Egg Update

I candled my incubating eggs yesterday and they are all growing save one. They are supposed to hatch around Sunday. I can't wait!
I also added some new eggs to the incubator last Sunday. They appear to all be growing so I potentially could have 22 baby chicks in a couple weeks. Now to figure out what to do with the roosters... We might use them for fryers. We'll see when the time comes I guess. I will take pictures of when they hatch and post them next week.

Also other news at the Hodge farm, I know for sure one of my goats are pregnant. I was brushing her yesterday and noticed I could feel the babies kicking. It was so cool. She is starting to make an udder too so I know she is pregnant. I am not sure about my other doe. I suppose time will tell.

Here is the first day of trying to incubate some chicken eggs. They are all laid out here and marked so I know if I have turned them all.

I look through the window of the incubator.


And a look at the whole incubator.


I don't know if any of these eggs will hatch. I got them from my mother-in-law who has a rooster but we don't know if these eggs are actually fertilized. I can candle them on day 8 to see if there is anything doing on in the eggs, so I will take pictures of that and post them.

When we first moved out here I had some chickens. I had 11 of them. Between our dog we had and something that was breaking into the henhouse I ended up being down to 5.
Jerek helped me build a chicken tractor near our house, but it ended up being bigger than a chicken tractor. The hens don't mind the extra space though.
Here are some pictures of the ladies in their new house.


We have 2 hens that are laying right now. I am hoping with the days getting longer the rest will start soon.
In true hick fashion I converted on old microwave cart into a nestbox.


I usually let them out to roam during the day, but I want them to get used to their new home. They need to know where to go at night and where to lay their eggs.


They really want out. they were climbing all over the wire trying to get out.


I would like to have a couple more hens. i am going to try my hand at incubating and hatching some. I borrowed an incubator and my mom-in-law has a rooster and hens so I can get fertilized eggs from her. When I get that up and running I will post pictures of that.

Wow! It had been forever since I posted on here. I mainly post on facebook so I have completely neglected my blog. I will try to do better and post more often for those that may actually still check here for updates.
since I last posted we have had a lot of changes in our life. Jerek got laid off from his job in Hillsboro in february last year. We put our house up on the market as we didn't know where we were headed financially. We had been given some money and were going to use it to take the kids to disneyland, so we went the first week in April. Went to coquille to leave tait and alison with the grandparent and while we were there, my mom said someone we know and goes to their church said he could get Jerek a job where he works as a civil engineer. We left to go to california and while we were gone we had 2 offers on our house. When we got home Jerek went in to talk to the boss at the civil engineering firm and found out he knew him too. He ended up getting the job and we moved all our stuff into his parents garage by the end of april. We pretty much left to go on vacation and never went back.
We ended up ina house out of town with 23 acres. Pretty much our dream. We have been working hard to improve the land and build fences so we can put some sheep on the land.
I have some goats I am going to milk in the spring and some chickens.
The kids are growing and learning so much by being out here. So am I to be truthful! Jerek is getting a kick out of watching me wrestle the goats down to treat their hooves to give them shots, and I would do that over dishes or laundry any day.
I will try to get some pics of our new life in the country but I am bad about that so no promises.=)

A petition to protect ourselves

Jerek's cousin-in-law created an online petition to sign if you agree in our right to keep (own) and bear (carry) arms in the United States.

http://www.petitiononline.com/SSA2009/petition.html

Once it reaches 3.1 million signatures (only 1% of the US population in Jan. 2009) it will be submitted to Congress. This petition is partially in response to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTq2NEUlhDE

He says:

"I don’t think a little online petition will do much, but it can be a good reminder to our government about what we care about. Like sticking a post-it note on the desk of all 535 members of Congress. (100 Senators, 435 in House of Representatives)

Did you remember that when the states adopted the Constitution they met and drafted amendments to it and sent that list back to the Federal government? Those amendments are called the Bill of Rights. The States stipulated the right to bear arms, and it is well known that at the time the intention was to enable the people to protect themselves from potential tyranny of their government like they had while under British rule.

My Sham-Wow call to action:

I know you probably get email that asks you to forward them on, let’s face it…this is another one. If you don’t feel comfortable forwarding the email, no problem. Maybe you could link to the petition on your website(s) or post a link in a forum or blog you read? The important thing is that you take some kind of action. So many emails come through that say to forward them but what does that really do? Nothing. In this case you’ve got a non-committal option to take action, just sign the petition and maybe let other people know about it too. No flying to DC for a rally, no debate with people whose intellect your not so sure about, just a few clicks here and there."

--Robert Ault

North Bend, Oregon

The constitution can be read in its entirety online at:
http://www.constitution.org/constit_.htm

Along with the full Bill of Rights submitted as explanatory and restrictive clauses to the constitution:
http://www.constitution.org/billofr_.htm

Lastly the additional amendments that have been added over the course of history:
http://www.constitution.org/afterte_.htm

Bread recipe

Here is the recipe for the bread I have been making. There are many more recipes in the book or on their website at www.artisanbreadinfive.com but this is the main one. I may take some pictures of the next loaf I make if I remember.

The master recipe is adapted from Artisan Bread In Five Minutes a Day

3 cups of lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough

In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. You can mix this with a wooden spoon or in a large mixer, like a Kitchen Aid, with a dough hook. You do not need to knead this just mix well. Dough will be quite wet. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours.

Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks.

When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. (I find for my family I need a larger portion than this)Turn dough in hands while coating lightly with flour to lightly stretch surface, creating a round loaf. You do not kneed the dough at this point. Just form it into a loaf. Place the dough on pizza peel or a greased cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.

Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone ( I don’t have one and it still turns out fine)on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees (I do 475 ); heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.

Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stoneor put cookie sheet in oven.Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.

EDIT. I forgot to include this dough makes a large batch that you store in the refridgerator until needed. It can keep i nthe fridge up to 2 weeks and the longer it rests in the fridge the more sourdough-y it tastes.

Up your nose with a rubber hose!.... or a googly eye. Your choice.

I can't tell you about girls yet, but boys are crazy and do stupid things. For about 2 days that I am sure of, Tait has had a stuffy nose. I just assumed he was getting a cold since that is the usual around here this time of year. I also noticed when he talked, his nose made a rattly almost buzzy sound. I just figured it was snot in his nose since what else would it be right? I even called my friend who was supposed to visit that day with her 2 girls not to come because we were getting sick.
Well last night I was playing with him and had him in my lap tickling him. I was asking if random body parts hurt and then would tickle it when he would say yes to every one. When I asked if his nose hurt he say yeah ( with a buzz/rattle sound). Well i looked at his nose as he tipped his head back and saw something weird stuck in his left nostril. At first I thought it was a booger, but it looked too big to be a booger. Jerek went and got me the tweezers and I ended up pulling one of these googly eyes you glue on crafts out of his nose. Instantly he was breathing normal and no more buzzing was coming from his nose. Oy. If this is the type of things he is doing at 2 I don't want to know about the coming years. For your viewing pleasure I have added a picture of the eye that was lodged in his nose for 2 or possibly more days. Enjoy!