Although our own “thanksgiving” family get together is over and Will and I will spend Thanksgiving Day alone, we still plan on having a small celebration as we are very thankful for all we have and all we’ve managed to accomplish. I hear so many people grousing over their problems and am shocked at how small their problems really are. When you have relatively good health, a roof over your head, food on the table, and a warm place to live, why complain? There are a whole lot of people, worldwide and of course, in this country, who don’t enjoy these simple things. We are immensely grateful!
We pardoned our own tom turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, and I bought a cheap, on sale, Butterball frozen turkey instead. He is our only tom, so we sure couldn’t butcher him. The hens would be so unhappy!
Our chickens have gone into molt and our egg supply has dropped to zero. I do have some eggs saved up in the cool basement but I’m planning on installing a solar light in the chicken coop to get them laying again after they grow out their new feathers as the price of eggs has skyrocketed. I saw them for between $3 and $5 a dozen and they are not organic or anything special. Holy cow! I’m afraid that’s just the tip of the iceberg as I’m thinking prices on just about everything is going to go up and up. I feel so bad for folks on a fixed income, who must choose between groceries and rent or house payments. Homesteading is a wonderful way of life! Happy Thanksgiving! — Jackie
Happy thanksgiving to you and Will! Wishing you the best as we head into the winter.
I hope you had a very Happy Thanksgiving!! Winter’s here with a vengeance. Our high today was 16 degrees F. Brrr. After thirties too. Bam! Winter is here.
Jackie, what do your chickens eat for feed? Do you grow your own? The price of feed has more than tripled in the past couple of years where I am.
At present, we mix our feed. We feed our outdated and reject corn, which we raise for our seed business, mixed with scratch feed from the local mill, Homestead Mills. We also raise extra squash and pumpkins, which we also feed them, along with household scraps. Yep, the price of feed has sure gone up!! I know we’re raising more and more each year to help with that.
My first Thanksgiving as a widow after a 56+ years marriage. Two of our three sons made it for the day along with spouses, grandchildren and great grandchildren and 3 dogs. 😁 I am blessed. My wood rack was filled, they did the chores and I made it through the day with love, laughter and too much food. I agree-relatively good health after a heart ablation this summer, a roof over my head and my God who loves me. I am blessed. I will remember you in prayer as you come to mind regarding your upcoming procedure. Blessings on you and yours.
Thank you Sheryl. Those “firsts” are always hard. I know from experience. It sounds like you had a nice day, regardless. That sure helps, doesn’t it? Family and love are a huge blessing!
So thankful for health, roof, food storage, .Self reliance is not something one should be without. for those who must depend on others, like the churches who serve the holiday(regular days too for some communities) i pray they survive the rising costs. Yikes! 5$ for ‘regular’ eggs. my girls are mostly through their molt but the production is slow in building back. this year i froze whole eggs in muffin tins; Perfect! overeasy, baking or scramble. Great. alas i still rely on just storing a few dozen for boiling.
hope the speeding days to our next holiday gatherings go healthy and stress less for ALL.
Yes! Your last sentence really says it. The rising prices are crazy! I just got a few seed catalogs in the mail and was horrified to see some sweet corn varieties at over $60 per pound! I thought $28 was crazy last year. Where will it all end???
I usually buy hybrid sweet corn seed so I’m not tempted to save it for seed instead of eating it and canning it. But this year, the heck with that!! I’ve got plenty of nice open pollinated varieties’ seed and I’ll use that. NOT paying that much!!
And grocery….and other prices are equally nuts. Holy cow, I sure pray for folks on a limited income. Everyone, plant a garden!!!
A Happy Thanksgiving to all. This morning I had my traditional turkey sandwich and a piece of sweet potato pie with my morning coffee.
This morning I also ran across this quote which I found to be really relevant to Jackie’s opening paragraph:
“He who is not satisfied with a little, is satisfied with nothing.” – Epicurus, Greek philosopher
Boy, that sure hits the nail on the head!! Some folks will never be satisfied and spend a useless, sad life because of it. Pretty awful!!!
Jackie-I read of your upcoming TAVR procedure.i will I’ll definitely say a prayer for you. Most Americans don’t realize how lucky they are. If you have clothes, roof over your head, food and change in your pocket you are better off than 90% of the world. My chickens are laying again with the addition of light. I’m wishing you a safe procedure and good outcome and rapid recovery. God Bless.
Thank you Everett! I wish more folks would be satisfied with less. I’m not saying live in poverty, just live sensibly, provide for yourself all you can and be grateful for what you do have. Even years ago, when I was very poor and on food stamps, I bought bulk foods like rice, beans, flour, sugar, etc., grew a huge garden, grew a huge garden, canned and worked to do better. I didn’t buy pre-packaged or frozen meals. We ate very well and soon got so we didn’t need food stamps anymore.
