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Turkeys, Turkeys and More Turkeys – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by html404 on July 24, 2013
in Animals, Family Stuff, Farm Stuff, Food and Treats, Home, Wordless Wednesday

Last week one of our customers on our farm Facebook page shared this video:

I was laughing a hearty laugh by the end because we technically started with a flock of 30 laying hens….Well, we actually started with a 27 year old horse, but he was not onsite until THIS year. Then we got our dog, our turkeys, rabbits, ducks, cats, a cow…..and there we have it a complete farm!

Since we lost 70% of our Narragansett turkeys, I went on a hunt for more locally. I found nine poults, plus five eggs, which we are hatching out. An Amazon gift card helped pay for an incubator. You know you are farm-crazed when your spare money and gift cards are spent on farm stuff! We also have some Midget White eggs in the incubator too. Our hen, Brownie, is also sitting on three. I want to see if she can hatch some herself since she’s so broody.

Here are our 6 week old Narragansetts, probably closer to 8 weeks now, we purchased from a local farm who hatches out their own eggs, quite successfully I might add:

The first two…

The last two…

Then we got 2-3 week old Narragansett poults a week and a half ago from a little farm that also hatches out their own eggs:

This next photo is of Junior holding one of the 2-3 week old poults:

Our Bourbon Red turkeys have finally started laying. I believe we have a 2-3 eggs to add to the incubator, making that a total of 13-14. We’ll see how many hatch.

Never thought I’d become a heritage breed turkey farmer, but here I am with 25 turkeys, plus the additional 13-14. Turkeys, turkeys, and more turkeys! They sure will be tasty this winter!

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100 Baby Chicks: Cornish Rock and Freedom Rangers

Posted by html404 on July 18, 2013
in All Natural Products, Animals, Family Stuff, Farm Stuff, Food and Treats, Fun Stuff, Home

Another big day here at the Gould farm. 100 baby chicks arrived…all ALIVE at that. That’s impressive. We were expecting the worst to be honest, especially when the Postal worker mentioned they were not doing very well when we received the call. These cuties are just a day old and made their journey in the 90 degree temperatures we’ve been experiencing here in Chicagoland.

We purchased 50 more Freedom Rangers, which did really well growth wise, except for that last day, and of course our first batch’s journey was not quite so successful. Here’s to hoping and praying we don’t lose a single one! Freedom Ranger broilers take 12 weeks to mature, so are a little slower growing than their counterparts, the White Cornish Rock.

The White Cornish Rock are what you would find in the grocery store. These will take about 8 weeks to mature and be ready to be processed. You will never taste a better chicken until you’ve tried free range, pastured chicken. I don’t want our family to go back to store bought chicken after tasting our first batch of Freedom Rangers. We’ve tasted friend’s pastured chicken and that is pretty much what got us turned on to raising our own.

Our children delight in the arrival of new little fur babies.

Here’s to truly all natural, farm fresh poultry! Cannot wait to have a freezer full of these…yummy!

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Jamba Juice Review

Posted by html404 on July 13, 2013
in All Natural Products, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Health, Health and Fitness, Health and Nutrition, Kids Stuff, Reviews

I received this product for free from the sponsor of the Moms Meet (TM) program. May Media Group LLC, who received it directly form the manufacturer. As a Moms Meed (TM) blogger, I agreed to use the product and post my opinion on my blog. My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of May Media Group LLC or the manufacturer.

We’ve been on a journey to improve our eating habits and quality of food ever since our children were little and we learned about the harmful affects of dyes and preservatives found in mainstream food. We don’t always get it right but growing our own food is certainly helping us move in the right direction, as well as increase the nutritional value of a lot of the food we eat.

Our children are not that picky. We’ve always required them to eat at least some of the food they say they hate or don’t like. We also find they are more open to trying new veggies if we grow them ourselves. I love the summer when they can just munch on fresh picked vegetables straight from their little garden patch! Remember, they even eat green smoothies!

We recently had the opportunity to try Jamba Juice. Jamba Juice is a restaurant retailer offering better-for-you foods, including fruit and veggie juices and smoothies.

Jamba Juice

Did you know:

Only 8 percent of Americans achieve their recommended target for fruit in an average day
Only 6 percent of individuals meet their recommended target for veggies in an average day
1 percent of adults and 2 percent of children meet both their recommended fruit and veggies servings each day.

