I have been trying to find local foods and farmers in the winter here. Most farmers markets are closed for the season. Due to our late arrival here we do not have a fall/winter garden this year. Last week I wanted to make granola bars. I was out of dried fruit. I thought maybe I could find a berry farmer that may have cheap surplus berries through the winter. I called nearby Berkey Farms who grow organic blueberries nearby.
Blueberry farm with the crop in the background mulched with sawdust
Sure enough, post harvest freezer berries were available by the gallon. A gallon on blueberries is about 5 pounds.
All I had to do was wash, dry and pick a few green ones from the batch. With granola in mind, these went straight into the dehydrator, no additives, no sugar, nothing but berries. This would also have been a good start to blueberry syrup!
My new dehydrator is amazing and has a timer to shut off on time so these little ones dried over night making the laundry room smell delicious.
There has been a lot going on around here the past few weeks. Christmas and New Years, friends visiting, new chickens and more! We have had rain, freezing temps, sleet, snow and more freezing temps. We have been working hard to figure out keeping the animals warm and toasting. Here’s a few updates of the past few weeks. We have been relaxing, building, creating, canning, welding, freezing, chicken training and more!
Chicken coop expansion
New chickens meant more room was needed in the coop. Also, the pecking order needed to be worked out with Penny. After a lot of separation then slow visitation everyone worked it out and they are all together in a new expanded coop warming each other up and getting along great. The coop got more room in the house, new perches and a bigger run. Now its a double wide! More pictures once I paint it! Here is the work in progress before the rest of the roof and the new enclosure.
The little chickens spent a couple weeks in the garage until the hard freeze passed and they were monitored until we knew they were healthy and could go in with Penny. There is always that one chicken that pushes the limits….Here is Florence-chicken discovering she isn’t really all that locked up. Soon after this they discovered they can fly and I woke up to them roosting wherever they wanted in the garage…no. Time for the coop!
All 3 living in the garage for 2 weeks to make sure they were healthy
New Years Guests
Our friends the Kings visited for New Years and brought Milo the dog. He gets along great with Layla. On new years weekend went walking around the pastures and property by the pond. I forgot what a lab dog loves most….he was in the water (not bothered at all by the cold and ice) before I saw it coming. Layla enjoyed playing at the pond as well. Yay for canning!
Thanks to a bigger kitchen I finally have more room and a pressure canner! Can’t wait for the summer garden. First thing I made was chili con carne. Turned out great. I even made soup stock from the Christmas turkey, canned and preserved.
following the canning guidlines carefully for safety
Have I mentioned much just how awesome Clinton is?? Well he is. And I have to post a pic of him being amazing fixing our gate on a frozen day. To my disappointment we barely saw any snow. We did, however have a lot of frozen bird baths, pond, chicken waters, etc.
Snow!
welding the gate back, works perfect now!
Wood stove in the shop
This shop stove was refurbished from a killer deal on Craigslist. With a few parts, some rust removal and fixing up its now keeping things (and cat and dog) toasty in the shop when we are working in there. Here is Layla helping build the chicken coop. She made sure the stove did not go anywhere the entire time we were building. Good thing for Layla keeping a close eye on things!
Its a heavy-hearted, bittersweet post this week. We had to say goodbye to our dear sweet Nugget-Chicken. We also have the arrival of three new young girlfriends for Penny. Those who know us and our chickens know Nugget has always been a bit of special needs Chicken. You also will know that Nugget was indeed a very special and fantastic chicken. Nugget had cancer, unfortunately common in backyard chickens who live much longer lives as pets once past their productive egg laying days. And although pulling through a few hard times and bouncing back with a spunk and spirit that rivaled most pet dogs, her time was over. We had been hoping and praying she would stay healthy long enough to see Oregon and all its acres of scratching and pecking glory. She did. And she loved it here! She was laid to rest under her most favorite tree she had loved since we moved to Oregon. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of a great chicken who would come running for treats when you called her, hang out for morning coffee, and just be silly in general.
Nugget on the right. Penny on the left. Nugget had a heart shaped mark on her head as a baby. We knew she would be amazing the day we picked her out.
Penny and Nugget, less than a week old
Always jumping on me, interrupting backyard yoga…
Interrupting coffee time in the most adorable way (Nugget on the left) Baby feather molt…so ugly cute at this stage. Nugget on the right. Awkward teenage years…..Hanging out in the backyard meant you may have a chicken (or two) on your lap. Nugget in my lap. Penny generally didn’t want as much cuddling. Hammock time! All up in my business while I am trying to read! Due to her condition, Nugget often had to have hot water bathes to keep her body moving along. Here, she is happy to dry herself in front of the wood stove. Perched on my leg, sleeping.We love you Nugget!
The Arrival of the New Girls!
