New Growth!

Is 'Wordless Wednesday' still a thing? I hope so. 

This is what things are looking like around here - new growth! To save time and resources this year we no-tilled our Sudan crop right into the stubble of our winter hay crops. Since we have such limited water this year we needed to plant a drought tolerant crop and needed to save every drop of water in the soil. No-till helped is accomplish that. 

The green in the Sudan crop, the yellow/light brown is the stubble. 

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!

Thank you to the men and women that have served our country! THANK YOU to those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for this little girl's freedom!!

What I Wore Wednesday

I thought it would be fun to do a “What I Wore Wednesday” but then I got home from running errands and Avery was crying so I never got around to taking an outfit picture, so instead here is Avery’s outfit for this evening (she is much cuter anyway):

One of a kind onesie by Carter’s and Skirt also by Carter’s

She is very happy to show off her adorable outfit!

A month in pictures

Little Miss Avery is (over) a month old!  Time is sure flying by!  Here is her first month in pictures:

The day she was born.

Asleep on the couch with daddy.

Cousin Heman holding her for the first time. 

Cousin love.

Sleeping beauty …

Adorable little face!

Daddy and Avery

Chance not sure what to do with her.

She cried, so he licked her. 

Laying around

Ready for a walk.

One month old!

Just hanging out … I don’t usually put clothes on her, she just hangs out in a diaper. 

I feel like I’ve been taking tons of pictures, but I think I need to take more!!  She is growing up so fast!

Baby Prepping: Baby’s Room

The baby will be in our room with us for a few days or weeks or months (who knows!) but having all of this little one’s stuff ready for him or her will be helpful!

There are many great checklists of what you need for baby in the first few months.  I used this list, and this list, and also this list just to be sure. 

clothes - Don’t buy too many newborn outfits – the baby might not fit into them anyway.  I know this series of posts is about not having to leave the house for a while after baby is born, but if I need more clothes I’ll give my mom or a friend some cash and a list of what I need.  Or I can just let them hang out in a diaper – not like the baby cares what they are wearing!  I washed all the newborn and 0-3 month clothes I received at my baby shower that night so they are hanging in the closet ready for baby to wear. 

blankets – We have plenty to keep baby warm

receiving blankets – I have enough to receive a small army all washed and ready to go!

formula – I plan on breastfeeding, but I have samples from my dr and Buy Buy Baby just in case!

diapers & wipes – we are using cloth once the baby fits into them but are stocked up on disposables for the first month.  I don’t want to have to worry about learning what to do with a newborn and learning to use cloth diapers (not that they are any harder, but that’s what the plan is).

bedding – Only thing on the baby’s bed should be a sheet.  No blankets, stuffed animals, bumpers, or anything else – this reduces the chance of SIDS.  I’ve grown this baby for the past 10 months so having some cute things on the crib is not worth the risk in my opinion. 

diaper bag – stocked and ready to go so leaving the house when we feel like it will be just a little easier. 

Baby Prepping: Everything Else

Now that we’ve covered baby prepping in almost every room in the house let’s talk about everything else.

dog food – the dogs need to eat too and I do not want to have to lug a huge bag of dog food from the store with a newborn and some hurting lady parts!

cat food – cats have to eat too

fuel – I am the kind of person who waits for the “dummy light” to go on before I put diesel in my car.  Michael hates that I do this, but I hate getting fuel, so I guess we’re even.  I am trying to make sure my car is full or fuel so I can at least make the trek to the hospital when the time comes. 

oil change – This was Michael’s was of preparing for the baby – he changed the oil in his truck and got the oil changed in my car for me.  Now we are set for a while and won’t have to worry about changing the oil with a newborn in tow. 

car seat installed – This was another thing Michael did to prepare for the baby, it needs to be installed to leave the hospital so you might as well get it done before you are trying to leave!

thank you cards – I bought a cute package on clearance from Target.  I’ll have enough on hand to write a quick thank you to people who bring us a meal or the baby a gift or help us in some other way after baby is born.

stamps – to mail off bills (we pay most online buy hospital bills will require a stamp) and thank you cards

updated address book – If you are going to mail out thank you cards you’ll need an up to date address for the person, so make sure you have addresses or a way to find them quickly 

birthday cards/presents – If there are any birthday in the month your baby is expected get them before and wrap them!

diaper changing basket – We have a stocked diaper changing basket that can be moved around the house as needed.  It will be perfect to grab and move into any room.  The baby’s room will be stocked and so will our bedroom, but having something mobile will come in handy (even though our house is small and we don’t need it – it will be nice)!  Diapers, wipes, a receiving blanket or two, burp cloths, a swaddle thing, and some baby lotion are what I put in our basket. 

Chick update

It has been a few weeks now since we brought our chicks home from the feedstore. They are already looking more like chickens and less like cute chicks. 

They were small enough for the brooder set up for about 2 weeks. But those Buff Orpingtons are giants and we had to move them out faster than we expected. To accommodate their need for more space we decided to build their hen house a bit early. My fantastic hubs found the plans online and built the plywood house you see below. It was pretty simple and only used a sheet of plywood so it was very inexpensive. 

While the chicks still needed heat we kept it in the garage with the hen door closed. The heat lamp clamped on the the side easily and gave them much more space but still kept them cozy. When they could be away from the heat we moved the box outside and took the floor off. This let them start scratching and start getting used the the weather. We moved it daily in our home orchard so they always had fresh grass - and we didn't have to clean anything.

Then this morning we put together a temporary yard for them so they can start going outside and getting used to the dogs. The younger dog really needs to get used to the chickens. This yard we put up with materials we had around the house. With the warmer weather arriving, they need more space yet again. 

Note- dogs love the chase and kill chickens. Usually once they start killing chickens, they don't stop. It is fun for the dog. The difference between a dog killing a chicken and a predator (like wild animal) is that the dog will leave the dead chicken but other animals will eat it. So if you find a dead (and mangled) chicken, odds are a dog got it. Once you find one you need to act quickly to predator/dog proof the pen or you will keep finding dead chickens.

There are several reasons why this is just a temporary pen.
1- after a week or two there would be no more grass left. That is fine but we would prefer to have them move around and help mow the orchard grass.
2- this pen would need to be taller or have a top. Chickens can't fly well or far but they can get up high to roost. Within a few weeks the chickens will be about to escape this top. You can trim their wing feathers to prevent this. It works very well but you would then need a taller pen to keep predators out.

Remember the leghorn (the Prius chicken)? Check out how big she is and notice that she is the brave one venturing outside already. She is actually one of the smaller of the chickens by weight, but a very efficient gal.

These other chickens are too chicken to go outside. The two yellows are the Buffs and in the middle is one of the Barred Rocks. They were not cooperating for pictures. 

We have to fill up their 1 gallon water can daily and have used about 25 lbs of feed already. They are not totally adjusted to the toddler yet, which is part of the goal of this pen too. The kiddo really likes inspecting them: looking at their eyes and feet and feathers.

Eventually we will use the house to attach to a mobile pen to move around our little orchard. The orchard will provide shade, grass and bugs. The chickens will leave behind fertilizer and hopefully help control the grass and bugs. And of course we will get eggs.