Avoiding stretch marks during the nine month stretch

This is a very unusual post for me but it was actually requested. I'm not a medical professional and this is just observational and opinion based. It also might just be luck. I'm writing this at 40 weeks and 3 days pregnant... assuming I'm not going to have free time much longer. I've been dealing with prodromal labor for about 4 days now. Ouch...

 The pain of childbirth was not my biggest fear during pregnancy (in fact- far from it) it was getting stretch marks. I know it sounds incredibly shallow and petty but it is true.

Here I am at 40 weeks and 2 days. Help!

I've always been passionate about skincare. But pregnancy took it up a notch, and it was the first time I ever splurged on really good products. No one warned me how much skin care and vitamins would add up during pregnancy but it was worth it to me to keep my confidence up and keep me feeling good. Gaining 30lbs was actually a very emotional process for me as I've struggled with eating disorders most of my life. Proper nutrition is the basis of the entire regimen I'm about to pass on to you, and it should be your number one priority during pregnancy not the number on the scale. In fact, I stopped weighing myself and obsessing around four months. It wasn't a healthy attitude and I caught myself eating less than I should.

Firstly, I'm genetically prone to stretch marks. They also run in my family from pregnancy.  Puberty hit me like a ton of bricks and I got them on my inner thighs, hips, and rear. Luckily, those were the only casualties. However, at the time I would starve myself for days to keep a certain number on the scale. I also was unaware of the importance of good hydration at that point in my life. It actually landed me in the hospital with kidney stones at only 19. Hydration is even more important during pregnancy. If you're like me you'll be drinking like a fish constantly anyway while pregnant. Seriously, I have had a drink in my hands for 9 months. I make a point to drink 10-12 large glasses of water throughout the day in addition to 2-3 large glasses of Red Raspberry Leaf Tea (more on that later). In addition to that I also drink 2 large glasses of raw goat's milk daily. I was advised against this by my midwife but I trust my milk handling procedures. Raw milk is probably the most beneficial probiotic out there which is imperative during pregnancy. Some grocery stores have goat's milk for sale and I cannot recommend it enough for overall health. It's also much more gentle on your stomach. Goat's milk and grapefruit were the only things that got me through 10 weeks of hyperemesis gravidarum or severe morning sickness. 

About 30% of my pregnancy skincare routine involves food. I ate tons of fermented foods, raw dairy, processed dairy, fresh vegetables from our garden, fatty fish, but lean red meat (such as venison). I'll be honest- I'm not perfect and I indulged pretty frequently throughout my pregnancy too. Don't feel bad for eating ice cream once a week!

In addition I also took the vitamins pictured here without a prenatal. Prenatals made me incredibly ill. I could not keep them down for longer than 15 minutes even after 14 weeks. Instead I opted for a raw, healthy diet.  Not all of these vitamins should be taken daily and some should not be taken until the 3rd trimester at all. Like I stated before, I chose to get my prenatal nutrition from maintaining a mostly raw, high fat, low processed ingredient, balanced diet instead of a pill. I know this is not a popular stance and I got a lot of sideways looks when I told people I wasn't taking my prenatal.

Reminder: Talk to your doctor or midwife before you start any new supplements. 

Vitamin E- I started taking it at 28 weeks. It's super food for you hair and nails. However can lead to heart problems in a developing baby in the first trimester. High doses can also make you quite sick after some time. I took this dosage twice a week. 

Probiotic- I probably could have skipped this because of my raw dairy intake. However, bathroom issues are very prevalent in pregnant women. I did not want to risk it. I was also advised by my midwife to take it 30 days before my Strep-B test to prevent a positive result. Guess what? I was negative. I'll never know if this helped but better safe than sorry. Phillip's Colon Health is another brand I can stand behind too.

Iron- Anemia is another ailment many pregnant women suffer from. Too many go undiagnosed from it to. With low iron you're not producing the correct amount of red blood cells for you or your baby. It can also make you feel like you're sedated 24/7. I wasn't anemic until 36 weeks when I had a preeclampsia scare. Turns out my body was just working way too hard with nothing to go on. Low iron can also lead to postpartum bleeding, and needing a blood transfusion. When taking it make sure you've eaten something first. 

Evening Primrose Oil- The jury is out on this one still. It's supposed to help reduce tearing during labor, and also supposed to prepare the cervix for delivery. I haven't experienced either yet so I can't say. But at 36 weeks I was already 2 cm dilated and partially effaced. This is another one that is not recommended before 34-36 weeks. It can be taken orally or vaginally.

