How Many in Our First Litter of Baby Rabbits?

Lacey had her first litter of rabbits today! I am so proud of our new momma.

Our First Time Momma Rabbit is Building a Nest

Little Lacey is about to be a momma rabbit!

Hens Go Crazy For Bread Pudding

Our hens love getting treats. They don't realize they're usually leftovers.

Last week Chris made bread pudding out of the rest of the bread I'd made him. What he didn't finish went in the fridge and because I can't eat wheat it was forgotten. I don't like wasting food but the girls turn leftovers into delicious fresh eggs. ❤

Garden Cleanup

Rain or not, the garden strip needed to be cleaned up. The girls helped by looking for snacks brought up by pulling up roots. 

The compost pile continues to expand with all the debris but has been breaking down faster with all the rain. Next summer I'm going to keep the top covered with a tarp to keep moisture in it so it won't dry out in the summer heat.

I'm looking forward to growing more food in the same spot next year. 😀

Kitchen Greenhouse Tour

Six months ago we started our garden from seed indoors. I like looking back at how we began what has now become a way of life for us.

The seedlings we started in the kitchen were moved to the new garden when the average last frost date was behind us. We have been thrilled with how much food you can grow in small spaces. 

I'm so glad we decided we didn't have to wait until we have a place outside of town. If you want to homestead don't wait! There are so many skills you can learn and experiences you can gain wherever you are. We've both learned so much this year that we can use from now on that we wouldn't have if we hadn't started.

Grow herbs in your flower beds or in containers. Start some veggie plants from seed and watch the miracle of growth before your eyes. Start doing little things and you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish. 

Cooking Up Cookies

My man doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, but he does have a weakness for cookies. Rather than have him pick up a package of cookies filled with white flour and unnecessary ingredients, I thought I'd bake some with whole wheat flour instead.

Now, I'm not a baker. Ovens and I have never been able to work that well together. Ever. I've set off smoke detectors more times than I will ever admit to. I've made biscuits that Chris just couldn't handle eating more than the customary "They're fine honey" one.

Rather than tell the oven "It's not you, it's me" and move on to store-bought pastries and no-bake cookies I've continually vowed to improve the skill (or lack thereof) and try new recipes. I recently had a crack in that resolve when I messed up a batch of no-bake cookies. Yep, no-bake cookies. Something so simple you could use a microwave for and don't even have to use a stove. Still, I want to improve. Besides, it can only go up from here.

Since Chris likes raisins, I found a recipe for soft raisin cookies. After gathering all the ingredients I got to work. I had one store bought egg left and decided that it was older than our hen's eggs and should use it for baking. We had bought them for Chris to make breakfast for friends at the elk hunting camp he went to a few weeks back. With our girls only laying a few a day we needed enough to feed five or more people.

When I added our hen's egg I was surprised at how much paler and runnier the store egg was compared to it.  

The egg on the left is a store bought egg and the one on the right are from our happy backyard hens.

I normally can't resist the urge to eat all the cookie dough eat a bit of raw cookie dough but the fact that this doughy goodness was full of gluten that wouldn't make me a happy camper made it easier to restrain myself. There was no tasting. Just a lot of drooling.

It took a bit of time and patience to get all the dough on the cookie sheets but it was well worth it. I didn't burn them and the house smelled wonderful when Chris got home from work. I gave him a smaller cookie to keep him away from them long enough to take a picture of all of them together (minus the sacrificial distraction cookie of course).

We ended up with just short (two less) of seven dozen cookies. My sugar canister is temporarily housing half the goodies until I can find a cookie jar. I'm hoping to find a glass one similar to my sugar canister at a thrift store.

I'm happy I made them. Chris ate a ton of them right away and took some to work. My turbulent relationship with the oven may have taken a turn for the better. I think I'll try some sugar cookies now. I may need a lot of practice before Christmas. 

Backyard Homestead Progress

It feels wonderful to be able to accomplish some projects today that we've been wanting to get done for a while.

Today we moved both of the chicken coops to other spots in the yard. The big girls' red "pretty coop" was moved to it's permanent spot for the rest of the year. After finally getting it level (there isn't a level spot in the backyard) it was cleaned out.

The only way to really clean it out is to take out the floor tray and climb inside.

The little girls' temporary "ugly coop" was moved to where the pretty coop had been so that we could use the same fenced run. Chris put up a new larger run for the pretty coop so the big girls would have lots of room to actually run. And run they did! They love the new set up.