Category Archives: Uncategorized

This Week I Love ….. is

Posted in Animal Rights/Animals, Chicks and Hens, This Week I Love ..., Uncategorized by

Baby Chicks

chicky

If you’ve followed my blog before – you know that I’ve always wanted chicks.  Well, my life has shifted a bit and this summer seemed to be the right time to get some. I’m stoked.

Clearly, God knew what he was doing when he made baby chicks because they’re smelly and dirty and skittish, but literally the cutest things on the planet.  They literally PEEP all day long!

Maybe it’s because I’m the proud mama of some new chicks – or maybe it’s because I’m a first time mama to my little nuggets, but I literally cannot stop watching them.  We have a brooder (which they are quickly out growing – don’t worry we have a large one waiting!) set up in the dining room.  The kitchen was still currently being occupied by the goat.  Watching their adorable antics has literally become a past time for me (and Molly – my beagle).

 There is nothing quite like watching 4 baby chickens suddenly fall asleep standing up.  Seriously, chicks have the most serious case of Narcolepsy I have seen.  They fall asleep standing, sitting, eating, drinking, alone and on top of each other.  They basically look like they’ve had a serious night drinking and are sleeping off the hangover.  Absolutely , 100% – dead to the world.  I catch myself double checking to see make sure they’re breathing.  Knowing that one day they’ll be big, fat happy and healthy hens is so exciting, but I kind of wish they could stay this little forever.  I’m looking forward to keeping you guys posted as these little gals grow!

If you’re thinking about taking the plunge like me and investing in chicks – I recommend a few resources first:

  • Backyard Chickens – is the most amazing, numero uno resource site for a novice chick owner – all the way to the most experienced.  Everyone on the site is friendly and willing to help and I just can’t get enough of it.
  • The Chicken Chick © – is another amazing resource site.  Kathy Shea Mormino is a fantastic writer and blogger. She’s got loads of tips and her site is absurdly organized – which is something I love when trying to research a chick topic.  She is also an amazing author!
  • The Spruce – you’re going to see me post about The Spruce often.  It is literally one of my favorite websites and my go-to source for just about EVERYTHING!  It has a great section dedicated to livestock and especially chickens!

Short Story Novel … Chapter 1

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I know I have greatly neglected my blog. There has been such a significant amount of nonsense going on here at the Frost Farm. I promise new blogs … about Frogs 🙂 Coming soon. In the meantime, try reading my new Short Story … The Quiet One.

Click the photo below: 

The Quiet One

Rheumatoid-ness and the BooHoos (A Very Un-Farm Related Post)

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I don’t really like to talk about my RA – especially on my blog because often I feel that it’s a depressing topic.  No one wants to read about aches and pains.  However, lately I’ve been feeling a lot of comfort in reading RA blogs .. knowing that other people are experiencing the same things that I experience and that I’m not alone.  Often when I tell people I have Rheumatoid Arthritis – I get the standard responses

1.)Oh I have arthritis in my _______ (fill joint in here).

2.) My mom/dad have arthritis.

3.) You’re too young to have arthritis.

4.) Oh but you look so healthy.

The truth is – and it’s been said a BILLION times by people with RA – is that it’s NOTHING like your arthritis, it doesn’t matter how old you are (children as young as a 1 year old are diagnosed with RA), taking good and healthy takes A LOT of effort and time.

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Memories and Missed Moments: A Time to Live and a Time to Remember

Posted in Life in General, Uncategorized, Update by

Take care of all your memories. For you cannot relive them.
Bob Dylan

I’m not a huge Dylan fan – but he really has a point.

Every once in a while – you have to take a moment to stop and be grateful for everything you have – right then and there – in that present moment. So many times we get caught up living in the past or looking towards the future. It fuels anger, creates anxieties and lessens our quality of life. In turn – our present moments – will someday be memories. Memories that you can never have again. Moments passing you by.
I’d prefer to have those solid memories and look onto them with happiness – knowing I appreciated them WHEN THEY WERE HAPPENING as much as I am appreciating recollecting them.