There has been a bit of a frenzy to find Penny new playmates as soon as possible. We had known for some time we should get more chicken friends so that neither Penny or Nugget would ever be left alone. We still had not done this since moving (may have been an element of denial on my part). Chickens love to be in groups, they love friends. They love to walk around together looking for bugs (shopping), finding the perfect tree to sit under (having coffee), and often go to the restroom in pairs. Women! After a bit of a search we found a local farmer who had young chickens who were Rhode Island Reds just like penny and nugget. We drove to Corvallis to Winn Farms late in the evening, in the dark, rain and wind and picked up three new girls.
Meet the new girls! Diana, Mary and Florence-Chicken already posing for the CameraWe are integrating them slowly with Penny to avoid any pecking order issues but all four have been scratching around talking to each other. Penny hung out on her perch close to their acclimation cage the first day and talked to them. Probably setting the ground rules for when they are released from chicken jail. Click here for a cute video of everyone. If you turn the volume up you can hear the cute little chicken chirps. Florence is a bit shy…she stayed in the kennel most the day basking in the sun.
This weekend was “Home for the Holidays” in Brownsville. There were lots of events from Santa visiting, charity auctions for decorated Christmas trees, silent auction of many goodies and an art fair at the art center. We stayed home this weekend to enjoy all of the cuteness of Brownsville.
It started with Popcorn
We recently acquired an awesome popcorn maker and cart that just needed a clean-up and small repair. Since it is adorable and portable we thought a great way to finally meet the people in our town would be to go to the holiday fair and hand out popcorn.
Traveling with the popcorn machine, it fits in the SUV!Here it is all set up. Thanks to sister-in-law Kelly and Joe for the machine
I sent a message to one of the leaders in town and got an immediate, excited response. The Art Center would love to have us provide popcorn. This was perfect because the Art Center was hosting Santa Claus’s visit. We packed the machine on Saturday and headed downtown to be the “popcorn people”. Of course it was a big hit and was great to walk around town later and see everyone carrying around our popcorn, eating and shopping!
Santa Claus
Santa means kids and kids love popcorn. Especially when they can watch it being popped and overflowing the kettle. Santa was there in a custom built little cabin by local Bryan’s Woodshed to keep him warm and out of the weather. Mrs. Claus was present, but sadly, no elves could make it…
Festival of Trees
Each local business sponsored a decorated, lit Christmas tree for charity auction. Located inside each business, you could view the tree and bid on one silent auction style. If you win, you take it home! Or you can donated your winning tree to a family in need. They each had a theme were absolutely amazing. Our bid was for the Jr. 4H club tree, but we were outbid. You can view more photos of the trees that were displayed on their facebook page here.
My two favorite trees on display: The train tree next to the polar bear tree!
Silent Night Auction & Vino in the Vault
Probably one of the most fun and creative fundraisers I have seen was Vino in the Vault. There is an old bank in town that is no longer operating but still present and used for events. A benefit for Sharing Hands Food Bank was held here during the holiday event. On one side there was a great silent auction with items from local artists, champagne brunch for 4, crabbing on the bay, picnic and wine baskets and much more. The other part to this was the Vino in the Vault where you pay a $20 donation to the food bank and you get to draw an old safety deposit box key from the jar. You then use this key to open a selected safety deposit box containing your surprise wine inside. The ladies running this event were singing and dancing and made opening your surprise wine so much fun! In all the excitement I forgot to get pictures of the event but there are a view on their page here. I did end up with a wine that everyone seemed excited for, so hope its good!
It’s been dry and cold this week with nights down to 22 degrees. The chickens received an inch and a half of new insulation to the coop for colder nights and Nessie got a new insulated bed. We haven’t had much time for projects and have been enjoying visits from dear friends. Here is a late post of a couple weeks ago when I discovered two more apple trees by the pond. They are a different variety then the orchard trees, green apples. I had just enough to make apple sauce and it’s delicious!
apples picked fresh from the back pasture by the pondend result: yummy apple sauce, should be great poured over a pork roast
apples from Peoria farms, cinnamon, sugar and cloves
We arrived at the new place a little later than expected. That put my plans of harvesting and preserving food from the orchard on hold until next year. Since it’s fall, I went to the local farm and scored some local apples. I decided Applebutter needed to happen. The only option at this time of the season were Fuji apples. They may be a bit sweet but they will also be good for Apple chips
5 pounds of apples gave me 8 cups of prepared and cooked apples that I needed for my dad’s family recipe. I didn’t have a food mill yet but my potato ricer did a fine job. Every part of the apple is cooked down including the peel and the core to get the most pectin and flavor.
Cooked the apples until they were very soft. After running them through the potato ricer they resembled applesauce
The next step was to add the spices, sugar and cook the whole batch down until it was the proper thickness for the Applebutter. This takes a very long time I may just do it overnight in a crockpot next time leaving the lid a jar for steam to escape. It wasn’t as hard as I thought to remove the peel and seeds from the ricer as I went along. However I can imagine a food mill would be much much faster.
