This site is an archive of ChiotsRun.com. For the latest information about Susy and her adventrures, visit the Cultivate Simple site.
Thank you for all your support over the years!

25 Piece Nugget

August 29th, 2018

If you’ve been reading here for a while, you know I have chickens (ducks & turkeys as well). We keep a nice flock of layers and I sell or barter the extra eggs to help cover the cost of keeping birds. Our chicken flock has been ravaged by foxes this year, we lost 10 over the course of the summer (some were taken by an owl). They are all old and reaching the end of their lives, they no longer lay many eggs. Typically, I let a couple chickens hatch clutches each year, this year we lost our rooster early in the spring and didn’t have any fertilized eggs.


That led me to order chicks from McMurray Hatchery (which came highly recommended by many friends). I ordered 25 chicks: Andalusians, Rose Comb Brown Leghorns, Black Star, Whiting True Green, and Whiting True Blue. These should give me a nice mix of colored eggs, which all my egg customers LOVE (and I do as well).

Hopefully these little cuties will be full grown and laying eggs next spring.

What fun things are happening in your house/garden this week?

Barnstormers Ball

August 28th, 2018

This past Saturday, we went to the Barnstormers Ball at the Owl’s Head Transportation Museum. We wanted to go last year, but we were already booked by the time we found out about it. This year, we waited, and waited, and purchased tickets when we saw they went on sale. We got all gussied up, met the friends, and all headed down together.


I made a dress, hat, and clutch for myself, as well as hats for Mr Chiots (and a bowtie to match) and our neighbor Matt.







We had a great time and hope to do it in the future. Having a theme like this makes a regular event a little more fun. Finding period costumes was great fun, in fact I’m already thinking about what I’ll make to wear next year.

What fun things have you been doing lately?

Protection

August 27th, 2018

Protecting our gardens from marauding animals can be quite a task. Over the years I’ve developed various methods for protecting individual plants as well as large plots of edibles. Everyone seems to have methods that work for them. I was at my neighbor’s house yesterday and she tied plastic shopping bags on strings around her garden to keep the deer out.


This works fairly well for her. I have found that for my large vegetable garden, an electric fence is a must to keep deer, turkeys, groundhogs, raccoons, and other pests out.

What methods have you found that work well for these large garden pests?

Friday Favorite: This Dish Brush

August 24th, 2018

We’ve been washing dishes by hand for year, even when we had a dishwasher. For a while, I used Twist sponges, they’re made of natural materials and compostable. Then they became difficult to find and I went searching for a better option. I came across this Redecker wood & natural bristle brush many years ago and we’ve been using one to wash dishes ever since. Not only is it made of wood and natural bristles, it lasts FOREVER and never gets stinky like regular sponges do.  In fact, I just replaced the old brush we were using, it gave us almost 3 years of service washing all of our dishes.


Considering the cost of one of these brushes, that’s an amazing amount of money saved on kitchen sponges and on waste produced. They’ve changed the design a bit since I purchased mine. I have a few other products from Redecker as well (including the toilet brush) and have been super happy with them. Whenever possible, I like to purchase/use products that are wood/natural instead of plastic. Not only do they usually last longer, they often clean better and don’t scratch surfaces. When they’re worn out, we typically put them in the woodstove, but they can also be composted.

Have you discovered any great household products lately?

The Year of the Cutting Garden

August 23rd, 2018

Every year I add a few more flowers for cutting. This year I feel like I’m finally getting a good number of things. I can have bouquets of one variety of flower or mixed bouquets in different colors. Here are a few of the arrangements I’ve cut from the garden this year:




I’m a big fan of bright green, purple, black, and light pink when it comes to flowers to cut for bouquets. Although this year I have loads of sunflowers and flowers in other colors.

What colors do you tend to love when it comes to flowers?

About

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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