Stop the presses

Do not, I repeat, do NOT duplicate the automatic chicken door I describe below. The motor apparently failed last night. One of the small plastic gears (the drive gear) came apart. So now it's back to the drawing board for me.

Keith

Automatic Chicken House Door

Well, a couple of weeks ago I decided that we needed to bite the bullet and come up with an automatic chicken door opener and closer. Truth be told, this "need" is just an indicator of some greater problems in our family priorities. Namely, that we are away from home far too often and we haven't developed those reciprocal relationships with our neighbors where we're comfortable asking them to help with farm chores when we are away.

I wanted the door to be completely automatic and pretty dependable. To me, that meant that it should be controlled by a timer. There are some really nice solutions out there, but they are a bit pricey for my budget.

A friend helped me come up with an approach using an old garage door opener, limit-switches, and a few other odds and ends. He even gave me the garage door opener. Then I ran across a post on a chicken forum from a guy who had used a retro-fit automatic drapery opener and closer. It was simple, a lot less bulky and dangerous, probably more reliable, and not a whole lot more expensive.

Anyhow, I ordered mine from SmartHome.com at a time when they were having a pretty decent sale. It took a couple of hours from start to finish for Kyle and I to build, install and debug. We did encounter one problem however. The motor comes with a child safety switch that didn't work and effectively rendered the motor inoperable. We ended up taking the motor apart and soldering a jumper in place to defeat the child-safety feature. Also, in the process of testing and adjusting the limit switches built into the motor we noticed that the door was slipping down a little each time. This was easily fixed by adding the counterweight shown - several heavy steel brackets - that approximated the weight of the plywood door.

It has been two weeks now and the door has worked flawlessly. Considering the predator problems we have had, the peace of mind this gadget provides is well worth the expense to us. Now we just need to find a neighbor who is willing to share the benefit and responsibilities of a milk cow.
Keith

Travel and Bootcamp

Travel has been the keyword around here for a couple of weeks: Keith was on a business trip Sunday through Thursday a couple of weeks ago, came home, and then we all left the next morning for Georgia, where we (with the blessed help of friends who happened to be in the area) picked up a 6x6 walk-in cooler and compressor, as well as a walk-in freezer (no compressor; possible future smoke-house?). We spent the weekend with some of those friends, and worshipped with them all and still more good friends. We didn't get to stay the entire Lord's day, though, and left around 3 p.m., I guess.

The next day--last Monday--was spent casually getting caught up on laundry and packing for the next trip, to begin the following day. When Keith got home, though, plans changed so that we could see his father on this trip; we decided to leave that night! So we kicked the packing and preparations in gear and left at 10:30 p.m. We met his father (who has not been well) for breakfast Tuesday morning in Mississippi. We drove around the area and he showed us memory spots--his family's land; the area where the log cabin had been where he and his sisters were born; his parents' house in town after they moved from the cabin; where his mother had worked in the Post Office; the "Tabernacle" (a large shelter where camp meetings used to be held); the community center; the cemetery where his mother is buried. The time with him was a blessing and a treasure.

We left after an hour or two and headed for an overnight stay at my brother, sister-in-law, and niece's in Fort Worth, Texas. We got there in time for dinner and a visit, but left after breakfast Wednesday in order to get to San Antonio by mid-afternoon (with a stop at Cabela's in between). We arrived at the Gardenia Inn, a B&B about 3/4 of a mile from Gonzales Convention Center, where we attended Vision Forum's Entrepreneurial Bootcamp. We stayed at the inn with some of our Georgia friends, saw and made more friends at the Bootcamp--and got re-acquainted with someone who graduated with Keith from high school and whom we hadn't seen since college 20+ years ago! We hope to see more of all these folks.

The Bootcamp was good, as one would expect from Vision Forum. My favorite parts were the keynotes from Nick Logan and Joel Salatin. The girls, 3yo son, and I went to a Nick Logan break-out session, and that, too, was very good. Geoff Botkin was also good. I was a bit frustrated with the time limits on Mr. Logan and Mr. Botkin for their keynotes; neither was able to finish, and I didn't want them to end!

11yo son went to a couple of Joel Salatin break-outs with a friend. I think 11yo son really liked them, but said the second one was a great deal of repeat from Mr. Salatin's books and from our visit to the field day at his farm, Polyface Farm, last summer (which is where we first met some of these Georgia folks we've been so blessed by this past year).

