Life in the country is full of dirty jobs. Somebody’s got to do them, and it might as well not be me.
We had another outdoor labor party this weekend. Weston was assigned the chicken house. See him awaiting the onset of his task. He was like a kid waiting for Christmas! Eager!
Okay, not really. He’s eager for gas and date money, though, so he does dirty jobs.
To clean the chicken house, the roosts come out and the muck is scraped off the floor, put in a wheelbarrow, and piled off out of the way to “mature” before being put on the garden at some later point.
As many chickens are gotten out as will go.
The rest are at least shooed out of the house and into the chicken yard, and the door between the house and the yard closed up.
Meanwhile, I actually had Morgan on some indoor duty, cleaning silver. (Did you know you can clean silver with homemade cleaner, too? Boil a pot of water with a teaspoon of baking soda and a teaspoon of salt. Dip the silver in the pot and polish!)
More work included cleaning the back porch (which really needed it). Trash (empty boxes and other assorted items) was carted away, and it was also another opportunity to prune stuff (aka junk). We also finally got wire up on the back porch gate, which will help keep the chickens out.
After all the trash and junk was removed, there was a lot of sweeping.
And scraping.
And washing.
Weston also got some logs moved that I’d been using to shore up a spot where the baby goats were escaping. (That’s been fixed now.)
While all of this was going on, I was canning green beans and fixing dinner. And checking on BP.
Chicken house before:
Chicken house after:
Everybody’s happy.
Silver before (this was my mother’s silver–she would be so ashamed):
Silver after (my mother would be proud):
Back porch before:
Back porch after:
And that was Sunday on the farm. (NOT a day of rest!)
Except for the dogs.
Nancy in Iowa says:
Tell the kids they do good work!!! Can they come to Iowa? Just a small apartment, but……
On September 13, 2010 at 1:11 am
The Lyrical Designer says:
OH WOW!! thats a ton of work! Morgan and Weston are ace kids! i have been reading your blog for a while now and this is my first time speaking up… i love everything about this blog. It totally makes my day and i love the funny pictures!
I think you made the best decision ever to move to this farm… BUT! my most favorite part is…Georgia!! every time i see her picture i feel like grabbing her and hugging her!! She is SO CUTE!!!
On September 13, 2010 at 1:43 am
Sue Nugent says:
:snuggle: Weston,as you get older, and if your interests remain with this type of living, you will enjoy the time spent in the chicken pen, as I do. I dump lots of grass clippings and wild mulch in my chicken’s pen to keep them occupied during boring times, then as time goes by, and I need good rich loose black compost, I take my leaf rake and my sifter to the pen and have a wonderful time cleaning.It’s like black gold.
On September 13, 2010 at 4:23 am
bonita says:
Your worker bees done good!
On September 13, 2010 at 5:05 am
Suzanne says:
I laughed out loud when I read that he was eager for gas and date money!
On September 13, 2010 at 6:07 am
Canned Quilter says:
That gas and date money will get them every time ! Good work kids ( :
On September 13, 2010 at 6:24 am
Kim Gibson says:
Wow! I am so impressed! The one thing I was never good at getting was my kids to help around the house. You have done marvels! And the results are right at miraculous…. Bravo!
On September 13, 2010 at 7:12 am
CindyP says:
Great job, kids! I’m hoping date money wasn’t the bribe for Morgan!
On September 13, 2010 at 7:38 am
Jodie Zoeller says:
LIKE
On September 13, 2010 at 8:16 am
Joycee says:
Your kids are amazing! Even with pay, not many would do this great of a job…they are prepared for WHATEVER life dishes out at them!
On September 13, 2010 at 8:19 am
Jane says:
I hate cleaning the chicken coop! Cleaning the barn no problem, but the coop – Agghhhh! Your son is a real trooper!
On September 13, 2010 at 8:56 am
Tina says:
You are some kinda Mom, Suzanne! I’d have an awful hard time, I think, getting my kids to mess with actual dirt or chicken stuff! If they don’t realize it now, they will understand later how valuable a good work ethic is!
On September 13, 2010 at 8:57 am
KentuckyFarmGirl says:
A couple more years and my little farm hands will be old enough to clean out the chicken coop! Whooowooo!
On September 13, 2010 at 10:30 am
claudia w says:
Good job kiddos! The place is nice and shiny! You should all be proud!
On September 13, 2010 at 11:22 am
Karen Anne says:
Does that gate mean the crooked little hen and her beau can’t get to the porch?
The chicken house looks great, but I think if I were cleaning it out, I’d wear a filtering mask.
On September 13, 2010 at 12:44 pm
ticka1 says:
Great job! You are providing good work ethnics for your kids. And they both did a great job on their chores! That’s what is so great about it.
Now don’t clutter that porch anymore and go out there with “52” and enjoy it.
On September 13, 2010 at 2:05 pm
joykenn says:
There is NOTHING like company coming to get you after those dust bunnies you’ve been happily ignoring. I discover new forms of life developing when I move things. Sigh! Its like getting a new pair of eyes to suddenly discover your house needs a major cleaning when seemingly just yesterday it was messy but OK. Ah, if it weren’t for slave…uh, I mean child, labor…we’d never get it all done. [‘Course I don’t even pretend to look in their closets or under their beds or whereever they’ve hidden their messes.] We have to have company come regularly to keep after everything!
On September 13, 2010 at 6:01 pm
Connie B says:
I think your hardworking young man and young lady need a Florida vacation. They can come stay with me. In return, they can clean out my chicken/duck coop. 😉
Seriously, congrats on raising such hard working kids.
On September 13, 2010 at 6:34 pm
Lori Skoog says:
Such progress…I am very impressed! Also, I love the new calf…can’t wait to find out what her name is.
On September 14, 2010 at 6:59 am
Merlin says:
Awesome!! :shimmy:
On September 14, 2010 at 9:36 am
Lauren says:
Ha! We use the same gardening tool to scrape chicken poo off of the cement in our back patio! That’s currently its only use right now: the pooper scraper 🙂
On September 14, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Angela P says:
:wave: Thanks kids! Hey, would you like a vacation??? TO my house? I could use help like that too. Both my boys are in college now and help is kinda short around here. Good thing it waits for ya….kinda good.
On September 14, 2010 at 3:36 pm
Yvonne says:
Send Morgan and Weston my way. They do good work!!! :happyflower:
On September 15, 2010 at 9:50 pm