The Lost Art of Letter Writing

As a teacher I value the ability of a student to put their thoughts into written words more than nearly any other skill. I agree that math, reading, science, social studies, art, pe, and all of the other elements of school are essential for a well-rounded and educated person. However, to be able to write what you are thinking in a clear and concise manner is one of the most difficult skills to teach as well as to practice.

Because of that, I ask that my students write several letters throughout the school year. We write thank you letters to every visitor and host on field trips. We write to politicians and celebrities. I also keep a correspondence journal with each student where we can discuss life's events back and forth in written form.

Typing is so much easier than writing. It is faster, easier to edit. The spelling is generally correct and the handwriting isn't even an issue. I have poor handwriting and I'm honestly not the greatest speller. For those reasons, I prefer blogging as opposed to keeping a private journal. My hands ache after writing for even a short period of time because it happens so infrequently when compared to typing.

This afternoon I wrote each of my students a letter expressing my thoughts as the school year ends. It is a bittersweet ending because of how much I love summer, but I had hoped to end the school year with my students. I could have easily emailed each student, but receiving a handwritten letter in the mail is so exciting to me, even today.

I absolutely love stationary and this was a great excuse to buy a new set yesterday at Target. I have gone through stationary so quickly lately because of all of the generous gifts we received for our wedding last year and for Ben's arrival. Maybe this is also the writing teacher in me, but I prefer stationary to pre-printed cards (the kind with the messages already written). When I share my poor handwriting, spelling and occasional problems with commas, I am also sending a part of me in the mail.

Pictures from yesterday's storm:

Josh took this picture of the crazy green sky fro the front door.

The tulip tree missing its top left side. This used to be a full and symmetrical tree.

The limbs flew from the tree on the west side of the house, hit the roof, and landed in the front (south) yard. Some made it much further into the yard and even past the house.

These are the beautiful flowers from the tulip tree. Josh picked one and brought it in for me to cheer me up after our stressful morning.

The ducks survived just fine. Several of the chicks did not. We haven't made a final count just yet.


I almost forgot to include a picture of Ben too!

And the Rain Came

Growing up in the Ozarks, Josh and I have each seen and survived dozens of tornado warnings. Our houses didn’t blow down and we fought the urge of our parents for us to take shelter in the basement / closet / bathroom. However, all of that changed today. I awoke to my grandfather's call warning us of a tornado headed towards Sparta. Of course I didn’t answer the phone because who calls before eight in the morning? Then my mom called, and then Josh’s parents called, so we decided we should probably take heed and at least get out of bed.

The storm was severe, but not exceptional at first. We sat cautiously in the living room watching the wind blow and the sky turn a bright evil shade of green. Then things seemed to die down and we thought it was mostly over. The tornado warning was through and we let our guard down. All of a sudden the winds picked up at an unbelievable rate and the whole house shook. I heard a huge crash against the house and grabbed the baby and ran to the basement. I had no idea what happened, but I have never felt that level of protective instinct and fear.

Josh joined us and told me a tree hit the roof and part of the chimney blew off. We could see the insulation in the basement contracting and expanding with the changing air pressure in the house. My heart was racing and I didn’t even notice the odor of the forty chickens joining me downstairs. Josh cleared a place on an old dresser for Ben and me to sit and then he went upstairs to assess the damage.

We have a large tulip tree on the side of our house and the top third of the tree flew across our roof and into the front yard. Luckily, it didn’t puncture the roof and it all landed in the front yard. Our chimney cap is still bent and lying in the backyard. Branches are down everywhere and pieces of leaves are stuck to our windows but the house held well.

After I calmed myself down and was convinced Ben and I were safe, we returned upstairs. Soon after, the sun came out and I went outside to assess the damage. We have been without power since eight am, and it is almost midnight as I write this and we’re staying at my parents. I will load the pictures tomorrow.
When we have power again, one of my first priorities is to better organize and prepare our basement. The chickens should be ready to go outside in the next week or two hopefully. We have old banquet chairs in the barn that need to go down. After today I realize even more that seating is incredibly important. We’ve already got several gallons of water in the basement. I looked at Target today for a crank powered radio to no avail. We also desperately need new flashlights. I’m sure I’ll come up with several other things that should go downstairs too.

