The Eagle (OK Chicks) Have Landed

Today is Day 1 for this year's

chicken flock.

We have 9 little Green Queen 

Green Egg Easter Eggers.

A very large name for 9 little tiny chicks.

They came in the mail this morning.

Took them 2 days to arrive.

(It's an overnight thing when they come

to the farm in Florida, but as always,

things move a little slower here.)

They are all set up with food,

water, and a heat lamp, out in the garage.

Up on a table, out of the reach of the dogs.

We have a cold front coming through today,

so I was glad we got it all nice and warm.

(It is currently 49 outside, and that might be

the high for the day... It might get into

the low 50's, and tonight it might frost.)

They won't start laying until April.

So we have about 6 months of just

feeding them.

Rod is nearly finished building their 

outdoor coop, but since they have to

stay inside for about a month,

his focus has moved to the house.

They are working on moving the dirt

for the foundation.

I'll head out there later today and take

some pictures.

A Bit Breezy

 It's a wee bit breezy today.

There's a cold front coming through.

Right now it's 82.

Enjoy it..... cuz I'm pretty sure this is

the last of the indian summer weather.

Today the wind is blowing 20-40 with some

significant gusts... some are saying 60 mph.

I don't know, but it was pretty windy in the

Tractor Supply parking lot.

(I needed to get chicken feed and a metal 

garbage can to store it in... so I also stopped

at WalMart and got some extra milk and 

meat since we now have a garage fridge! YEA!)

Last night there was an amazing sunset!

I didn't get to see it.

My office window looks to the east.

But you could tell it was epic, because it was

REFLECTING off the garage and clouds!

(PS - the cows didn't get ALL the spaghetti squash...

I'm excited to cook one up! Most aren't quite ripe

yet, but I think there is one that's ready...)

Here's a better picture to leave you with.

This morning I was in a hurry and didn't

bother with makeup or anything...

So here's Sunday afternoon.

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzz

I got to substitute teach this morning.

But with daylight saving time,

the sun doesn't come up until 7:58 am.

Which means it was still DARK when I

started class at 7:30 Kansas time.

So I got to watch the sunrise out my office window.

It was beautiful!

(Yes, I'm retired... I don't often SEE the sunrise these days... lol.)

Anyhow.

It was pretty.

So are the trees!!!

Yesterday after church (and lunch) we headed

out to the farm to do a "final" measurement and

put the markers on the pad for the house.

(Little tiny men standing on the pad...)

The new machine is looking a little dirty... 

This is what the pad looked like on Sunday.

But I'll bet it doesn't look like that NOW.

Kyle needs to dig OUT about 3 feet of all the

dirt he brought in because we have decided

to go with a crawlspace under the house.

But the trees are pretty!

Hahahahaha.

There is a natural little opening right there at the

corner of the pad / house where you can go

into the forest and it leads to a beautiful

little clearing. In the summer it will be shady,

cool and lovely because it's under the trees.

In the fall it's lovely because it's all carpeted

with yellow leaves and you are surrounded by

the rustling of dry leaves still on the trees.

The breeze is much softer down there.

And it was actually on the verge of "hot".

And in the winter, it will be lovely because with

all the leaves gone, the sun will shine, the breeze

is reduced (it's on the backside of the hill heading

down to the valley) and is sheltered by lots

of junipers, but the overhead sun can still shine

in there... perfect spot for a chair!

Year Round!

(Kyle was here last March when it snowed a 

little and he said it was SO magical!)

Anyhow.

I'm excited.

And now the adventure begins for REAL.

PS - thanks for all the positive comments about

the new chicken stuff ... we still don't have many

details, but we will certainly keep everybody posted

once we figure it out. Jim is flying out the weekend

before the big meeting and driving over with us.

We want to make sure everybody gets their questions

and concerns answered. (Rod will have to stay here

to keep the home fire burning and the animals alive...

but I'll have him on speaker phone so he can listen in.)

Chickens

 We are all about the chickens today.

We are crawling back into the chicken flock thing.

We have 9 green egg layer chicks arriving

on Tuesday morning through the mail.

Our preferred hatchery is done for the year.

So we had to order them from our 2nd

choice - My Pet Chicken.com.

This morning Rod and I went into Hays to

Home Depot to buy all the stuff to build the

new coop he designed for me.

HOLY SMOKES!

Prices for building material is ridiculous!

So....

a quick re-design and we bought that stuff

instead. It was still $100.00.

Sheesh.

And it will get the job done.

Meanwhile, you may have heard the rumor.........

we are considering partnering with a company

called Vital Farms.

