Silly Chickens

Today we found a nest in some brush in the woods near the chicken coop. Well when we looked closer, to our surprise, there was 17 eggs in it. Those silly chicken made their own nesting box outside the coop.
We took all the eggs out. Then cleared all the brush away. We hope this will make the chickens use the coop's nesting box.
I will see if there is an increase in eggs in the coop then I will know if it worked. If not I will search the woods for another nest, ugg.

Goats are Great

Not sure how it happened but we have opened our hearts and home to goats.  It was the last thing we ever thought we would have on our farm but one day at the auction my daughter just had to have one.  Well you cant just have one.  And before we knew it we were the proud owners of two week old baby goats- Kids.  Oh boy what did we just do I thought.  My daughter was smiling from ear to ear.  They were so cute but we were not prepared at all.  We had no clue.  I had not read any books on goats or looked them up on the internet like I did the chickens.  I did know you had to have two, that one alone would not be a good thing. 
So first we had to get bottles and milk for them.  Well not knowing I bought bottles for a baby cow.  That did not work.  The nipple was to big they wanted nothing to do with it.  So next day I had to go out and get just regular baby bottles.  Then it was hard at first to get them to take it but when they finally did OMG.  They loved it and it was so cute.

So we started reading and learning about our new babies and how to take care of them.  I must say this has been a great education for my whole family.  The children are learning so much about the caring of the animals.  They know as much as or if not more than I do about our new farm animals.  They take part in all the care of the animals it is teaching great responsibility.
We were sadden one day when we went out one morning to feed the babies and one was on its death bed.  It died within a half hour of us finding it.  It was heartbreaking for my children, both of them.  But it teaches them also.  We are not sure what happened but we did get them small and we know we did everything we could to make it healthy but it is not always in the cards.  So now we have a little grave yard for the animals that pass. 
So that left us with only one goat and as I have said before that is not a good thing.  So we went back to the auction for another goat to be with our baby girl.  Well we decided to look for a goat in milk.  We did some research and found out that if you found a mama goat that has a milk supply she might let the baby goat we have nurse off her.  Or at least we would be able to milk her and feed the goat milk to our baby goat, which is the best milk for the baby.  So we were so blessed to find our mama goat.

This is Miss May.  She has fit right in at our farm.  Best of all we were able to get her to nurse the baby goat.  Today both goats are very happy and healthy and the greatest additions to the farm.  Again my husband and son built a great home for the goats.  They did it the same way the garden was built.  The goats love their new home.

We made half of the paduck in the woods and the goats are loving it, plenty of woodlands to munch on. 

We have recently added a young buck to our farm.  His name is Elf.  He is going to help with the new babies for next year we hope.  That is the plan.  We just love our goats.  Never would have thought but I cant see us without them.

Round House Farm, it all begins :)

It is funny how time flies.  When I decided to start this blog I was so excited to write everyday.  My mind would not stop thinking about what I wanted to write about next.  Well I still think that way but with one thing or another it just does not seem to get posted. 
A lot has happened since my last post.  So I will, hopefully, get you all caught up to date soon.  But for now let me tell you about our farm.
We moved here with some intentions on getting some animals but well might I say we have kinda gone hog wild.  First we all as a family thought long and hard on a name for our new home and farm.  We came to agree it was fitting to name our farm- Round House Farm.

The reason for the name is part of our home is a round house.  It just seemed to fit.  We all love the name.  First we were really wanting to start with chickens as our first animals.  So we started with a lot of research on the internet and by reading books.  When we thought we had enough knowledge we made the purchase of our first six chicks.

Within the first few days we soon realized six would not be enough so we went right out and bought six more.  We soon fell head over heels  in love with our new flock of babies.  Chickens are one of the greatest part of our home, we just love having them around.  They can make you smile and laugh they just bring you joy in so many ways. 
My husband worked hard and made a great chicken coop for our new chickens and they seem to love their home.  Our chicken flock now is about 30 chickens, some babies and some full grown layer hens.  Fresh eggs for our family is the only way.  The daily droppings they give us provides us with the best fertilizer for our garden.  It all just works out perfect.