**Source: State if the Plate: 2010 Study of America’s Consumption of Fruit & Vegetables

Jamba Juice Review

We tried Jamba Juice’s new Tropical Harvest™ Smoothie and the Jamba Kids™ Berry Beet It!™ Smoothie.

The Tropical Harvest™ Smoothie contains: Mangos, peaches, yellow vegetable juice (sweet potato, carrot, butternut squash), passion mango juice, ice and is only 230 calories.

The Berry Beet It!™ Smoothie contains: Strawberries, mangos, bananas, mixed berry juice, carrots, beets, broccoli, spinach, kale, lettuce and is only 190 calories.

My children loved the Berry Beet It!™ Smoothie. All of them drank it with gusto. They even liked the Tropical Harvest™ Smoothie. I, on the other hand, am not a huge fan of mangos. However, it grew on me as I drank it. To me the mango really came through. Otherwise, I actually preferred the Berry Beet It!™ Smoothie.

These smoothies were very flavorful and made a great treat on a hot day. The only thing we didn’t care about was the price. They are pricey. We realize we are paying for quality but it’s an ouchie on the pocket book when a smoothie outing costs our family over $30! They sure are tasty though!

Feel free to check Jamba Juice out on Facebook.

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Summer on the Farm – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by html404 on July 10, 2013
in All Natural Products, Animals, Family Stuff, Farm Stuff, Food and Treats, Gardening, Home, Organic, Wordless Wednesday

We are having an extremely busy summer. So busy that I am taken aback that we are nearly half way through July! Summer has always been my favorite season, though I enjoy the others. My birthday is during the summer and my mom always made birthday time FUN! From sleepovers to camp outs to a day on the lake, I always had a blast. Summer on the farm is fun too or not so fun in some instances, as we’ve had a couple of disasters (our sized disasters that is, as we realize there are much worse disasters happening). We lost 17 of our 29 broilers on the way to processing due to them overheating – expensive. Our new batch of turkeys were shipped over the 4th of July and we lost over half of them. Now I am struggling to find a local source for turkeys to save on the stress of having them shipped.

On the brighter side, our egg business is growing. We have been selling out of eggs for the past 3 weeks. So we started to increase our flock again. We purchased 6 month old Rhode Island crosses, much like our Red Sex Links. Not a heritage breed like our original flock but very good producers. We also purchased 13 Silkies. They have poofy hair and feet. Our youngest daughter asked for the baby chicks, who are not so little, so she’s been taking care of them. The mamas are very broody so we are hoping to hatch out some more eggs! Here’s to hoping for the best.

Due to the shipping fiasco with our turkeys, we purchased a breeding trio of Bourbon Red turkeys. This is a heritage breed and may be a little bigger than our Midget White turkeys. We now have five “pet” turkeys. Our neighbor hatched two of our Midget White eggs and we would have had an additional two turkeys, but during a mating session the Tom smothered them beneath Brownie, our hen. Lots of death around our farm lately. One of my children’s words not mine. But I quite agree.

Animals are not the only thing that has been keeping us busy. Berry picking has too. We found some mulberry bushes (more like trees to be honest) at the back of our property and we’ve been picking those pretty regularly.

Then we have been visiting area berry farms to pick strawberries and raspberries. Next on the list is blueberries! Next year we are planning on planting more berries here on the farm, as most of our plants did not produce much due to us moving them from the townhouse to the farm in the spring.

We have also been working hard to get all our fall planting done or most of it, as we will be planting more greens in a month’s time. We bought some transplants from friends’ farms to make up for our spring greenhouse disaster, which will hopefully help us have some veggies in late July/early August. The pepper plants are from one friend’s farm in Wisconsin. They were a little stressed since we did not get them planted right away. Our little ones even help in the garden.

We enjoy growing our own organic meat and vegetables, but it certainly is not without its challenges and hard work!

How’s your summer going?

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Graeter’s Ice Cream Review

Posted by Professor on June 20, 2013
in Food and Treats, Reviews, Uncategorized

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

We were given the opportunity to review GRAETER’S ICE CREAM…what a yummy treat!

Graeter’s uses ONLY the highest quality of ingredients in their ice cream!

Fresh cream from farms tat pledge not to use artificial growth hormones (rBST).
Sweetened with 100% cane sugar.
No hydrogenated oils, therefore no trans fats.
PETER’S CHOCOLATE ~ the inventor of milk chocolate.
Premium, hand selected Oregon black raspberries & strawberries
100% Arabica coffee beans.
Madagascar vanilla beans.
OREO cookie chunks and HEATH toffee.

