kinds of things to make them beautiful, or you can have it be as ugly as sin. It's whatever your preference. If we move, like I'm hoping we can, we'll have more room to build pens and things. I would love to build three or four larger A frame chicken tractors, to separate the different colors of orpingtons, that I want. I would love to have a pen for my buffs, a pen for my blues, a pen for lavenders and so on and so forth. I might even like to have some silkies just because. Right now, the three colors I have mentioned are the ones I want, but I might like to start a blue/buff pen as well. Once I figure out what works with my chicken tractor, I will know exactly how to build my new pens if and when I get that opportunity. Another possibility for the current chicken tractor is that I could add onto the bottom. I have thought about this, recently as I know that my pen will need to grow eventually. Of course I can always just build a brand new one but it is possible to add on to the existing one.

dog wire covering the holes in the chicken wire, under the opening.

tin removed on the opposite side to provide sunlight

One of the buffs checking out the nest box

Chicken Tractor Update part one

2016-03-10T00:39:00.000-08:00

Well I knew I should have used mesh wire on my chicken coop instead of chicken netting. Last night about one in the morning I was sitting at my computer working on my book, when I hear my chickens going crazy. Now my dog isn't barking until this happens and she's on the porch the entire time. So I go out to see what all the commotion is and I see one of my buff hens out running around. The five roosters that are out free ranging all day are chasing her around. I run back in to put my shoes on and come back outside to rescue her. I'm wondering how she got out and where the other buff hen is, thinking the worst. I sick Sadie on the roosters to keep them away from the hen and me while I grab her. She comes to me willingly so you know she's had enough of the boys chasing her. I tucked her under my arm and she's completely quiet and still. I need to see how she got out first and make sure nothing is in her pen. There is a huge hole tore into my chicken tractor but luckily the other buff hen is alive and well. I didn't see any animals inside but something sure tore into the pen. I take the hen in my arms and put her in the coop with my blue orpingtons and come back to get the other. She isn't happy about it and squawks loudly sending all five of the roosters after me. I drop her when one of them comes at me, but luckily Sadie gets between us. Its hard to see those blue roosters at night in the dark. Anyway the hen runs from me and corners herself between the fence, a play kitchen that belongs to my kids and a bucket that is setting beside it. She is completely surrounded on three sides and can't get away when all five roosters pile on top of her. Literally, one jumped on her, then another jumped on him and so on until they were all on her. Again, I sick the dog on the roosters because I am not capable of fighting five roosters off at once. Those things are too fast and too mean. Now granted all but two of these were hand raised by me. The other two were out of eggs my mothers hen hatched. She gave them to me when I gave her my extra pullets that I didn't like. She didn't want to fool with butchering them and did not want two roosters running around, so I took them. These two you have to watch, carefully. As I said I sicked the dog on them and she ran them all off, while I eased in and got the poor hen who had just been assaulted by five roosters at once. Then I put her in the coop with the blue orpingtons. I will have to get some wire sometime this week to fix the chicken tractor if I'm going to keep my buffs separate from my blues. I guess I will also have to butcher the roosters soon or build a pen to put them all in too. I don't know if they tore the hole in the fence or if something else got in but I have to wonder since just last week my buff rooster died unexpectedly. I wonder now if something got him through the fence and maybe broke his neck. Could it have been those roosters running loose or was it a wild animal? I've learned my lesson though. Always use good wire instead of cheap, chicken wire.

Chicken Tractor

2016-03-10T00:19:00.002-08:00

With all the talk of bird flu lately, not to mention how easy it is for chickens to get attacked by predators, its a good idea to keep your chickens in a pen. Still some of us believe free range is better, so in order to keep chickens safe while still letting them move around freely on fresh ground day after day, somebody came up with the idea of a chicken tractor. It may not seem like it after looking at all the different plans of chicken tractors, but it is actually very easy to build one. You can even build it from scrap wood as I did or you can buy all the supplies brand new. You can modify it as you want, change it as you find some things you like or don't like as I have or you can simply build it just like mine and leave it that way.
I used three 2x2s, one slightly longer than the other two. One 16 foot long 1x4, I cut into five pieces. Four of those five pieces should be 3 feet and the other should be 4 feet. I also used an old piece of shelving board. I'll explain that in detail in a minute but first let me tell you how to put the pieces I've already told you about together.

