Foxes in broad daylight?! Fox + Hen + Dog = drama!!!

We have had to stop letting our girls free range, because in ONE day, three of our girls disappeared... as well as our handsome rooster, Heff. I knew something was after them in broad daylight and with the size of some of the chickens it did away with without leaving a single feather, I knew it was pretty serious. I'm down to 16 chickens (some injured, some butchered, some lost to various predators, etc) from 32 since April... so we're not playing around anymore.

This afternoon, Jackson and I walked out to the chicken coop to take the ladies some fruit (smushy banana and too soft peach- very appreciated, by the way!) and one of our newest hens got out- one of the ones we got off of Craigslist when her owners moved! Cake is her name and this chicken was clearly terrorized at some point in her life- she is absolutely scared to death of humans. Ugh! Makes her a nightmare to interact with, especially if I need to get within ten feet of her!

I tried to entice her back into the fenced run, but it wasn't gonna happen. She went head first into the woods. I decided to wait and see if she would come back out and let me open the door for her.

All I saw was a flash of ORANGE, saw feathers fly, and I started yelling. The fox looked at me and then ran off. No wonder I was losing chickens- it was a freakin' buffet for a fox family out there! One that is clearly not afraid to come into my yard in broad daylight.

My dogs, in their dog run since a chicken was out and they have strong prey drives, were going INSANE. I have a 65lb Boxer and a 70lb Lab. Them losing their mess did NOT help the situation- the chicken was terrified, I couldn't catch her, and I knew the fox would come back. It was ballsy enough. So I waited.

All of the sudden, the darn fox (which was HUGE, by the way) hurls itself out of the woods and starts chasing my hen around the yard. They were not 4 feet from me by the time I started yelling for Tim to get a gun. NC has pretty high instances of rabies and I wasn't screwing around anymore. Unfortunately, he didn't hear me inside the house- he was on a business call. I grabbed Jackson, our two year old, and was going to get inside- the chicken be darned- since I had no idea if it was safe to be out there at this point.

Right then, the chicken ran head first into the dog run. Max, our Boxer, was ready and waiting for something to come within his reach, so he practically swallowed her head and neck. I hurled a rock at the fox, it ran into the woods, and I ran over to Max who was trying to pull the chicken into his dog run!

I was going to be SO upset if the fox didn't get the chicken, but my dumb dog did!

I pried the chicken out of the dog's mouth and she had not a scratch on her!! I looked her over carefully and then put her in the chicken coop to go on and live another day. I, on the other hand, have decided that the foxes have gotta go. I'm setting humane traps tonight and as far as I'm concerned, we're serving their eviction notice.

*sigh*

Our own personal soap opera- "As The Coop Turns!"

Jackson, by the way, was incredibly entertained.

Our fine, feathered friends!

Some of our sweet chickens!

It was a beautiful day outside, so the girls were hanging around under the shrubbery near the pool pump.

Miss Big Bird- came running when she heard me saying I had treats!

Our lone Buff Orpington pullet- the only one that survived the black snake attack :(

But man, is she cute!!!

Keelin named her Cornmuffin.

The world famous Paula Deen!

"Put a sticka butter in it, y'all!"

5 Things I have learned from living in the country:

Before I start my list, you guys may not know that we're buying the house I grew up in! My dad moved next door (1/5 mi. up the road!) and we're buying this house from him- very exciting! I'm a born and bred country girl, but in my teens and a bit into my twenties, I was confused as to how I wanted to live,  to raise the kids (in the country, barefoot in the grass, living on land OR in the city, fabulously bohemian, finding sustainability in an urban environment), but with time and thought, my heart changed and what I wanted for my children really became clear. And positively, it became obvious that I wanted them to grow up how and where I did- outside in the sunshine, jumping in creeks, riding horses, healthy as oxen from good food and exercise... and the decision was made to transplant ourselves from the sidewalks to the pasture- getting back to our roots, since Tim is a born and bred country boy himself, except that he is from Missouri and I was born here in North Carolina!

And here is my list! (LOL)
What I have learned from being an adult moving to the country after living in the city for a decade:

1. Thanks to the bugs and critters, it is louder at night here than it ever was when I lived in city apartments!

A few minutes ago, I actually contemplated going on the back porch to yell at the frogs to shut up before I called the cops! Hey, it worked when I had rude human neighbors! ;)

2. I learned the name of my mail carrier. She is delightful and I am planning to leave some fresh eggs in the mailbox for her sometime next week!

