85 Degrees! Girls Gone Wild, Garden Stuff, Independence Days Challenge, Great Books

85 Degrees This Week- It has been a wacko spring,  yo-yoing between winter/spring. Now we're yo-yoing between spring/summer. The forecast is for the mid 80's til Thursday! Oh joy, not really. This is just too warm, too fast. I had to unpack my summer shorts, most of which don't fit! Yay! I'm down to about 40 lbs. smaller. So off to the thrift store a couple of days ago, and I scored! Lots of great shorts and a few summer tops. I must say- it's so much easier to find a LOT of clothes my size, now that I'm moving out of the "plus sizes". I always hated the lack of choice. I'm big on that :)  I will be taking in some of my favorite summer clothes, to get more mileage out of them. Ironically, I had bought 2 like-new L.L. Bean linen camp shirts during the winter. They're way too big now! Break out the sewing machine!!!

Girls Gone Wild! I loved the title, sorry I had to! The little chicks are getter bigger fast. Molly and Rose have been taking field trips out to the living room this week-

Rose in the back, Molly in the front

Tail feathers coming up!

I brought out our $2.00 junk outdoor playpen. It's perfect for the chicks to get a feel for the outdoors during the warm days, and to keep them separate from the two big girls. They had fun today, but cried for me a lot after a while :) They calmed right down when I picked them up, went inside and .... nap time!

Garden- I mowed with our push mower, and I think I hit every piece of bark dust in the universe in the front yard, erg! Nothing like it jamming every 2 feet. I finally broke out the rake, and got most of the rest. Looks much better! With all the rain, things are really greening up fast. I washed the outside windows- I love my windex scrubber thingy for windows, it actually works! I cleaned up the clutter in the house, did laundry, whew, busy! My seedlings inside are doing well, tons of basil-

leggy nasturtiums, and Swiss chard didn't do so well

BUT, the good news- Dave, my hubby, got a free like-new display case, black wire metal with shelves- about 2' wide, 5' tall, 1' deep. It will be perfect to add a grow light system to next spring and have an "official seed starting rack". And it was FREE! I love rescuing stuff that would go in the dumpster otherwise. I just don't have a good set up for windows facing the light in the spring... and since we can get lighting at wholesale... :)

Independence Days Challenge-

1. Plant Something- We'll be setting up the lumber for the new raised bed tomorrow, for veggie planting.

2. Harvest Something- Eggs, chives, grass clippings going into the compost!

3. Preserve Something- Same, freezing more food. 

4. Store Something- I keep stocking up on more basics every week, a little at a time. After garden is set up will add another rain barrel for the garden.

5. Manage Reserves- Get A Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep- The 2 new chicks are growing fast! I found a nice, natural wormer, so we won't need to lose any eggs any more! Woo hoo!

6. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipes- I'm taking more home food to work for lunch. Working on the last of the homemade canned foods.

7. Build Community Food Systems- Going to let co-workers know I will have eggs for sale soon, once wormer is out of their system. I will start going to the farmers market now that they have opened today.

8. Recycle/Re-Use- A lot more composting, feeding chickens food scraps. I'm taking in more clothing for summer, again. Bought several items at Goodwill for the hot weather. Will be building a new raised bed from recycled, free lumber Dave got from work.

9. Skill Up- Reading Storey's Guide for Chickens and Urban Homesteading by Rachel Kaplan w/K. Ruby Blume, excellent! 

10. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something- Keeping bigger clothes to take in. Got the new seed rack components. Re-purposing some pillows soon with leftover fabrics...

 

Great Books- Reading Storey's Guide for Chickens, excellent reference book. I wish I had bought it sooner!!! 

                                

 

Also excellent- Urban Homesteading by Rachel Kaplan with K. Ruby Blume! I find some homesteading books too general, this one has lots of very specific ideas

                                

I'm also reading Still Life With Chickens- Starting Over In A House By The Sea, a bio by Catherine Goldhammer. I love her style and wit. I can see why it got such great reviews! Only $2.00 on Amazon...

 

 

                            

 

Happy Summer, I mean, Spring!