Graeter’s offers retail locations and quality ice cream in your grocer’s freezer. Check out a location near you…HERE.

Graeter’s also offers travel packs in either 6 or 12 pints. We received a 6 pint travel pack of YUMMY Black cherry chocolate ice cream! The travel pack is a reusable insulated cooler packed with dry ice…ice cream will stay frozen in the travel packs for up to 24 hours.

Not only was our ice cream cold…it was hard… I expected a mushier ice cream because it was “shipped” opposed to bought out of the grocer’s freezer…. BUT this was AWESOME! It shipped better than I could have carted it home from the store on a hot summer day!

We received 6 of the Black Cherry Chocolate pints and they were Scrumptious! My children, my husband, and myself all loved them. In fact I think my hubby ate 2 pints on his own because when I went to the freezer to get some ice cream (knowing I had two pints left) they were gone! Enough said…right?

Anyway, the taste was mesmerizing! The ice cream was so creamy and the chunks of cherries and chocolate were huge … in fact the quantity of cherries and chocolate was much more than I expected to find in the ice cream. No one complained about the ice cream in our house except my eldest daughter who is 9…and her complaint was that she did not like that there was cherry skin in the ice cream. I explained that that was the actual cherries…but for some reason the texture of the cherries disturbed her and she would not eat any more. But overall 4 out of five family members devoured the ice cream and thought it delectable!

You can find more out about Graters and their company offerings at their website:

http://www.graeters.com/default.aspx

Check out ALL of their delicious flavors HERE:

http://www.graeters.com/flavors.aspx

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Sprout Organic Toddler Snacks

Posted by html404 on June 10, 2013
in All Natural Products, Food and Treats

#spon: I’m required to disclose a relationship between our site and Sprout Foods. This could include the Sprout Foods providing us w/ content, product, access or other forms of payment. Check out the new Sprout Foods website at www.sproutorganicfoods.com.

Our family is usually game to try anything organic. So when the opportunity to try Sprout Organic Toddler Snacks we took it. Sprout Organic Toddler Snacks aren’t just for toddlers, my preschoolers, school aged children, teens and even we adults enjoyed trading these little Fruit & Veggie Crispy Chews and Fruity Yogurt Bites.

We all loved the Sprout Organic Fruit & Veggie Crispy Chews and Fruity Yogurt Bites. My husband had an aversion to even trying these snacks because of the blend of fruit and vegetables. Here is a photo of his exaggerated dismay:

All the younger children traded their vegetables and fruit so they could try each flavor.

This is what the all natural snacks look like:

We would definitely purchase these snacks for on the go, traveling or as a special treat. Two thumbs up from us!

Here’s a digital coupon offer for you to enjoy through the end of June:

A new coupon, from Sprout and Diapers.com, which is good for $1.00 off the purchase of Sprout Fruit & Veggie Crispy Chews or Fruity Yogurt Bites. The promo code is SPROUTSNAX, and the coupon is good through June 30th. If you want to share the coupon with your friends and followers, feel free to do so!

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Longhorn Steakhouse – Take Dad on a “Steakcation”

Posted by Brande on June 6, 2013
in Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Gift Ideas, Guest Post, Holidays, Houseware, Products for Dad, Restaurants, Reviews, Shopping

Written By Guest Dad Blogger – Scott

“I participated in a campaign on behalf of Dad Central Consulting for LongHorn Steakhouse. I received a gift card to facilitate my review and a promotional item as a thank-you for participating.”

Father’s Day is coming! Is your Dad a “cut above the rest”? Forget the tie! Your favorite Dad really wants a “Steakcation” at Longhorn Steakhouse!

Come on down, grab a cold one and let Longhorn Steakhouse grill experts take care of Dad this Father’s Day. With a choice of 7 different cuts of steak at any temperature, it will be hard to decide which to cut choose.

After you decide which cut to choose (18 inch bone-in Outlaw Ribeye, Flo’s Filet, sirloin, strip, flat-iron, T-Bone or porterhouse). You need to choose a side; you can even upgrade your side to roasted corn on the cob (available for a limited time off the “Peak Season Menu”).

Hungry yet?

This was my family’s first visit to a Longhorn Steakhouse and we were very impressed. Here’s what we ordered.