Shoot, she brings me my Backyard Chicken subscription... she knows what I've got going on!

3. In the last two weeks, I've moved 3 turtles from the side of the road in an effort to keep them becoming roadkill. In the city, I used to avoid running over roadkill. From avoiding to preventing...

In doing this, I learned that my son is terrified of turtles and my daughter thinks we need more pets. Jackson is in luck, because I'm not going to clean out an aquarium so that Keelin can have a turtle. Keelin is in luck, because I'm working on convincing Tim that we're ready for a milk goat! ;)

4. This week, I learned that even in my small community full of people still living a farming lifestyle, jerks will  truck in wholesale produce and try to sell it on the sides of the road marketed as local produce. Kiwi doesn't grow here, nincompoops. If it did, I would grow it.

'Nuff said!

5. Last, but not least- there is nowhere else on the planet I would rather be. Counting the tiny tomatoes on the plants, being chased around the yard by bitties, not worrying about the kids getting snatched from the yard while I feed the animals, hanging my skivvies on the clothesline, letting my kids play in the water naked as jaybirds... Of course, the isolation is sometimes palpable. Especially when Tim is traveling, like now, I do feel a bit like we might be the only people left on Earth. There is no HOA to tell me what color to paint the house's trim, my rooster can crow to his little heart's content... and I have no complaints!

Going to Anthropologie, courtesy of our hens!

I told myself that when our chickens started laying regularly, I would buy a really pretty egg bowl.

I have been looking around and haven't quite found one that caught my eye- until this week!

This one, from Anthropologie, caught my eye and looked very much like the rest of our kitchen decor, so when we went out to run errands today, we stopped so I could snag one!

(I think Tim was relieved when I walked out with a small, brown paper wrapped package. I think he expected me to come out with tons of clothes. I adore that place!)

Cute, blue, stoneware!

What a cute egg crate- definitely a better idea than an egg bowl!

While I was checking out the kitchen stuff, I fell in love with these stoneware measuring spoons! Not on my list of things to buy, but they were perfect for the kitchen and honestly, I'm not exactly sure what happened to most of my stainless steel measuring spoons during the move- so it worked! And they came home with us.

So I do, indeed, thank my hens (particularly Paula Deen, egg laying extraordinaire) for giving me a reason to go ahead and get something pretty and useful for the kitchen! Thanks, gals!

For my fellow chicken caretakers, how do you store your eggs? In the fridge or on the counter? Do you use the cool recycled cardboard egg crates from farm supply or do you have an egg bowl?

A simple EGG!

Just one of the many joys of having your own chickens.

I love fried eggs with toast!

That is a yolk that you won't find in a storebought, factory farmed egg.

That is bright, yolky goodness!

Who has pink and blue eggs?! WE DO!

On Monday, I went out to the chicken coop after lunch to take the chickens a treat- some stale bread!

I glanced into the nesting boxes, out of habit more than expectation, and what did I see?!

Our first egg! Courtesy of our "mutt" chicken, a grey hen named Paula Deen!

It's definitely tinted, almost pink! Pretty small, too.

And on Tuesday, I got another egg! Monday and Tuesdays eggs!

We also got another egg on Wednesday!

You guys that keep chickens were so right- once they start laying, they lay!

I also keep hearing that when one hen starts laying, it "encourages" other hens to start laying, so yesterday we started speculating as to which hens might start laying (since we have 5 that are old enough to lay) next!

This morning, I went out and there was our first BLUE egg!

And the layer was Keelin's big Araucana hen, Reeses!

Here are the eggs so far from this week!

Paula Deen is an afternoon layer (and I wrote this post around lunch time on Thursday), so my guess is that after I lay Jackson down for a nap there will be another pinkish egg waiting for me in the nesting box!

I feel SO relieved, you guys.

We spent money getting the coop ready, getting the hens, feeding all of the chickens-

It's like waiting for water to boil, waiting for them to start laying.

But now we know that we have two laying hens

and hopefully, the rest will follow :)

Butchering- (Warning:sensitive in nature WITH a few pictures)

Tim and I decided when we got our first group of Cornish Rock chicks back in March, we would butcher them around the end of April, beginning of May. It is best to butcher this particular breed between 8-10 weeks.

We had planned to butcher our chickens on Saturday, but my grandfather's passing meant that Saturday was family time, so it was decided that we would do it Sunday. Tim and I were running some errands that afternoon (picking up some baby items from a friend- thanks, Carol!), so I thought we weren't going to do it until Tim asked me if we were going to go ahead and butcher when we got home.

