Happy Holidays!

Hi!

Sorry i haven't blogged in a while. I've been crazy busy with online work and all the Holiday chaos.

I hope everyone had a fantastic holidays!

With winter here, things have calmed down around my house; no garden to harvest or food to preserve. I've been enjoying having a little more free time for my online work and crafts. For Yule, I made earrings for all my female guests, which was fun.

I'm not a big fan of winter, but I do appreciate the extra free time it gives me. it's nice to be able to do some painting and other crafts. I'm hoping to get a painting or two done this winter.

I hope everyone is staying warm and has fun plans for New Years Eve! Hugs!

Holistic Healing

I always try herbal remedies before using over the counter or prescription medications. I find one of the best ways for me to learn about all the different herbal remedies is to write about them, so I started doing a Holistic healing series on Bubblews.

So far, I've done:

Couch grass

Agrimony

Horse-chestnut

Calamus

Yarrow

Black catechu

(Just hit on the word, to be taken to the article)

Christmas Shopping!

Have you started your Christmas Shopping yet?

Please check out my PugWiggles Zazzle store for fun unique gifts!

PugWiggles Zazzle Store

Foster Kittens

Last week, I volunteered to take four four week old kittens. The poor little sweethearts's mother was killed by coyotes. When they got here they were still bottle feeding and not in the best shape. Over the last five days, I've been working on weaning them off the bottle and getting them eating from a plate.

Three of the kittens are doing fantastic, but unfortunately one is not. He is smaller and weaker than the others, and won't eat the kitten food. He'll only drink milk from the bottle. I pray the little guy is going to be ok.

The kittens will be off to new homes in 3-4 weeks.

Ten Ways to Use Apples

It's apple season again! Here's ten great ways to use apples!

Read article

Adding New Hens to an Existing Flock

Adding new hens to an existing flock needs to be done with care.

To read more, please check out my article on it:

Adding New Hens to an Existing Flock

Orpingtons, Squash and Dried Beans

It's been a busy week around my house, I've been busy busy busy harvesting and preserving. I am happy to say my garden is about 75% harvested now. I also got two new hens this week; they are Orpingtons.

These are my two new Orpingtons. They are about 6-7 months old. They lay large eggs that are a grey/greenish colour. Google tells me that they have extremely nice temperaments, right now they are a little too scared and shy for me to tell if that's true or not. They are very pretty and over the next year they will fill out and get a lot fluffier. They get big fluffy butts when they are adults.

This week, I got the last of my winter squash prepared for winter. Squash is easy to preserve, simply leave it out in the sun for ten days to harden it's shell and then wipe clean with vinegar to kill any bacteria. The squash shown in the basket below is a combination of butternut, buttercup and acorn squash. It should stay good for several months.

Belowis Romano beans. I left them on the vine to dry so I could make dried beans. I picked them all and am now finishing their drying inside. Once their pods are dried out and the beans rattle inside the pods, I will sehll them and put them in a jar for later use. 

Rice and Stuffing Filled Pumpkin Recipe

This is an excellent recipe for a harvest feast or potluck.

Read recipe: Rice and Stuffing filled Pumpkin
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Today was a happy day around the homestead, one of my Waynadottes laid her first egg (I got her when she was ten weeks old and she's now about 7 months old) and I harvested all my pumpkins

The Wyandotte egg is the one in the middle. It is very small; they get bigger as the hen gets older.

Pumpkin harvest; the pumpkins were not extremely big, but they came out nice and healthy. I'm going to freeze the pumkin and ue it to make pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie

Autumn/Fall Spiced Apple Chutney

This recipe looked so good, I wanted to share it:

Autumn/Fall Spiced Apple Chutney recipe

Hickory Tussock Moth Caterpillar

There was a warning about the Hickory Tussock Moth caterpillar on South West Health Line:

The caterpillar is venomous and can cause injury if touched. To learn more, please check out the following article:

http://www.southwesthealthline.ca/displayarticle.aspx?id=2487

Autumn Harvest

The trees have started to change colour and the summer’s harvest is almost all in.

