10 Days to a DIY Kitchen

In my last post about our kitchen plans, I mentioned that we think we can do this project in ten days. Our last kitchen went from demo to functional in about the same time, so we have some confidence that we can do this again.

Why Rush The Timeline?

We love to cook and want to minimize our time without a kitchen. Second, Alex has limited ability to be away from work, so we want to maximize his time off. (I'm still working farmers' markets and teaching Bitter is Better and Kids Keep Chickens during the project.) Finally, we're putting housecleaning and homeschooling and social plans on hold while we renovate but don't want to keep those things at bay for very long.

10 Day Renovation Schedule

Here's how we hope it will play out:

Day one - Tomorrow! - tear out Day two  - tear out Day three - fix problems in sub floor, walls, hopeful we uncover nothing else Day four - adjust gas line, plumbing, electric, venting for new configuration Day five - install pre-finished flooring Day six - build island base, build and install cabinets Day seven - build and install cabinets Day eight - build and install cabinets Day nine - install appliances, sink, lights, vent Day ten - build and install counters

Cheats and Delays

The savvy among you may realize that there's a lot missing from our schedule - trim and handles and unpacking and decorating. Our ten days is counted from the time the old kitchen was semi-functional to the time the new kitchen is semi-functional. We don't expect to be truly finished for awhile later. We lived in the last kitchen for almost a year before we had finished wooden countertops!

And already we have a delay. The universe must not believe in a ten day kitchen because when we ordered appliances, the range top we wanted wasn't available for delivery until April 17. Other models that met our timeline cost $500-1000 more - for that amount we can afford to wait.

I'll take pictures and share updates on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram if you want to follow along. 

10 Days to a DIY Kitchen

In my last post about our kitchen plans, I mentioned that we think we can do this project in ten days. Our last kitchen went from demo to functional in about the same time, so we have some confidence that we can do this again.

Why Rush The Timeline?

We love to cook and want to minimize our time without a kitchen. Second, Alex has limited ability to be away from work, so we want to maximize his time off. (I'm still working farmers' markets and teaching Bitter is Better and Kids Keep Chickens during the project.) Finally, we're putting housecleaning and homeschooling and social plans on hold while we renovate but don't want to keep those things at bay for very long.

10 Day Renovation Schedule

Here's how we hope it will play out:

Day one - Tomorrow! - tear out Day two  - tear out Day three - fix problems in sub floor, walls, hopeful we uncover nothing else Day four - adjust gas line, plumbing, electric, venting for new configuration Day five - install pre-finished flooring Day six - build island base, build and install cabinets Day seven - build and install cabinets Day eight - build and install cabinets Day nine - install appliances, sink, lights, vent Day ten - build and install counters

Cheats and Delays

The savvy among you may realize that there's a lot missing from our schedule - trim and handles and unpacking and decorating. Our ten days is counted from the time the old kitchen was semi-functional to the time the new kitchen is semi-functional. We don't expect to be truly finished for awhile later. We lived in the last kitchen for almost a year before we had finished wooden countertops!

And already we have a delay. The universe must not believe in a ten day kitchen because when we ordered appliances, the range top we wanted wasn't available for delivery until April 17. Other models that met our timeline cost $500-1000 more - for that amount we can afford to wait.

I'll take pictures and share updates on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram if you want to follow along. 

The DIY Kitchen Master Plan

I asked on Facebook about what parts of our DIY kitchen renovation you want to hear about and people commented that they want it all. Ok, here we go: The master plan.

Overall Vision

We plan to create a highly functional cooking space by updating to more powerful appliances and adding much more storage. We're aiming for a clean farmhouse look with stained white cabinets and warm, earthy accents.

From The Bottom Up

After the old cabinets are re-purposed in other areas of our home and the old flooring is sent to the dump (sadly, we can't think of anything to do with cracked tile and worn vinyl), we'll lay in new wood or bamboo flooring. Unlike last kitchen when we spent big bucks for cork, this go-round we will choose something within our budget from whatever's in stock at a local flooring company.

Leonard Krashoc, mastermind behind the mudroom and children's book author (go buy his books!), will help us out with the kitchen. He's a whiz with drywall, so he's going to expand a doorway to allow easier flow through the house. He'll also help extend the gas line, fix the goofy wiring, and troubleshoot any unexpected projects we might uncover. Everyone cross your fingers that we don't find too much trouble behind the walls.

