Waste

It hit me like a ton of bricks today. When I veer from my healthy habits, my waste expands...no pun intended. I just happened to pay attention to the kitchen wastebasket when I threw away something after lunch. No, I am not going to air my dirty laundry, I am too ashamed of how I have been the last few days, but just the visible items told the story. IF, if I had been eating appropriately, lots of the fresh vegetables and fruits that I really do love and love the way they make me feel, I would have little to no trash in that can. My compost would be slightly bigger, but that all comes back to me. I have been eating and worse, feeding my family, quick, sugary, salty, chemical-laced things-not food by any stretch of the imagination, that I abhor!! How modern-American of me. What in the world? And then let's step on the scale...now we can talk about waist expansion!! And what about waste of money. Does your local grocery store have "meal deals" or "deal of a meal?" And what do those normally include? Our typical deal would be two frozen pizzas, a frozen "appetizer" such as wings or potato skins, ice cream or ice cream dessert and a 2-liter of cola...all for the price of $13.98! That is a savings of over $15! Come on, that is a good deal, right? Less than half-price! But what, pray-tell, could one get for $14. At another store boneless skinless chicken breasts are $1.98 per pound...I could get 7 pounds of chicken and stretch that into a good week's worth of meals! Or 7 pounds of hamburger for $1.99 at another store. Again, a week's worth of meaty meals. A box of pasta, buy one get one free, would be about about 28 boxes! Yes, that is a lot of pasta, but you see where I am going with this. And, no, these things aren't something that is super nutritional alone, but are FAR better than the one meal you can get. And the amount of fresh vegetables one could get with $14 would make such an improvement on a person's health and well-being before they were even finished!
I love food...real food...it makes in difference in how I feel, how I look, what I get accomplished and apparently, how much gas I waste hauling trash off!!

Another Snake in the Chicken House

Not entirely unexpected, a snake made a snack of a few chicks. It ate at least 5 and smashed 3. Nope, this one didn't make the cut. I guess I am the angry one on the block. Nobody was here to tell me that he should live. He got several shovel shots to his head. The first one pretty much missed and just made him angry. That was fun! That's okay, it still didn't match my anger! Probably got him with the next two blows, but for good measure added a couple of extra...made me feel better anyway. One for each baby in his stomach! We patched up the only place we think he possibly could have gotten in. I should have known since Penny's egg production has been poor recently. I bet I have an egg tomorrow! For safe measure, I did the whole mothball thing around perimeter. Oh how I hate poison, but for now, I need to take all precautions until my chickies are not such an easy target!

Time to Think Fall Garden

I spent some time in the abandoned garden this evening. I saw signs of bricks amongst the tall grass, the crab grass and the centipede grass. I untangled a few of the bricks and placed them by the fence for later use. I pulled up the dried corn stalks and leaned them against the fence. I am thinking that a wide fall-colored ribbon would look nice on a bundle or two of those in a month or so. I went to the pole beans and picked the dried pods and placed them in the sack to take in, shell and save for next spring planting. I walked past the tomato cages. They will be moved soon enough. The cucumber fence was covered with dead vines from lack of water. That fence will be moved to the shade house until next spring as well. The hoses need to be wound back up. I tried the soaker hoses and I am not so sure. They are so flimsy and one just broke in half. A new irrigation system will have to be considered. I supposed the soaker hoses will do fine in the fall/winter garden.

The seedlings in the greenhouse are growing nicely and so things need to be done soon. I will be removing the grass, adding two year old compost and fresh rabbit manure before tilling. I am not sure what size beds to make for the fall. I will more than likely have long rows so that I can use covered tunnels when the colder weather comes (although that seems so hard to imagine right now). Broccoli, cabbage, kale, lettuces such as winter density and Rouge de Hiver, carrots, collards, spinach, various mustard greens, to name a few that I have already. I would still like to add chard, brussels sprouts, radishes and a few other greens to the mix. I also have garlic coming fairly soon to plant. I know just where to put it. It will be all around the rose bush at the entrance of the garden. I will also be using the greenhouse and the greenhouse beds, but I would like to see what else I can grow without heating. I need to learn to take advantage of this southern growing season-it is just so different from what I (and my mother) knew in Indiana.

