Chicken Wranger Sara

2 11, 2015

Time to De-Stress, Re-group, and Re-focus

By |2015-10-08T14:42:06-05:00November 2nd, 2015|Make Me Think Monday|3 Comments

regrpP1030610

SOURCE: http://quotesgram.com/time-to-refocus-my-life-quotes/

Halloween was Saturday, which means whatever calm and order existed in our personal worlds will soon disappear into preparations for the coming holidays.

Don’t get me wrong. The holidays are my favorite time of year.

At the same time I dread them because the days been Halloween and New Year’s Day can be so overwhelming.

Plus, this year I have a new writing project due by the end of the year—When Love Trusts, Book three in the Fitzpatrick Family series.

Because Chicken Wrangler Sara and I want to enjoy the holidays with our families, and hopefully reduce our stress, we will be taking turns posting blogs once a week instead of our two individual blogs each week. This plan worked well last holiday season and we’re counting on it working again this year.

What will you be doing to de-stress, re-group, and re-focus during this holiday season?

Need ideas? Check out these articles at Huffington Post and WebMD

7 08, 2015

Chick Update

By |2015-07-25T08:00:41-05:00August 7th, 2015|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

 By Guest Blogger Chicken Wrangler Sara

While Beekeeper Brian and I were in Colorado, Rachel was on chicken/dog duty. She did an outstanding job especially considering the 32 chicks quickly outgrew the brooder. That meant Rachel had to move them out to the chicken yard. This is no easy process and usually involves two people  Rachel grabbed one of the girls next door to come help. They are all experienced chicken handlers.

Since they were too small to go directly into the bantam yard, she put them in the long cage that originally had quail in it. She started with it on the ground but discovered what appeared to be bug bites on some of the chicks the first morning. She blamed the infamous Texas fire ant.

She moved the cage up onto sawhorses. When we got home the chicks looked great and had adjusted nicely to their new home.

new chicksThey stay all together as one chick pile, and I worried at first that they would crush each other. So far everyone has survived. I guess they take turns being on the bottom.

The next step will be putting them out in the bantam yard. Since there are so many, we are considering options for keeping them safe at night because they will not all fit in the bantam coop. We have another week or so to come up with a solution.

I’ll keep you posted. . .

10 07, 2015

Bee “keeping”?

By |2015-07-04T08:50:56-05:00July 10th, 2015|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

One afternoon this spring, I got a call from Beekeeper Brian on his way home from work asking if I would make a phone call. I must confess this seemed too easy of a task. He asked me to call a local restaurant and ask if they had a swarm in a tree in their parking lot. Ok, sure.

I called and talked to the manager and sure enough there was a swarm in a tree in their parking lot. The manager did say he had already talked to one beekeeper that could not come get it immediately but would contact a fellow beekeeper. I told him the fellow beekeeper is my husband Beekeeper Brian. It is a tight knit community – this group of beekeepers.

bee boxesSo Brian came home, put on his bee suit, got his bee boxes and went to get some bees. He returned an hour later with a box of bees, including the queen, and a $30 gift card to the restaurant. He put the BOB (box of bees) on the back porch. It was a successful trip for everyone.

The next day Rachel noticed a lot of commotion in the back yard.

Apparently the new bees were not happy with their new home. They swarmed to a tree in our back yard.

Brian put out a bee trap to entice them back into a hive. In case you were wondering, bees are attracted to the scent of lemon grass. They went into the box for a while. Then they left again.

tree hiveThey were back in the tree in a different spot. We stood in the yard looking at them for a while. Then Brian decided to let them” be”. “Bees are going to do what bees are going to do” he said.

So the name “beekeeper” is really a misnomer. You can’t “keep” bees. You can only invite them to come make honey in your bee box. Sometimes they oblige.

 

6 03, 2015

That’s No Chicken

By |2015-03-06T06:00:53-06:00March 6th, 2015|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

by Chicken Wrangler Sara

I was working at my computer this week when I caught a glimpse of something out the front window.  At first glance it appeared that a chicken was in the road. (Was it trying to cross?  If so, why?)

I got up and started toward the door, wondering if it was one of ours chicks or another stray chicken (see You’re not My Chicken! You’re a Snort.)

About that time a car drove by and the bird took flight.

turkey vulture

It looked like a small plane – huge wingspan.  It was a turkey vulture.  It flew to the roof across the street then waited in the yard for a while.

turkey vulture2Eventually it flew away.

Yesterday the grandmother of a piano student was waiting in the driveway and said she saw some huge birds circling the back yard.  I sure hope it wasn’t the turkey vulture and his friends.  Chickens I will wrangle but I draw the line at turkey vultures.

