August 28 and 29 in Young Harris Ga. there will be a chance to see “old time” canning and bake goods being judge while enjoying a great craft show.

It’s not to late to enter. You can get your application CLICK HERE.

All my friends are busy canning or freezing their great, fresh foods but not me. I had the worst time with my garden. Caterpillars, worms and the hottest summer in recent history. I got a few tomatoes, a small crop of red onions and my gourds are finally setting on. (They are way late doing this)

We lost two of our chickens so we are down to 4 roosters. Normal people would think that all the failures I’ve had this year, I would just give up. Not me. This is my dream and I will just keep trying until I get it right. It’s the journey (right ?) not the destination. Besides, I have the best compost pile in the area !!

Jax

While they were tiny we could keep them in a box.  After they got too big for the box we made a 7 ‘ cage and they were happy. Now they are adults and need to stretch their legs and the weather would not cooperate.  Took forever to get the coop done.

We used scrap from a timber framers burn pile. I had an old window we re-purposed. Some one had given us some metal roofing we had used to build the bar and still had some left. The chickens nesting boxes are old wine crates. The only real cost was for chicken wire and some 2×4′s

The chickens love their new home. Now let’s hope they can start to lay.

Jax

My favorite organic farmers from Candy Mountain Farms were there. Their produce is the best. (at least in my mind)

There are many farmer’s market popping up in every town. Check out you towns or near by towns and frequent them. The food is fresh, chemical free and good for you. Most importantly you are keeping your food dollars local and helping the community to thrive.

Jax

I’ve been lining up new shows for this season and had an opportunity to talk to our county extension office and Keith Wood said something that really hit home. People think that you have to invest a lot of money and make big changes to be green and that is not the case. It’s the little things we do every day that make the difference.

So, today, change one thing toward being green. Take you own reusable bags to the store, change out your light bulbs to energy saving ones, plant a small garden, car pool (even one day a week), turn out lights, etc. I’m sure you have more ideas than I could ever list.

You can make a difference.

Jax

We want chickens really bad. Only a few, though. My friend Judy went out of town for a few days and wanted us to babysit her chickens. We could have all the eggs we gathered. She has 19 chickens. I didn’t think they would all lay everyday. They laid about 15 per day. So then we had a lot of eggs. I don’t waste anything. (ever)

Now what to do with 64 eggs. First I gave a dozen to my son. We have had many breakfast where I have fried, scrambled and poached them. My husband wanted to make crepes. they turned out excellent, I made a cheesecake, yummy. I still have eggs. I know they will stay fresh for 45 days, so I think we can eat them all.

Last week the county extension office had a workshop on raising chickens. It was very informative. (check you local county office, they may have classes, too) Got lots of hand-outs. The turnout was huge. There were over 50 people there.  Seems everyone wants to have a few chickens in there back yard.

“Someone” ate a piece of cake before I could take a picture.

Jax

Deadline is April 15. Cost is $10 a table. You can contact me thru this blog or email me at jax1215@gmail.com.

Hope to see you there.

Jax

I found a wonderful blog for our area. (I’m sure every county in every state has a site like this) It’s the county extension office. The blog is www.cherokeecountyextnews.blogspot.com.  I had heard of a class for growing mushrooms and I really wanted to take the class. For only $10 I can learn how to grow mushrooms and they will provide materials for me to grow my own. (I have to bring 4 logs with me) How cool is that????

I noticed on this site a workshop for raising chickens so I signed up for that too. We wanted to start raising chickens last year but had to wait.Now I can be more informed when we actually get started.

Two green things to look forward to this Spring.

Have you started planning your garden yet??? Now’s the time. Get rid of the Winter blues by thinking about Spring green.

Jax

He’s not done yet but he is on the right track. He’s already trying out names for it.  So far it’s the “Smelly Cod” “One Hand Jax” and “Rio Bravo”

Jax

Re-use your old cards by cutting off the front of the card into smaller pieces to use as gift tags.

You can also re-use an old card by cutting off the front of the card and pasting it to a blank, folded piece of recyclable cardstock.

Make this a family project. Gather all the papers, glue and other odds and ends. Set out a plate of yummy Christmas cookies, make some hot cocoa and create a new Holiday tradition.

Jax

You can have Organic turkeys or Tofurky, fresh organic veggies and if you are really lucky like my friend Tipper, you can serve food right from your garden.

Instead of buying a center piece for the table, decorate with naturals from your yard. When the kids were small, I would send them out to pick a centerpiece.  Or you could purchase small gourds from your local farmers market. They could be composted later. (save the seeds to grow your own next year)

I read somewhere that you should cook only what you intend to eat at that meal but for some reason, I can’t do that. I need Thanksgiving leftovers.  We’re going to my son’s for dinner but I’m taking re-usable containers to bring home some leftovers.

Remember to compost table scraps.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Take time to give thanks for all the wonderful things in our lives, especially our families.

Jax