I hope to have pictures of my "work in progress" and I hope to share my bounty (if there is one) with friends and neighbors; that's what it is really about, after all.

Just Another Day, I Suppose

Fencing is so important whether you are on a farm, hobby farm or just have a dog to keep in your yard. The kids and I had delivered my reports to town (over an hour away). On the way back, I called my husband and asked him to check on the baby chickens for me...nobody to look in on them for over 3 hours-how horrible. I pulled down the final 1/10 mile of the driveway to see my husband walking toward the car. I rolled down the window. "Everything okay?" I asked. He just shook his head. "What?" I asked panicky now. "Cherry's gone." I booked it to my parking place, and hopped out of the car full of groceries in the back seat, in my beaded flip-flops, and took off power walking to the garden, where I was hoping she might have gone since that is where I let her free range while I do work in the yard. Nope. I walked toward the animal yard-her fence. In the back, there was evidence of where she had climbed on the fence, probably trying to get to the branches of fresh leaves and bent it down enough to jump on over.

So the trek began walking in the wooded land behind where she could feast on lots of bramble. Looked like a possible trail back down toward the driveway. Sarah was coming towards me. She asked if I wanted to switch my flip flops with beads and heels for her boots. Yes, please. Even though sockless I took off walking down the driveway, up the old driveway near the outhouse. The neighbor's dog was barking oddly up by the highway. I walked quickly, catching and passing Bruce.

A mile later I see the dog, no sign of a goat in that yard, but it was barking towards the woods across the driveway. I stopped and listened past the barking. Yep. In the distance there was Cherry's cry. I ran past the freshly dug pond and through more woods until I came to a neighbor's house, unfamiliar who it was. There were cars there, but nobody out and about...except Cherry standing there crying looking lost but not a scratch on her. Thank you, Lord.

As I approached, I began thinking, how am I going to get her home. No rope leash of any sort. I certainly couldn't carry her. So when I got to her I gave her a big hug. So, I started walking away, like we do in the yard, clicking like one would for a horse ( I do that often). She came running my way. No problem. She followed me back to the driveway where we saw Bruce heading our way. Realizing we were pretty much okay, no harm, no foul, reality set in. The clouds were dark and the wind had picked up greatly and my sockless feet were not in my broken down boots, but Sarah's boots and the skin was rubbing of my heels. Well, a half-mile to go and boom...sky opens up and down comes the rain that we have needed badly. I had to smile as I started to jog the rest of the way home with Cherry tripping under my feet the whole way.

And of course half way there I realized I left the window down in my car. I knew the kids would not think to check it because I NEVER do that. Seriously, until it is paid for the windows stay up going down the dirt driveway...Crumb-monkey!!

I led Cherry into the chicken coop- the always faithful fence. She would have to share Henny Penny's side since the baby chicks are in the other coop. Got Cherry situated for the evening. I rolled up the window on the car, went in and got out of the soaking clothes and boots. Once those boots were off, ouch!! Nice hole in my heel (like my feet were bad enough being dry and cracking! ick!). Well, I don't have to wonder about what I need to do tomorrow. Goat fence repaired-priority one! Yep, just another day. *sigh*

Chicks Finally Arrived

I was starting to get worried. I usually get the call from the postoffice around 7 a.m. the day the hatchery says they will start shipping for that week. They made it and look really good. They are loud, eating, drinking and of course pooping on the paper on top of the straw in the brooder. And, they are colorful--not boring at least I knew what kind they were. On of my friends who is what I would call an expert regarding chickens, mentioned it might take weeks to months before I figured out what kinds I have. I will chock it up to another lesson in patience. Of course, I have already made some highlighted question marks in my chicken hatchery magazine that shows what the chicks look like, as well as the adults. Slow learner. However, I have learned that these little critters are going to stay behind locked doors for a while. We have a good size brooder in a larger coop with screen access to air of course. So they will have plenty of room once they can hop over the brooder side into the coop until I feel comfortable letting them out. I am also hoping no snakes find their way into that side. But I will do everything in my power to protect this flock! Aren't they cute?