20 02, 2015

Mythbusting on Miller Farm

By |2015-02-20T06:00:55-06:00February 20th, 2015|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

By Chicken Wrangler Sara

There are many things I have been told throughout my life that I have come to realize are just not true.  For example, I’ve always thought that a bee can only sting someone once and then it dies.  I learned this weekend that is a myth.

We had an unusually warm day on Saturday so the bees thought it was Spring and  were out gathering pollen. One of the hives sits on the back porch right next to the path I take to the chicken coop.  During the real Spring, I alter my path so as not to disturb the bees. This being February, I didn’t think about walking around the busy bees.VarroaMiteOnAHoneybee

Halfway to the chicken yard I felt a sting on my back. I instinctively reached back to brush away the bee and quickly felt a sting on my finger.  Then there was buzzing in my hair.  I began to walk quickly around the yard saying “go away, go away.” This was one of the times I was grateful for the privacy fence.   Then the buzzing stopped.

I took care of the chickens then went back inside (via the alternate path) to have Brian check my back for a stinger.  There was none but I had definitely been stung.  Then the buzzing started again.  I headed for the door but Brian called me back so he could find the bee.  It took every bit of self- control I had to stand still while he searched my hair.  He knocked the bee to the ground and then used a napkin to pick it up.  It had lost its stinger but was still alive – until Brian squished it.  That reminds me of a song – I’m bringing home a baby bumblebee…..but I digress.

So the myth of bees only stinging once is busted.  Next, I’ll tackle the myth that only roosters crow.

30 01, 2015

Do Chickens Eat Bread?

By |2015-01-30T06:00:37-06:00January 30th, 2015|Miller Farm Friday|2 Comments

By Guest Blogger Chicken Wrangler Sara

It all started with this simple question:  Do your chickens eat bread?

A friend was helping at a food distribution event and had a lot of bread left over. She did not want to throw it in the dumpster so she asked if we could feed it to the chickens.  We figured bread is made of grain and chickens eat grain so chickens must eat bread.

My husband went and picked up what turned out to be several boxes of very nice bread – sour dough, cranberry, whole wheat and many others.  Most of it was in fine condition – much too good to feed to chickens so we pulled out the good loaves and started calling friends to see if they wanted any.

That was several years ago. Now every Friday I go and help my friend with this food distribution that has turned out to be more than just bread. In fact it is like Christmas when the truck opens the door.  We’re never quite sure what we will find. There have been cases of bananas, avocadoes, beets, turnips, and bags of onions, carrots, grapefruit, and oranges.

We have started calling whatever is in abundance the “secret ingredient”.  Some people make a game out of seeing how many ways they can fix whatever we get in abundance.

One week recently there was spaghetti squash.  Most people did not know how to fix it so as I handed it out, I explained what to do with it.  There was still a lot left over which I brought home and gave to any of our friends and neighbors who wanted it.  I even had people I didn’t know who heard we had a truck load of squash and came to get some.  It is an interesting way to meet people to say the least.

Last week’s “secret ingredient” was apples.  They came in a large (the size of cardboard box that stores put watermelons in) wooden crate. applesWe put them in bags which seems simple enough.  Except it was raining and cold.  We bagged apples until our hands were numb. What was leftover after the distribution I loaded as much as I could fit into the back of my truck along with the leftover bread, cabbage, grapefruit, and bananas. When I got home I covered the back of the truck with a tarp and went inside to thaw out.

When my son got home from school, he said, “Mom I need to make an apple cobbler.” He was totally unaware of what I had in the truck.

I smiled and said, “I just happen to have some apples.”

Matt made cobbler, Brian made apple butter, and I made apple pie, baked apples and dried apples. This was after giving apples to everyone we know.

Now we are ready for this weeks “secret ingredient.”

9 01, 2015

Crustless Bread

By |2015-01-09T06:00:10-06:00January 9th, 2015|Miller Farm Friday|2 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

A friend recently invited me to a luncheon where she served the most wonderful sandwiches.  She also served a quinoa salad, dried fruit and a broccoli salad. However, the sandwiches caught everyone’s attention.

There were three kinds of sandwich fillings including a pineapple salad. Each sandwich was cut in half diagonally and then the cut part was dipped in nuts.  As we enjoyed the meal, she explained that she had been served these sandwiches at another luncheon, but they had been cut into circles so there was no crust.

This led to a discussion about bread crusts and which families had members who regularly removed the crusts.

Then someone remarked they had recently seen crustless bread at our local store. It was not a particularly intellectually stimulating conversation but lovely nonetheless.

