Domestic Biceps and Whatnot

I still haven't managed to get batteries in my camera, so i don't have any pictures, but i thought i would share some farmstead updates.  We have been busy.

The week before Thanksgiving, we had a great hatch.  My broody hen, Kyckling, hatched 6 out of 7 eggs.  And i hatched 21 out of 24 in the incubator.  Since i planned these two hatches at the same time, i got to do something i've been wanting to try for a while.  I put all 27 chicks under this broody hen as soon as they hatched.  And she accepted all of them!  It's great!  She's still with them, and while i'm helping her keep them warm with a heat lamp in the brooder, she usually has as many of the growing chicks under her feathers as she can.  She's the best broody ever!

Oh wait!  I do have a picture of that.  Probably the last i took before my camera went dead.

See how they all look like they're listening to her?  She must be a great teacher.  Too much beautiful!

I am again in hopes that one of my bunnies is pregnant.  My most recent try at breeding appears to be much more successful than the last.  If it was, we should have adorable baby bunny pictures a little after the new year.  Also, one of my rabbits mysteriously disappeared from her cage over Thanksgiving weekend.  I have yet to solve that mystery.  We thought it might have been raccoons, so i set a trap, which has now successfully trapped two unsuspecting chickens - but doesn't seem to be attracting ne'er-do-wells, such as raccoons.

We did get a goat this past weekend.  He was a gift goat, the unwanted old 4-H project of one of GSSH's coworkers' offspring.  It was my understanding that he was to serve as a lawn mower/brush clearer for a bit before he became our freezer filler.  But influences beyond my control, which i still can't quite explain, dictated that he, whom i named Kid (i'm very imaginative), and my husband named Cabrito, be butchered the very night he arrived here.  Kid Cabrito is now in my refrigerator.  We didn't have much time to bond, but he seemed like a friendly fellow.  We are thankful for him.

In addition to populating the woods with chickens (we have 84 right now), i have been baking and crocheting my proverbial tooshy off (who knew tooshies could be proverbial?).  I have a ton of gift yarn in my house that needs to be used - plus i really enjoy making things for others that they will enjoy.  We had an early Christmas celebration with my family this past weekend, and my cousin requested crocheted hats for her kids.  Thus all the kids present received crocheted hats.  It's just easier to keep it semi-uniform.  

Here's one such adorable kiddo, courtesy of my cousin's camera.  This kiddo's hat fit the best of all of them, i think.  I never made this sort of hat before, so i think i did pretty good...ish.

And here's his cute sister, modeling the girl pattern.

Wow!  That really is way too much cuteness!

Now i am working on slippers for another upcoming Christmas gathering.  I'm actually building my bicep and making it sore from crocheting and kneading dough.  Crazy!

Which brings me to baking.  

It became important to me recently to master the perfect dinner roll for family gatherings.  My wonderful supportive GSSH provided ample amounts of yeast and flour for my kitchen, which i blew through pretty quickly, as i made batch after batch after batch of homemade brown-n-serve rolls, trying to get them right.  I did a lot of reading and experimenting in my attempt to no longer serve over-dense dinner rolls.  And one day soon, i'll probably share my tips that i got from other people who know a lot more than i do about baking with yeast.

I also made peppermint hard candy, cinnamon bread, pepparkakor, and egg bread, most of which is all now gone, and thankfully eaten mostly by parties other than those who live in this house.  We have enough stuffing, thank you.  Though my husband very much enjoyed getting dinner rolls with nearly every meal for the two weeks before Thanksgiving.  =)  Ha!

That was sort of a sum-up.  This entry is probably long enough now.  So i'll "talk atcha later!"