Egg door made from scrap wood

You will want to lay the three 2x2s out. 2 of them are 7 1/2 feet long while the one in the middle is 8 feet long. The middle piece is going to go at the top. Your going to piece this all together in a triangle shape, as known as an A-frame. Take your four shorter 4x4s and attach two at each end. Remember it will form a triangle or a-frame all the way through. On one end the top, middle 2x2 will hang over as it's longer than the others. Now on one end of the triangle you will take you longer 1x4 and attach it to the bottom. I did this on the end that i had the 2x2 sticking out further. Next you will get your shelving board and on the opposite end you will cut it to fit. The first piece of shelving board was 4 feet long and 12 inches wide. The next piece you will not nail or screw down as you will attach it with hinges to the bottom board. The third piece goes above the one with the hinges. It will be screwed into the 1x4s on each side. Then attach a latch to it to keep the door closed. Just inside of the shelving boards I have attached a nest box. I only used one, but two may fit. Next you will want to attach a roosting pole from one end of the pen to the other. Oh I forgot the wire. You will want to get a roll of good wire. I bought chicken netting but if you want them to really be protected from wild animals, I would go with the small mesh wire that everyone uses in rabbit pens.

The 1x4 is not screwed into place yet but here is where the tin will open up so you can reach inside.

The tin is propped up so the chickens can get some sun.

You'll want to have your staple gun ready and pull the wire as tight as you can get it. This might be a good time to call in a helper. Put a lot of staples. I put them every other hole, all the way around my pen, with the exception of the end with the shelving board. I did cut the wire out about half way up on one of the long sides. Here a screwed in a 7 foot 1x4 and stapled the wire to it on the inside. Now you have an opening above this board across the entire side of your pen. Here you will use tin cut to fit the opening and overlap the 1x4 you just put up. I used another sheet of tin on the opposite side of the pen that covers that entire side. Yes I know I have wire there but I will explain why I did this in just a minute. I screwed both pieces of tin in at the top, letting them slightly overlap one another. Now here's what thinking is for the opposite side with the wire and the larger piece of tin. I wanted to be able to keep the cold wind off of them in the fall and winter. During this time of the year I can turn this side to the north and block the north wind. With both sides having tin over the top, they will be protected from the rain as well but this doesn't allow for a lot of sun, so I use two tomato sticks to lift the tin up on the side with the larger piece of tin. This way they can get sun during the warmer months when they are laying. Over the nest box I have hung an old piece of wool from an old horse blanket to keep it dark even when the tin is up.

Here you can see the piece of wool hanging over the nest box.

Chickens like it dark where they lay. I may even hang a piece of material around it like a curtain to make it darker. One more suggestion for this pen that I haven't done myself is that you may want put wire in the bottom to keep things from digging under. I didn't do this myself but I am considering doing it later.

Here I've lifted the tin up so I can reach inside and put my hens in the pen.

Here's my girls in their new home. The nest box is at the back.

It ain't the prettiest chicken tractor but it'll do for now.

