11.23.2011

Preparing For Our Trip

We are going to Disney World!  And we are leaving right after I get my Black Friday shopping done :)  So, our trip has a rather tight budget....so in order to not spend way too much money at the airport, we are planning ahead!


Last night I made....
Pumpkin Peanut Butter Protein Bars
 Honey Roasted Chickpeas
 And Trail Mix


Along with this...we are going to bring our own water bottles, some fruit & veggies, string cheese, and hard boiled eggs.  Jordan has his own snacks...Unhealthy Trail Mix, Animal Crackers, Pretzles, and some other things.  We are going to make it on our trip with limited dollars if we can just stick to the plan!!!!!


P.S. We also learned why we don't have tons of snacks around the house all the time....we eat them!  We eat them so fast they aren't even worth buying...literally.  Because they are expensive!  As told by the empty Oreos container, and empty economy size of honey roasted peanuts.  Usually its me that has the sweets portion control....but this time I can blame Jordan!  :) And secretly, I am happy about that!

11.18.2011

Where the Wild Things Are

Tonight we have two houseguests.  My 6-year-old and 9-year-old nephews.  They. Are. Nuts.

I decided I better make breakfast for them tonight.  Since every two seconds since they have arrived they have come up to me and said "I'm hungry".  I have some sourdough starter on the counter so decided to use that to make a whole wheat pancake recipe.

Whole Wheat Sourdough Pancakes
2-3 cups Sourdough starter (Friendship Bread variety)
1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 cup Rolled Oats
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 Egg
1/2 cup of milk (or however much it takes to create the consistency you like)


Yum!

11.17.2011

Why Daylight Savings Time Is Not My Friend

I debated whether or not I wanted to share this story----but it is too funny not to.  Shortly after the time change, Jordan and I were still having our dedicated weekend hikes.  Sunday night we were at the park and barely made it back before complete darkness hit.  I guess I didn't keep track of what time that was...
Monday after work, I was pretty motivated to work out (Family Biggest Loser contest is in Week 3 now) but didn't want to run on the treadmill.  I decided to go to a nearby park with hiking trails, looked at the map and knew I wouldn't have enough time to go on the long trail, so found the shortest trail color on the map and went to town.  It was a mile loop that I wanted to walk/run but it was pretty hilly (with lots of leaves that made it slippery) so I had to walk quite a bit.
Well, the sun was going down and----I wasn't back yet.  Hmmmm...it was only 1 mile WTH???
Oh...yeah, I missed my turn.  I ended up doing over 1.5 loops of the trail and was now stuck at the furthest point on the map. AUUUGH!  Let's add another dynamic to the list---my cell phone battery was dieing.  After a frantic call to Jordan to let him know my predicament...I attempted to decide which fork in the road to take me home.  One fork would lead me back to the trail head.  The other fork...would also take me to the fork head but not before the treacherous hill up and down with a water crossing.  Problem was, I didn't know which was which.
I did the inthinkable....I had to call for help.  Who did I call-----yup.  The police.  Ohhhh my goodness I felt so bad...and embarassed!  They were sending help.
I sat out in the quiet, pitch-black woods alone, for about 1.0-1.5 hours.  Looking at the stars, trying to make noise to keep the deer away from me that I could hear in every direction, pretending like I was camping...thinking about sasquatch.  Anything to not freak out.  Surprisingly, I kept pretty calm and eventually, 2 very nice policemen came out to save me and escort me back to the parking lot.
Totally embarassed, they were very surprised that I was 1. alone and 2. not totally scared.  Impressive, I know.

Well, I won't be hiking alone anymore....and definitely not after Daylight Savings Time.  Lesson.  Learned.

11.14.2011

Brief Blog Hiatus

Sorry for the delay.  No one is really reading this anyway :)  However, I am sad that I got away from writing.  We are still trucking along on the farm here.  November (and October) is a very busy month.  I finally broke down and make a monthly calendar for the fridge to keep my schedule, and Jordan's on track.  Between the upcoming Church Festival we are in charge of, Jordan's basketball league, the livestock, and everything else...we are busy bees! 
This weekend we went to NAILE (North American International Livestock Expo) in Louisville, KY to pick up a couple of bred ewes from an online sale---and scope out the lambs, mingle with our cohorts, and get icecream :)  It was a good trip but it was a long drive.  And quick!  Went down Friday night and came back Saturday afternoon. 
We are also going on vacation this month to Florida.  Which means, we have to coordinate feeding plans, load up on hay, and get the ewes ultrasounded before we leave.  The hens have pretty much stopped laying (except for Old Reliable...I don't know which one she is but she is still faithfully giving us an egg per day). 
On another note, we are still going for our weekly hikes with Bocephus---the dog.  I LOVE it and I am certainly glad that Jordan is enjoying it too.  I think it is something we look forward to now.  Getting away, pretending we are somewhere further from home than we really are, and enjoying the last little bit of sunshine before winter hits.  Sigh.....I am not looking forward to winter.

