Chicken water, rainbow unicorn, canned venison

....Those are the highlights of our First Day of 2018 here at Mountain Meadow. I’ve been debating what subject to pick for my first post, and figured for now I’d stick with my initial intent of mostly chatting about life as novice/beginning homesteaders (though I have opinions to air about the Outlander books later on) :)

(Elsa investigates our DIY water warmer)

Mark Twain once wrote “You can’t [cure a headache], but you get more or less entertainment out of trying—and that is something.” Now that temps have dropped near zero, that sentiment also applies to our efforts to keep the chickens’ water from freezing over! Up until now, our DIY water warmer has worked nicely.

Lucy getting a drink!

(Credit for the idea goes to http://citygirlfarming.com/2013/11/09/diy-chicken-water-heater-less-than-four-minutes-and-four-dollars/). Alas, this morning their water was frozen solid. All 7 chickens were thrilled to get outside while I tidied the coop, despite the cold—they were mad yesterday that I wouldn’t let them out because a pair of golden eagles was hanging around.

Making an improvement?

In the spirit of getting “entertainment from trying”, I lined the inside of the block with foil, to hopefully reflect more heat up toward the tile. Don’t blame me if it doesn’t work, it was my husband’s idea :)

(Ginger and Goldie inspect my work)

We did get 4 eggs today!

Shifting gears to the rainbow unicorn....

Since we’ve been stuck in the house, I told the kids I’d make them placemats, because they LOVE to “help” me sew. Pixie wants a unicorn one—all because of Agnes and her unicorn fixation in the Despicable Me movies. Little Man wants “a helicopter fighting a forest fire!!” That might be somewhat difficult to appliqué, so it’s fortunate that 4 year olds aren’t picky ;-) Figured I’d tackle the unicorn first, using a water bottle picture for inspiration. Drew it, cut it out, created pattern pieces from a cereal box, and then foraged in my scrap basket.

(Fabric pieces just laid out and fitted together)

So many blogs advise using all manners of specific brand spray adhesive, tear away paper, etc, but two gems I’ve picked up are: use Elmer’s glue (the clear washable school kind, so it’ll wash out later!) to secure the appliqué pieces, and coffee filters as backing. Inexpensive, ordinary household items! Note on the glue—dab it on sparingly, and swipe it lightly around with a small craft paintbrush. You don’t want it soaking heavily through the fabric and adhering to the coffee filter(s), though I found out that if that happens, you can soak them off with warm water. (Also, I’ve only used it on 100% cotton quilting fabric.)

(Big project = multiple filters)

Just needs an eye and a nostril now!

While I took care of chickens, dismantled and packed away all the Christmas decor, and entertained kids in my sewing room, my husband butchered the deer he shot a few days ago, and canned the meat. The only photo I got of that was one that tickled my fancy, because he appropriated my milk bottles as knife holders:

Before dark, I went out to give the chickens a bedtime treat (thanks @karenfoster for that tip in your post!!) and check their water. Just a little bit of ice forming along one edge...hmm.

Not a bad day to start the year off right.