Our First Harvest

Saturday was processing day! Our chickens were 8weeks old and HUGE. Bill set up all the equipment during the week so we were ready. Everything we ordered came on time. We began at 8am and by 4pm, 50 chickens were in the freezer, plucked, tucked, wrapped and labeled. Whew. I don't think it will take us as long next time. Micah was such a help. He worked beside us and became a pro at cutting and wrapping in no time. We composted what little remained and sat down and ate the rest of Bill's birthday cake. God was so good to us with the weather. It sprinkled and was overcast the whole day. We got wet, but we were wet anyway.

The Francis family was our first customer. Hurray! We did it!

The New House

It looks good from the front window of the RV. I've taken lots of pics of the progress. They started on Thurs. Everyone had their own way of mastering the sandy quagmire. I've got ruts in every direction to remember them by. But here it stands. Yesterday was Labor Day, but the interior guy and the siding guy surprised us by coming anyway. Today the plumber comes, maybe the ac people if we are lucky. I'm sooooo ready to move in. The port-a-let is getting, well, you know. I'm not going to say it. Living without refrigeration is also a trick.

The real trick is not dwelling on the mistakes we've made and reminding myself of God's blessings. (We lost 6 chickens the other day due to our inexperience, we had them put the electric pole on the wrong side of the house, and I'm wondering if we should have kept the sliding glass door after all. ) I could make a long list of things I'd like to do over, but I know that won't get me anywhere. I get to begin moving stuff over to the house today and I'm going to thank God every step of the way.

camping for real

Okay, now I really feel like we are camping. No hot water! Yikes. Tonight we grilled hamburgers outside and ate them with our fingers. Bill is off to get ice for the cooler. We tried to get the RV to run the refrigerator and water heater off the propane tank, but it doesn't work. But walking back up the hill from the port-o-let, I saw the most gorgeous sunset. I ran to get the camera, but I was too late. It only lasted a second. It makes me relish the beauty all around us even if we don't have the comforts of a house.

Here is a picture of our chickens. My they have grown.

New home is on it's way!

We should be receiving our new mobile home on Wednesday or Thursday. Today the trucks came with dirt for the pad. One made it up the hill, the other didn't. Here's a picture of the stuck truck. They had to wait for a friend to bring a chain to pull him out. Now it sits at the bottom of the hill until the tractor comes tomorrow. Last week I had the same thing happen to the truck that brought our port-a-let. It took two tractors to drag it out of the sand. Needless to say, our driveway doesn't look like a driveway anymore.

The part I'm really excited about is that the RV is going to be my art studio. Our wonderful neighbor Brian came with his big tractor and moved it like a breeze. He put it to the side right where I wanted it nestled into the trees. It's going to be so cozy. For now, though, we only have on extension cord coming through the window, one fan, and no toilet hook up. (Hence the port-a-let) It's a 500 ft walk to the toilet at the bottom of the hill. I was riding my bike down the driveway to get there faster, but now, alas, no driveway.

The third picture I just had to add. This is my laundry room. It's right beside Micah's room. (The tent) He's been sleeping there since we arrived three months ago. He's got electricity, a fan, alarm clock, and now he just set up his tv with video games. He says he wants to have a party in there after we get the house.

New batch of chickens in the tractor!

If you ever wanted to see the happiest day in a chicken's life, it would be when they leave the woodshaving floor of the brooder and go out on the ground for the very first time. They aren't sure what it is they're standing on, they they start all their chicken movements--scratching, pecking, eating bugs and grass and weeds. This bunch was so excited that they didn't want to go to sleep when it was getting dark. I think they thought they were in chicken heaven.

Our new chicken/turkey tractor is taller than the model Joel Salatin uses. Because of our climate we made it 3 feet high to let the air flow better and the heat rise above the chickens heads. They look small inside now, but they're growing by the day. The turkeys are especially curious. Every time a chicken picks up something the turkeys try to grab it from their beaks. They take on the biggest of the bunch even though they are half their size. It's better than watching TV!

The Polyface experience

We just came back from a weekend workshop at Polyface Farm in VA. What a trip! 14 hours to get there on Thurs., up at the crack of dawn, greeted by a breakfast cooked over a fire pit, and then into the business of chicken processing. I'll spare you the details, but I can say we learned so many more things than what we could have read in the book. It is always so good to see it with your own eyes. I was supposed to go with my childhood friend Dawn Waltonbaugh, but she had to cancel last minute and graciously offered Bill her place. What a blessing to have him there too to see it all. I want to take some before pictures of our land so we can compare them to what will become of our depleted, sandy Florida soil. I have high hopes.

The shed is almost finished. It needs a window put in and trim around the cracks, but it's already being put to use. We were slamming down nails as fast as we could to get the roof on before, you guessed it, another rain storm. Mom and Dad are coming up tomorrow with their camper. Yee haww.

Rain, Rain, Rain

Boy, does it rain up here! It's either getting ready to rain, just letting up for a little while, or black as pitch and storming. Micah was out in his tent last night and his front door blew in. Still zipped, the rain didn't come in, but the wind beat against it hard. It beat against the RV just as hard and I was up at 3:30 am putting towels in the window. I need to get up on the roof with more bondo.

I took a picture of the shed we are building through the rainy window. As you can imagine, the weather has slowed the process. God did provide a big sheet of plastic just when we needed it. (Doesn't He always know what we need.) We went to Ace Hardware to buy a tarp and guess what was in the dumpster--loads of heavy duty plastic that came off of their roof. They said we could have as much as we needed. I went back again last night to get more. Who knows where else it will come in handy.

And, just in case you were wondering, yes that's my wet laundry hanging in the background.