*Special Update---It is now November 14th and we finally turned our heat on.  Evidently 52 degrees inside the house is just too much to bear*

10.11.2011

The Renegade Rooster

Things have been pretty busy in our house over the last few weeks.  With my father-in-law having health issues, we have had to take on a little more work with the lambs but still waiting for the last few ewes to get bred.  Hogs and chickens are doing well. 

Timeout for a Chicken Story....

Not sure where I left off with our chickens but we had a litte mishap a few weeks ago involving our dog and our chickens.  I went out to let the chickens graze, as I usually do, telling Bo (the dog) to stay at the house and leave them alone, as he usually does.  I walk back inside to work and I hear a terrible noise coming from outside.  I look out the windows and see chickens scattering everywhere from all sides of the house.  I ran outside to find chickens across the road, in the fields, in the garage, and none in the hen house.  I caught the ones across the road and continued to carry them back to the house when I see Bo has cornered a hen inside the garage.  Blood. Everywhere.  AUGGHH!
I corral what chickens I could find and put Bo on the leash to keep him sane.  Jordan came home and helped get the remaining chickens out of the field and back in the coop.  Then we head back to the garage to deal with this doggy of ours.  I was FURIOUS!  Come to find out, the blood was not from the chickens, it was from the dog.  Somehow he had sliced the pad of his foot and thats what was bleeding.  Jordan took care of Bo and everything was good to go...but those darn chickens (and DOG) had us scattered for awhile!  Everyone is back on their roost and laying as usual so the story ends well.
In the meantime, Jordan got rid of a rooster but the other one on the chopping block retreated to the corn field and wasn't seen again-----for a few weeks.  He had come and gone and after finding him a mile away from the house, hearing him early in the morning in the fields, and a crazy article in the local newspaper about a man who found a stray rooster in the next town over (luckily not ours)....I came to the hen house with a pleasant surprise.  I went to shut the hens in for the night and who was in the door way....that renegade rooster crows RIGHT at me as if to say....."Hahahaha made it back here you sucker!" 
He is still around....for now.

9.16.2011

Spring Cleaning-----in the Fall

Not much going on right now.  Haven't had a lot to report but I did get to see my pony perform at the fair this week with his 10 year old 4-Her.  They did SUCH a ncie job!  Here is a picture of the little guy....
Two 1st place trophies, three 3rd place ribbons, and one 9th place ribbon.  Not bad considering he is just a hillbilly pony against huge hunt seat horses!
Also, I am pretty proud of my husband as I continue to dig through our closets to get rid of unwanted clothing.  We have a garage sale coming up and we can donate them to charity too.  Honestly, 75% of our clothing has been tucked away, never unpacked from when we moved here almost a year ago!  It is about time!  I then organized each piece of clothing into different closets for now....I mean really...we have at least 5 closets!  So, one closet is for dresses and work apparel for me, one closet is for Jordan's polo shirts, button up shirts, and suits, one closet is for long sleeve tshirts and short sleeve tshirts, and another closet will be for frequently worn clothing---as it is most accessible.  As long as we remember to rotate that clothing from the other closets we will be in good shape!  I still need to organize my clothing, but it is a good start.  I needed to get through Jordan's clothing just to make room to organize mine!
Another thing I am not ADDICTED to is pinterest.  With all of these tshirts and other junk we are going to go through to finish unpacking and organizing the rooms....I am sure we will have plenty of "upcycling" to do!  Pretty excited about it!

9.09.2011

Giant Egg!

Really loving this fresh egg thing.  The yolks are big and bright and I still love going out to check and see if there are any new eggs.  So, last night I went out to grab the afternoon eggs and I found this....
It was huuuuge!  That poor chickie!  Well this morning we got to see what was inside that big egg and it looked like this....


Even though it was a double, the yolks were both still bigger than a regular egg I opened next to it.  They were good too.  A little difficult to flip but mmmmmm.  They are sooo bright colored too!


