strawberry pallet planter

FRUIT is growing all around our acre.... peaches and blueberries are already forming.  The blackberry and raspberry brambles are blossoming.....the pear tree is full of healthy new leaves.  And now........there are strawberries settling into their new planter. I cannot wait for all this fruity goodness. Months ago I had found THIS TUTORIAL.   And then set out to get the job done. Well first I dreamed about it for awhile because I've discovered pallets aren't just sitting around and easy to gather.  It takes dumpster diving and field foraging as far as I'm concerned but that hasn't stopped me yet.   If anyone knows an easier way to get access to pallets do let me know.

 Once I had said pallet then I needed strawberries.  I zoomed over to my favourite garden center and got super excited when I saw the sign read " 50%" off but as I got closer realized they were june bearing varieties and I had wanted ever bearing.  Seriously, who wouldn't want their berries to be EVER and forever bearing?!  Once I get established, however, I spose I will try some june bearing ( next year?) as I gather they are bigger, plumper and more prolific and that sounds kinda nice.  At any rate I stopped off at the next best garden center and searched and searched and around the corner were bunches of ever bearing strawberry plants and *BONUS * - non-gmo!  I snatched 'em up and sped home.

Now for the man power.  I knew this would be a great project for my tool lovin' 11 year old and I was right.  If interested to make your own - click the above link for the tutorial.  Below see a series of photos from start to finish!  Proud of my boy ! Excited for home grown berries coming soon !

New Life !

Ahhhh.......the sweet smell of spring.   All of the sudden there are green leaves sprouting on the trees and bushes.  I cannot get enough of this backyard view of bright green growing from the bottom up.

....we have dandylions!  I love them!
We survived our first winter back in the ole' US of A.  It wasn't too bad here in Middle America
 ( a.k.a Kansas) .  I am soaking up the pure JOY of warmth in the air and birdsong and new life all around us on our little acre.  Sure enough the blueberry bushes are blooming! Yippie!
The raspberries are getting green leaves when they looked like lifeless sticks a week ago. My garlic.......whoa.....  check out the difference in a couple weeks of sunshine and rain!

Suddenly I can pluck handfuls of weeds for the chickens.  Time to pull the mulch away from the fruit trees.......AND start my garden seeds !

And the real excitement that we've been waiting for.  Putting our beautiful hens to work !  Win -Win for us and them.  They get to scratch and peck to their hearts content in our garden.  We get stirred up mulch and fertilized soil prepping our veggie patch!   I love this permaculture stuff.  Feel free to google permaculture.  Or read about it here
Then check out this video I took on Easter Sunday afternoon of our beautiful gals struttin' their stuff.  And if you read a previous post about our chicken swap - note how our 2 remaining scrawny hens are plumping up in life.  Organic food, sunshine and water will do that to do a person......or a chicken.

Dust

I am a real sap when it comes to nostalgia and sentiment.  Don't you agree there are some scents that can bring back some pretty intense memories? Sigh......that was yesterday.  At the expense of a horrible fire that broke out somewhere in the area and some incredibly strong winds there was a penetrating smell of burning and dust in the air.  And THAT is the smell of Malawi, Africa.  That is the scent that hits your nose when you step off the plane and and what you breathe day in and day out - most especially in the dry season. This is in part due to the dusty roads and dusty earth - alot less pavement overall and especially created by  the cooking fires that most Malawians use for their at least twice daily meal of nsima.

 See how to make a typical Malawian meal of nsima and ndiwo in a previous post here.
I poured myself a glass of red wine, sat right down on my back steps and took deep whiffs......walked about the yard reminiscing about all things Malawi in our time there.  Then I made the kids come out and said " Take a deep sniff"........" What is that smell?".......they all said " Malawi".   After supper, I went outside once more.  I couldn't shake the memory that smell was stirring up in my mind.  I felt like weeping and jumping for joy and I felt like sleeping outside and just remembering.  Yep....pretty sentimental.  I just can't help it.  Malawi will always be one of our homes. I love the Warm heart of Africa.  And I miss it.