It is has been a busy couple of months of constant harvesting and preserving. My cupboards are full of canned and pickled goods, and my freezer is almost full of frozen vegetables and fruits. I also have a basket of about 40 butternut, buttercup and acorn squash.

This summer I have made radish relish, dill relish, salsa and dill pickles. I have dried herbs and made fresh herb ice cubes. I have frozen over 60 pounds of tomatoes, more green and yellow beans than I can count, and about 30 pounds of carrots. I have also frozen tons of green onions, leeks, peas, turnip, corn, cabbage, lettuce and Swiss Chard.  In addition, I have lots of frozen watermelon in the freezer to pull out mid winter for the hens.

During the summer, I made several big pots of harvest soup, which is now safely in the freezer to be pulled out during the cold winter months. I also have some delicious homemade spaghetti sauce in the freezer.

To add to my stores, I am also drying beans for dried beans.

I’m actually looking forward to the dark half on the year. All this gardening and preserving is hard work. I look forward to doing some painting and crafts, and enjoying the fruits of my hard summer labour. I also look forward to a worry free winter; there is a great piece of mind knowing that you have at least enough basic food to keep your family well fed no matter what nature throws at you. It also gives me great piece of mind, to know that I won't have to pay the inflated grocery stores prices for my veggies this winter

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Update

Hi!

Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days! There was a big thunderstorm here on Wednesday night. Lightning hit my house and despite my computer being turned off and being on a power bar with surge protection it got totally fried. I also lost power for 13-14 hours.

Since then, I've been working on an old laptop. It's tough working on a computer that is not your own, it doesn't have any of my links or tabs, no photos or art, none of the programs I regularly use. To sum it up, it sucks!

It looks like my computer needs a new power supply and because I have a slim line tower, they are of course hard to find, so have to order one online.

Hopefully, my computer will be back up and going in a week or two - fingers crossed!

In other news, the taming of the stray kitten is going fantastic. I can now pick her about, she comes in at night and she lovin' attention. :)

Green Onions

I love green onions. I happily eat them raw as a snack, love them in salads and add them to all the soups I have been making. However, even with my snacking, salads and soup making, I have more green onions in my garden than I can use. So what to do with all those extra green onions ...freeze them of course!

Green onions are super easy to freeze. Simply wash them, cut them, and pop them in a freezer bag and freeze! Frozen green onions are great for soups, stews, stir fries etc.

Green onions fresh from the garden

Purring Kitten

I've been working hard on taming the stray kitten. We had a pack of coyotes around the house the other night and it was vitally important that the kitten was safely inside. I baited her with some delicious food and was able to scoop her up when she was happily eating. She spent the night in the bathroom and I was overjoyed in the morning that she had used the litter pan that I had put in there with her!

Since being brought inside two nights ago, I've managed to get her to come in three other times (Using food as bait). She is still very shy about being picked up, but she is doing better! At this rate, she should be tame in another or so.

She is a cute little kitty and I am hoping that after I get her tamed, using her litter box reliably and she goes to the vet, that I'll be able to find a nice forever home for her. :)

Making Friends

I was finally able to pat the little stray kitten yesterday! That made me super de duper happy! I went out armed with a can of tuna and sat on the front porch and waited for her to come, and come she did, no cat can resist the smell of tuna!

I was able to pat the kittens several times and check her sex. Yep, you guessed it, she's a girl. Damn.

Bottom line, girl cats are way more expensive to fix than male cats are, and if not fixed, she will get pregnant. If she decides she doesn't want to stay here and moves on, its one more unfixed cat that will get pregnant and give birth a crap load more kittens. Now it is super important for me to get her tamed.

I will continue to try befriending her and hopefully within a week or two, I'll be able to pick her up. If possible I will try to get her use to the house and litter trained. I have several wonderful friends who are helping me with an online auction to raise money to pay for her to get fixed. If we can at least get her fixed, even if she chooses to remain a wild cat, she will at least not be adding to the cat populations.

