For the birds

Pictured here are the two Bantum chickens. They lay small white eggs that are actually pretty big when you consider the size of the chicken. I took this photo with my phone, and I can see it is not that great.

My son has been updating his blog more often than I have. I think he is doing an outstanding job, and his writing is getting better and better.

Where have I been? I have been going crazy, among other things. Working about 78 hours a week, homeschooling, taking kids to classes, baking bread, taking care of chickens,hiking to Shipman Beach,composting,recycling,sitting at this desk typing on this computer till my carpal tunnel acts up, and being on film for Operation Christmas Child.(We are going to be on the show Living In Paradise!)

My house is a mess. Something has to give right?

Free shipping pallets and shoe boxes

Here are the pallets, they are still in pallet form, and not in chicken coop form.Things are pretty crazy busy around my house.

We are quickly approaching Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child, Nov.17-24 2008.
The drop off site for Hilo, here on the Big Island is Hilo Missionary Church,1044 Komohana St.,Hilo. Mon.-Fri.3-5,Sat.10-1,Sun.12-5.
We will be at Wal-Mart in Hilo on Nov.8, 2008 if you want to pick up a box, or brochures, or if you would like to drop off your box at our booth that day you can do that too!
Here on the Big Island Operation Christmas Child brochures can be found at all KTA stores island wide.
Call 1-800-664-7563 for local info or to leave us a message and someone will return your call.

Will I have a chicken coop before Nov. 24?Not sure...I am sure the awesome people of the Big Island will bring record breaking numbers of shoe boxes.Yes!

Chickens and old pallets

Goompy

We will be making hen houses using old wooden pallets and hopefully getting 12 or more chickens, hopefully more. We have about 9 pallets collected now, and we know where to get plenty more. Wooden pallets are an excellent recycled building material.

They would be chopped up at the dump and made into mulch, but I don't think this kind of wood mulch is very healthy for gardens. I would rather have beautiful chicken coops.I will post pictures of them soon.I hope.

Recycle Hawaii!

I just realized that the way I dispose of my garbage is really borderline obsessive. A friend was talking about taking garbage to to dump in her old car so she won't get her new van dirty. For some reason, I started to tell her how I sort and dispose of my garbage, and I think I opened a window on my personal life that maybe I should have kept secret?

I have two compost bins, and two composting worm bins. I have my plastic,glass, metal, and my paper garbage.Some paper garbage we burn in our yard, and some of it I feed to my compost worms. I also separate kitchen scraps that are meat products, and keep them in my freezer in a ziplock bag(which was recycled). Leftover dairy products are fed to the chickens.

Recycling is not mandatory in Hawaii, but it also does not have to be as complicated as I have made it. Genesis 1:28 says we should "replenish" the earth, not fill it with plastic.

There is a floating vortex of garbage the size of Texas here in the Pacific ocean.Ok, stop, and re-read that last sentence. Yes,there is a garbage patch the size of Texas floating in my ocean, and I am not happy about it.

I am not going to accept any guilt for it, and please don't get me wrong, I am not saying you should feel guilty either. I am just doing my part. I am doing my best to be a good citizen of the beautiful earth that God gave for me to enjoy.

If you live in Hawaii, you don't have to recycle, you have the freedom to choose. Please use your freedom wisely.
Mahalo!