Homestead and Folly

Para, Nat and Eddie, our three lovely ducks enjoying a dip in their pool I can't remember how the idea of keeping ducks came to pass but I do remember my son asking me "so you mean these will be pets that we don't eat right?" I said "yes, well, unless we have to". We did our research and found that Indian Runner ducks don't need a lot of water and don't fly. They seemed to meet our needs. I also thought they looked ridiculous and not all that different from bowling pins. We sourced a hatchery about two hours a way and ordered 10 Buckeye chicks, and  3 Indian Runner ducklings, one male and two females. We planned on eating their eggs and hatching ducklings down the road. We excitedly awaited the e-mail from the hatchery telling us the babies had hatched. Finally the notification came and we made arrangements to pick up or new brood in the spring. Big pile of chicks and ducks The ducks we thought we were raising We arrived and the lady

 when my yard is covered in snow, "stopping to smell the roses" is more a figure of speech   The best part of working at home is being master of my own time. I work very hard physically and mentally but when I want to sit and stare at the ocean or watch the chickens sorting out their chicken problems I can do that, and that to me is divine. I feel like the wealthiest person in the world because I am in charge of my time and time is something precious to us all. I am forced to look around, to notice the smallest change. I have the luxury of experiencing nature everyday and in so doing am able to live in the moment and refrain from distraction I used to listen to. I am spiritual in these moments without even meaning to be. I meditate without the intention of meditating, I look and experience nature in most facets of my life and through this I have developed an attitude of protection of the earth because it is so very important to my life. When you live with animals,

Mother Rabbit looks on as her kits eat Last night it got so cold that we filled large jugs full of hot water to put into the bunny pens to keep them warm. Lately it is with trepidation that I open the rabbit hutches first thing on these very cold mornings almost turning away afraid I will find a frozen, dead bunny and will have failed that animal so greatly. So far, no bunny-sicles. I opened the hutch this morning to find lots of active baby bunnies hopping around, waiting for their food. I also found their water was frozen solid. I poured hot water in and on it and dumped out the frozen puck, refilling the dish with warm water dosed with a few drops of apple cider vinegar for their health. Once they were all set with food, water and hay, I moved on to the next hutch and the next. It is difficult to express the joy I get from watching the rabbits. I was never particularly drawn to rabbits in the past. My sister once had a pet rabbit and I don't think I ever even pet

Has anyone noticed how much a loaf of good bread costs at the super market lately? Around here, unless I can get it on sale, it costs me almost $5. With a kid in school and husband working away from home, even on a good week where we manage to cook lots, we go through a few loaves of bread. We used to only make bread in the bread machine to go along with soups when that fresh, warm, buttery goodness was too hard to resist. I had tried various quick method yeast breads from magazines and websites but they just never turned out to be worth the effort and I don't usually have time or attention span to spend all day babysitting bread dough. Even buying the expensive but worth it locally milled whole wheat flour, local honey and all of the ingredients, we figure a 2lb loaf of bread machine bread costs us the same amount as the store bought loaf, but lasts longer because it is more filling and has the added bonus of no mystery ingredients or preservatives. I used to use the machine