My husband and son worked hard on our garden.  We decided to place the main garden in our front yard it is were we have sun for most of the day.  We want our farm to have an old time look and we want to use our resources wisely so we decided to make the fence around the garden with the timber we cut from our land. 

The garden has come along way and we watch it grow everyday. 

Our main goal for our new farm is to have it provide for our family.  We are well on our way.  It takes a lot of work.  My husband works every minute on one thing or another, we have a list that is never ending.  But I am sure it will pay off for our family three fold. 

Baseball Season

Well its that time of year again.  The time to bring out the old baseball bag.  Little Russell has been playing little league for a few years now.  It seems like the same old thing year after year.  We take out the bag of his equipment and try it on, and well, nothing fits.  He is growing like a weed.  He is 13 and is 6 feet tall now.  He wears a size 12 or 12 and a half shoe.  Boy I am just not sure when he will stop growing.  We are so lucky, he is a handsome young man.  He is a nice natured young man.  Not quite sure how to keep up with his growth.  But he likes being his size.  He loves sports and is not afraid to try something new.  He loves to play first base.  He is trying pitching for the first time this year.  With his size and build he does pretty good.  With some good coaching he might do alright.  His place is on first base for sure.  He feels comfortable there.  We all look forward to a great season this year.  He has been busy with practice everyday after school.  I can wait for the first game.  I will also be a good way for our family to meet other families in the area. 

Puppy Love

When we bought our home in Maine the first purchase was our puppies.  Our two boxers have become such a part of our family.  They are the best puppies we have ever met.  Not because they our part of our family.  They are the truly the best natured animals we have ever met.  I am not sure if it was because we got two together or we just got lucky.  They do not bite us.  They have been fairly easy to train.  They will just climb up in your lap and lay on you like a baby and fall asleep.  When they sleep together they cuddle and hug.  That is the cutest thing.  They love to run and play.  They are easy to train new tricks.  I just cant say enough about them. 

This is Sophie and Melanie, it is just the cutest.

This is Melanie and Bailey, she will just cuddle with you forever.

They are only five months old, we are hoping they get a little bigger.  But we are totally in LOVE so we don't care.  Melanie calls them her best friends.  She writes stories about them all the time.  She even tries to make videos on them.  They let her.  Where she goes, they follow.  Sophie and Bailey completed our family for sure.

Weekend Family Fun

For the first time since we moved to Maine we stopped working on our new home.  We took time to get out of the house and spend some family fun time.  We didn't spend a lot of money doing it either.  On both day's my 13 year old son said he was glad he went.  That is great coming from him. 
Saturday we went to a silent auction at the local American Legion to benefit the 4H Club.  What a great time.  I am not sure if you have ever been to a silent auction but they are fun.  Almost everyone wins something.  The kids think its great.  It cost us $11 and we spent the day and walked away with about $50 worth of items.  The kids thought we hit the lottery.  Better yet we spent a nice family day together.  We helped a local club.  We won nice items.  Great time by all.  The auction was listed in the local newspaper.  We came home and had a wonderful dinner together then watched a family movie.  It just was a great day for us.
Sunday we woke nice and refreshed.  Feeling good about our family day from Saturday we found another cheap activity our family would like.  There was a home and garden show going on not to far away.  So we got the family up and going and hit the road.  We stopped at Walmart for the boys to get some hair cuts.  Then we were on our way.  Again my son not sure if he was going to have fun.  But again he stated he was glad he came. 

The kids enjoying a display at the show.  We were able to get many great ideas for our own home.  Lots of work for us but I am sure well worth it when it will be done.  

The snow is almost all gone off the ground.  Soon the ground will thaw.  We cant wait till we can do some improvements on the outdoors of our home.  We have so many visions and ideas for the yard and land.  The home and garden show gave us so many more. 

We took a small Sunday drive after the show.  We still need to explore the area when we get a chance.  We are still in such awe of the beautiful scenery Maine has to offer.  Mountains, farms and rivers it is all so pretty to see.  It seems as if I just want to stop the car and take pictures every mile.  We are so lucky to live here now.

