Phew, I’ve been so busy lately processing fresh produce! So far, 4 quarts, and 1 pint of spaghetti sauce have been put up and 9 pints of applesauce! More spaghetti sauce simmering on the stovetop, hoping for another 4-5 quarts. Remember this is my first year ever canning, so I’m quite excited about the progress I’ve made. I absolutely love it and look forward to doing more in the days to come.
On another note, life with the chickens has been eventful too! I’ve been letting the teenage Lavender Ameraucana and Olive Egger out in the run with the rest of the flock and last night was their first night roosting with them too! They’re still a bit too shy to help themselves to the feeders or waterers in the run, so with the heat, their time out has been limited. Hopefully within a week or so, they’ll learn their place in with the others and I’ll find them using the feeders and waterers too.
Then there’s the quails. This morning I woke up to an interesting situation with the 3 week olds. The screen that is over the brooder fell in somehow (probably 1 of the kids doing) and I noticed 1 was missing! I thought oh great! Where the heck could she be! I seriously thought 1 of the dogs got her until I found fresh quail poop on the basement stairs! Now I knew I had a problem on my hands. First off the basement is way to cold for a 3 week old quail. Secondly, our basement is so full of stuff I thought I’d never find her and she would die down there and stink up the place! I grabbed a flashlight and headed down hoping that if I just started moving stuff around I would spook her out of hiding and get her flying around making it easier to spot her and catch her. Well, I made it to the bottom of the stairs and there she was shivering and scared, poor thing. I picked her up, gave her a little snuggle and put her back in her warm brooder. Did I mention this is my splay legged girl whose legs were so bad I thought she wouldn’t make it. I mean, her legs were as far out to her sides as they would go and she was hobbling around on her belly! After several attempts at fixing her legs, she is finally getting around on her own 2 legs just like the others!
Always fun times at the homestead:0)