I immediately felt a bit lightheaded. I have been a purchaser of humanely raised/butchered meats with the feeling all along that I should probably be doing it myself. Personally, I feel that if you cannot get neck deep in the process of raising and killing an animal, you should probably not eat an animal. Lettuce doesn't feel pain when it's chopped for a salad. I knew that this was going to be the moment of truth for me. Could I actually go through with killing a chicken that I held in my hand when it was a week old, fed and watered daily, scratched it's neck while it sat on my lap in the sun?


The answer is yes. I can. And I did. But it was hard and a day later, I am still feeling a bit shaken up, but I think that is a positive sign. When I can take a life without being at least slightly disturbed by it, I will have lost a part of my humanity, so the goal is to become more human, more feeling, throughout this process.

This is a brief overview of how things happened. I'm not going to go too far into detail, but be fairly warned that there are some pictures that some might be sensitive to some below.

First, we decided which chickens were going to be butchered. We decided to start out with one, just to see how things went and maybe do another if it went well.. We put her in a box along with a couple of the chickens she was raised with to help her feel calm.

The box was given to us when we purchased the grown Araucana chickens about a month ago.

You see Jackson in the picture and he was home (and awake) when we did this. We set him up to where he couldn't see the process but we could see him- with some of our newer chicks to play with and he had a great time, never a clue what we were doing.

This is not a chicken that was butchered. She's alive and happy, but this is what our meat chickens look like at butchering age.

In all, we butchered two chickens yesterday.

The first, we used a chopping block and I really didn't like it.

I know that the chicken was instantly killed and that it didn't suffer, but it felt a bit barbaric to me.

The second chicken, we used a method that I was interested in trying after being a bit startled by using a chopping block. For chicken #2, I broke her neck cleanly to kill her and then proceeded to go through the process of removing the blood from the carcass and getting the meat to a useable state.

Instead of plucking the feathers, we chose to use a popular method and skin the chicken. We don't cook chicken with the skin on, anyway, so why not just remove it before freezing or cooking?

It was fairly simple, to my surprise!

The above photo is me skinning the chicken that I killed. From killing her to putting the ready to eat or preserve parts in an ice bath took about 20 minutes.

Here are the parts of chicken #1.

Chicken #2 was left whole after the entrails had been removed.

Here is chicken #2, my chicken, dressed and baked with potatoes and onions.

Here is chicken #1, packaged to be frozen for later use. The parts you can see here are leg quarters.

Now, I have mixed feelings about this whole process.

I adore my chickens, but we do eat chicken.

I'm not going to have the capabilities and resources to raise my own animals for food and NOT do it, but continue to eat animal products-

even though it was difficult for me.

Removing ourselves from the process of raising and killing animals is what has caused the incredibly sick growth of the factory farming industry.

We want someone to do it for us.

We want boneless and skinless delivered to us, wrapping in pleasant packaging.

We want clean hands.

I no longer have clean hands.

I raised and butchered my own animals for meat.

Like I said before, I have mixed feelings about it.

I will do it again- butcher.

I will do it again- purchase animals for the sole purpose of becoming food for my family.

That being said, I am feeling no grief over it, no guilt. I raised these chickens from fluffy butt chicks that were less than a week old. They were loved on, well cared for, treated with as much dignity and respect as any of the other 32 chickens we have living in our backyard. There is no difference between the way our pet dogs are treated and our pet chickens are treated and our meat chickens are treated.

My mixed feelings come from my own personal thoughts about being an omnivore.

I have had SO many people tell me that what I have done is disgusting.

Cruel.

Inhumane.

And it was none of those things.

It was clean, humane, and done with respect.

And the people criticizing me are people that would never consider eating farm fresh food, because knowing where the animals come from is too close for comfort. Factory farms are preferrable to them over what we do here at our home.

To each his or her own. I am not passing judgement on another person's convictions and/or eating habits. We all must live as we feel we must, but this is part of my growing process, part of our home becoming a homestead- a place that can sustain us.

And I hope that sharing this part of my journey with you didn't offend.

I tried to provide fair warning from the beginning.

But if you were offended, I'm sorry. It wasn't my intention to shock or disturb, but merely to share my experience and educate.

Who has two thumbs and fizz?! This girl!

I know that it isn't very crunchy of me, but I love carbonated beverages!

I have been lusting over home-carbonating gadgets for a couple of years now, but frankly, they have just been out of our budget.