Kitten Update

So, I've been feeding the kitten and speaking gently to him, and can now open the front door and walk out on the porch as long as I do so slowly. He's hanging out around the house constantly and you'd swear he was my cat.

Here's Inka sitting on the window sill with Ripley

and Ripley complaining he wants food ...

If I put the food in a bowl the kitten doesn't get as much so I just threw kibble all over the porch. 

Yep, he's pretty cute/

I'm making good ground with him, hopefully it will continue!

Little Black Kitten - Inka

About three days ago, my cat Ripley brought home a friend - a little lack kitten. The little fella is pure black with a tiny white patch on his chest. I would guess he's about 10-12 weeks old. I fed the kitten as he was obviously hungry and put some wormer in his food as its important that kittens get dewormed. The kitten is very shy and would run away every time I cam near, but would always come back.

For the last three days, the kitten has been sleeping on my porch (he has claimed the chair as his own), eating with my cats and hanging with the hens. My cats and the hens seem to have totally accepted him as part of the household ... yet, I still can't get near him!

Yesterday, the little bugger even jumped up on the window sill and meowed for food!

I have been slowly working on being able to get close enough to the kitten to catch him, but he still won't let me get closer than five feet away. I would really like to catch the kitten to ensure it is wound free, to start taming it and to find out what sex it is. I really don't want an unfixed female cat hanging out here having kittens! Not cool!

As,it doesn't seem right to keep calling him, "The black kitten", he (and I say he, cause I'm praying he's a he!) will hence forth be known as "Inka"

Hopefully, I'll have good news to report about Inka in a day or two!

Rollie and his new friend Inka

Inka stealing corn twist that I had thrown out for the hens.

Broom Corn

The Broom corn that my friend planted in my garden is growing magnificently and I would assume its getting close to harvest time. So, I figured I should Google it and find out a bit about it

It is used to make whisk brooms and corn brooms

A ton of broom corn brush generally makes around 80 - 100 dozen brooms 

It grows to be 6 – 15  fifteen feet tall.

It is a a variety of sorghum 

It can be used as a low budget food for livestock, but is generally not edible

Broom corn has been used for broom making since at least the 1500s.

It grows and looks much like sweet corn

It is very hardy and easy to grow; it is drought resistant and can easily tolerate poor soil

Here's a great in depth article on Broom corn to check out:

http://www.rootsimple.com/2011/09/broom-corn-or-is-it-broomcorn/

Garden Harvest

Oh boy! I sure have been busy lately! I'm sorry I haven't blogged in a few days, I suck :(  I've been checking out a new writing site and it has been consuming my online time.

So, I bet you are wondering how many garden is doing :) Don't worry I took some pics! (I bet you didn't see that coming!

Romano beans, they will be ready to harvest soon!

Watermelons - They are getting bigger!! 

Pumpkins- They are all turning orange! I'm so excited!

Today's harvest: yellow and green beans, tomatoes, turnip, cucumbers and carrots!

My freezer is slowly starting to fill! I'm planning on making a giant pot of garden veggie soup later this week. :)

Homemade Swing

So we finally got around to putting up a swing! I love swings they are so relaxing and fun :)

The swing is adult size, so its big enough for larger adults. I'm thinkin', I need to make a cushion for the seat so it more comfie. Maybe I'll cut up a yoga mat and have it so it Velcros on and off.

The swing seat came from a bench that got broken at a party last year. The rope is climbing rope that was donated by a kind friend. The rope is strong enough to hold 500 pounds, so it should hold if a couple of drunken friends try to use the swing together - cause you know they will! We just drilled some holes in the seat for the board

We hung the rope on a very sturdy branch

Its wrapped around a couple of times to ensure it was safe

I was having fun swinging on it :)

My son Travis, not so much! He doesn't like swings :(

The Growing Garden

Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days, my family hosted our annual Naughty Nymph Charity Party on the weekend, so I was crazy busy before, during and after it. The Charity Party was a huge success, we had over 70 people out over the weekend and raised $250 for the Sarnia Sexual Assault Survivors Center!

