Category Archives: Chickens

Saving on Saturday

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Finally an entire day at home to focus on not only cleaning and finding my house again but on preserving and preparing food.

The first way I saved today is that I have managed to plan and cook three meals for today and breakfast for tomorrow.  We also did some refrigerator clean out and that saves us food for the chickens.

Next I focused on chopping a bunch of veggies. These will be used for salads for lunches next week as well as in preparation for my preservation project of the week.

I was able to fry up 4 # of sausage, one pound is for breakfast in the morning and the other was used in the 20 omelet bags that I prepared. I also made 10 bags using bacon crumbles.  I decided to use up the Nutrional yeast I purchased several years ago by placing a tablespoon in each of the omelet bags. This should add cheese flavor without the diary in addition to just clearing out my pantry.

We were able to wash and hang out our bed sheets between Friday and today which saved money on the electricity bill. It also eliminates the need for fabric softener or scent beads as well.

I made a menu plan for next week that I will share on Monday as well as just generally straighten and clean parts of the kitchen.

I caught up on the laundry which is a major accomplishment.

Matt with help from Zach did some auto repair which did not save me money but did save both Kendall and Zach money.

The kids were able to use our shredded paper in the chicken coop which will become compost as well as reduces the smell.

Not bad for a Saturday spent in my nightgown!

5 Things Friday

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  1. I think and hope that we are at the end of the busy season for the summer. Last weekend was the county swim meet and this week, we participated in the VBS put on by our church.  I have continued to attend medical appointments so things are still not at a summer’s pace.  I am hoping to begin catching up by doing one ‘extra thing” a day. Today. I cleaned our bathroom, it was nasty. I still need to hand mop the floor but at least it is a start. I have 3 weeks left before we head to Disney.
  2. The replanting of most of the garden two weeks ago has gone well. I also was able to spend a little time and give the tomatoes a good pruning. So far I have been able to can 13 quarts of spaghetti sauce.  I am hopeful after the pruning I will be able to double this for 26 quarts from our garden.  I am also planning on buying a couple of boxes of tomatoes to make into spaghetti sauce as well as salsa this year.  We haver several watermelons and cantaloupes growing but the deer have decided they like my garden as well.
  3. I spend some time and money on Prime Day this year, with the majority of my Christmas shopping completed. I also am planning and actually have already started to wrap the presents as they arrive! This worked well last year so I am hopeful it will work well again.
  4. I am working on putting away extra meals and trying to prepare for an extremely busy school year. I focused on bread this week!  I have 4 pizza crust in the freezer along with 6 loaves of bread.  EVERY BIT counts.
  5. Zach completed the written part of Driver’s Education this week and is hopefully that he will be able to get the driving part completed before school starts as well. Kendal is over half way finished with her hours required to get her license. Her goal is September 12th.

Five Things Friday

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1. I officially have 3 weeks left of work. However, this is my last 5-day week as I have other things happening that require time away from work during these last three weeks.
2. Every Bit Counts- as school winds down, I am starting to work toward a total restock of our pantries and freezer.  This week, I decided to attempt one item a day.  Tuesday- gallon of Strawberries, Wednesday- 10# of mashed potatoes Thursday- 3 # of bananas frozen for smoothies.
3. We are planning to pick up our cow tomorrow.  It is 350# of meat. I am hoping to get around 100# processed this weekend.  I will keep you posted.
4. May is the most expensive month for us. We have car insurance, pool fees on top of end of the year expenses.  We also added Kendall’s birthday party to this year. I am happy to say. We have survived the month and covered all the expenses.
5. Chicken Drama- Wednesday this week, the door did not open. Lily was going to feed at 2pm and let them out.  We have been monitoring and it has not missed again so who knows what is up.   Then on Thursday evening, a dog that we have not seen before was at the chicken coop and growling at the back corner. “Lucky” the rooster managed to get all the hens in the coop before anything went wrong.  We are also struggling with keeping the coop dry with all the excess rain we have been having.