When the waitress took our drink order she dropped off honey wheat bread that was still warm. Very tasty, my daughter ate most of it before her dinner came out.

Appetizer – Parmesan Crusted Asparagus (New off the Peak Season Menu)

The asparagus had a great favor, was crunchy, and the batter was light. It had a few parmesan shavings on top and was served with a delicious red chili ranch sauce.

Lunch –

I had the Prime Rib – My dinner also came with a choice of salad and side. I chose a garden salad and a side of vegetables. I prefer my steaks to be rare and it was cooked perfect! Served with au jus and horseradish sauce. The broccoli was nice and green and the carrots still a small crunch.

My wife had the Bold Balsamic BBQ Sirloin, She also got the garden salad, but upgraded her side to the roasted corn on the cob. She ordered and received her sirloin medium to well done. Her sirloin was topped with roasted garlic cloves and a smooth balsamic bbq sauce.

My daughter had a grilled cheese sandwich and fries off the kids menu. There was a great variety on the children’s menu which was great. We have a picky eater and that can be a concern when going out.

We really enjoyed our afternoon out. The food is very good and cooked to your expectations.

We ate so much that we did not have room for dessert. I took a look at the dessert menu and the offerings were very intriguing. The Chocolate Stampede which has 6 different chocolates in a piece of cake and is served with vanilla ice cream. Another dessert that caught my eye was off the Peak Seasons Menu, The Very Berry Grilled Pound Cake (I’m going back just to get this dessert), it’s a piece of lemon pound cake grilled and served with strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream!

Stomach Growling? Mine is!

So, your favorite Dad is not into going out for Father’s Day. He prefers to say at home and do his own grilling? Here is Longhorn Steakhouse’s Tips on “How to Grill a Great Steak”.

You still need to get Dad a present too! My suggestion is the Longhorn Steakhouse Knives – Available at your local Longhorn Steakhouse for $29.99. The Knives are made with high carbon steel and serrated blade. Stop tearing your steak and cut it with these fabulous knives.

Click Here to find your nearest Longhorn Steakhouse to purchase your knives or a great Father’s Day Meal!

Happy Father’s Day!

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LUIGI’s Real Italian Ice

Posted by Professor on June 5, 2013
in Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Fun Stuff

LUIGI’s Real Italian Ice

Luigi’s Real Italian Ice is naturally flavored with real fruit juice and is packed with a refreshing taste. Kids and adults alike love this delicious and nutritious treat! This family favorite comes in many refreshing flavors including:

Cotton Candy & Sour Apple

Cherry

Mango

Blue Raspberry & Watermelon

Strawberry & Lemon.

LUIGI’s Real Italian Ices are:

Fat Free
Most flavors are 100 calories
Naturally flavored with real fruit juice
Refreshing, unique flavors.

Our review:

We found that Luigi’s real Italian Ice live up to their reputation! They are so YUMMY! The Cotton Candy is by far the children’s favorite! We liked that there was a variety in most packs. The packages come in a 6 pack of flavors… our favorite box was Cotton Candy and Sour Apple…we opened the box and it was 3 Cotton Candy flavors and 3 Sour apple flavors. The children wished there was more cotton candy but 3 (1 for each) was a nice treat for the children.

One thing I liked as a mom is that the ices are not rock hard… sometimes I purchase Italian ices and they are so hard to spoon that the children get frustrated. LUIGI’s are just the right consistency to scoop and enjoy!

Check out the JJ snack brand and their whole entourage of products at this link:

www.jjsnack.com

Check out the LUIGI’s line and opt in for money saving coupons at:

www.luigis.com

You can also check out Luigi’s on facebook at:

www.facebook.com/pages/LUIGIS-real-Italian-Ice

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Sambazon Smoothies Review & Giveaway

Posted by html404 on June 1, 2013
in All Natural Products, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Health, Health and Nutrition, Organic, Reviews

Disclaimer: I received Sambazon Smoothies and Juices coupons for free from the sponsor of the Moms MeetSM program, May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms MeetSM blogger, I agreed to use this product and post my opinion on my blog. My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of May Media Group LLC or the manufacturer of the product.

I have mentioned time and again that we really try to eat well. I’ve also shared how much our family enjoys fruit smoothies and green smoothies, which we usually make at home with our blender. However, we learned of a pre-made product called Sambazon Smoothies and Juices that peeked our interest. Sambazon also has superfood juices as well.

