Okay, check it out.

My new computer desk…

Gorgeous, right?!

Guess how much I paid for it.

You’ll never guess.

Okay, I’ll tell you. Twenty-five smackaroos.

That’s right, $25!! I couldn’t believe my luck!

It was a Friday afternoon, and the family and I just happened to pass a yard sale while we were out. We stopped, curious about some barrels we spotted, not even noticing this gem. But just as I was heading back to the car I happened to spot the desk strapped onto the back of a trailer.

“How much are you asking for the desk?” I said to the man there, purely out of curiosity. No way was I gonna be able to afford it.

But the man shocked me when he answered, “Ya know, it’s getting late in the day, and I really don’t wanna take this thing back home. So I’ll tell you what… how’s twenty-five dollars sound to you?”

Twenty-five bucks? Are you serious!?

“Um. Okay, let me go see what my husband thinks.” I casually replied.

Of course I was trying not to jump up and down as I jogged back to the van to tell Jerry about the deal. He was just as excited as I was, and we made plans to come back with our own trailer to pick it up.

And I didn’t even haggle with him. (Very uncharacteristic of me. Just sayin’.)

What a deal! As soon as we got home I began taking everything out of our office to make room for the new addition while Jerry went back to get it.

What fun!! I love redecorating.

It was a struggle, but I was able to help him carry it (in one piece) up our front steps and into the office. And then I gleefully went about the house gathering things from here and there to decorate it with.

But the very best part of this deal…

This is the desk we replaced with the new one. Jerry had rescued it from the dumpster at work.

I sold it two days later for $25.

So, we broke even. Ha!!

I just love little blessings. Every now and then I feel like the Lord rewards our penny pinching ways.

Have you had a frugal find lately? What is your favorite freebie or super cheap score you’ve ever happened upon?

Good Monday morning to ya! Thanks for joining the Barn Hop ladies, Amy from Homestead Revival, Jill from The Prairie Homestead, and myself, for another weekly round-up of linky love.

Gosh, I’ve been so busy around here I almost forgot to post this week!!  I always look forward to browsing your link-ups to see what you’ve been up to. There is so much to learn on so many homesteading fronts, I’m glad you’re on the same journey and we can share what we’re learning with each other!

In case you missed it last week, here’s a post that I thought was worth a read…

I always enjoy hearing how other people treat their family’s ailments naturally. Last week, Jill from Jill’s Home Remedies linked up her traveling medicine cabinet.  Head over to her site and check out what her must-have’s are!

Thanks for sharing, Jill!

Did you have a favorite from last week’s link ups?

As always, a BIG thanks to everyone who participates in our Homestead Barn Hops! It’s so great to see so many motivated people!

Be sure to link up and share what’s been going on around your homestead! If you don’t have a blog, please say hello in the comments section! I always love to hear from you guys!

Purslane!

I’ve actually been pulling it out of the garden all Spring! But as I was flipping through my Wild Cards (a deck of wild foraging photo/info cards by Linda Runyon), I came to one that I thought I recognized. Hey! I think that’s that stuff I’ve been yanking out of my tomato beds!

I took the card out to the garden to compare the photo with the plant, and sure enough, it was purslane I had growing there!

This is super exciting to me. Check out what I’ve discovered:

Key Benefits:

• Purslane is known as an excellent source of vitamins A, C and E and the essential amino acids. Reports describe Purslane as a “power food of the future” because of its high nutritive and antioxidant properties.
• Purslane leaves contain Omega-3 fatty acid which regulate the body’s metabolic activities. Purslane herb is known to have one of the highest known concentrations of Omega-3 fatty acid in any plant.
• The stems of Purslane herb are known to be high in vitamin C.

Therapeutic Uses:

• Purslane is widely used as a potherb in Mediterranean, central European and Asian countries.
• Purslane is also widely used as an ingredient in a green salad. Tender stems and leaves are usually eaten raw, alone or with other greens. They are also cooked or pickled for consumption.
• Purslane is used in various parts of the world to treat burns, headaches, stomach, intestinal and liver ailments, cough, shortness of breath and arthritis.
• Purslane herb has also been used as a purgative, cardiac tonic, emollient, muscle relaxant, and in anti-inflammatory and diuretic treatments.
• Purslane is popularly preserved for winter by pickling Purslane in apple cider vinegar with garlic cloves and peppercorns.
• Purslane appears among a list of herbs considered to help benefit conditions such as osteoporosis and psoriasis.

Landscaping.about.com

The entire plant is edible, and it can be eaten fresh or cooked. It can even be canned or dried for long term storage!!

I picked some tonight, washed it, and ate the entire plant raw. It was delicious! The taste was very much like lettuce; bland, but good. You could also steam, boil, or saute it if you preferred. As a matter of fact, this site has several recipes using purslane.

Isn’t that AWESOME?!

Obviously, I won’t be pulling it out of my garden beds anymore. Or at least, I’ll transplant them if they become too invasive.

Yay for wild edibles!! I do believe I’ll add some purslane to my salad tonight!

Do you have purslane growing around your home? Have you ever eaten any? If you’ve never tasted it, you gotta give it a try! I’d love to know what you think!

They arrived this morning with another 6:30am phone call from the post office.

Our turkeys are here!!

And gratefully, another box full of healthy, beautiful birds!

I ordered 15 in all, to be split between us and three other friends. Five Royal Palms, five Bourbon Reds, and five Narragansetts. I’d originally ordered Broadbreasted Bronze Turkeys, but they didn’t hatch well and had to be substituted with the Narragansetts. But that’s cool.

I put them in a brooder with our newly hatched guineas.