 

Five Things Friday

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  1. Two years ago, Facebook reminded me that I had COVID for the second time. Today, I hope I am at the end of a stomach virus.
  2. We are in the single digit until our Disney trip. I actually have a long list of items that need to be accomplished before we leave. The goal is to get everything completed this week.
  3. Our grocery budget is currently still under $200 which makes me very happy!
  4. We gathered 7 chicken eggs after getting 4 yesterday which means that all the chicken laid an egg today! This is a first!  One that I hope at least for a week or so continues.
  5. We will be spending some time tommorow up potting our tomato plants.  Another first that I am excited about and can’t wait to share on Sunday with a garden update!.

Saving on Saturday

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  1. This week both Matt and I realized that we are in need of new shoes. Both of us have tennis shoes that did not have any trend on the bottom. We decided to check out Belk’s last night as well had some time without any kids. We did hit the jack pot!  Stechers were buy one get one 50% off. With that discount, we purchased a pair of tennis shoes for $63.50 each.   Matt also found himself a pair of dress shoes!
  2. Part of using what is in pantry is not allowing things to go to waste, I am very proud of myself for this!  I used two boxes of Chex cereal to make “muddy buddies” and a ranch Chex mix.   I will not admit how long those boxes have been in my pantry. I also noticed that the Hawaiin rolls had not been openned that I purchased several weeks ago.  Matt suggested that we make a smash burger with them.  I used a pound of ground beef and fed five of us with that one pound!  The burgers were delicious!
  3. I did end up at the grocery store today to purchase some fruits and veggies that we have been completely out of for a couple of weeks.
  4. I am continuing to shred up junk mail and unusable paper to make the grounding and bedding for the chicken coop!  So far it is a win win!
  5. We have spent time cleaning and organizing and cooking ahead again this weekend so I will call it a success!
  6. Gardening update to come tomorrow!

Random Tuesday Thoughts

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I am starting to feel better again!   I started with a new and much more fun cold last Thursday. I came home from work on Friday and literally stay in the house spending most of the time in bed until Monday morning.  Today, I have lots of congestion, but no headache and less coughing!

I am going to continue the pantry challenge into both February and March.   The rules are that we only purchase items we are out of.   So far the lack of fresh fruit has been the problem so we did purchase some last week. We are planning a trip to Costco this weekend. I am going to work hard to only purchase our drinks for a month which is 2 cases of water, 1 case of diet cokes and 1 case of Dr. Peppers. Matt is getting his tea on subscribe and save so I am going to omit the case of regular cokes.  We also need flour and rice, bacon and sour cream.   This will not be a cheap trip but my hope is this will help us hold the course.  I have also reviewed and decreased our Subscribe and Save for February as well, I know that this will be $200.  I also need to order more laundry detergent for Lily which is $70.   Along with the Costco Trip I will be doing well to keep the budget at $500 for the month.   I will also be purchasing some fruits and veggies for our Junk Food Sunday.  Again I may end up around $700 for February.   I am going to be ok with it because I am still saving money and rotating the pantry.  I am starting to see a difference in our pantry and freezers so this is all a good thing.

On a positive note, we are currently getting an average of 4 eggs a day which definitely helps with protein intake and grocery expenses

We have started with our busy Spring Season of sports. This week we have both swim and baseball practice. Which means that Friday is the only evening that we will not be running somewhere.  I have been enjoying my easier, cook or heat meals so we will continue with those which will also help with our grocery budget.

It has reached our 60 day mark for our spring Disney Trip!   I was able to get up super early and got all the reservations that I wanted!   I can’t wait!

 

Saving on Saturday

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Today has been busy but very productive, at least I feel like it has been productive. The weather outside was gorgeous, not to hot not too cold and no really wind.  We needed and actually did get some garden work done.

Zach pulled some chicken poop out of the coop and placed in several of our square foot beds. I went behind and broke up and stirred in the dirt followed by covering with paper mulch for the winter.  I am hoping to finish this process in the next couple of weeks so that it can compose over the winter. Matt helped level and moved one of our greenstalk (vertical planter) to the front. And then he and Zach move one bed to a new spot.  Kendall and I spent some time in the greenhouse. I am super excited to have several green peppers growing in there currently!

Another big project today was making and canning Matt’s chill. This will be used for lunches mainly!  We have 16 pints to put in the canning closet. I hope to post a link to the youtube video soon!

Sunday Catch- Up

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Life is busy, difficult, busy, and overwhelming this month. Hopefully I can get catch up and spend a little bit more time with blogging. I also really want to be consistent but at during this season I will just do what I can and give myself some grace!