I have had a really rough week this week  (even before my grandfather died yesterday) and clearly, my hubby sensed that I was not in a good place. He ran to REI to get himself a new watch band and came home with my Mother's Day present.

He not only got me a Sodastream, but he got me the Crystal version! I thought I would only ever get the basic version, but he got me one with resealable glass carafes. And I LOVE glass in my kitchen!

*swoon!*

The green patch on the lower right hand corner says that it takes no batteries or electricity!

Each bottle of CO2 will make 60 liters of carbonated water and we have a local place where they can be refilled for a really decent price!

Here are the lovely glass bottles, one with the lid on top, not sealed.

Pardon the counter mess- my 1 cup coffee maker and blender are permanent fixtures, even though they take up a ton of room.

Tim also got me a 3 pack of bottles of flavoring.

We've tasted them all and they are all tasty without being overwhelming!

My favorite so far is the orange.

The CO2 bottle (far right) pops into a hole in the bottom.

The bottle of water goes inside the canister.

You close and seal it and press the button on top 3 times to carbonate the water.

Easy peasy!

Raspberry sparkling water, sealed up and going into the fridge to be gulped later!

It's happy beside of my organic ACV!

A good picture of the bubbles!

Mmmmm fizzy!

Being a nerd waffle, I decided to take some fizzy water and combine it with orange juice.

Homemade Orangina, anyone?!

Heck yes!

And of course, I drink it with my Glass Dharma straw.

I LOVE these straws. I've had my 3 for right at 2.5yrs now and not one has broken!

As if my husband didn't absolutely spoil me rotten with that gift,

He encouraged my other addiction:

French cookware.

Specifically, Le Creuset.

Forgive this wanna-be locavore... it's my mother's fault!

(Sorry to throw you under the bus, Mom.)

I tried to fall in love with stoneware, but it is just so darn hard to care for and keep clean! I am a dedicated human being and don't mind things that are high maintenence, but enameled cookware is much more my speed!

This is a BEAUTIFUL baking dish (Tim said it will be perfect for baking up the perfect chicken and I believe he is right on the money!) in my color- the Caribbean blue.

Here is my new baking dish sitting beside of the butter dish my mother got me for my birthday last month. It's just the little things in life, guys...

Just a quick coop update!

Just a quick update on the chicken coop-

Otherwise known as the soap opera,

"As the Coop Turns"

;)

The bottom of the chicken wire wasn't quite as safe as I wanted it, since the ground is uneven and there were a few places that a determined snake or something could get under.

Tim remedied the issue by cutting trees that fell in the storm and putting them around the entire length of the chicken fence. He stuck a chair our there for me and we now jokingly refer to it as "the Observation Deck."

The other new thing is the left side of the fence. It all used to be super low to the ground, but Tim wanted me to be able to get in there easily even when my belly gets ginormous, so he built a frame and lifted it up! He's pretty awesome! I was just going to squat down and hope for the best, but thanks to my hubby, I don't have to worry about it anymore!

It did require the purchase of some chicken wire, but all of the wood was leftover from other projects, found in the woods/yard, or recycled!

Everyone, meet Hugh Heffner. He's our new Silver-Laced Wyandotte rooster! Isn't he handsome? Tim named him, saying it was only appropriate for the only rooster in the hen house! And so far, he seems to be quite the ladies man! He's been pretty polite with the crowing and he's got lovely manners, so hopefully it stays that way!

In other news, only a few more things need to happen to the yard before we are ready to let the chickens roam free some during the day! I am looking forward to seeing them go nuts in the yard after Tim mows and the bugs are out! They're going to be in hen heaven!

Chicken Coop Update

As promised, we have a chicken coop update!

We still had one of our brooders (a box with a heat lamp set up for itty bitty chicks) in the sunroom, which was driving Tim nuts. He asked me what we could do to get the chicks out into the coop and I told him that since they were still not completely feathered they needed to have access to a heat source and since they were so small compared to our other chickens they needed to be separated somehow until proper introductions had been made :)

My smart hubby's solution to the problem?

This!

From materials that we already had (including the wood from the free pallets we picked up!), he arranged for the chicks to join the big chickens!

The sloped top makes it hard for chickens to roost on it, the chicken wire keeps the chicks safe from the pecking order while they grow, and the hinged lid makes it easy for me to clean, love on the chicks, feed and water them, etc.

Keelin was at school (this was done last week, by the way) and Jackson wanted to help us take the last 3 small chicks out to the coop. He wanted to carry one of our Buff Orpington pullets and that is my arm trying to encourage him to be gentle with her wings.