You may have seen these in your store.

You may not have PURCHASED them, since they

are super fancy (and pricey...)

but they are a family owned business that started

as a single family farm.

And then they started expanding in their local area

to include other family farms.

They are now over 350 farms, all working together

to bring pasture raised eggs to the masses.

Next time you are at the grocery store, grab a carton

and take a peak at the end.

There you will see the NAME of the actual farm

where these particular eggs came from.

And you can actually go to that farm's website

and possibly watch a webcam of YOUR chickens.

(The eggs in our local WalMart in Hays this morning

came from 2 different farms, both in AZ.)

Anyhow.

Vital Farms is expanding into what they refer

to as the pasture belt.

Which just happens to include KANSAS!

So I took a chance and filled out an application online.

And this morning I got an email back that we were

exactly what they were looking for.

So the next step is to join with them and other

prospective farm partners at a tradeshow in

November in Springfield, Missouri where their

headquarters appear to be located.

(Or at least one of their hubs... I'm not sure...)

Anyhow.

I called and talked with Jim and he called and

talked with Sabrina and they are both onboard.

So he is going to fly out and join Kyle and I

at the tradeshow where we will be introduced to

their business model including what would be

needed to get us up and running.

We will also meet reps from their banks,

vendors, and builders.

One of the requirements was you needed to have

at least 50 acres of pasture land

and have "some" experience.

Based on the information I've read so far,

it looks like they use the same breed of chicken

that we used to have in our egg flock, back when

we had 120 chickens and processed 30 dozen eggs

each week. (Hand gathered and hand washed.... ugh.)

VF hatches the chicks and has a facility that raises

them to the age of 17 weeks, just about the time

they are ready to start laying, and then they ship

them to your farm, where they are required to stay

inside your chicken barn (yet to be built) for

what they call "nest training". 

Then after 2 weeks, they get turned out into their

pastures for foraging and enjoying life in the

sunshine of our mild climate.

They know (after their 2 week training) where

to go to lay their daily egg but also where to

come in to roost for the night, just like my flock did.

We gather the eggs daily and then they are shipped

to their facility in Springfield where they are

washed, sorted, graded, and packed for sale.

(Whew! I was worried we were going to be

in charge of washing them.... ugh. I'm sure they

have machines for that... but still...)

Anyhow.

Here's the kicker.

The flock is 20,000 chickens.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

A little larger than what we had.

But hey, if you can do 120 completely by hand,

20,000 all automated should be a breeze.

Right?

Anyhow.

We are excited to go to the meeting and get

all the particulars.

And having a proven successful business

with mentors and support (and a monthly

farm visit) makes me much less nervous than

starting from scratch and doing potatoes (or anything

else we were considering on our own...).

(Especially since our mentor/partner just lost his

lease on his Florida farm and at the same time

job a DREAM job offer to manage a potato

farm encompassing THOUSANDS of acres in

Oregon... he's already packed up and moved.)

He says they are still very interested in farming

in Kansas, but obviously needs to put it on the

back burner for awhile until he gets settled where 

he is. Which we totally understand, but we 

don't really WANT to be on the back burner...

Anyhow.

Getting financing should be much easier when you

have Vital Farms and their proved business model behind us.

And their banks have done this before, over 300 times.

And....

VERY conservative estimates show that we should

be able to support all 3 separate families very 

comfortably and pay everything off in a short

period of time and again be able to live a 

debt-free life style.

So.

That's the latest from around here.

Never a dull moment, eh?

We'll keep everybody posted as things develop.

But for now,

we are starting with a VERY conservative 9.

And I'm ok with that.

First REAL Fall

I mean, yeah.

We get "fall" in Florida.

But the leaves don't change.....

And so it has been VERY fun to be

out here in the midwest and watch the

leaves changing.

This is our tree in the front yard.

I have no idea what kind it is.

But it is beautiful!

Check out the vibrant yellow on the

tree in the back yard!

Down the street a ways, there are a couple

of these beautiful, what I assume are maples.

Aren't they lovely?

The leaves are turning on the trees at the farm

as well, but I haven't been out there in a few days.

I plan to head out there Friday morning to

meet with the power pole people and the

concrete guys to decide about the foundation.

Sheesh, building a house is a challenge.

Home Again

 I got home and hit the ground RUNNING.

It was a WONDERFUL trip!

Isn't her birthday skirt beautiful?

My flights home were quick and easy.

It takes WAY longer to drive to Wichita

than it does to fly to Tucson.

And that's weird.

I'm used to flying for 8 hours.

