Washingtonians

[Chubby Chicken]

It took me 4 years to work up to my first kill. The hardest one is the first one.

Sings: The first cut is the deepest, Baby I know, the first cut is the deepest

I killed a snake for practice. I wax my own eyebrows, I can do anything!

 

[Chubby Chicken]

It's still okay to come learn what you can. So don't feel like you have to kill the first time at camp. I will no doubt do another camp next year when the meaties are ready again. I no longer want to eat store bought chicken. It just doesn't seem right.

This is happening this Saturday? In Enuclaw? Can I get your address and the details?

 

[KMHunter]

Can ya say choose yer ring tones (more) wisely (than me) !

Pretty funny story though!

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Quote: I would think there is a problem. Mine doesn't take that long. First thing is make sure that ALL of your pans are totally flat on the bottom. That is one of the reasons that many of the blue "water bath" canners don't work well on a glass top. While I really like my glass top and I have used a water bath on it to can tomatoes I would suggest finding another way. In the future I will be using the propane burner for my crab cooker. See a water bath fits perfect on mine. The propane cookers are only about $40-$50 now. That would allow the heat, steam and mess to all be moved outside.
I also use 2 old canners to make a double boiler. This is how I render my wax to clean it.
Speaking of wax I went out 2 nights ago to check on the bees. Well seems the first hive I got into were not very happy to see me. I had barely removed the cover and was stung on the upper arm. That was followed by 9 more stings in the same area. While that is a very aggressive hive they look very strong and I was able to put a honey super on. DW was standing about 100' away on the road watching and had bees after her too. She didn't get stung and went back to the house.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Quote: I hope I can do it too! I'm gonna be brave...I'm gonna be brave...!!!
I just know that I don't ever want to buy store meat again, I want to know that everything we eat is humane.

Autism HAS been proven to be genetic. They've clearly identified more than 20 mutated genes that cause autism. ONE of those mutated genes has been linked to fathers 35 or older - a lot like the mutate gene in Downs Syndrome that is linked to older mothers. That one mutated gene plays a role in Autism rates going up because many people, like myself and my husband, choose to have very long careers before having children. I may have young children, but I can tell you, I'm no spring chicken!

I have a member in my family who was raised on organic food, on a very large farm and lived a lifestyle typical of a Mennonite family. In the 1930s-40s, they would not have diagnosed someone as high-functioning as this person as a child with Autism. There is no doubt in my mind, that this person would today be considered having Autism. And, she was a child of a much older father. Her oldest sibling was 20 years her senior. My suspicion is genetics played a role.

Chickielady is right in how we all should learn to live. But, it is a process - a very long one. Going green is not something everyone can just "do" right away. I would suspect that most of us here on BYC are somewhere moving toward a greener lifestyle or we wouldn't have chickens. I've been trying to grow my own food for 4 years on a small lot - it takes a lot of work, and since I have children who need a lot of attention and assistance, I can only do what I can. If the garden dries up and dies because I'm working with my children, getting them fed, bathed and where they need to be, so be it. At least they grew up with a mom who tried - and as we teach our kids on a daily basis - just do your best!

Yep! IN regards to autism, like renee said, I also think that the rates aren't skyrocketing, it's just that more people are being diagnosed with it because we have more concerned parents. Way back when, parents would just say "Yup, our kid is a little odd but he's alright" when in reality said child might have had autism somewhere on the spectrum, however mild. Whereas today everyone is so diagnosis happy, we seem to just want an explanation for everything. I still think that MANY children who are diagnosed with something need not be; there's a lot to be said for leaving things alone and not trying to explain things away, and offering lots of love and discipline for those types of children, but I also understand that some parents like the diagnosis so they can seek help and support.

As for going green and doing our best, nobody can do it all, all the time. There are tradeoffs in life, plain and simple. I have recently, after 3.75 years of cloth diapering both my younger children (2.3 years of that was with 2 in diapers full time), decided to stop using cloth and do other things instead. I feel good about our choice, even though disposables still make me cringe. I did my part to keep 10,000 diapers out of the landfill and now I need more time for outdoor activities such as caring for my chickens and starting up a garden; tradeoffs, tradeoffs, tradeoffs! And, just because someone CAN do it all doesn't mean that person SHOULD do it all; I would seriously kill myself of exhaustion if I decided to keep my house acceptably clean, cloth diaper, have chickens, goats, pigs, horses, cattle (all for meat and sustainable living), grow a garden, homeschool my children, and teach them and train them to be loving, caring, hard working Christians who love God and live well on earth. For crying out loud, just the last 2 things take up most of my day! Renee hit the nail on the head by saying you do what you can. Not everybody can quit their jobs and be a full time farmer.

 

[SweetSilver]

And native..........
If foxgloves are not native to W WA....where did they come from ?

Eurasia. I know, they are everywhere, but they are not native. Tansy likes to colonize clearcuts, same as foxglove.

A few native plant species are circumpolar. A few that come to mind are Pearly Everlasting, Fireweed (E. Angustifolium) and possibly even bracken fern. They colonized the northern reaches of the entire northern hemisphere before any human colonization. Foxglove is not one of them.

