Chicks Galore!

The day finally arrived! On Saturday, we traveled for about two hours to pick up our little bundles of fluff. When we got to Murray McMurray, they brought out our chicks and took off the lid. We knew there were more than twelve , but they were too jumbled up to count. They told us they sometimes pack  extras, but we didn't know how many! As we unloaded them at home, we counted 16 little peepers! After dipping all of their beaks in the waterer and putting the heat light on, some of the chicks were very hungry and the others seemed pretty confused. Once they had all explored the brooder, they decided to take a nice long snooze. We got six different breeds of chicks, and we will feature one breed every day this week.

Chick Update!

Come out to the Golden Egg on Saturday, March 9th, 9-noon for our 2nd annual Eggstravaganza! We will have brunch and you can meet our new chicks. Here is a Wordle about our chickens that you'll see on our farm.

Coming soon to the Golden Egg...

It's chick season! Yesterday, we ordered a dozen new chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery. On March 2nd, we are journeying up to Webster City, IA to pick up our order! We are super excited for the new addition to our flock. Our little peepers were very specifically selected. We don't want to give TOO much away, but we'll give you a sneak peek.
We each want to have a pen of three for the fair, so we got four great egg layers (one extra in case of casualties). For the show bird category, we both chose two beautiful breeds that also are great egg layers. Watch for details regarding our second annual Golden Eggstravaganza!

January on the farm!

Howdy y'all! It's January out on the farm! Since it's so cold, (and it's winter!) we don't have many greens for our henny pennys. But we got a cabbage and hung it in their run and they loved it! Recently, we have been talking about what kinds of chicks we want to get this spring. We'll keep you posted on that.

Lately, we have been feeling crafty! Our first project was knitting. At the beginning, it was pretty bad, but we have been working on it, and have gotten a lot better. We have been making tree huggers for our farm. Second, we went to the art store and got a big bottle of Mod Podge. We decorated outlet and lightswitch covers.

On the nice days, the boys go out to work on the dock. They have been making a lot of progress!

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

1 ¾ c all-purpose flour

1 t baking powder

½ t kosher salt

2 eggs

¾ c granulated sugar

½ c canola oil

1 t vanilla extract

6 oz lemon yogurt

1 T poppy seeds

2 t lemon zest

Heat oven to 350˚ F. Coat an 8 ½ in. by 4 ½ in. loaf pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.  In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt, sugar, oil, and poppy seeds.

Gradually add the flour mixture into the egg mixture, stirring until just mixed.

Transfer the batter into the prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (55 – 65 minutes).  Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the bread cools, prepare the glaze. Combine ¾ c confectioners sugar and 2 T lemon juice. Spoon the glaze over the top while the bread is still warm on the rack.

Laundromania

With six people in the family, we have a lot of laundry to do! (Especially when one of them is Elliot.)  We found a DIY laundry soap recipe that we like that we would like to share with you from www.diynatural.com

1 bar Fels-Naptha soap
1 c Borax
1 c washing soda


Grate the bar soap with a cheese grater. If you value your knuckles, you can use the food processor! Make sure you chop it a bit first, though. Then add the Borax and washing soda until it is a fine mixture. That was easy!

Birthday Cupcakes

TADA!

December is chalk full of birthdays at the Youngs! On Sunday, we celebrated mine. For my birthday, I made chocolate cupcakes with strawberry buttercream frosting and a chocolate covered strawberry on top. Dad's rating? "Awesome!"

Frosting the cupcakes

While looking for a recipe, I discovered a great cooking blog! The blog has lots of good recipes and ideas, including my cupcake recipe! I recommend you check it out. Click here to see the recipe I used and her other wonderful concoctions.

~Caroline