November 24, 2009 by Debbie.

We had an early Thanksgiving this year - SugaBaby and Mercy kidded within 24 hours of each other with SugaBaby starting the show Sunday morning. Both had two doeling and a buckling each - yeah! more does than bucks this year. Both kidded all by themselves with absolutely no help needed from us - another yeah! for sure. All babies nursed on their own - how many more yeahs! are needed? Seems like there were/are plenty! So much to be thankful for.

One of my biggest yeahs! was that John was home and could enjoy the experience. He’s a great baby-warmer-upper. Temps were 60+ degrees less in the barn than in the womb and we can’t watch those first little babies shiver while momma Suga cleans the last one out. I don’t have the patience to sit and warm the babies - thank goodness John does!

Napping is essential, where ever you can find a place.

Curiosity never ends.

The little buckskin walking towards me (”hey, you! whachadoin’???”) was the last one Mercy kidded and I found her wet and shivering waiting her turn to momma’s cleaning job. She’s the most adaptable of Mercy’s three. She goes over and sleeps under the light with Suga’s babies and knows no fear. The world is her oyster … for now!

We rigged up a light heated area for the babies. Little shivering one from above really likes this cuddly place!

I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving, even if all can’t be blessed with 6 kids almost overnight. John says the best thing about our kids is if they don’t behave, we can always eat them.  Look at that warming (first) picture and tell me that man would eat one of those goats!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

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November 18, 2009 by Debbie.

A friend and I went out to Gainesville, Tx for their quilt show last Sat. Below are few of the quilts that caught my eye. This first one I liked as it will work great for the Foster Kids’ quilts.

This one was called “Hello Doilie” and I loved it. It’s on my ‘to do’ list now!

Well, you can tell I like the simple, old fashioned type of quilt! This one was much brighter and more cheerful looking in person. It was very homey and spring looking. It’s probably on my to-do list, too.

This last one, called Bullwinkle, is definitely not on my to-do list. I can’t even begin to imagine how someone did this one but it is breath-taking. Pictures don’t do it justice. My friend and I both thought it deserved top in the show and were amazed (puzzled!) why it got a white ribbon instead of best of show. You can better tell from the second picture how detailed the moose is - all the different colors are different pieces of fabric.

I expected to see Bullwinkle wink at me, he was so lifelike!

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November 14, 2009 by Debbie.

As a punchline in one of the Hallmark Hall of Fame videos we bought years ago, one of the main characters had engraved on their headstone, “I never forgot.” The line referred to the life changing love that she had felt for the other main character. That line has stuck with me. It seems like forgetting is easier in today’s society. People who went through the Great Depression had frugality indelibly marked in their memory and personality, so much so that even when better times came most couldn’t splurge the way modern people splurge and today’s generation, separated by too many years, wonders why.

I often get blank brain spots and receive blank stares when conversing with people. When I comment that we don’t watch TV I get horrified looks and questions such as “How do you get your news?” And I feel that blank spot in my brain of “what news is that life shattering that a day or two would change anything?” and the other person gets a blank look on their face when I ask that question. Most ‘news’ today is what would have been labeled gossip 3 generations ago.

I’ve noticed that most people have also un-learned how to do without. “What do you do if you don’t have medical insurance/extra money/extra time/whatever?” people ask with a frantic look on their face.  I’m at a blank wall - what do you do? Well, you do without whatever. In times past people didn’t have nor use paper towels but somehow they figured out how to do without - yes, it was probably easier as they had never experienced a ‘better way’ but life still went on.  When I say, “Grab a rag from the rag bag” I get that blank look and question “What in the world is a rag bag???”

But enough of that soap box for now. The above is a prelude to explain the name of this quilt - “Remember.” It’s done in 1930 reproduction fabric and as I pieced it and as I will quilt it, I am tied back to the old times when this quilt would have been made from true scrap fabric - leftover pieces from clothing made from feed sacks or tiny pieces from clothing that had worn out yet had a few small good areas. I don’t ever want to forget how people ‘made do or did without.’

The quilt is just laying over the side of the frame here so I could get a picture of it. It was a bugger to put on the frame and I’ll put pictures of that as I progress with the hand quilting. It’s 102″x102″ - king sized.

Below are two close ups of the quilt. They’re fuzzy because I am camera challenged.

I hope everyone has more than a few things from life “they never forgot.” There’s something comforting in knowing we are healthily tied to our heritage.

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November 3, 2009 by Debbie.

Sorry it took so long to get these pictures up on the blog, but better late than never!

It’s hard to believe these little chicks can go from this -

to this in just 7 long weeks -

But it’s true. Here’s a pictorial process of butchering day.

Killing cones are great to ease the chicken’s pain as well as protect the meat from bruising.  John thanks each individual bird for what they are giving to us - we don’t take it for granted.

The scalding bucket is beside the cone stand and is heated by our turkey fryer propane cooker. Before this we used a camp stove.

After scalding, the chickens go into the electric plucker two at a time. John hoses off the feathers in the last few seconds of plucking. The feathers wash out a shoot at the bottom of the plucker.

You can see here how clean the birds come out of the plucker. They are then placed in ice water til they cool down a bit.

I take the chickens from the cooling vat (fancy words for that bucket, huh?) to the cleaning table and gut them. From there I take them into the kitchen for final wash and another cooling down period.

I weigh each one to mark the freezer bag. I usually freeze most of the chickens whole but I do separate some leg & thigh quarters for fried chicken and some wings for bbq-ing later. The carcass is cooked and the meat & broth are frozen or canned for future ‘fast food’ meals. It’s wonderful to have the start of soup when you really need it. The chickens are double bagged to avoid freezer burn.

7 weeks doesn’t sound like long, but when you’re moving a chicken tractor every day, sometimes twice a day, and feeding and watering 35 chickens twice a day, rain or shine, it is longer than it sounds!! Course, that’s after the chicks have spent 2 or 3 weeks in the brooder, with all the care and twice a day cleanings that takes as well. Still, the reward of having our own home grown chicken is worth it.

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