Blogging is not the only thing that fell behind over the last week, so did the garden! It is now back to being a weedy mess :( 

However, despite the over abundance of weeds, the veggies still grew like crazy!

I didn't think I was going to get any cantaloupes this year, but yay! some actually grew. 

Green peppers, finally starting to grow

Pumpkins are looking great!

The tomatoes are growing like crazy and the plants are so big they are falling out of the cages. The tomatoes are taking a long time to ripen this year, but they are slowly starting to go red! Tomatoes are one of the biggest things I grow as they freeze well and I use them frequently in sauces and soups. Cooked tomatoes are extremely healthy (Cooked tomatoes are healthier than raw tomatoes are), but buying canned tomatoes suck, as the acid in the tomatoes takes the cancer causing crap off the inside of the can. I try to grow enough to last the year. 

The broom corn is looking great! Broom corn is not edible, it what corn brooms are made from. 

The squash is growing like crazy! 

Watermelons!

Today's harvest - lots of beans, peas, some Swiss chard for supper, lots of onions and some of the warped cucumbers. I made the other yellow misshapen cucumbers into dill relish and it turned out great! Now between the radish relish and dill relish I should have enough relish to last the year!

Flowers in the front garden, so pretty :)

Pumpkin for Dogs

Pumpkin is an excellent natural way to help a dog with constipation or any type of bowel blockage. My Chihuahua tends to suffer from belly and poopie problems a lot and pumpkin is always a huge help.Last summer, my Chihuahua swallowed some stuffing from a toy and had to go to the vet. The vet said if he didn't pass it, he would have to have surgery. I gave him about a tablespoon of pumpkin three times a day, and after three days he had passed the toy stuffing! No need for surgery!

Unfortunately most of us don't have pumpkin on hand all the time and end up buying a big can that only gets half used. I saw a suggestion online that I thought we excellent - pumpkin ice cubes! Simply take some pumpkin, plop it in a ice cube tray, when frozen, just pop out and put in a freezer bag. :)

They look a little funky, but they work great. Now I will always have pumpkin on hand for when my furbabies need it!

Old Carpet

The upstairs carpet in the house I rent was really nasty. I really should have removed it last year, but was waiting until I had the time and money to replace it. The other day, I finally had enough of it and removed it all. The under pad was so old it was basically all dust when the carpet was removed. :( Yuck

So, I removed all the carpet in the hall and swept up all the dust and then washed the floor, several times.

So, now the upstairs smells MUCH better and is a cleaner environment, but obviously the floors really can't stay as they are.

So, I'm thinking I have some high quality floor paint, I'm gonna paint the floor to seal it in (and make it look better) and then caulk the edges to help cut down on dust, bugs, drafts etc., and then get some runner carpets. Much easier to keep clean. 

I'll let you know how the painting etc goes :)

Catnip

Catnip is a perennial herb that is part of the mint family. It grows 3-5 feet tall and its branches are covered in hair with oblong scalloped leaves. It flowers are white with purple and are seen from June through September.

Catnip originates from Europe, Asia and Africa. Settlers brought it to North America. It has long since naturalized throughout the continent and grows quite prevalent. Catnip grows best in full sun but can easily tolerate partial shade. It also does well in almost any soil type. Catnip is easy to grow and propagate, be it from seed or root division. It grows well in planters, pots, window boxes and gardens. The catnip leaves and flowers are harvested in July and September and should be dried in the sun. They are best stored in paper bags.

Catnip can be used as a spice to flavour soups and stews. It has an unusual yet lovely flavour.  For humans, it is mostly used as an herbal tea to help many health issues. Some enjoy a little lemon and/or honey in their catnip tea.

Catnip has anti-spasmodic, diaphoretic, carminative and astringent properties and is also a mild sedative. It has many old folk remedy uses. Teas can be made from it to help with digestive upsets and gas, spasms, colic, bronchitis, colds, headaches, morning sickness and a sleep aid. It has also been used to treat enema and to help detoxify the body. Catnip is said to also help with cancer.

