Remember how I promised more pictures and less wordy words? I am such a liar! Actually, I left my camera adapter cord at work and I have some fun stuff to share, so no pictures this time. Sad face sorry. Pictures next time. Promise. Like, for real, promise.
7 Days. Can I do it? Only 7 days to finalize insurance. Only 7 days to shop and prep for my first foray into Commercial Kitchen. Only 7 days to figure out how to brew a decent cup of coffee. Only 7 days to finalize my booth layout, including creating a few more custom chalkboards. 7 too-short days.
But these past 7? They've been busy too!
First- I brought my curds and Dulce de Leche into a Food Quality testing lab. Man oh, man... was I scared or what?! 90% of all advice I read online said home canners should never attempt to can dairy, or they could kill people with botulism. 99% of advice I read online about canning homemade caramel said the same thing. Based on those, it seemed the FDA's super strict guidelines would never approve my home canned dairy-heavy delights. But the online naysayers were wrong. My Ph levels and Water Activity levels tested within legal standards. Which means, not only that I won't kill you, my lovely friends, with my now-proven-safe concoctions... but the FDA won't shut me down either. Big, HUGE relief!
Next, I bought a new laptop this week. I'm slowly entering the realm of the tech savvy! I may even be able to Skype someday soon. Someone's just gotta show me how to do it! And I am soooooo happy to have Spotify back in my life! (My old iBook's operating system became to archaic for Spotify on their last upgrade and I have been musically deprived for a few months). If you don't know about Spotify you should google it. It's only the most amazing invention for music since the internet itself.
Then, I met with a business mentor this week and polished up a second draft of my business plan. I did a lot of the writing with 4-6 baby chicks crawling all over me & the keyboard... but more on that in a minute. I also opened a few business bank accounts and will be working on my application for a small business loan later tonight.
In making investments this week, I turned my pockets inside out, buying a small chest freezer that I singlehandedly (and perhaps small-brained of me) pushed, pulled and heaved up a flight of stairs and into my 'man cave' in the back of the house by myself. (yeah, yeah.. I know I shouldn't call it a 'man cave'- but I guarantee when I finally find Mr. Wonderful, that is what he will proudly call this roofed in space with Power Tools galore behind the house. And truth be told, 'man cave' is pretty fitting for the space, despite it being more of a 'Shay-Cave" these days.)
And I bought a small flock of chicks. After seeing the estimate for my annual insurance premium (over $600!!!!) I realized that keeping my business small and hobby-esque just doesn't make sense. I will never dig out of the investment hole. Now, it's not quite "go big or go home"... I'm not leaving my day job, I'm not baking more than 1 day a week and I'm honestly not planning on making any money in the next year (sadly, that's the realistic outlook)... but it's more of a 'go medium, or go home' mindset that I'v adopted. If I am going to pay out a few hundred dollars to be able to sell eggs, I better have more than a dozen eggs a week to sell (because Lord knows that they are poop smeared eggs more often than they are golden eggs). So my little flock of 3 'plus' is becoming a flock of a minimum of 5. Hopefully more like 7, but no more than 9.
I bought 2 more 'Browns' that are guaranteed to be hens. They are a Rhode Island Red & White Leghorn mix. The lighter of the 2 has already been named- Hilly- short for Hillary- short for Sir Edmund Hillary. At one day old, she was running straight up my chest without hesitation, and perching on my shoulders. Quite the mountain climber.
I also bought 2 Silver-Laced Wyandottes. They will be gorgeous birds, but right now they are the bullies. Constantly pecking at the other chicks and letting all the babies know who's in charge.
And finally, I bought 2 Black Autralorps, which I am absolutely enamored with. They look like little penguins now... deep black eyes that stare at me wondrously from their black bodies and white fluffy chests. They are the most docile of the bunch and they will grow up to be solid black with a red crest. The smaller of the two loves to curl up in my hand or on my keyboard (warm places) and fall immediately asleep. This one's been named Chilly Willy. Whether it will be Chilly William or Chilly Wilhelmina remains to be seen. I won't know if they are hens or roosters until they are about 3 months old. I pray they are both hens, as I can't even think about sending Chilly Willy away.
(BTW- that 'plus' in the flock is the rotating roster of errant roosters. There is one trapped in the coop right now that I've been calling Chris Farley. He's a bit overweight with a huge waddle like a double chin. He's pretty chummy with the ladies, but tomorrow he's gonna be pretty chummy with the rooster patrol when they pick him up.)
And I've been baking. I perfected a recipe for the Dulce de Leche that passed the FDA tests and is an 'original' recipe that I feel proud of. I made a batch of Lemon-Lavendar-Zucchini muffins tonight that are nearly spot on. Maybe one more batch worth of tweaking them and they'll be a hit.
And (drumroll please) I had a date. With a boy that has never tasted my baking. And we're going on a second date this weekend. He's taking me whale watching. This could be good. More to come on that front soon.
So keeping busy on the farm, keeping busy in the kitchen and still finding a little time to play. So far, so good.
More again soon.
A hui hou!!
Shay
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