The cat came back.

Yesterday I brought the girls out into the yard for a field trip. They peeped around enjoying some bug snacks. Then came the neighbor's cat. I could see the cat stalking them from under the fence which divides our yards. I shooed the chicks closer to me and away from the fence and resumed my reading. When I looked up again the cat was in the yard giving my chicks the stare down. I was so torn. I watch my cats stalk things all the time. They are so cute attacking their toy mice or bottle caps or whatever happens to fall on the floor. It was hard to watch a cat do what comes naturally when it was doing it to my chicks! I couldn't be mad but I was extremely uncomfortable. Of course all I had to do was stand up and take one step toward the kitty and it was off like a flash of lightening. I wonder if the cat will pose a problem with the chickens are full grown. With no rooster will they be able to defend themselves? Will I have have to be on edge the entire time they are in my backyard. Being a chick mom can be so stressful.

Million dollar view on the cheap.

Joe, my husband, and I grew up in Massachusetts. The biggest mountain in the whole state is Mt. Greylock. It is 3492 ft tall. It was big but you could drive to the top. Here in Oregon the mountains we see are so much bigger. They stand out in a crowd and they have snow year round. In a short walk around our neighborhood we can see Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens. This weekend I took some time and discovered a place in our front yard where you can look and see St. Helens. Mt. St. Helens is 8365 feet. (If you click on the picture to enlarge it I made an arrow to show where the mountain is.. you can actually tell it is a mountain in person.)

Outside Adventures.

Helen was obsessed with eating the pear tree blossoms.

Helen never wanted Henrietta to get any blossoms.

She would run up and steal then right from her beak.

They will have lots of outdoor trips this week as temps are expected to peak at 68!

Pumpkin Porter

We had a pumpkin left over from the fall and I kept meaning to make a Coconut Lime Pumpkin Soup. (Hmmm not to rush through summer but doesn't that sound good right now?) With some convincing I allowed Joe to use it for some beer. The process for brewing the beer was pretty much the same but instead of starting the beer out with plain water you use pumpkin water. This was made by boiling pumpkin chunks til they are tender then blending them. This bear also had some new additions for us ... spices. A pumpkin pie like combination of Allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg.

The wort was a thick mess. Thicker than we were used to and it separated quickly.

We think we forgot some Malt extract. The beginning gravity reading was off from what the recipe said it should be. The theories we have are that it was not mixed enough when we took the reading or the pound of malt we missed effected the reading negatively.

We brewed the beer on 02/05/10 and the OG reading was 1.040 (should have been 1.078). We bottled it on 02/15/10 with an ending gravity of 1.013.

We paid 51.99 for the ingredients for this beer. It is higher than normal because we also bought some bottling caps, extra priming sugar, and a new hydrometer. The cost at the store would have been around 55. Leaving us with savings which is a plus but not really reducing our investment numbers as much. We are still 95.05 in the hole. This will all change when the barley wine is complete. (it is brewed and bottled- but it needs to bottle age for 3 months) We will have payed off the equipment by the time it's done. We'll keep chipping away with other beers in the mean time.

So if the numbers are accurate the alcohol content is - 3.5 %. If the reading was off because it just wasn't mixed up it would be 8.6%. A huge difference! I guess in the name of science I will have to drink a few in a row and see how it makes me feel. A sacrifice I know.

They grow up so fast.

Betsy and Helen going on a ride.

Betsy loves being lifted up.

Look how pretty!

Henrietta is shy and doesn't like to be held all that much.

Helen is soooo big now.

They are 17 Days old now.

Roasted Brown Ale.

We brewed this beer on 1/29/10. The starting gravity was 1.061 @ 71 Degrees.

To the wort we deviated from the recipe and added extra Perle hops with the bittering hops to boost hop profile as an experiment. Also we tweaked the recipe we used by adding .6 ounces of Cascade hops at the aroma addition instead of .3.

What that all means. I don't really understand because I haven't read all the beer brewing books that my husband has.. I should have him write a guest entry. What I do understand is that this beer tastes good. It has been at three weeks since bottling and the beer is really starting to shape up. It is smooth to the palate with a strong chocolate aftertaste. Yummy.

We bottles it on 2/13/10. It had an ending specific gravity reading as 1.019 at 69 degrees.

A home brewer can go to this website - Alcohol Content Calculator - and put in the starting and ending gravity and it calculates the alcohol content for you! I love technology.

This beer comes in at 5.5%.

We spent 39.45 on the ingredients for this beer and it would have cost us $56 dollars at the store. Saving us 16.55 and leaving us 97.08 in the hole after cost of equipment.

Seeds are here!

My seed order came in the mail the other day. So I am one step closer to a vegetable garden! Now if only we could get that plot rototilled!

Seed list

Celery- I got Red Venture Celery. I love the idea of getting vegetables in different colors than I am accustomed to.

Carrots - I have two variety that I will try. One is Purple and one is White.

Onions- Redbeard scallions, bunching onions, storage onions, and candy onions. We love onions. We went through 5 lbs last week! Can't wait to eat some straight from the garden.

Lots of Greens - Romaine lettuce, Spinach, Kale, Chard.. also tops from carrots, radishes, beets.

Radish - I got a variety pack and some that are red on the inside. These are mainly for Joe. I still have bad childhood associations with them. I will be that ones from my own garden will persuade me into liking them.

Beets - We love beets. We got a bright red early variety, golden, and chioggia. Yum I can't wait!

Beans - I thought a lot about beans. I am just trying out one kind this year. Lima. They are a bush bean for some reason needed to have something for pole beans to climb up seems intimidating. Maybe next year.

Cucumbers- A Pickling variety. Hmmm we made our very first batch of pickles last year. Hopefully 6 plants will produce enough for us.

Melon - There is a bed which is already raised that we just decided to use .. so why not try our hand at some melon growing.

Squash - Also in the new plot we will grow some butternut squash.


I didn't want to grow anything inside our first year. Again it sounds complicated. So only direct seeding for us. That being said we are going to have to buy some starts for somethings. Like tomatoes, and all of the herbs I want to start.

Also in that picture is a Garden Planner book that my sister-in-law gave Joe and I as a wedding gift. So far I have recorded our whole ornamental garden in it's pages. There is also a section to keep track of seeds, and a calendar of todos. It is the perfect gift as I love to be organized!