Not long after my last post we left for some meetings at our conference church camp. The theme of this year's pastors' meetings was health. The Man was asked to speak to the group on the challenge of gospel-medical ministry. He not only spoke on some of the challenges he has in combining the two (such as having his patients ask him for refills on their meds as they are shaking his hand after the sermon) but he challenged each minister to have a medical ministry either by joining forces with those already in the medical community or by using some of the many resources that have become available. He also challenged them to practice what they preach in regard to health. There were other wonderful speakers there and we came home with a big stack of books and lots of information.
In addition to the meetings, there was time for some fun and recreation. The younger three and I got to ride on the mini-railroad. The Man and boys were able to take some turns on the climbing wall. Here is M on his way up...
We drove the pickup down there so that on the way home we could do some much-needed shopping. We stopped at a Sears Appliance Outlet store and bought a washing machine. It has a cute little scratch on the front so we saved some $. It is not as heavy-duty as the one we bought 9 years ago at another outlet store, but since that one was intermittenly leaking water on the laundry room floor, I consider this one much nicer! If anyone wants a nice, used, leaks-occasionally washing machine...come and get it! I advertised on free-cycle, but there weren't any takers. It is still sitting on my front porch. I'll even help you load up the gas dryer that's in the barn. It worked great until we moved it up here and discovered there isn't gas service. Washer on the porch? Dryer in the barn? I'll say it: Yes, we are red-necks.
We did get the two non-functional, been sitting in the yard for six months and one year pickups to the mechanics last week. Neither has called us back. We're not sure if that's good news or not. We are planning on selling at least one of them. So, if anyone wants a nice, used...
Now to answer a few questions from my faithful readers:
"So did you get your chicken tractor re-situated and the saw dust out of your living room? :)"
No and sort of.
"Why is it called a chicken tractor, out of curiosity?"
I'm tired, and all I can think of are sarcastic replies such as our little hens riding on our old John Deere...let me see...my best guess is that most real ones have wheels on them so they can be rolled from one place to another. We've been too cheap-cheep (Go ahead, groan. You know you want to.) to buy wheels so we just drag, carry, or place on the wagon. They are also a good way to work the soil in garden areas because the chickens eradicate pests & weeds, till the soil, and leave a great layer of manure.
One spring we moved a tractor around beside our well house. The next year we had several 4 x 8 ft. patches of wonderful green grass amidst all the weeds.
We haven't had a chance to move the tractor yet, and there really isn't a big rush now. The chickens seem to be doing fine, and they started laying eggs again. When the weather is nicer we'll probably be more inclined to finish the process. We would like to be able to let them loose in the orchard again, but this creature and friend are still hanging around. This was taken right after we got home from church today.
1 comment:
Wow! I did not realize chickens were that good for the soil! Too bad I can't do birds in any way, shape or form. I've always wanted to have a great big garden.
I "get" the tractor thing now. Thanks for explaining that. My grandma had a chicken coop and I don't remember the chickens being anywhere but near their coop. They may have been and I just didn't notice. Their farm was big enough that the chickens could've been out of sight and out of mind.
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