I think it's precious how gentle they try to be, even Jackson in his 2yr old way.

While Daddy arranges the new chick box, Jackson hangs out with the "beebee kickin'" and enjoys the sun!

A little hug for the chick *sigh* and in the background there, you can see one of our rain barrels sitting by the dog run. And yes, that is a big, blue plastic kiddie pool- for the dogs :)

The new setup. I was a bit concerned about putting the box right under the roost, but so far, the hens have stayed away from it! The water has been put up on a wooden pallet to keep the shavings out and been very successful at keeping the 26 free roaming chickens from mucking up their water.

The 2 wooden boxes under the roost are what I transported the  now-4 grown chickens home in a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to the people I got the chickens from, the pullets can now reach the roosts, which they enjoy!

The heat lamp has since been moved to a corner of the chicken box and thanks to the beautiful weather, is only on at night now.

One of our Black Australorp pullets checking out the chicks new digs!

An update on the homestead and a hello! to new followers :)

Some of my now *34* followers (Giveaway coming soon soon soon to celebrate!!) are homesteaders or homesteader wanna-be's like me so maybe some of you can understand where I'm coming from when I say:

Why does this mess take so darn long?

You get so caught up in the research for a project!
You take the plunge and buy/collect the materials for the project!
You jump in head first...and...

wait.
and wait.
and wait some more!

My chickens aren't old enough to lay eggs, but they're growing steadily.
My chicks aren't big enough to be killed and processed, but it will only be a few more weeks.
My garden is half planted, even though we are seeing some progress on that front!
The fruit trees are just babies, even though Tim and I found a couple of teeny "practice" peaches today!
I haven't found time to put spouts on the rain barrels, even though we're using them to water the garden.
The compost is going to take it's sweet time.

I guess it just feels like I'm working myself (and my ever patient husband) for nothing, sometimes.
I know the time is coming when our property is going to show how incredible it is and we'll harvest the fruits of our labor (literally!)- but in the mean time, it's tough to feel like we're getting anywhere.

Just hang in there, my friends. Some days my posts will be mind numbingly boring, but other times I hope to have some really cool things to share.

If there is something you think I might be ready to dive into or you'd like to hear about, please share with me! I am by no means an expert on the subject matter at hand- I am a constant student and eager to learn!

Coming up this week and next week:
- A chicken coop update with pictures!
-Two kinds of homemade jelly with pictures and recipes!
-Homemade bread, in the oven and in the new (thrifted) bread maker!
- A garden update with pictures!
- Some handmade goodies that we've gotten for Baby Finn with links to the crafters!
-A review!
- TWO amazing giveaways that I can barely contain my excitement about!
- A make it yourself post with some new household products!

Thank you again, friends, for following! Please don't hesitate to comment, ask questions, and suggest topics!

A sad morning :(

This morning, we lost a chicken. A couple of weeks ago, I bought 4 grown Araucana hens (that included Keelin and Jackson's special hens, Reeses and Big Bird, respectively) from someone else. One was acting funny yesterday and this morning, she was no longer with us.

Tim disposed of her body. I say "her," because we couldn't come up with a name to suit her.

In honor of the unnamed spotted chicken that is no longer living, we named the other two hens that were previously unnamed. Along with Reeses and Big Bird, we now officially have Blink and Goldilocks.

Rest in peace, little black and white spotted chicken.

What do we do with gorgeous weather around our house?

As many of you know, NC has had some CRAZY weather lately!

We heard that this weekend was going to include some wild weather, so we spent a couple of days outside hooking up our pups, loving on the chickens, and mowing the big backyard!

Yes, with pictures!

Our yard looking a little wild...

After Tim mowed, we moved the swingset to a better location.

I said earlier that the low lying ground wasn't going to be a problem, but it is,

so we remedied the situation! Maybe now we can cement the set into the ground?

My sweet hubby and our boy on my dad's riding lawnmower!

This thing was bought the year I turned 1.

A lawnmower working 23 years later?

Unheard of!

They don't make 'em like they used to!

Sadly, it's my dad's and we really need to buy our own.

Will probably hit up Craigslist and try to find a good old one!

Tim teaching Keelin how the mower works- she was mildly hesitant :)

Keelin and her special hen, Reeses.

She loves her chickens! It's adorable.

And thankfully, we have friendly poultry!

Tolerant, at the very least!

Keelin and our 1yr old Boxer, Max.

He is such a sweet dog, you guys...

