Links & Pics

Sharon Astyk may be restarting her Independence Days Challenge, which is a public challenge to perform and report back a weekly check-in on the following:

• Plant something
• Harvest something
• Preserve something
• Waste not
• Want not
• Eat the food
• Build community food systems

The point of the challenge is to encourage folks to keep up with their homesteading skills, whether one lives in the country or in the city. I did it for awhile (see/click "independence days" tag on lower right), and am considering doing it again.
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Oh, and the SOPA and PIPA bills have been temporarily shelved! Hopefully the bills will be re-tooled in such a way that artists will be fairly compensated for their work while also protecting Fair Use and access to the Internet. Profile pic text courtesy of http://www.blackoutsopa.org

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A disturbing development, and if the theory is true, our climate is in for a world of hurt. Basically, "global dimming" (from the way pollution particles interact with moisture in the atmosphere, reflecting "out" a percentage of solar energy) may be not only temporarily holding back some of the worse effects of global climate change, but also diverting weather patterns. A one-hour documentary from the BBC, available for viewing via YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8RyNSzQDaU
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Okay, now we need something to smile about. The other week, one of the geese let me pick her up, so I brought her inside the house for a quick photo shoot. Here's me and "Dr. Girlfriend" (so named due to her honk). I've been using this pic as a new avatar/profile pic on Twitter and Google+.

Dr. Girlfriend nibbled on the keyboard while I was mousing open the PhotoBooth app. Didn't crap on me at all. A very calm goose. They usually are when you can get them away from the rest of the gaggle...
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A girlfriend who got to know Miss Cecily while Miss C was convalescing in our house was so touched by the goose's personality, she commissioned a painting by an award-winning folk artist to commemorate Miss C's (aka Squeezlegoose) life. Yes, I cried when I saw the artwork. Thank you Ms. Katie, from the bottom of my heart.

Too Danged Hot: New Chicks & Link Edition

It's been too danged hot. The animals fur & feather colors have all been bleaching out due to the sun. Black has bleached to brown, brown to tan, tan to blonde, and blonde to white. If Maggie or the white chickens aren't careful, they'll just fade into "clear"...

The recent experiment with ordering fertile Penedesenca eggs (with Welsummer egg bonus) was a bit of a wash. It may simply have been too hot: the broody hens would nest hop, and then forget their original clutch. Eventually, two eggs DID hatch: both Welsummers. Molly the Jersey Giant hatched one, and Cinnamon the Cubalaya hatched one. I had to transfer Cinnamon's chick to Molly, as Cinnamon wasn't "getting" that the new chick was hers to care for. She kept pecking the heck out of it, and the chick was starting to limp. Molly accepted the new chick, and she's being an excellent mother to both (pic on right). Cinnamon continued to be broody for almost two weeks after the hatching.

In the meantime, just so you know the blog is still alive, here's some link love until we all recover from the heat:

Make your own nose pore strips: youtube video. I haven't used pore strips in years, but this looks super easy to make. Might have to try it again!

A frugal dinner meal plan from Green, Blue, Brown. Thinking about trying this as well. Makes fantastic use of a whole chicken and rotating ingredients.

A quick guide on how to make herbal tinctures with both fresh and dry plant matter. I've the beginnings of a medicinal herb garden, and will definitely use this technique. Never been one much for herbal teas - just give me a few drops of tincture, thank you very much.

A tool to blow out eggs, so you can use the intact empty eggshells for crafts.  The tool also lets you blow out the egg with only one hole, so there's more continuous shell to paint. I've done everything from using a bicycle pump to lung power, and let me tell you, none have worked all that great. Goose eggs are big, strong, and great for crafts, sometimes going for $2.00 an egg. Nice way to re-purpose shells for those eggs that are past their freshness prime.

Flattery and Links

Lucky the Rooster. He loves being hugged, yes he does!

Joy's blog, "A Well-Armed Laura Ingalls Wilder" posts lots of good things, and one of the neat things she does is post links to interesting articles she's found. Since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I'm gonna steal her idea and start doing the same...

Homemade laundry soap - with some HE (high-efficiency washer)-safe recipes. Some of the recipes might require things you gotta order online, but the end result is a mix of scents & chemicals that you control, often for much less than what you'd pay at the stores:
http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/2010/07/homemade-laundry-soap.html

How to grow soap-nut trees - this came out of the discussion from the post linked above. Soap-nuts can be bought on-line or at most eco-product stores. Soap nuts have high amounts of saponin, which can be used as a gentle cleansing agent. Just throw a few in a loose-weave bag, and put into the washer with a load of clothes. Naturally, I'd like to grow these. Nothing on the page talks about soil requirements, or if the plant could tolerate the natural alkalinity of the soil here... any ideas on where I could find out something like that? Anyhow, here's the link:
http://exeterra.blogspot.com/2007/08/how-to-grow-soap-nut-trees.html

And last, but not least: 

Continuous lettuce harvests - something I hope to figure out how to do, as we currently feed store-bought greens to the geese, and it can be a drain on the budget. When we have a lot of wet weather, the grasses currently on the property do them just fine, but the dry seasons are tougher. Until we can get enough of the land "pasture-ized" (grow enough green grasses and fodder for the geese and chickens), growing our own might be the best bet. Plus, it'd be lovely to have constant salads for the table, too!
http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/2010/07/continous-lettuce-harvests.html

And no, we do NOT spoil our geese and chickens. Nope!