Friday on the Miller Farm

23 04, 2021

Recipes

By |2021-04-21T09:09:07-05:00April 23rd, 2021|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara


I collect recipes to help with my stress-relief baking.  I tear them out of magazines, cut them out of newspapers and picked them up at grocery stores, back when they handed out recipe cards.  I even have some that I picked up at the State Fair of Texas including my famous sweet potato biscuit recipe and the kids’ favorite skillet burritos.

I’ve tried to type them all into a data base so I have digital copies, but my memories of these recipes are attached to where I got them. If they are all in the same format in a digital file, I will never recognize them.  I look for the recipe I need based on where I originally found the recipe.

Not a particularly effective way for anyone else to find my recipes, but I know where they all are.

For example, I wanted to make forgotten cookies recently.  This recipe came from my mother.  Shortly after Beekeeper Brian and I got married, she gave me a notebook with note cards of all our family recipes.  It has the forgotten cookie recipe in it along with my Aunt Nita’s mashed potato roll recipe, my Grandmother Hixson’s chocolate and butterscotch pie recipes, and my Mother’s Blueberry Delight.  (Notice the lack of vegetable recipes mentioned. =)  The notebook is falling apart and so I must gently take it off the shelf and gently put it back.

 I suppose I could replace it – but I won’t.  Eventually there may be no need for paper recipes at all but that won’t be until after I’m gone.  I will always use my various scraps of magazines and newspapers, and especially my notebook with my mother’s hand written recipe cards.

 

16 04, 2021

Stress Relief

By |2021-04-15T08:07:59-05:00April 16th, 2021|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|2 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara


Baking is my stress relief and the past year has had plenty of stress to relieve.  I particularly enjoy making biscuits and scones – really any breakfast food.

With only Beekeeper Brian and myself at home, I have had to find ways to bake and not weigh 300 pounds.  So each Sunday, I take breakfast to the praise team at church.  We meet at 7:00 to practice and stay through the service until almost noon so the gesture is much appreciated and there are seldom leftovers.

Both biscuits and scones require the use of a pastry blender.  I’ve seen a picture on Facebook of one asking if anyone knew what it was.  I was somewhat offended at the suggestion that only old people use pastry blenders.

I have actually been through several pastry blenders in the past few years.  I tried one that had a slightly different design and broke two of them before I gave up and went back to the original crescent shape.  It has held up to my stress relieving routine but sometimes looks a little worse for the wear.

9 04, 2021

Neighborhood Chicken

By |2021-04-02T15:50:06-05:00April 9th, 2021|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara


We got a call from a friend over Spring Break asking if we wanted another chicken.  They had a chicken that had started roosting in the tree in their front yard.  Who doesn’t want a free chicken?

So off we went with our chicken catcher (coat hanger bent into a hook) and cage to retrieve a random chicken.

Sure enough she was up in the tree in their front yard.

We tried poking her to get her to come down but that only drove her up higher.

When no one was looking, she would come down and eat the seeds that had fallen from the bird feeder.

 But as soon as anyone got near, back up she would go.

We finally gave up and left the cage and chicken getter with our friend.  He has been researching how to trap a chicken on YouTube.  It is amazing what you can find.

Meanwhile the chicken has gotten tired of being harassed and taken up residence in another tree in the neighborhood.

Hopefully she can end up at our house.  She is quite a lovely chicken.

26 03, 2021

Smarter Than a Chicken

By |2021-03-19T08:07:42-05:00March 26th, 2021|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|2 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara


One of our chickens still spends part of her day in the duck pen.  I’ve stopped worrying about it.  If she can get back and forth on her own, I see no need to slide around the duck pen chasing her and risk falling.

She has started laying eggs in the duck’s nest box.

She may think I will put it with the duck eggs which are saved for baking and mixing in with scrambled eggs.  However, I have learned to distinguish chicken eggs from duck eggs by their shell.  The duck eggs look creamier while the chicken eggs are bright white.

I may be slower but I am smarter than a chicken!

12 03, 2021

Just Visiting

By |2021-03-11T15:25:52-06:00March 12th, 2021|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|2 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara


When I got home from work one day this week, there were chickens in the duck pen.  When I went out to check on them, the door to the pen was securely closed.

Hmmmm How did they get in there?

They didn’t seem too disturbed and I had to zoom in with a piano student so I left everyone where they were.

When I finished teaching, I looked out and Lucy, one of the ducks, was out in the chicken pen.  Perhaps they were trading places?

But then a rooster started to harass Lucy, so I had to go wrangle her back into the safety of the duck pen.  I also convinced the chickens to go back to their spot,

Yesterday the chickens were back in the duck pen.  I gave up and stayed inside to get the kitchen cleaned up.  I looked out and one of the birds was flying over the duck fence back to the chicken yard.  At least I know how they are getting back and forth.