Catnip is considered an aphrodisiac for cats. However it is estimated that 15-20% of cats do not even respond to it. This seems to be a genetic trait in the cat. As catnip triggers sexual behaviour in cats, most kittens, below six months of age, will not respond to it.  Cats do not eat catnip, it is the scent that affects them. The big cats like lions and tigers also enjoy catnip.

Not all catnip is equal. Every plant has different levels of potency. Furthermore, how the catnip is processed, dried and preserved makes a difference on its potency levels. Most commercial catnip is not the highest quality as much as its potency is lost while it is being processed, stored and shipped. Once the catnip leaves have lost its color and/or scent it is no longer suitable for use in cooking, herbal remedies or for cats. Catnip is easy to grow, even for those living in apartments. The best catnip is that. that you grow yourself.

Freshly harvested catnip

I was told by an experienced herbologist that catnip should be harvested pre flowering for medicinal purposes and after flowering for cats. The pic above shows catnip harvested after flowering. 

Dried and cleaned catnip

Rifle vs Crossbow

After dealing with the poor little skunk with distemper last week, it got me thinking that perhaps I should buy something encase it happens again (the skunk was the second animal to come into me yard in the last year with distemper), I asked on Facebook everyone's opinion on the two and which they thought was better and was answered by a myriad of answers. I noticed that the majority of the people (not all, but the majority) that said rifle were people that had not hunted before, while everyone that said crossbow had been hunting in the past. Now, I'm not looking for to go hunting, I'm looking for something to kill a diseased animal as quickly and painlessly as possible. I'm also not looking to shot anything from a distance or that is moving quickly. I'm looking for something that will kill a small animal from 4-5 feet away.

As I don't know a heck a lot about rifles or crossbows (I have a longbow I can use, but have never used a crossbow and am not a big fan of guns at all) I spent a few hours today googling the two:

Crossbows:

• You do not need a license to own a crossbow (Unless you want to hunt with it) 
• There is a 58% higher chance of wounding an animal instead of killing it when using a crossbow compared to a rifle.
• Crossbows take more time to become proficient with than rifles do
• Crossbow practice can happen in the backyard, rifle practice cannot.
• You can legally hunt in Ontario with a crossbow (With a license) but it must have a certain amount of draw to hunt deer, moose and bear
• Crossbow hunting is banned in several provinces due to it being the "perfect poachers weapon"
• A crossbow is basically silent
• A 45 pound draw hunting bow has the killing ability of a 30-06 rifle
• Some animal right groups like PETA say a crossbow does not kill as quickly as a rifle so is therefore crueler than a rifle; however, hunters disagree.An experienced bowman can kill just as efficiently with a crossbow.
• Single hand crossbows are illegal in Canada 

Rifle:

• A gun license is required for a rifle - It costs $60 and lasts 5 years. A test must be passed to get a rifle license
• Generally (But not always) a rifle is more expensive than a crossbow
• A rifle is easier to learn how to use than a crossbow is
• To practice with a rifle you need to go to a gun club (which will cost money)
• A rifle is damn noisy when fired and a neighbor may call the police (You wouldn't get in trouble for shooting a diseased animal, but who needs the extra headache)
• Rifle needs proper locked storage which is an added expense

Lots of pros and cons for each. I think in the end a crossbow makes more sense. I'm not planning on going out hunting, and from what I've read a crossbow will give just as quick of death as a rifle will. I think in the fall when I have the time, I'll head out to some sporting stores and see what I can find. I believe we are all children of the Earth and its our responsibility to take care of all of our brother and sister animals the best we can. An animal with distemper is in pain and could spread the disease, the right thing to do is give it a quick and merciful death. 

