Big Chickens Lay Big Eggs

We are so blessed with eggs here at the farm! Not only do we have plenty for ourselves, we get to give or sell some to our neighbors too. 

The picture with three eggs shows (from left to right) a white store-bought egg, a Big Bird egg, and another of one of our girls' eggs - very typical of the normal medium-sized brown egg we get daily. Except from Big Bird.


This big girl weighs in at more than 13 pounds of chicken meat. Her feet are huge! She towers over most of the black birds and seems to eat non-stop. 

And she's our only hen to have laid the mythical double-yoker! In fact, she's given us a few of them. Our seven-year-old son thinks it's incredible and declared that he only wants to eat Big Bird eggs from now on. Yeah. Okay. Sure. 


Every hen has a fairly distinct egg shell pattern and egg shape. They are quirky in that they like to lay their egg in the same place day after day. Loner Bird still lays her eggs in a little nest she remakes each day on the floor inside the coop. The other girls all have their favorite nest box. 

Each egg is facinating and unique - a tiny organic work of art. They are beautiful. And delicious! It's so exciting to grow your own food and raise animals that provide more food for our family!

Get on out there & find what excites you, ignites your spirit, awakens your passion! Live life as though it may end soon - because it might! Live your own life, don't worry with what other people say or think you should do. Live your best life. Be your best YOU! 

Love, 
Ramsey

Living. Learning.

Today as I celebrate a milestone birthday, I reflect on a few of the things I've learned that I think are important. (This is my original work.)

Never listen to or worry about what other people say about you. Just be you and live your life in the way you know you should. Always use good manners, be kind, smile, say hello. Be bold. Don’t rush or be in a hurry. Always be nice, especially and most importantly be nice to yourself. Work hard. Laugh out loud. Smile. Laugh lines are golden. You are valuable. Dance like a fool. Sing a silly song. Walk in the woods. Play. Pray. Eat the cake and buy the shoes. Save and invest. Laugh loudly. Realize it’s okay to make mistakes and learn from every one of them. Time will go by super fast. Forgive. Forgive yourself. Avoid people who don’t make you feel good about you. Go on hikes and picnics. Go fishin’. Splash in a creek. Build a tree stand. Disconnect. Go outside. Star gaze. The world is way bigger than just little ol’ you.

Keep on Shining,

Ramsey

October Popsicles

I realize it's autumn and that most of the civilized world has broken out their furry boots, sweaters, and scarves to rush out for pumpkin spice coffees, pumpkin patching, and romantic walks through a falling rainbow of leaves. Meanwhile, in south Georgia, there are some brown leaves falling off the trees and I do smell a hint of campfire in the air. AND it's a crisp 90 to 100 degrees outside during the day! Too hot for lattê, too chilly for the pool. What's a girl to do? Make popsicles of course! I recommend that you do try this at home!

BANANA POPSICLES

yield: 6 to 8 popsicles

prep time: 5 minutes

total time: 5 hours

Banana Popsicles recipe made with fresh bananas and only four ingredients!

INGREDIENTS:

1½ cups milk
2 large ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
¼ cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place all of the ingredients in a blender and puree on medium speed until completely smooth.

2. Divide the mixture evenly between popsicle molds and insert popsicle sticks. Freeze for 4 to 5 hours before serving.

Check out all the recipes on this blog here!

Pears!

 My sweet friend and neighbor, Teresa and I ventured over to the next county to pick pears at her mother-in-law's house in late August. We picked about 55 or 60 pounds of pears, which doesn't sound like much, but wound up giving me a fulltime project for the next week or two.

Gorgeous homegrown pears

Makes me think of marble or granite. Edible artwork!

Pears peeled and ready for slicing & coring

Pear peels used for pear vinegar and feeding to the chickens as treats

Canned Pears in light syrup!

We made about sixteen 8-ounce jelly jars of pear butter

Put up about 18 pints & 7 quarts of canned pears

The pear butter has been a huge hit. My son will even eat it directly from the jar if you don't watch out! The canned pears look absolutely perfect. I cannot wait to have "fresh" pears this fall and winter and into next year for making pear-cheddar cobbler, poached or braised pears, pears flambèed in rum, pear salad, pear cinnamon oatmeal, pear pan cake, pear butter spice cake, or just plain ol' pears warmed and buttered or just cold, straight from the jar!

Do you have a favorite pear recipe?! Please share in the comments below.

“Don’t shake the tree when the pears fall off themselves.” ~ Slovakian proverb

Eggs! Glorious Eggs!

So you know I was super duper nerdy excited when my hens finally started laying eggs! And of course I took a ton of pictures of the first dozen! :) We found the first eggs on August 27. Loner Bird must have started laying on August 25, on the floor in the coop, so we didn't find them until that third day. Happened to be sitting by the coop, drinking coffee, watching the chickens do...well do chickeny things. We heard a bunch of weird noises in the corner of the coop including a scratching or tapping noise. Loner was the only bird in the coop. Upon opening the coop this is what we found...

And every day since then...

The girls produce an egg a day! 

A hen will take a day off every now & then, but we usually get 5 or 6 a day.

 Including huge double-yokers like this one from Big Bird! 

 Our eggs are way healthier than store-bought eggs. Our chickens eat a healthy diet - no chemicals, no hormones, no junk food! 

 White egg (from the grocery store) shown for size comparison.

 As you can well imagine, we've been eating lots of eggs lately! Quiche, frittata, breakfast casserole, cakes, breads, and my son's favorite, eggs in a basket! Where you cut out a hole from a thick slice of homemade bread, toast your bread a little on both sides in a buttered pan, then crack an egg into the cutout. Fry until set, flip, cook for a minute until your preferred taste. Voila! 

Pretty Bird and Baby Bird take a little stroll. These two girls are solid layers - rarely taking a day off since they started laying at the end of August.

We love our chickens and it's just so awesome that these beautiful sweet creatures also give us food daily! Best animals in the world! Everybody should consider owning chickens!

Check out all the photos of our chickens here and see the fantastic, super deluxe chicken cottage that my Farmer Chris designed and built right here!

Enjoy your day and remember that if you're in a storm right now, there are always blue skies & sunshine just beyond the clouds!! ~Ramsey

The Finished Deluxe Chicken Cottage

Finally I have gotten to the photos of the coop! 

Construction / groundbreaking began on May 18. 


The girls moved into the run around June 18 and got moved into the coop side of the Deluxe Chicken Cottage about a month after that. 


We put all the finishing touches on the coop and it was officially complete on August 14! 

So here are the first released photos of the completed Ramsey Farms Deluxe Chicken Cottage! 

Remember you can see all the coop pics right here and also pics of our chicks and other fun stuff at the Facebook page.

 Thanks for dropping by the blog!

The Ramsey Farms Deluxe Chicken Cottage!

Pumpkin Time!

Happy October! It's that time of year again...Pumpkin Time! Alas, we did not grow pumpkins this year (sad face) but will try again next year. BUT for those of you with some pumpkin puree (sure go ahead and buy some in a can at the store, I won't tell!) I thought I'd re-share my delicious pumpkin muffin recipe with you!

Read the original article here. Other pumpkiny posts: Pumpkin Pie & Pumpkin Processing. More posts I think you'll enjoy reading: Childhood Creeks, Muscadine Jelly, & Slow Pace / Hard Work.

Printable recipe card:

"There are three things that I've learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin." ~ Linus from The Peanuts Gang

Check out all the recipes on this blog here!