Need to update some pictures of the sheep soon.  We did loose one hog the other night.  He seemed like everything was fine.  I guess we are still below the average when it comes to losses so we should be in good shape yet. 

9.08.2011

Rainy Days

The weather sure has made a turn around this week.  We went from 106 degrees to 58 degrees! Brrrr....too cold for my blood.  Last night as we snuggled up to watch the GOP debate (yes...we're nerds) my ice cold foot accidently brushed Jordans leg as he exclaimed "NO!!!! Not now...its too early for that now!  How can you be that cold?  Noooooo!"  Then we went to get our slippers.
Today is the last day of fair.  The 4-H'ers are getting ready for the sale and the livestock are headed to market.  Important lessons are being taught today.  Hard work and determination, and having your work pay off.  Not only that, they are learning about how quality meat is raised, treated, and produced in our local markets.  We had a pretty good turn out with our lambs between the lambs from our farm, and the kids in our 4-H club.  Always room for improvement though, but we are pretty proud of them.
On another note, the chickens are still learning to lay in the nesting boxes...and making me angry.  We are hoping to get rid of a few roosters this weekend, thinking this may help our odds.  We are still only getting about a half dozen eggs per day.  And----with all of this rain...the roof is leaking.  Yes, the infamous chicken coop.  Although we "finished it", we did not complete the product.  The roof is still not shingled.  If the weather holds out, maybe we can get that done too.  We also need siding but I guess we can wait a little bit for that yet. 
From the kitchen side of things, the cooler weather has definitely put me in the mood to cook.  Last weekend I made 5 loaves of bread for the freezer, and shortly after that I made this beautiful french toast casserole as well.  Thank you chickies for the eggs!

My next project: Pumpkin Spice Latte!  Get ready fall...here I come!

9.03.2011

What are Saturdays for anyway?

Hogs, chickens, and hunting.  Jordan left shortly after chores today to go hunting with a friend.  Hopefully he brings us back some goods!  While he was gone, I took advantage of the quiet house and did some laundry, cleaned the house, and made BREAD!
I had to make the picture bigger because I was so proud of the texture!  Could have had a better knife to cut it with but 2 loaves down, plus a batch of biscuits made.  The biscuits did not turn out so well so I will spare anyone the opportunity to poke fun of them and just not post them :)

Going to the fair later with friends.  Although, this chickie is ready to kick her feet up!  I am beat!

9.02.2011

Date Night & Our First Eggs!

Yesterday, Jordan and I also got the barn ready at the fair since it was weigh-in day.  We ran over there on our lunch breaks and then scurried back to work.  The decorations are pretty simple but better than nothing.  I cheated and used some of my old wedding decorations that were in the garage and could probably be pitched.
We are really trying to stay within our September Grocery Challenge.  Last night we made a trip to town for a free dinner at Applebees (via Gift Card).  It was really great to get away from the craziness (at home) and relax for a few hours...AND not even feel guilty about going out to eat when we have food to eat at home.  It was about this time of year when we first met eachother 8 or 9 years ago now so passing through the town that we went on our first date on was so great. 
You know it is true love when there is one chip left and your husband splits it in half to share with you :) 
After dinner we went to the grocery store to pick up a few necessities---milk and bread.  I used to say eggs in that sentence but we did get 4 eggs yesterday!  Not as many as I thought we would get but enough nonetheless.  We also picked up a splurge item for Jordan since he has worked so hard to get this chicken thing up and running---coke.  Total September Groceries so far: $10.83.  Had it not been for the coke it only woud have been $4!  Aurrgh...but he totally deserves it!  He worked so hard, got pecked by a chicken and still continues to be the best husband in the world! 

Our First Eggs!

So what did I do before 6:00 am today?  2 loads of laundry, fed the hogs, attemped to collect eggs, made homemade spaghetti sauce, and made breakfast---Okay it was cereal, but who do you think I am, Superwife?


