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Showing posts from November, 2012

Proverbs 28:19

"He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough."- Proverbs 28:19 It seems that in modern day America that this verse has been proven false. Millions of people "follow" vain persons on facebook, twitter, TV, and other forms of entertainment; and yet we live in an age of amazing abundance.  This verse is literally true even if we can't see it today, but there is also a spiritual aspect that is true even now. I remember my grandmother saying, "We were very poor but everybody else was too, so we didn't know it." It seems to me that when we look at the things everyone else has (especially these "vain persons") then we dwell a lot more on what we don't have. Hence, we feel impoverished even in the land of plenty. Let's keep our eyes on Jesus and our fingers in the dirt - then our focus will be on the blessings that He provides.

Moving the Egg Flock to the Garden

Since the raccoon incident, we are down to 5 hens and two of them are molting.  I recently limed and turned the garden patch so we decided to put the hens on the garden so we could at least capture their manure even if we are down to 1 egg a day!

Build Your Own Temperature Controller for Yogurt in the Crock Pot

A temperature controller is a very handy device on the homestead. We use them to control our heating system, hot water heater, crock pot (for yogurt), greenhouse fan, and maybe other things that I have forgotten. They are easy to make and can be programmed for heating or cooling. I have used Honeywell brand thermostats for these, but my favorite is the Ranco ETC. You can buy these on ebay for around $50 - search for Ranco ETC. NOTE: If you attempt this project, you assume all risks and rewards of both the electrical hazard and and control hazards that may occur. In other words - don't come running to us if you fry yourself or your aquarium fish building or using this controller! On the other hand if you solve one of the world's great problems with one of these - we aren't going to ask you for anything either!

Devotional Thought - Thanksgiving

"In every thing give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." - I Thessalonians 5:18 This is the time of year that we as Christians set aside a day of thanksgiving to our Lord. I think this is great and Thanksgiving, as a holiday, is one of my favorites. At our church, our teacher has encouraged us to write down a list of things we are thankful for. Again, this is well and good, and I proceeded to write down many things in a little notebook that I have been keeping. And then I thought, "Lord, am I really thankful for these things?" I wondered if maybe, just maybe, I was writing down a bunch of things that I SHOULD be thankful for but not necessarily things I was truly grateful for.

Buff Orpingtons at 7 Weeks

At 7 weeks, these Buffs seem to have leveled off. Even with 29 of them, they have eaten less than 3 bags of feed to this point. I hope they stay feed-efficient at least until Spring!

Chickens at 6 Weeks

The latest photos of our Buff Orpingtons:

Buff Orpingtons at 5 Weeks

We finally put our Buffs in the coop! They have been in the brooder 5 weeks and I think they are quite startled to see the world for the first time. We have upgraded the boards at ground level in the run and also added extra screws and staples to the wire. Finally, we are leaving a brood lamp on inside the coop - this is for the comfort of the chickens as well as predator repellent. We will see what happens......