top of page
Sustainability
The whole point of this exercise was that Maggie wanted to live off the grid. While Ed is not ready to give up things like electricity and hot water, there are things we are doing to integrate sustainability into our life.
Picked Up Four Used Pallets For Chicken Tractor Build
Old Pickup Truck with Old Pallets We paid $5 per used pallet; I went and got them today. Ed wants to start building a chicken tractor...
Maggie
Mar 101 min read
5 views
0 comments
Spring Cleaning and Organizing
Old Garden Shed Made of Tin Garage Side Porch - Screened In Much of what was in our garage side porch has been and will continue to be...
Maggie
Mar 91 min read
4 views
0 comments
Getting Ready for Baby Chicks
Tuff's Super-Duty 110 Gallon Stock Tank Last weekend we made a trip to Tractor Supply to see if we could find a better alternative to the...
Maggie
Mar 91 min read
6 views
0 comments
Mushroom Logs
Several years ago, we successfully grew shiitake mushrooms using oak logs. Ironwood is also used to grow these mushrooms, so 2 years ago...
Ed
Jan 111 min read
4 views
0 comments
Heel Balm
After years of harvesting honey, we have accumulated a considerable amount of beeswax. While looking through a bee supply catalogue, I...
Ed
Jan 112 min read
5 views
0 comments
Trying To Develop Sustainably Via "Reusing"
While not always possible, we're trying to build out our remaining projects using recycled / repurposed items. Ed recently had a couple...
Maggie
Oct 27, 20241 min read
8 views
0 comments
From Dust to Dust; a Sad Day For Our Food Stores
Being relatively new to canning and storing food from our garden, we've now realized that we've been over canning each season (despite...
Maggie
Oct 7, 20242 min read
18 views
0 comments
Honey Season 2024
We are in the midst of mite treatment for our three beehives, so it seems like a good time to summarize our 2024 honey season. To start,...
Ed
Sep 22, 20243 min read
14 views
0 comments
Time To Store Chicken Coop Straw - Winter's Coming
Time to start thinking about winter. We use straw as bedding for our chicken coop and for the nesting boxes. During the spring and...
Maggie
Sep 14, 20241 min read
13 views
0 comments
Our First Blue/Green Eggs From New Pullets
Pretty sure there's just one of my new hens that's laying blue/green eggs - but it's fun to see!
Maggie
Sep 14, 20241 min read
8 views
0 comments
Gathering Eggs with a "Cute" Basket Makes Me Smile
I've gathered eggs using my shirt as a "pouch"; I've gathered eggs using the pockets in my sweaters and jackets (which can be dangerous...
Maggie
Aug 31, 20241 min read
12 views
0 comments
Gardening with Chickens
Last week, we harvested our garlic. We succession-plant bush beans, which was one of this weekend's tasks. The variety we plant mature in...
Ed
Jul 28, 20242 min read
9 views
0 comments
The Last of the New Chickens (this year)
On Wednesday of this week, I traveled an hour plus to get our last three pullets of the season: a Russian Orloff (front), a Blue Maran...
Maggie
Jul 13, 20241 min read
6 views
0 comments
9 Week Old Pullets Successfully Introduced to Existing Flock - Whew!
The second time was the charm. The first attempt at trying to integrate new pullets to our existing flock was terrible (all kinds of...
Maggie
Jun 20, 20242 min read
6 views
0 comments
What Happens When Getting Interested In Medicinal Herbs
I'm in the process of learning about all of the medicinal benefits of herbs and other greens. I've bought reference books that outline...
Maggie
Jun 20, 20242 min read
8 views
0 comments
Correcting Course with New Pullet Introduction to Existing Flock
Boy - did I make a series of mistakes in judgement! Thank goodness I was able to course correct and all is well (at least for now)....
Maggie
May 29, 20243 min read
13 views
0 comments
What?! More Chickens?
Ed and I've been talking about getting a couple of pullets again this spring so that we'll have eggs over the winter. (Only first year...
Maggie
May 28, 20242 min read
7 views
0 comments
Garden 2024 is in!
It took nearly 3 months, but the 2024 version of our garden is finally completed. The extra time this year was spent installing a fence...
Ed
May 26, 20242 min read
6 views
0 comments
Restocking Bees
Unfortunately, all three of our hives failed to make it through the winter. I pulled all three apart last weekend to look for clues and...
Ed
Apr 27, 20242 min read
11 views
0 comments
Chicken Pot Pie - Using Canned Garden Beans and Carrots
We've said this before, but Ed and I are always trying to do our menu planning around the foods we've grown and preserved. The past...
Maggie
Dec 17, 20231 min read
19 views
0 comments
Meeting Neighbors Thru a Cookie Exchange
I went to a neighborhood "barn sale" this past summer and met a neighbor for the first time. She and her husband were new to the area...
Maggie
Dec 17, 20232 min read
15 views
0 comments
How We Pet Outdoor Barn Cats in the Cold Rain
It's a relatively cold, rainy, and overall blustery day here in Wisconsin. Ed took off work mid-week this week in order for us to catch...
Maggie
Oct 12, 20232 min read
11 views
0 comments
Final Honey Step for 2023
After allowing our 5 gallons of honey to settle for a week, it was time to bottle. We bought a mix of 1-pound and 2-pound bottles and set...
Ed
Aug 27, 20232 min read
10 views
0 comments
Honey Day
In the end, we produced honey, but it was a challenge. We had previously checked the hives and determined that we would be able to take...
Ed
Aug 27, 20233 min read
6 views
0 comments
Seed Saving Tomato Seeds - First Time
I'm trying to keep myself organized as I try saving tomato seeds. We planted a variety of tomatoes this year and they are all either...
Maggie
Aug 21, 20231 min read
6 views
0 comments
Notes From the Honey Harvesting Side Kick
If it had been just me, the side kick, there wouldn't have been any honey harvested this year. Ed did most of the strategizing and...
Maggie
Aug 21, 20232 min read
7 views
0 comments
Our First Ever Pullet Eggs - Woo Hoo!
At least one of our eleven pullets (raised from 1 day old chicks) has been spending time in one of our nine nesting boxes. With a couple...
Maggie
Aug 12, 20232 min read
9 views
0 comments
Preparing for Honey
As we approach August, we are starting to count the days until we try and extract honey from our hives. I opened each of our three hives...
Ed
Jul 29, 20232 min read
13 views
0 comments
2 New Black Kitty's - Smudge & Maple
My new area friend and her significant other have barn cats who in turn had kittens about 8 weeks ago. Last night, she was kind enough to...
Maggie
May 26, 20233 min read
7 views
0 comments
5 Week Old Chicks Moved to Forever Home
It had to be done. Our 11 baby chicks, now officially 5 weeks old as of today, were getting way too big for the brooder in our basement....
Maggie
May 24, 20233 min read
9 views
0 comments
bottom of page