Hello lady Farm Chicks, just wondering what kind of projects you have lined up to fill the winter days? This morning was foggy and just so pretty I couldn't resist a few pictures before I set off to finish up a few last minute details before the weather got bad. I took advantage of this unusually nice November weather to finish up one more chore that had to be done to prepare for next spring.The pen where my  chickens and ducks stay has not been touched in a couple of years and I started thinking about it and realized..it's space I could be using. I think this year I will try my hand at growing pumpkins to have for our Fall show here at the Briar Patch. I've had good luck with pumpkins before, but realizing that this ground is pretty poor, I decided to help it along a little. Now, I try not to use my tiller very much anymore, since I started using the Back to Eden gardening method, it hasn't really been necessary. But this ground is hard and mostly clay and it just isn't going to be a good garden unless I make it one. So, off I went with my tiller, a big monster called "the earthquake",I learned early on why they call it that..this thing will shake your teeth right out of your head. But being the brave and strong Farm Chick I am, I forged ahead. Tilling the ground up, raking up all the grass tuffs I unearthed and raking it smooth made a big difference right away. Then I hauled many wheelbarrels full of well composted horse manure out there and spread it on top. Just like frosting a cake. Now don't make that face...well composted manure doesn't have any smell and is not the least bit icky. After that, my work is mostly done, except now I will save all my kitchen scraps (veggie's, nothing with fat), peels, skins and old stale crackers and such, and I will bury them up until the ground freezes. After that, the chickens will do the work for me. If the ground is too frozen to dig into, I'll just toss the scraps on top. They'll have a great time pecking and scratching all those scraps into the earth and make my ground wonderful! So, one more thing crossed off my list, and another garden will be waiting for me come spring. Ah......life in the garden. I would love to hear what you have going on, waiting for spring....

Happy November everyone!!   Do you know what time it is?   It's Pack a Shoe Box time for Samaritan's Purse!!!  Have you packed your shoe box yet?  What's that?  You don't know what Samaritan's Purse is?  Well, now's a good time to find out 'cuz there's still time left to get your boxes packed up!

 Follow this link to find out all of the details about Samaritan's Purse and Operation Christmas Child           http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/occ   And then get to packing!!!

This lovely pile is just the tip of the iceberg for us.  My family and I spend the whole year picking up little goodies here and there so that when it's time to pack our boxes, we've got plenty to choose from.  After Christmas sales, back to school sales, clearance items, buy one get one free deals...you name it and we're on it to get our shoe box 'fillings'.    I can hear you now..."we can't afford to do that"...."doesn't it cost a lot to buy all of that stuff?"....and "I just don't have time"....Well, I'm here to tell ya that you  can  afford to do and it doesn't  have to cost a lot of money and you really do have the time.  If you have time to shop for groceries, then you have time to shop for your shoe boxes.  Five extra minutes squeezed into your shopping trip to go through the clearance isles is all it takes as far as time goes...and as for the cost....well....that's what sales are for.  At a wonderful back to school sale recently we got 6 boxes of 24 count Crayola crayons for $.39 each....6 boxes for less than $3!!!  And the shoe boxes themselves were purchased on clearance...for a whopping $.50 each!  It's not only fun to do shop for these boxes but it's a wonderful way to teach generosity (and bargain hunting) to the kids!  It's been so fun to see them embrace this project and to watch them come up with great things to put into the boxes.  We've made it our personal mission to find the best deals on our stuff so we can fill more shoe boxes than in previous years...it's like a game!

 This year we shared our "bounty" with my youth group girls and we packed 13 boxes.  The girls each wrote a special note to put into their boxes and we prayed over the boxes and their future recipients. It was a great time to bond together for a common good and to just hang out and be blessed by one another.  

We farm chicks also got together and packed some boxes...and then we decided to shop and pack some more!  It's such a worth while cause and so very fun to do.....try it and you'll see.....filling shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child is a blessing for the child but also for you.