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Quote of the Day: E.B. White

November 11th, 2012

“I also ought to stir the litter in the henpen in the barn where the Barred Rocks are, and in the henhouse where the crossbred birds are; and then fill some bushel baskets with shavings and add them to the litter in the places where it needs deepening. The dropping boards under the broody coops need cleaning and I should do that at the same time, since I will be out there anyway. As far as littler is concerned, a man could take and rake the lawn under the maples where there is such an accumulation of leaves and add these dry leaves to the litter in the houses for the birds to scratch around in. Anything to keep their minds occupied in healthy channels.”

E.B. White (from the essay Memorandum: October 1942 from One Man’s Meat)

We’ve been having beautiful weather here in Maine, perfect for getting all those fall chores buttoned up. Yesterday, I spent the day mowing up mulch to put on the chicken run. The ladies were quite excited with their new digs.

Today I plan on making more mulch and adding some inside the chicken house too, hopefully it will give the chickens something to pick through on the chilly snowy days ahead. I plan on making a pile of extra leaves/grass clippings up by the coop to throw in on occasion to keep them busy in the winter.

We also spent some time getting our electric net fence up for the little ducklings. It will be ready just in time, they’re really outgrowing their other little fenced in area.

What’s on your to-do list today?

13 Comments to “Quote of the Day: E.B. White”
  1. Mich on November 11, 2012 at 9:24 am

    Today’s list is a mixed lot; raking leaves, tiding one of the greenhouses…ticked off the list :)
    Having some lunch then off to exercise my horse, I also need to bake some bread & bake a cake.
    Phew.

    Reply to Mich's comment

  2. Ann on November 11, 2012 at 9:37 am

    Today’s list is long due to it being the last warmish day for at least a week. I have to move some more sand into an area that I am laying hand made pavers into. And I need to get more of the pavers laid over the sand I moved in last week. Then I need to clean out the pond a bit. The leaves from the trees need to be fished out and some more of the pond plants need to be moved to deeper water. We also need to clean up more of the preconstruction mess that is all over by the new sunporch addition. Hopefully the builders will be showing up later on this week to get their part started. The chicken coop is all taken care of until later this week.

    Reply to Ann's comment

  3. Glenda on November 11, 2012 at 9:44 am

    Today I’ll be repairing & painting feral cat shelters.

    Reply to Glenda's comment

  4. kristin @ going country on November 11, 2012 at 9:50 am

    A list? I don’t have one of those. I just go from pressing chore to pressing chore as time allows. At least this morning I got the sauerkraut started and a batch of German red cabbage made. Maybe later I’ll get to pull out the frozen tomato plants.

    My husband is working on building a stone chicken coop. I think he’s doing that today. My kids will be working on slowing us down. They’re good at that. :-)

    Reply to kristin @ going country's comment

    • amy on November 11, 2012 at 10:02 am

      A stone chicken house….most cool!

      Reply to amy's comment

    • Susy on November 11, 2012 at 10:34 am

      I second the cool on the stone chicken coop. Hopefully it will complete by the time we make it to Blackrock for a visit.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  5. amy on November 11, 2012 at 10:10 am

    The electric fence is for predators…..not for the baby ducks? Put up another ceiling fan in the great room to circulate the woodstove heat better….finish mowing the yard and leaves…we’ve let it grow for quite a while to make a good mulch and cover….Finish up our outdoor shelter down in the woods for our horse and goat….whew…..that’s the list…pretty optimistic:)

    Reply to amy's comment

  6. Jaye on November 11, 2012 at 2:47 pm

    Cleaning up the garden ahead of the freeze/rains expected. Preparing the garden remains to go into the compost. Still lots to do, but the rains are already here…

    Processed, processing the things that were in the garden that are still good. Making a grocery list to the menu that has now been determined by what I’ve taken from the garden :)

    Cleaned the coops yesterday while it was beautiful, chickens are happy with their new litter to scratch in!

    Reply to Jaye's comment

  7. jennifer fisk on November 11, 2012 at 8:03 pm

    Today I hosted Maine Search and Rescue Dogs November training. It was a fantastic day in the woods working the dogs. Yesterday, I mowed for the last time and ran the mower dry for the winter. All the grass and leaves that landed in the bagger went into the chicken yard.

    Reply to jennifer fisk's comment

  8. Lexa on November 11, 2012 at 8:14 pm

    I am busy digging, cleaning, dividing & storing for the winter my dahlia tubers. I planted 238 plants this years, so its a big task this Fall. I have 4 rows completly processed, so I hope to dig another 4 today. Much mowing to still be done, but I am afraid rain is arriving this afternnon.

    Reply to Lexa's comment

    • Susy on November 11, 2012 at 9:11 pm

      Now that’s a lot of dahlias!!!

      Reply to Susy's comment

  9. judym on November 11, 2012 at 9:52 pm

    Finish painting the garden shed and clean up fal’s “presence”. btw – we put our clippings and leaves in the chicken run yesterday. The ladies were so excited!

    Reply to judym's comment

  10. KimH on November 12, 2012 at 9:55 am

    We spent half the day raking & shredding leaves in my back yard sanctuary and getting everything put away… and I planted garlic..
    We spent the next half of the day in the emergency room. M’honey has an abdominal hernia that made its presence known.. owwiee.. ;)

    Reply to KimH's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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