Raising Baby Chicks

2016-03-07T17:21:00.000-08:00

One of my hobby's as of late is raising chickens, particularly orpingtons. I love these chickens. By far they have been the sweetest, kindest chickens, I've ever owned, so you can see why I was so very excited when I finally found myself a buff orpington rooster to go with my buff orpington hens. To my dismay though he didn't make it. He broke his neck, I think or something got to him. I have had the hardest time finding a buff rooster and blue orpington hens. I have a blue rooster, you see and two buff hens. So, I decided last season to take all the eggs from my buff hens and hatch them. Up until that point, I'd failed every single time. This time, I hatched fifteen of them. I was so excited. It was much like being an expectant mom, only without the uncomfortable feeling of having another little human inside you. Okay so it really doesn't compare to having your own children, but its still very nerve racking and yet exciting at the same time. I must have checked the thermometer a thousand times. I was constantly making sure there was enough water in the incubator. I even used two different incubators this time, one with an egg turner so I didn't forget to turn the eggs and one for the the final three days when they would be hatching. Thankfully I managed to get five blue/buff pullets out of the batch. The rest were either roosters or black. Blues throw blacks sometimes, but I didn't want blacks I wanted blues, so I gave the black pullets to my mother and turned the roosters loose in the yard. They're going to be butchered one of these days for the freezer but as of now they have not been because I just haven't wanted to do it. I may do so this week since my daughters out for spring break. She will be around to help me with her brother. Anyway, I raised up the blue buff pullets and put them back in with their father. Yes I know this is technically imbreeding but these are chickens and people do it all the time with all kinds of animals. It's called linebreeding. I hope the next batch will not have the buff color at all. I built another pen for my two buffs and my mother, God Bless her she found me that Buff rooster. I was planning on hatching out pure buff orpingtons this year, keep a few pullets and sell the rest, but as nature would have it, that's not going to happen as Mr. Buffy as my daughter called him, has gone to chicken heaven. I've considered putting one of my blue/buff roosters in with my hens but I really wanted a buff rooster. I really wanted to be able to sell some little buff chicks as they are really sought after around here. I could say I have the worst luck as a few years ago my male goat broke my female goats neck when he got too rough. My plan for her didn't go like I wanted either. For some reason, I can't seem to keep anything alive. I even lost one of my blue pullets after she got stuck in the fence during a down pour. Oh, if only my hens would lay a few eggs in the next week, I could get them in the incubator and hatch them, before they are no longer fertile. Hens can lay fertile eggs up to two weeks after being exposed to a rooster. Just as my luck would have it though, they have decided to go on strike. My blue pullets are not yet laying though I'm sure they will be soon, as their cones are getting red and the days are getting longer. I've had chickens for a long time and I have learned many lessons over the years. One you have to fence them in all around to keep predators out. Two it's a good idea to have a guardian dog such as a heeler or a shepherd of some kind. You do have to train them not to kill the chickens though, but once they learn that, their territorial instincts kick in and they run everything off that even comes near those birds. Three, they die, just out of the blue they die. Four they are stupid! Yes that's right chickens are probably the stupidest animal I've ever owned but they are so worth it to me. I love raising them. I love watching them. I don't even mind it when they peck me and they do, often. Five, they will eat anything and crap on everything. It's best to keep them off your porch. When I raise mine, I like them close but not inside the house. I keep a rubber tub on the porch to put them in with a metal grate on top and a heat lamp to keep them warm. This has worked out better for me than anything else I have tried. You have to make sure they have some kind of traction for their feet too, so I put those drawer mats that are textured in the bottom of mine and you should put shavings in it to soak up the manure and the urine. If they don't have something for traction, they can get splayed legs. One way to correct this is to take a rubber band, tie a knot in the middle of it then stick their legs through the loops on each end. After about a day in this contraption, their legs should go back to normal. I keep them in this rubber bin until they are six weeks old, then they go outside into another pen. After this age, you no longer need a light to keep them warm although it can't hurt if the nights are too cold. You can usually tell what gender they are by the time they hit 11 weeks. You look at their cones. Roosters have larger cones that get red at about this time where as a pullets will not turn red until she's ready to lay. You look at their tail feathers. One gender has rounder feathers but at the moment I can't remember which. You also want to look at the feathers on the back of their necks. Roosters or cockerels, will have longer feathers that appear somewhat pointy. Pullets do not have this. In the picture of them at 11 weeks old, the one in the front is a cockerel. Notice the larger cone that's already turning red and notice the weird tail feathers. It takes some practice but eventually you will figure it out. Sometimes I want to see a pullet but I know deep down it's a cockerel. I just have to remind myself to look at these traits and when in doubt google it. The Backyard Chickens forum has pretty much every answer to every question you have about chickens.

hatching out

Two or Three days old

Mr. Blue and my two buff hens

11 weeks old

RIP Mr. Buffy

Our Rodeo Trip

2016-03-07T03:32:00.000-08:00

Watching the Bronc Riding

My baby boy has loved horses and all things cowboy since he was born. I swear he was born to be a cowboy. He has always loved westerns and would not sleep for a long time without watching The Cowboys with John Wayne, literally every night. Recently we got the chance to take him to his first rodeo. Now don't get me wrong, he's been to a horse show but this was his first rodeo. He wore his cowboy hat the entire night and he paid attention particularly to the bronc riding. That was his favorite as I've never seen him with a more intense look on his face. He was into it, sitting up in his seat, eyes focused on the cowboys trying with all their might to make the 8 second ride on whatever bronc they drew for the night. He was so handsome in his cowboy getup too. I can't help but hope that I've got myself a future cowboy.

Isn't he handsome?