Living on a Budget

One day when it seemed as if we were so in over our head I looked at our life.  To look at us from the outside you would think we had it all.  I mean most of the time we do.  But that does not mean we don't struggle.  We struggle and that causes problems for sure.  When you struggle you rob peter to pay Paul.  Then forget to pay Paul and say screw peter.  Then forget it, you lost the battle.  Your relationship suffers for sure.  It cant be helped.  You hide this from your friends and family.  Most of all you never let your children know they cant have something or you cant afford something.  If you did that you would have to give in to the fact your in over your head.  Well I believe most families are in this same place and have yet to admit it.  Well, we finally did.  We said enough of this fighting over money.  We still fight over money for sure that will never change.  We have a different perspective on what is a need and a want sometimes.  But for the most part we both came to agree what we want at the end of our life together as a family.  Before we buy anything now we talk about it and talk about it for days even months.  We never buy something on an impulse.  We never buy something without being an informed shopper.  I say informed shopper, that means we research the Internet, stores and any way we think to try to find the best price.  That is after we have decided it to be a need for our family and it will have a purpose for our life.  Even food, I don't buy alot of junk food that we don't need.  I mean sometimes my husband will say I want munchies.  Well if that happens we makes some from scratch.  The kids love to bake and cook and it brings us together as a family activity.  And most of the time its the cost of some flour and oats.  A much healthier munchies than normal.  I buy flour in bulk at Sam's club and we use it all the time.  I never buy bread anymore.  We always make our own bread another way to save big time.  Just think of how much you spend on a loaf a bread.  Add that up and see how much you spend a year on bread it is crazy.  Homemade bread is delicious and easy to make.  I use a bread machine to do the needing and then I take it out and put it in my own pan and bake it in my oven.  I make two loafs at a time and freeze one.  A bread machine can be expencive, but worth the price.  But one place to find them cheap is at a second hand store.  A lot of people buy one and never use them then donate them out.  I bought two for ony $14 each.  That was a steal.  Now I have an extra for when I burn one out.  Or I can make two at a time.  I have made a utube video showing how easy it is to make follow this link  and you will see how easy it is http://youtu.be/k8gGFQjVz7Q this should take you to the recipe and how to make it.
We go shopping once a month at Sam's club and fill the freezer.  We eat a well balanced meal every night.  It cost so much less than shopping at the local super market or even Walmart.  I do buy some things at Walmart.  Like cereal, most of the time I make waffles for the family, but we do have cereal on hand for a quick breakfast.  When I say we make waffles, that is from scratch of course.  Again using flour and a few other household staples.  It cost pennies.  We make extra and feeze them when they are needed just pop them in toaster oven.  Always a hot breakfast on hand.
Shopping at Sam's club we can feed the family each day for under $20 a day.  That is for the whole day and the whole family.  That includes my husbands lunch at work.  He never eats out during the day.  He always takes a lunch from home.  A good homemade lunch usually left overs from our dinners.  Some homemade snacks and drinks.   That is better than take out, any day. 
Now our dinners don't include fancy steak but we eat alot of chicken, pork, and beef meals.  We all watch the food network on TV and pick different ways to cook it.

 Pasta is always a family favorite and of course with our homemade sauce. I don't even eat meat myself I eat a vegan diet and we have enough veggies and beans for my meals in that budget.  I could go on and on about what I buy and don't buy to try to save.  Please ask me questions about my shopping habits if you want I will be glad to comment. 
One thing we don't have anymore is car payments.  We both at one time or another worked in the car business.  My husband still does.  It was always hard for us not to have a nice car.  My husband really likes a nice car and when he was making good money we would justify driving around in a nice car.  I mean you have to look a certain way, I think that is the way we would think.  Well when we looked at our budget years ago that was the first things to go.  We didnt need the fancy cars.  We both new they were the worst investment someone could ever make.  We seen that everyday when someone would try to trade one in and they would owe more than its worth.  So good thing we were not in that position and we were able to sell our vehicles and pay them off.  Then we bought used cars without a car payment.  I mean they are old cars.  They need work every now and then.  My husband does as much work on them  himself as he can.  We are lucky he works in a dealership so he has help when he needs it.  But we save thousands a year owning our cars outright.  Who cares what they look like, they get us around and they are paid for. 
Next was credit cards.  Well our motto is, if we cant afford it we dont buy it.  If we dont have the cash in hand we dont get it.  We have stopped living beyond our means.  That is the hardest thing.  You always want more.  In a fast world you try to make excuses why you deserve things now rather than waiting.   But if it is that important you wait.  I looked at my grandparents,  they were the dearest people in my life.  I know they never had a credit card.  I dont think they ever financed a car.  They lived their whole life without owing a sole.  They lived into their 90's.  Respected by all.  With a nice home and a great family and even money to leave behind for their children.  I want that to be me.  I want that to be my family. 
Now that we have started on our road to living on our budget and always really trying to stick with it.  Now dont get me wrong, nobody is perfect.  I am sure we have strayed here or there.  But we are on track to making the most out of our life.  We hope to next start using our land and home to raise some livestock to suppliment our food source.  First chickens, my daughter cant wait.  I want the fresh eggs to cook with.  Next we will try some pigs.  Then we will take it from there.  We will also start a garden for all my veggies hopfully enough for the full year.  We will plan on canning them and feeding them to the animals.  We hope to use our resources wisely. 
One thing I know, if we can do this anyone can.  You just have to know you want a better way of life for you and your family.  Then take it one step at a time.  You will get there.  We look so forward to Maine being our forever homestead.