But we were in the air for just over 2 hours

on the way to Dallas and then under an hour

to Wichita - basically enough time to get

a glass of water, drink it, and then we

were landing.

Rod was there to meet me,

and we went to Jersey Mikes for a quick

lunch of a sub sandwich and then headed

back home again.

It was a LONG day for him... nearly 8 hours

in the truck (although I drove on the way home...)

And we stopped in Hays for some groceries

on our way.

Sunday was a nice, relaxing day for all of us.

(Well, except Kyle, he teaches the Sunbeams..... lol.)

But AFTER church it was a nice relaxing day.

I made Reid's Roast!

And it was MAHVELOUS!

(Yup, it even works on a small 2 pound

roast, in a TOASTER OVEN!)

It was tasty!

And then on Monday Kyle went out to the farm

and Rod and I went into Hays to Home Depot

to see about a case for the new grease gun,

(and look for a new fridge...)

It's on sale AND they will free deliver it to the house!

Then to Tractor Supply for a couple buckets and some

baby chick supplies (they arrive Monday the 28th),

and WalMart for a two more big blue totes to

put my freeze dried stuff in.

A quick run through the drive-thru at Wendys.

Then I taught class.

I had 20 students!

This morning the guys went out to the farm.

Rod went to meet the electricity people.

They are putting TWO poles on the property,

one by Kyle's house and one by ours,

and it should happen in 3 days.

And then he went to work on the water trough

pump AGAIN. (And for the 3rd time, they

sent the wrong part........ grrrrrr!)

Meanwhile, I did a good house clean.

It gets DUSTY here in the midwest.

(I've never had to sweep a ceiling before...)

And then we put 75 pounds of flour into

food grade buckets with gamma lids

we bought at Tractor Supply on Monday.

And I did some more organizing and cleaning

in my office and did all the paperwork for

last week's classes.

And now, Kyle is home from the farm and I'm

going to go think about what's for dinner.

Happy Birthday MOM!

Today is my Mom's birthday!

The Prophet is 99 + 1.

She is 90 - 1.... lol.

(But she's still on the lookout for that ONE

all the time!)

I got the opportunity to come out to Tucson

to visit everybody for her birthday this year.

(THANK YOU NANC!)

In her quest to lighten everyone's day,

she has a monthly little gift she creates

for each of the residents in their new home.

This month she made 90 little ghosts and

we walked around the hung them on all the

doors of all the residents!

(She was borrowing Dad's walker because

it has a storage bin under the seat - perfect

place to hold all her little ghouls...)

Everyone in the place knows her and she

knows each of them by name and calls them

by it and has a kind word for each of them.

You know, they say the most important

word for people to hear is their name.

(They teach us that in teacher training and

encourage us to learn our students names

and call them by it... and I can attest that

it is true, even on zoom... once I start 

using the students names they "wake up" 

and participate and join in the conversation.)

Nancy and Reid hosted a lovely dinner for them on Wednesday night.

We were celebrating both their SEVENTY-FIRST

wedding anniversary on Tuesday, and her 

EIGHTY-NINETH birthday today.

It was a full house and beautifully done,

as always!

Nanc had gathered a bunch of trivia questions

and answers about Mom, and had everybody

answer them on their own paper before dinner.

Then after the meal we all shared our guesses.

Everyone had a great time learning more about her.

(And before dinner Mom sat in the living room

with the great-grandsons and "helped" them with

their questionnaires... LOTS of laughter was 

heard from that room!)

It was such fun to get the whole family

together! Chris came down from Phoenix.

Jeff and his girls came over.

Kurt & Michelle and their boys (and their

big fluffy dog) were there.

Rozann and Greg and Naomi were there.

Greg was SO GOOD with the kids at

their end of the table! What a great Uncle!

(Hahaha, see what I did there? He's

their Great-Uncle.)

Nanc had a lovely display set up on her dining room table.

It was fun to remember all the little things that

mean so much to Mom from over the years.

In the little white box (the box her diamond ring was in!)

is the fraternity pin Dad "pinned" her with.

And above it is her charm bracelet. MANY a sacrament

meeting went by while looking at each charm and

remembering the story / event that went with each.

And there's her various pins and some extra charms

and a bracelet she wore back in Weyburn!

Along with the little teapot that was never used

for tea, but housed the sugar icing flowers from

their wedding cake!

And, of course, we have the happy couple!

(And a ceramic horse Dad painted and fired

wearing one of Mom's iconic watches...)

 

It was a lovely evening, celebrating a 

wonderful couple who are SO loved by each of us.