Wall of Inspiration for Writing

2015-02-27T22:02:00.003-08:00

Writing Wall of Inspiration

I've been working on an idea to make my writing more enjoyable and I hope this will help me to become a better writer. As a writer, the goal is to write books that people want to read. Otherwise, I can't make a living. I am constantly looking for ways to do this. I have tried to stay centered on my work and am often lost along the way. I can't stress how hard it is to stay focused when one is so unorganized. Lately, I've been working to improve that as well. I have cleaned out my office, removing anything that does not belong and now have found my office to be a sanctuary of sorts. I say this because with two kids and a husband who don't know how to pick up behind themselves, my house tends to become overwhelmed with junk. By cleaning my office, I'm no longer distracted by the mess. My mind does not stray to housekeeping and I am better able to concentrate on imagining a fantasy world in which I must write about. I have tried to organize my writing, so that I don't become lost in it, forgetting who is who and where they came from. I often find myself frustrated when I come back to my desk the following day and I have to reread everything just to assure myself that I have written the right name and the right occupation of a character. What I've done is made myself a plot board. I looked at several ideas for plot boards on Pinterest before making my own. I may still tweak it some but for now this is what I have done. I went out to Walmart and picked up a three foot by two foot magnetic dry erase board. I bought a pack of markers to go with it and have decided to use the different markers to color coordinate it. I set up my board on a blank wall then divided it by drawing three vertical lines and one horizontal line at the top. This gives me four columns in which to write down my characters and my scenes. The first column is for my Characters. The second column is for the Introduction, the third for the Body and the fourth is for the Conclusion. I got this idea from a Youtube video where a woman used a cardboard story board like the ones you buy your kids for their reading and science fair projects. Anyway, she had it set up in four acts, making the two middle columns the same act in two parts. I just figured it would be a little easier for me to use that extra column for my characters and use introduction, body and conclusion, the way we did in high school. I'm not kidding when I say I often forget their names. The last name is the worst for me. Well I told my husband what I wanted this board for and even though it cost twenty dollars for the board alone, he agreed. The reason I went with a dry erase board instead of the cardboard storyboard is because I don't want to constantly have to replenish my supplies such as note cards or even the board it self. For the same reason I did not buy the big cork board of the same size, even though it was ten dollars cheaper. In the long run buying notecards, thumbtacks, ink pens and whatever else will begin to add up. The dry erase board allows me to wipe it away and start over. I did purchase some sticky notes. I thought I could use them to write down ideas for later books or even for conversations in the book for which I haven't quite gotten to yet. I plan to use the whole wall in which the dry erase board hangs on, for writing improvement. I have written out words to use instead of said. For example: "I want to ride too," Tommy said. I would be able to replace Tommy said with something else, such as; "I want to ride too," declared Tommy. I also wrote a list of descriptive words I would like to use more often in my writing. Words like lovely, absurd, lousy, dandy and sorrowful are just a few. There are around fifty words on my list. I got the idea for the list of words on Pinterest. I have also placed a quote from another author on my wall, that I felt touched my heart. At the top of my wall, it is still pretty darn bare. I just don't know what to put there. I might hang a beautiful work of art there, something to inspire me. Eventually I will make all of these handwritten list look better by printing them out and framing them, but this will work for now, until I can get some ink. My local Walmart has been out of my ink the last couple of times I went up there. Anyway, I realize it's hard to see what I've done in the picture, but I didn't want to show what I am currently working on. I don't like to reveal these things until my work is done and the book is published. That's why I blurred it out a bit. You can still see how I split the board into four columns. That's all you need to see. Maybe, once this book is finished and I have started over with a clean slate, I will take another picture to show you all what I mean. Let me know what you think and please share any ideas that you think will make my wall more inspirational. Be creative with your ideas. I would love to hear them.

Mason Jar Photo Candle

2014-02-07T01:10:00.001-08:00

I have been searching and searching for something to make a friend of mine. She made me a beautiful monogramed glass frame for my anniversary. Well I felt really bad because, I never have the money to get her anything. I stumbled across something called a mason jar photo collage and I thought that would be perfect. The only problem is I didn't have the kind of candle it calls for so I dug out an old red candle stick and my gulf wax. I melted the wax down and dug the string out of it then poured it in a mason jar. You can use a pencil to suspend the string in the center of the jar. Just tie one end around the pencil and lay the pencil on top of the jar. Next I got on facebook and found an old wedding photo of her and her husband, downloaded it and opened it with word. You can do this by clicking insert picture. Then just choose the photo you downloaded. Next, I clicked insert wordart and chose the one I wanted. I changed the word style to French Script. Then I used a transfer paper that is used for window decals and made just for printers. Just print it out, cut it to size, peel and stick it on the jar. If you have a cricut it might work better. I used what I had. If you go the route I went, I suggest you use a colored photo. I used a black and white and it didn't show up well. It might be because of the pink candle behind it. If you don't want to make your own candle, you can use tea candles.

