Michael has worked long hours this past few weeks. He was in need of some rest. We knew the weather was due to be cold and rainy so we decided to make this weekend a relaxed one. We enjoyed coffee this morning and did some farm planning. We placed our chicken order. We did run into some snags. First, the hatchery that we have always used in the past was out of chickens. The first available date to get our chickens was May 9th. We knew this was too late because it would be in November when they would start laying eggs. We checked several other hatcheries and they too were all out of chickens. We finally found one that had what we wanted and placed our order. We ended up purchasing 50 meat birds and 30 layers. (Jerry R. you will get your 12 chickens soon, my friend)! They are due to arrive sometime next week. We almost ordered turkeys. We were going to try 5 turkeys to see if they were good, but the hatchery would only let us order in quantities of 15. That is a lot of turkeys even for our family. We decided to wait a bit on the turkey order. After spending some time planning, I decided to drag out the sewing machine and see if I could do some practice runs. I have identified my problem with sewing. I can't measure properly. Michael spent a lot of time showing me how to measure. I guess I was sleeping during math class many years ago! He reminded me that he is a woodworker and sewing is the same except you are working with cloth instead of wood. Makes sense to me...I was just thankful that I had his help. After a few hours of work, I finally made a square that I was satisfied with for my quilt.
I took my time and didn't feel pressured like I did at the sewing class. I actually enjoyed the time spent today. I wasn't near as stressed as I had been last week. I didn't even need Tylenol! I did go hunt a pair of reading glasses and that made it easier too. It does help when you can see what you are doing. And the best part??? I didn't even cut my hand! See, I told you we had a good day.grace and peace,
julie
8 comments:
looks great!
It looks wonderful! And all your corners match up!
Have you tried McMurray hatchery? I think Dan and I were looking on there the other day and you can buy whatever quantity of turkeys you want....they might need to come with other birds too, tho. Not sure. What kind of chickens did you get?
And btw, I made your sausage lentil soup today! It was really good!
Paige,
I am glad you liked the soup. The leftovers freeze well if it makes more than the two of y'all need. We have always used Murray McMurray. They were the ones who had a 15 turkey minimum, and all the birds that we wanted were out of stock until May. We ordered from Estes Hathcery: Bard Rocks, Buff Orpington, Aracannas, Rhode Island Reds, White Leghorns, and our meat birds are a Cornish Rock Broiler.
idigpotatoes,
THANKS!!!!
grace and peace,
julie
Haha, you don't know how Dan eats! I thought I'd have to learn how to cook for fewer people (from being used to cooking for my family), but we make the same amount and automatically have leftovers for lunch the next day! Good to know tho.
That stinks about the turkeys. Dan and I had thought about getting some too at some point. Maybe we could split an order sometime if we ever get down to Tennessee!
your quilt top is going to be beautiful. i too love to sew but for me i love the quilts i sew by hand, just love the notion, i don't know.
about the meat chickens. how did you learn what you do know about chickens. i thought you ate the laying hens after they stopped laying, (remember i'm not quite there, ha)but at any rate, have you'll ordered before these meat chickens and have you cleaned and ate them?
thanks so much
I'm glad you were able to enjoy the sewing today. I love to quilt. It's so much fun to have a finished product made with your own hands.
I agree with Michael about wood working and sewing. I was helping my husband with the deck and when he ran into problems with things not fitting like he planned I was able to come up with a solution. He asked how I knew to do that particular thing and I answered "Because I sew!" He didn't get it.
Kay,
We have kept chickens the last 8 years. That is how we learned...trial and error. Cheri's family gave us our first hens. I dont' remember how many, but I do remember that our 3rd son fell in love with them. He loved them so much that very quickly Cheri became one of his favorite people! In the beginning, we asked tons of questions. Each time we buy a new type of animal, we also buy The Storey's Guide for that animal. This held true for our chickens. It is a manual that tells you everything you ever wanted to know about that animal...and some things you didn't want to know! I have to admit, by the time our chickens quit laying I am not at all interested in putting them in the stew pot. We have usually had them for several years and they become a familiar face here on our farm. I usually just let them finish out their life enjoying our farm. However, if times were tough then we would eat them. Jacob would have a hard time though because these are truly his ladies. We buy specific meat birds for butchering and nobody becomes affectionate with them. We all know their destination. I think everybody could enjoy a small amount of laying hens. They would even be acceptable in a neighborhood if you had the proper place to keep them. The eggs are beyond wonderful. Right now we are reduced to eating grocery store eggs. We had a hawk come through and wipe out all of our chickens except for two. Jacob calls the grocery store eggs Unhappy eggs because they don't have the bright vibrant color or the wonderful flavor!
grace and peace,
julie
Paige,
Y'all just move on down the road from us and we will split turkeys with you anytime!!!
Dreamer,
I did have fun this past Saturday with the whole quilting. It was also very rewarding to finally get something that was kicking my backside. I can imagine your husband's surprise with your "help" on the deck. That is always fun to add something that was unexpected to help solve a problem!
grace and peace,
julie
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