Fish Oil- Great for everything. I only take it twice a week. 

Super B Complex with Vitamin C and Folic Acid- I mostly took this during the 1st and 2nd trimester. Especially when I was feeling very run down and exhausted. Vitamin C in high doses is not recommended during pregnancy and can even cause spontaneous loss of pregnancy. High doses of Folic Acid has also been linked to increased instances of autism in several studies. I took this one in moderation- definately not more than once or twice a week. It kept my energy up and I didn't get sick (aside from morning sickness) my entire pregnancy. 

Great Lakes Geletin Collagen Hydroysate Beef, Kosher- This one sounds totally off in left field but trust me this is a pregnancy miracle product! Not only is gelatin highly recommended in pregnancy but it's also something most American's have little to none of in our diets. It builds connective tissue, contains tons of protein, prevents skin breakage (stretch marks and scarring) it also boosts your metabolism and works wonders for joints! I followed Ina May Gaskin's advice and did 200-300 squats a day throughout my pregnancy and I never experience any back, hip, or joint paint. I am certain it had a lot to do with this one product. Downside............ the back says it is flavorless and that is a god damn lie! I mixed it with my Red Raspberry Leaf Tea and choked it down.

Red Raspberry Leaf Tea- Third Trimester Tea was formulated as a tonic to nurture all those mama parts heading into the home stretch (pardon the pun)! A safe, delicious blend of vitamin and mineral packed herbs historically used for labor preparation and as a uterine toner, including Red Raspberry Leaf (an all-around great pregnancy herb), iron-rich Stinging Nettle, calming Chamomile and Rosehips (both full of vitamins and bioflavonoids), and calcium filled Oat Straw. Also strengthens the uterus and is supposed to speed up labor. It is also disgusting.... unless you like tea that tastes like dried grass you just mowed.

Skincare products you're going to need:

Prepare your credit cards ladies, it's going to be an expensive 9 months! I shop almost exclusively off of Amazon.com because I hate going to stores. One of the biggest perks is the reviews. At 10 weeks my jeans were already so tight I couldn't button them so I knew it was time to start a skincare routine for my belly. I tried 10 different products so you don't have to!

The only two products you're going to need are The Body Shop Coconut Body Butter and Palmer's Body Oil. Strangely enough neither says anything about preventing stretch marks. At around 32 weeks I tried to cheap out and bought Body Merry's Orange Vanilla stretch mark cream and noticed one tiny little line appear on my hips days later. It was enough of a scare that I went to Ulta the next day and bought more of my coconut butter. You can also buy massive 13.5 oz pots of it on Amazon for only $30 (which will last you about a month and a half.) I apply the butter every morning very liberally, then top with a thin coat of the oil. I do this again whenever I get out of the shower and again before I hop into bed at night. If you're feeling extra paranoid cut open a couple of vitamin E capsules and rub them into your skin.

Take care of yourselves during your pregnancy and pamper yourself as much as possible. Feeling good about the way you look (even when you're at the highest weight you've ever been, have bags under your eyes, and pee more often than an old woman) is the glow everyone talks about. Love yourself, be kind to your body, and nurture your growing little one with everything he or she needs for the best possible start in life. Worry about the weight later.





Good luck and God Speed!

Pro tip: Whatever you do just don't scratch your tummy while pregnant! It leads to breakage and skin damage. I know, I know,  it's hard to resist. I had a few nights where I wanted to claw my skin off but instead watched reruns of 2 Broke Girls at 3am as a distraction. It will pay off in the end.

Homesteading while expecting and Zucchini Sheet Cake

This year has been a year of many triumphs for our family and small farm. Our homestead has produced tremendous growth this spring, and as you can see from the picture below my waistline has as well.

28 weeks and 1 day along already. Time is flying!

Brock Steven Paschall is expected somewhere between the 5th and 15th of September! This is probably the single most monumental achievement of my life. Why, you may ask yourselves... Well, because for the last six years I've been told I would never get pregnant. Never. It was devastating news to me and a huge shot to my self confidence. But the hardest part was when I had to tell my boyfriend, now husband, that if he wanted to have children he would have to leave me. I felt like such a failure as a woman and I knew I had to tell him before we took the next step. By the grace of God I am one of the lucky ones who found herself a true soulmate, life partner, and a truly good man. Kent held my hands and said "There's other options. We can figure this out." A little over a year afterwards we were married. Three years after that we're expecting a healthy, beautiful, strong baby boy!

