http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eyeen-usSun, 31 Jul 2011 20:55:02 +0000Bloo v 1.35http://thinklings.org/images/bloo_logo_200.pnghttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eyeIt's been 100+ degrees every day for as long as we can remember. The city is praying for rain, crops [...]Sun, 31 Jul 2011 20:55:02 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/a-deep-droughthttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/a-deep-drought Homestead General Store the other day (which is just a few miles from our house) and he said, "You're lucky you don't have to buy hay. It's $100 a bale." I asked him how much a bale of hay is normally, he replied, "$40." Yikes.

Being closer to the land these days, we feel the drought acutely, but not nearly like the professional farmers and ranchers around here. Driving through the neighborhood we can see crops that have been shredded and used for hay, because the vegetables simply died on the vine; dried up gardens; and empty watermelon stands (the sandy soil around here produces arguably the finest watermelon in Texas, much like the soil in Cuba produces the perfect tobacco for cigars). Brandi and I buy grass-fed beef from a farmer a few miles up the highway from us. I was talking to him the other day and the aged cattle man said, "I can't remember the last time it's been this bad. The grass simply is not growing."

Pray for rain, because this is serious, and it's going to touch all of our lives to some extent. ]]>http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6481Abigail made a pillowcase yesterday. She's quite the happy seamstress. Wed, 13 Jul 2011 23:43:03 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/handcrafted-pillow-case-by-abigailhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/handcrafted-pillow-case-by-abigail
]]>http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6473We hosted Sam and Jennifer and their children, a family of eight, for dinner last night, and we actually [...]Sun, 10 Jul 2011 13:07:44 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/guels-plus-eighthttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/guels-plus-eight
It was a fun-filled evening as we have plenty in common with this homeschooling family. They're older than we are by maybe 10 to 15 years, and that makes it even easier because their older kids are really good about working with the smaller ones. All of their kids are also pleasant to be around, and completely in love with our kids (and vice versa!). Their three-year-old girl loves two-year-old Evangeline; she calls Eve her baby and always wants to hug her and kiss her and, well, treat her like a baby. Sometimes it's a little too much attention for Eve, as we discovered when she let the older gal know with a two-handed shove. We forced them to work out their differences like adults. ;-)

After dinner we all went outside (by that time it was pleasant outside); the kids ran around the property like maniacs, jumped on the trampoline, chased chickens, collected eggs, enjoyed our 16 ducks hanging out in the Duck Yard, and had an all out good time. (I even think our enormous dog jumped on Sam at one point.) Brandi engaged Jennifer in deep conversation while I eventually challenged Sam and his oldest boy to games of chess on our picnic table.

Alas, the kids were pretty petered out by the time their friends rolled away. It was a good night.]]>http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6468I really will start updating this blog religiously. The primary good I see in this blog is it acts as [...]Sat, 02 Jul 2011 20:43:27 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/its-hothttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/its-hot
Here's what's up ...

I have a very brief post up at Community Chickens.

It's been an oven here in Waco. Hot. Hot. Hot. The garden is struggling, but the animals seem to be thriving. We really need consistent rain.

We're in Houston right now for my sister's birthday. Brandi, Eve, and I will be back on the farm Sunday night, while the older kids will stay for a few more days.

I'm going to go cool off now!]]>http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6465I did a quick post on bantam chickens at Community Cluckers. Check it out.Thu, 12 May 2011 02:54:38 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/bantamshttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/bantams Check it out.]]>http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6436We're running a couple of weeks late, but we finally got some plants in the ground today. I borrowed [...]Mon, 11 Apr 2011 02:50:50 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/spring-garden-time-on-guel-farmhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/spring-garden-time-on-guel-farm very sandy, so by the time I got done with the tiller the garden looked like a beach.

Here's Brandi, at the beach working in the garden.


A bird's eye view (don't be frightened by the fake owl). The structure behind Brandi is the barn.


