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3 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Garden

Uncategorized March 12, 2017 Leave a comment

It’s that time of year again when we plan the garden, purchase seeds and get set up to start our seeds indoor. Each year we reevaluate what worked in previous years and plan to try something new. We ask ourselves 3 questions…

What do we like to eat?
- Green Beans might grow great in your backyard, but if you don’t like eating green beans after they have been frozen and preserved…don’t grow 10 plants worth (ask me how I know…no don’t).
What does our summer and fall schedule look like?
- The idea of 20 tomato plants might seem great, but keep in mind that making sauce and canning tomatoes takes time in the fall. Think about the time you will have to commit to preserving your harvest.
- Each plant will need different care when it comes to pest management, watering, weed control and harvest time. Making sure we are home and able to care for the garden at various times is important to a successful harvest.
How much room do we have in the freezer?
- Many garden items can be frozen as an easier option to canning. However, you need a freezer big enough to store it all.

Wondering what we make from our garden? Here is a list of what we grow and how we use them. Our garden isn’t huge, anyone with 1/8 acre or more could grow the same amount.

Lettuce – fresh eating
Kale & Spinach – fresh eating, freeze for smoothies & hot winter dishes
Carrots – fresh and freeze
Tomatoes – fresh, can as sauce, diced, ketchup or salsa, freeze as sauce
Brussels Sprouts – fresh and freeze
Broccoli – fresh and freeze
Strawberries – fresh, freeze and can into jam
Peppers – fresh, freeze, can in salsa and hot pepper jelly
Raspberry & Blackberry – fresh, frozen and can into jam
Corn – fresh and freeze
Asparagus – fresh and freeze
Grapes – we just started last year and hope to produce grapes this year – fresh, freeze, can in jam and grape juice. Wine??? maybe…
Apples – still in the beginning stages – fresh, can into applesauce and pie filling
Sunflowers – decorations and treats for chickens
Herbs – fresh and dried
NEW THIS YEAR Snap Peas – fresh eating
NEW THIS YEAR Pumpkins – fall decor, pumpkin seeds, and perhaps pie filling.

A NOTE ABOUT STARTING SEEDS INDOOR: We have tried to start various seeds indoors, but only tomatoes and peppers seem to be worth the time. Most of the other plants we started indoors would die once they were outside (even after hardening off) and replanting seeds right into the ground was just as successful. In fact, there have been years when we planted a transplant tomato right next to a direct seed plant and they both grew to be the same size at the same time. If your soil is warm (which will likely happen this year in PA after the mild winter) your seeds will germinate quickly anyway.

We can’t wait for another year of fresh backyard produce! What do you like to grow?

🙂 Mama Nice

The Story of Charlie… The Best Dog Ever

Uncategorized October 15, 2016 Leave a comment

The story of our dog Charlie begins with the sad ending of our first dog, Marty. Almost immediately after Papa Nice & I got married, we adopted our first dog – Marty. Marty was a 7 month old Australian Shepherd that had made his way to the SPCA. The shelter didn’t have much information about why he was given up, but after we brought him home we soon learned that Marty had some… “issues”. We worked hard to help Marty overcome his struggles and for the most part he was a family dog that loved us all (in his own way and in his own time). In our minds, Marty was the dog our kids would grow old with.

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Our Marty Dog

One night we came home and found Marty collapsed on the floor with a scared look in his eyes. Marty had a heart condition and there was no cure. At age 7, we lost our Marty dog. The heartache of losing our first dog was immeasurable. There was a huge void in our family and we weren’t sure when we would be ready to open our hearts to another furry sidekick.

As time went on, the kids and I just couldn’t take it anymore. We needed a furry critter to cuddle with. The kids needed a pet to hug when they were sad. Never in my life had I been without a pet in my home, it felt so empty.

Papa Nice, being the softy he is, brought home a cat (much to his dismay, but he wasn’t ready for a dog yet). “Abby Cat” filled the void for about 3 months, but ultimately only a dog would do.

