Christmas Goodies

Last Spring I harvested Blueberries and Peaches locally. I put both up in the freezer until needed. Today I made Blueberry Jam and then Peach Jam. I will use them to put in the gift bags I am making as Christmas gifts.

Tomorrow I will make Cherry Jam, Brownies with a cherry in the middle topped with chocolate. Also on the baking list is peanut butter cookies with a kiss on top.
Suzanne over at 'Chickens in the Road' shared a recipe for cast iron pan candy that I am going to give a try.

Also making 'Cookies in a Jar' to put in the Christmas gift bags.

My Turkey is in the fridge thawing and we will also be having a honey baked ham.

Sorry about that

I was stupid enough to think that I would not get another comment linking to a bad site or worse a computer that was now able to hack into mine or anyone who left a comment. What I mean by that is I disabled the 'must be approved' comment button to allow all comments to show. Stupid me! From now on it will always have to be moderated. I never did click on the link provided by the person who left the comment. Never even went to comments. I saw that it was left by getting a notice in my email. I can tell you that the two people that have left these types of comments were one from China and the other India. I can tell by the way they spell, and how they try to convert to English. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would tell them to 'GET A LIFE' but they already do and that is one of questionable morals. So please forgive me if you happened to click on the link that was left in the comment box I am sorry and it will never happen again.

Before pushing the delete button on the original post I did copy the typed material and simply reloaded the pictures.

No, Binky has not had her babies. We are on day 32. I have read that if it is a small litter she can go 32 to 33 days. Because it is so cold outside she is inside right now in a playpen.

With all the baking and preparing for everyone to come to my house for Christmas I really have not had much time to post. I did take the time to fix this problem.

Thank you for visiting my blog and Merry Christmas!




It will be 30 days tomorrow that Thumper forced himself through the two inch gap and got to Binky. I have been keeping a close eye on Binky since I am not aware of her age I have been worried about her. I did get the nesting boxes built and put them in a little over a week ago. I stuffed them with hay making a little burrow to encourage her to nest. I was beginning to worry that she was not pulling her hair out to line the nest. I went out to check on her about 5 a.m. this morning and during the night she had stuffed her nest with fur. Whew! I will keep you all informed of the progress. If anyone has any advice for me on raising baby bunnies please leave a comment. All advice is welcome.

While outside this morning I did hear the Bobcat. WOW, Bobcat screams are very scary. All of the Ducks and Chickens have been safely locked up and are doing fine so far. I will take the dogs for another tour of marking territory today. I also want to say that while I did say I would not kill the Bobcat I would like to correct myself. I will not go looking for it. If it is brave enough to attack one of my animals in my presence yes, I would kill it. Only because if it is that brave it is now a danger to the small children that live up the road.

Secured Coops

We have secured both coops. Coop # 1 has always been locked up at night. Coop #2 is used by both chickens and ducks. While it has a full size door on it, it also has a duck/doggie door on it so they ducks can come and go as they please. Not Anymore. The duck door is now secure with a deadbolt. I am now opening the full size door to allow them to roam freely during daylight hours locking them up at night. . What that means is that they have a 1/4 acre that is fenced in for them to free range.

The picture I posted yesterday does not allow you to appreciate just how big the hole is. The mound of dirt from being dug out for a larger animal is roughly 3 feet tall. That is how I discovered it. I noticed something different looking into the woods. Which was a pile of light colored clay soil mounded up. I will not fill it in because I have to live in harmony out here in the forest with the critters. For those of you who have just started following my blog I live 2 miles off the paved road out in the woods. I am living in what is called the Big Bend of Florida. It is thousands of acres of woodlands. I am backed up against the Twin Rivers State Forest and also the Suwanee River State Park. The closest major city is 60 miles away. My small town has a population of 402 with the next closest town being Madison which does have a grocery store, hardware store but no major Dept. stores. It is one of the many reasons why I moved here. I do not mind driving to Valdosta or Jacksonville if needed. While we do have a county animal control it is for dogs and cats.

