Well as April 15th once again approaches, you can see how politically motivated I can get! (read post below) Anyway, I do have a farm to run, so I’ll try not to hop up on the political soapbox too much, since this is supposed to be about our homesteading experiences!

So back to farm life….the other day, my friend, Suzie, came and picked up her 10 Buff Orpington chicks that I’ve been brooding for her as well as our other Ameraucana rooster.  Boy, the coop sure does look empty!  Even though we still have 12 Silkies, an Ameraucana rooster, and 10 Ameraucana chicks, 2 turkeys, and 6 ducks!  I am so ready to get some eggs out of this deal! 

The other day, we took our two oldest ducks, which are both Snowy Mallard males, down to the pond for the first time.  You would expect them to wildly zip into the pond and never come back.  Yeah, right!  We had to literally push them into the water, and even then they would only get where they could touch bottom.  They did feed for a while in the mud, but after about 10 minutes, they jumped out and started walking up the hill, looking over their duck shoulders as if to say, “Are you coming?”.  So we all had to walk up the hill together (they wouldn’t have it any other way, since they like to follow us) and I put them back in the pen.  So much for the call of the wild!

In gardening news, the weather has been fairly fabulous lately, with few exceptions.  We have been having temps in the 70s with plenty of rain.  Part of our broccoli has been harvested as well as our lettuce.  The cabbages aren’t too far behind, either.  I am really excited about our potatoes, as I haven’t ever grown them before.  We’ll see how that goes!  In disappointing news, some of our onions are bolting; meaning, they are now sending up a flower head, which means that the bulb growing is done.  Grrr!  So I just went and pulled those up, and set them out to dry.

Oh, lastly, we placed an order with Angel Food Ministries earlier this month and picked up the order this past weekend.  Now, y’all, I’m really serious here.  If you really want to save some $ on your groceries and you don’t want the hassle of coupons, place an order with this program!  I was very impressed with the food quality.  Plus, all of the food is from USA or Canada (hurrah!).  At least it was this past month.  We ordered a ‘basic’ box and the fruit and veggie box.  It cost us $52 dollars and let me tell you that it was so worth every penny!  Last night I made a fruit salad with the cantaloupe and it was excellent.  I ate a tangelo last night and I assure you that it was the best tangelo I have ever eaten!  Perfectly ripe and so juicy you couldn’t hold it without a napkin.  The cantaloupe was also excellent; it was fully ripened and very sweet.  We also have eaten some of the apples, and though they are small compared to what we’re all used to getting at WalMart (ugh), they were very sweet, had great flavor, and super juicy. 

In theory, one ‘basic’ box will feed a family of 4 for a week. For the month of April, I have already placed my order, and I ordered 2 basic boxes, 2 of the ‘heat and eat’ meal boxes, and one fruit and veggie box.  This cost me about 150 bucks.  Naturally, if you need dairy products, it will add to your monthly food bill, as well as bread if you don’t make your own, but still, it keeps you from buying all that crap you don’t need and it is good, restaurant-quality stuff.  You do have to pick it up at whatever host church is in your area ((it comes in on a Saturday, and you MUST go get it that day), but I’d rather do that than go to WalMart or the grocery!