Happy Birthday to my Oldest Daughter

My hubby and I raised two beautiful, intelligent, kind and independent daughters.  My oldest daughter celebrates her 30th birthday on July 16th in Japan.  She has lived in Japan for a little over one year now and writes about it on her blog: http://barajasjapan.blogspot.com.  She gives insightful commentary about life in Japan and how it differs from the U.S. both the good and the bad.  This is the first year I haven't sent her a gift of something on her birthday - money or a present or a card.  I have been so involved in estate business and work and trying to maintain my "farm" that I haven't stepped into a store in ages or shopped online or done anything much for myself.  I want her to know that I love her and I am so proud of her and can't wait to see her again!  Much Love to you my Dear Daughter and Happy Birthday!  I'll make up for it later - promise!

Taking care of Estate business

My sister and I with much support from our husbands have been spending almost every weekend cleaning up the parents' home and property for the estate yard sale.  Their home sold As-Is due to some very bad building decisions regarding the add-on sunroom's roof slope.  That area of the house leaks severely and the parents were too sick to care much and my brother who lived with them and was their primarily caretaker really didn't have the time or knowledge to fix it.  So now the area has mold and would not pass any FHA or traditional loan inspection.  Thank goodness that we were given a blessing from a buyer who purchased the property as it was for cash.  There is only one condition to the sale: all trash is to be removed.  And that is the nightmare my sister and I are currently trying to deal with.  The parents were married 50 years and never, ever threw anything away.  My brother lived with them for about 12 years and also never, ever threw anything away.  It is a mess trying to clean and sort and decide what is trash and what may have resale value.  My brother-in-law found a very large rattlesnake skin in the tractor shed.  Needless to say where I am not going any longer.  We were given another blessing from a family business associate who took all the canning jars, including the ones filled in 1998 and are still full.  In return my sister and I have one less thing to empty and clean.  I will be creating and posting an e-book on what I have learned about the probate process in Alabama.  I hope to upload it to either Amazon or i-Tunes.  I found the resources available to deal with this process lacking.  No one should have to pay a lawyer to know this information.

Home-grown goodness

 One of my long-time goals has been to have enough fresh produce and eggs to subsist without going to the grocery store.  I get to mark this one off my list as DONE, DID IT.  I planted cherry tomatoes this year and cukes and the plants, from Burpee's Garden, are producing like crazy.  Add fresh egg salad to the supper menu with bread from the local thrift store that gives it to you - yes, gives it to you for FREE. I had a supper that I've dreamed about for years.  Good for you and home-grown.

More picture updates

Peck examining her nest box on the outside.  The new chicken house has two nests in its side.

My modified chicken waterer turned into a gravity feeder.  Cutting holes beside the seam of the thick plastic was tough but well worth the effort.  I can fill it up and don't have to worry about feeding the chickens for about a week.

Using a Langstroth hive this year.  These are my unpackaged American bees from Draper's Apiary.

The front pasture with my raised beds, the composter, the old hen house and kenyan hive.  Gardening and yard work consume most my time this spring.

Update in Pictures

As promised, an update with photos.  The speckled sussex hen Peck enjoys her new Ware Chicken house and run.  She is inspecting the nest.  She is a very broody hen!  Can't wait to introduce Rooster Fred to Peck, Penney and Prissy!

My daughters visiting me over Easter.  I was so happy to have time off work to enjoy Easter Sunday and Easter Monday with my girls!

American Bees arrived Thursday a.m.  More of my girls!

Oil Baroness

Growing up in Alabama I heard about oil rich relatives in Mississippi who left mineral rights as an inheritance to our grandmother.  Every few years my Dad would talk about getting a letter from an oil company seeking to lease the mineral rights or a natural gas company wanting to drill on the land where our family retained the mineral rights.  The total amount of money my Dad received was a few hundred dollars for granting those rights.  My Dad was always hopeful that they'd strike a productive vein of oil or gas and then we'd be like the Beverly Hillbillies.

There is a new process called FRACKING that drills deeper than the traditional straight down till you strike an oil pocket.  Fracking's environmental effects are not known yet.  I receive a letter from a representative of an oil company seeking rights to drill using the Fracking method across the land we own in Mississippi.  They are highly confident that they will hit oil.

Our land is in Clark County Mississippi sitting between two productive oil fields.  The Company is 99.9% certain they will have a productive oil well in 2 years.  If so, then for the next 30 years I will receive a monthly stipend.  Not much, no going to Beverly Hills but it will pay for chicken feed.

Chickens Update

My oldest daughter was home for a visit.  She lives in Japan currently where her husband is a sailor for the U.S. Navy.  While she was home the chicks arrived.  There was one dead on arrival and then two more died within the next 48 hours.  I don't know why.  The remaining five are thriving and their pin feathers are getting longer and they look less like fluffy chicks and more like young chickens.  There is a brief cute fuzzy stage for chicks where you look at them and just go "AWWWWW".  They are beyond that now.  I believe I have two Freds and three Henriettas.

My niece, Jima, put together the Ware chicken house and run for me.  I am very impressed with how easy it was for a pregnant woman to put together by herself.  She put it together in less than 4 hours and I was able to move it from its staging location, our carport, to its permanent location in the new pasture I created for the older hens, Pick, Prissy and Penney.  The new chicken house was a bargain at PetCo's online store and was about two-third the cost of the one I bought from My Pet Chicken.

I need to scrub the older coop and recondition it for the younger chickens.  I will need to separate the younger chicks from the older ones for a bit before pasturing them together.  Flock dynamics.

Pictures of everything soon.