Wife of a Fab Redneck, We have heard the Bobcat scream and I agree it was the scariest sound I have heard out here in the woods. My husband and I were outside enjoying the fireflies and heard it and it scared us both so bad we moved into the safety of our house.

We are assuming it was a Bobcat because it was hauled off with out leaving any evidence anywhere. It could have also been a large Owl since the ducks would sometimes come out at night. I want everyone to know that if it is a Bobcat I will not kill the Bobcat if I see it unless it is coming after me to attack me. I will try to force it to move on by having my dogs mark everything with their scent. We try our best to live in harmony out here in the forest.

I am adding a wildlife cam to my wishlist.

BOBCAT?

Hello Everyone, Recently my neighbor called me to tell me she had seen a Bobcat twice on her property. Yesterday morning something took one of my female Khaki Campbell ducks. Last night something went into the Duck house and took another one. Could it be the Bobcat? I think it is. Whatever is taking the ducks is taking it fast and leaving behind no feathers. Two weeks ago about 250 yards from my property I found a old Turtle hole that something has dug out to make a home. Here in Florida over 250 different species of animals will use old turtle holes as a home. Below is a picture. My sister took better pictures with her camera. One of the pictures is of a Bobcat paw print right on top of the mound. It may be the Bobcat and she may have cubs and that is why she took two ducks in one day. We have had a week of rain with yesterday being the first day of sunshine. Today I will take the dogs for a walk making sure they mark our territory with fresh scents. It seems to have kept wild animals back in the past. If I have lost chickens or ducks it seems to be after the rain has washed back the dogs scent. Does anyone have any advice?

Rained In

We have had rain for a week now. While many of you may be snowed in we are rained in here in N. Florida. Cool temperatures with everything being waterlogged makes being outside very undesirable. I have been taking advantage of this time to decorate, bake and watch a movie every now and then. I watched 'Food Inc.' and it encouraged me to continue to grow as much of my own food as possible and also to buy local food products. I am going to set up a jar today to sprout some broccoli seeds to eat as sprouts on my salads.

This weekend I plan on making candy for Christmas gifts. Also going to make homemade Dog Biscuits giving them to friends and family with dogs as gifts. I found several really cute stainless steel dog food bowls with dog paw prints on the sides of the bowls on the clearance table at Ross. Going to fill the bowls with dog biscuits. Finish up my Christmas Cards and get them in the mail Monday. Finish reading my new issue of 'Countryside & Small Stock Journal.

As I sit here trying to figure out what else to write here on my blog/journal I am looking out the window and wondering if the Ducks and Chickens have had enough of this rain. I open the coops when the sun rises and they roam freely going back into the coops at dusk. They wonder about in the rain and it seems not to bother them.

Binky, Diva and Sterling

Here are some pictures of the rabbits as they all take turns playing and excerising in the house. We have not had any sunshine for a week now. Since the ground is very wet I do not want to put the rabbits in the rabbit run so I am bringing them inside to stretch thier legs.

Christmas Preparations

I have pulled all of the Christmas decorations out. Still have to finish getting all the Christmas decor up. Stacking recipes of cookies, candies and baked goods to be made for gifts. All the ingredients cover one of the counter tops. Cracked pecans yesterday and still have a few to go. Going for a walk today to collect natural items to make my Wreath.

I did spend some time yesterday to complete the nesting boxes for the Rabbits. I filled them with hay and put them in with Tiffany, Diva and Binky. Binky climbed on tops of hers expressing 'Queen of the Mountain". Diva fluffed the hay and Tiffany wanted me to hold her. I spend time with each and everyone of them each day holding and petting them. Had to add fresh Timothy hay to the toys. I put Coastal hay in the cages and stuff their toys with Timothy hay. Toys are empty toilet paper rolls stuffed with hay, mason jar ring, a piece of untreated wood and I give them infant toys that have NO small pieces to chew off and swallow. While the babies bunnies were not planned I am looking forward to them. I am on the look out for good homes.