Washing Dishes + Homemade Dishwashing Powder

2013-12-12T06:31:00.001-08:00

I keep hearing that I don't need to rinse my dishes before loading them in the dishwasher. Even my own husband suggested that if I'm going to do that I might as well wash them by hand. The thing is I've been there done that. My dishwasher will not get the job done if you don't pre rinse. My old dishwasher would but it was a high dollar one that we couldn't afford when it was time for a new one. So my advice to him is either get me one that'll do the job or let me do things my way. If the dish has been sitting out all day with food in it the food tends to be harder to get off unless scrubbed. All I ask is that he rake his scraps into the scrap bowl then run water in his dish. That way when the dishwasher is loaded at night the food won't be stuck to the dish and it will be easier for the dishwasher to do its job. I only run my dishwasher at night after supper, so people shouldn't be surprised if they come in my house and there is a sink full of dishes. I find that it's easier to load everything at once to make sure everything fits and I'm told electricity is cheaper at night. I don't know how true that is but I heard it once and started doing so after hearing it. Plus, I just think it makes more sense because you won't wake up to dirty dishes the following day. I put plates, pots, and silverware in the bottom. Bowls, glasses, mugs and plastic or rubbermaid items go in the top. Occasionally you may find your items have a powder residue on them. When this happens I turn on my rinse cycle again. That usually takes care of the problem. If the dishwasher is beginning to develop a smell then run baking soda and vinegar in it when its empty. You also need to clean out your filter frequently. How frequently depends on how dirty your dishes are. Since I began pre rinsing I haven't had to do it as often. My filter has a secondary filter made of a net like material that gets smudged occasionally, stopping up the tiny holes. I found that sprinkling a little baking soda on it and going over it with an old tooth brush is the best way to clean it. I make my own detergent. I found a couple of different recipes online and so far this is the one that works for me. 2 cups borax, 2 cups baking soda 1/2 cup salt and 3-5 packs of sugar free lemonade. I use a half tsp in prewash and one tsp in main wash. For my rinse aid, I usr vinegar or peroxide. It's my daughters job to load the dishwasher on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. When she washes dishes, I do have to double check that she's doing it right. She occasionally misses dishes if I don't. For example, I was sick one night. My morning sickness has returned and it hits me whenever and wherever I am. So I didn't check on her when she loaded the dishwasher. Well, that morning, I went into my kitchen to unload and found dishes all over the kitchen. My husband is bad about not following my rules. I gathered them all up and moved them to the sink and ran water in them. Thankfully none of them were covered in food that sticks. Next I opened my dishwasher to unload it and what do I find, three dishes in the bottom. She washed all the glasses though. The top was full and the silverware tray was full. There was only two plates and a large mason jar in the bottom. So i unloaded the little bit that was in there and loaded it up to wash the stuff she didn't get. To be fair atleast the sink was empty until I gathered up the mess on the counter. Oh and there was a pot that he used since he had to fix supper. Just the smell of the food cooking made me sick. So after loading the bottom of the diahwasher and turning it on again I am stuck shaking my head at the waste of electricity but what can I do? Shes just a child. I talked to her about it and she seemed to be listening but who knows with kids just how much they actually hear. She has her daddys selective hearing. Anyway, I fixed her a cup of hot chocolate as she got ready for school then I sent her out to catch the bus. My opinion is that you should pre rinse. Its not the same as washing dishes out by hand as you are not using soap or a rag or scrubbing. Your just rinsing them and if they're really bad you let them set in water a little longer. The dishwasher does the actual work. Just about the only time I have to scrub a pot is when I scramble eggs. Then i use a metal scraper, rinse it and put it in tge dishwasher. One big load a day is better than two or three little loads per day in my opinion. Thats my idea of the proper use of a dishwasher.

kids in the garden

2012-03-25T11:20:00.001-07:00

Kids will do anything to get dirty so I put them to work in the garden. We had it planted in no time.