(Reid made THE BEST ROAST... there were

17 of us and we ate all but a small sandwich

sized ziplock of it... it was a NINE POUND ROAST!)

But back to Mom!

Looking back at my pictures, I realized I need

to take MORE!

We were entertained by a harmonica recital.

She is working on another lap blanket.

She has made several and gives one to each 

of the residents on their birthday!

They are SO appreciated, both by those who

use a wheel chair and by those who just feel

a little chilly when they sit for a bit.

We walked the LONG halls around their floor

and I mapped it on my "map my walk" app.

It's 0.13 miles! (So 10 laps is over a mile!!!)

Dad likes to go out and do a lap now and again.

We have done a LOT of eating.

Hahahahaha.

And a lot of talking.

And a lot of looking at pictures.

And a lot of looking at all the wonderful

things she has been creating for others.

Is this not the greatest hat????

She finds joy each day is loving those who are 

around her. 

She takes such great care of her beloved Kent.

She brings JOY to each of the residents.

As well as all of the various people who

work there to meet the needs of the folks.

She knows them all by name and makes

sure to say a kind word to each one.

(She shares her birthday with their breakfast

waitress who is a sassy Iranian... she's getting

a blanket this morning too!)

Mom's years of service have stood her in 

good stead and have certainly NOT ended!

She is a light and an example to all she meets.

She is the perfect illustration of what the

true joy of service looks like.

In everything she does.

Whether its peeling an orange for Dad

or hanging a goodie on a doorknob,

or sharing a loving word with a neighbor.

Because of her example, many of the

residents now have a fun display outside

their doors on her floor.

(They are sadly missing on the first floor...)

I am so proud to call her my Mother.

And I wish her MANY MANY more

Happy Birthdays!

I LOVE YOU MOM!

Happy Birthday

Sisters

 It's always so wonderful to come

to Tucson and get to connect with

my sisters!!!

I had a nice chat with Soni on the phone

this morning (YEA for Thursdays!)

And yesterday Rozann and I took her

dogs for their morning walk.

And Tuesday night we went to dinner 

with Mom and Dad, Rozann and Greg.

It was SO GOOD to see him healthy!

I usually come in the spring,

just in time for his annual bout with 

the spring yucks. (POOR GUY!)

Nancy and I have been shopping and visiting,

and cooking, and talking and talking

and "doing" jewelry!

It has been a lovely visit!

This morning I'm sitting on the front porch

of Nancy's casita enjoying the lovely

early morning weather.

I walked down and said good morning to

the horses. Now I'm drinking my water

and doing some computer work.

(Annual Compliance Training for teaching...)

(UGH)

I'm not sure what we have planned for today.

Tomorrow is a full day.

It's Mom's birthday. We had a party for her

last night - that will be in tomorrow's post.

But for now... I'm just enjoying the quiet.

On My Way!

Rod and I left WaKeeney about 11:30

this morning after a CHILLY start!

It was about 36 when we got up. 

But the sun was shining and it quickly

warmed up to the mid 60's.

Hopefully my peas will make it through the

forecasted light frost on Tuesday night.

Headed into Hays to return an Amazon order

and then across the street to Wendys.

And then it was time to hit the highway

and head to Wichita!

I'm teaching from my hotel room tonight.

Fingers crossed. I can't connect to the 

hotel wifi for some reason, so I'm using

my hotspot. Hopefully it has enough juice

to run my zoom!

And then in the morning we will hop across

the street to the Wichita Airport.

He will drop me off and I will wing my

way west to Phoenix and then Tucson!

Meanwhile he's going to the Cat dealer here

in town to look at our new mini excavator

(they are servicing it and it won't be ready

until Wed or Thurs) and then to Salina

to Menards to hopefully order the new shop

we need to get working on building!

So Much Happening right now!!!

More about the machine they are getting

later in the week when they actually get it.

(It's used, so we got a really good deal...)

And the salesman lives just up the road

from us, we visit with him when we go

out to walk the dogs.

So that helped us feel lots more confident.

Anyhow.

Better get ready to teach!

I'll be seeing y'all soon!!!!!

Bye Bye Market

Today was the last farmers market.

But nobody showed up.

Haha.

George said he would be there with

his vegetables.

But no show.

Mary and Dave said they would be

there with their veggies.

But no show.

Norman was there with some tomatoes.

And we were there with our freeze

dried stuff and the last few zucchini,

yellow squash, and a few lemon cucumbers.

The cows are STILL out.

(Troy, the owner, isn't responding to anybody...)

