So we decided to try it at our house.  Started last Sunday night.  Set up this hovabator that John used to hatch all manner of reptiles way back when he owned a pet shop.

Since Kim had so much trouble keeping the humidity high enough we decided to reduce the interior size by filling it with planks of styrofoam.

I watched a video on YouTube about how to hatch chicken eggs and gleaned some set-up ideas.  On top of the styrofoam planks we put a tray half-filled with water, then put hardware cloth over that, and the eggs lay on the hardware cloth right above the water.  That set-up helps with the humidity and helps keep the eggs from rolling around.  I’d say we’re “killing two birds with one stone” but that just seems wrong.

I’m using the schedule function on my cell phone to remind us to turn the eggs at 6 a.m., 2 p.m. and 10 p.m.

NOW we’re chicken farmers.

The incubator is old and cruddy, but works fine.

35 assorted chicken eggs.

A couple of black t-shirts keep the daylight out.

We’ll candle the eggs tomorrow to see what’s what.

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2. All our chickens – a list Photos are at the end. I love chickens.  Love owning...
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Black Bean Chili

• 2 lbs black beans
• Lots of hot water, or broth, or a combination
• 2 T Chili powder
• 1 t garlic powder
• 1 handful dried onion flakes (from Costco!  these make the price of the membership worthwhile!)
• 2 t salt (adjust the amount if you used canned broth, that’s got a lot of salt already)
• 1 lb Farmland sausage (it’s on special 4/$5 at HEB right now)

Start this before lunch.  Rinse the beans and toss ‘em into the big crockpot.  Heat your water/broth to boiling and add it to the crockpot, use enough to cover the beans and another 2″ above.  Turn the pot on high.  Check on it from time to time.  I usually have to add more hot water at some point.

An hour or so before supper time cook the sausage and drain it.  Add the cooked sausage and all the seasonings to the crockpot.  Give it a good stir, put the lid back on and get to making your cornbread and rice!

This is a hit with every single member of our family.  We love it so much we have it at least once a week!

Linkin’ up to Life in a Shoe’s Beanie Linkie where we can find a multitude of yummy bean recipes to ease our food bill!

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I’m blogging at Frugal Hacks today.

Come on over and see what frugal links I rounded up this week.

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Not too long ago I ordered it’s companion book Miserly Meals and have found fresh inspiration.

Other books I’ve found to be fundamental in learning to be frugally creative, or creatively frugal are The Tightwad Gazette, The Tightwad Gazette II, The Tightwad Gazette III.  Of course, if you don’t mind holding a huge book, then it can be had in one volume, The Complete Tightwad Gazette.

On Mondays you can find me at Frugal Hacks doing a link round up of exciting frugal online resources.

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.  ~James Bryce

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.  ~Charles W. Eliot

Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend.  Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.  ~Groucho Marx

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.  ~Mark Twain, attributed

Books can be dangerous.  The best ones should be labeled “This could change your life.”  ~Helen Exley

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.  ~Francis Bacon

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SHAMELESS.HI.WAY.ROBBERY!

When we first got chickens I just bought the spendy drinker and the spendy feeder, not realizing there was another way.  I know, you had a higher opinion of me than that, but I’m tellin’ ya, sometimes the old brain just don’t engage like she used to, comprende?

So, ever since it dawned on me that chickens are messy and they don’t really care what kind of apparatus they eat and drink from, I have been in search of a good design.

I don’t remember where I saw the idea , but we made a drinker out of an old cake pan and a big can, like the one you buy peaches in at Sam’sClub.  We made two of those and they work ok, but if there’s a chicken-ruckus (or a kid ruckus) and it gets bumped pretty good then it’s empty and the chickens are thirsty.  What I’m saying is, it works fine, but we have to check on it from time to time.  Plus it only holds about 3/4 of a gallon of water.

Today, since we have so many chickens now and they are growing so fast, I decided it’s about time I get serious about making some drinkers and feeders.  I loaned all my chicken books to KimC so she could study up about the hatching project, so I did what I had to do to get my info, I googled it.

Found the coolest set up! Very clever, I’m loving it!  So much so that I sent the link to John at work so he can stop at Lowes to buy the 3″ pvc and whatever other bits and bobs we need to get this project done.  Once we make one set and see if it will fit into the chicken tractor and any other pesky details, then I think we may go on and make, lemme see, 2 or 3 more sets.

I want the laying flock to have 3 sets.  One in the coop.  One in the playground yard.  One in the front yard near the aviary.

Chickens are funny.  One might get it in their mind to dominate the food and water supply and not let anyone else near.  This can be a real issue in hot weather.  I want my biddies to be well hydrated and have full tummies so they’re inclined to lay lots of eggs.

What about you?  Do you keep chickens?  Do you know of a great design for feeders and drinkers?

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We’re down to canned goods and a few odd-ball items.  I should make a grocery list, huh?