Financially, I feel like we have recovered from Matt’s short period of unemployment this summer. I am working on finishing the year strong but also starting to look at some changes and plans I want to make for next year.  Credit card debit has really creeped up on me, so trying to balance paying that off and saving and enjoying the few short years of kids at home is a balance that takes a lot of mental energy.  Groceries have always been one of the biggest expenses for us.  My plan and goal for November and December is to pay for what we get and then use any remaining money to pay down the credit card debit. Starting in January, I would like to start saving to purchase another whole cow in the summer. Ideally, I would put $500 a month in a saving account for six months to make this happen.   We have a ton of food in multiple locations and I am really working on keeping it organized and to work through the food that is here before buying new things.  I have found a couple of “guidelines” that are helping with making plan a little bit easier. First we are having a “breakfast casserole” every Sunday morning. This makes getting ready for church much easier and quicker. Soup for Sunday dinner is also going well with occasional leftovers for the week. I am finding that I must cook 3 meals on Saturday or we end up eating out.  Freezer meal are awesome and I already know that I need to have many more in the freezer during the summer.

Kids- Lily is currently in Florida spending two weeks with Haley and David. She has finished her first eight weeks of college classes and is struggling to balance work and school.  She also will need a loan to fully pay for her second semester of college. Zach is playing football which means practice Monday, Tuesday and Thursday with games on Wednesday. Braxton is playing baseball which is one game a week. Kendall is anticipating swim season and has started swimming at least 3 days a week.  We are also currently struggling to get her permit.  Kendall decided very quickly that she did not want to and could not handle working along with school

Chickens- We are getting between 2 and 6 eggs a day. I don’t understand but we have not had to buy any eggs so that is a plus.   We have switched the bedding from paper to wood shaving.  It is more expensive but the eggs are cleaner.  We have purchased another automatic door which is working perfectly. We also still have at least one possum and one racoon who visit once a week. This is a significant decrease from daily so something is working.

Garden- I have probably 3 galloons of tomatoes currently in the freezer. I actually have still been collecting tomatoes this week. We are attempting to keep peppers alive int eh green house. We planted onions and asparagus but that is all for the fall. A couple of beds have paper mulch on them but I would like to move some planters and mulch a couple more beds but again just am struggling with the time.

The word for my job is intense. I really enjoy both the kids and my co-workers but my mental capacities are being exhausted regularly.  I am also struggling with some health issues. Nothing major buy annoying.

We do have several trips planned more details to come!

5 Things Friday

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  1. The month of September ends this weekend! It was definitely a month of change and a month of catch up. I will share more in our monthly update but I am very hopeful that we are going to be on solid financial ground moving forward.
  2. Last Saturday, we ended up clothes shopping. It was definitely time to buy some new jeans and long pants. We still have a couple of small needs but I am hoping to stop shopping in November for everything but food!
  3. Haley and David will be coming up to NC next weekend.  Lily is going to return to Florida for 2 weeks. It should be an experience for everyone!  I am sure that Kendall is going to have the hardest time with Lily not here.
  4. We are still harvesting a small amount from the garden. I also received some onion starts and asparagus in the mail today that I need to get planted.
  5. Our rooster is crowing and all the hens appear to be laying however we are only averaging 4-5 eggs a day from 7 hens….. this is an increase from 3-4 a day but we have enough eggs to eat and share so that is good enough!

5 Things Friday

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Some good and exciting things going on around here!

  1. The “baby” chickens have started to lay. We do have a rooster. The white chicken which I call “spas” appear to be our best layer. We have been getting consistent eggs every day for a week from her. The eggs are smaller and blue so easy to identify!
  2.  I purchased 50# of tomatoes from my favorite farm stand for $28 this week. I have topped off our supplies of salsa, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce. I made 16 jars of enchilada sauce.  We currently have a pot of spaghetti sauce going which used half purchased tomatoes and half from our garden!
  3. We will continue to harvest from the garden, today it was 2 large cucumbers, green peppers, tomatoes and green beans and basil. But I will be pulling more dead plants this weekend and also not water for the rest of the season.
  4. In other weather related news!  Our windows are open!  This is so nice and hopefully will result in extra savings on our electric bill next month.
  5. We have planned two trips at least for me to Florida in December!  I love the warm weather!