The Chickens Get a New Winter Apartment

Once again, Craigslist is our friend.  Paul had been in search of an affordable used greenhouse for some time (after reading about another farmer who put one up for his chickens).  He found this one about an hour from home.  He and the boys went to work tearing it down and hauling it home.  I am told that they labeled each of the metal frame pieces with both a letter and a number so they could easily reassemble it when they got it back home.

As it is right now, the laying hens are all in the buses that are in the upper left corner of the picture just below.  They are crowded and gathering eggs is.no.fun.  (Ask me how I know....)  The new structure will give plenty of room for both chickens and their human caretakers.

The hoop structure is only a temporary winter arrangement.  They will go back out into the buses and out into the fields when spring time rolls around.  Right now the fields are really too muddy and too devoid of insects and grasses to be very practical.

Ironically, we were just reading about Native American "wikiups" in school.  This is gave us a very crude, but somewhat relative example of their construction.

Though not readily visible in the pictures, they set the whole structure over a water line so that the hydrant is inside the building.  Woo hoo!  No more frozen hoses to contend with and no more carrying water if the hoses do happen to freeze.  This will save a considerable amount of time both morning and evening.

There is also plenty of space to store feed inside the greenhouse.  We can have the feed truck back right up and unload the bags right inside.  As it is now, the feed bags are stored in the barn and we are hauling out about 300# of feed to the buses each day.

This is not a job for a windy day!

It's not quite done yet, but almost.  After all the plastic is secured, we are going to put in a bedding of sawdust and straw/hay.   The deep bedding along with the sunlight streaming through the greenhouse ceiling should give the chickens a toasty place to reside til spring.

~Colleen

~Photos by Shannah

Thanksgiving...

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(above:  Colleen and parents and siblings.  below: Aunt Rosie and Uncle Jeff coloring with Clay.)

We really did have more to eat than candy and water. lol

 

 Ok, so our basement---while ample for just us---is a smidge small to host all 36 members of my side of the family.  Oh well.  We did it and lived to tell about it.  To think, less than a decade ago our basement was but a dungeon with a dirt floor and was like 3 feet shorter in height!  I'll bet not many people add on to the *bottom* of their house!

With a bit of rearranging of what is normally our school/library area, we fit all the tables and people in.

Gotta love 'em!

Thanksgiving gatherings give all the cousins a chance to catch up with each other.   Here pictured are but a sampling of the 8 nephews and 1 niece we have on my side of the family (plus our own children and in-laws).  

We have 7 nephews and 1 niece on Paul's side.  So yeah, we have 15 nephews and but 2 nieces!!!  (Imagine having 10* sons yourself and when you were picking a name for your youngest sons, there were already *that* many boy names already picked!)

 (*11 if you count Christine's brother Josh who might as well be our own son since we are his Ohio family.  And 12 if you count Daniel Haley....lol.)

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~Colleen

Walnuts 2014

We bought over 135 tons of black walnuts this year! That is about 5.5 semi truck loads. This year we are just 5 ton shy of our record 140 ton buying season.

And they're off!

Maria gives her good friend Sherrie a hug goodbye at the airport.

Logan and Maria take a moment to pose before boarding for their flight to.....

NEW ZEALAND!!!!

(Dad, who has been reading the Stockman Grassfarmer and other like publications for years, is so jealous not to be joining them for a jaunt down to a country so well known for its livestock grazing!!)

Ah, but they're only young once, and Maria is a born adventurer.  She sorta conned her brother to go with her, but by the the looks of it, he doesn't look like he is suffering none too much over it.

Safe travels, my dears!

~Colleen (aka "Mom")

The 2014 Yoder Farm Picnic

Oldest and youngest. Blake is Clay's hero and buddy.

Note the slide in the background. So.much.fun.

Food line.

This baby was very popular at the picnic. Those chubby cheeks!!!

There was a bonfire, just like every other year.

::Mia, Sandy, Tabs::

And of course on Sunday we had the church people over for lunch.

::Rabbits, for your viewing pleasure::

:: Sarah and Sophia ::

::The driver on the hayride was very relaxed::

Maria and two of her best friends; Jess and Sherri ::