Winter Fun

Its funny most things hibernate in the winter. Not here in Maine.  The locals around here look forward to the winter and the snow.  They have so many activities geared toward the white stuff. 

We have learned that a snowmobile is called a sled.  That in school they go skiing at gym.  They teach the children from real young how to snowshoe at school, and they love it.  They go out everyday for recess unless it drops below 10 degrees.  Boy that is cold. 

To be honest it looks pretty with all that snow on the ground all the time, so its not so bad.  Your body does get used to the cold. You just dress warmer.  Well, me I just stay closer to the fireplace. 

Well of course the puppies join me.  That is, when they are not playing outside or going for a walk with their little girl and boy.

We did move to Maine in the middle of the winter so we have not had a full Maine winter.  We look forward to next year to capture the full affect.  We will be prepared.  We will take advantage of all of activities that are at our disposal.  Of course on a budget.  Most things are free to local residents on certain days.  You just have to search it out.  We even have a snow tubing mountain right down the street.  That is a definite on our list for next year.  Not for me of course but the kids cant wait.

Make a fun Chalk Board Wall

I find when you add fun to things it brings a smile to the whole family and all that comes to visit.  Well a chalk Board Wall will do just that.

  It makes it fun to write a cute message for the day.  You can use it to make a to do list so everyone knows what needs to be done in the house.  I do that and my husband seems to get to it faster.  ;) 
My daughter loves to make some cute pictures on it each month.  When we get visitors they seem to want to leave their names stating they were here.  It makes it hard for me to erase it :(. 
It is a real easy project to do and just takes some tape and chalk board paint.  You can make it as small as you want and as big as you want.  You can frame it in and you can just leave it as it is.  I did one once with a magnetic backing which was fun also.  The great thing about it is if you tire of it or you move you can just paint over it and its gone. 
So here I go I will show you how easy it is:
First decide how big you want to go, make sure you make it the shape you want and tape it off.

I made mine real big.  But again have fun with it. You don't have to make it a square make a circle or rectangle.  Whatever is your style.

Next I put paper under.  You can use newspaper, I have done that before.  When you are rolling on the paint it will splatter.  You will want to protect the floor and wall under your project.

This is the paint I bought.  I purchased it at Home Depot.  For my wall I used just this one quart.  I still have some left over that I will keep for small projects.  I chose a black color, I think you can choose other colors.

 

Now just roll on the paint, stay within the tape line.  Use a small sponge brush to get close to the edges.

You will need to give this two coats or maybe three.  But always let dry overnight between coats or follow directions on the paint can.  I just cant tell you how much fun my whole family has with our wall. We use it every day.

Then I went to walmart got some big sidewalk chalk and I keep it in a basket near the wall.  It has lots of colors I even find my husband drawing a picture now and then.  When you want to erase it I use just a cloth and water.  I have read that when it gets dirty you can use W D40 but I have never tried that.  Water has worked fine for me. 

