2 days til the sisters get here :)

First I want to introduce you to Ava Sunset who was born 3 days ago to Prudence, the hen who refused to quit sitting until an egg hatched....She sat for a total of 2 rounds before 1 of 8 eggs finally created a baby.  Needless to say I am quite happy to see the little chick as Prudence was getting a tad thin even with the extra meals I brought to her each day.

Now Moonlite is growing really fast, at 3 weeks is already super tall for such a small baby so have a feeling papa CeeCee genes were a big influence on this kid.

As you can see shes a biggin', both babies seem to like to be in the food dish & doesn't mind when Momma tries to eat as well.

Bowzer is again setting on eggs as well, she is my tiny rumpless Americana who wants to also be a momma so gave her 4 eggs from the big coop a few days ago.  So I may have a few babies to take with me when I go to the Farm at the end of September.

Now for the sisters!...Every 2 years we get together at one of our houses & this year its my place..well places if you count a trip to the farm to see where I will be living....I hate to drive & shopping is not my thing unless its at the feed store so have very few things for us to do.  But we will be apple picking one day & makin' up a big batch of apple sauce for canning & taking to the farm.  I also plan to dry some also for oatmeal on the cold winter days.

They will get here with in 2 minutes of each other on different airlines but thank goodness the Boston airport isn't that big so will be able to get to each quickly.  so Wednesday will be a big driving day for me, normally its about 1 1/2 hours through traffic to get to Boston but being near supper time I will have to leave the house 2 1/2 hours ahead so I can get there hopefully near the time they both arrive....Then a big slow trip back home, but with a stop to eat somewhere since I know I will not want to cook.

Big Sis has ordered a thing for us to make meat jerky with while she is here, it uses ground up meat & like an old cookie press shoots it out with all the spices ect with it & it dries faster & is more tender to eat.  I think we will have too much fun with that.  But I have a feeling I will so enjoy that jerky this winter since I plan to throw it in pots of soup, beans or rice for the proteins.

Next Monday we will head to West port NY to see the farm & tear apart the inside of the truck camper to ready it for the chickens.  since its got so much mold in the plywood/press wood walls, that all has to be riped out.  Big sis gets to man the tools while sitting outside & relaxing, handing us what we need as little  sis & I tear it apart & wash it down.

I am also treating the outside with a earth friendly mold killer & once dry will place a big tarp over the top of it & stake it down.  I am not sure if it leaks but don't want to come back after we do all this work & see more mold  from it raining inside...so the tarp should keep that at bay.....

We will also walk around the property where we can & see the stuff I didn't see last time & get a better idea of what other things need to be done.  Since its such a long drive we plan to rent a motel room that night & head back home the next day after a few stops in Vermont.  Many cool places I saw when up there the last time so will have to stop this time to check them out & let the sisters look & shop if they want.  So even though we will be doing some work up there I think overall it will be a fun trip & no hurries.

My poor food dryer has been running for over 2 weeks now.....Glad its a good one of I am sure it would have burnt out along time back.  Right now I have a cheap think steak with just a bit of garlic, salt & pepper blend on it......I cut it a bit thicker so it will take a few days to dry before I seal it up........But it will go in the big bucket for food that's going with me.

Big sis has a great meatball recipe I am thinking we may try to make & do little tiny meatballs that can be dried.....Since they have turkey in them I will first bake them then dry them to keep them safe.  I do not want food poisoning while out there on my own....

Finally got the house in good order, still things to be done...a few dishes, make up the sisters beds, vacuum the 2 bedrooms they will be in...but the floors have all been steam cleaned so am thankful for that.  Will miss that little steam cleaner while homesteading but with 2 tiny rooms I can't see it being a problem to keep fairly clean.

I will be taking lots of pictures while the sisters are here so hope I will get them up on my next blog which will be after they leave the 14th of September...

So as you can see I am busy, busy, busy but take the time to write, am tired so best get off for now & try to get some sleep.  Tomorrow is another busy day with a few trips to the gas station, post office & so on.

Have a great chicken day....M' & crew