Monday, March 7, 2011

Last Week on the Farm...Definitely NOT Spring!


What's been happening on the farm this week? Besides a late winter snow, I've reinstated my green thumb, turned crystals into liquid gold, allowed my kids to play outside their usual boundaries and ultimately, lost a large amount of weight.

First, the snow...
The view from my living room window.


This is how country kids roll.

Don't know what kind of bird this was, but it was very intent on grabbing a quick meal from the turkey yard.

Then there's the green thumb...


I've been carefully saving our eggshells for months now, in order to re-purpose them as seed starting containers.

It's very important when starting seeds indoors to use a potting mix specifically for this. Especially when using eggshells. Regular soil is too heavy and holds too much moisture, which causes the seeds to rot, not sprout.

Or, so I've heard...


I filled each egg about 2/3 of the way full with the potting mix. Using a squirt bottle, I sprayed the dirt, not a lot, just enough to moisten the soil. Since I hate wasting seed, I dropped 2 tomato seeds into each shell. Finally, I lightly covered the seeds with more dirt.


Labeling is very important! I had some old plant markers, but craft sticks (Popsicle sticks) work well too. After lightly covering the eggs with plastic wrap, I placed them under the grow lights. In a few short days, summer will seem closer than ever!

Which won't be soon enough for my wandering triplets.

Wynken, Blynken and Nod have left the building...er...goat shed.

How do you know your honey is truly raw?

Because it does this...


So I did this...

Only simmer on the lowest setting.

Now it looks like this...

Liquid gold!

Only 11 more jars to go!
And finally, the biggest weight loss I've ever experienced.

And I mean, ever.

Me, before...according to Matthew, Gracie (niece), and Levi (nephew).

Me, after.
Somewhere in between, I kind of lost my head.

But we'll save that for another day.


This post is linked to The Homestead Barn Hop.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL!

Great post :-)

Andi said...

OK That was funny.... glad I stopped on over!

Mandy said...

I love the re-purposed egg shells for starting seeds! I'll have to try that next year. And the honey looks yummy! We're starting our hives this year so I'm excited to see how that goes. Hopefully we'll get honey that looks that gorgeous!

Jill @ The Prairie Homestead said...

I worked on starting our seeds yesterday as well. Love the egg shell idea. Don't worry, we are still snow covered here too! Thanks for sharing this post at the Homestead Barn Hop!

Toyin O. said...

That is so funny, love all your pictures, it must be nice living on a farm:)

Kris said...

Great post , Kim. So nice to read about all your going's on there.

I found 2 turkey eggs this morning!!!! I was so happy to FINALLY get them! They were right on the floor so I guess I need to make or find a nest box for them. I have 4 hens so maybe 2 boxes? How many do you have for yours? And I guess we eat turkey eggs just like hen eggs? These are so pretty. All reddish speckles all over them. And not much bigger than a hen egg. I am so excited to have them! I hope to sell some to someone who would like to incubate them.

Kim said...

Kris~We actually let the turkeys make their own nests on the floor...we just provided them with extra shavings and hay. I think we're going to have to incubate our eggs because after setting and hatching their chicks, they crushed them. It was so sad. And yes, you eat turkey eggs just like hen eggs...in fact, my father-in-law said he prefers them. You're right, the eggs are pretty!

Michaela Dunn Leeper said...

HAHA! My first thought on the snowkim was "Honey, that's not weight loss. You've done lost your head." Good thing I finished reading, or I would have looked like a really big as..... um, er- ninkumpoop.

Michaela Dunn Leeper said...

Bahaha, it gets better. My word ver code was lessess. Does that mean lessess is moreses?