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Working on the Garden Again.

2012-03-06T01:21:00.001-08:00

I've been updating all of you on how my garden is coming. I showed you how I built a second raised bed giving me two 8x8 raised beds. I figure I can manage to squeeze 12 corn stalks in there as well as 12 okre plants and maybe even something else, but that's a big maybe. I know that last year I planted 6 plants in each row. I figure on getting about 6 rows as well that's about what I got last year. Well that's in each bed. So two rows of corn, two rows of okre and two rows of peas, maybe. It may all change when actual planting starts. Anyhow, that's what I'm figuring for my new raised bed. The other one will contain the same plants as last year only I plan on getting an early start at reining in my tomatoes. The stakes I bought last year were not strong enough and between the tomatoes and the cucumbers they smothered out my onions. So the onions are planted where the squash was last year. The cucumbers will be grown in a pot that I got recently at the dollar store. I already have my potatoes growing in a garbage can and two of my collard plants still remain from last year. My daughter also had to plant a head of cabbage for a school competition. When its time to plant I will buy the already started plants at the feed store. I will most likely buy 6 bell pepper plants, 2 squash plants, 6 tomato plants. Another thing I've added this year is a solar lantern that is 5 ft tall and has two hanging baskets on the sides. I figure on planting either pepper plants or some kind of herbs. I'm pretty sure I'm going to plant peppers. I also found this window basket at the dollar store. Since I have one window overlooking my garden I thought I might buy it as well. If I do, I will probably use it to plant herbs. I think I'm going to try to find one more garbage can and attempt to plant sweet potatoes. I've never planted them before and I've recently discovered my husband loves them. I've been cooking for that man for 10 years near about and never knew it. As far as herbs go, I mostly use garlic and parsley. So I will have to check on how to grow these two things since I've never grown them. I would eventually like to plant a little salad garden. my husband can eat like a rabbit. He loves salads and so does our daughter. I don't have much room left in my garden area. But maybe I can figure something out. I've thought about moving my strawberry bed from the front yard to the back. I think its a little late for that now. Should have done it in February if I was going to do it. I guess its fine where it is for now. My husband got a friend of his to draw us up a picture for landscaping around the house. I really liked his ideas. I only saw two things I would change and that's just because he didn't include the cyclone fence in the drawing. I am also not getting rid of my antique plows. They were my great grandfathers and I want them to remain as decoration. I have seen someone take parts off a tractor and bury them half in the ground so it looked like a tractor was buried in the flower bed. It was so cute. It was outside of my brother in laws tractor shop. His mother in law done it when her husband owned the business. I have no idea who owns it now. Anyhow, I need to get back on the subject. I don't know how my hubby plans on affording it but he is dead set on landscaping around the house I think it sounds like a great idea, but I'm trying to figure out a way to save a few bucks. We live on the edge of the woods and have several pines. I'm thinking we could mulch with pine straw. It's not as pretty as the wood chips, but its free. Either that or rent a wood chopper. All that is required is the labor. I think if were going to plant flowers they need to be perennials and the ones on the front need to be shade loving. So we need to find something affordable that will grow well from year to year. I would love to hear your ideas in this. Well that's all if you'd like to leave a comment please do so.
Catch yall later,
Country Mama

Canning Peas

2012-03-01T03:54:00.001-08:00

This morning I'm going to start canning some peas. I purchased a large bag full at the fruit stand on the other side of town. I have been anxious to use my new canner. Last year I tried canning with my pressure pot (not a pressure canner) and I made it work although I wasn't Happy with the difficulty involved when you don't have the right tools. This time I have everything I need so I'm laying everything out. Then I'm going to put my daughter on the bus and come back and get started. What I really wanted was a pressure canner but I settled for a water bath canner when I saw how much it cost. Living on a budget is tough and I couldn't bring myself to spend that extra $65.00, so I didn't. Maybe next year, ill get one. I have been watching a lot of prepper videos on YouTube, and while I am not a prepper like these people I do feel the need to be prepared for another katrina. We went entirely too long without power. I had two huge freezes that I lost everything in it. I decided then and there that I would eventually learn to can stuff, and be more self sufficient. All those preppers have some great ideas. So I'm watching everything I can find. One of my favorite YouTube channels is Ironhead41. Yall should really check him out. He shows you neat ways to can meats such as bacon and hotdogs. I'm going to try this the next time bacon comes on sell. Also he's pretty funny. I have a friend that talks, laughs and dresses just like him so I was cracking up while thinking of my buddy, Chuck! Well here's some pictures of my preparations. Got to go get my girl out of bed. Yall enjoy, Country Mama