Recently, I lost a good high school friend of mine. He was part of our quintessential “clique” of teenage boys and girls. Hanging in parks and playing in (or in my case “watching”) garage bands, piggy back rides and first kisses, late night horror movies and prom dates. Some of us kept in touch, some went our separate ways. Joe and I hadn’t spoken in years – we had lost contact with each other – as people often do. But – I would often think of him from time to time. In pictures, videos or yearbook scribblings – I would think of how we’ve all turned into a gaggle of goofy and successful adults. Past discretions forgiven and nothing but coo’s and coddles for weddings, new homes, jobs and babies ….

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Pleasing Pesto Recipe

Posted in How To, Recipe, Uncategorized by

One of my favorite things to whip up is Pesto.  My dad used to make it sometimes when I was in college and when I finally got my own apartment and my own basil plant – I couldn’t wait to make some of my own.  Nick – was skeptical.  He had never liked pesto as a child and the color completely turned him off.  I promised him he would like it if he gave it a whirl. It turns out it is one of his favorite things I cook up. It’s a quick, easy and delicious dinner fix when time or motivation isn’t in your favor.

 

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NY State Renaissance Festival – Best Birthday A Girl Could Ask For …

Posted in Life in General, Trips, Uncategorized, Update by

Last Wednesday was my birthday. And naturally – much to my husbands chagrin – his Leo wife found herself spreading a birth”day” into a birth”week”.   Aside – from getting a new lens (which I am learning slowly but surely), going out to eat with family and trekking to the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia – I also got AppleTv. Which is very – very dangerous.  I am a self – admitting TV Binge Watcher.

BUT – when Nick asked me where I wanted to go for my birthday – I knew there was only ONE place we NEEDED to go: THE NEW YORK RENAISSANCE FAIRE.  We had to wait until the weekend, Nick had never gone to a Renn. Fair before and I wasn’t quite sure how he would FARE at the FAIRE.  Though – I knew Nick is very comfortable with my post-goth, post-reenacting, history loving, very dramatic personality – I wasn’t positive he would be able handle others with the same “interests” – all in the same place – AT THE SAME TIME.  BUT – as always – he was trooper and ended up really enjoying himself.  I love when he leaves his comfort-zone. 🙂

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Scrumptious Slaw Recipe

Posted in How To, Recipe, Uncategorized by

As I mentioned a while ago – in my Baking …. Basil and Cultivating …. Cabbage entry the Third Graders at our School were participating in the Burpee Cabbage Contest and I was lucky enough to score some cabbage seedlings.  Honestly, I’ve never grown cabbage before, I know they’re cooler weather crops and the way that my peppers and squash have been fairing the past few years – I was kind of nervous trying a new veggie.  But they were free – and I figured WHY NOT? The least it could get me would be a “I learned my lesson blog post”. The best thing it could get me was some delicious coleslaw.  Luckily for me and Nick’s belly we got the latter.

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Storm

My favorite time of day – is just at dusk. When the settling noises of day mix with the anxious hum of night.  Crickets and frogs wake from their sweet siestas while birds whistle one last quiet tune. It’s especially peaceful just before a late afternoon storm.  Everything has somewhere to be then.  Squirrels scatter for shelter – bees scatter from flower to hive – slow, stray drips from the heavy sky. The farm is unusually still – waiting with heavy anticipation. The rooms of our house are dark and Nick and the pups look more like silhouettes than real figures.

We like to tempt nature by keeping the windows open until the very minute of sudden downpour.

“Keep the house cool,” We say.

“It’s too warm without air-condition” We agree.

Gusts of wind – too loud and too angry to be ignored – whistle through the cracks of the screen. Then the monsoon –the rain- much too cumbersome for the clouds- begins.  Irate drops hit the roof, the windows, the porch.  We peek out the back door – look out onto the porch.  Which way is it driving? Can we get away with the windows being open? We can’t.

Quickly we flutter from room to room – hastily shutting each window.  Puddles settle on the sills. On the floor.

We’ve made it – through another storm!

“Whew. We needed the rain. I’m glad I didn’t have to water the plants,” Nick grins as he flips on the tv.

That is, of course, until the leaks start …….

Modification Motivation

Let me start off by saying – I went from my mother’s immaculate home, to an immaculate brand-new apartment, to the trusty rusty I’ve come to love: The Fabulous Frost Farm ….