We found Charlie on through an online adoption site and I immediately went to see him. His profile said “Australian Shepherd Mix”. We are “Shepherd” people (you dog lovers know what I mean) and I had to be sure he wasn’t part Lab (no offense “Lab” people, but I just can’t take the energy). We needed a dog that was friendly and smart. He had to be good with other animals (since we now had a cat), good with children and a low prey drive (since we were starting to build our Homestead and we didn’t want our feathered friends to become our new dog’s dinner).

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Our first impression upon meeting Charlie was…”He’s huge!” Australian Shepherds are typically medium sized dogs, and we had small children in a small house. Charlie’s mom was an Australian Shepherd, but no one knew about his Dad. Charlie was a tall, 75 lb fur-ball and I FELL.IN.LOVE. This was the dog for us! Everyone else in the family wasn’t so sure. The kids were a little scared of his size and Papa Nice wasn’t sure he would fit in our house. But Papa Nice saw the look in me eyes and knew there was no turning back.

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Beautiful day with a beautiful dog.

Charlie became a part of the family immediately. He loved us all. He played with the kids gently. He wrestled with Papa Nice. He went on jogs with me. He played with other dogs. He guarded the new chicken coop. We soon learned that Charlie was meant to be our family dog.

Tuckered out after a game of Fetch.

We have since moved to the new Nice Family Homestead and Charlie continues to be the BEST DOG EVER. Sometimes I just look at him siting among us all and tears fill my eyes. He surprises me with every new challenge we present to him. New animals on the farm? No problem, Charlie will love and protect them. New kids coming to visit? No problem, Charlie has cured many children of their fear of dogs. Strangers knocking at the door? No problem, Charlie’s enormous bark will keep them away. Front door left unlocked and the door left open while we are away (not joking, this happened)? No problem, Charlie will sit at the door entrance and wait until we get home.

I’m not sure the words I write could do him justice, but maybe the following pictures will help you seen his awesomeness.

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Charlie went camping many times, slept in a tent with us and rode in a canoe.

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Charlie is the perfect study buddy, porch companion and loves to nap with his family.

Charlie thinks the ducks want to play. They are really trying to show him who is “Boss of the Barnyard”, but Charlie doesn’t care.

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A boy and his dog…going for walks, taking naps and waiting for belly rubs.

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Patiently playing “Ponies” with the girls.

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Saying hello to the new pigs.

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More cuddle time…it’s never enough for Charlie Dog.

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Taking a nap in the sunshine with his “Fur Siblings”.

Playing outside in the snow. Charlie even tries to hop on the sled and ride down the hill.

We love you Charlie Dog and hope everyone finds their own BEST.DOG.EVER. to be a part of their family!

🙂 Mama Nice

The Duck Saga Continues…

Uncategorized September 6, 2016 1 Comment

Guess what??? Our Runner Ducks are MALE!!!! Soon after I wrote the last post about our First Adventure With Ducks, our ducks developed a small curl on the end of their tails. This was a sure tell sign that they are in fact….male. So now I have 2 non-Pekin, non-Khaki Cambell, non-female ducks. Great. Just great. The boys (now named Fudge & Rupert) will still eat bugs around the yard and the kids can occasionally catch them without much of a fight. At least they are bringing joy to someone…

As the summer went on, however, the “boys” became more aggressive. They started to run after the dog and anything else that came near them. They would only run after you when your back was turned and would immediately stop if you turned around and looked at them, but still…not the fat friendly ducks that I had imagined.

“No problem”, I thought. I had a new plan. I would buy 2 white female ducks that were that same age and proven to be female. So off I went to a local farm where various fowl ran a muck all over the property. Chickens, ducks, turkeys, guineas hens…all living in harmony. I picked out two big white Muscovy females and brought them home. I put them in a small pen so the “boys” could check them out without hurting them. Only….Muscovy ducks can fly. Duh. The “girls” flew right over the pen. Charlie Dog ran over to meet them and they flew the fence and down the street. Off I went running after my new ducks. sigh. I caught them and brought them back to their new home, put the dog inside and left the the “boys” and “girls” alone to get to know each other.

