ViolaStitchStudio: Exctied to debut at the Sweet Repeats Sale

Headbands size newborn-Kids

 I decided to participate in the fall Sweet Repeats sale. I wanted to make a lot more, like fingerless mittens and cute fall hats but some family stuff came up and I was only able to focus on finishing 12 headbands. I still plan on making them and finally opening an Etsy shop! Sweet Repeats is an awesome company that has seasonal infant, children, teen and maternity consignment sales. I spent some time going through all of the clothes that no longer fit the little guy and instead of tagging them myself I had the Sweet Repeats crew do it for me!

The sale is this weekend so check it out! Saturday Oct. 8th 9am-5pm and Sunday Oct. 9th 10am-2pm at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds Art Center building in Chico, CA. Please check out their website for more information or find them on facebook.

Raising cornish cross chicks: the new digs.

Last time we had chicks we made our own make shift brooder, after about two days of having the Cornish cross chicks we noticed that they were losing the feathers on their chest. I had been changing the bedding sometimes twice a day and we had even created a second brooder so we could change it more often. I headed out to the feed store to talk with the owner about them losing feathers, plus we had decided it was time to get ourselves a better set up. He explained that since they grow so fast their feathers cannot keep up and they end up having bald patches. We ordered a custom cage for them so that it would be much easier to keep them clean and healthy.

I think we have decided that next time around we will just raise a meat or dual purpose breed that is not so cross bred that it grows crazy fast. Here are a few things to consider when your deciding on Cornish cross chicks: They are disgusting, they poop about 4 times as much as a regular chick and eat all the time. I mean all the time...they literally sit down next to the food and eat, then fall asleep with their head in it. I have to fill up the food way way more than with our last chicks. Ours are only a couple weeks old and they already are having trouble with walking around. They also learned how to fly within about 2 days of having them...which means they need a top or full cage from the start.

I will be trying to give tips and updates over the next 6-8 weeks and I'm sure we will be happy with the end result...meat from our own backyard but I know next time we will choose a different breed. They are not all bad just not right for us. I feel kind of sick about the whole thing...like I'm twisting nature for my own benefit.

The new custom cage with scrap wood to hold up the light and an oil pan under.

Harvest Monday 9/27-10/3 2011

Melon, tomatoes, basil, millet, parsley, and oregano

The little guy with zucchini

our sad carrots, and more tomatoes

A huge zucchini (for pickles) and more tomatoes

again more tomatoes

holstein bush beans (dry/shelling) drying

We spent a lot of time this week in the garden. We pulled out about 5 more tomato plants and really focused on getting things cleaned up. It looks so bare right now out there it makes me a bit sad. Of course to most people 20-30 tomato plants and a whole host of other things would not look bare but in our summer garden we really took every bit of land and used it.

We built three frames to plant things in for the fall/winter garden and we filled the one raised bed we have with as many things as we could. We are going to be creating some hoop houses over the three frames to give everything a better chance. Thanks Stoney Acres for the great info on hoop houses...it will definitely help us construct ours this year.

We also transplanted the herbs in to large pots so we are able to pull them in during the cold  nights as needed and re-plant them in a much better place next spring. The second crop of Missouri Bill's pole beans is almost ready to come down and the purple snap peas we just planted a few weeks ago are doing amazing...growing so fast, we attached twine to the stakes to give them help in growing up the fence.

This year has really been an amazing year for us in the garden...we learned so much and I cannot wait to learn from our fall/winter garden. We are linking up with Daphnes Dandelions for Harvest Monday...its so fun to see what people all over are harvesting.