Chicken Swap

Well, we did indeed have 5 roosters so before they started crowing and really making a fuss in the coop we knew it was time to swap them for hens!  One doesn't really need a rooster at all if you are just wanting laying hens.  In fact you never need a rooster if you just buy chicks every couple years. Hens will lay eggs for about 2 years and then get a bit too old and at that time have become " tough old birds" so they are only good to butcher for soup stock at that point.  Thus the phrase " tough old bird".  Soup stock, however, is tremendously healthy and there are any number of great directions online on how to make you own.  Chicken feet included.  I've made stock from carcasses before but never from the feet and I cannot wait to try ! Check out this post from one of my favorite homestead bloggers.    However, if you want to brood your own chicks, well then, ya gotta have a rooster as you know that's how babies are made !
Let me tell you - it was kinda fun to buy some chicks " unsexed" and discover what we had going.  Kinda like being pregnant and not knowing until birth if its a boy or girl!  HOWEVER........then came the swapping fiasco which is where our first " learn from your mistakes" event came into play.  Sigh...... no one ever said farmin' was easy.  So a week ago my husband grabbed 4 of our roosters and we loaded 'em up in a box in the back of our car and off we went to swap with the people we had purchased them from as chicks.   In no time at all we saw our chicken friends and hopped outta the car and revealed our roosters which quickly met the shocked look of our swapping friend who exclaimed" What ya been feeding them? " "Oh  *&#$!  I hope you aren't *%$#! with me"  at which I got kinda worried and thought well how bad can it be.  Then chicken friend revealed his hens and I can only hope the feeling I had inside of me was not revealed on my face.  Whoa - Lack of nutrition and quality care clearly visible.  The  " be kind and have manners" part of both my husband and I started bumbling on about " Wow, well we'll get 'em up to speed" and " Hey, are these really from the same set of chicks, are you sure?" and chicken friend going on and on about " well, must not have enough protein in my feed"   It was all rather awkward and we handed over our robust, bright white roosters with pristine feathers and deep red combs and in turn got our scrawny , pale, pecked at in places, featherless in parts,  so very sad looking hens.   Eesh.
I spent the remainder of the day comparing them to our hens and taking tons of pictures trying to capture the vast difference.

 We were busy helping our new scrawny hens to plenty of food, sunshine and water when all the sudden one of 'em seized up and died right before our very eyes. UGH !  Fast forward a couple weeks and another one died. (seriously!!)



Can you see the difference?!?  Of course you can !








Not making this stuff up !!!!!

  I was leary to keep the remaining two with our healthy bunch of hens but we really only have the one coop so we are hoping for the best.  To chicken friends credit, he replaced the dead hens with 2 remarkably healthier looking ones.  All a bit of a chicken mystery to me......and a lesson in overall health and care for your own animals.  We want to grow 'em healthy and happy because in return we get darn good eggs.  And next time.....I'm buying the cute little chicks at the farm supply store already sexed .  One day we'll have more space to keep a rooster around to brood our own chicks.  Now that'll be the real chicken farming life I'm dreaming of.  Ya want it done right? Gotta do it yourself.
One more pic for comparison ( organic fed, free rangin vs. ?! lack o' serious protein and sunshine)

My home made rant.....

How far we've come in this world from back to basic goodness knowing where food comes from and working the land to secure our own bounty.  How did that even happen?  Processed foods? Artificial ingredients that we ingest into our bodies? Food like substances? Seriously boggles my mind.  And we are all so uninformed.  I have learned so much over the years and believe whole heartily the need to return to basic goodness.  REAL FOOD. so simple.   And still at times ( ALOT lately ) I  allow such things as genetically modified corn processed into a chip with cancer causing monosodium glutamate flavor enhanced spices " food?" to pass through my lips and crunched into my body where it lies undigested and confused. Sigh......... why do I keep doing that?

However, when living in a 3rd world country necessity causes you to learn and live and experience the effort and satisfaction of being responsible for making your own foods from real ingredients. I fully realize there are scores out there who never needed a 3rd world country to teach them this but I did.
 My prime example is a simple plate of tortilla chips and salsa. So let's do a comparison:

Craving chips and salsa......what is one to do?
My current life in a 1st world country with a billion shops on every corner:  
Choose and buy a bag of tortilla chips from a variety of shapes and sizes,
Choose and buy a jar of salsa from a variety of heat levels and flavors.....open chips, open salsa, DIP. EAT !  All in all takes about 5 mins.
Instant gratification and yum !

3rd world experience........with no shops that sell tortilla chips or salsa.
Mix flour, water, oil and salt into a dough.  Form into a ball and let rest 15 mins.
While resting go outside and pick avocados from your tree, tomatoes and onions, spinach and chili from your garden and some cilantro from herb pots by the kitchen door.  Feed a handful of cilantro to the guinea pigs for a treat !
Heat up a decent sturdy pan on quite hot heat. Dry.  No oils or fats.
Get back to the dough.  Pinch off a chunk of dough and use rolling pin or empty glass bottle to roll roll roll at different angles to form a thin roundish flat tortilla.
Drop into heated dry pan until a few browned baked spots form. Flip. Done. Repeat with next one
When finished with all the tortillas, get a pizza cutter or knife and cut each into strips or triangleish shapes.
Rub the tortilla pieces with olive oil, and salt.
Lay out on a baking pan and bake in a hot oven until crisp !