I'm a very active woman. I don't mean in the traditional sense of going to the gym and attending Pilates every Thursday in my Fabletics gear (Although pregnancy yoga has made me super flexible and I definitely recommend it to anyone preparing for natural childbirth). I work hard. I work tough. I work outside. Which is substantially more difficult when you're experiencing things like morning sickness and carrying around 16 extra pounds in the middle. But not impossible!

 On that note- I experienced the kind of morning sickness that most women only talk about in horror stories. From week five through week fourteen all I did was throw up... 24 hours a day... all day and night.... every single day. I had to go to the doctor every three days to get an IV because I was so dehydrated and weak. The only food that didn't make me sick instantly was grapefruit. So, all I ate for two and a half months was grapefruit. I am genuinely shocked no one has died from it. It was hell. Even more hellish was planting, pruning, and my other homesteading activities through it all. But it gave me a new respect for my own strength and determination. And somehow I did get everything planted in time for a massive late freeze that killed it all. So not only did I do it once, but then I had to repeat the whole thing several weeks later. 

Just a typical day's harvest

We planted an assortment of lettuce, onions, cabbages, green beans, snow peas, bell peppers, jalapenos, sweet corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, melons, and strawberries. We also added several new peach trees to the farm bringing us to a dozen. Even though the weather has been uncooperative this spring with flooding, late freezes, and humidity reserved for the Gulf- we've produced about 4x as much as last spring by June. For anyone looking for a hearty, prolific, and good size tomato in central Texas I'd recommend Romas. I've gathered 30lbs of tomatoes in the last month alone. It has enabled me to can 10 jars of whole peeled tomatoes and 6 jars of salsa which adds up to approximately $25 saved at the grocery store. My Better Boy tomatoes are still green but that has allowed me to enjoy several batches of fried green tomatoes this spring, so no complaints. The only real disappointment his year has been our Peach trees. Last year we ended up with a bumper crop and this year has been the exact opposite. Too much rainfall and a few late freezes led to us losing most of our flowers and their subsequent fruit. Better luck next year hopefully.



And fyi. It's probably going to be a short growing season for me. My back hurts and the heat is getting to be too much for me even in early June. Sorry plant babies... You're on your own come July!



To keep myself occupied (and use up the copious amount of zucchini we have) I now give you my personal favorite (to date) zucchini sheet cake recipe:


Ingredients:
3 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup unsalted butter
¾ cup white sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups shredded zucchini

Frosting:
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
¼ cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla


Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9x13" baking pan with non-stick cooking spray or grease. Beat eggs, vegetable oil, butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla together in a large bowl. Add in flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, cloves, and nutmeg. Mix well. Fold in zucchini and stir until completely mixed in. Pour batter into prepared 9x13" pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. While the cake cools, mix together frosting ingredients and spread over the top of the cake. If desired, sprinkle the top of the cake with cinnamon and sugar.

End of Harvest 2015

   Hey guys, I apologize for the long absence (again). It turns out I'm not a very disciplined blogger. I've also had a rough summer emotionally and physically. But as promised I'm going to share some things I learned from the past growing season. Some of our veggies and produce did swell and others were total flops. 

• Our corn was the first of our plants to rear their little heads and seemed to be doing very well until mid May. First they began to yellow which I attributed to heat. But after losing about half of them and doing some research I discovered that is a common problem with corn and is attributed to not enough Nitrogen in the soil. After adding tons of Nitrogen their color returned to normal but the damage was seemingly done and we ended up with what looked like two dozen ears of baby corn. Live and learn!
• Tomatoes.... oh tomatoes, how you let me down.... I've been known to have very prolific tomato plants until this summer. I've had one potted Roma produce more tomatoes than I got all summer from my 15 Mortgage Lifters. But the excessive rain we received in the spring had a lot to do with it. Also, I learned that excessive fertilizing causes plants to grow exponentially. The plant becomes so focused on growing that it rarely flowers and fruits. Thus I ended up with 7 foot tall tomato plants and very few tomatoes. 
• Do not ever plant anything near a jalapeno pepper. I planted all of my peppers in a single box this year and they are ALL incredibly hot. My bell peppers can't even be used in cooking because they're basically enormous, colorful jalapenos. 
• We had some success with out watermelons this year and harvested 6 total. Our largest weighed in at 12lbs. One mistake was tilling a watermelon patch outside our fenced in vegetable gardens. My watermelons were all about the size of softballs and some rabbits ravaged all the vines in a single night. We ended up with a lot of single serve melons because of this. Also, something to consider about watermelons is the price of the water they consume. While growing our water bill went up about $20 a month just for them. Is that really worth it? Probably not considering how few and how small we ended up harvesting. Also, do not attempt to grow unless you're a SAHM, SAHW, or retired- because you will be watering them 3-4 times a day in the middle of Texas summer.  