Garden Prep

2012-02-19T13:16:00.001-08:00

Today I'm going to start preparing my raised beds for spring. Yesterday I went to Lowes and got some landscaping timbers, and nails. Now were going to get all my feed bags out of the barn and were going to lay them out and begin. Here's the instructions if you'd like to build your own.
First you'll need 8 landscaping timbers. Second you'llneed 12 nails. They need to be big enough to drive through two landscaping timbers. And thirdly you'll need a form of weed preventative. You can buy it in the store or you can use newspaper. But I will be using my old feedbags that are lying in my barn floor. First you lay out four landscaping timbers in a perfect square. Next you will lay out your bags within the square. It's best to cut one side and spread them open. Make sure you tuck them under the edges of the timbers. Once that's complete lay your other four timbers on the previous four and overlap the corners. Then hammer three nails into each corner. This will prevent them from sliding around. Now when you're ready you can add your compost. Just toss it on top of the feed bags and spread it out. When its time to plant this spring your garden bed will be ready. I am thinking of a way to cover it for those cold nights that surprise us. I will post about that if I figure it out. I'm thinking of using pvc pipes and plastic sheeting, kind of like a green house. I haven't quite figured it all out yet. Well take a look at the pics below. I hope this was informative enough.

More on Gardening

2012-02-13T22:26:00.001-08:00

Today I bought six blueberry bushes. I didn't get them planted because it started sleeting on me before I got home and it didn't let up til after dark. Tomorrow its supposed to rain early and then move out so I will get them planted tomorrow. I got three climax and three tifblue. Both are of the rabbiteye variety. The climax will fruit in the early season and the tifblue will fruit later keeping me in the berries just a little bit longer. I would say probably from May til July. I worked on a blueberry farm growing up. So I picked up a few things. I am pretty sure I will have no problem getting them to grow. I will probably try to propagate them later on, taking clippings off of them and dipping them in take root and then planting them in my little trays with a drip system of some kind and placing them in sunlight. The soil needs to have a high acid ph, so I will need to plant them in a potting mix with peat moss. For those of you who have never done it that's most of what you need to know. There is also info you can get on it. I picked up an info packet a few years ago from msu. They have a blueberry extension program near where I live. Blueberries are very good for you. They taste great too. I love making blueberry cobbler, blueberry jelly, blueberry muffins, blueberry pancakes, etc. There are so many different things you can make with blueberries. My brother even made a blueberry wine that was delicious. It wasn't too sweet and it wasn't too strong. It was literally just right. But my favorite way to eat blueberry is straight off the bush. I really think that fruit trees or bushes are the way to go when landscaping your yard. They are not only beautiful, they give back to ya every year. One thing you may have to worry about is birds. I've heard that if you put an aluminum pie plate in the berry bush its supposed to scare the birds away. I don't really know if this works, but I'm willing to find out. I just hope it doesn't look too tacky. Another great idea is pecan trees. But then you have to figure out how to outsmart the squirrels. I really wish I had a place and the know how to raise bees because they keep the fruit trees pollinated. I remember being in the blueberry field and having to run to the trucks as the bees started coming in. It was like all of a sudden this black cloud came flying in and all you hear is this big buzzing sound. As a kid I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I guess it wouldnt be if I had been allergic. The lady I worked for had something worked out with someone who had honey bees and they had a whole bunch of hives on the property near the blueberry field. I don't really have a good place to put honey bees due to the flash flooding. Everything that doesn't flood too bad is up around the house. My husband is allergic so being by the house would be a bad idea. I have no idea if my daughter is. I don't really want to chance it and find out she is. So anyway that's all for today. Well its actually already the next morning just looked at the clock and realized its 1AM so I reckon its bedtime yall. I hope yall got some good information about blueberries. Catch yall later, Country Mama