Here they are sleeping all snuggled together under the heat lamp. I swear, every time I see one laying like this I’m afraid it’s dead! Aren’t they ADORABLE?!

They’re all doing fine for their first day in our home! It has been so funny watching them, and hearing the new noises they make.

I LOVE HAVING TURKEYS!!

I’m not sure yet which breeds we’ll end up keeping, but I’m REALLY hoping for a breeding pair. They send them to you straight run (meaning it’s a coin toss which sex you’ll end up with), so I won’t know if I have a male and female until they’re a bit older.

… Unless anyone knows how to sex them? Anyone??

Anyways, wish us luck!

And any advice would be greatly appreciated. Please and thank you.

This poor little mixed up chick. She’s been moved from here to there and everywhere during her short week of life.

It all started when this mama hen decided she was tired of waiting on her last two eggs to hatch, and left the nest with her babies in search of food. (See the little chick peeping out from behind her wing? She has six under there.)

The two eggs sat alone for two days before a little boy discovered them. In his curiosity, he began to crack them open. When his mother (uh-hum, me) realized what he was doing, she quickly rescued the remaining egg from its captor, and snuck it under another hen who was already sitting on a full clutch.

After two or three days, we were all surprised to find that the chick had actually hatched out! I was afraid to move it during its first days, so I left it in the nest. On the third day, I took it from a very protective adopted mama, and put it in the run with the chick’s real Ma.

The black hen was so funny. She cocked her head and eyeballed the peeping little one, and then got close enough to nip it a bit to taste its feathers, as if wondering if it was hers or not. She looked very confused.

After a moment of investigating the new chick, she fluffed her feathers, called her roaming babies, and sat down with them all huddled underneath her.  The baby chick didn’t know what to do, so it just stood a foot away from the hen, peeping alone. I hoped it would find its way underneath the hen with the others, but it didn’t. Feeling sorry for it, and worried it might get cold, I put it back in the nest with the other hen.

For those who don’t know, a hen will leave her nest after about three days to help her chick find food. The clock was ticking. It was time for this chick to get out, but I didn’t want the hen to leave the dozen eggs she’d just started sitting on.

After speaking with a good friend, she advised that the best time to move a chick under another hen is at night. The chick will be covered in the scent of the mama by morning, and she won’t be able to tell it from her others. So, I planned on doing just that at nightfall. But by the time the sun had gone down that night, there was a terrible thunderstorm going on outside. I hated to wait, but I definitely didn’t want to go out in that weather.

The next morning, I went out to check on everyone. When I went into the coop the nest was empty. The chick was gone! There is about a four foot drop from the box to the floor. How did she get out? Did she fall, is she hurt?

I went out to the run where all of the chickens had congregated. Even though all of my Buffs look identical, there was one in particular that was sitting on the ground, all fluffed up and content. I knew she was the broody. I walked over to her, speaking a soft hello. She raised up, feathers puffed out in aggravation, and sure enough, the little chick came stumbling out from under her. It was fine! I picked it up and decided I’d have to put it inside in the brooder with my mail-ordered chicks.

I hoped that in the absence of the baby, the broody hen would return to her nest. And a little while later, that’s exactly what she did.

The poor baby. She was half the size of her new friends. I was afraid they’d pick on her, but they didn’t mind her addition. And although she’s had to scurry through giant feet to avoid being trampled, she’s held her own.

And after settling in, she found her companions to be quite snuggly and warm.

Meanwhile, the guineas in the incubator had been hatching! Last night, they were ready to move to a brooder as well. After putting the three guinea babies in their new, warm box, I decided I might move the baby chick in with them, since they are closer to her size.

I placed the baby chick with the guineas and watched to see what would happen.

Taking one look around the new digs, she quickly decided she did not like this place. She missed her buddies!! She sat herself down, and peeped as LOUDLY as she could. PEEP! PEEP, PEEP!!

I took the hint and put her back with the others. Silly thing.

So, I guess this is where I’ll keep her until she’s big enough to be put outdoors. This is one tough little chick for roughing it through so many transitions! It’ll be fun to watch her grow.

We were out in the garden yesterday, and as I went from row to row examining my plants, I came to my swing-set trellis and discovered that many of my sugar snap and purple podded peas were ready to harvest!

I picked off a pod and broke it open to reveal two nice rows of plump green peas. I had never in my life tasted a fresh pea before yesterday. I popped it in my mouth, and was shocked at how sweet and refreshing it was!

I called out in excitement to the kids, who were playing Robinhood in the woods, “Guys, come here! The peas are ready, you have to try them!

Jada and Ty ran to me equally as excited. Although, once I handed them the pea pods they both held them in hesitation for a moment, unsure of what they would taste like or how to even open them.

“Try them!” I encouraged. “They’re so good.” And I showed them how to split the pods apart.

Each took their turn slowly placing a round pea in their mouth. And I laughed as both faces lit up with delight!

And then it was all over for my peas, for the children devoured every plump pod they could find. But it was such a joy to me, I didn’t mind one bit. That is what the garden is for, after all!

First we tried the purple podded peas, breaking them open to enjoy. Then we moved to the other side of the trellis where the sugar snap peas are growing. These were so crisp and sweet, we happily crunched on the whole, unbroken pods!

The kids contented themselves with picking and munching until there were no more to eat, and their bellies were full.

So much for saving some for seed! Ha! This was our first year growing peas, so I didn’t plant a whole bunch. Now that I know how much we all love them, and how easy they are to grow, I’ll be sure to plant a lot more of both varieties next year.

I wonder, do you grow peas? What’s your favorite type of pea variety to grow?