Just Clucking Around Homestead

02/14/2022

Preparing for chickens!

This coop was gifted to me by a kind and thoughtful neighbor. She recently passed away, but the sunflowers she painted are bright as ever! I’m hoping to do this coop justice and let it be a happy home for my future hens.

01/17/2022

I haven’t updated in a while, but I’m snowed in and finally have time to spare! Check out Tucker, the frozen waterfall, and talk to me about gardens!

I’m in the process of trying to plan out a garden for spring. What do you suggest I grow? I love growing heirloom varieties so feel free to be specific!

11/03/2021

We’re getting excited about our chickens!

If anyone has any chicken playground ideas, you know who to send them to 😉

11/01/2021

It’s happening!! 😁I just ordered chicks for the spring!

I’ve ordered 10 chicks total, but some will be straight run, meaning they can’t be sexed as babies and I’ll likely end up with a few roosters that need to be rehomed.

I’ve ordered welsummer, americauna, and olive egger breeds and eggspect an array of blue, green, and chocolatey brown eggs. ☺️

Deer Run Farm is a small family chicken hatchery and beef cattle operation in Northern Frederick County, MD that specializes in pasture-raised heritage chicken and Red Angus beef. Chicken breed varieties offered are of more rare varieties and include Ameraucanas, Copper Marans, Delawares, Olive Egge...

10/25/2021

Fall is here 🍂

07/20/2021

I fixed a cable today!

Well I cut through it with a w**d trimmer first. For the second time. Then I fixed it!

This is a big accomplishment for me. I’ve never done anything with wires before. I think I’ve stripped some wires for crafting purposes but never anything that had anything to do with electricity.

Since the internet was out I couldn’t watch any tutorials on YouTube, nor could I google my questions. A nice employee at the hardware store told me how to do it and I just had to wing it and hope I was doing it right. And by some miracle it worked!

06/15/2021

I got a riding mower!! And this is the key chain that came with it. Lol.

05/10/2021

Hung peel and stick tile in the camper kitchen last week. I’m loving it!
Before and after pics ☺️

04/19/2021

I found a “bouquet” of red tailed hawk feathers! I looked around in case there was an injured bird but unfortunately did not find any trace of it aside from feathers.

04/13/2021

Blog post:
TLDR: brokenish elbow, kudzu

About a week ago the neighbors huge playful dog was in my yard (he just roams the neighborhood). I went to pick up a tree branch and he launched himself for it. His head collided with my elbow and sort of broke it.

I say “sort of” because it’s actually been broken since I fell off the monkey bars in middle school after being inspired to do a flip by watching that years Olympic Games. 🙄 But the chunks of bone were in place and not causing any issues. The dogs head knocked the bone pieces out of place, causing pain and potential for issues down the road. I meet with an orthopedist tomorrow to find out if I need surgery. In the meantime, I’m not in a cast and can use it as long as what I’m doing doesn’t hurt.
I haven’t even said anything to the neighbor yet... not really sure how I want to approach the conversation. My first instinct is to be super pi**ed (which I am) and tell him his dog is not allowed on my property again. The issue is that Tucker LOVES this dog and when he’s behaving, I’m quite fond of him too. I’ve started training him and found out that he’s super easy to train and desperately wants to please, he just has never been shown how to behave. Not sure what’s going to happen with the elbow or the dog, but keep your fingers crossed that I don’t need surgery. I’m a massage therapist so really need this elbow!

Today I noticed the first kudzu growth. This plant is amazing and horrifying all at the same time. I’d find a vine and pull it till I got to a node, which splits off into maybe three roots. Which all have their own nodes that split into three more roots/vines each. You get the picture. There are layers of roots upon roots, all tangled up and intertwined. The roots are deep and really hard to pull. I fell on my butt more than once trying to pull them and stopped because I was worried I’d hurt my elbow worse.

I’m looking forward to getting answers from ortho tomorrow and already looking forward to winter when the kudzu will die away.

04/10/2021

Keeping dry and warm on this foggy morning. 🤍

04/07/2021

I need suggestions about w**d management please 😭

I live on a one acre field of kudzu and pricker bushes. I don’t have a lawnmower because there really isn’t any grass to mow. There are some lovely native groundcover plants, but I need suggestions on how to manage the kudzu and the prickers.

I know goats are great but the more I read about them the more it seems like they are a lot of work and money to keep healthy. Does anyone have any experience with goats that can share? I only want to get them if I have the time and money to give them the best care and right now I’m busy and just finished moving (which was expensive!)

Any other w**d management suggestions? I w**d whacked probably 1/4 acre of thorns today and that will definitely not be a sustainable method 😅