It was like watching a middle school dance. The girls were so excited to meet their new flock and would walk over to the boys all pretty like, and the boys would spin in circles talking to each other and not knowing what to do! The girls kept trying, and the boys would either run away or chase the girls away. Not the harmonious duck family I was hoping for.

This went on for a few days. The girls were even bold enough to go in the duck house with the boys at night. But when morning came, the boys were still….boys. The girls gave up and decided to live with the hens. The “girls” are all very happy together and yesterday we found 2 duck eggs in the coop! Yippee!!

The boys? Well….they go over to the hen house each day and check them all out. However, the last time I let the girl ducks out they attacked the boys and pinned them to the ground. I’m guessing baby ducks are not in my future. “Diamond & Pearl” are here to stay…”Fudge & Rupert” might be looking for a new home.

So after spending $30 on 4 ducks, $70 repairing the Duck House, $10 on a duck pool, $10 on wood shavings, and $50 on duck feed…. I finally got 2 duck eggs, 2 male ducks that live in the fancy duck house and 2 female ducks that live in the chicken coop.

I would not call this a profitable adventure, but it was a learning experience for us all!

Anyone want 2 boy runner ducks? I’m not joking.

Blackberry Jam – Easy Refrigerator Recipe

Uncategorized July 22, 2016 Leave a comment

We planted several berry bushes on the Homestead this year, but the only bushes producing a decent amount of fruit this year is the 2 blackberry bushes we planted last year. I love watching all the kids go out for a mid day “snack” as they stand at the berry bushes and eat the blackberries right off the plant. The berries were disappearing like hotcakes and I thought the kids were eating them all. Turns out, the birds were enjoying the berries just as much.

We covered the bushes with some netting and viola, enough berries to make a small batch of jam. By “small” batch I mean literally…1 jar. I found this super simple non-canning recipe from food.com and we got right to work.

Step 1:

Pick 3 cups of ripe berries and wash. Put a plate in the refrigerator to chill.

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Step 2:

Mash the berries in a small stainless steel pot until you reach your desired jam consistency (we like a little bit of chunkiness in ours).

Step 3:

Add 1 1/4 cups of sugar (we used organic raw sugar), put on the stove and heat on medium until all sugar is dissolved (this happened almost immediately).

Step 4:

Raise the heat to medium/high and boil for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Step 5:

Test the jam by putting a little bit on the chilled plate and see if it stays in a mound. If it does, you’re done! If not, keep boiling.

Step 6:

Poor into a glass jar, put the lid on and let it cool. Once cooled, put in the fridge (or open it up and enjoy warm jam on homemade zucchini bread, mmmmmm). The jam should last several weeks.

Super easy right??? I can’t wait to try all the other berries next year! Anyone else have good easy jam recipes to share?

Mama Nice

Our First Adventure With Ducks

Uncategorized June 28, 2016 Comments: 4

“Ducks are cute”, I said.

“Ducks would be a great addition to the Homestead”, I said.

“The kids that visit will love them”, I said.

“I heard ducks are friendlier than chickens and will bond to their owners”, I said.

Papa Nice just smiled and I was on my way to researching duck breeds, how to care for ducks, and repainting an old coop to make a duck house.

Step 1: Take an old, flimsy coop…add a new roof, new paint and new hardware. Viola!

Step 2: Research duck breeds.

I decided I wanted Pekins. Pekins are big and friendly. The chances of a hawk picking them up out of the yard would be rare. So I called the local feed store and ordered 2 female Pekins that would look like this:

Step 3: Pick up ducklings from feed store.

Off I went to the feed store, with 5 little kids, to pick up our 2 female PEKIN ducklings. But when we got there, the feed store ordered Khaki Campbells and didn’t have any Pekins. It would take WEEKS to get them in. When you have 5 little kids excited for ducklings and 2 ducklings that now don’t have a home, what do you do? You take home the ducks that you didn’t order. “No problem”, I said, Khaki Campbells are nice ducks too…I think. I’m not even sure what they look like though. I guess these are Khaki Campbells and the kids love them. They are so cute….

