Scratch & Peck | Homegrown Living | Shelby, Texas

Well, I guess I lied.  Back on January 9th, I proclaimed that my New Year's resolution was to blog at least twice a week....dang, January isn't even over yet and I already bombed out on that resolution.  Maybe it's better if I don't make a resolution :)

Last week, the lovely and talented Senior Editor at Texas LIVE Magazine, Natalie Lacy Lange posted about her backyard beauties on her fun and informative blog - The Shady Acre.  So I was inspired to blog about some excitement we had with our chickens a couple of weeks ago.

We became the proud parents of new furry feathered chicks!  Our chickens have hatched their eggs before, but these have been really fun - because they are descendants of our flock of "big" chickens.  When we first started out on the journey as chicken owners, we had 3 bantam partridge variety hens and 2 bantam roosters.

Bantam means that it is a small variety and the chickens won't weigh more than about 2lbs.  They also lay small brown eggs.

We (Brad) were kind of freaked out by the smallish eggs, so we decided after we'd gotten the hang of chicken farming, we'd add some large varieties to our family.  Our local general store has a great selection of baby chicks in the spring time.  So we went in, picked four varieties that produce large eggs and got two of each and crossed our fingers that we didn't have any roosters in the mix.  The chicks are "supposed" to all be hens, but it's not always the case.

We ended up getting Red Leghorns, White Leghorns, Light Brahmas and Silver Gray Dorkings.  Thankfully, only one out of that whole group ended up being a rooster...meet Big Mix!  His deep crow can be heard from a mile away!

His counterpart Chloe died over the summer - we're still not sure what happened, but we're thinking she was egg-bound.

Meet Felipe (aka Dorothy Zbornak from the Golden Girls) - she's a hen - but for the longest time thought she was a rooster - hence the name Felipe lol.

Her counterpart who didn't really have a name for yet was killed by some varmit this summer too.

Meet Henny & Penny our Red Leghorns  & Flip & Flop our White Leghorns

This group of "big" chickens lay eggs that are big and plentiful. Brad said that when winter came we may not get any eggs.  Their production has slowed down, but we still get 3-4 a day from them.

One of our "little" chickens is the Mama of the entire group. It doesn't matter if it's her small eggs or big eggs, you can count on her to sit.  We noticed that she started sitting on a group of eggs and we decided to let her keep at it and see what would happen.  The night before they hatched, Brad put some of the eggs up to his ear and could hear them chirping, so we knew something would happen in the next few hours.  I went out to the coop the next morning and found 5 furry little cuties.  Here they are 2 weeks later!

They've already started getting their wing feathers and Mama is doing her job showing them how to scratch for food and is busy keeping them in line.  Stay tuned to see their growth as I will be documenting their transition into "big" chickens!

Professional Lemonade Maker | Austin County, TX Photographer

Hello friends – it’s been way too long.  Life has been crazy lately, to say the least.  I cannot believe it’s been over 4 months since my last blog post.  That’s just not acceptable.  But I’m back and that’s all that matters right?  So you’re probably wondering, what in the world has been going on in these crazy past 4 months? Well, a lot….  A few days after my last blog post, I took a job cleaning a bed & breakfast – yeah, you read that right – no need to have your eyes checked.  Sometimes in life, we’re presented with lemons and we are just forced to make lemonade – for real!  Since leaving corporate hell, I’ve tried like everything to find a “regular” job out here in the country.  Problem is, you have to know the secret password or at least know someone to even get them to look at your resume - even if you're totally awesome and have mad skills like me! lol  So when the cleaning job came along, I knew I had to take it or we were going to be eating eggs by candlelight, if you know what I mean.   A few weeks after starting that job, I was presented with an opportunity to work in an office – for 4 hours a week….yeah, you read that right too…kind of ridiculous right?  Well, it was a step in the right direction and they promised my hours would increase – so what did I have to lose?  Well, the hours did increase and I was up to working 8 hours a week, when suddenly, all the praying I had been doing finally paid off.

You see back in June, I inquired about a blogging/photography gig for a magazine/website,  you may have heard of it or seen it Texas LIVE Magazine – sounds right up my alley, right?  Well, of course I was completely excited and ready to start yesterday – but just like everything else in my life – I had to wait.  Finally close to the end of August, I got the call.  They wanted to sign me on with a 5 week contract!  I was so excited – my dream was finally coming true – I could take pictures….blog…go to work where I wasn’t required to scrub a toilet – and the best thing, they were going to pay me for it.  Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought I would get paid to blog and take pictures. 

Of course with any media job, they had me hit the road running and my first assignment was pretty large and I was feeling pretty overwhelmed - trying to juggle cleaning a B&B, working at the office, completing my blog article assignments – and still be a mom and wife.  These past 5 weeks have been really tough, but I have had some amazing encounters and opportunities.  I was talking to Brad about this last week of my contract and we decided it was pretty hilarious.  You see, last Monday, I was among some great bloggers at a Blogger’s Luncheon being held at The Prairie by Rachel Ashwell (you know, the Shabby Chic Queen) as part of the Antiques Week festivities.  I was there with our Senior Editor Natalie covering this event and it was absolutely wonderful.  I got to sit right next to Rachel Ashwell for a few minutes at our table – and she was a lovely woman – but a couple days later – I was cleaning toilets and making beds at the B&B.  My life is very much an oxymoron these days to say the least – but it has been a wild ride!

P.S. - Be on the look out for the next Lil Miss Austin County Fair Winner - Addyson just entered this year, so I'm excited to see how she does!

Easter, Water Balloons and Chicken Coop Surprises

Hellllllooooooo!!!! Anybody still out there????  Yes, I know it's been ages since my last post here, approximately 1 month ago today.  We've been so busy around here - with tax time, Easter and new ventures - there hasn't been a dull moment!