While baking......

Chop salsa veggies, mix, season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle cilantro in and mix together.  Let sit so flavors can work their magic.

THEN.......about 2 to 3 hours later.  Sit down and enjoy Chips and Salsa.
NOT instant.......yet utterly satisfying.  Home grown goodness worked with my own hands and created into a masterpiece of delicious flavors beyond what any sealed for freshness bag could ever compare.
Worth it?  In my opinion......yes.  Every time !

So the other weekend when we were craving hot fudge sauce I sent my kids on a journey throughout the grocery store.  They came running with a variety of products.....all sent back to their dreary shelflife because their ingredient list included high fructose corn syrup among others.

Back at home.....we found the following ingredients:
cocoa powder
unprocessed sucanant sugar ( dehydrated cane syrup)
pinch of salt
butter
cream - scooped from the cream line out of our local bought raw milk
vanilla ( not the artificial flavored "vanilla like" substance but real vanilla pods soaked in vodka kind)

Mix, heat slowly, stir.......yummy on top of home made ice cream or at least ice cream made with milk whose cows haven't been given artificial growth hormones !

Home made!  Is this your way of life?  I dream of it being mine......baby steps ! Try something small and easy.  Like hot fudge sauce.  You can use whatever cocoa sugar salt and cream ya got.  Still better than artificially flavored with genetically modified corn syrup.
End of rant.

Seasons

 A week ago as I watched the snowflakes swirling down  redesigning my backyard my thoughts were swirling too over God's big earth and it's vast climates all occuring at the same time.  How can this snow be falling here where I am while I text a friend in Malawi who tells me they are desperate for rainfall  and the heat is scorching the land.  Looking at the new carpet of snow I felt concern and  anticipation with the seasons and how it will affect the dormant seeds, fruit trees and berry brambles sitting outside the view from my window.  

When we knew we were coming back to the USA - we decided it was best to just buy a house  - for once in our lives.  We've lived in such a variety of rented homes.  See this post here

So here we are in " middle america" living in a house we purchased sight unseen.  And it's not too bad.  Our priorities were far different than many home buyers.  We wanted a little bit of land, enough space for chickens and plenty of trees.  The house itself was less of a priority - we can fix it up we said to ourselves.  Well, there's plenty of fix ups and add ons in our future ( egress windows, doors, decks, paint, flooring.......sigh)  but we have an acre, a bunch of trees and we've got chickens and a cat.  

The first couple months living here it was insanely hot and humid.  So I spent alot of time just looking out at the yard from the window.  Sometimes I'd walk out there and get caught up in the dream of what I wish it was already...( flourishing veggie's here, beehives there, chickens pecking happily over there, etc....)  Stefan worked tirelessly to hack down weeds and overgrown brush and clean up a plethera of junk thrown into the woods.** Future post** - the grow house put to use that was found in the woods.

It was all rather interesting to have come from Malawi in July where it was winter and downright chilly to the intense humidity of the middle of the continental U.S. and now a few months later  in winter again but cold enough for snow.  But I did grow up with 4 seasons and 4 seasons is what I get to experience again.  This fall we rolled up our sleeves and plotted a piece of land for the garden, threw down some ground cover and mulched it with hay and a ton of leaves.

 I planted garlic for the first time ever and it sits beneath a mulch of leaves.  The pear trees discovered at the base of the garden stand in wait, as do the young peach trees and our newly planted raspberry and blackberry brambles and blueberry bushes.  So much awaits.........

As for our chickens........I think, perhaps, I'm seeing the difference of rooster and hen.  Tell me what you think.  

see how this chicken's area around the eye is pale and there is no real sign of comb or wattle yet.  I think this is one of our hens

in contrast we have this guy here with a dark red area around the eye and the beginnings of wattle and comb.  Not to mention that long stately neck.  Is he a rooster? What do you think?