We went to IKEA today to order cabinets during their 20% off kitchen sale. It's not as boring as Lil makes it out to be - if you've done your homework with the 3D kitchen planner like we did, staff just does a double check, prints the list of every individual part, and collects payment. We opted for $149 delivery to our house which could have come as soon as this Sunday! (But we pushed them off a week because we aren't quite ready for stacks of cabinet boxes.)

All the base cabinets we ordered, including those in the island, are full of drawers. We miss drawers! Because we despise corner cabinets, we arranged for straight runs of cabinet only. Straight lines will make counter construction easier too.

We're going to make our own countertops again - this time with zinc over a plywood base. Zinc is food safe, easy to work, and will patina over time to add to the farmhouse feel. Catch up with how we made wooden countertops at our previous house in 2009.

The next big purchase to be made is the gas range top, double ovens, and outside vent hood. We're going with large, semi-professional grade cooking appliances in brushed stainless finish. We are not replacing the dishwasher and refrigerator right now because they're still working fine and we're wanting to stay within our budget of cash saved.

Lighting, paint, and decor will be simple and comprised of some pieces we already have.

Our plans sound straightforward when I write them out and perhaps that's why I only have ten days set aside for the project. I'll share our schedule and why I think we can remodel a kitchen in this timeline soon.

What do you think of the master plan? Will our third IKEA kitchen be our last?

The DIY Kitchen Master Plan

I asked on Facebook about what parts of our DIY kitchen renovation you want to hear about and people commented that they want it all. Ok, here we go: The master plan.

Overall Vision

We plan to create a highly functional cooking space by updating to more powerful appliances and adding much more storage. We're aiming for a clean farmhouse look with stained white cabinets and warm, earthy accents.

From The Bottom Up

After the old cabinets are re-purposed in other areas of our home and the old flooring is sent to the dump (sadly, we can't think of anything to do with cracked tile and worn vinyl), we'll lay in new wood or bamboo flooring. Unlike last kitchen when we spent big bucks for cork, this go-round we will choose something within our budget from whatever's in stock at a local flooring company.

Leonard Krashoc, mastermind behind the mudroom and children's book author (go buy his books!), will help us out with the kitchen. He's a whiz with drywall, so he's going to expand a doorway to allow easier flow through the house. He'll also help extend the gas line, fix the goofy wiring, and troubleshoot any unexpected projects we might uncover. Everyone cross your fingers that we don't find too much trouble behind the walls.

We went to IKEA today to order cabinets during their 20% off kitchen sale. It's not as boring as Lil makes it out to be - if you've done your homework with the 3D kitchen planner like we did, staff just does a double check, prints the list of every individual part, and collects payment. We opted for $149 delivery to our house which could have come as soon as this Sunday! (But we pushed them off a week because we aren't quite ready for stacks of cabinet boxes.)

All the base cabinets we ordered, including those in the island, are full of drawers. We miss drawers! Because we despise corner cabinets, we arranged for straight runs of cabinet only. Straight lines will make counter construction easier too.

We're going to make our own countertops again - this time with zinc over a plywood base. Zinc is food safe, easy to work, and will patina over time to add to the farmhouse feel. Catch up with how we made wooden countertops at our previous house in 2009.

The next big purchase to be made is the gas range top, double ovens, and outside vent hood. We're going with large, semi-professional grade cooking appliances in brushed stainless finish. We are not replacing the dishwasher and refrigerator right now because they're still working fine and we're wanting to stay within our budget of cash saved.

Lighting, paint, and decor will be simple and comprised of some pieces we already have.

Our plans sound straightforward when I write them out and perhaps that's why I only have ten days set aside for the project. I'll share our schedule and why I think we can remodel a kitchen in this timeline soon.

What do you think of the master plan? Will our third IKEA kitchen be our last?

Whole Grain Chicken Feed

When we started our flock of chickens with four birds, the cost and type of food didn't matter much. We bought a fifty pound bag of commercial feed about once a month from a farm store. If the hens spilled and wasted some or the price of feed fluctuated, it didn't make a big difference to us.

Now that we have fifteen chickens, things are different. They can eat a fifty pound bag of feed in less than two weeks. As soon as City Folk's Farm Shop opened, we switched to buying feed from them. We wanted to like their organic and non-GMO offerings, but with more powder than large pieces, our hens spilled constantly. Spilling feed is not only cash on the ground but the resulting mess combines with soil moisture and begins to ferment and stink. Yuck.

When City Folk's opened their new feed mixing station, I took a class with Denise Beno to learn about whole grain chicken feed. Denise shared advantages and disadvantages to whole grains, her philosophy to feed twice a day only what they can eat in fifteen minutes (no thieving by sparrows!), and several feed mix ratios. I was sold and mixed my own feed shortly thereafter.