When I got home, I went to feed the chickens.  I had some random bread to give them along with their regular food.  As I shut the gate and headed back to the house I noticed something interesting:

crustThe chickens had left the bread crust.  Perhaps I should buy them crustless bread.

28 12, 2014

You’re Not My Chicken! You’re A Snort.

By |2014-12-28T06:00:02-06:00December 28th, 2014|Sunday Sampler|2 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

I was in my bedroom getting ready for work when I heard a chicken.  On Miller Farm, this is normal.

The clucking was coming from right outside my window.  This is not normal.

I put shoes on and went outside to see which one of our silly birds had spent the night outside the coop.  As I rounded the corner of the house, I spied the escapee – except there was one problem.

This was not my chicken.

My first thought was from the book Are You My Mother?

In the story, the little bird is searching for its mother when it comes upon a steam shovel.  It quickly realized that this was not its mother.

snort

I named the stray bird “Snort.”

Now you may wonder how I distinguish my chickens from others.  It isn’t always easy but this bird was a barred rock, and we have none of that variety at the moment.

chicken-snortBeing a Chicken Wrangler, I could not leave her out in the open so I scooped her up and carried her to our coop.  She was very calm about the whole process, until I let out all our chickens.

You see, chickens are not particularly kind to strange birds.  They chased the poor stray around the yard until she flew up to the fence.

I tried to catch her again to clip her wings so she wouldn’t meet Bella (the chicken-killing dachshund). Since I was unsuccessful,  I left the dogs inside while I went to work.

When I got home, the first thing I did was check the backyard.  Sticking out from a bush against the fence was a chicken head.

The stray bird had flown the coop again.  She seemed to want to go back inside the fence so I caught her, clipped her wings and put her back with the others.

Meanwhile I have asked my friend with chickens if she is missing a barred rock.  She is checking her chickens.

I may have to post a “Found Chicken” sign at the corner. Someone may be missing their chicken.

21 12, 2014

Don We Now our Ugly Holiday Sweaters

By |2014-12-21T06:00:18-06:00December 21st, 2014|Sunday Sampler|2 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Twenty-one years ago, my parents gave me a Christmas sweater. It was something they knew I would never buy for myself but would love.

They were absolutely right. I wore that sweater for many years starting with our daughters first Christmas.Christmas 1993

This very same daughter has borrowed this sweater not once but twice to enter in “tacky Christmas sweater” contests. This year she’s loaning it out.

I would be offended except for two years running, my sweater has won.

I think I deserve at least some kind of prize for having held on to that sweater long enough for college kids to think it is tacky.

Today I pulled out my Christmas sweatshirt. It is even older than my tacky sweater.

Sara's sweatshirt front of sweatshitAfter my first Christmas program (which was several years before our first daughter was born), my students presented it to me. It has the name of the Christmas musical – “The Town Hall Christmas Tree” – on the front and all the kids’ handprints in red and green on the back and down the arms.

My mother purchased a Christmas sweater for herself at the same time as she bought my sweater. Definitely fits the ugly sweater category.O

But the overall winner of our ugly holiday apparel would be the red sweat suits with appliqued Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. The suits are long gone, but oh what fun Christmas memories!christmassweatshirts

YOUR TURN: Do you have an entry for an ugly holiday apparel contest?

 

14 12, 2014

Deck the Halls

By |2014-12-14T06:00:57-06:00December 14th, 2014|Sunday Sampler, Uncategorized|0 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Several years ago, we downsized our Christmas tree. Space was an issue as well as ease of construction – we bought an artificial pre-lit tree.

This meant there was no longer room for all the ornaments, which was good news for our children.

Their handmade ornaments with pictures from elementary school that were always hung and, because I think they are precious ornaments, I placed them to the front. Howeverthe 17, 19, and 21 year olds are not so fond of them. So I put the treasures back in the ornament box to be saved for when they have all moved away.

This year our oldest Catherine helped me set up the tree. I unpacked the ornaments and she hung them on the tree.

Together we evaluated which ornaments would go on and which to save for another year. We had fun remembering the origin of the ornaments.

There was the cinnamon ornament in the shape of Texas that someone made us before we moved to Mexico.

Then there were the ones Beekeeper Brian and I got on our honeymoon and the hot air balloon I picked up in Albuquerque at the museum. Several are made by Beekeeper Brian’s grandmother out of duck eggs.

By far the most fun is the set we got the Christmas before Catherine was born. At the time we had no animals living at our house and no idea of what the future held.ornamentsIf only we had known how prophetic those chicken ornaments would be!

Everyone has those special decorations in their family.  Take time to pass on the stories that go with them.  It is what makes families unique.

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