Health Problems Lost with the Weight

A friend of mine shared this on Facebook and I couldn't resist posting it here as well. (I apologize for the last one getting cut off.) I know weight loss is a real struggle for many people, but as this diagram shows, the sacrifice is well worth it in improved health--on so many levels.

Vanderbilt Hospital and Essential Oils

As I've mentioned before, essential oils are so much more than aromatherapy. Many people think we like them just because they smell nice, which is really only the tip of the iceberg (and actually, some of them don't smell so wonderful, like thyme or oregano). But even just that aspect of essential oil usage can produce amazing results, as shown in this study, which I first heard about months ago (that recently made it into my local news--finally!) and was shown in this Fox 17 news video a year ago:

They're Out!

Last weekend my husband finished the chicken run. Once again, I was so excited for our chickens to have increased freedom. The heat has really turned up here in the last couple weeks and, even though the coop is insulated, I was still a bit worried about how warm they were getting inside. At least they can go back and forth at will now, even if the temperature isn't any cooler outside during the day.

So here is the front view.

And the side view so you can see the run door (which now has a latch). I use this door to throw them scraps.

Once I removed the chicken door grill barricade, it didn't take long at all for them to start investigating. To my surprise, Daisy was first to poke her head out.

 The other two weren't far behind.

But it took a couple minutes for them to decide what came next. As you can see, Red was quite puzzled and cocked her head as she looked around as if to say, "What is this place, anyway?"

Finally, they were completely out into the run and scratching around curiously. This is the most freedom they will ever have, but I think they like the increased room and the option of being in or out. Hooray for my husband, who made this all possible!

Protect, Prevent, and Heal with OnGuard

I was already a fan of OnGuard essential oil when I learned about the study done at a hospital in Colorado. The hospital had very high rates of MRSA, which eventually resulted in many fewer patients admitting themselves. In desperation, the hospital allowed a study to be done using OnGuard essential oil. What is so exciting is that as ongoing studies continue to show, this blend of oils actually is effective against this scary and antibiotic-resistant illness!

Not only is it effective, but Jennifer Eddins, SM(ASCP) found that "using 3 drops of OnGuard in 32oz tap water in a spray bottle that was then sprayed and dried on surfaces made the MRSA organism not viable for 7 days." (Link) Seven days--after it has dried! When I first learned that it floored me. This is powerful stuff!

What's in it? Wild Orange, Clove bud, Cinnamon, Eucalyptus and Rosemary. It smells delightful, it even tastes good, and since it's pure, it doesn't cause any harmful effects. So it's even safe around (and on) kids--which is why we use it in our nursery at my church, instead of hand sanitizer, before our little children eat snacks. They love how it smells and I love that I don't have to worry about them ingesting any of it.

In addition to being effective against MRSA and an excellent disinfectant, studies are also showing that OnGuard is effective against the flu virus. "Despite antibiotics not being able to treat the influenza
virus, results show On Guard® Protective Blend reducing this virus by up to 90%." (See the article here, which details the procedures of the study--starting on page 4. And this article gets even more specific about OnGuard's effectiveness against influenza.) 

Like the author of this blog, we use OnGuard often in our home, because it also boosts immunity--which shouldn't be a surprise, since clove and cinnamon are some of the most powerful antioxidants. (Example: An ounce of clove oil has the antioxidant capacity of 120 quarts of blueberries. Source.)

How I use OnGuard:

• Applying it on the bottoms of my children's and my feet when we are sick, threatening to get sick, or have been around someone who is ill.
• Applying it on the neck when I feel a sore throat coming on, or behind the ears if they start to ache.
• Ingesting by putting a few drops in a capsule and swallowing it with water. I do this when I feel an illness coming on or just feel like my immune system needs a boost. (This usually nips the pending problem in the bud.)
• Weekly spraying it on surfaces around my home that need to be disinfected, such as doorknobs, banisters, counters, toilet handles, and garbage cans.
• Using it as a substitute for hand washing when needed.
• As an air freshener when needed.

All this and more, for only 13 cents per drop! (See cost comparison here.)

Busy, busy, busy

I don't know about you, but so far this summer, I've been busier than during the school year! Some nights I fall into bed feeling run ragged. All last week I had great plans for writing and scheduling posts for this week with essential oils information that I think is so amazing. But with everything else I've been trying to do, it just didn't happen. So I'm going to take at least a week off from posting and try to figure out my summer life. If things continue this way, though, my summer posting may be sporadic. Please bear with me...

I hope you have a great summer (despite the busyness)!

-Katrina

Meet the Girls (Officially)

I know I've shown you these girls before, but now that they're officially named (having met my daughters' approval ), I wanted to get individual pictures of them to do this introduction properly.

 Meet Red, our Rhode Island Red, the biggest and most physically mature. She is usually the boss and is the most curious.