As long as none of the birds go visit the dogs, I guess all is well.

5 03, 2021

A Gift for Rosie

By |2021-03-05T08:18:48-06:00March 5th, 2021|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara


I think I have finally convinced the chickens to stop laying their eggs between the two fences.

However, one of them has found a new place – in the neighbor’s yard.

I texted my neighbor to tell her there was an egg behind their unused chicken coop.  I told her either she has ghost chickens that are laying eggs, or it was a thank you gift to Rosie (the neighbor’s dog) for not eating the chicken when she wandered next door.

In either case, it has only happened once.  The chickens are now laying their eggs in the coop – for now…

26 02, 2021

Texas Weather

By |2021-02-25T12:38:12-06:00February 26th, 2021|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara


This week has been quite pleasant here in Texas.  Last week was not.  We had the second snow storm of the season followed by ice. An event that had not happened in many decades.

We were warned and people took great pains to protect their chickens.  I was not one of those people.

I do care about my chickens but wasn’t willing to enclose the coop, put a heater in it or bring the flock inside.  I told them it would be cold and encouraged them to huddle up when the coop had icicles.

During the coldest days, I went out several times to make sure they had food and water.  It was cold enough that their water froze solid so I would pour hot water over it to thaw enough for them to drink.  A few hours later, it would be frozen again.

I tried to cover some of the duck pen when it started sleeting.  I used a big blue tarp which apparently was terrifying to the ducks.  They would not go near that corner of the pen.  I finally went back out in the sleet and took it down.  The ducks were much happier.  As soon as the duck pond started to thaw, the got in and swam around the chunks of ice.  Silly ducks!

I learned that the hoe I use for weeding works great for removing ice when I cleared a path across the back porch.  I was determined not to fall on my multiple trips to the chicken yard.

I am happy to report that I did not fall a single time.

And we did not lose any chickens or ducks.

I’m hoping that means we passed the test and do not have to repeat that experience ever again.

I’ll take the Texas summers over these crazy winter storms any day.

19 02, 2021

House Guest

By |2021-02-03T16:21:03-06:00February 19th, 2021|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara


The tree in the middle of our front yard finally had to be cut down.  It had been slowly dying for several years.  I was sad mainly because a family of woodpeckers lived in it.  I enjoyed hearing them and wondered where they would go.

The man who cut the tree down left a rather tall stump that just cried out for a bird house (at least that is what I heard).

I put in a request to my mother who is an avid garage saler.  I figured someone was probably getting rid of a bird house for a good price.  Sure enough she brought one to me.

Beekeeper Brian thought it was a little silly, but he put it on the stump because he loves me.

I smile every time I look out the window or pull up to our house.

One day I saw a bird perched on top of the house.  I wondered if perhaps it might take up residence.

Over the years we have had several different house guests.  The most recent was Bill, the Chinese student, who spent four years with us and is considered one of our children.

Since he went off to college and our daughter Rachel moved to Huntsville, it has just been Beekeeper Brian and me.  We’ve grown accustomed to being alone in the house.  Perhaps it would be best if our next guest moved into the bird house out front.

12 02, 2021

Short Irises

By |2021-02-03T16:08:21-06:00February 12th, 2021|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

 A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara


Our front flower bed has always had irises blooming in it.  There are several different colors and over the years they have spread quite nicely.

This year, I noticed the white ones had bloomed first.  However, they are very short.

I wonder if perhaps they are a little hesitant to come all the way up into the world this year.

I can’t say that I blame them.  It is a pretty crazy place.

5 02, 2021

Sunrise, Sunset

By |2021-02-03T13:36:26-06:00February 5th, 2021|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara


The sunrise was particularly beautiful this morning when I went outside to feed the chickens. I don’t always pay attention to it but this morning the sky was bright orange.

By the time I finished getting all the birds their breakfast and got my camera, it had changed.

It was still pretty.  In fact our daughter posted pictures from her window in Huntsville.

I thought of several things as I completed my morning routine.

I wondered how many sunrises I have missed because I have not paid attention.  After all, the sun rises every morning and if it isn’t raining, it can be a very pleasant sight.

And then I thought about how quickly the sunrise changes.  Our daughter took a progression of pictures this morning to catch the many stages of the beauty.  That reminded me how quickly time moves.  Whether it is a beautiful time or an ugly time, it will not last forever.

That was a comforting thought as the pandemic and all the changes it brings continue on. It will come to an end.

Of course I was reminded of a song from the musical Fiddler on the Roof called “Sunrise, Sunset.”  The parents sing it at their daughter’s wedding.  The chorus says:

“Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset,

Quickly fly the days.

Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers

Blossoming even as we gaze.

Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset

Quickly fly the years

One season following another

Laden with happiness and tears.”

The sunrise and sunset both pass quickly, as does the time in between them.  I need to pay closer attention so I don’t miss anything.

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