The ducks have grown a lot since we got them back in April. Only…. they are much darker than Khaki Campbells and they are more skittish than any duck breed I had researched. Alas, I have discovered that we do NOT have Pekins (which I ordered), or Khaki Campbells (which I was told I was given), but rather Black Runner Ducks. Good layers, but skittish, flightless and not very big. Sigh. I don’t even know if they are both female. Apparently they will lay a lot of eggs (if they are female) and I hope that they will settle into the Homestead and become more friendly and comfortable with us.

For now…”Ruby” and “Fudge” will continue to have free reign of the backyard and will spend their day’s swimming in their pool and eating bugs. Maybe I expect too much from my animals. They are ducks after all. Ducks that now have a great life at the Nice Family Homestead.

🙂 Mama Nice

Summer Fun On A Budget

Uncategorized April 28, 2016 Leave a comment

It’s hard to believe that summer is only a couple months away and before you know it, the kids will be home from school. For some parents, that puts you in a panic of “what am I going to do with my kids all summer?!?!?” Here are a few ideas and tips that I have used over the years that have made the summertime enjoyable for both myself and my kids….oh yeah, and I didn’t break the bank either!

Create a Daily Schedule: Although the idea of sleeping in and waking up whenever you and and your children feel like it all summer long, the reality is that more chaos will ensue unless you plan properly. Creating a Daily Schedule will help you keep your sanity and your kids will actually feel less stressed knowing what the day will bring. NOTE: It doesn’t have to be the SAME schedule each day, but consistency certainly helps.

For younger kids, use pictures like this one:(free printable picture cards here)
For older kids that can read, simply use a chalk board or dry erase board and write the schedule each day.
Sample Schedule:
- Breakfast
- Chores
- Free Play Time
- Project (craft, cooking, science, etc.)
- Snack
- Games & Outside Play
- Lunch
- Water play
- Workbook/Quiet Time/Reading Time
- Free Play
- Snack & Short TV Show
- Dinner

Summer Chores

I don’t know about you, but it’s hard to fit chores into our daily schedule during the school year. The kids are swamped with homework and activities and at the end of the day I just want them to relax and be kids. I want them to go outside or play a game. So…when summertime comes around, it’s time to instill those good habits of completing chores and participating in the general upkeep of our home.

See my previous post about Chore Charts for lots of ideas

Projects

Use what you have around the house to come up with projects. It’s amazing what you can do with plastic cups, paper plates, straws and a camera. Some of our favorite projects:
- Cooking (Popsicles, smoothies, cookies, trailmix and of course cheerio necklaces)
- Bubbles (giant bubble wands, colored bubbles on paper, bubble popping)
- Crafts (painting with colored ice cubes, giant chalk drawings, cards and letters to send in the mail)
- Check out Pinterest for lots and lots of budget friendly ideas!

Games

We love a friendly game or two in our house. Keep it simple and enjoy the time connecting and having fun!
- Scavenger Hunts (Photo Hunts, Treasure Hunts, Collections)
- Obstacle Course (time each other for those that are more competitive)
- Backyard Maze (grass getting long? mow a maze and run through it before mowing the rest of the yard)

Water Play

You don’t have to have a pool to have water play time! The hot afternoon is a great time to get wet and cool off. We have a small pool, but here are some other ideas:
- Water Balloon Toss
- Water Balloon Baseball
- Limbo using a hose
- Sprinkler
- Water Bottle Squirt Tag
- Car Wash
- Bicycle Wash
- Wet Sponges and Targets

Quiet Time

We order the Summer Bridge Books every year and the kids complete 4 pages a day. We also participate in the local Library Summer Reading program where the kids earn prizes for reading (reading together as a family or listening to a book in the car count too!)