The girls (and guy) seem to love it. Spilling still happens but they're more likely to eat what falls because it's in bigger pieces. We're going through less feed than expected and therefore it costs less than buying high quality pre-mixed food. Cleaning the hen house has become more pleasant because the poop from whole-grain fed chickens is less prolific and less smelly in our experience.

How To Feed Chickens Whole Grain

1. Use a recipe that provides a variety of grains, protein sources, and minerals. You may change the grain mix to include cheaper/more available grains in subsequent batches but try not to change too many things at once.

2. Provide grit, oyster shell, and fresh water at all times. Hens using whole grain will consume more grit and oyster than hens on commercial pelleted feed. I made a grit and oyster shell feeder using our pvc feeder design.

3. Transition slowly by mixing in the new feed:

• Week one - 3/4 previous (commerical) feed, 1/4 whole grain mix
• Week two - 1/2 previous feed, 1/2 whole grain mix
• Week three - 1/4 previous feed, 3/4 whole grain mix
• Week four (or whenever you run out of previous feed) - 100% whole grain

4. During this time, egg production may slow a little and/or eggshells may thin as the hens get used to eating the new food, grit, and shell. After four weeks, my girls were up to their regular production and shells are thick and strong again.

5. Experiment to determine how much feed you need. Denise recommended 1/3 pound per chicken per day, which would be 5 pounds per day for my flock but they're actually eating 3.5-4 pounds per day. The difference may be that some of my chickens are bantams and it's winter so they aren't expending much energy foraging. We also feed all the table scraps they will eat.

Rachel's Whole Grain Layer Feed Mix

Makes 50#

12.5# whole oats 12.5# wheat 12.5# cracked corn 1.5# fish meal 2.5# alfalfa pellets (not my hen's favorite and can be eliminated with good pasture) 7.5# whole soy beans 1 # mineral supplement

Whole Grain Chicken Feed

When we started our flock of chickens with four birds, the cost and type of food didn't matter much. We bought a fifty pound bag of commercial feed about once a month from a farm store. If the hens spilled and wasted some or the price of feed fluctuated, it didn't make a big difference to us.

Now that we have fifteen chickens, things are different. They can eat a fifty pound bag of feed in less than two weeks. As soon as City Folk's Farm Shop opened, we switched to buying feed from them. We wanted to like their organic and non-GMO offerings, but with more powder than large pieces, our hens spilled constantly. Spilling feed is not only cash on the ground but the resulting mess combines with soil moisture and begins to ferment and stink. Yuck.

When City Folk's opened their new feed mixing station, I took a class with Denise Beno to learn about whole grain chicken feed. Denise shared advantages and disadvantages to whole grains, her philosophy to feed twice a day only what they can eat in fifteen minutes (no thieving by sparrows!), and several feed mix ratios. I was sold and mixed my own feed shortly thereafter.

The girls (and guy) seem to love it. Spilling still happens but they're more likely to eat what falls because it's in bigger pieces. We're going through less feed than expected and therefore it costs less than buying high quality pre-mixed food. Cleaning the hen house has become more pleasant because the poop from whole-grain fed chickens is less prolific and less smelly in our experience.

How To Feed Chickens Whole Grain

1. Use a recipe that provides a variety of grains, protein sources, and minerals. You may change the grain mix to include cheaper/more available grains in subsequent batches but try not to change too many things at once.

2. Provide grit, oyster shell, and fresh water at all times. Hens using whole grain will consume more grit and oyster than hens on commercial pelleted feed. I made a grit and oyster shell feeder using our pvc feeder design.

3. Transition slowly by mixing in the new feed:

• Week one - 3/4 previous (commerical) feed, 1/4 whole grain mix
• Week two - 1/2 previous feed, 1/2 whole grain mix
• Week three - 1/4 previous feed, 3/4 whole grain mix
• Week four (or whenever you run out of previous feed) - 100% whole grain

4. During this time, egg production may slow a little and/or eggshells may thin as the hens get used to eating the new food, grit, and shell. After four weeks, my girls were up to their regular production and shells are thick and strong again.

5. Experiment to determine how much feed you need. Denise recommended 1/3 pound per chicken per day, which would be 5 pounds per day for my flock but they're actually eating 3.5-4 pounds per day. The difference may be that some of my chickens are bantams and it's winter so they aren't expending much energy foraging. We also feed all the table scraps they will eat.

