While Mom was away on her 5 week journey the ducks started nesting and they have gone buck nutty...lol... Silver had 7 ducklings, Lucky had 5 ducklings, Pretty Girl had 8 ducklings and Rotten and her Silver sister are sitting on another 17 eggs....with their "friend" the old hen.
Soooo needless to say we are swimming in ducklings and now we have to decide what to do with them all. In our area chicken eggs seem to have a higher demand and Mom's coop can only handle so many birds...so either we need to build another coop and really see if we can get a good customer base for duck eggs this summer or we have to take the birds to the slaughterhouse and take our chances selling duck meat.
My sister and her husband used to process their own chickens, but there's something about the slaughtering part that I can't bring myself to actually do. I mean I can deal with having them in the freezer and all and I might even be able to bring myself to try one as dinner, but I can't do the killing part... So we are in need of a good Slaughterhouse. It is one of the more grim aspects of having a homestead, but each plant and animal has to have a purpose...Mom does plan to keep some of the ducks and she is going to try again to sell duck eggs at market, but we just can't keep all the ducklings our flock has produced and the Muscovy breed is a good meat duck.... sooo on to the next adventure as the Something Special Homestead kicks it into high gear for the summer season!
We do produce a large variety goods at the Something Special Homestead including jellies, jams, salsa, and spreads. Plus we have a soft goods line that ranges from woven shawls to kitchen goods like woven towels, knit dish scrubbies and crocheted dish clothes! ...and of course there's the eggs and ducks.... I am happy to say the first festival of the year for us was a huge success! It was the "Evergreen Lavender Festival" in Appomattox, VA and she sold over 5 dozen jars of jelly, a couple of pot holders, a towel, some kitchen scrubby rags, a shawl and got orders for two more!!! It was a great day for Something Special and we are excited to see where the Summer takes us! You can check Something Special out on Facebook and you can read even more about the Homestead on a second Blogger page by clicking either of the links.
I have been making sure to take a few minutes here and there to work on the triangle loom while Mom was gone too and I am looking forward to getting started on our special orders. Plus a shop owner from NC sounded interested in putting them in her shop...the possibilities are starting to unfold and it is wonderful! Pictured here are the two most recent Shawls that I have completed...once the border is added they will be available for purchase!
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