Our first egg!

It was a Christmas miracle!  We got our first egg from our chickens.  It was a total shock.  We had almost given up that we would get eggs - it seemed like it would never happen.  We were out closing the chickens in and I had to go in the coop to check the water and there is was sitting in the center of the one of the nesting boxes.  A perfectly oval white-speckled brown egg.  That was Christmas Eve and on Christmas we got one more egg so we were able to eat our first chicken eggs on Christmas.  It was pretty neat.  I made bacon cups with them - line bacon in muffin pan, bake until crispy, crack egg in bacon cup, bake again until done.  They were very good.  Other then the egg event, we had a really nice Christmas.  The girls got hot oatmeal breakfast from Santa:

and the boys got wet food (their favorite):

Happy Holidays!

Smudge enjoys the holidays :)

Happy Holidays everyone! 

Christmas felt tree skirt

Last year I made this:

 

A Christmas card holder made with some left over fabric I had, complete with felt poinsettia's and felt stitched placeholders:

This year I decided we needed a tree skirt to match it:

I didn't have enough of the brown fabric left to do the entire skirt in it so I picked a felt that matched and used that.  You can find directions on how to make your own tree skirt on about a million websites so I won't go into detail how I did it, but basically all I needed was a large ruler, a marker, the felt, the fabric and a sewing machine.  Of course, as soon as I put it around the tree it became a instant cat bed:

but it does look nice under there, even with cat hair.  I plan at some point to make matching poinsettia's to put around the bottom but that will have to wait - Christmas is in a few days!

How to: Build a three bin compost system

I was pretty determined to build a composting system before the new year.  We need it because we're working on our first garden right now and compost will help the soil in the years to come.  Also we have chickens now and composting their manure is a really good way to clean our their pen.  I saw a three bin composting system in a magazine with directions on how to build one.  This required a trip to the hardware store in which I learned it would cost nearly $250.00 to build it.  I decided it wasn't worth it and took Lewie's advice on how to build it out of recycled materials and this past weekend we built one that was almost FREE.  We like free and we like recycling. 

Supplies:

7 wood pallets

Heavy gage wire

Wire cuters

Hardware clothe

Staples / staple gun

Directions:

First, you have to get seven wood pallets.  We got them for free and all we had to do was ask.  Almost every store has skids lying around somewhere.  We got ours from home improvement stores.  Just ask the manager, they are usually willing to give you a few.  If they are beat up or missing planks, that's fine because the second you start using it it will start rotting.  It doesn't have to be perfect.

Stand your pallets up so that you have two that meet and form a corner.  Using your wire, wire these together.  We did one wire at the top and one wire at the bottom.  It may seem unsteady at first but pallets are heavy and when the whole thing it put together it's not going anywhere.

Next, you'll use two pieces: one pallet to continue down the row and another in the middle of those two to form the next wall on your first compartment.  Again, put them together with wire.  It should look like this:

Continue to build it in this way completing two more sections using a total of seven pallets.  Then start stapling your hardware clothe.  I used 1/4" hardware clothe and was able to buy it in a big roll at a home improvement store.  This will be the most expensive thing you buy for the compost bin but it's worth it to keep all your precious compost from spilling out everywhere.  Starting on the inside of one bin wrap your hardware clothe all the way around the bin on the inside only.  Staple it in place.  Continue to do this in every section.

Your three bin compost system should look like this when it's done:

This video is great if you want more information on how to use the three bin system.  We may end up adding doors in the future on the front so we got a few more pallets then needed just in case.  It's so nice to have a place to put our kitchen scraps now and it was fun to make.  It also turned out to be a family event because we had no less then two cats climbing trees around us for a better vantage point to our construction:

Kitty felted balls

I received a big bag of wool from a friend who heard I was learning to spin.  Unfortunately, this bag of wool was a miss match of second cuts wool and my teacher suggested I make a few kitty toy felt balls with it.  Here's how to do it:

Supplies:

Old pair of pantyhose
Wool or wool lint
Washing machine
Spray bottle
Organic catnip
Filtered water



Directions:

Take your old pair of pantyhose and cut the feet about 8 inches up up the leg - this will leave you with one closed end at the foot and one open end.  Stuff each foot of the stocking with a bunch of wool.  Pack it really tight.  Very close to the wool, tie the open end closed.  Add these to your next cycle of laundry.  This will felt the wool into a ball.  After your laundry cycle is over let the wool balls air dry.  Take them out of the pantyhose.  Meanwhile, using a kettle brew 1 cup of hot water.  Add two tablespoons of dried organic catnip to the water to make catnip tea.  Let this sit for at least 30 minutes ( the stronger the better).  After the catnip tea has cooled filter it using either a thin piece of fabric or coffee filter to get the catnip out of it.  Put the catnip tea in a spray bottle and spray your wool balls.  Lastly, give to your cats for hours of fun.  Respray with catnip tea when the fun wears out.  Our cats enjoyed them so much I had a hard time catching them for a picture!