I remembered seeing a recipe for homemade tomato soup in one of the Tightwad Gazette books.  Turns out it’s in the second one.  And I had most of the ingredients to make it.  No milk, but I still had almost a quart of half and half.  Turns out it’s very delicious made with the light cream.

I also tweaked the seasonings a bit.  Made a better tomato soup than I have ever had!  And who knew it could be so easy!  It even looks like Campb*ll’s!

The Tightwad Gazette II: Promoting Thrift as a Viable Alternative Lifestyle

‘Mater Soup

You’ll need:

• 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
• 24 oz milk, ½ & ½, or heavy cream (use the tomato paste can and fill it 4x)
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp celery salt
• ¼ tsp (or so) garlic powder

Just mix it all together in a medium sized sauce pan, and cook over medium heat just till it begins to bubble.   Maybe a bit sooner if you are using the heavy cream.

This makes enough for a lunch size serving for 4 or 5 kids.  We had this for lunch today, along with some crackers and canned chicken salad.

I gotta run!  Time to make that grocery list!

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Remember when I made applesauce and canned it last January?  Ooooooh!  That was some mighty delicious applesauce.  And pretty easy to make.  Of course I complicated things by canning the results. (We ate all that applesauce up way before it would have spoiled w/o canning.)  But still, it’s an easy and cheap way to get some wholesome, homemade applesauce.

Well, It’s going around the blogs.  If you read very many mom blogs then likely you have read about someone making applesauce in the crockpot.

I had to try it.

My grocery had red delicious on sale in the 5# bag for $1.99.  I had to make applesauce!  Had to!

All I did was peel the whole bagful and use my handy slicer/corer on ‘em and toss ‘em into the crockpot.  I added a bit of water, maybe a cup and a half and about a capful of lemon juice..  Turned the smarty-pants-pot on high and forgot about it for a few hours.  After about 3 hours, I checked it and gave it a stir, then left it alone for a couple more hours.  Way too easy!

When the apples were nice and mushy I used my potato masher and mashed ‘em right in the pot.  Then I put the sauce into quart jars and put ‘em in the fridge.

Th-th-th-that’s all, folks!

The bottom line is that I paid $1.99 for the apples, got 2 quarts of homemade applesauce out of it!  Lovely!

Linked to:

• Tightwad Tuesday
• Tackle it Tuesday
• Tasty Tuesday
• Toot Your Horn Tuesday
• Tempt my Tummy Tuesday
• Crockpot Wednesday
• Ultimate Recipe Swap

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Have I mentioned that teen aged Cowboys eat like vultures?  I have?  Well, I’m sayin’ it again!

My only tricks for keepin’ ‘em fed without breakin’ the bank are as follows.

• Feed ‘em beans.
• Homemade food is cheaper than store bought junk.
• Home baked bread is FAR cheaper and FAR more wholesome than any other bread you can buy.

I thought I would try to break down the cost of my home baked bread and compare it to the (at least) $3/loaf that I would otherwise have to shell out.

I’m not gonna factor in the equipment I use, because, #1.  I expect it to last my whole life and I don’t yet know how long I’m gonna live, and #2. You could use a different kind of mill than I have and you could use a different kind of mixer or just your hands and still make bread.  Too many variables for this time of night.

But, we can have a good look at the ingredients.  (Oh yeah, not gonna work out how much it costs to run my oven either.  Sorry.)  So, just the ingredients.

I make a 5 loaf batch.  The costs are for a whole batch.

• Wheat berries – $1.32
• Olive Oil – $0.75
• Honey – $0.93
• Yeast – $0.32
• Sea Salt – $0.08

Ready for this?  Total cost of ingredients to make 5 loaves of the healthiest bread I know how to make is $3.40.  For FIVE LOAVES of bread!  That’s $0.68 per loaf!

Shocked myself just there!  Wow!  I knew it was saving us a bundle, I just never ran the numbers before.

If I were to serve only store bought bread we would use about 10 loaves a week.  $30 minimum.  The home baked bread gets made an average of 2.5 times per week.  $8.50 + electricity to run my mill, mixer and oven.

No contest, folks!

You may be wondering, why we would eat more loaves of home baked bread than of store bought bread.  Well, I guess you might wonder that if you’ve never eaten home baked bread.  It’s delicious!  And it’s so wholesome that I just don’t hesitate when the kids ask for another piece of bread.

Here’s a site with lots of wholesome bread recipes. And here is a thorough tutorial on how to make bread by hand. And one for those of you who want to try the soaked method.

And if you don’t mind getting your toes stepped on a little bit, check out this marvelous article called The Bread of Idleness by Sue Becker.  Read that and then go have a productive day!  :D

Linked to:

• Gratituesday
• Tightwad Tuesday
• Toot Your Horn Tuesday
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
• Tightwad Tuesday ( Canada Girl)

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