This a bonus shot of the field behind our barn. You can't really tell from the photo, but it's looking pretty bushy and ready to be shredded with a tractor. Time to call our neighbor who does that stuff for us. One of these days we're going to fence it off and put some goats out there, and maybe a calf.


That's it! We've still got some more planting to do, and the kids have their own little special stuff they want to plant, so hopefully we'll have some more photos on the way.]]>http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6406For the first time ever at our little farm, we slaughtered animals (in this case, chickens) without the [...]Mon, 28 Mar 2011 03:08:25 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/life-and-death-on-guel-farmhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/life-and-death-on-guel-farm
I warned Eva (who I actually call "Ave Maria"), that we didn't have much of a clue as to what we were doing, but we were pretty certain we'd be able to figure it out. We've killed birds for meat exactly four times in the past, but it's always been under the tutelage of a bird killing guru. Not so this time.

On a lighter note, we actually had some eggs hatch today -- of all days, the day of the slaughter! -- so we were looking at the full circle of life, from "newborn" chicks to chickens that were about to fulfill their destiny.

One of the new ones.


Death row.


A chicken meeting its maker.


Brandi and Ave Maria watching a chicken die. (Brandi can't bring herself to watch, actually.)


A few processing photos.




A bonus shot of our broody duck hen. Her ducklings ought to hatch in about three weeks.
]]>http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6400We're still alive! I've been a slacker on here, obviously, but we have much going on at our little homestead. [...]Mon, 21 Mar 2011 03:23:48 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/still-alivehttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/still-alive http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6389Evangeline is so beautiful it's almost ridiculous: Things are going well enough around here. We're [...]Sun, 16 Jan 2011 21:04:17 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/evangeline-chickens-and-squirrelshttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/evangeline-chickens-and-squirrels

Things are going well enough around here. We're in the throes of winter, and we're burning through a fair amount of wood to heat our house.

A couple of weeks ago I discovered that a "hen" we bought from a lady a few months ago actually grew up to be a rooster. I was agitated because extra roosters are pretty much worthless around a farm. You really only want one rooster for every dozen hens or so, and we already have a rooster! As it turns out, we now have three roosters (four if you count the bantam rooster). Hold on ... we actually have eight flippin' roosters because four of them are still not yet full grown chicks.

Once all of the chick roosters grow up, they're all dead. We'll kill them all (except for our original rooster) and use them for chicken soup. Killing and processing birds is officially no longer a big deal for us. It takes a bit of preparation, but it's definitely worth the time and effort.

Speaking of killing, there's this squirrel that's been eluding me for weeks now. I've seen the little rascal go into our chimney on more than one occasion, and by the time I get my bb gun from the house ... he's gone like Houdini. Squirrels are a big time pest around here. They eat the chicken feed we throw out; they chew on wires; and they get into all sorts of things like chimneys and crevices around the property. I can't stand those little fluffy-tailed rats. I'm glad there are no ordinances against killing squirrels in the country. ]]>http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6340I love you! Tue, 21 Dec 2010 13:46:48 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/happy-anniversary-brandihttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/happy-anniversary-brandi http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6288I've been swamped at work, so not much time for posting these days. Things are going well at the farm. [...]Tue, 14 Dec 2010 12:56:27 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/swampedhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/swamped
Things are going well at the farm. Last year around this time our chickens were only giving us, on average, one egg per day. This year we tried a new (to us) strategery [sic] by leaving a light on in the barn to extend their "daylight hours." It's worked! We're getting maybe 4 or 5 eggs a day these days. It also helps that we have four more new laying hens. Come spring time we'll probably get a dozen eggs a day. Yay!

We still don't use 70 percent of our land. It's just there, looking pretty. That sort of annoys me, but it's nice to know that one day we'll fence it off and start by putting some meat and dairy goats on it. They say goats are a poor man's cow. :-) We have actually eaten goat burgers and goat fajita burritos -- and we liked them! We also like goat milk. So it'll be a start ... maybe this spring? We'll see.