Get Your Gardens Ready

2012-02-08T21:39:00.001-08:00

It's getting to be that time of year again. I'm getting my garden ready for planting. I also planted some potatoes today. I found an article on YouTube about planting potatoes in buckets. Well I decided to use a garbage can. I cut holes in the bottom and then I filled it about a quarter of a way full and buried my potatoes, sprouts up. As it grows I will add more soil to it. Later you just turn the garbage can over and dump them out. It should be full of potatoes. Or if you choose you can just dig them out. I can't wait to see if this works. I hope it does because we eat a lot of potatoes I plan on getting a couple more garbage cans and planting red potatoes and sweet potatoes. I love gardening but I don't really get a lot of sunshine except for one small area that I can plant a garden so I'm all for ingenuity. I love learning new ways to garden in a small area. I also like to can my veggies and fruit. There's just something about growing your own food that I like. I feel pride in knowing that I grew something that I can feed my family. This year I plan on planting tomatoes, bellpeppers, cucumbers, squash, potatoes, onions, cabbage only because the school sent one home for a scholarship competition. My daughter is determined to win. The kid who grows the biggest cabbage wins a scholarship. So we are going to grow cabbage this year. I will be adding another raised bed this year so I can grow okra, peas and possibly corn if there's room. My daughter loves corn. I know it won't be much but were a small family of three. I think it will be enough for us. I will grow some things in big pots and I'm going to try to grow some watermelons out by the branch. I can't grow a garden there because it sometimes floods but I may chance it to grow watermelon. Who knows I haven't decided yet. Good Friday will be here before you know it. Get ready gardeners!
Country Mama

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-s1U-W510k&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Pictures from the Farm

2012-01-24T18:36:00.001-08:00

Just found these pictures from our old farm of our donkey Jack, our goat bumper and our horse Easter, her colt redman and a couple of our hogs. I couldn't find any of the cows or the chickens.

Cold Weather Means Cold Pets

2012-01-13T13:11:00.001-08:00

As the weather gets cold here in Mississippi and around the world, I hope everyone remembers to keep their animals warm too. I always throw an old blanket in my dogs box. Hay is often used but its not a good idea. My brothers dogs had some kind of bad reaction to the hay. As a result I never use it for my dogs. As for my horse, she is kept in her stall and I throw hay or straw on the floor to keep her warm. For horses that are out in the open you could put a horse blanket on them if you prefer. But hay always makes a warm bed. If its too cold to leave your dogs out don't be afraid to bring them in the house but have a cage or pet taxi for them if they're not house broke. Hay or straw makes a good warm bed for almost any other kind of animal. Don't forget to lock your chickens in the coop and put hay in the nesting box.

New Cook In The Family

2011-11-20T22:03:00.001-08:00

Well tonight I let my eight year old daughter cook supper. It was really good too. I did supervise but she did all the work. I'm thinking about making it a weekly thing. Yesterday while deer hunting at the DeSoto, I heard my husband bragging on her about being self sufficient. It makes me proud because I have really worked hard at getting her to be. I know I have made a lot of mistakes while raising her, but she is my first and only child and I have had a lot to learn. I'm happy that I have at least done something right. I know that when I got married I didn't know anything about the kitchen. I was terrible my mother in law had to teach me everything. My mother only taught me how to bake desserts at Thanksgiving and Christmas. That was how she was raised too. Her mother in law had to teach her to cook. I was determined to make sure I didn't do the same with my daughter. I have been letting her help in the kitchen since she was four but I have never actually let her cook anything besides eggs by herself. I've let her cook with her older cousins and I've let her assist me. And she makes a pretty good egg sandwich. But tonight she cooked and I assisted her. She salted the food to taste she checked the noodles. She scrambled the hamburger meat. She did it all. I just cut the onions, answered her questions and stood back and watched. It was good too. Her daddy didn't believe she cooked it until I told him what all she did. I think I will let her cook something new every week. I think she has cooking in her blood though. My husbands family are all great cooks and my daddys family is too. I know my brother in law can cook anything and everything and it will make your mouth water. I hope my daughter has his genes. She definitely loves her Uncles. They have all been good to her. She is rotten because of them. But underneath all that rotteness I have an amazing little girl. She is growing up so fast on me and I am determined to make as many memories as I can. After all our days are numbered and I want there to be happy wonderful memories of me when my daughter is a mother of her own.
Well that's all folks. Catch yall later. Country Mama

Picking up Pecans

2011-11-11T22:26:00.001-08:00

Nothing better than a day like this. My daughter and my niece picking up pecans in the pasture.