9.01.2011

Chicken Update

Ahhh...they are here!  Here is an updated picture of the chicken coop---but before I get to that...let's talk about the arrival of these creatures!
Frantically, Jordan and I hustle and bustle to get this coop finished.  We still have to put the roosts up but man we were running out of time.  While Jordan put the final touches on it, I went to go pick up the chickens.  We requested 12.  We knew that we would have to get some roosters with it because the people we got them from told us to...but we didn't realize how MANY roosters we would get.  By the time I got to the place to pick up the chickens, they were already in crates and ready to go.  They packed up ALL of the chickens they had!  Somewhere between 20-25!  Sooo...we get them home.  We tried to sort them because we didn't want to keep all of the roosters and we were giving some to my sister-in law...but it was difficult.  We ended up keeping 12 hens and 4 roosters (for now). 
Ahhhhh they look like dinosaurs when they take off our of the crate!  We didn't know if they would get in the coop or not when it came time to pen them up so we tried to herd them in there (experienced chicken people already know this, I guess) which is very difficult to do.  Everyone but 2.  One hen, and one rooster. 
The rooster takes off for the neighbors yard.  We HAD to get him so they wouldn't hate us for getting these chickens!  The hen gave us the run around for sure.  Under the coop, in a corner, to the back lot, to the front lot, pecked Jordan, and after many close calls of capture, she took off for the cornfield and was never seen again.  Poor girl...
But, here we are with PLENTY of chickens, despite.  Woke up this morning and........no eggs.  COME ON!  Later today, I found 2 eggs but they were in the yard and not in the nesting box....UGH!  Come on Girls!

8.30.2011

Working the Budget & September Grocery Challenge

I haven't really spoken much about our day jobs...which I plan to stick to.  We both have day jobs in agriculture---big surprise---but let's just keep this about our crazy farm.  But all-in-all...Mondays are not our favorite.
Anyway, along with Monday came the big scary End of the Month Budget!  We use the My Total Money Makeover website to keep our dollars in check and we usually do a great job of it....usually.  This month was fantastic for our incoming end.  We were able to bring in an extra $948 this month!  And...August had an extra pay check for us this month so we were sittin' pretty for the most part.  I judged a horse show this month, got a gift certificate at work for doing a good job, Jordan got paid for feeding the calves one weekend, we got a check for the hoggies, and somehow we got a late check from a tax refund.  Good Stuff!
We did, however, go over on our gas budget.  Which didn't surprise me because of our hogs.  But now we have something to work on next month.

Which leads me to my next topic...COUPONS!  I love clipping coupons and huntin' for deals.  This month, I was going to try and make it a goal to cut our grocery budget.  One of the big categories we can directly control.  We typically spend about $300 on food.  I would like to cut that down to no more than $200 for this month.  That gives us $50 per week.  Hopefully we can make these dollars dance this month!  Wish us luck!

8.28.2011

Family Time & Fall Preparations

Fall is by far my favorite time of year.  The weather, the scenery, campfires and county fairs!


We are 4-H advisers for our county sheep club so we are busy this week (amongst other things) getting ready to decorate the barn and welcome our 4-H'ers!  I had to paint their stall cards to put over their pens and I'm getting ready to put their names on them later this week.  Wednesday is when the barn has to be ready and Thursday is haul-in.  I hope I can get some things around to make the place look great!


Today, we went to church and out to eat with my in-laws.  We had to hurry though because today was Jordan's grandfather's 84th birthday.  We tried to eat a light lunch---splitting an entree yet somehow still ate way too much.  The birthday included cake, ice cream, and mingling with lots of family members we haven't seen in awhile.  Everyone had fun and then Grandpa had to retire to his room because he was getting a little tired.


In preparation for fall, I decided to dig out a few of our wedding decorations from last year.  I thought I could maybe see if some people would like to purchase these centerpieces I made for $5-$10 in order to make a few extra dollars.  So far I have 2 people interested but we will see if I get anymore bites.


What do you think?


Speaking of "extra dollars", we got our first check from the hogs this week too!  Deposited and allocated to a specific category.  We wanted to put half on debt and keep the other half in a farm account to pay for any other needs the hogs might have while they are with us.  Payin' down that debt!  That extra chunk took another month off of our Pay Off Date!

A Weekend of Simplicity---of sorts

                                           
 Yesterday, like today, was a beautiful morning.  We got an early start on the coop and made some definite progress.  Didn't end up getting it completed to go pick up our chickies but they will come soon enough.  We checked hogs and got ready to meet a group of friends from church for brunch.  Wow!  It was really good and their house was amazing.  Just made us think about how great it will be to someday be out of debt and overhaul our house to look that great. 

After brunch we went to the hardware store and worked on the coop some more.  My father-in-law came over to help a little bit which we were definitely thankful for.  I think right now we are slightly over our $150 budget...but I will rework the numbers later.  There might be a few boards that we can return to get the supplies to come back down.  Every penny counts!