So for your viewing pleasure, here's an early morning shot of our two young duck hens:



And here's one of the photos from our Christmas card session (this shot was taken by Brandi; she did a great job!):

]]>http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6274I had to go up on our roof today to work on our chimney. After I finished, I realized how beautiful our [...]Mon, 22 Nov 2010 04:55:01 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/a-view-from-the-tophttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/a-view-from-the-top


Here's a bonus shot of Brandi working our winter garden. I love her Country Mama look with her boots and jeans. ;-)

]]>http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6254I'm in McAllen right now where I just wrapped up shooting the annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention [...]Wed, 10 Nov 2010 04:48:48 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/three-from-mcallenhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/three-from-mcallen
Here are a few photos I like. A gal taking someone's blood pressure (I like how the smile on the poster behind her matches the smile on her face); some guy cutting cheese; and some ex-homeless guy singing a solo. Enjoy!





]]>http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6239I posted something new over at Community Cluckers. It's all about how we brought these gals into the [...]Thu, 04 Nov 2010 05:37:24 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/the-art-of-hatchinghttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/the-art-of-hatching something new over at Community Cluckers. It's all about how we brought these gals into the world.

]]>http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6232- We successfully hatched seven chicks that were "incubated" by our broody duck mama. Yes, our duck hatched [...]Fri, 22 Oct 2010 23:13:46 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/random-shotshttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/random-shots
- On Halloween trick-or-treaters drive from house to house in our neighborhood, since it would take forever to walk. Guess they'll do anything for candy.

- Our remaining two duck hens (from the ones we hatched back in June) are getting used to flying around the property.

- Duck tastes like dark meat chicken. For real.

- I hope to heat the house this winter using nothing but wood. Last winter I think we heated the house with 80 percent wood, 10 percent gas, and 10 percent electric. Hopefully we can conquer that 20 percent this year. We'll see. ]]>http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6217Some of you bumpkins out there might be familiar with Mother Earth News and Grit magazine. Shortly after [...]Tue, 19 Oct 2010 02:54:25 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/cluck-cluckhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/cluck-cluck Mother Earth News and Grit magazine. Shortly after Brandi and I became hillbillies (in May of '09), we had our rural neighbors driving up to our little farm in their golf carts giving us handfuls of old homesteading magazines including Mother and Grit. We were hooked from the get go!

Now I've been honored to be accepted as a regular blogger for Community Chickens, an online magazine from the publishers of the aforementioned publications. The blog is called Community Cluckers. Feel free to check out my first contribution, For Love Of Poultry.

Cock-a-doodle-doo! ]]>http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6215 I've been gearing up for winter. I've been cutting firewood, collecting kindling, and thinking about [...]Mon, 18 Oct 2010 03:26:45 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/winters-cominghttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/winters-coming

I've been gearing up for winter. I've been cutting firewood, collecting kindling, and thinking about getting our chimney cleaned. :-) Last year we felt winter like never before, but it was nice being so in-touch with the rhythms of nature. (Our wood-burning stove is worth its weight in gold!) I can't believe summer is long gone.]]>http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6213Brandi said her and the kids went for a walk today and nine-year-old Daniel pointed to a sweeping field [...]Sun, 17 Oct 2010 02:18:15 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/daniels-quotationhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/daniels-quotation
That made me very happy. Our little farm and our entire beautiful rural neighborhood are like an endless kingdom to our little imaginative children.]]>http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6209Bouncer gives Brandi "the caring paw," as we like to call it: Brandi holding Bouncer's neck: Sat, 09 Oct 2010 03:10:33 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/brandi--bouncer-two-packhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/brandi--bouncer-two-pack

Brandi holding Bouncer's neck:
]]>http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6202Here's a photo of Brandi learning how to gut a duck. That guy who's with her was our volunteer helper [...]Wed, 06 Oct 2010 23:16:26 +0000Birdhttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/quack-toohttp://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/posts/quack-too


Here's a bonus photo of the truck someone in my church gave me. Yes, it was given to me. I'm very thankful.

]]>http://thinklings.org/members/minds-eye/bloo.rss20.php?comments=1&post_id=6198