The Coop is Ready-The chickens Are Here!

From a dream and a vision and a desire to have healthy eggs,

 to Reality!

My Crazy Homeschool Project!

The lumber arrived.

We have a local lumber yard that burns their left over scrap wood. They keep this wood in a pile and we were free to grab odds and ends of wood. My husband was able to rip this wood down to fit our chicken coop needs. This worked fine for framing the coop! Cost = $0.

The children were anxious to help!

There's a lot of learning here, math and science, galore!

SHOP CLASS!

Here my husband is teaching our oldest son how to use a power hand saw. I just have to look away when I see my son using this, but I looked long enough to take this picture! My son WAS wearing safety glasses, I don't see them here in this picture. I think they kept falling off his face while he was bent over!

Keeping the younger kids busy in our sand/water table while the building is happening!

Doesn't everyone need a little entertainer?! Our 6 month old LOVES it outside with his family!

He makes the work light and joyful!

Here is the front of the chicken coop nearly finished with siding.

For walls and roof we did actually buy materials.

Here is what the front of the coop looked like from our back deck before it was painted.

It looked so good, I posted it to Facebook and my mom thought the coop was finished even though she lives next door, (behind the coop!)

 It was a great place to stop and take a family vacation

 because it looked finished, but it was not!

Here are the kiddos on vacation while the chicken coop project sat idle.

There was painting to be done! 

The kids all helped and I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of it! They came in covered in paint!

Here is the finished coop!

Here is a view with the front door open so you can see inside.
Straight ahead are the nesting boxes.

Here is a better view of inside the chicken coop. There are six nesting boxes for our ladies!

Here is a photo of the back of the coop and the custom built door for collecting the ggs!

Here is the egg hatch door open!

Isn't it cool! You can really reach your hands right in and find the eggs!

And here is Caramel sitting in her own nesting box! She hopped right up as soon as we let her in and made herself at home!

I think she likes it here!

"This isn't just another crazy homeschooling project," my husband argued in the past,

 "chickens are a lot of work!"

  The top 5 reasons that kept my husband from wanting to get chickens:

1. a coop-where would it go, what would it look like, would be build it or buy one (probably build one which leads to reason number two)

2. costs-chickens cost money, for the coop, fencing, feed, for the chickens themselves, etc. etc.

3. Time-they take time to care for and you can't just up and leave them and go on vacation, they need care

4. Noise-they can be loud, if we ever got chickens, we would not get a rooster he said.

5. Smell-chickens smell, and they need care, back to reason number 3 and 2.

But in the end the Top 10 reasons to have chickens out weighed the other 5!

1. Fresh eggs

2. Weeds and pest control

3. Table scraps eaters

4. Fertilizers for the garden

5. Educational-great homeschooling lessons here!

6. Fun for the kids-children LOVE chickens!

7. Promotes love of family and farm friends

8. Potential small business opportunity for the kids

9. They're kinda' cute, we get to name them!

10. FRESH FREE RANGE ORGANIC EGGS!

COST OF THE COOP:

Lumber, nails for framing $200

Chicken supplies $ 30

Fencing $150

Chickens $0

Total cost = $380

Love Lives Here

Photo credit

        It's Tuesday, and that means "trash day". As I hear the rumblings of the "Trash Man" making his way down our dirt road it reminds me of how Jesus came to take away our trash.

                "casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you",
                                              1 Peter 5:7

                  So I throw open the front door and sweep the dirt from my home,

Photo Credit

                        I cast my cares on Jesus. He really does care for me.
              The door wide open, sunshine on my face, this is the day
              that the Lord has made! Let's rejoice!

                                                           Photo Credit

                  As I sweep away the dirt, I smell something NASTY!

                  It is my older sons' shoes! Outside they go! Phew!

                   I turn to go back inside now that I have outed the culprit of the nasty stench,
                                  and I notice the smudge marks.

       These are leftover from a day of painting on the front porch with my girls.

                 My daughter's beautiful impromptu art class.

                           This is my world, Welcome!

                                 Enter at your own risk!

             Our floors are a reflection of our lives, marked and scarred...

                Our ceilings are covered in smudges left from boys growing too tall too fast...

                            There is hidden talent everywhere...

                           And marks that never seem to end...

                          But LOVE lives here.

             "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
           that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
                                          John 3:16

                      Be nearer to us this day Jesus, and He said, I AM :)

Eating Healthier and Trying My Hand At Egg Rolls

So YES, the baby has arrived and he's been keeping us all very busy! I have yet to put my blog post together on his amazing birth but I did want to catch up on the fun I've had on learning to eat healthier and my first attempt at making egg rolls! They're so simple, I can't believe I waited so long to try them!

These are the ingredients I started with! One onion chopped, purple and green cabbage, (shredded -about 2 cups worth), carrots, (shredded-about 1/4 cup), some spinach leaves, (cooked with one pound of our amazing moose sausage!)

Here is what the inside of the egg rolls look like all cooked in a frying pan. No oil used here, only water. The moose sausage is so lean, barely any fat! I also added about a cup of the quinoa/rice/peas dish I was preparing to go alongside the egg rolls.

Here are the egg rolls out of the oven. I brushed them lightly with oil before baking them at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. You can find these great Asian style wraps in the tofu section of your local grocery store. Their website has some great recipes too!

Dinner is served! I served these amazing egg rolls alongside cooked sugar snap peas, a little apple sauce, and tasty cooked quinoa and rice with chicken and peas. A much healthier alternative to ordering Chinese take-out! Only one of my kids didn't like the egg rolls. Too bad for him, oh well, more for the rest of us! I can't wait to make these again! I wonder what lovely foods I might try inside next time? Sure beats frozen egg rolls, and way cheaper too! If only I could explain to my husband they are STILL "egg rolls" even though there are no eggs INSIDE!!!

Getting It All Organized!

So what exactly should a house look like when you're homeschooling five children? Anyone? ANYONE?
I'm sure everyone's methods of organizing are different. We do what works for us and I am certainly not a very organized person! But I'm learning!

I like to have all the year's books at my fingertips, which can be difficult with a toddler who likes to keep her fingertips busy with all the books!

Here is my overly enthusiastic toddler! I call her the "reorganizer"!


One of the things I started this year was "book baskets". I got this idea from My Father's World. I picked up some inexpensive baskets at my local thrift store and use them for my boys to place many of their reading books for the year. When my son is done with a book, I can just say, go check your book basket and he can find another book. Here is our high school book basket.

A second book basket holds all our audio/visual student aids such as The Teaching Company Cd's/dvd's, Diana Waring's History cd's as well as our Apologia curriculum cd's.

A third book basket holds all our daily devotional books and my third graders reading books and work books. He knows right where to go to get his school workbooks and where to put his school workbooks back when he is done.

And because this is our life right now with high schoolers and toddlers and a new baby on the way, we've converted our changing table to a multipurpose space. A changing table with library underneath! This holds all of my 3rd and 8th graders' books for the year.

Ane here is what it all looks like put together!

A somewhat organized space. It works for us, and my husband even said it looks somewhat organized!