Our house has been under “construction” for the better part of 5 years now. It’s not that we’re dragging our feet – it’s just that life constantly gets in the way.  Since Nick has been manning most of the project on his own – it’s a constant struggle of finding the “time” to do big projects, making sure the weather “cooperates”, and ensuring our bank account isn’t drained.  Finding the motivation is the LEAST difficult challenge of all. As a matter of fact, it really isn’t a challenge at all.  When Nick and I bought our home 5 years ago – we had it mentally revamped, improved, and magazine worthy within minutes.  Evidently, life doesn’t work that way – and trying to find a fair balance between living life, enjoying life and actually getting chores completed is VERY challenging.

ladder

Initially, we had planned on decorating the house “officially” when we were finished with the inside of the house.  The master bedroom was stripped down to its studs within days of moving in.

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Sick Day<br /> Faux fur bedding / Pier 1 Imports porcelain tea cup / Bodum tea press / Edward Marc Gourmet Chocolate Pretzels / ReLuxe patterned hosiery / Lola s Apothecary body cleanser</p> <p>An Apple a Day …. keeps the doctor away ….<br /> I, on the other hand, haven’t been eating any apples lately but I have been eating much better than I usually do. I actually haven’t eaten this well since I was living at home with my mom (a health food junkie). It’s discouraging then to see how sick I’ve been the past few months. I have a “special needs” immune system. I am very aware of that and I am always taking precautions to ensure that nothing sets it off. 1.)Using my own pens instead of office pens2.) Clorox wipes and Lysol wipes in every nook and cranny of my house3.) sanitizing after I shake hands (it’s not that I skeave you)4.) using the handicapped accessible doors to avoid handles (it’s not because I’m lazy) 5.) vitamins (up to 1000mg of C a day)But what happens when  those precautions are muffled by the greatest cause of infections of all - life? What happens when life and the stress of daily events get in the way? That’s when it appears that I always get sick. It always seems to start with a flare. An ache in the hip. A sob from my shoulder. A shout from my knee. An all consuming exhaustion. Next, a teeny scratch in my throat.  <br /> “I’m getting sick.” - I say to Nick.<br /> “You’re always getting sick” he replies.<br /> “I’m getting sick.” - I say to my mom.<br /> “You’re always saying that” my mom says curtly.</p> <p>But without fail … no matter how many times they tell me I’m wrong … I end up canceling the tutoring, putting in for the sub, purchasing $100 worth of cold supplies … and giving in to the inevitable fate that awaits me - on the couch.<br /> "Oh you are sick!" they say.<br /> Yep. This is one sick chick.<br />
An Apple a Day …. keeps the doctor away ….

I, on the other hand, haven’t been eating any apples lately but I have been eating much better than I usually do. I actually haven’t eaten this well since I was living at home with my mom (a health food junkie). It’s discouraging then to see how sick I’ve been the past few months. I have a “special needs” immune system. I am very aware of that and I am always taking precautions to ensure that nothing sets it off.
1.)Using my own pens instead of office pens
2.) Clorox wipes and Lysol wipes in every nook and cranny of my house
3.) sanitizing after I shake hands (it’s not that I skeave you)
4.) using the handicapped accessible doors to avoid handles (it’s not because I’m lazy)
5.) vitamins (up to 1000mg of C a day)
But what happens when  those precautions are muffled by the greatest cause of infections of all – life? What happens when life and the stress of daily events get in the way? That’s when it appears that I always get sick. It always seems to start with a flare. An ache in the hip. A sob from my shoulder. A shout from my knee. An all consuming exhaustion. Next, a teeny scratch in my throat.
“I’m getting sick.” – I say to Nick.
“You’re always getting sick” he replies.
“I’m getting sick.” – I say to my mom.
“You’re always saying that” my mom says curtly.
But without fail … no matter how many times they tell me I’m wrong … I end up canceling the tutoring, putting in for the sub, purchasing $100 worth of cold supplies … and giving in to the inevitable fate that awaits me – on the couch.
“Oh you are sick!” they say.
Yep. This is one sick chick.