How much is too much...

A good thing can be a great thing but then... it can start to be a painful thing or it can become painful to maintain... hmmm...

I breastfeed.. sorry men readers.. So when you start it is a learning process, you get used to it after a month of so and the baby learns to latch and you bond and then it is a beautiful (good) thing.Then at around five months teeth apear and a little doubt sets in but in general its still an okay thing, in a month or so you get used to teeth and there increased intrest in the world outside your chest and all is well. Then at around ten months, when she tries to leave the room still latched on (oooouuuuuchhhhh!) you think, "maybe this is not so okay anymore", then you waffle. Breastmilk... free.. warm... always available.. "I'll stick it out" then on hour five through the night, you wonder "Could my nipples actually fall off? hmm... I wonder..." Would bottles be soooo bad? so you try it.. she revolts! she wants her mama... now what? How totally grafic and my apologies in advance but I think they may fall off! then i would be some nippleless freak unable to nurse future children

Okay ready to reel it back in now....

they wont fall off (right?) i'm just sore and she had 8 teeth they are bound to grind a bit. Limit feeding times, i know.... feed her more solids ( a great theory...but she rarely eats.. unless it contains chocolate) distract her... she barely leaves my arms.... it seems i have created a monster... but she is a cute one. enough about my tatas on to the chicks...

How much is too much...

Chickens, or chicks as it would seem....

I have ordered 55 heritage chicks from this awesome little farm in Maple Creek, SK see http://www.dnjranch.webs.com/
they are going to be my "layers". Now they are unsexed so what ever I end up with for layers will be great. I might keep a cock from each breed but that we will see about....
So then above that I was considering ordering some chicks from a comercial hatchery to raise to 12 weeks and butcher, to fill my freezer, and a few friends freezers. Now these friends... aren't farm friends so I wouldnt expect them to help butcher or anything, and really that seems like more something that Mr.Rigger, Gramma and I ought to do alone (we tend to bicker a bit). So how many can we butcher?

On a forum I participate in a woman had stater she did about 50 birds in 8 hours on her farm... So if I did 150 it would take us three days or blood and guts if we had actually done this before so add another day and 4 of the six days that Mr.Rigger is home for a week off would be spent culling the birds... Now this would cut down our food bill SUBSTANTIALLY!!! so there's kind of a toss up.... We also have to butcher three sheep and probably two goats, and I was also considering Turkeys... (wow.. now that I write it down its kind of a lot!)

The pay off... cause every job needs one.... We would know EXACTLY where our food came from, our freezer would be full at a fraction of the cost, we wouldn't have to go to the city near as much. We would learn what NOT to do next year as well as what we did right, and it would be hard work. I like hard work... hard work makes you feel like you earn things.

So is it worth it? I am leaning toward yes, i would like to know my freezer will be full well in advance. But its all up to Mr. Rigger. We will have to see how full he thinks our plates are right now.

Ohhhh more exciting news... I'm sending in my seed order on Friday, i need to start some things by march 15th... Spring is coming!!!!