 Next, we have Daisy (whom my 4-year-old wanted to jokingly name Fluffy Bum, because when she's fully grown, she'll look like this--scroll down almost halfway to see the best pic). She's the most timid and cautious and prefers to stay in the background, which is typical of the Buff Orpington breed.

 And lastly, the smallest and slightly younger, Gizmo. She used to be the runt in every sense of the word, but she's coming into her own now and is showing signs of taking over boss-ship. She definitely has the fastest reflexes of the chickens and catches bugs before the other two even realize what's happening.

 A few days ago I put in a new feeder, since they'd grown out of their little one, and Red and Daisy were wary of it at first. You can't really tell in the above picture, but Red is cocking her head to one side, trying to figure out what this shiny, foreign object is. Gizmo, on the other hand, wasn't scared a bit and walked right up to it and started eating.

So the other two decided it must be okay.

Coop Construction

You know, considering I lived the first five years of my life in a renovated chicken coop (it's a good little first home that is still being lived in), I guess I really shouldn't be surprised that I have come full circle back to my roots and now have a coop and chickens of my own. :)

It's been slow and taken what has felt like forever, but I guess in all it was only about two months ago that we first started building our chicken coop. As mentioned in the last post, for cost and environmental reasons, we opted to build the core of our coop from shipping pallets. It was a daunting task to begin with, since we were complete building novices, and the result isn't perfect, but we learned a lot and are happy with the functionality of our coop.

We started out with 9 cinder blocks for a foundation and to lift it up off the ground. The next layer was made of four pallets. The third layer--the floor--is made of two hardwood boards that I painted with linseed oil to add some natural protection and waterproofing.

Next, we started putting in the walls, also made of pallets...

The advice I received overwhelmingly from veteran chicken owners was to make the coop big enough to walk into (for ease of cleaning), and to make it larger than we currently need it. So that's how I drew up the plans. I also wanted to include storage space within the coop so that we would have a protected, convenient place to keep chicken feed, pine shavings, etc.

Finally, at long last, we got to the point we could put up the outside walls. I was originally hoping we could pry boards off some pallets to put in the spaces on others, as I'd seen others do on the previously mentioned building with pallets websites. But measurements didn't line up as well as I thought they would and we quickly realized that removing boards ruined the pallets for further use. Since time was also an issue, we had to bite the bullet and go buy more lumber.

Then my husband added the roof and cut the chicken door. Getting to that point was so exciting! (It felt like maybe we really would finish.)

Next, I installed the insulation inside, which fit easily in between the pallet slats. (We live in the coldest region of our state and we want our chickens to be as comfortable as possible outside in the winter.)

Once the insulation was in, we put up the inside walls. (Note: the boards for the inside walls are thinner and made of cheaper material than what we bought for the outside.)

My husband cut the vent hole and installed a vent that looks like the ones in our house (it was extra and we've never needed it, so we though, why not use it for the coop?). Now there is good air circulation, which is a key component of building a good chicken coop.

Our knowledgeable and experienced neighbor came over a couple Saturdays ago to help my husband roof the coop. We are indebted to him for sharing his power tools with us and giving of his time to help us with this project.

At last, the finished coop! There are a few things that still need to be tweaked, mostly inside, like putting foam insulation in a few cracks here and there, but it's functional and enclosed. Once the chicken run is finished, our chicks will have nothing to complain about. :) What an exciting evening that was when I could finally move the chicks out to their new home!

They are so much happier with all their new space, and so am I!

Building with Wood Pallets

Early in 2012 when we were planning for chickens, I was reading through our chicken coop book... 

...trying to figure out a blueprint for our coop. After talking with veteran chicken owners and researching the subject, I knew I wanted a walk-in structure. No crouching for me! Our coop needed to be functional and easy to maintain because we want chickens long term. I also wanted a building that would be big enough to add more chickens to later, if needed. And considering the above, it couldn't be a coop with a built-in run, so that would have to be added on one side. Once I figured out these details, I started making a list of supplies and pricing them.

That's about where my plans came to a screeching halt.

I was a bit despondent for a while, but then I came upon this website, which provided hope and inspiration. It was just so exciting to me to realize there was a free wood resource that could allow us to build the chicken coop we needed without spending $1,000 or more. The site also made me hope we might actually be able to build our own from scratch, with no previous building experience. And it got me excited thinking about other possibilities for building with wood pallets.



This post at BackyardChickens.com was also helpful and inspirational, particularly in helping me envision our attached run.

Plus, I learned that using wood pallets would be an environmentally friendly way to go anyway, since:

• 40% of all hardwood processed in the U.S. is used for pallets
• 2/3 of all shipping pallets are only used once
• 1/4 of wood in landfills is from used pallets

So, a couple months ago we started our project and have been building it ever since. And recently we finally got it to the point we could move our big chicks in.

Stay tuned for progressive pictures...!