some fresh, some store-bought

Although they've been in deep-freeze conditions, the girls have been laying. I've got some young Ameraucana girls too but no eggs from them yet.

Used three fresh eggs in my German-chocolate cake, and I whipped up some cream-cheese frosting.

At the grocery store, I buy store brands and on-sale items.

I used some of the pork loin in this soup.

Also, got some London Broil on sale.

London Broil, potatoes, carrots and onions.

Store brands below. I save more than pennies.

We like these Bush's Steakhouse beans and they were on sale for $1.79 a can, usually over $2 a can. I don't buy too much frozen stuff because the electricity may go off. Yes, we pay our bill! :-) especially during winter run more of a risk for losing power and I like to stay stocked up in stuff because you never know when we may need to be self sufficient. HotBellyMama had a great post today about stocking up on food and laws, I encourage you to go over and read it although a little scary - ...allow the government to seize all of your hoarded items in the event of an emergency.

As I write this at 5:30PM est, 16 degrees outside, I'm hoping we're slowing climbing out of this deep freeze. We are blessed to be warm, fat, and happy, and try to make keep our animals as comfy and we can too.

awards, barn, eggs, BourbonRedTurkey response

I've received three awards lately. If you appreciate my blog or my comments on your blog, thanks much, lots of fun for me. My favorite blogs are listed over on the right column, so consider yourselves awarded, I visit you daily, and really enjoy learning from you and reading about your lives.

I took this photo on the way home from work this afternoon. The sun came out today and melted the snow. I live just over this hill. Not my barn but wish it was.

We got a dozen eggs today. Keep going girls!
from left to right
Bourbon Red, Bourbon Red, Wheaten Marans, Cuckoo Marans, Bantam Brahma

Question from Karen

Hi. Happened along your blog site...not even sure how I got there but glad I did.You mention that you have Bourbon Reds. A site I came across said they are "fair" egg layers? Do they, like chickens, tend to slow down in the egg laying during really cold weather/winter? We live in MI. The person we are hoping to get fertilized eggs from is sorta new at the turkey raising, as we will be...have chickens. He was wondering if they are like chickens and lay year round or slow down during the winter. I noticed that you sell eggs for hatching. Do you sell just the chicken eggs or chicken and turkey? If you sell the turkey eggs how much do you charge?Thank you, Karen
Joanna Response

Hi Karen, nice to hear from you. We now have 4 Bourbon Red hens, but last year we just had two hens. We got lucky and raised two girls this Fall. Our two hens were excellent layers last year, the eggs stopped in Oct/Nov but this week the turkey hens started laying again, and we got two eggs from 'em today. Now I expect they will continually lay until next Fall. My chickens don't lay year round, the girls have been on break since late Fall and now are starting back again. Yes, I can sell hatching eggs, however, I recommend SandhillPreservation . Although I got my orginal trio from a top breeder, my tom Franklin, is not show quality because of his mostly brown tail, not bright white. If you're thinking of breeding, SandhillPreservation would be better than mine. Franklin's two daughter's are real beauties but I'm not sure how you're male would turn out if you hatched my eggs. If you don't care about show quality, then it doesn't matter. Franklin's deep red/chestnut feathering is awesome. Peggy over at HiddenHavenHomestead has a pretty tom, compare his tail to my Franklin's.