    

   I know this sounds like a lot of mistakes and problems but we actually had a very good season. On average my grocery bill was about $70 for the majority of the harvest season. 







We harvested:
18 Squash
40 Zucchinis
20 Large tomatoes
An uncountable number of cherry tomatoes
Minimal inedible tiny corn
32 Cucumbers
8 birdhouse Gourds
10lbs of Green Beans
20 Jalapenos
5 Incredibly spicy Bell Peppers
6 Watermelons
52 Red Globe and Elberta Peaches (That's 48 up from last year!)
25 Small Carrots
Minimal amount of Iceberg Lettuce (too hot for a full sun spring crop)
Minimal amount of Collard Greens (same as above)
100+ wild plums
30lbs of wild blackberries (My freezer is stuffed full of them)
5lbs of  mammoth Sunflower seeds
5lbs of Snap Peas 
10 Key Limes
5 Meyer Lemons 
4lbs of Strawberries

We also welcomed 20 new chickens and 10 ducks to the farm this season! Free range eggs are now available from our farm. If you're interested in ordering please visit our facebook page under the name of The Paschall Family Farm & Bakery.

Now time to  preserve the harvest! 

 -Colleen P. & The Little Red Homestead

 

 

All Natural Mint Tea

   Hello friends and followers! I know I'm the worst at keeping up with this blog. I just can't seem to ever sit down and finish any posts. But as I announced on Facebook I'm going to give you a step by step on how to brew your own delicious and refreshing mint tea!

   If you've ever been to our home you've probably had a glass of my mint tea. I hate to brag but it might be the best sweet (although, that's optional) tea in the South. The keys are patience and fresh ingredients. Five years ago I purchased a Chocolate Mint and an Orange Mint plant. After battling it out for domination of the pot I ended up with some kind of hybrid mint; I call it my Chocolate Orange Mint. But the type of mint is not all that important. I recommend using sweet mint or culinary mint for teas though because they're larger leaves and powerful flavor. 

So here's what you're going to need to start brewing your own natural Mint Teas:

• 1 Mint Plant
• 1 Mortar and Pestal
• Someplace to either hang herbs to dry OR a brown paper bag
• 1 medium size pot for brewing your tea
• 1 small canning jar or a sandwich ziploc size bag
• 1/3-3/4 cup sugar depending on your preference
• 5+ cups of water
• 1 one gallon tea jug
• Cheesecloth, fine fabric, or tea bags

That's all!

   If you like the smell of fresh herbs in your home, and who doesn't, your best option is probably to dry your mint bunches indoors. I fill a one gallon storage pail with 6-10" sprigs of mint. This should be enough to make two or three sizable separate bunches. the smaller the bunches the more quickly they will dry and the less likely you are to experience mold. If mold does occur you'll have to toss your bunches in the trash. I hang mine in our pantry because there is very little light, air current, or humidity. I leave the bunches hanging for roughly two weeks or until crisp. 

Alternatively, you can place mint in a brown paper bag to remove the moisture and dry it for a few days for fresh mint tea.

• Once your mint is dry you're going to need to take a couple of minutes and strip the leaves off the sprigs. I just run my fingers down the whole surface and they come right off. 
• Next you're going to put about 1/2 cup of the full leaves in your mortar and pestal and grind. I like to have a mix of different size leaves. If you grind them into a fine powder you risk having bits of that in the finished product. You'll end up doing the grinding in stages because having too much at once will cause leaves to fly everywhere.
• Now you're going to cut 8" squares of cheesecloth and double it over from corner to corner. Basically it just needs to be two layers thick. If you want individual size bags and not family you can make much smaller bags.
• For family size bags you're going to put 1/2 cup in each bag. For individual use 1 tablespoon. 
• Tie those babies up tight! I use strips of cheesecloth for a tie on mine.  