Managed to get a bite each of the main ingredients, plus a few desserts at our community Thanksgiving dinner. My church fed over 250 homeless and fixed income folks from our neighborhood yesterday. Exhausting, but definitely worth it. Thankful to have been able to participate in 5 of the 8 years they have done this.
How wonderful!! I’m so glad those folks got to have a nice meal and companionship with love.
And a Happy Thanksgiving right back to you. I agree, most folks don’t appreciate what they have.
One way I have heard of to help stagger the chickens molting is to have chickens of different hatch times (spring/fall etc). I *think* my chickens are laying but something is getting the eggs before we get to them. Sigh.
That does work. However, most of my hens are all spring hatched and over a year old. Pretty set in their ways. Like me!
I hear so many people who have plenty to be thankful for, always wanting MORE. Gotta have this or that new toy. Just put it on a credit card! Gee, I was happy living on a mountain, snowed in 6 months of the year with a year-old baby, living very poor.
I don’t get it.
Don’t own a credit card, never have and never will. If I can’t pay for it then I don’t need it. Had 33 for Thanksgiving. I love it.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and Will and all!
I was wondering if you ever had water glassed eggs for the storage?
I would love to hear your take on that practice.
Yes, I have water glassed eggs. It works very well when using unwashed (non-store) eggs. I just hate the slime you reach into to get them. Ish! I just store mine in the unheated basement and they last until the girls are starting to lay in the spring.
I hope you had a very happy Thanksgiving!
I water glassed several dozen eggs this summer for the first time. Now I’m using them in my baking and they are perfect! I have yet to try them for my scrambled eggs in the morning but I have no doubt they’d still be good! The pioneers knew what they were doing!
Happy Thanksgiving Jackie and Will!
Happy Thanksgiving to you too!
Happy Thanksgiving. My chickens are on strike too! About three weeks ago the floor of their shelter looked like it was bedded wit feathers instead of wood shavings! We use a rechargeable light that hangs from a bracket. It getting dark at 4PM and light at 9AM with another month of shrinking daylight before it starts getting longer. We are at about 62 degrees North here in Copper Basin Alaska.
Happy Thanksgiving all!!
To get through the molting season with eggs you can put some up when the hens are laying well. We use 1/2 gallon canning jars, but any airtight container will work. For the 1/2 gallon jar I put 1/3 cup of pickling lime in the bottom, then fill it CAREFULLY with eggs, usually 16-18 depending on size, then mix 1/2 cup of pickling lime with 3 cups of water and pour over the eggs, making sure the top one is covered. Put the lid on and put it away. We keep them in our garage which is insulated but not heated or cooled so the temperature follows the outside temp. We’ve eaten eggs kept 14 months this way. We use and refill a jar a month and keep 12 jars in storage so we are constantly eating year-old eggs. in the three years we’ve been doing this we’ve had one egg that smelled “off” so we threw it out. Have had a few break in storage and likewise threw those out as well. As with anything stored long-term each egg should be inspected to make sure it is edible. The yolk sac tends to denature in storage so it frequently breaks when the egg is cracked so you can’t always make sunny-side up eggs, and the shells often crack when you boil them which allows a bit of the white out before it cooks and seals the crack. No harm in this except they don’t look pretty for deviled eggs. There is no difference in taste and they work just fine for baking. For prepping purposes I try to find as many things that I can store long-term without electricity as possible. Eggs are a great option!!
Yep, I’ve done that too. But I still prefer to just store my unwashed, clean late fall eggs in the basement, as is, in cartons. My eggs nearly always keep until the hens start laying again in the spring. If I need earlier eggs, I boot up the protein and add solar lights to the coop. They quickly respond.
Happy thanksgiving Jackie and Will. My granddaughter has a few chickens and sell eggs to a few customers. They have stopped laying for the winter.
Happy Thanksgiving! We like to give the girls a vacation in the winter. Some of them are over 6 years old and still lay an egg a day! Can’t complain.
Free range organic from a egg supplier in our area cost $5/dozen. Unknown source, non-organic, non-free range at Wallyworld cost the same. I like local food suppliers – consumers know where they live and they care about their local community.
People tend to grouse as they think they should just have it better, despite their actions and choices.
90% of T-Day stress is over for me – the turkey feels like it is thawed and out of town kiddo made it here safely. Albeit an alternate route due to a semi roll over. I do miss the Teamsters, they’d have truckers off the road in bad weather as well as looking out for their drivers.
Yep, our Thanksgiving is over and I’m playing clean up and catch up.
I agree. A lot of folks always want more, as if MORE would keep them happy, which it doesn’t as it always comes at a dire cost. Credit card and other debt is at an all-time high. We have one credit card with a zero balance. I burned the other two, after paying them off. Lesson learned!