Field Trips

The summertime is a great time to see new sights and try new activities. There are lots of inexpensive places to check out when you’re ready to tackle a “Field Trip” day:
- Creek Stomping (pack a lunch, wear a bathing suit and go walking in a creek)
- Playground Review (visit different playgrounds and have the kids journal their reviews)
- Library Programs
- Get a group together to visit a zoo or museum and get the group discount rate
- Check out Kids Bowl Free and find a local bowling alley
- Try a real treasure hunt and go Geochaching

Got any good Summertime Boredom Busters? Please share in the comments! 🙂 Mama Nice

Our Favorite Seed Starting Products

Uncategorized February 27, 2016 Leave a comment

Who’s ready to start some seeds?? We are, we are!! We like to start our seeds early and simple around here. Anything high maintenance just gets left behind and unattended to. So when it comes to starting seeds indoors, the easier the better. Here are some of our favorite products & tips for starting seeds.

1. Find a big south facing window and set up an open shelf (even better if there is a heat vent under the shelf). We use this Ikea shelf:

2. We pieced together this seed starting tray kit. It’s heavy duty and will last many many seasons. Fill the pots with soil/seed starter, plant seeds, fill the bottom tray with water, put the hood on and let it go for a bit. The system will create a moist greenhouse (remember it’s by a window with lots of sun) and when the seeds start growing, use the vents to control air flow and prevent mold.

3. Once the seeds have started to grow, the stems need to be strengthened so they don’t get long and leggy. We clip a small fan like this to the shelf to simulate wind which helps to strengthen the plant.

4. Lastly, I found this super cute water bottle to gently spray the plants and tops of the soil.

Pretty simple right? This is what our setup looks like:

Stop back next month to see how the seeds are growing and what to do next!

🙂 Mama Nice

Our First Adventure Raising Pigs

Uncategorized November 12, 2015 Leave a comment

We have 3 acres on our homestead, which isn’t a lot of acreage to raise meat animals, but we wanted to raise more than chickens. After researching beef cows, dairy animals and pigs…we settled on pigs. Not just any kind of pig, but pasture fed Gloucester Old Spot pigs. We read that GOS pigs have a docile personality, were great with other farm animals, and needed minimal grain to grow to butcher weight. We found a local breeder and back in April we put our deposit in for 2 piglets. In June we got the call to come pick them up. The piglets were around 40 pounds and ready to leave their mama.

How cute are they??? Pig 1 and Pig 2 quickly stole our hearts and we enjoyed playing with them for months…. until they grew too big to be safe for little children.

The pigs are now 7 months old and about 250 pounds. They are still very gentle, but they eat a lot more and find ways to escape their pen. The electric fence no longer works for them, as they have discovered how to pile mounds of dirt up the side of the fence, forcing it to collapse (covering the electric part) and creating a land bridge to freedom for themselves. So….they are now in the cattle fence pen only and are fed grain and some fruit and veggies.

They are scheduled to be butchered during the week of Thanksgiving. If the meat is as good as we have been told, we will raise even more pigs next year.

If you have a small homestead and are looking for a low maintenance, quick adventure in meat animals, I highly recommend smaller pasture raised pigs.

🙂 Mama Nice

Fall Around the Homestead

Uncategorized October 2, 2015 Leave a comment

Fall is here and the Nice Family Homestead is coming to a time of rest. Aside from our pigs and Brussel Sprouts, everything else has been canned or put in the freezer. I thought you might enjoy some pics of what Fall looks like around here on a sunny day (unlike rainy today)….

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Welcome to the Nice Family Homestead…

Pig 1 and Pig 2

“Minnie” the Easter Egger

“Cottonball Head” the White Crested Black Polish

The cornfield at rest

Brussel Sprouts still growing

Garden beds being prepped for winter.

Do you have a homestead? What do you do during this time of rest?

🙂 Mama Nice

Meat Chickens – Take One..

The Homestead August 18, 2015 Leave a comment

You want to raise meat birds? Woo hoo!!! We had a great time raising meat chickens for the first time. I hope the following information is helpful to your endeavors…. or at least entertaining.

Step 1: Order chicks and pick shipment date **keep in mind the chicks arrive early in the AM and MUST BE PICKED UP at the local post office ASAP. I got the call at 5:45AM.