Note: Typically three bunches of mint leaves will give you three family size tea bags.
Note II: I like to keep my extra bags in canning jars because it gives them extra oomph. 

• pour 5 cups of water into your medium pot and add the bag of tea. 

• Set the heat on medium low and let the tea sit for 30-45 minutes. The longer you let it sit the stronger your tea will be. Do not boil!
• Once the time is up remove the tea from the heat and let it cool for 5 minutes. 
• Add your sugar and mix
• Pour the tea into your jug and fill the remaining space with water.
• Put in your refrigerator and give 3-4 hours to cool. 

 
 

   You're all set! Prepare to have the most refreshing, earthy, cool tea you've ever tasted.

 

 All hail the mighty, prolific, and giving mint plant! 

Why I let my poultry free range

  Let me begin by saying that I love my hens dearly. I know what each cluck means, and I regularly still hold and cuddle my big elderly Red Sex Links that I've had since the very beginning. It is because I love them that I allow them their freedom. I have lost my fair share of birds over the past couple years, and I'm okay with that. In fact I've lost a grand total of 4 hens and 3 roosters to free ranging. So why do I still do it?

The nutritional value of free-range eggs makes this challenge a worthwhile endeavor for the homesteader wanting to produce higher quality eggs for a healthier diet.  Recently, Mother Earth News did an egg study comparing free-range eggs to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrient data for commercial eggs.  The findings showed that free-range chicken eggs produced the following results:

    • 1/3 less cholesterol
    • 1/4 less saturated fat
    • 2/3 more vitamin A
    • 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
    • 3 times more vitamin E
    • 7 times more beta-carotene

Besides the obvious nutritional benefits, free-range eggs simply taste better!  The most likely cause of the differences between free-range eggs and those from caged, commercial-production hens is the diet the hens consume every day.  Basically, you are what you eat.  After all, the free-range chicken’s diet is all natural and varied, while the caged hen eats only what is placed in front of her.  Free-range hens are also usually healthier than their cousins kept in crowded cages in commercial poultry houses and even those kept in backyard runs.  The feeds given to commercial hens are the cheapest possible mixture of corn, soy, and/or cottonseed meals, with many types of additives mixed in.  These additives often include growth hormones, meat and bone meals, as well as antibiotics and chemicals, like arsenic, to keep the chickens awake longer and producing more.  The commercial chicken has a much shorter lifespan due to stress, illness and general disease than does a free-range hen—unless, of course, the free-range hen falls prey to a natural predator.

 Free-range chickens are also a wonderful source of entertainment on warm summer days.  A single insect can cause mass hysteria among a flock of free-range chickens.  Where one goes, they all go at a run and a massive chase scene can ensue over one juicy bug.  They can also perform amazing duck and cover routines if something so much as an airplane shadow should appear overhead.  You will learn just what a free-range chicken will eat, and you will also become adept at construction of chicken barricades to protect everything that you don’t want them to destroy—such as your garden—while they are in one of their feeding-frenzies.  

What it all boils down to is if you're willing to allow your hens health and happiness be the priority over control in a small environment. While I do not have anything against anyone who keeps chickens in runs and coops alone, I do stand by the fact that their counterparts who free range live healthier and happier lives.  Free-range chickens are definitely worth the effort needed to take care of them, as the fresh eggs and meat are by far the best that you can obtain anywhere. 

Update time!

   Well it's been a little over a month now since I've posted anything but I've got a completely reasonable explanation.

   About a year ago I started taking the medication Paxil in 40mg dose. It was for severe chronic depression, and initially it really did help me. However, around August I started to feel nothing. Literally nothing at all. Its the weirdest thing in the world to have absolutely no emotions about anything. I felt like a robot. So I tried going cold turkey. This was a colossal mistake that almost landed me in the emergency room. I went from "ok" to vomitting on myself, shaking, passing out, and having convulsions in the bathroom in a timeline of about 45 minutes. Luckily, my ever level-headed husband was there with me the whole time. From that day forth began the tedious and unpleasant process of weening myself off of the nasty drug. Do you know what helped immensely? Raw milk. I think raw milk actually saved me. Thankfully our dairy goat, Buttermilk, was in full milk and producing about 3/4 gallon a day being milked just once. I've read a few studies about the effects of raw milk on the body and the general conclusion is that even thought here is a miniscule risk (and if handled properly I believe there is none), raw milk can have antidepressant and other positive effects on the body. The only negative side effect was that the Paxil made it impossible to lose weight and the raw milk made it very easy to put it on. Needless to say I gained about 18lbs in 6 months. Getting off of Paxil took me a full two months. I was pretty ill, and miserable during the whole process too. The thing no one had warned me about before taking Paxil is that it can take up to a year to fully leave your system and you can still experience withdrawal symptoms at 6-8 months.  I started having a relapse about two months ago and it got pretty bad. It's been an uphill battle since. 