Sambazon Smoothies Facts:

Sambazon smoothies and juices are made with the finest organic Amazon
Superfoods™ on the planet such as Açaí [Ah-sigh-ee], Acerola [Ah-sir-o-la], and
Yerba Mate [Yur-ba Mah-tay].
• Their juices and smoothies are available in ten different delicious flavor varieties,
and packed with antioxidants and healthy omega 3-6-9s.
• All Sambazon Superfood juices are NON-GMO, USDA organic, vegan, gluten-free,
and provide whole food nutrition.
• A bottle of Sambazon Superfood juice (10.5 ounces) retails for $2.99.

Sambazon Smoothies Review

My two year old and I really enjoyed the Sambazon Smoothies and Juices. We tried the Blended Breakfast Smoothie with Strawberry, Banana, Chia and Ancient Grains (Amaranth & Quinoa) and Acai Superfood Juice. They tasted like green smoothies to me. The juice is not as thick as the smoothie. Not too sweet but not bitter either. I cannot say I noticed any difference in how my toddler or I felt after drinking the Sambazon Smoothies and Juices but appreciate the nutrition they provided our bodies.

I thought they were a little pricey for such a small bottle, but have come to accept that we often have to pay premium prices for good food. I also found not all smoothies and juices are available at all locations so if you decide to look for them check for their availability and store locations on Sambazon’s website.

Feel free to follow Sambazon on Facebook and Twitter. Please use the hashtag #momsmeet. And be sure to enter the giveaway below so you have a chance to try Sambazon Smoothies and Juices too.

Sambazon Smoothies Giveaway

One winner will receive three free product vouchers, plus a wooden bowl and spoon (pictured in the photo above) valued at $45. Giveaway prizes will be sent to the winners directly by Moms Meet.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Azure Standard

Posted by html404 on May 29, 2013
in All Natural Products, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Health, Health and Nutrition, Uncategorized

Our family eats a lot, as you can imagine since we are a family of ten. We eat as much organic products as we can but to buy them in the grocery store or at Whole Foods is really expensive. Co-ops like Azure Standard or Country Life Natural Foods enable us to purchase organic products in bulk and save money at the same time.

We have been using Azure Standard for a year and a half. We place a monthly order on our Azure account. Our drop site is in our town at our local Farm and Fleet parking lot. The drop site is where we help unload the truck for our group’s order and pick up our individual orders. We have a drop site manager who reminds us of order deadlines, pick up times and any changes Azure Standard announces.

Azure has many different products from personal care to bulk rolled oats or quick oats to bulk produce items like a 25 lb bag of organic carrots we like to buy. We have come to love the creamy ice cream they carry – Alden’s – which has no propylene glycol (antifreeze basically) or other harmful chemicals in it.

I love that I can add to or change my order throughout the month right up until the order deadline, since the shopping cart will save my order until I click “submit order”. I appreciate that Azure accepts C.O.D orders so we don’t have to use a credit card but pay with cash or check on pick up day. I love that we do not have to order every month.

There is a minimum order of $50 but our family does not have any trouble meeting it.

There are no member fees, though there are freight charges based on the weight of your total order. To become a member, all you have to do is contact Azure Standard to see if there is a drop site in or near you and they will put you in touch with the drop site manager. Azure even offers a free catalog upon request.

Country Life operates similarly but different. Anyone can place an order, no membership is required, but the minimum is $500 or $600 so more often than not groups of families place an order together and get the order delivered to one family’s home. We really like Azure because of the many different items they carry so we rarely order from Country Life anymore. For the most part, prices are pretty comparable between the two.

Are you a part of any food co-ops? Feel free to share to give readers more resources and choices.

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Archive for Food and Treats

Turkeys, Turkeys and More Turkeys – Wordless Wednesday

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100 Baby Chicks: Cornish Rock and Freedom Rangers

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Jamba Juice Review

Jamba Juice

Jamba Juice Review

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Summer on the Farm – Wordless Wednesday

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Graeter’s Ice Cream Review

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Sprout Organic Toddler Snacks

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Longhorn Steakhouse – Take Dad on a “Steakcation”

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LUIGI’s Real Italian Ice

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Sambazon Smoothies Review & Giveaway

Sambazon Smoothies Facts:

Sambazon Smoothies Review

Sambazon Smoothies Giveaway

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Azure Standard

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