Easter Chicks

Well our little family has just gotten bigger! We now have 3 brand new baby chicks just in time for Easter! It has been a dream of mine for some time now to have a small hobby farm and to become more sustainable as a family. It’s important to The Hubs and me for our children to understand that food isn’t just something that you buy in a can at the grocery store and that eating fresh food not only tastes better, but also delivers more nutrients than processed or packaged food. We want them to grow up realizing where our food comes from and to have a better appreciation for what it takes to feed us. I also like the fact that we will be spending time caring for our chickens as a family, and that our son will be having his own chicken to care for, therefore teaching him a bit of responsibility at the same time. And I especially can’t wait to have farm fresh eggs and some new little friends following me around while I work in our gardens!

And now introducing (drum roll please)…..

Rosie! Rosie is a 5 day old Barred Plymouth Rock. This is my son’s chick and she is a very curious and friendly baby.

 

 

Willow! Willow is a 3 day old Black Star (a.k.a. Black Sex Link). She is a little shy and is just starting to get a few wing feathers.

 

 

And Henrietta! Henrietta is a 6 day old Buff Orpington. She is my favorite. She will sit in my hand and always pokes her head up when she hears my voice. She’s so sweet!

 

More chick pics….

 

FYI: The red tint in some of the pictures is due to the infrared light in our brooder, which keeps the chicks warm.

 

I’m so excited to watch these little babies grow and will be sharing more of our chicken story and pictures right here on the blog. I’d also like to hear any stories and see any pictures that you have about your chickens! Also, I have lots of information on chickens pinned on the Blueberries & Bees Pinterest page so be sure to check that out! Well it’s just about time to go check on those precious little babies so that’s all for now!

 

As always, thanks for reading and I’ll see you again soon!

 

Kellie

Thrift Shop Find: Vintage Crockery

Recently, I have discovered a fantastic local antiques and second hand shop in the downtown district of our little town. It is called Old Town Mercantile and I could literally spend the entire day looking at all of the wonders that this little store contains. Husband be warned, much money will be spent here ;). I was wandering my new found haven and came across this little treasure:

 

It is a vintage West Bend crock made in 1976 to commemorate America’s bicentennial. I couldn’t find much information other than that on it, but I love the Fork & Spoon logo on the front and think that it may have been a promotional item. It was in great condition with no chipping or cracks so I snatched it up and brought it home.

Now, it may not look like much but this little crock holds a ton of possibilities. It could hold any number of counter essentials such as flour or sugar, or it could be used at dinner time to keep side dishes warm (like a bean pot), or it could function as a super cute indoor plant pot. I had originally planned on using it to house my sourdough yeast start, but after getting it home, I decided that it was much too wonderful to hide in the refrigerator, so it became our new cookie jar!

This is only my second crock (The first one was given to me by my Grandmother and currently is what I use to hold my sourdough start. It has tons of sentimental value.) so I wouldn’t by any means consider myself a collector of these fabulous little containers, but I would definitely recommend a crock to anyone that is looking for a good, sturdy pot or canister. Owning one has definitely opened my eyes to the many possibilities of these wonderful things and I will be keeping my eyes open for more like it.

What do you think about my little find? Do you collect crocks? I would love to hear your stories about your crockery or thrift store finds, so drop me a line!

Hope you all have a spectacular weekend and I will see you again soon! Thanks for reading!

 

Kellie

Weekend Project: Step Stool For My Tiny Tot

Anyone with a toddler can tell you, they are quite the little movers and shakers. Our littlest honey bee is into EVERYTHING! She’s here, she’s there, she’s up, she’s down. Really, it’s exhausting. Lately, she has been climbing on anything that her tiny feet can fit on. While watching her attempt one of her dangerous stunts one day, the hubs and I came up with the idea of giving her a little step stool of her very own. One that she could both sit and stand on, and that would be sturdier than the wipes box she currently favored.

We were out and about last weekend checking out a local antique and second hand store and, as luck would have it, found THE one. It was nice and sturdy, and made, what looks like by hand, out of real wood. It was also a good size for my little girl to be able to pick up and move on her own. It was instant love so we paid the nice lady behind the counter $12 for it and just like that, it was ours, and I had my next project!

 

 

I had saved a special piece of scrapbook paper that I knew that I wanted to use to make something special for my tiny honey bee. I decided that this would be the perfect project to use it on and I picked out a pink colored paint to match the paper. But first, I needed to prepare the step stool for painting. The stool was painted black by its last owner and as everyone knows, black is the hardest color to cover, so I began by priming it with paint primer and let it dry completely.

 

Next, I gave the stool a few coats of pink and made sure that every nook and cranny was well covered and let it dry overnight.

 

Then came the tricky part of putting the paper on the top of the stool. The stool that we had chosen had rounded corners and no sharp edges, which is perfect for a child to play with but not so perfect for trying to glue paper to. I placed the paper with the side that I wanted showing facing down. I flipped the stool over on its top and traced the top of the stool onto the paper, getting as close to the top edge as I could.

 

Then, I removed the stool and cut the traced shape out of the paper. After placing the paper on the top of the stool, I trimmed around the edges with an Xacto knife until I was satisfied with how the paper fit. Then I glued it down with Mod Podge (wonderful stuff btw) and let it dry for a few hours.

This particular stool has two holes cut out in the center of the top, so next, I cut out those two circles. To do this, I flipped the stool over, making sure to place a cutting mat under it so I wouldn’t cut into my work table, and roughly cut out each circle. After that was done, I flipped the stool back over and carefully trimmed each circle.