 

Painting & New hardware Kitchen Cabinets

When we bought this house I didn't like the look of the kitchen from the start.  I was not sure how I wanted it so I started looking in books and online for ideas.  Finally I found an inspiration picture off Pintrest.  Here it is-

Now you can see in the picture it has white cabinets and dark wood floors and a wood counter top.  Well that is the look I am going for.  I found other pictures that are like it but I look back to this one.  I mean my kitchen looks nothing like this but I see mine in my  head. 
So next we took and researched over the Internet the best way to paint over stained cabinets. We found a great way was to use the stuff called liquid sand paper.   It works great. 

I bought it at Home Depot and it was not expensive.  It goes a long way, I bought two bottles but returned one.  I didn't need it.  We  used gloves to apply it and an old rag and you just wipe it on and it takes off any residue and gloss your cabinets have.  Please do yourself a favor and don't skip this step.
Next we took all the doors off and all the hardware off.  That was easy, we threw everything away. We were replacing  all with new chrome ones. That alone makes the remodel look like a million bucks never mind the paint.

Next you need to buy stain kill paint.  I bought a better quality stain kilz paint I dint want to have to do this again, it is a lot of work.  So do this right the first time.  So after every door is off, each one gets two coats of stain kill paint front and back.  It takes days.  You will need room to keep them, a basement maybe.  I used an empty spare room. 

You will need to do the same to the base cabinets on the wall also.  I left everything in them.  Just cover the counter top with a cloth.  You will need to let each coat dry overnight. 

As you can see in this picture it is a lot of prep work and taking things apart but I am telling you totally worth it. Wait till you see the ending result.

 

you might see in this picture above I numbered the doors as I took them off.  The paint went over the numbers as I went so don't bother to do that you will see that only certain doors fit in certain places. So I don't think you need to number them.

So a recap for you:

1. Wipe all cabinets down with the liquid sandpaper

2. Take all doors and hardware off

3. Paint two coats of stain kilz on all surface front and back of all doors, allow 24 between coats.  You might want to light sand between coats if you find any drips.

Now you are read for paint.  Now I used a semi gloss white.  I use semi gloss on just about anything I do.  It is easy to wipe clean.  And I think has just the right shine.  I mean you can use what ever color you like, go crazy.  Its paint and if you dint like it you can always change it.  Paint is cheap.  Now I have a lot of cabinets so I dint want to do this again for a long time. I am spending more money on a good paint so it last.  I used a latex paint.  It came out great. 

We did the tops first, then the bottoms but the over all change in the kitchen was amazing.  If we had to pay someone to do this or to get new cabinets it would have cost us a fortune.  This was One gallon of paint and really the biggest expense was the hardware.  But again totally worth it I am sure I will be happy for years to come.

In the picture above I have one more door left under the sink but mostly complete.  Even the floor.  Our next big job will be the counter tops.  But it kinda looks like the picture at the start of the blog, my inspiration picture.  I say close enough on my budget I am happy.

 

Farmers Market

Maine is a beautiful place to live.  Whenever you take a ride the scenery is just so pretty.  I mean we have always lived coastal and we just love the ocean but the living with the mountains and trees and rivers all around you is just amazing.  The wildlife, to see a deer run across the street in front of your house just brings you a breath of fresh air.  My family drives so slow down our street just in hope to see that again. 
We live about ten minutes from town, such a cute, quaint town it is.  They seem to have a farmers market a few weekends a month.  One weekend when we went into town we came upon it.  It was cold and I really cant take the cold for to long, but I thought I did not want to miss this so we stopped to check it out. 
Maine has residents like no other.  The people are so kind and welcoming.  They will just talk to you like you are their old friend.  Give advise or wisdom of the surroundings.  You just cant walk into a store and not have some stranger just spark up a conversation with you.  They make you feel like  you have known them your whole life.  Makes you feel like you are home.  Or part of a home town for sure.  Well the farmers market was the same way.  The smells, the look, the taste yes the taste.  They had samples of their goods my daughter just loved that.  And must I say we had the most delicious cookie.  I just dint know what was in it, but it was to die for.  We bought some home made cheese, after trying a sample of course.  I mean we just had to get out of there before we went broke.  But for sure we will go back in warmer weather.  The whole way home my daughter talked how she cant wait till we become farmers so we can sell some of our goods at a market.  I love the way she thinks. 
Again the ride home as pretty as the ride there.  It just seems as if you would never tire of this picture perfect surroundings.  Makes me want to become an artist, if I only had the skill.

driving the mower

hey guys, it's Melanie again from meet Melanie.On Easter I got to drive the lawn mower, with a trailer on the back!