This stainless steel pot is amazing. I use it for everything I make that is going to be processed and canned. It was a perfect gift from mom in law Carol
Since making this batch I have scored a old-fashioned food mill at the local flea market put on by the senior center. I am excited to try the next batch using the food mill and our own apples.
Side note: The following week I was walking out by the pond and was surprised to find two more apple trees nowhere near the orchard. There were green apples still on the tree, a variety that I don’t have in the orchard. Hoping they are Granny Smith. I would love to have pie apples on the property!
Found a small amount of green apples down by the pond that the deer could not reach.
New outlet box for the pipes is amazing and allow much better placement of washer and dryer, saving space
Thankfully, the new house has a laundry room. It is, however, very small. The hot and cold water faucets to supply the washer and dryer were old, sticking out several inches from the wall and plugged around the hole in the wall with steel wool. Not attractive. It also meant the washer and dryer cannot be pushed flush against the wall. In this laundry room every inch counts! A smaller project this day makes a huge difference in the amount of usable space here. And it is much more attractive to walk past than big metal pipes and steel wool.
Having the washer and dryer as stackable like the old place and taking out a cabinet was one option. But, I really wanted side by side for this house. This leaves little to no room for a folding table which is essential for not leaving piles of unfolded laundry all over. My genius husband of course had a solution to this. There is an adorable retro utility sink and cabinets already in place (they will soon shine with a little DIY repair and refinish). Two perfectly sized melamine boards cut to fit make perfect inserts for the sink and turn it into a folding table for this space! Holes are cut to allow easy pick up of the boards to move when I need to use either one or both sinks.
Retro utility sink with folding table inserts make this a dual purpose space
New Pantry Shelves
The Pantry here is small closet sized. Originally there were only the shelves on the left. We added an entire right side of more shelves. With the way we cook, I need a lot of pantry space. There are many dried goods, rice, beans, lentils, etc. We try most things from scratch and mostly whole foods. There is room now for lots of staples of our diet: whole grains, nuts, seeds, potatoes etc. Then fresh veggies can be purchased weekly. Until we can run electrical to the pantry and put in lighting its pretty dim in there. We found some really great stick-on lights with a little remote and even a 10 minute auto shut-off from Costco that work amazing!
Kitchen Lighting Updates
It seems that every house in the 80’s loved fluorescent lighting in the kitchen. For me, after 8+ hours of fluorescent lighting at work all day then last thing I want to see when I get home is more fluorescent lighting. With the help of a good friend we were able to remove both large obstructive lights and put in recessed lighting. Its an amazing difference. It opened up the kitchen even more and the space is calmer. I will post a true “after” picture when patching and painting are also finished
Its been almost a week since Nessie joined us. She has been in her crated kitty habitat in the loft of the shop. Today we opened the doors and let her have run of the shop. She was a little worried but about 15 minutes later she was exploring!
Peering over the loft edge before getting brave enough to go downstairsPlaying in mounds of old carpet we removed from the main houselots of things to play in and under and around
The Girls (Penny and Nugget)
Penny and Nugget have also been introduced to the yard. They really must know they are in new surrounding because they barely ventured out. I let them out about an hour before sunset and they were back in the coop hiding after only about 15 minutes. They won’t get full ranging until they get more friends and maybe a protector rooster for safety.
Layla (with Kona friend)
Crowding my yoga mat, as usual.
Layla loves her new place. She is getting less scared of the dark and now playing outside until late. Three days ago it must have clicked where she was and the lay of the land because she started running circles around the house and orchard area. When her doggie friend Kona visited she ran and ran and ran all over in circles showing off.
Meet Nessie, the barn cat! Nessie was left behind when her family moved 😦 and ended up at the shelter. She is shy and doesn’t feel comfortable indoors. This left her at the shelter for a year where they sent her to the inmate rehabilitation program at the jail. There, she learned to trust her handler and people a little more while helping a human out. She has been in the barn cat adoption program for cats that are waiting for a second chance-a farm home! Welcome to the family Nessie. Hope you like your shop, barn, orchard and pastures. Nessie explores her upper level of the acclimation cage. She will need to stay in here for a week to adjust to her surroundings so she doesnt run away and knows this is home.Sleepy from a day of travel. She jumped in the insulated bed immediately
After a 60 day escrow, many hoops to jump through, 500 mile journey and hotel stays with chickens and a dog, we are here. Its been a long road but worth every mile, dollar, hope and dream. This week we settled into our little homestead with a lot of help from family and friends. The girls (chickens Penny and Nugget) and Layla dog are beginning to feel at home. Here are a few pictures to get this blog started.
The girls get a travel break to scratch moss under a tree on the journey. Under a tree in Eugene, next to the bike path, in a puppy exercise pen!
I always wanted a windmill. A look toward the orchard.
Front pasture, graciously weeded by my sister in law!
Our view, will a little tree trimming we will have a valley view.
Pedersen Homestead 