Happy New Year! Deep Donating, Chicken Warming Treats- Snow & 4 Degrees

Happy New Year!!!

I'm hoping you and yours all have your best year ever!

Deep Donating-

I do a lot of donating year round. I usually do more in the summer and winter, when I'm off work for break. I have more time to sort, sift, re-organize and re-evaluate. I'm a big proponent of not having stuff just to have stuff. There are lots of people who have so much stuff they lose things in their own home. I find that scary! While I know I'm pretty organized, things can get sloppy. I just donated a full carload of stuff- clothing, shoes, bedding, pillows, 2 framed prints, a bread machine, mugs, water bottles and more. It's good to purge! I finished my linen/bedding closet yesterday and now it's 1/2 full. I'm tackling the towel/medicine closest tomorrow. It's just so easy to accumulate stuff. These tips re-inspired me to dig deeper, donate deeper- Creative Ways to Declutter  There's lots more info online on this that you might find useful. I will be donating more holiday decor after I saw this year I still have too many winter/Christmas goodies. I'd rather have less that's really great looking than just a lot of stuff. That negative space really enhances things. This kind of cluttered house below would drive me nuts!

Chicken Warming Treats- Snow & 4 Degrees-
With temps down to 4 degrees at night this week  (14 now at 1 p.m.) we have the heat lamp on in the coop. It's hard wired in and very safe. I turn it on when it's in the mid-20's or lower. I give the hens extra treats in the cold weather to give the them some extra calories. While they get daily fruits, veggies, stale bread, meats, etc. I took pity on them yesterday. I bought meal worms and cracked corn! Oo la la! They had never seen meal worms when I thew some in the coop, but attacked them voraciously!!! "Dried bugs, OMG!" They liked the cracked corn I gave them today as well, much cheaper :) The sun finally came out the last 2 days! I lured the girls out by hanging outside the coop door, with an old towel on the ground. They actually came all the way out! "Ma, the sun's out, now what do we do???" After 5 minutes they went back in for more treats....

Where's the treats???

Little Homestead's Year End Review

Little Homestead's Year End Review-

After reading Leigh's post 2014 Year-in-Review it reminded me to look back and see what we accomplished here this year. Here's a list, not necessarily in order....

* In the winter we had some really cold weather, down to 0. Brr.  Kept the chickens and other outdoor critters alive. Lots of bird food, treats, and the sun room for the hens.

Heated bird bath helped this guy :) Got it thrifted!

*In the spring we finally remodeled our main bathroom ourselves (except the exotic plumbing), and we love it! We had major water rot in part of the floor, but not too bad. We got mostly Ikea items and I love the gray flooring!

*I rehabbed my 2 living room chairs with foam, batting and new covers. Love the grain sack style :) And the covers were 1/2 price!

*We insulated and sheet rocked (leftover from the bathroom) the ceiling of the coop. It has been much warmer so far!!! It's supposed to be 4 degrees tomorrow night, brrrr....  Dave also added an additional vent for better airflow.

*In early summer we expanded the back veggie garden quite a bit. Probably about 200-300 more sq. feet. We planted Raspberries and Marion berries, and got a tiny harvest. I added some perennial flowers and veggies there, and had a pretty good harvest. Less mowing and more food production!

Before, hose marks the new bed

After, my girl checking it out

After, with squash, cukes and herbs

*Got a great harvest of nectarines! Zero apples and 5 pears from our new baby tree in front, big fruit!

Canned a LOT! Freezer is jammed too, time for more cobblers!

*Had both our front fruit trees professionally pruned, much better shape. Too big for us to tackle.

*We had new gutters installed (working great) and I bought a new rain barrel- 

 *Got 4 new chicks! We had 2 retired, then 1 passed away. The 1 that was left had gotten really aggressive, so she was re-homed with our little roo we accidentally got. All 3 hens are laying daily, loving the fresh eggs!!!

*Dave built a new compost pile out of free pallets- 

 

 *Kept working on the pantry closet-

*Found tons of great thrifting finds, like this hand-painted, solid pine Swedish folk art clock, $3.00!

*Did some interior painting, got rid of the dark brown wood hall closet doors. What a difference some white paint makes!

Before

After, and did 1 more coat

*Started fermenting, love it!

*Started making water kefir, great for my tummy, Anya's too-

*Re-did 2 free chairs that I had covered with chicken fabric in a hurry. I painted and re-covered with some blue linen to go more with our dining set-

Before

After

*Went on a mini-vacation for 3 days to Sun Valley, rode to the top of the mountain, had lunch, shopped a bit, had fun!

My little something from Sun Valley, made in Canada!

*Went to the Idaho State Fair, had a blast as always-

I love old stuff :)

Come home with me little piggie, he he he...

*Ditched Dish and saved a ton! Dave did the install and we got Netflix, very happy...

*Medical: had 2 cataract surgeries, avoided another foot surgery with acupuncture, pretty good otherwise.

*Dave got a new, better paying, make-him-happier job. We're both happy!!! Much better work environment. He's much more appreciated, and huge benefits!

*I've reached almost 500 posts! Wow. I have about 90 followers, that I know of. It's been another fun year of sharing ideas, photos, and reading all the encouraging comments. Thanks to all!

For next year? We're going to re-do the front yard for more food production and beauty. Come spring we'll be at it. Right now... it's snowing~~~

Coal House At War Show, Chicken Wire Frame, Dark Days Challenge Meal

Coal House Families

Coal House At War Show-
I stumbled on to this gem of a "reality show" on PBS, and wow! It's about the very simple, and tough, life in a 1940's coal area in Wales. Funny, sad, and very inspiring. Episode 1 is below, and it's still airing. When you were "drafted" in Wales it was either in the military, OR the coal mines. Blackouts, air raid drills, children being sent away to safe areas (sometimes for years), what a tough life! I hope you'll watch some...

Kitchen in one of the coal cottages

All ready!

Chicken Wire Frame- 

This last summer in Idaho City I saw this in a store and decided to create my own-

$27.00, my frame was $10!

There's was taken down to bare wood, and I prefer the chippy paint. I found an old window on the way home from there, at the Habitat Store, and Dave helped me break out the glass. A couple days ago I took a small wire brush to it and wiped it down with a damp cloth. The we stretched left-over chicken wire to the back, stapled it well and covered the edges with duct tape. I'll be getting all my green, vintage kitchen tools out and adding them to do something similar to the above. I'll post photos when I'm done!

I love the layers of paint

Anya had to get into the act :)

Dark Days Challenge Meal-

With the holidays so busy I didn't focus on this as much. This week I did make breakfast for dinner, since Dave was out of town. With my own eggs and local challah bread I made---- french toast! It was amazing, and even more so with a few strips of uncured, organic bacon. Yummy!