This afternoon I showered at my parents and Ben and I went to the Mother’s Day Tea at The Summit (where I teach). The fathers volunteered and served tea and dessert, the students sang several songs, and the parents gave each teacher a nice gift. It was a relaxing afternoon after such a stressful morning. I am very concerned about our power situation. Our chicks are used to having heat lights on still, and I don’t expect them all to survive the night. I am also worried about my fifty bags of breastmilk in the deep freeze and refrigerator freezer. Above all, I am so grateful we are all safe and our house is fine.

I labeled today's blog as family and firsts, because this was Ben's first tornado warning and this will be his first night to spend away from home. Family because today changed how I view my own.

Ben and daddy relaxing:

Diaper Demo

For now, this is how we're diapering Ben.

1. Lay down the prefold.


2. Lay a soaker pad inside (we won't have to do this when we get better prefolds.


3. Fold.


4. Lay a piece of microfleece on top (to keep moisture off Ben and prevent diaper rash).


5. Lay baby on top and fold.


6. Pull diaper around the sides.


7. Fold down the top and hold sides down.


8. Clip with Snappi.


9. Lay cover under.


10. Snap together and make sure none of the prefold is sticking out around the edges.


That's probably the most complicated way to cloth diaper and even then it doesn't take more than a minute or so longer than putting on a disposable diaper. I've also ordered some pocket diapers that are only one step, just like a disposable but made of cloth. We'll use those when we're out and about.

In other exciting news, Josh put in my clothesline! I know that may seem like a silly thing to be so excited about, but I haven't been able to line dry clothes at this house very easily because the dogs could pull the clothes off the line so easily. I saw this clothesline in my grandpa's barn and asked for it. Dad brought it over for me, Josh put it in the ground with quick create, and I painted it and restrung it.

Cloth Diapering

Yes, you read that right - cloth diapers. I can picture 98% of my friends rolling their eyes at this. And I know I said I wouldn't at least a dozen times, but came across a great deal online and thought I'd give it a shot. I actually started last night, but figured I'd wait it out the first 24 hours before I "came out."

Cloth diapering is not at all like what I thought it was. I've got a not quite two dozen prefolds, a cover, a snappi, and two waterproof bags to keep the soiled diapers in ($30 spent total.) I've bought quite a few other things online and I am trying to make sure a lot of I buy is one-size, meaning it is adjustable with snaps from newborn through toddler-hood.

For those of you who don't know, this is what I'm talking about:
prefolds: old-fashioned cotton cloth diaper
covers: waterproof snap-on or velcro diaper cover that goes on over the prefold
snappi: the new substitute for diaper pins that holds a cloth diaper on the baby

As far as the laundry goes, I had to wash the prefolds several times when I very first bought them in hot water to make them more absorbent. After that, we keep all of the wet and dirty diapers in a waterproof bag until we're ready to wash. I do a cold wash with 1/4 of the recommended laundry detergent and a little bit of baby oxiclean, then hot wash with 1/4 of the recommended laundry detergent (free and clear only) sometimes with a Downy ball of white vinegar. Then another cold rinse and line dry everything if it's a nice day, or hang the covers to dry and put the prefolds in the dryer. No dunking, wet pails, or any of the other antiquated things I originally envisioned. As far as putting the diaper on, I'll post our version tomorrow.

There are numerous types of cloth diapers and way easier ways to do it if you are willing to spend the money. I will probably expand my collection to a few other types as I find good deals, but using prefolds with covers is the least expensive method by far. I have also been selling things on eBay for the past few weeks and I'm limiting myself to that money to spend on cloth diapers, so nothing is coming out of our bank account or credit cards.

I've still got tons of disposable diapers in the top of Ben's closet. We still need them for now, as I don't have enough cloth to do that exclusively yet. We'll also use disposables for when Ben's at mom's or Pam's.