Step 2: A few days before the chicks arrive, set up brooder using large box, heat lamp, newspaper, chick feed and water. You want to get the area nice and warm before the chicks arrive.

After reading about the different kinds of meat chickens, we decided to go with the Red Rangers from McMurrary Hatchery. Why you ask? We didn’t want to raise birds that couldn’t walk on their own (like the X Rocks) and since the Red Rangers are also decent layers, we had the option of keeping one around if we chose. We also liked that the Red Rangers reached maturity in 10-12 weeks (as apposed to laying hens and dual breeds that often take 20 weeks).

Step 3: When the chicks arrive, get them warm right away. They will need constant food and water. McMurray sends newsletters with great info on how to raise chicks.

We started with 20 Red Ranger chicks and a mix of 35 other chicks. Aren’t they super cute?

The chicks grew very quickly and were ready to go outside in 4 weeks. The Red Ranger chicks were also more friendly than the others and would come right up to us and arch their back like a dog to be petted. Awww, right?

We raised our chicks in the garage. CAUTION: The chick down feathers get EVERYWHERE. I had the shop vac going almost daily to keep on top of the mess. ALSO, since these birds grow fast, they eat a lot and….ahem….. poop a lot. Be prepared to clean up their pen often.

Step 4: Put the chicks outside and fatten them up

Once the chickens were fully feathered we moved them to their outside area which is 1/2 of a one stall horse barn. We turned the “tack room” into the chicken coop and cut a chicken door out the back that lead into their fenced off area. The fencing is about 5 feet high and the chickens were not interested in flying out. I think they were more concerned with eating and growing.

Step 5: Find a good butcher in the area and drop them off to be processed.

After 11 weeks the birds weighed about 6-8 pounds and we dropped them off to the butcher. In 24 hours we had 4-6 lb bagged broilers in the freezer.

Step 6: Find some recipes and enjoy!

We’ve been cooking one a week ever since.

Some other things that happened along the way….

We didn’t end up keeping any laying hens (thanks to a predator that killed a few), but one of the chickens was a runt and didn’t reach the needed weight at the time the others went off to the butcher. The runt was added to our laying flock and now “Roosty” is king of the hen-house. As you can see, they get pretty big. So far “Roosty” is a very nice rooster. Red Rangers are hybrids and you aren’t supposed to use them in breeding, but he’s useful for breaking up hen fights and alerting everyone of intruders.

As for the economics of things, raising our own meat birds doesn’t save that much money (if any). There are other meat animals that are far more profitable (such as pigs which we are also raising). However, we like the experience of raising the chickens on our own and deciding what they are eating.

Cost Break Down:

Chicks: $2.45 each= $50

Purina Non-Medicated Start & Grow for the first 2 weeks = $17.99

Purina Flock Raiser for the remainder (we used 1 bag every 2 weeks) = $71.96

Butcher: $3.25/bird (we lost some birds due to predators and butchered 12) = $39

TOTAL COST (not including wood chips, heat lamps, and start up costs) = $178.95 or $2.98 a pound

The grocery store is about $2.09/pound for an organic broiler. If we had NOT lost 7 chickens, it would have brought the cost down to $2.12 per pound. To make it MORE cost effective you can also raise extra birds to sell and recoup some money.

Overall it was a positive experience and we will be doing this again next year in hopes of selling some broilers.

Have you raised meat birds before? Please share your experiences in the comment section!

Have a great day!

🙂 Mama Nice

Nice Family Homestead

Tag Archives: homestead

3 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Garden

🙂 Mama Nice

The Story of Charlie… The Best Dog Ever

We love you Charlie Dog and hope everyone finds their own BEST.DOG.EVER. to be a part of their family!

The Duck Saga Continues…

Blackberry Jam – Easy Refrigerator Recipe

Our First Adventure With Ducks

🙂 Mama Nice

Summer Fun On A Budget

Our Favorite Seed Starting Products

Our First Adventure Raising Pigs

Fall Around the Homestead

Meat Chickens – Take One..

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