Sunday, April 14, 2013

Chick Update


Well so far, so good with our little (almost) feathered friends. Rosie, Willow, and Henrietta are all doing well and growing fast. As a first time chicken owner, I had no idea how fast they grow and change! Wow! They went from cute, tiny, little fuzz balls that fit in the palm of your hand, to sorta fuzzy, sorta feathered, sorta bald little creatures that only a mother could love in a matter of days!

 


Rosie is starting to get those trademark Barred Rock black and white striped feathers. She’s going to be a gorgeous bird when she gets all her feathers! Henrietta is starting to get big. She is noticeably larger that Rosie although they are closer in age, and I’m guessing she will probably be a fairly large bird. Willow now has more feathers on her wings than fuzz. She is still quite a bit smaller than the other two, but she is also the youngest. In fact, they are all growing so fast that we recently had to upgrade to a larger brooder and in just a couple weeks, they will be ready for their coop! Watch for more updates on these guys soon! Thanks for reading!

 

Kellie

Thursday, March 28, 2013

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

Monday, March 18, 2013

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

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

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

Thursday, March 7, 2013

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

Monday, March 4, 2013

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

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Coughs and Colds and Runny Noses - Oh My! My Favorite Ways to Relieve Cold Symptoms Naturally


With all this cold, snowy weather we have been getting lately, I guess it’s only fitting that every person in our house has been sick with one thing or another. Any parent out there can testify that there is nothing worse than having a sick child. It’s utterly heartbreaking. And it tends to make even the biggest super-mom feel a little helpless. Add on top of that, that my littlest honey bee can’t yet take traditional cold medicines (she’s still too young) to help relieve any of her symptoms. *Sigh* What is a mom to do? Well I’m going to let you in on a couple of our family’s favorite and natural ways to combat colds.

 ***This information is not in any way a substitute for professional advice. Please contact a medical professional to discuss these remedies before trying any of them. If you are in need of medical assistance, please contact a medical professional. Please see our disclaimer for more information.***

Cold Combatant #1 – The Humidifier

When cold season strikes at our house, this puppy is rarely turned off. It helps moisturize the air and helps keep air passages from getting that dry, “fiery” feeling.

 
Cold Combatant #2 – Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

 

There’s nothing more soothing than a warm bowl of Chicken Noodle to comfort someone with a cold. Making your own Chicken Noodle is super easy and only has to take a few minutes to prepare. Seriously, this recipe is hard to mess up and using a store bought rotisserie chicken that’s already cooked majorly cuts your cooking time. You can add or take away anything you like, but this is how I make it:


Kellie’s Super Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

 6 cups of organic chicken stock

1 package of egg noodles (I like to make my own egg noodles for this, but if I’m in a hurry, I’ll use packaged. If you are using homemade noodles use about 3 cups.)

1 rotisserie chicken, meat removed and set aside

3 or 4 organic carrots, sliced

2 organic celery stocks, sliced

1 organic yellow onion, diced

In a large soup pot, heat chicken stock on medium high heat until it comes to a boil. Add your noodles and cook for 5 min. Reduce heat to medium and add in carrots, celery, and onion. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add chicken and cook until the noodles are al dente. Serve in mugs or bowls with bread for dipping.

 
Cold Combatant #3 – Honey

Did you know that honey is an effective cough suppressant? I love having a cup of ginger tea with a couple of teaspoons of honey in it to help clear out congestion (plus I like the spiciness of the ginger. Woooh!). And recently I found a wonderful product for my kids, Little Colds by Little Remedies Honey Pops. They’re a natural and tasty way to calm sore throats in children, my kids love them! Find out more about honey and colds here.