And for the people who argue that cloth is actually worse for the environment, I've seen a lot of evidence on both sides, but I'm leaning towards cloth being better for the environment as long as you aren't using bleach (which we don't), and when you consider the original cost and natural resources that go into producing the disposables in addition to the landfill waste. Either way, it's far less expensive and that is one of my biggest priorities these days.

Ben also looks so cute in his very first cloth diaper.

Out With the Ducks

Enough was enough, so the ducks had to go. Outside, that is. Josh cleared out some of the run around the chicken coup, repaired the fence and readied the coup for the ducks, so out they went. They are almost a month old and plenty large enough to not be able to get out through the chain link. We are going to keep them closed in the coup at night and let them out during the days. At first they didn't understand how to get in and out of the coup and Josh had to help them out so they could get out and walk around and go back inside for food and water. As Josh was out working around the coup the ducks followed him around everywhere like he was their papa.

We also got some tilling done with an old tiller lent to us from Josh's family. We were amazed it started right up after sitting around for quite a while. However, tilling our garden proved to be quite the undertaking, and Josh was only able to get about 1/3 done before it began raining. It has rained so much, it seems we will never get these plants in the ground.

Because we have had so many delays in planting, we have still gone back and forth about raised beds versus planting directly in the ground. At this point, we are leaning again towards raised beds because I don't think it's reasonable to use our tiller can handle the amount of ground we need to cover.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

This month I got to choose the book for book club and I picked Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. No one read it but me and one other person, but we now write "book" club with quotations, as it is more of an excuse to get together and visit as opposed to discussing a book.

However, I thought this was an incredible book. Barbara Kingsolver and her family spent a year eating only locally produced food - much of which they produced on their own small farm. She details the purchase of chicks, the planting and harvesting of asparagus, and the canning of tomatoes in great detail. She even includes seasonal recipes at the end of each chapter. Her teenage daughter and her husband also write articles throughout the book on cooking and the devestating truths of the food industry (similar to Pollan's claims in Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food.)

The website accompanying this book is also fantastic. There are links to finding your own local food sources, recipes, and gardening resources.

Reading this has been so encouraging for all of the projects we have undertaken here on our own little farm. I am really excited about our first vegetable harvest, canning this summer, and I can't wait until I collect the first egg from our hens.



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By honest coincidence, Ben slept in his ducky pajamas and after nursing him this morning, I noticed we had the chicken cover on the Boppy, so I had to take a picture.

The Future of Our Poultry

I've already been asked about half a dozen times, "What are you going to do with all of these birds?" The sad truth is, some of the chicks probably won't make it to the coup. They are only a few days old, and out of 40 chicks, a few will probably die. From there, we were only able to tell the difference between male and female Cinnamon Queens because the males are a much lighter - gray color and the hens are reddish - brown. The rest are unsexed (i.e. we don't know yet). In all, we only need two, maybe three roosters. Too many would cause problems with pecking order and too we would have a sport that's illegal in our state as opposed to a productive flock in the backyard. Once the chickens are mature enough that we can tell the hens from the cocks, we will save the nicest looking and behaving males and eat the rest. So by the end of summer, we will most likely have about 20 laying hens and 2-3 roosters.

The ducks we are keeping only for eggs unless two are male and one is female. Then one male will need to go to protect the female from being overly pursued.

About the Breeds:

All of our chickens are dual-purpose breeds meaning they are bred for both meat and eggs, although some are better suited for one over another.

Rhode Island Reds – dark red, common due to good egg laying ability and hardiness, brown eggs


Australorpes – Australian chicken breed, black, similar to Orpingtons, light brown eggs


Cinnamon Queens – red and white, quicker to lay than most, brown eggs


Barred Rocks – black and white striped (barred), light brown to pink eggs


Buff Orpingtons – light rust colored, very light brown to white eggs



Pekin Ducks - We believe this is what our chicks will look like as adults, but we aren't sure. Like our chickens, Pekin ducks are raised for both meat and eggs. Their eggs are large, white, rich eggs and are great for baking.



sources: Wikipedia and Backyard Chickens

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Cousins Sam and Garrett came over to see the ducks and chickens.

