Spring is for Baby Fever!

My faverole hen, Tamera, has mommy fever!  She has been broody for about two weeks now, and I haven't been able to break her of it.  Typically you can take them out of the coop and lock it up for the day, and after doing this...probably a few days at least...they will come out of it.  So we are going to try to hatch eggs.  I have a friend in Decatur who is collecting fertilized eggs for me, and I'll pick them up on Sunday, Mother's Day.  (Isn't that cute?)  This will be our first time to try to hatch eggs so I'll keep you posted as we progress through the 21 days till they hatch.  In the meantime, I've been reading on the net, and one of the fascinating things I've read was that you can hear peeping a day or so before the chicks break through the eggs.  That will be so cool!  Since deciding to let her have some fertilized eggs, I've left her in the coop and everytime I get close she fluffs up her feathers at me, like in the picture, and cackles at me.  Sometimes she sounds like one of those little dinosaurs from the Jurassic Park movies!  Thankfully broodiness has not brought pecking, but then she's always been a fairly docile hen, who although doesn't like being picked up, will tolerate it when I finally catch her and sometimes will even snuggle against me.  I think she will be a great mom!  Happy Mother's Day, Tamera!

Spring has Sprung!

The crepe myrtles are making a show!  I love this time of the year...the fresh green of new growth and the bright colors of flowers blooming.  It's time for Down Home Design & Glass to come out of hibernation.  We are gearing up for a busy summer.  If you have been on our business website lately, you have seen that we are looking for an experienced glazier.  My goal for the end of summer is having two to three trucks running full time, and three to five employees.

For businesses like ours that are gearing up for their busy season, spring is a time of preparation.  Time to make sure vehicles and machinery are operating correctly,  and operating procedures are fine-tuned as well.  How is marketing?  Other than adding signage to the truck(s) this year, and possibly improving our online presence in the Yellow Pages, I don't think I will do anything different than what our current marketing strategy is, unless is falls substantially below our 15% threshold.

What are you doing this spring?  Do you have a business idea you have been mulling?  Is it time to act on that idea?  Are you planning any home improvement projects?  Do you have any special plans to spend time with your family?  Planting anything in the garden?  Or maybe you are considering raising a few chickens?  : )  Whatever your goals/ambitions are, I hope you enjoy this wonderful season!

Keeping It Simple

If I’ve said it before, I am going to say it again:  it is exciting to watch a small business grow!  I wish I had started a business a long time ago, back when Dad and I toyed with the idea of opening a restaurant.  Of course, it hasn’t all been a joy ride.  I personally have had enough peanut butter sandwiches and chili dogs (with a side on indigestion!) to last this lifetime.  And my sleep schedule is pretty screwed up, although I remember Mom’s doing the same thing at about the same age, so I can’t really blame it all on entrepreneurship.  But when I wake up for the abrupt bathroom break in the middle of the night, something kicks my brain into high drive and the break usually ends up at least an hour or two, and swirling ideas, hopes, and dreams happily keep me a wide-awake hostage until they finally slow down for a very peaceful and comfy slumber.  I still can honestly tell you I don’t regret a minute of it!  We’re into February 2012 right now, supposedly the slowest month of the year in the glass business, and we’re working on a commercial job that will pull us through winter.  We also got a surprise financial break from what had seemed an unlikely source that is going to greatly help us reach our most successful season yet (okay, so it’s just our second peak season in business…I know, it’s supposed to be better than the first!)

I am sitting on the edge of my chair waiting for spring, when business comes out of the winter hibernation and is strong and healthy and ready to run hard in the warm sun.  It’s gonna be good!  I can smell it in the chilly morning air; I can taste it in my first cup of coffee!  Yet in the fervor and excitement of coming into a very good year, I have to remind myself to hold the course.  All those hopes and dreams and such must fall under the mantra of keeping it simple.  The thrill of progress must be tempered with the reality of wisely choosing the very best of the dreams and goals set for this business year.  All of the bells and whistles that I could add to Down Home Design & Glass to make it bigger and better (or bigger and louder) must be in proportion to what is currently going on.  It must be measured against the revenues that are actual.  If I get too overly zealous, the business could get too big in oh so many ways.  Overspending could result in debt too huge to easily rein back in.  Marketing and aquiring the right team for the business has to be in proportion to each other, or it could result in being too short-handed to adequately meet customer needs in a timely manner.  After all, the ultimate goal is not creating a huge, successful company.  The ultimate goal is nurturing and growing our small business so it will become and remain a vehicle to nurture my family, my staff and their families, and our community.  As an entrepreneur, I must remember that it is the business which will serve us and not us serving the business for the sake of the business.  I must keep my expenses in check, wisely choosing how to invest revenue back into the business so that it will properly care for the people it needs to be caring for.  No one can tell you specifically how to do that for your own business.  You have to take a good look at what your own goals are, and manage your business finances accordingly.  The Day of Peanut Butter Sandwiches does pass.

Mom's Chicken Noodle Soup with Dumplings

Nothing says comfort like my mom's chicken noodle soup with dumplings!  This has been and always will be one of my favorite recipes, and I have it cooking in the crockpot right now.  The house smells wonderful!
You need the following:

one fat whole chicken
cream of chicken soup
carrots
one package extra wide noodles
seasonings:   salt, sage, sweet basil, oregano, thyme, garlic powder (just a little), celery salt

For the dumplings:
1 1/2 cups flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. shortening
1 egg
2/3 cup milk

I like to start cooking the chicken in the morning using my crock pot, but you can cook it over the stove if you want.  Rinse chicken off and place in pot and season as desired.  I use all the seasonings listed above.  Add water up to about 2/3 of the height of the chicken, and cover to cook for about 4 to 5 hours in the crock pot.  Chicken is done when it falls off the bone.  Chop carrots.  I usually end up with about 1/2 cup chopped baby carrots.  When chicken is done, remove from broth to debone.  Add chopped carrots to broth and return the chicken meat to the pot as well, shredded to bite size portions.  Add cream of chicken soup and cook till carrots are tender; I usually let it go for about an hour.

About 30 minutes before serving time, thoroughly mix all ingredients for the dumplings.  Add noodles to the crock pot.  Your soup should have about 3 cups liquid at this point, and if not, add boiling water to compensate.  Drop dumpling dough by spoonfuls into soup; cover and let cook for 10 to 20 minutes.

Warning:  lifting the lid during cooking will guaranty your family will be ravenous by supper!