***You should never give honey to a child under the age of 1***

 
Cold Combatant #4 – Eucalyptus and Tea Tree Essential Oils

I love eucalyptus! The essential oil of eucalyptus helps clear up congestion and mucus, is anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory! Pretty amazing stuff, I think! You can use it in a steam inhalation or dab a drop or two on your neck or chest. You can also make a rub with it by adding a few drops to a base oil such as almond or coconut oil, and rubbing it on your chest and neck. I personally like to add a few drops to a pot of steaming water and letting it vaporize throughout the house, or I’ll add a few drops to the tank of our humidifier (See Cold Combatant #1).

Tea tree oil has anti-microbial, anti-viral, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial qualities. I use it in the same way I use the eucalyptus, by adding it to a steaming pot of water and letting it vaporize. This will help purify and also deodorize your indoor air. It also aids in decongestion. I wouldn’t put tee tree oil directly on your skin due to possible allergic reactions. Like always consult a professional for more info.

***Both Eucalyptus and Tee Tree oils are TOXIC if ingested!!! Keep them out of the reach of children and consult a medical professional before using.***

 
Well I hope that these remedies help you and your family this cold season as much as they have helped us. Cold and flu season can be the hardest time of year for any parent, but as you can see there are safe and effective natural ways to help alleviate the discomfort that comes with being sick. Once again I urge you to contact your healthcare provider or a competent medical professional before trying any new remedy or treatment for any condition. Here’s to your good health!

 

See you again soon!

 

Kellie

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Spring Fever


I don’t know about you, but I for one am over this winter. This is what I woke up to this weekend:

 

And yes, that is snow flying in front of my window. Yuck, huh? I say bring on spring! I’m ready for sunshine, pretty flowers, and green grass. And I’m even more ready to begin planting seeds for this year’s gardens! Although it’s still WAY too cold to begin planting anything here, I can reminisce about last year’s gardens and daydream about those to come. I thought I’d share some pics from our gardens and our raised vegetable bed from last year and ask how do you cope with “spring fever”?

 The beginning of our raised veg bed
 
And again a few weeks later
 
One of our potted jalapeno plants
 
                                                                                                                                                                                        Sunflower
 
                                                                                                                

 

                                        Our garden path. This is one of my absolute favorite gardens!
 
 
   
Culver's Root Flower
 
Meadow Sweet flower - "Martha Washington's Plume"




  Bee Balm flowers

 
 
Aahh! Don't you feel better already? I know I do! Wishing you and yours a wonderful end to your weekend!
 
See you soon!

 

Kellie

Thursday, February 21, 2013

I LOVE Chocolate! A Valentine's Tasting Party


I love Valentine’s Day! It’s such a wonderful day to remind those around you that you care. Now we all know that it’s a day that is primarily focused on love for your significant other, but there are so many more types of love out there than that. Love for your kids, love for your friends, love for your pets, love for your family, and so on. Of course the Hubs and I do the Valentine’s Day romance thing with dinner and flowers and all of that, but this year, I wanted to show my dear friends some love on this special day, so I decided to host a Valentine’s themed chocolate tasting party.


Some of you may be wondering what exactly a tasting party is. A tasting party is a get-together that is focused on one type of food or drink. Ever been to a wine tasting? Well it’s sort of like that. Some other examples might include having all Mediterranean fare, or different types of margaritas, only at a tasting party, you have just a small, appetizer sized amount, just enough to taste the flavors. I really enjoy tasting parties, mostly because I’m such a huge fan of appetizers but give tasting parties a try, I promise you’ll be hooked!


 I started off the planning for my choco-stravaganza by purchasing a few different good quality chocolate bars (I don’t recall the exact brands but there was a milk chocolate bar, a bar that contained 70 % cocoa, a bar that contained 85% cocoa, an organic white chocolate and strawberries bar, and an organic dark chocolate and orange bar, you get the idea, anyway). These were my “tasting” chocolates.   I also put together a menu of a variety of small, bite-sized eats, all containing…you guessed it... chocolate!.. in one form or another.  I chose the following for my pint-sized smorgasbord:

 

 Raspberry Filled Chocolate Crepes

Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse

White Chocolate Crème with Roasted Blueberries

Brownie “Love” Bites

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Shortcake Trifles

Chocolate Cheesecake Bites

Chocolate Éclairs


 
You can find some of these recipes on our Pinterest page. I thought the Brownie “Love” Bites were super cute and they were so easy to make. I simply took a boxed brownie mix and made it according to the instructions in a 13x9 pan. After they were baked and cooled, I took an extra small heart cookie cutter and cut the brownie bites out, then arranged them on my serving platter. They were a big hit with minimal effort!


