Of Mice and Hen...

Yesterday afternoon as I was mowing in the chicken pen, I saw a commotion...

When I saw what was going on, I ran for my camera.

She's on the run, but do you see what this young hen has in her mouth?...

It was her special prize, and there was NO way she was going to share!



She ran around the pen for about ten minutes, with about a dozen other hens at her heels. She even outran the bullies old ladies!

Am I so naive that I didn't think a chicken would catch and eat a mouse?  Just because I'd never seen it doesn't mean it isn't possible...I saw it with my own eyes!

Rhubarb Recipes...

Do you like the taste of rhubarb?   

We do, and Jim's Aunt and Uncle have a large patch of rhubarb that they are willing to share.  This is the time of year that it's found in abundance, so I've been scouring cookbooks, looking for new recipes.  

Here are a couple of new recipes that I tried this week...

Rhubarb Bread...and Rhubarb Jelly...

Rhubarb Bread

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 cup sour milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups rhubarb, chopped

Topping

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Combine ingredients and pour into 2 or 3 greased loaf pans.  Sprinkle with topping and bake at 325* for 40-50 minutes.

Best served warm, this bread also tastes great spread with butter and fresh Rhubarb Jelly!

Rhubarb Jelly

5 cups Rhubarb, finely chopped

4 cups sugar

1/3 cup strawberry gelatin

Mix rhubarb and sugar; let stand overnight.  Cook 5 minutes and add gelatin.  Stir well and put into jars immediately.  Seal.

*I didn’t seal the jars, but instead put them in the refrigerator.  We’ll use them fast enough, or I might give some to a friend or two.  The jelly seemed rather runny at first, but when chilled, set quite nicely.

If you have access to rhubarb, give them a try...I won't guarantee they'll last long!


*Linking to Farm Friend Friday and Farm Girl Friday...

Like Kids In a Candy Shop...

Jim baled the first hay of the season tonight.

After they were finished unloading, he and the kids shoveled the loose hay off the bottom of this  wagon into the hay racks in the meadow...a bedtime snack of sorts for the cows...

You'd think those cows had died and gone to Heaven!  They surrounded that wagon like their very lives depended on a taste of that hay!

Just like kids in a candy shop!

Breathe Deeply...

Breathe deeply...

Ahhh...

There's nothing quite like the smell of freshly mowed hay...

I wish I could bottle it up!

...and just for fun...

I snapped this picture of our Amish neighbor mowing his hay in the field next to ours...

Wishing for all of you a beautiful spring day!

Seeding Alfalfa...

One of the first things that farmers in our area do in the spring (as far as field work goes) is to seed alfalfa.  We have always tried to seed alfalfa the first week of April.  This year however, because of the extremely wet and cool spring that we've had, the alfalfa has gone in later than usual...up to a month behind schedule!

Most of our crops are put into the ground using the no-till method, with one exception being alfalfa.  Alfalfa can be no-tilled, but we don't usually do it that way. 

 A stand of alfalfa will last for several years before it is rotated with either corn or beans, and Jim didn't put in any new stands this year.  So... since I don't have any pictures of the seeder in action, I'll try to describe it to you!

The ground where the alfalfa will be seeded needs to be very smooth and finely worked.  After discing to break up the clumps of dirt, and spring-hiring to smooth the soil, we usually go on a rock picking expedition.  Any stones or rocks bigger than our fists are gathered out of the field and added to the rock pile.  (Did you know that most farms have one of those?  Just check out behind the barn, or in some out of the way place and you'll surely find it!)

Then it's time for the seeder...

The wheels on the seeder are for transport only...they will be removed for use in the field.  The seed is poured into the seed box on the top...and those  heavy rollers on the back tightly pack the soil over the freshly seeded alfalfa...

The seeds are tiny...

If all goes well, with the right combination of rain and sunshine, the field will soon look like this one.  (I "borrowed" a picture of our neighbor's field!)  The green haze that you see in the top picture is the alfalfa beginning to grow.  The close up at the bottom is of the leaves just beginning to form...

This alfalfa will grow quickly, and the farmer will likely get three cuttings of hay from it this year.

We own one of several seeders that are in the area; neighboring farmers rent it by the acre.  Just the other day, an Amish neighbor brought it back and was chatting with Jim for a bit.  He remembers using it way back in 1977, right after Jim's dad purchased it. 

 It's made a lot of rounds, and I'm sure if it could talk, it would have lots of stories to tell!

Pullet Eggs...

Have you ever seen pullet eggs?

Two weeks ago we acquired fifteen new chickens...pullets...eighteen week old layers.  They've spent the past two weeks adjusting to their new surroundings and establishing themselves in the pecking order.  They're still a bit camera shy...

...and now they've begun laying their first eggs.  I put one of the eggs that our older chickens are laying in the basket beside the pullet eggs to show the size difference...

They've got to be some of the cutest looking eggs...complete with a yolk and a white, just like a "regular" egg, but in miniature form!  In a few short weeks, they'll be laying with the big girls, and I expect that we'll get a few double yolkers in the mix. That's always a fun surprise!

Welcome, ladies!  I hope you're enjoying your new home!


Linking up to Farm Friend Friday and Farm Girl Friday!

Colors of Spring...

Spring is by far my favorite season!

Warmer weather...more hours of daylight...colors...hearing the birds sing...mowing the grass...seeing neighbors outside...getting more eggs from our chickens...planting garden...the feel of fresh dirt between my fingers...new life...these are just a few of the reasons I love spring!

Here are a few samples of the colors I've been seeing and thoroughly enjoying this week...

...and yesterday afternoon I got the first part of my garden planted!  I put in potatoes, onions, zucchini, cucumbers and two varieties of green beans... 

The potatoes and onions should have been planted earlier, but it's been so wet that it just didn't happen.  I put the tomato cages in place yesterday, so I'll know just where they're going; right now they're hardening on my porch until the danger of frost is over.  In late May, the lima beans will go in, and the weeds will have started to grow vigorously. (if only we could do away with that part!)

It just doesn't get much better than this!