  Today in school we did a play called We Are The Planets! We finished writing our space reports, I studied MERCURY!
Here is a little poem

CLOSE TO THE SUN
IS MERCURY
IT TRAVELS FAST
AND IT'S HARD TO SEE
repeat 2 more times

Did you like it?

New wood floors

We just love our new home in Maine.  We fell in love with it from the first time we seen it on the Internet.  It is not your normal home.  It is made of two dwellings joined together by a breezeway.  One half of the home is a round house and the other half you would call a Gabriel style home.  I think that is how it is spelled.  The round side is our living room and kitchen and a loft with a fireplace in the center.  The other side of the home is the bedrooms and baths. 
I new the first project would be the floors.  I do not like carpets, and with two puppies I wanted them pulled up as soon as possible.  So it took Russell, and the kids of course a weekend to pull them out.  It was funny there was another rug under it.  We were lucky we didn't find the floor to be bad under it.  But to make the floor even with the kitchen side we did decide to put down a sub floor of 1/2 plywood.  That made Russell a little stress in his life but he got through it.  With the room being half round the cuts were tough.  I mean he is not a carpenter.  He really hates doing this kind of stuff but we cant afford to hire someone.  Well he did it.  And it came out great.  The kids, even my daughter hammered in the nails. 

before and after

 

this is what the lovely carpet looked like before we took it out.  Also you will see the old hearth that we took out.  It was all broken tiles I did a blog on the new hearth we have now.  So I new that old orange carpet had to go.  I just didn't want the dogs to have accidents on it and I didn't know how many other dogs had already had an accident on it.  I just wanted it gone. 

 

So Russell and Melanie went to it and here is a picture of the nice shag rug under it.  So that had to go to.

Now we had to level the floor up with plywood.

After it was done we painted it because we didn't know how long before we would be able to afford the floors we wanted.  We also wanted to do some work in the kitchen before we finished the floors. 

But next we did the Hearth. Then the kitchen cabinets. Which I will post in another blog.

OK so I will continue with the floors.  I wanted them to look like a reclaimed barn board floor.  But we could not afford that so after doing some research we found some high grade plywood in 4x8 sheets.  Russell cut them in 8'' x 8' strips.  Then he bought a blade for his table saw that would make tongue and grove on each piece.  So each 8'' x 8' board he made a tongue and groove on with my son.  That alone took a couple of days.  But they came out great.

 

Now they didn't go down that easy.  Russell would get frustrated at times.  The floor is not perfectly even and the tongue and groves were not always matching up.  When that would happen he would put a nail on the top which I liked anyway because if you look at an old wood floor you see nails anyway.  He just wanted you not to see nails. 

You can see it looks real nice along the new hearth we put down.  I say we but it was Russell, lol.  I must say Russell did not use any fancy nail guns we are doing everything on a budget.  He used a hammer and nails and a nail tap that was my grandfathers.  Most of the time was getting the right piece to fit.  And with it being cold outside he would have to go up and down the stairs to the basement to do all the cutting of the wood.  We are living in our home during our renovations. 

When Russell would get frustrated I just kept telling him I was in love with the floor.  He worked so hard on it but I know for years to come he will be so proud of himself for doing it. 

He finished the living room and went into the kitchen.  Then we had to stain it.

We wanted a dark stain to go with the white cabinets. We let the stain dry for a couple of days before we started the poly stage.  We did this at night after dinner.  We put the dogs out and in the crate.  Then started the floor. Then we let it set overnight it was set by morning and we could all walk on it during the day.  We did the same for the next three nights.

you would never know this is just plywood!

I think this is amazing I just love my new floors!

it was simple to apply the poly

 

I can't wait till I can put my furniture back.  Please, if you have any question feel free to ask I will answer back!

Here is an update I put the furniture back and we just love it!