   Moving on... I also had a minor tragedy and blow to my self esteem and enthusiasm when all of my seedlings I'd started inside damped off and died. I lost every single one. It was a huge thing to me since my seedlings are like babies to me. I'd never even heard of "damping off" before. But if you'd like to find out more or just take preventive measures of your own read up on it here:

https://extension.umass.edu/floriculture/fact-sheets/damping-bedding-plants-and-vegetables


   But as they say live and learn! I've since started all my seeds outside and everything has been going swimmingly. We got all the beds tilled, fenced, and seeded within a few weeks. As you can see to the right we've also had some new additions on the farm in the shape of surprise chicks! I'll try to post again soon since in truth I don't have any updated pictures of the seeds I started (again). It's been so muddy out that my opportunities have been few a far between. 

-Colleen P. & The Little Red Homestead 

Happy Valentine's Day from The Little Red Homestead!

 
   I've been dragging my feet on an updated post for three weeks now. I believe I have a case of the "winter blues" since I've been sleeping 9+ hours a day and eating my weight in food daily. (either that or my husband finally knocked me up). But thanks to the wave of gorgeous weather we're having I've been more active again this week. 

 
Firstly I want to wish anyone who reads this a happy Valentine's Day. I don't typically brag about myself but I went 22 years without a kiss, candy, a date, or a boyfriend on Valentine's Day so I'm going to brag! Kent and I have actually been married exactly 18 months tomorrow too. He took off work and we went to the zoo while it was completely empty and 65 degrees. Which he followed by taking me to my favorite, and only decent, pizza restaurant in Texas- Olivella's in Highland Park. And just when the day couldn't have gotten better we hit Society Bakery on Greenville Ave. I really though that was the end of it but then last night I also got two dozen roses and a brand new tiller! I'm one very excited wife today! 



My husband and I have been tilling our flowerbeds by hand
using a pickaxe, which has been a nightmare to say the least. But the tiller is going to make a world of difference. Instead of just doing the boxes we're also going to till about 1/4 an acre now. More room = more food for us. My seedlings have really started popping up this week too. I don't usually start seeds because A] I'm impatient and B] I've spent $150 on organic heirloom seeds and had maybe a 50% germination rate in the past. This is my first really successful year with seeds but I'm also a lot more educated about cultivation and farming in general than I was even a year ago. My Mortgage Lifter tomatoes were the first to rear their pretty green heads. Which, as an avid tomato enthusiast, is very exciting. Mortgage Lifters are know for their enormous size and flavor. I see a lot of salsa in our future considering my jalapenos, onions, and cilantro have also started poking through.

This is Paprika "tolerating" human attention

   I've also been trying to find homes for the excess roosters we have from last summer. My mother-in-law and I didn't know how to sex chicks last summer and boy has it come back to bite us in the ass. We were up to 14 roosters briefly. I'm attaching a really helpful link about sexing chicks so you don't make the same mistakes we did: 

http://animalsciences.missouri.edu/reprod/ReproTech/Feathersex/sld006.htm

   Starting chicks ourselves has been a really wonderful experience in general however. The chickens I was given are tolerant of human interaction but I'd hardly call them friendly. However, the chicks we raised and handled daily are very friendly. I really spoiled our Mille fleur rooster to a fault. He demands to do morning chores while perched on my shoulder or head. He also coo's while you pet him. The hens have just started laying the last couple weeks which was great news since my New Hampshire Reds have reached 3 1/2 years old and are no longer laying age. 

   I'm most likely going to update again this weekend with a review of the Cub Cadet tiller and some pictures of the garden "in progress."  But for now I hope you have a wonderful weekend and Valentine's Day. 





-Colleen P. & the Little Red Homestead