What starts as typical moves into the extraordinary

Wow, today was an interesting day around here. It started out typical enough with me going about my regular routine of letting the dogs out while enjoying my morning coffee, then changing into my gardening clothes to work outside while the chickens and a couple of the rabbits have some free range time.

My fall plantings are coming along nicely. Green onions, spinach, kale, lettuce mix and kohlrabi are all doing well. I planted red onions, black seeded Simpson lettuce and I transplanted the broccoli into the garden.

My son took care of the feed and water for the animals and spent time with a couple of the new rabbits, giving them lots of attention.  Once ready to head back into the house, I grabbed some rose petals and called the chickens back to their coop/run. My son thinks it is funny that they come running from wherever they are so they can get their treats.

All very ordinary until a couple of hours later. The setup to the story... after a couple months of research, we decided to raise meat rabbits. We brought them home on Saturday. We decided the buck would have his own cage and the 3 females would share a large dog kennel turned rabbit cage until we were ready to move them into their own cages for breeding.

We purchased them all from this sweet, hard of hearing, near 90 year old man who lives alone and was downsizing his livestock. Yes, he said, they are all proven breeders, but no, he said, they haven't been mated since their last litters. Good, gives me time to do things on my timeline.

Note to self - a sweet, hard of hearing, near 90 year old man who lives alone will probably NOT remember putting and doe and a buck together 28 days ago so be prepared.

I let the dogs outside, then followed them out to check on things, as I normally do. Then, hmmm, what is on the ground by the rabbit cages?  My slow pace picked up to a quick run, a scoop up of a baby, a glance around and a sprint for the house.

Me: "I NEED YOUR HELP, NOW!"

Son: "What happened?"

Me: "I have baby bunnies and dogs everywhere and I need help"

Son: "WTF?, oops, sorry mom"

My son went for our Basset first, which had already found one that had squirmed out of the fencing and onto the grass. As he was occupied with his find, he was ushered into the house, which can be a feat in itself if you know anything about Basset Hounds. I had the one kit tucked into my shirt for warmth and ushered the other dogs into the house since they really could care less and the comfy couch was more inviting.

There were 2 more kits on the ground and one safe on the cage floor. They were all cocooned in the folds of my shirt for warmth while we adjusted the cage to accommodate a nest box and litter, and I texted with my very experienced sister for advice.  I snuggled them in and hoped for the best with mom.

I set up the other two does into separate cages just in case that sweet, hard of hearing, near 90 year old man who lives alone also forgot about mating them as well.

In the mean time, mom spent time pulling fur and going in and out of the nest box to get the kits settled. Hopefully their fall from grace, I mean ungraceful fall, will not be an issue and they all eat their fill tonight from mom.

It is a good thing tonight was a leftover, hodgepodge dinner night!

~ Kelly

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Pork Loin Chop with Pan Sauce

When we first started on our journey of adjusting to one income and finding more ways to save money, I began changing our pantry from processed foods to items that would allow for from scratch cooking. It was a slow process but my pantry is now devoid of processed foods.

I love cooking and baking and enjoy spending time in the kitchen. Even more, I love knowing my family is enjoying a wonderful, home cooked meal.

Tonight's dinner was Pork Tenderloin with Pan Sauce, seasoned baked potato bites and green beans with Parmesan cheese. I think the marinade and pan sauce would also be good with rabbit.

Pork Tenderloin with Pan Sauce from Chef Mommy

Ingredients:
1⁄2 cups olive oil
1⁄3 cup soy sauce
1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
1-2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1-2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 tsp dry mustard
Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 1-lb. pork tenderloin (silver skin removed) - I actually used a pork loin roast, sliced with the grain. It gave me larger chops)

Directions:
Combine all marinade ingredients and reserve 2-3 Tbsp. Place the pork tenderloin and marinade in a Ziploc bag and let marinate for at least 3-4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a hot skillet over medium-high heat, sear each side of tenderloin for 2-3 minutes. Place in the oven and cook for 30-40 minutes or until the meat has reached 160 degrees. Let rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing.

Pan Sauce:
Pan scrapings from pork tenderloin
1/2 cup of chicken broth (I used homemade chicken stock)
2-3 tbsp of pork marinade (thoroughly mixed)
1-2 tsp butter

Meanwhile, place the skillet back on the stove over medium heat. Add the chicken broth and scrape up all the browned pieces from the bottom of the pan. Add the marinade and let it boil down for 2-3 minutes. Add the butter and remove from heat stirring until butter has melted. Pour over the pork tenderloin.

Source: Adapted from Chef Mommy

The chickens were the beginnings of our urban homestead

First let me say that neither my Husband or I have never, ever built something without pre-drilled holes and directions. You know what I mean, the beautiful book shelf, or the functional TV stand, those kind of builds. But to design and build a Chicken Coop after looking at picture after picture of cool coops is, well, daunting.

But we knew we had to get to work because we brought the chicklets home. Over the next few days I looked at other coops online and began to go from a thought process to putting it on paper, well scrap paper and with no clear idea, just a direction I wanted to go in.

 

We went with 4 foot sections to make it easier on us to build and put together. So we put the materials list together and headed to the big box store for supplies, and tools... yep, all we had at home was a measuring tape, a hammer and a screw driver.

We live on an 1/8th acre Urban lot. The corner we decided to use for the Chickens was a pond area which I took out, filled in and leveled off.

We built the coop 4 foot square and 2 feet off the ground. The frame on one side extended above the top by 4 inches to allow for water runoff once the roof is on. The floor of the coop has removable plywood in two 2 foot by 4 foot sections which allows us to open it up for cleaning or replacement if needed. The walls are pressure treated wood panels for outdoor use.

The top is open air and covered with 1/4 inch hardware cloth to allow for ventilation and we used PVC corrugated roof panels to protect from rain. The window is also covered with the hardware cloth and the cutout panel is used to close it up if needed. The door was cut out at 12 inches square and the panel was hinged on and a slide bolt added for complete protection at night.

The egg gathering/cleaning door was cut out and hinged on. It has two slide bolts as well as a positive lock hook and eye.









The run itself is 8 feet long and 4 feet wide. We built the frame using 2 x 2 boards, then covered it with 1/2 inch hardware cloth, using screws and washers. The 4 foot end frame is hinged on and has 2 positive lock hook and eyes, one at the top and one at the bottom.

The top panels were hinged on so they can be opened for cleaning within the run.

The coop is 16 square feet, the run is 48 square feet and we have added a side yard which is 150 square feet. It is also covered with netting as it is only to keep them from getting out and into the neighbors yards. Other than hawks, predators are really not a problem during the day. They also get daily supervised free range time in the yard.

This fall, we will primer and paint the coop to help protect it from the rains.  Overall, we are happy with the coop but next time we would make the run to the height of the coop rather than the 4 foot high with hinged top.