Ducks!

The first grade classrooms at Eugene Field Elementary School in Springfield incubated duck eggs and then cared for the baby ducks by letting each of the first graders have a "sleepover" with a duck. Today I met with one of the first grade teachers and a few of her students to pick up the ducks to take to our farm. The girls were sad to see the ducks go, but I promised I'd email pictures of the ducks on our farm and write the class a letter about our farm.

The ducks were filthy when I picked them up because they had been in a plastic tub and slid all over the muck on the bottom, so they took a bath first. It was hilarious to watch them swim and splash around in the tub.

For now the ducks will be staying in our dining room. Because they have been handled by kids every day and are used to living in people's homes, we are going to wait until they are a bit older before we let them run in the chicken coup and surrounding area.

Last night was a rough first night with the chicks. The garage was cooler than we expected and five got a little beat up and trampled as they all huddled under the heat lamp. We took those five out and kept them in the bathroom. Josh held and blow-dryed each of them (on low), we fed them a little sugar water and they are all doing better today. We are still keeping those chicks in "the infirmary" until they are a little stronger. We bought additional heat lamps and spread the chicks out more by using our dog crates. We moved the whole operation into the basement because it is supposed to be in the 50s for the next several days.

The Rhode Island Reds are three weeks old and starting to get their feathers, but the rest are only 1 or 2 days old. We are still researching the best way to integrate the different aged chicks, the slightly beat-up chicks, and the ducks once they are all old enough to be outside.

New setup in the basement:
We had to put cardboard boxes all the way around because they can squeeze through the openings in the crates. The green tub is the "infirmary."


Chicks in the infirmary:
They could all probably go back in with the other chicks except for the one with missing feathers. I can't believe he made it through the night. We are waiting until they are all well before we integrate them because they will be picked on too much if we move them individually.


Ducks in the dining room:
They are eating all-purpose poultry feed and hard boiled eggs for now. Talk to us in a couple of days and we'll let you know how the duck poop / smell issue is going. If the weather improves they may go to the garage.


Always happy Ben:

Chickens!

Today we bought 44 chicks from a farm in Humansville, Missouri. Josh picked out 30 something, and the crazy bird lady kept throwing extras in the box. We bought five kinds: Rhode Island Reds, Australorps, Cinnamon Queens, Barred Rocks, and Buff Orpingtons.


Chicken materials:

Brooder - Any box or cage where chickens will stay the first couple of months. We've got a couple of larger cages and we may use our dog crates if they need to be separated because of age. In the pictures it looks like they have no room and they're on top of one another, but we had just turned the heat lamp and they were trying to warm up. Below is a picture of the brooder with all of the chicks huddled on one side.

Heat lamp - Needed to heat the brooder until chickens have feathers (sometime in the second month).

Waterer and feeder - We're using medicated chick feed for now, and we'll switch to high egg yielding feed later on in the summer.

Flooring - We're using shredded newspaper (friends, keep saving your newspapers for us).

Chicken coop - Ours was here when we moved in. Josh recently cleaned it out and it needs a paint job and we need to do some weed eating and fence repair in the chicken run surrounding it in the next week or two. We've got 10 metal nest boxes with roosts below, and a wall of 15 wooden nest boxes with no roosts. We aren't sure how the previous chicken inhabitants got to the upper two levels of nesting boxes, so we're going to need to build roosts or something to get them to the top level. The coup also has electricity, lights and an outlet, but the power has been disconnected and we haven't decided what we're going to do just yet.

Roost - A roost is a thin piece of wood or dowel that the birds stand on or use to get from the ground into their nest boxes. We may use a couple of rickety old wooden ladders for ours, if we know anyone who has one around.


*I wrote all of the chicken information assuming most of my friends don't know a lot about raising chickens. I am still learning, and I'm sure this post looks silly to anyone who has actually raised chickens before.


The ducks are coming tomorrow and we will use the same method and materials for them. They are going to live in the chicken coop with the chickens, but we will set out a kiddie pool for them to swim in. We may also take trips to the pond, depending on how easy the ducks will be to catch.