Concrete countertop

I love the concrete countertops in our house. I don’t have to worry about setting hot dishes on them, and the installers finished them silky smooth. They had started to develop rings and water stains, though. I used a mixture of baking soda and olive oil to rub them down, then added vinegar to the paste before wiping it off. I wiped the whole surface with a wet towel to make sure the vinegar was gone, then applied a sealing product used for butcher blocks. The sealant is made of natural oils and waxes and is food safe. The counter soaked up the mixture, so I did two applications, then buffed it with a dry towel. The counter looks new again, and I tested the water resistance by sprinkling it with water. The water beaded up and did not soak in.

Photo description: brown concrete countertop with a lovely luster, Howard’s Butcher Block Conditioner bottle sitting on the surface

So here is another Howard’s product I can recommend. But no, I’m not paid to do so!

Spring coop clean

The sun has started to shine again. The spring rains aren’t done, but my eldest and I had some time to clean out the coop. Exercise and cleaning and out of the house! We put the chickens in a run with some scratch and some water, since they freak out when we mess with their coop. It worked well to have them not underfoot and not panicking.

Chickens locked in their run and out of the way

We removed all the old pine shavings and droppings, washed down the roost and sprayed it with vinegar, swept up and dusted. Then we put the roost back in, put new straw and dried lavender in the nest boxes, dusted everything with diatomaceous earth, and spread out four and a half bags of pine shavings. We didn’t spread out one the bags to see how long it would take the chickens to disperse it themselves. They did a fair job and had a low hill by the end of the day. Oh were they happy to go back to their coop!