We arrived in San Antonio a day early to be tourists, and we did that well and enjoyed ourselves. It's a neat town, and we ate and ate and ate, starting with wonderful breakfasts at the Gardenia Inn. We also walked and walked and walked, even with trolley passes for a couple of days (which I highly recommend).

By Saturday evening, we were exhausted, as was everyone at the Bootcamp, probably. I'm glad we didn't try to start home then, but stayed the extra night and left after breakfast on the Lord's day. That also gave us the opportunity to get to know a father and son from Georgia a bit better and to enjoy their company Saturday evening for dinner, along with the friends we were at the Inn with.

We were approaching the Centerville/Dickson exit here in Tennessee close to 11:30 p.m. with another 2+ hours to go toward home when our vehicle decided to give us real problems. Thankfully, my sister lives in Dickson, so we stayed with her. The car was checked out there, only to find by mid-day Monday that it was not what we'd assumed (transmission). So, with some car-borrowing and shuffling, Keith made it home, hooked the trailer up to my parents' truck, and came back to Dickson Monday evening, picking up the car on the way to my sister's. We stayed that night and left the next morning, coming home on backroads to see some new scenery.

We got home mid-day, exhausted again. I felt useless all afternoon. Keith and 13yod fixed lunch--and later, dinner, too. I did laundry, even though I'd done 4 or 5 loads at my sister's. I also did some unpacking. Keith even napped in the afternoon.

So here we are, home again. I so longed to be here, but now that I'm here, I don't want to deal with some of the stuff--balancing the checking account, cooking, groceries, etc.--that goes with being at home!

Mary Susan

Lunch ideas

I've cut way back on my blog-reading time and am mainly just keeping up with friends' blogs, with an occasional foray further into blogdom by reading a few Christian agrarian blogs or a couple of prairie muffin-type blogs when I'm anxious to avoid doing something else around the house that I need to be doing (like now).

Anyway, I noticed that the Choosing Home blog has a lunch theme this week. (http://www.choosinghome.com/blog/?p=339) I'm in such a dry spell with cooking and meal prep--and not just lunch: breakfast lunch, and dinner! So I quickly clicked my way to the Choosing Home blog and have found some inspiration.

Our lunches are in line with most of those already mentioned on the blog and in the comments: sandwiches (when we have to), soups, baked potatoes (home-grown, of course), etc.

Our favorite soup is what we call refrigerator soup: clean left-over meats and veggies out of the refrigerator (the ones that are still the proper color and smell), and put them in some stock--usually beef. It's frugal, and is, surprisingly, our kids' favorite soup! It's the soup they compare all others to--even soups at restaurants don't measure up to our refrigerator soups, in their opinion (even our pickiest eater!).

We also eat nachos, which can be as simple or as elaborate as you want or as time allows; can be corn chips with cheese melted with tomatoes and green chilies or salsa; or can include ground beef, fresh tomatoes, lettuce, green onions, olives, jalapenos, sour cream, avocado or guacamole, etc., for toppings.

In the summer, we occasionally have what I call "garden goulash", served on top of biscuits. The goulash starts with bacon, then corn, onions, and peppers, and then includes tomatoes and sliced okra--all fresh-picked from the garden, if possible (except the bacon, of course!). Our 13yo daughter is an expert biscuit-maker, too; I don't even try anymore, if she's available; she makes incredibly tender, tasty biscuits.

If I get bread made in the a.m., we eat a warm loaf for lunch, with butter.

When it's time to pick corn, we usually have corn-on-the-cob for lunch. That's a favorite, but it doesn't come often.

11yo son likes to fix enchiladas for lunch. He's really my main lunch-preparer. I think it's more important to him than it is to me, and long ago, he got tired of waiting for me to get to the kitchen to fix it, so he dove in and started doing it often. He also likes tuna salad sandwiches and chicken salad sandwiches. He likes fried egg sandwiches, and occasionally fixes them for us. He really likes sandwiches. (I often eat cracker sandwiches instead of bread sandwiches; just seems better to me) Lunch is his biggest meal, actually. I see now that I'm sadly letting him down. But then, I probably wouldn't have the sandwiches he so enjoys.

There is usually some kind of fruit on the table at lunch, too. We often slice apples, spread them with peanut butter, then sprinkle golden raisins or craisins onto the peanut butter.

That's about all I can come up with right now. Of course, a few hours ago, at lunchtime, I couldn't come up with these!

Regardless, the best meals are those fresh out of the garden.

Mary Susan