Working Online - Art

One of the major ways I make money is by selling greeting cards and art designs on numerous sites online. The sites that I sell on are all POD (Print on demand) and I get a small commission every time someone buys something with one of my designs on it. I often get asked what sites I sell on (as other people are interested in giving it a try), so I have compiled a list of the sites I am on:


https://www.zazzle.ca
Zazzle – I make the most money on Zazzle (and Greeting Card Universe). Its a fairly easy site to use and pays via Paypal. You have to fill out a tax form, but their is no tax number required.

http://www.cafepress.ca/
Cafe Press: I like Cafe Press, but not sell much on it. I haven't made enough to get payment from them, but there doesn't seem to be any tax number issues.

http://www.wordans.ca
Wordans: I just started here. The site is super easy to se, but all files must be in PNG format with a transparent background. I've sold a couple of things already, but not enough to get a payment.

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com
Greeting Card Universe: I make the most sales on GCU, but you have to have a IRS tax number to get paid. I take my earnings in cards and then sell the cards at fests/events

http://www.123rf.com
123RF: You can sell clip art and photography here. I've sold pretty good here and goten paid no problem. You have to scan/upload photos of ID to prove you are Canadian.  Clip art must be submitted in both EPS and Jpeg files.

http://cutcaster.com/
Cutcaster: I sell clip art and some photos here. Haven't sold enough to get paid, plus you need an IRS tax number.

http://www.redbubble.com
RedBubble: I joined it several years ago and never got around to doing anything on it. I'm a little bummed at the lack of options on the site, but its at least fairly easy to navigate.

http://www.imagekind.com/
Imagekind: I haven't sold much on here, but its a good site for selling photography on. Imagekind is owned by Cafe Press

There are certainly many more sites that are similar, but I haven't tried them yet ...perhaps in the future :)

Distemper

It was a bit of a sad and stressful day around my house . The little skunk that I saw yesterday came back and he was definitely in worse shape. He was staggering and disoriented, and was showing the symptoms of advanced distemper. I carefully approached the skunk and was able to get the dog cage over it. I called the Sarnia Animal control, who sent me to someone else, who sent me to someone else, who again sent me to someone else. In the end I could not find one animal welfare agency that would come out and take care of the poor fella. The last person I talked to said to shot it.

I did a lot of research on distemper the afternoon and learned a few interesting thing.

• Distemper is passed through bodily fluids - saliva, eye discharge, urine, feces, and even skunk spray
• There are two completely different types of distemper - canine and feline. Cats cannot catch canine distemper and dogs cannot catch feline distemper: however. animals like skunks, coons and ferrets can catch both.
• Humans cannot catch distemper
• Distemper is more prevalent in young animals
• The distemper virus cannot live outside the host for long and can be killed with heat, sun and disinfectant cleaning products - bleach
• The symptoms of distemper are very similar to rabies.
• In adult domestic dogs there is a 50% mortality rate from distemper
• There is no cure for distemper; however, there are numerous herbal remedies to help the dog's immunity system fight off the disease
• Vitamin A and C help to fight distemper

Unfortunately, in the end the poor skunk had to be killed. So sad.

Eggs in a Tomato Recipe

I saw this recipe on Facebook (From some backyard chicken group I'm on) and though I'd give it a try as it looked super easy.

Ingredients:
 a couple of eggs
Large ripe tomatoes
Spices

Optional:
Some onion/sausage/bacon/cheese/peppers etc

Tomatoes, eggs and fresh basil

Hollow out the tomatoes and mix the eggs and basil together (and anything else you'd like add)

Fill the tomatoes with the egg mixture (Perhaps top with some grated cheese?)

Cook about 30-45 minutes (until egg is fully cooked - check with fork)

For me, the nice thing with this recipe, I have all the ingredients at my home - Fresh tomatoes and basil in the garden and eggs from my hens :)

Skunk

I was out tidying the wood pile as I'm expecting a couple of cords this week and wanted to make sure I was all ready for it, and noticed a little skunk over at my garbage.

He's such a cute little guy! The poor little sweetheart was limping, so i hope he's gonna be ok. I carefully hered him back to the ravine (and cleaned up the garbage he had gotten into) so all my critters would be safe. 

I was a little worried about the little fella being diseased, as I didn't think skunks were out much during the day, but google tells me that its actually not that uncommon.

Here's an interesting site with site info:

http://www.wildskunkrescue.com/

http://www.wildskunkrescue.com/rabies.htm