Fall Hanging Towels

I went out to Dollar General and they had a ton of cute Fall and Halloween towels.. so bought a ton of them.. been working on Fall towels for a while now.. and here are some of them.. Very few of these are on Etsy yet.. just up in Facebook on my page.. You can click her to go to the photo album.

Tomorrow I will be listing these on Etsy.. and then sending the ads to the Yahoo groups.. so if you want any.. order now.  Back to the Fair pictures tomorrow..

More Fair Pictures..

When we first got to the Erie County Fair.. we walked into a display of model trains.. only got one good picture.  My camera isnt good for moving things.. lol..

Then we walked out and saw the Siberian Tigers.. I love wild cats!  and one of them was a youngster.. he was trying to wrestle with the older one.. and kept getting smacked.. LOL!. reminded me of my cats..

So decided to use Tigers as a Etsy Treasury.. do check it out!!  Got to love those Kitties!!

https://www.etsy.com/treasury/MjE0Nzk3Mjh8MjcyNDA3NjQxOQ/tigers-on-the-prowl

Being Self Sufficient! Part 5

#5 Learn To Fail 

This is probably one of the harder steps.. smile.. Nobody likes making mistakes, but the only way to learn is to make mistakes.. and keep doing it until you got it right.. I probably should have put the gardening one under here.. lol.. 

Not everything can come easy.. sometimes you just need to keep plowing thru things until you reach the other side.. and just consider it a learning experience.. and dont kick yourself for making a mistake.. sometimes we can be our own worse enemies.. 

I learned that years ago.. if things dont work out one way, try a different way, but if they dont work out trying a couple of different ways, the best thing to do is to just drop it.. and move on to something else.

Anyways.. that is all I wanted to say on this.. 

Chickens at the Fair..

One of my favorite spots is the Chicken, Duck, and Rabbit barn.. Of course this year my main focus was getting pictures of chickens for my blog series.. lol.. Here are some of the breeds I saw..

Rhode Island Reds are a utility bird, raised for meat and eggs, and also as show birds. They are a popular choice for backyard flocks because of their egg laying abilities and hardiness.  They generally lay 5 - 7 brown eggs per week.

The Belgian Bearded D'Uccle is renowned for being a calm bird. Bearded D'Uccle eggs are notably small and are coated with creamy or tinted coloring. The breed is known for being very broody, and a typical hen can lay her eggs over a two-week period, though others have taken as long as three weeks.

Plymouth Rock is a dual-purpose, cold-hardy bird and therefore makes a great breed for the small farm or backyard flock owner.  There are many different strains of this breed.  They lay a large egg that varies in color from light to medium brown with a touch of pink. The birds continue laying throughout the winter but with decreased production. The amount of eggs laid is dependent upon the strains of the birds.

These are Silkies.  They are mostly used as pets and to hatch other birds' eggs as they are quite broody.  They generally lay about 100 white to beige colored eggs per year.

Polish Chicken - These are considered ornamental birds.. not very winter hardy.. Generally lay about 2 small, white eggs per week..  

#myeriecountyfair

More On My Garden

Well.. I talked to the Cooperative Extension about my mildew problem.. they said I could try a fungicide on my plants.. but probably the best thing to do is pull them up and destroy the plants (dont compost them).. luckily for me I plant them in pots, so I just got to bag up the plants.. dump the soil (probably not the yard), and then bleach the pots for next year.. sigh.. guess that was a learning lesson.. no zucchini and yellow squash for me this year.. Then I think I also will bleach the whole area and tables where the pots are..

Tomorrow, I will have about the chickens.. just wanted to tell you what I found out.

Being Self Sufficient! Part 4

#4 Raise Chickens

All the pictures here were taken at the Erie County Fair, when we went yesterday.. We go almost every year.. as I love it.. smile.. 

As much as I would like to have a chicken or two.. I can't... one, my neighbors are too close to me and two, my boyfriend isnt for the idea.. but if I could.. I would.. there are so many benefits to having chickens, even in the city..  They are a natural source of fertilizer for the garden, as well as a wonderful way to control insects!  Plus you get farm fresh eggs.. cant get better than that! 

This chicken above is the Rhode Island Red, which many consider one of the best breeds for the back yard.. You can read more about them HERE.

Here are some links for advice on starting this.. 

Why A Great Garden And Raising Chickens Go Hand In Hand - Old World Garden Farms

Raising Chickens in the City - Urban Farming Guys

How to Raise Backyard Chickens - Backyard Chickens

Raising Chickens for Dummies - Cheat Sheet - Kimberly Willis, Rob Ludlow

And there are alot more!! Just do a websearch.. 

Next, I am going to discuss some of the breeds I and pictures I took at the fair.. See you tomorrow!

#myeriecountyfair

Being Self Sufficient! Part 3

#3 Learn to Can and Preserve

Picture used from Scrapgirls.com

I used to can years ago.. both with my grandmother, my mother.. and myself.. only thing we really canned were tomatoes.. and I also remember doing peaches with my grandmother.. now.. I just freeze.. I specifically got a small chest freezer to store my produce in.. it iis so nice to not have to pay high prices for my veggies in mid winter!
One of these days I do want to try canning and making jelly again.. but usually I dont have the time.. with my orders and stuff..