IF I AM RIGHT........we've got 5 roosters and 3 hens and 1 silkie who just looks fluffy.  Hmmmmmm......only time will tell.  Stay tuned....sign on to follow my blog  - I know you are sitting at the edge of your seat......or tailfeathers! 

chickens to transition

So I said I wasn't going to make this blog about our transition from country to country but that's a bit of a lie.  I realize that transition is what we're in and thus defines a lot of reasons for what we do.  One of them being......chickens.  Somewhere back in the 1st time that we lived in Malawi we built a coop, got baby chicks and a newfound love was born !  The purpose, however, was to have our own fresh supply of eggs. Oddly, in Malawi where chickens are seen strutting along the roads, hanging upside down on the side of a bicycle rider
 and everywhere there was often enough a shortage of eggs.  Generally right at a holiday where much baking was required.  So being blessed with a big yard we built an impressive coop and there began the learning of all things chicken.  Except for 1 thing - we were also blessed with a gardener who pretty well cared for those chickens on his own as long as we provided the supplies.  To be completely honest, we really just played with the cute little fuzzy chicks and then a few weeks later up to the coop they went where they were more pets to us than anything.  Sometimes we'd catch grasshoppers ( which btw, throw chickens into a frenzy of culinary delight) and shake them into the coop and sometimes we'd collect the eggs. Everyone, the Felgs and gardener's family alike, profited from the eggs.  We loved having chickens so much so that when we moved to a new house, so did the chickens.   The chickens moved with us!  And while I have a bunch of chicken stories and a ton of reasons why you should have your own chickens ( thus more posts in future) this post is about chickens in transition. When we made the big move across the ocean ( airlines generally frown on cages of 15 or more chickens so we left them there)  and settled down in a brand new place there were a couple things we knew we had to do as soon as possible to help us feel right about ourselves.  Those were:  1.  find a source of raw milk (check)and 2. find a source of local eggs and get ourselves some chickens of our own. ( check)
This time, however, no gardener.  Time to do the chicken thing on our own.  But we have them, 8 light brahmas and 1 silkie. 

Adorable.  First thing to know about chickens is:  it takes at least 4-6 months for a hen to mature into an egg layer.  So it's a labor of love keeping those little cuties alive and healthy and safe until you see a single egg.  But we've got a source of free ranged chicken eggs in the meantime ( whew!) and our girls are growing wildly.  Here's how they look at 6 weeks !

One last thing.  We don't know yet if they are really girls.  Could be hens.  Could be roosters.  We got them from a local farm and its anyone's guess for awhile.  I tried desperately to read up on gender identification in chickens.  It's not easy to the untrained eye.  I think I'll know pretty soon.  I keep looking them over.   ha!  Will let you know.  The main thing is....we got chickens again.  And it helps us feel more at home.

(ps.....I'm working on making my blog into an official website.  stay tuned for a change in address when that happens.)

a new road....

it's once again been an astonishing long time since I've posted a blog entry.  ugh....  I hate to write unless there is something blog worthy. facebook captured a few key moments and  our entire last year in Malawi, Africa flew by with my teaching Year 3 at St. Andrews Int'l Primary ( and my first stint in working full time since before marriage and kids), Ben and Anna attending school there and being happily busy with friends and activities ( most likely here in the usa our kids won't be in after school " play with orphans" club and we are all missing the abundant life of swimming outdoors year round) , Louisa beginning the secondary school and loving it and Stefan working hard to keep the Jesus Cares program to the disabled in Malawi afloat. The majority of his last 6 months entailed a massive relief and aid distribution after severe flooding a year ago. Just in Blantyre alone we went 12 days without water and very little electricity. We also enjoyed a few more volunteer VBS teams and sang, danced and shared God's word with literally hundreds of beautiful Malawian children and then sadly that chapter closed in our lives but we are feeling thankful for the time that God gave us for such an experience - again.  Read previous posts which detail a few events in our lives in both Africa and Germany.
and now? well we live in Kansas.  And when we're not soaking up family time or planning, planting and tending to our little acre, we are a preschool director and a work production supervisor to the disabled and we have lots of stories from felgsafar to share which sometimes come bubbling out.  I don't intend to make this a blog detailing our transition, again, from country to country but I imagine bits of it will sneak out at times. Repatriation....a story in and of itself.   Mostly I hope to share the beginnings of a tiny little homestead - hardly self sufficient - no where near what I imagine it to be in my mind or my pinterest pins.  But it's something and I love that we are doing it. So grab a coffee or a glass of wine and join me along another road the Lord has opened up for us.  I DO intend to write a book one day - perhaps a series ( the path of life series it'll be called) about all the different roads we've been on.  But for now......it's just this new road and "the little acre that could"