This Easter was one of the best ever - great times with family we hadn't seen in a long time and lots of fun! Including a water balloon fight and a game of Hammerschlagen where my mother-in-law put all the Voelkel men to shame - it's definitely a game that we will continue to play at family functions :)

Yesterday we received a late Easter present from the Easter bunny - or well, Easter Chicken, I guess you would say :)  You see, our chickens have been laying eggs for a while now, but we haven't had the chance to eat the eggs because they've been on medicated feed.  They were about to be off that feed when we decided to purchase some chicks (now officially called the McNuggets and they will be featured in a post of their own very soon!) from our local feed store over a month ago - and then when we integrated the chicks in the coop with the older chickens, the older chickens began eating medicated feed too.  So all this time, there have been some hens sitting on a bunch of eggs.

They take turns sitting while the other goes and eats - and we haven't really thought much of it.  We figured they were going to be good mothering hens - so we've just let the eggs stay in - plus, if you've ever tried to pry a sitting hen away from her eggs - she'll peck you pretty good!  So yesterday Brad was ready with a stick to try to pry these hens out of the hen box.  We wanted to get those eggs out and be able to start fresh....well, what do you know - look what he found!

That's right - these baby chicks had just hatched, either Sunday evening or Monday morning.  They're so cute and just about as big as a large cotton ball.  We scratched our heads and wondered what in the world should we do.  So we decided to remove one of the hens and her chicks and put them together and leave the other hen to finish hatching the remaining eggs.  We thought, oh, there looks to be about 4 or 5 chicks in there - but to our shock, when the first hen was removed - there were TEN!!!!!!

Now the momma and her chicks are staying comfortably on our porch in a dog kennel with fluffy shavings where she's teaching them to peck feed and drink water.

And since I was out in the chicken coop yesterday with my camera, I decided to show you the progress of our garden - remember, way back when we had seedlings growing in our house?  Well, here's what some of the plants look like today.

Sweet corn 

Yellow Squash

I can't wait for those tomatoes to start turning red so I can eat them!  The unique smell of the tomato plants immediately takes me back to being a little girl on my grandparents farm.  

The Junk Has Almost Landed!

I can't believe the calendar says it's already March!  But even if we didn't have a calendar, you can sure tell it's spring - all the baby calves popping up everywhere, the once brown grass is turning green and tiny buds are emerging everywhere we look. 

Sorry, this is no calf...it's Homer trying to figure out if he's one of them (I think so!)

One other glaring clue that it's March is when the sleepy little town of Warrenton, just a few miles up the road from us starts stirring.  

Photo credit: AntiqueWeekend.com

That's right, Antiques Weekend is only a couple of weeks away.  We've already noticed the cow-pastures-turned-vendor-spaces have started to emerge.  No, they're not setup yet, but the land owners are out getting things ready for the massive event.  If you're reading this and don't know what in the world I'm talking about - you must read THIS!  

Photo credit: AntiqueWeekend.com

And since Antiques Weekend = Junk, that can only mean that The Junk Gypsy Co will be coming to town.  They are Junk Rockstars and their booth is always packed with customers searching for that perfect piece of jewelry or t-shirt to feed their soul.

Photo credit: Gypsyville.com

Brad and I were SO.EXCITED. to find out that these awesome ladies are going to be our new neighbors!  That's right, they've purchased some land in Round Top, just 8 miles up the road from us and will be opening their retail shop there.  Kind makes me feel like I live in the Hollywood Hills and Julie Roberts just moved in next door...not really, but you know what I mean :)

So mark your calendars and make the journey to Antiques Weekend, you won't regret it!  There's a little something for everyone and you're sure to make some new friends too :)  If you plan on staying for a couple of days and need a place to rest your head - check out The Shelby Inn.  

They've still got a couple of spaces available, so don't wait too long to make your reservation.  If you call, tell them Britney sent you!

Happy Junkin Y'all!

Got Chicken?

It's been 2 weeks since we brought our chickens home and today we decided it was time to let them venture out of the coop.  They are doing great, but watching them go in and out of the coop has just reminded us just how dumb chickens are.  This one is confused about how to get back in!

Happy Friday Everyone - Eat More Chicken!

As The Garden Grows - Part I

The past few days we've noticed greener pastures and flower buds popping up everywhere.  This can only mean one thing....Spring is here!  This Spring has seemed like it would never come - with all the freezing temps and SNOW, who would have thought we'd see that!

Another reason we've been antsy is because we've been working on our vegetable garden and can't wait to get our hands dirty!

You see, we tried to have a garden back when we lived in Cypress - in a highly deed-restricted neighborhood - and it was a HUGE.FLOP!  So now that we've got plenty of room to get the tractor in there to spread some compost and really get the dirt nice and fluffy, we're crossing our fingers that things work out a little better this go round!

During the last cold snap we had when the temps got down to 17, we decided to make the most of the cabin fever and get our indoor greenhouse contraption setup and plant some seeds.

We decided to use this setup by Burpee under Brad's homemade grow light :)

We decided to use these trays because they were self-watering, came with dehydrated dirt (this was so cool to watch the dirt GROW) and it had the lid that would soon create the perfect humid environment for the little seeds.

These are just a few of the veggies that we're trying out this year.

I'm super excited and hopeful for the tomatoes to produce.  Growing up on my grandparent's tomato farm has made me quite the tomato snob...no tomato at the grocery store can even compare with the homegrown variety.

So after about a week of living under the grow light, we had some little sprouts!  It's been so fun watching these grow and Addyson was especially excited to see how these seeds have turned into this...

....and now THIS!

As you can see we're busting at the seams with these plants and we're planning on putting them in the ground VERY soon, probably like this weekend!  So stay tuned for Part 2 of "As the Garden Grows"!