Blue Hollow Homestead

I am all for being frugal- especially around the holiday season. We have been overflowing with feed bags and haven't had time to turn them into all of those things we had planned (tote bags, aprons, you name it) so when I realized I had no wrapping paper for Christmas this year you better bet I ran out to the coop! Not only is this up-cycling saving you money, it is a really fun way to incorporate your love for your chickens/animals in your presents. Everyone will know whose gifts are wrapped with chicken feed bags!  Step 1: Find a feed bag (or a few). Step 2: Cut off the top and bottom of the feed bag and cut a slit down the side so it is one large sheet. Step 4: Find a multi-surface cleaner. We used Meyer's and had good success. Step 5: Spray away! Step 6: Wash wipe any feed residue/dirt off. Repeat on both sides of the feed bag. Ta-da! Nice and clean. Step 7: Wrap your gifts using the feed bag as you would use normal wrapping paper.

Anyone who eats eggs has plenty of egg shell waste. While you can compost the shells or feed them back to the chickens for calcium, it is much more fun to make your own Christmas ornaments. This is such an easy and fun project to do. I did it with my two and a half year old and he had such a blast! Step 1: Collect eggs. You can use chicken, duck, or any other type of egg you have readily available. Go to the grocery store if need be, but it is much more fun to make them from eggs that are each unique. We actually know which breed laid which ornament- super fun! Step 2: Thoroughly wash egg and remove any residue. Step 3: Use a thumbtack or needle to poke a small hole in both ends of the egg. The hole on the bottom of the egg should be larger than the hole on the top. Step 4: This is the hardest part- blow on the small hole in the top so that the innards come out of the bottom hole. There are tools you can use to do this, but we found it worked perfectly fine j

This blog post was so, so much fun to make! It was also quite a challenge, because as it turns out chickens/rabbits/bunnies/cats don't like to sit still for photo shoots. If you are feeling down at all or just in need of some holiday spirit, keep on reading! These guys have a magical ability to make anyone feel at least a little bit happier. Let's start with the chickens. Buffy, Zest, and Mint all were cooperative and wanted to be part of the photo shoot. All twenty something other chickens wanted to sit out. Buffy  Zest Mint We even got our seasonal Buffy profile picture! Next, the rabbits.  Carina  Sugar's Babies Last but not least, Ernest wanted to get in on the action! Hope these brought a smile to your face! Happy Holidays everyone!

We have had so much fun doing little things to decorate our coops and bring the holiday spirit to the girls. We also made a new hutch system for the rabbits. We picked up a $9.00 wreath at our local feed store. We could have made our own, but we don't have all the time in the world to do everything! We whipped up three stockings using some leftover fleece we had laying around- one for the ducks, one for the chickens, and one for the rabbits. Can't wait to make some treats for all of the animals to fill the stockings with! We *finally* finished our Sign with a blue edge! All of the nice work. Jackie even donated some awesome BLUE Christmas lights to adorn the chicken coop. Perfect for Blue Hollow Homestead! We didn't get to do so much decor inside of the run where the rabbits are, but we did make them an awesome new PVC pipe hutch system!  Sugar's babies are exploring every day now.  Once it is fully complete, it will hold 12