 

I had some of the patterned paper left over so I used it to cut out a few flowers and added them onto the sides of the stool for decoration. I was now ready to seal the stool so that the paper on top and the decorations couldn’t be peeled off by little fingers. Using the same Mod Podge that I used to glue that paper and flowers down, I painted the entire stool making sure to cover the paper and its edges well. I did this twice and once more around the edges of the paper to ensure that it was covered entirely. I let it dry overnight, and it was complete!

 

  I am so happy with how this project turned out and I think my little girl is too!

Let me know what you think in the comments below! Thanks for reading and I’ll see you again soon! Have a wonderful day!

 

Kellie

DIY Activity Dice for Kids

 

Like most other kids his age, my 8 year old son is FULL of energy! He is constantly in motion and is ready for a game of tag or catch at any time. As the Mama of a go, go, goer, I am always looking for a good way for my busy bee to burn up some of that energy. My son really likes games so I thought that a set of activity dice would be good for him. He could use them anytime, indoors or outdoors and be spending some of that excess energy! Sounds good to me!

Making these activity dice was really simple and only took about 1 hour, including drying time. Keep in mind that the more paint that you put on your dice, the longer they will take to fully dry, so project times may vary. Here’s what ya do:

 

Supplies Needed

*2 bare wood blocks any size but kids tend to like the larger, more chunky ones, especially younger kids. The ones I used were 1 ¾”.

* White Acrylic Craft Paint

* A paintbrush

* A paint cup or tray, or whatever you want to paint from

* Some sort of covering for your work surface to protect it from getting paint on it. I just used some newspaper

* Several Permanent Markers in Assorted Colors

 

Step 1: Prepare your space

Gather materials and lay out whatever you are using to cover your work surface. Squeeze a little white acrylic paint into your paint cup or tray.

 

Step 2: Paint all but one side of your wooden blocks with the white paint. Let the blocks dry to the touch with the un-painted side down. Once the blocks are dry to the touch, paint the un-painted bottoms and let dry. Repeat this process until you are satisfied with the color. I did 3 coats of paint on mine. Let them dry.

 

Step 3: Taking only one dice, write 1 activity on each side of the dice until all the sides have an age appropriate activity written on them. Be sure to use actions that your child is capable of doing. For example, you could write “hop on one foot” or “pretend like you’re swimming” or “run in place as fast as you can” for older kids, or “march in place” or “jump” for the younger set. Set aside.

 

Step 4: Using the other blank dice, write different times on each side. Keep in mind that you don’t want to put more than a couple minutes on there and limit the times to seconds if you are using these dice with young children or toddlers, they’re only kids after all. I did 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 45 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, and 1 minute 45 seconds.

 

That’s it! So easy and your kids will love them!

So now what, right? Get your activity dice, grab a timer that is capable of timing seconds, and grab your kids, you’re ready to play!

Here’s how:

If there is more than one child playing, decide how turns will be made. Have the first player roll both dice (one at a time, both together, it doesn’t matter). That player must do the action that is on the activity dice for as long as they rolled on the time dice. For example, say little Timmy rolled “Hop on One Foot” and “30 Seconds”. He would then have to hop on one foot for 30 seconds. Pretty self-explanatory. Keep track of the time and once the first player is done with their action, it’s the next person’s turn.

 

There are so many benefits to this game. It can be played with as few or as many players as you want, you can play it for as long or short of a time as you want, it teaches younger children how to follow simple instructions, and older children that can read can play it by themselves. It is also a great way to incorporate more physical activity into anyone’s day ( ahem, parents included) and it gets out some of that pent up energy that kids seem to accumulate so easily.

 

My son enjoys playing with these dice so much I just had to pass them along to you guys! I hope that the children in your life enjoy them just as much. Enjoy!

 

See you again soon!

 

Kellie

Spring Cleaning 101: The Backsplash

Our backsplash area after a good scrubbing.

 

This morning as I was making breakfast, the sun was coming up over the trees casting a beautiful, warm light into our kitchen and I couldn’t help but notice….how dirty our backsplash had gotten. EEEEEWWW!! I was so grossed out that I decided then and there that today was the day to start my spring cleaning, beginning with that greasy wall behind our stove. Now I don’t know if you have ever had the pleasure of trying to remove old, cooked on grease from anything, but it’s not a pleasant or easy task. I tried my regular counter spray to no avail. I tried hot soapy water, didn’t even touch it. So I decided to mix up my own concoction and give it a try, and guess what? It worked! I mixed it up and heated it slightly in the microwave to make it more powerful against the grime. Using the abrasive side of a dish sponge, I scrubbed the grease spots with my newfound cleaning formula and then wiped the area clean with a rag. Depending on how severe your grease problem is, you may have to repeat this process a few times (I had to go over ours twice. Yuck!). So you may be asking, what is the formula!?! Well, here it is. Did I mention that it’s free from harmful chemicals? J

 

All Purpose Cleaner

 
2 Cups of Distilled Water
1 Tbs. of White Vinegar
¼ tsp. of Free & Clear Dish Soap (double this if you have really stubborn grease)
10-15 Drops of Eucalyptus Essential Oil
Whisk all ingredients together and put in a spray bottle or simply dip your scrubber right in the bowl. Discard any that is left over if you are using it straight out of the bowl to prevent spreading bacteria.

Before -Yuck! Those grimey little grease spots are SO hard to remove!

 

After - What a difference huh?



I hope that this cleaner works as well for you as it did for me. I know I will be replacing my regular stove cleaner with this from now on! Happy cleaning!

 

See you soon!

 

Kellie