Farm Fresh: A Tale of Two Roosters

Remember how we had 2 roosters? Despite many efforts to gentle this big white guy, he became meaner and trickier. The day that he snuck up behind me and gave me a hard peck on the back of my leg while I was feeding the flock some treats was the last straw for him.

I butchered both of them this week. It was not a fun job. Causing and watching an animal's death is painful. I was terrified trying to corner, catch, and position mean white rooster too. Despite everything I did not want to cause unnecessary harm to him.  But these are farm animals, meant for working or eating. They led very happy free ranging lives until this one bad moment and then their work was done.

I meant to butcher the two older hens that morning too, but I ran out of time before I had to leave for my appt. And truthfully, I was pretty worn out from the stress of handling mean white rooster. We ate him for dinner last night. It was a delicious meal. The kids knew what they were eating and frankly rejoiced to be eating him.  "Now we can go outside without mommy to guard us!" they said excitedly. Yes. That made it all worth it. Peace has returned to the barnyard and no food was wasted.

Family Schooling Summary

The weather is cooler these days and we frequently hear the crashing of acorns falling through the leaves. We did all of our usual history, reading, math, etc studies this week, but missed a few days. I had my yearly check-in with the retina specialist and everyone went to the dentist. We were surprised and sobered by several first cavities. Now we'll have to go to the pediatric dentist to get those filled. We are going to try to stop eating candy and brush more frequently (mornings too) and better.  We will let them have a couple of pieces for Halloween and then do a big candy trade-in for a toy, like we did last year.  Big sister A finished one of her math workbooks this week. She started learning how to play "Love Me Do" on the guitar. Soccer games were cancelled on Saturday (AGAIN!) due to rain. 

Baby L watching acorns fall. And Theodore found a cozy hammock under the tent awning. (Trying to dry it out is hard when it rains every day.)

 A bean experiment from A&M's "Unseen World" class.

Family Schooling Summary: Raccoon, Cake pops, Soccer

I keep forgetting to post these pictures of the raccoon.  He had been eating our cats' food for awhile.  I thought I might be imagining the food disappearances until he left some tracks.  They looked like human (tiny) hand and foot prints. He could also pry off the tight metal garbage can lid to get to the cats' food.

 He was big! Bigger than the cat. I was hoping to catch the ground hog(s?) as well, but they seem to have vanished.

Only one soccer practice this week.  It rained all the other days.

 

 What the other kids do while they are waiting at practice. Big sister A is very into graphic novels lately. She reads 3-4 a day. Yes. We had over 100 books out from the library when I last checked.  We get electronic notices when things are due so it's not too bad to keep track of. Brother S is into non-fiction books - dinosaurs, planes, cars, machines, outer space, and animals.  He is going to be some kind of scientist I think. I don't know how we would afford to homeschool without such an incredible library network. Almost every time I see a cool book on Amazon (or A does) we look it up and find it in the interlibrary network.

 A friend from church had a "yard sale" last week and sister A brought home all kinds of baking toys: a cake pop maker (like a waffle iron, but makes balls), a doughnut maker, cutters, rollers, and patterns for making cakes with fondant.  We have been testing things out.  Pic below is of cake-pop making.

Family Schooling Summary: Pokeweed Berries

There is a gutter on the side of the house that I believe is also a drainage spot for condensation from the AC.  It is often wet. The ducks love it. The children like it too. 

 They like to encourage the flow of water down a canal under the gazebo.

 Funny thing though - in the moments after I took this picture and one more of the boys smiling-- Little Miss Stinker walked over to the shrubbery and grabbed some pokeweed berries. They are ripe and she has this thing for putting stuff in her mouth.

 I knew that they were poisonous. We have had some close calls with her trying to put them in her mouth before.  They are everywhere and impossible to get ride of all of them in the woods around our property.

She had purple hands and lots of purple on her clothes... and a little purple on her mouth and tongue.  I called Poison Control asap.  At first they were going to send me right to the ER. Then I was transferred to another guy and he said to feed her some dinner and just watch her for an hour to see whether she throws-up. I didn't think she would have eaten many, but at least one went in her mouth. Short story - she didn't throw-up. She ate and played as if nothing had happened. The Poison Control guy called back after an hour to check on us and said that we should be okay. I thanked him for saving me a long ER adventure. 

Acorn gathering continues.  There are tons! Maybe this is the sign of hard winter ahead? I hope not though since we didn't buy our tractor/snowplow yet. I hear that pigs love acorns too. Maybe next year we can feed them to our pigs. So far we are just using them for decorations and playing games.

 

Farm Fresh: Turkeys on the Loose

The turkeys have adjusted to their new outdoor housing well. They even learned to use the chicken nipple watering system. They are about 9-10 weeks old and we decided to let them out to free range with the many other fowls.  

 Here are some pictures of the first day.

 The kiddos helped herd them gently across the driveway toward the green bushy area that the ducks and chickens seem to enjoy.

 It took them awhile to get the idea.

 

 This is a funny picture that confirms my suspicions...The three in the foreground holding up their winds are the ladies (hens) and the one still standing (not paying attention) is a Tom (male turkey). They are practicing for their mating rituals.

Home Work: Dining Room Table Refinished

We finally brought our refinished dining table back in the house.  Hubby stained it and then put 7 or more coats of sealer on it. Some might say that is overkill...but the 2-3 coats of varanthane that were on the old table only lasted a couple years.  It gets spilled on and wiped constantly.

The stain that we finally went with was General Finishes Espresso.  It is pretty dark brown, but it covers up the reddish orange tone of the wood nicely.

 Of course I also had to update the chair upholstery to match. Those light gray flowers did not have the same feel as our sultry brown table.

We also repainted the white base with black satin rustoleum paint. Now it matches the chairs. Next fun decorating task is to choose a centerpiece. I am thinking something long and oval. Maybe potted herbs? Something made out of stone would also be nice.  And I probably need a tall potted plant in that corner?  I know that as winter rolls in I am going to be dying for more greenery in the house.

Family Schooling Summary: Back to Co-op School

 The kids had their first day back to co-op school this week.  I didn't take any pics until lunch time when they were playing on the playground. I am teaching pre-school science. A and M are taking a microscope class "Mysteries of the Unseen World", then Spanish, and "See How They Run" (about politics and government). M and S are both in my pre-school science class.  L is in the nursery the whole time. It went well.  I think everyone liked their classes. We'll see how things go.

Another week of soccer practices and games. A has two practices/week and M has one.  Then they both have games Saturday morning.

A is very crafty and while we were outside gathering nuts as part of our nature study we started talking about all the fun non-edible uses for them.  She decided that she wanted to make an acorn wreath.  I helped with the glue gun, but this was almost 100% her project.  She did such a great job! It is on the front door now.