Not sure why his ears are flapping in the breeze! :)

Keelin holding one of our Cornish Rock chicks

(i.e. a meat chicken)

Remember in the post where I quoted Bittman about how agricultural animals are treated so much worse than pets? Not ours!! We don't name the meaties, just because that would make it really hard for the kids when they are killed (not harvested.) Otherwise, they get lots of lovin' just like the rest of our pets.

Keelin here is informing me that she wants this one to be a pet, not dinner.

*sigh*

Jackson and Keelin, posing with two Cornish chicks.

Pardon the bright light, it was really early in the morning!

You can see just how big the Cornish chicks are- and they're only 3 weeks old.

And today, the rain came down so hard that we couldn't even see out of the windows. It was like a sheet of white! Thankfully, we didn't have to deal with any tornados and there was no damage done to our property or that of anyone we know. Come on, NC... how about some mild weather!!

Jackson and Big Bird?

I just feel the need to celebrate my wild guy!

This morning, Tim and I took him outside after we took Keelin to school.

It was time to check on the chickens water/food and open the door for them to go outside!

"Mommy, it's BIG BIRD!!!"

So, the chicken Jackson is pointing to is officially his special hen.

She's an Araucana hen named Big Bird.

Big Bird decided that she'd had enough.

Jackson WILL find you, Chicken... in his pjs and flip flops!

Jackson holding Big Bird.

I have never seen that little boy just stand still...

He really enjoyed getting to love on his feathered friend!

What an incredible day!!

Today was a really interesting day, so if you can hang in there through the whole post, you will be a real trooper! :)

Woke up this morning knowing it would be a crazy day! Why, you ask? Today is the day that my husband, Tim, goes on terminal/transitional leave! He is using up the paid leave that he has saved up before officially getting out of the Army a month from now after almost ten years of service. Crazy, right? (Paid leave being a relative term, considering what is going on with the governmental agencies acting like a bunch of kids with dirty diapers!)

We've been looking forward to this for the last 3 years that we've been planning this transition to civilian life and it was just so cool to see the day finally come! We got out of debt (car loans and such), saved up a chunk of change, had a baby, got me preggers with another, and got both he and I back in school.

What a way to sum up three years of marriage!

It felt like we waited all day for Tim to get home, so I tried to keep my hands busy!

I picked up sticks out of the yard (thanks, storm!), cleaned the chicken coop, lamented over the huge tree down in our yard and how being 19 weeks pregnant, I'm not in any shape to bust out our chain saw...

Oh, did a ton of diaper laundry, got Jackson down for a nap in his twin bed (Yay for my big boy!), and got in the kitchen!

This was our lunch, along with some homemade corn muffins that my son absolutely adores! Zucchini, squash, red potatoes, and carrots. All thickly sliced, drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with sea salt. The flavor was incredible, totally filling, and the chickens were thrilled to get the ends of the veggies as a treat! (Maybe now they will feel inclined to give us some eggs?)

Here are some banana chips dehydrating! I had to lay the smack down on my dad and son today. They were both in the kitchen getting into the dehydrator all afternoon. These guys just slay me- I can't make chips that actually get to be chips, because they get eaten too quickly. Banana fiends need to back off of my snacks ;) But yes, these were salvaged- 3 of my 4 trays made it into crispy, crunchy, delicious chips! I'll take the 75% odds!

Gotta love his "no poo" hair and cloth diaper!!

Jackson on his $5 consignment sale bike! He's a little guy, so it cracks me up that a bike that teeny has training wheels that are removable. I would love to see a person that small riding a Fisher Price two-wheeler without training wheels!

On top of my cooking, cleaning, and thumb twiddling- I sliced up a TON of fruit and froze it combinations that would be yummy for smoothies, which have become our go-to breakfasts around here.

I finally got tired of being productive and sat myself in a lawn chair to read the end of a book and start another while Jackson napped.

The book I just finished is:

“Twelve by Twelve: A One-Room Cabin Off the Grid and Beyond the American Dream . “ by William Powers

A great book written by a guy local to me. It highlights his experiences living in a 12 foot by 12 foot cabin in rural North Carolina. Very cool read!

I'm actually planning to give away a copy of this particular book (gotta support our local authors!) next week!

This is the book I just started reading:

"Better Off : Flipping the Switch on Technology," by Eric Brende

So far, it seems to be a book about an Ivy League educated couple that decide to see what life would be like without the distraction of electricity and their quest to return to simplicity. I have a feeling that this one is going to be good!