Rachel's Whole Grain Layer Feed Mix

Makes 50#

12.5# whole oats 12.5# wheat 12.5# cracked corn 1.5# fish meal 2.5# alfalfa pellets (not my hen's favorite and can be eliminated with good pasture) 7.5# whole soy beans 1 # mineral supplement

BIG Plans {Friday Five}

What's going on behind the computer these days? Planning, saving, measuring, and more planning. In the coming few months, our little homestead will undergo a lot of changes. Here's what's going on:

Kitchen Renovation Underway - When Uncle Leonard, our personal contractor-like friend, suggests moving up the start date for the big gut and replace kitchen project, we had to say yes. Mid-April is now early April, which means supply purchases begin now. In four weeks we will (pending no big surprises) be cooking with gas! Gas! I can't wait to fix our dysfunctional kitchen. I'll share specific plans and our strategy for quick renovations soon.

Mudroom Finishing - Uncle Leonard will tease us endlessly unless we finish the mudroom before he arrives in a few weeks. Afterall, he was instrumental in building it...in July... We'll be drywalling, painting, and adding gutters this weekend. Oh, and clearing out the garage so we have room to store the kitchen supplies as they're purchased

Ponds and Swales - The front plot where we'll plant Swainway Urban Farm produce has some water issues. We debated an agricultural tile system but that seems to be throwing away a potential resource. Instead, we're going to try digging two small ponds with a series of swales to direct and hold water. We will plant the edges in water-loving habitat flowers and grasses.

Move the Chicken Yard - Our chickens need more space to roam further away from the main garden. We're going to give them a big portion of the yard in a shady area that isn't ideal for planting. I think we're finally going to invest in portable electric fencing so that we can change the shape of their yard as other projects reveal themselves.

Low Mow - Alex is thrilled that I want to mow a lot less this year. We'll keep enough grass mowed for kids to run in and baby trees to survive, but we want to let a lot more grow wild. The wild will be managed be seeding flowers and incorporating native transplants. Less fuel wasted, more wildlife habitat, and less work - why didn't we think of this last year?

Of course, we're still seeding greens and roots in the hoop house, potatoes and peas outside, and tending seedlings inside. And celebrating Pi Day. And teaching classes, working with Swainway Urban Farm, and occaisionally tending shop at City Folk's. And making freezer food for the week or so we'll be without a kitchen. Busy days.

What are your BIG Plans?

BIG Plans {Friday Five}

What's going on behind the computer these days? Planning, saving, measuring, and more planning. In the coming few months, our little homestead will undergo a lot of changes. Here's what's going on:

Kitchen Renovation Underway - When Uncle Leonard, our personal contractor-like friend, suggests moving up the start date for the big gut and replace kitchen project, we had to say yes. Mid-April is now early April, which means supply purchases begin now. In four weeks we will (pending no big surprises) be cooking with gas! Gas! I can't wait to fix our dysfunctional kitchen. I'll share specific plans and our strategy for quick renovations soon.

Mudroom Finishing - Uncle Leonard will tease us endlessly unless we finish the mudroom before he arrives in a few weeks. Afterall, he was instrumental in building it...in July... We'll be drywalling, painting, and adding gutters this weekend. Oh, and clearing out the garage so we have room to store the kitchen supplies as they're purchased

Ponds and Swales - The front plot where we'll plant Swainway Urban Farm produce has some water issues. We debated an agricultural tile system but that seems to be throwing away a potential resource. Instead, we're going to try digging two small ponds with a series of swales to direct and hold water. We will plant the edges in water-loving habitat flowers and grasses.

Move the Chicken Yard - Our chickens need more space to roam further away from the main garden. We're going to give them a big portion of the yard in a shady area that isn't ideal for planting. I think we're finally going to invest in portable electric fencing so that we can change the shape of their yard as other projects reveal themselves.

Low Mow - Alex is thrilled that I want to mow a lot less this year. We'll keep enough grass mowed for kids to run in and baby trees to survive, but we want to let a lot more grow wild. The wild will be managed be seeding flowers and incorporating native transplants. Less fuel wasted, more wildlife habitat, and less work - why didn't we think of this last year?

Of course, we're still seeding greens and roots in the hoop house, potatoes and peas outside, and tending seedlings inside. And celebrating Pi Day. And teaching classes, working with Swainway Urban Farm, and occaisionally tending shop at City Folk's. And making freezer food for the week or so we'll be without a kitchen. Busy days.

What are your BIG Plans?