Here is where we are right now on the coop

We had to take a break on the coop to go check ewes and move some pens around.  Didn't take a long time but we were so tired (and a little sunburnt) so we decided to call it a day on the hen house.

We are a little sad we aren't able to spend more time with the sheep lately because of this darn coop...but once it is done, it will definitely be worth it.  We already have 7 people wanting to buy eggs on a regular basis!  Those hens need to get here soon so we can try and "re-coop" the money we spent on this coop...I know lame joke....

8.26.2011

Budget Healthy Breakfast

So what's for breakfast?  We are out of cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, and bread....But I can make pancakes!

50 Calorie Banana Cinnamon Pancakes
1.25 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 to 2 Mashed Bananas
1.25 Cups of Milk
1 tbsp Honey

Serving Size: 3-4 Pancakes
Nutrition Info- Calories: 150, Fat: 0.7 g, Carbohydrates: 30 g, Fiber: 4 g, Protein: 5.5 g

These silver dollar pancakes cost about $1.00 to make the whole batch!  We will freeze the leftovers for a quick fix later in the week but between me and Jordan 1 batch will make 5-6 servings!  I paired these pancakes up with Herbed Eggs Over Easy and Fresh Fruit.  Have a glass of milk and you're all set!

AND...this will be my last store bought egg!

Working on the Chicken house later!  Posting pictures soon...hopefully with a better camera!

8.25.2011

Building a Chicken House for less than $150

So today starts our first day of Chicken House construction.  Jordan found some blueprints (which he conveniently made modifications to) for free.  Last night we went to Menards to find lumber.  It was going to be preeeetty pricey!  I ended up looking on Craigslist and found a guy who was selling a pile of plywood for $60.  After some negotiating, we settled on the whole thing for $45.  We did end up getting a thicker floor board and our 2X4's at Menards...along with some screws, nails, and hinges.  Spent $55 at Menards.  We are going to scavenge around for some linoleum and shingles.  So far we are at $100.  We still have $50 to spend---planning to buy some mis-tint paints at the hardware store and paint the deal too.  Here is a picture of our supplies...and our little helper!
The sheep are still breeding...but they need to get a move on so we can have lambs born by January!  Hopefully we will have some more girls marked by the end of next week. 
The pigs are still doing well.  We had one pen to fix this morning so we could move a few of them over.  That will give each pen a little more room.  A couple of the feeders are getting stuck, but Jordan reassures me that a pigs snout is stronger than I think and they will be able to figure it out.  But...we will keep an eye on things in the meantime.



8.24.2011

Suuuuuuueeeeey! & Saving Money on Gas

Good morning!  Already back from feeding our new piggies and everyone is doing well.  Had a bad storm last night so I hoped they were able to settle into their new home despite the thunder.  There are a few cute spotted hogs that were my immediate favorite from the group but I can't tell them that :)

Later tonight we are going to work on the chicken coop.  Only 3 more days until the hens arrive!  Heading out to see the sheep later this afternoon as breeding season continues.  Can't wait until lambing!

In the meantime, my husband and I were talking about our fuel budget.  Our major cost on this hog adventure is the gas for our truck.  I proposed that if we are more aware of our travelling from day to day...and make trips to town more deliberate, we can stay in our fuel budget throughout the month.  Drive the car more than the truck, get the $0.10/gallon card from Walmart, scout out the low prices and anything else we can do to SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!  Pay off that debt darn it!

8.23.2011

Let the chaos begin!

Not sure if anyone will read this but here goes...

This our first week of farm craziness!  300 hogs are on their way today that we will be feeding out for the next 4-5 months.  The chickens will be here at the end of the week and we already work our family owned club lamb breeding business.  Not very often, but sometimes we will be helping out with our family member's feeder calves too.  Add one pony and one little Australian Shepherd named Bocephus and you get one big happy family!

My husband and I are getting ready to celebrate our ONE year anniversary and why not make married life more entertaining by adding livestock to the mix.  In the last year we have moved from opposite corners of the state, got married, bought a house, had some emergency repairs on that house, and started our amazing journey of getting out of debt!

Speaking of debt, we were fortunate enough to participate in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University this last winter and have started on the path to financial freedom!  We've never had credit card debt or anything like that but our student loans are debt enough for us!  We plan to be out of debt by our 5 Year Anniversary in 2015!  Hoping to celebrate with a 2nd honeymoon back to Yellowstone National Park.

Sooo...if you see this little chickie pulling her feathers out throughout this blog...have a laugh and keep reading because the fun is just startin'!