 **TIP** When doing a party that requires multiple dishes it helps a lot if you can choose recipes that can be made a day ahead or that need long periods of refrigeration time. That way, you won’t be trying to prepare and cook several dishes at the same time, saving you boatloads of stress!


 I also had a chocolate fountain set up with some pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, pretzel rods, and marshmallows for dipping. And for drinks, I kept it simple with a selection of red and white wine, water, and tea, and also offered tastes of Choco Vine’s Whipped Cream Wine.
 


For decoration, I stuck with the traditional hearts and love Valentine’s theme (I made most of my decorations, but store-bought works just as well). I tried to not go too over the top with my decorations, sticking mainly to the areas where food or drinks were displayed. I also looked up a few factoids about chocolate on the good ol’ internets, typed them up in a pretty font and scattered them around the house. As for favors, each of my guests received a wine charm for their glass, that I handmade for them.



 
Once my guests arrived, we enjoyed the fruits of my labor and each other’s company. We sampled the different “tasting” chocolates, and compared the varied flavors from one bar to the next. I know that some people like to have paper available so that their guests can take notes on each bar, but I felt like that would be more for a larger number of samples than what I had.

 
I am so glad that I did this party. The company was awesome, the food turned out great, and it gave me a chance to let my friends know how wonderful they are on the holiday of love.
 

 
See you again soon!

 Kellie
 

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Hello!


Okay, here we go…testing, testing, 1,2,3,… is this thing on? Oh, there you are! Hello! Please allow me to introduce myself; my name is Kellie, welcome to my blog! I am a homemaker, a wife, and a mother of two. When I was considering writing a blog, I had to ask myself, “Self,” I said, “what in the world will you blog about?” and that got me thinking about everything that I love and enjoy in my life. I am SO passionate about my family, home, and hobbies that I decided those would be the perfect topics to blog about, and ta-da Blueberries & Bees was born!

Let me tell you a little more about me. First of all, I live in the Rocky Mountains of Idaho. And before you ask, no we are not potato farmers (although we do grow a few in our garden :)). We love to spend a lot of time as a family in the outdoors and most of our summers are spent camping, fishing, and barbequing.  And, being from Idaho, our winters are spent sledding, making snowmen, and shoveling the driveway haha. My husband is my best friend and we have an 8 year old son, and a 2 year old daughter. My kids are my whole world and I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to spend as much time with them as I do! Even on our craziest days I love being a mom, plain and simple!  Rounding out our little family is our beagle, Elvis, and our rescue cat, Shayde.

As for me, I really take joy in creating and crafting and have a very wide variety of crafting hobbies. I could go on for days listing them all, but I will spare you that.  I also love doing DIY and home projects. My most recent project was updating our bathroom (watch for a post on this later).  I like to attend yard sales and finding that perfect item to restore or to create something new and fabulous with!  I’m an avid party planner and regularly host parties and get-togethers for my wonderful friends and family. I am always looking for new things to try and enjoy learning new crafts. Homemaking is my life’s work. I believe that our homes and our families are a big part of what shape us as people, and I strive to create the best home environment for my family as possible.

I hope that you will join me on my journey in all things domestic and possibly learn a thing or two. I look forward to getting to know my readers and followers and can’t wait to see what the future of Blueberries & Bees holds!

Thanks for checking out Blueberries & Bees. If you like what you see, please share the blog with your friends and families!

See you again soon!

Kellie