 

[LittleSticks]

HI! you are very lucky!
ask the nearest lavender farm for the straw! you will have the best smelling, bug free coop/nest boxes! I'd love to be able to get lavender straw.
When you see those fields of dandelions growing and starting to flower let me know please? I know of 2-3 people who would LOVE to gather all the flower heads and make wine!
The dandelion flowers/leaves also make great feed for chickens/critters and people!
As far as your lone hen.... 2 things...
are you sure it is a hen? could it be a boy? the girls will chase the boys just before they start crowing....
and every flock or social group of animals will have the leader and the bottom.... the bottom rung animal normally is the one who is always last, chased, picked on, etc....
Some flocks are nicer then others but if you are having problems.... watch for the one doing the picking, it will normally be the head or second in command. pull them out of the flock (put in a dog crate if you have one) watch again.... anyone else picking on the poor bird? if so pull them and place in crate
once you get to little or no picking and the bird "joining" the others then let them hang out for the day or 2... let the pickers be in "time out"
then introduce the least offensive picker first.... watch what happens....
the pecking order should be redistributed and more balanced....
then release the worse offender last after the rest of the flock finds a nice happy balance.
if after returning the worst the flock goes back to the bad then you need to pull the worst again and put them in solitude for at least a couple days if you can.
Some times it can be easy as 1 time out day for the worst and sometimes it can be weeks of just letting them peck it out.
as long as no one gets hurt/damaged then it will eventually balance out

Thanks for the advice. I will keep that in mind for the future. I sat in the run yesterday, getting my dose of 'chicken.' Slim (definitely a girl) was up in the coop while the others were bugging me to hold plant leaves while they tore them apart. Finally I picked up Slim and sat her on my lap. The Queen Bee, Essie-Esmerelda, was trying to peck at her from underneath and then insisted on hopping up to my lap. That terrified Slim so I kept pushing Essie off and managed to keep her away while Slim got some TLC.

They all scratched in the run peacefully for the rest of the evening. At bedtime they were all together on one side of the roost.

WHEN the dandelions flower? ROFL!! OMG, when don't they flower is the better question. All the lawns were mowed recently but I'll be out and about today and will check out the area. There are fields of dandelions nearby. If word gets out that you're here there will be people lining up volunteering their yards to get picked clean.

Can you pick and freeze the flowers until you have enough or do you have to pick them all at once? I do pick the greens for the chooks but they won't eat the flowers. I could throw those in a bag for you.

My grandfather made dandelion wine occasionally. If you'all come out in the fall there will be tons of blackberries to pick as well. Blackberry wine sounds good to me!

Rainwolf - if I drop out of sight send me a PM. Life gets crazy sometimes and I have a hard time keeping track of things. But it's no trouble at all to let you know when and where the dandelions are in full bloom!

 

[Totalcolour]

My handset died, and I ignored it as long as I could. I went out tonight and got a new phone. I really really HATE cell phones, unless I need one.

I'm glad I read this twice (I read too fast sometimes) - I thought you said your HUSBAND died and you ignored it as long as you could . . . . . . .!

 

[Zgoatlady]

The new glass top stoves are much much faster at heating up than the one my mother bought back in the 70's. Not only that, but she bought a set of Corning cookware at the same time. The cookware heated up very very slowly, and cooled down even slower. Between the stove top and the cookware, I am still not sure why we didn't starve. It's doesn't help that I don't have any attention span to begin with, but waiting for something to get to a boil, and then not being able to turn it down fast enough to keep it from boiling over or burning is not my strongest life skill. It's still rather surprising that I ever learned to cook, I did all the cooking during those years. My grandmother bought a microwave oven shortly after she moved in with us, so that she could eat quicker. Microwave ovens were going for more than a 1000.00 dollars back then. I guess this might explain why my mother still cooks with a microwave oven as much as she does. She has owned newer glass top stoves for the different house that she has lived in since. The cost of replacing a glass top is extremely high, even now. I do know that the top on the first stove had to replaced at least once.

I still don't want one. Okay maybe the cleaning part is much easier. But I would rather cook on my gas range, then any other type of range. When I turn a burn off, it's off. The food stops boiling over, and will stop burning instantly. I am grateful that I live in a place that has natural gas service. But I did know this before I bought the house.

When I was living in Vancouver all that was available in the houses that we lived in. At the last house the range went out on me. I can tell you that 240 volts arcing at the back of the range when go to turn it on scares me a lot. Of course having a dog that was turning on the gas stove top scared me too. It's wasn't as bad the time he got it turned on and lit, but the night he turned on without lighting anything was the worst. If the carbon monoxide detector hadn't gone off, and made the other dog make me wake up and get out of bed, this would have been a different story. There was a pilot light across the room from the range, it was just a matter of time. In the end I still had to call the fire department to get the house aired out enough so that we could finally go back to bed.

I would still rather have the gas range to cook on. I wouldn't risk canning on a glass top stove unless you can afford to replace the top. It might not break right away, but I believe that it does weaken the top.

My girlfriend did can on hers and now she has a new one. Why it cracked. Oh you want to know how much the top is $600.00 my sweet hubby was putting the microwave up and was kneeling on the top and his knee went and cracked it. Oh but it was when he was getting down that it did. But I have to say when we did the new top my son and hubby and I put it on really easy. My unit was less than 2 years old thats why I just didnt get a new stove and I also have Conv oven which I love...

 

[Totalcolour]

That's what mine does. I will never buy another glass top range again. Yes, they're easy to clean - but they are so slow to cook anything. My mom used to come over and complain how long it took me to make anything. Then, when I went over to her place and used her ancient range, I realized what she meant.

Just before we moved to WA, I had a Viking range installed in my newly remodeled house. I got to use it for just over a week. It was fabulous. Unfortunately, this kitchen would not accommodate it so we now how a wimpy gas range. I'm glad some of you have mentioned glass top ranges. I was going to get one but won't now. I love to cook too much to get another "dog".