Muscovy Ducks

We (I) decided on Muscovy ducks this year.  We were given two hens and two drakes by some friends of ours.  After reading, the Muscovy sounds like the perfect duck.  They are known for their ability to make a noticable difference in the amount of flies and mosquitoes.  This was the big selling point for me.  We fight with flies every summer.  The drakes can get 10-12 pounds.  Our drakes are much larger than our hens.  The hens are also good setters.  They are quite prolific as our friends can attest to.  They are up to somewhere between 30 and 40 Muscoveys.  I guess they are also very good tasting without all of the fat of most ducks.  I don't plan on butchering, but still, it's good to know.  They don't have to have water to play in, but I'll get them some when it warms up, anyways.  My son read that they are roosting ducks, so I shouldn't be surprised to see them sleeping in the trees.  I go out to the barn looking for duck eggs, now.  So far, I haven't found any.  Let you know when they start to set.

From Glory Farm

Fat Cat Patterns

I need to make some new potholders for my kitchen and wanted something quilted.  Looking around on the internet I found a site- www.fatcatpatterns.com  .  This site has some very cute applique patterns.  I found some chickens to make for my mom, a llama for my friend, and sheep for me.  I also wanted to make a messenger bag for my daughter as part of her graduation present and found a nice one at- http://pinoyinoz.blogspot.com/2008/07/tutorial-messenger-bag-with-zip-top.html   I hope that link works.  I also found a really cute gingham handbag pattern at- http://kayray.org/crafts/red_tutorial/  

Can you tell I've been spending way too much time on the internet and not enough time actually doing these projects?  I'm off to sew an apron.

Have a wonderful evening.

What to do with a frozen chicken?

We had a storm blow in last Tuesday.  It went from 34 above zero to a windchill of -30 in a day.  Went out to do chores in this cold  and hunkered down under the flatbed truck was one of our laying hens.  She must have been looking for shelter when the storm hit and thought it looked like a good place to try.  Not!  The ground was still thawed when she plopped her hiney down there and quickly froze up, as she found out when she tried to move.  Taking the blowdryer to her iced in hind end, I thawed the ice and slowly plucked her feathers out of the ground.  She did end up losing a couple, but she didn't squawk.  She soon realized that the machine making all of the noise was also making all of the heat and she just stood there like a primadonna at a beauty salon enjoying every moment.  I finally told her she was done and hauled her back to the coop.

We're going to start tapping maples tomorrow or Saturday.  I'll post pictures.  It's something you have probably all looked at before, but it's a new venture for us.  My grandfather used to do it, but I don't remember it.

Bring glory to God this day.

From Glory Farm

Wanted to let you know about another contest

 

I found this on http://www.homesteadblogger.com/TwoLittleBlessings/129078 .

Go to http://www.homemaking911.com/2009/03/02/homemaking-911-march-madness-giveaway/#usermessage3a .  She's offering a bunch of wonderful prizes. 

Anyone tapping maples?

I thihk...shhhh..just in case I say this too loud,  I think spring may be around the corner.  Quiet, I don't want to scare it away.  Temps getting above freezing by the end of this week.  Sap running in the maples?  This is the first year we're going to try tapping a couple of trees.  Small scale to start, but if we do well, more next year, Lord willing.  Our pastor makes the best maple syrup.  I usually get stuck buying my maple syrup at the grocery.  It's so expensive that I 've been making homemade syrup instead.  Not as healthy, but not as bad as the corn syrup based ones at the grocery.  We've run out of blueberries and rasberries for our pancakes.  I also love the buttermilk syrup recipe that I got from soneone on this blog. 

Today, it's to the dump we go.  I guess they don't call it a dump anymore.  It's a transfer station.  I really don't like making this run, but it saves us a lot of money.  The garbage man charges $1 a bag for taking it away.  I can load up the back of the pick up for $5.  And I only have to go about 4 times a year.

We have no babies yet.  No calves, lambs or kids.  I'm going to move the Angora does to their own pen today.  They have been giving the other does a hard time and I don't want them to cause a miscarriage.  We keep the horns on the Angoras so they can be pretty hard on the milk does.

Hope to have something more interesting to write about next time. 

Go with God and God go with you.