Ideas for Low Impact, Simple Living

A few months ago I mentioned that Red, one of our hens, went broody. She sat in the nest box for several days without leaving. When we opened the lid to take a peek she would growl and hiss at us. These were the signs that she wanted to become a mama. We have been wanting to hatch some eggs. This was the opportunity we had been waiting for. I had just recently read a highly informative article called Working with Broody Hens:Let Mama Do It by Harvey Ussery. We decided to give it a try.

On April 9, 2009 we fixed her a brood box in the outer coop where we could isolate her from the other chickens. Placing 10 new eggs on the nest we moved her in. There she sat for 20 days. Getting up only 1 or 2 times to eat, drink and relieve herself. The eggs started hatching on Wednesday night the 29th. By the next day, 7 of the 10 eggs had successfully hatched. They were all black. The same color as the dominant rooster, LB.

Red and her chicks stayed in the brood box for a few days, but it wasn’t long before she had them out foraging for food. At first we supplied the bulk of their diet. Not wanting to give them commercial chick starter, we provided a variety of foods. Scrambled eggs and milk was a favorite. We ground sunflower seeds, oatmeal, oat groats, corn, wheat berries and lentils, with flax seeds and kelp added to the mix.

The chicks favorite food had to be grub worms. We were in the process of planting our garden. As we dug, we collected the grubs in a jar then fed them to the chicks.

As they grew older, they gradually started to venture farther away from Mama Red. At five weeks of age Red let her babies go and she rejoined the flock.

They are now 11 weeks old. They have their own chicken “click”. It looks like we might have 3 cockerals and 4 pullets. Two of the cockerals look like they came from our Barred Rock hen Barbie. One of them has started to crow. It’s too hard to tell which hen the rest of them came from.

During this time we had 3 roosters. LB was a black Jersey Giant, Rocky was a red rooster of unknown breed and Johnny was…well were just not sure if Johnny knew what he was.

At first, being the oldest, Rocky was the dominant roo. He was very good to the hens. He was gentle, protecting and always gave them first choice at whatever food he found.

As LB grew older and larger he soon took over the number one spot. We noticed that he was too rough with the hens. Some started to get bald spots on their backs and were afraid of him. We knew LB had to go. Johnny was not far behind.

So, Rocky was back and better than before. Just in time too because Bent Wattle, one of the Wyandottes, went broody. On June 6 we gave her 9 eggs to sit on. After 20 days she had hatched 8 babies. There were 7 of various shades of cream and 1 black. I named them the chipmonk chicks cause they had a stripe pattern down their backs like a chipmonk.

Soon after the chicks hatched Rocky got sick and died. It was a sad day. We were very fond of him and miss him. But he lives on in the new chicks. We hope one of them grows into a good leader like he was.

We have all learned from the new chicks. It was a first for all of us. The great thing about all this was that Mama Hen did it all. She sat on the eggs, helped them hatch, protected the chicks and taught them to forage for food. We just helped her a little along the way.

For a long time I’ve been wanting to start a strawberry patch. Finally, last spring we bought some plants from the county 4H. We prepared a bed down by the creek. Adding compost to the soil we planted them in hills. To keep the chickens out we built a primitive fence around the strawberry patch using sticks and twigs we gathered from the woods (this spring we rebuilt it using bamboo). Then we waited…

We waited for Spring to come around again, anticipating the ripening of our first Strawberries. We have been watching the strawberries flower and then develop little green berries for about a month now. Well, yesterday was the day. I went down to the garden and peered over the strawberry fence. There they were, nice plump red berries!

I was tempted to pluck one off and eat it right then and there. But this was a special occasion. I wanted to get some photos of them before I picked them. I had to wait a little while longer because Charley had gone to town and had taken the camera with him.

Finally, after supper, I took my photos and then picked 7 beautiful, red, ripe organically grown Strawberries. I enjoyed my 3 1/2 berries with a bowl of my home made cereal with a few dolops of vanilla yogurt and a little milk. Ummm Ummm Good!

I can’t wait to make pies, shortcake and ice cream with the strawberries we harvest. But, I need to remember to put some away for those winter time treats.

It’s very satisfying to know that the things we do here at the River Rest takes us one step closer to being self sufficient. Looking back, I see that we have come a long way. But we still have a long way to go.

There’s alot going on here at The RiverRest this spring. We’ve been busy getting the garden ready, preparing the soil and starting transplants. It seems like every year it gets bigger.

We had to find ways to keep the chickens out of the garden. All of the Bamboo that Charley and Tony cut and hauled here really came in handy. We used it to build a fence around the main garden and the Potato Patch. So Far So Good. We’ll be publishing our stick fence building experiences as soon as we get around to writing it. In the meantime, here’s some photos of our new bamboo fences.

Last year we built a primitive stick fence around the new Strawberry Patch. We used sticks, limbs and twigs from the woods. It lasted the Winter but was in need of some repairs so we decided to try something new with the bamboo.

Probably the most exciting thing to happen is with the chickens. Red, one of our hens, went broody. She started sitting on a few eggs so we jumped at the chance to let her hatch them.

I’ve got many things I want to tell you all about. Like about how our dog Pearl has become an egg retriever, making Dandelion Jelly and what to do with KnotWeed. So, please bear with me. I’ll get around tuit, soon, I promise!

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It’s been a while since I posted a favorite simple recipe. This is for my favorite salad dressing. It only takes minutes to make. It’s so good that when my salad is gone I turn the bowl up and drink any dressing left in bowl! Our dog Opie even likes it! This dressing is also great for slaw and as a marinade for meats.

Homemade Honey Vinegar Dressing

In a bowl or dressing bottle mix together:

Equal amounts of(I use 1/4 cup or 1/3cup for the 2 of us. It usually last for a couple of meals.)

• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Honey
• Oil
• Water

1/2 teaspoon Lemon Juice

1 clove minced Garlic

1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt

Dash of Ground Black Pepper

Stir it to dissolve honey. Shake or stir before using.

I have one of those Good Seasons salad dressing bottles. I have also used a glass measuring cup with a pour spout. You can also reuse / recycle those glass bottles that store bought dressings come in.