(Hope  he's ok...)

(But I don't know who he actually is, or 

anything about him except his name and

phone number and he doesn't take care

of his fences... grin.)

Anyhow.

They have been picnicking at our farm

every evening. 

They ate all the cucumbers AND the plants.

All the zucchini.

All the spaghetti squash plants and many

of the squash (or they just walked on them...)

The only thing they didn't mess with was

the okra.

I guess they don't like okra.

But that means we are DONE.

Anyhow.

In the first 30 minutes a lady bought

1 cucumber and 1 yellow squash for $1.

And then about an hour later a man

came by and bought 4 yellow squash

and insisted in giving me $3.

And then Wanda came by and bought

a zucchini for $1.

That was it.

So we gave up, packed up and left.

And then Tracy (a customer) came over

and bought 3 bags of peaches, 3 bags of

mango and all my skittles.

(I don't like skittles, so I poured them all

in one bag because I needed the jar they

were in and I sold her the bag for $5.)

So we made a total of $28 for the day.

And then I dumped all the little black bags

into big gallon-sized mylar bags and

put them in crates until I can buy another

tote to keep them in.

I marked the outside of the bag with

what was in it, what weight to use to

fill a little black bag, and the price.

That's all of it, in those two yellow

milk crates. Plus the empty white trays

and the sample jars above.

We will just pull out the sample jars

now and again and eat them as treats.

I'm glad to be done for the year though.

We made just under $1,000.

(We spent a bunch of it, bought some

things from the other vendors, like

apples, tomatoes, peppers, eggs,

and a bird house...)

but I think we did pretty well considering

we started late,

didn't really know what we were doing,

and were mostly just having fun and

getting to know some of the folks in town.

So I'm calling in a WIN.

All Is Well

Wow.

How did the day get away from me???

I had a nice chat with Soni

and then I made some french toast out of the

last of the loaf of raisin bread.

It was more like french biscotte... lol.

Anyhow.

Then Kyle and I sat down and ordered

some bareroot trees to plant at the farm.

We got some blue spruce and some colorado

spruce and some blue hydrangea.

30 years from now they will be beautiful.

Hahaha.

(Like the pines in front of 49)

And then he set up a sprinkler for the

backyard that should water everything

(except the carrots - the peas are too tall...)

And then we brought in the file cabinet that

has been hiding in the garage so I can

FINALLY feel organized around my office.

And then FedEx delivered a bunch of big

ol' boxes from a Sams Club order I made.

We either ate or donated most of our

food storage and I've been feeling

really unsettled without it.

So the other day I took care of some of that.

I'm slowly building it back up with my

freeze dryer, but there was stuff like

Spam, yeast, flour, raisins, rice and

that sort of thing that I needed to stock up on.

Look at all those jars of pickles!!! I'm so proud of those!

So my little office is looking more like

a food storage room.

But I'm MUCH happier!

After the market on Saturday I'm going to

take all the freeze dried stuff out of those

little white display trays and repackage

them in mylar bags 

(I have more coming today, I ran out)

and then we can stack the white trays.

The mylar bags will go in the big

blue totes. (I need to get a couple more...)

That will help with some of the clutter.

I'll just write the net weight of each little

black bag on the front of the mylar

so if someone wants some I'll just

quickly bag it up for them.

But those cute little black bags

aren't meant for long term storage.

They aren't air tight after awhile.

It will be nice to be done with market

for the year.

And I guess it's a good thing we are done.

The neighbor's cows got out AGAIN.

(4th time!!!!!)

(They are STILL out - just got a call from

a neighbor out there...)

Anyhow.

They "visited" our garden again and

wiped us out.

I was going to do more pickles, but they not

only ate the cucumbers (both lemon and pickling)

but they also ate the plants.

And stomped on my spaghetti squash.

And ate the last of the zucchini.

Kyle didn't mention the okra.

We were leaving it on the plants to dry for seed.

Anyhow.

He was disgusted.

We called and left and message and also

sent a text, but no response. He's not 

calling Gale back either, and they've been

neighbors and friends for years.

So I'm concerned maybe there's a reason?

Hopefully he's ok.

But either way.

The garden is done.

Of course next year it will all be behind

the fence on our side of the property.

But for this year....

Grrrrrrrr.

(It's your job to upkeep your fences and

keep your livestock IN, not my job to 

fence my property to keep your livestock OUT.)

Oh the joys of country living.

Having the dogs out there will also help

with the cows and the deer (and the coyotes...)

Anyhow.

Still lots of things on our "to do" list.

So I'd best get on it!