The Beauty of Homesteading

No, I am not referring to the nature or the symbiosis of homesteading. I am referring to the physical beauty of homesteading. No, not the landscape or the animals.


The actual homesteader's superficial beauty or vanity. The beautifully manicured hands and artistically placed make-up and hair.

Okay, I think you know by now my sarcasm, right.

I think its time to go shopping...after a bath!!! (and yes, I am wuss, when I am working with the bags of soil, I use a mask so I don't blow black out of my nose for days...I guess there is some vanity after all)

Two Flew the Coop (or hive)

I am so sad. We had not one, but two hives, abscond! We worked so hard on our Hive #1. We bought a new queen, she left, died or was ousted because we ended up having a laying worker (all drones)! We emptied every bee out of the hive and then set them in front of the hive to re-enter, less the laying worker, (supposedly the colony won't let her back in) and put in good brood from another strong hive with eggs and nurse bees. That was hard work, wearing beekeeping clothing and veils and gloves in the 100 degree June weather. But we did it. Shortly after they had made themselves a new queen. Success! With the continued heat and no rain and no pollen or nectar of any amount, they got into their honey stores. I guess when the queen saw how low that supply was, she decided to move her colony somewhere else. I could have prevented that if I had started feeding them earlier than August. Oh, I could kick myself! The new hive (AKA the Pond Hive) did the same thing. We must not have gotten food to them in time. 50% of our stock gone. That's a lot of money and a lot of (next year's) honey down the drain...

Ok, Lord, I am ready to see progress. I think you have shown me all the down side. Goats, rabbits, chickens, bees, garden...So, I am ready to see the flip side now. Amen.

Knitting

I have my worsted wool, my size 9 needles, peaches and cream yarn and size 5 needles. Okay, soooo....My aunt, who is so awesome at knitting, spinning and all things yarn, showed me once, but then I put it down and never went back until now. And have forgotten. I have to say that I am thankful for the internet and all the videos that you can watch to try to learn. It can be a bit overwhelming because so many people have their own variations, and then of course, being left-handed makes it even more awkward to learn right-handed. But as I suspected, it will be better in the long run if I learn it that way. And poor Aunt Sherry gets her brain picked every now and again.

My daughter was going to learn with me, but she still seems to be more of a crocheter like her Mamaw, Granny and my Mamaw before that. Which is good, because as you can see in the picture below, she would leave me in the dust! Yes, Sarah's first attempt at casting on in the green yarn and my first attempt in the purple yarn. I was not lying about the skill skipping me...but the stubborn streak I did inherit, from all sides! About time that trait works for me for a change. I still practice when the evenings are calm, which is not very often at this point.

I have tried the knit stitch and the purl stitch. My first attempt is below. I know, it is horrible, but I have to start somewhere. I may not be able to wear anything I knit in public, but the goats will not laugh at me(at least not in front of me) at my knitted scarf or hat that is keeping me warm when I go out to milk them in the winter.

Plastic Feed Sacks

Okay, all the creative people in the world kind of hurt my feelings. It amazes me how people sew, knit, paint and the list goes on. It skipped me. My mother does it ALL! I mean everything from making clothes and quilts to painting and colored pencils and wood burning on gourds and crocheting and punch needle and...I am tired, you get the idea. I like to color with crayons. Does that count? But nonetheless, being of German, Scottish, Irish and Native American descent I am a bit...determined, yes, not stubborn, determined. As I am getting older and finding that simple things are better. I am trying to obtain skills that will be useful when I am able to "stay at home" and run the homestead versus working from home full time. And I will. Even if it is mastering garden and greenhouse, especially herbs, since that is the name of the farm, all the skills that go along with milking such as cheese and yogurt making, knitting, candle making and soap making with our beeswax and honey. You get the idea.

So, these plastic feed sacks. People are making purses, grocery bags, bags in general, things I am not confident I could make. But wait...tarps. They are making tarps to cover hay bales, chicken and rabbit runs, using them for weed barriers, etc. Surely I can sew a tarp, right ? Well, I have saved my first bag-dog food, the chicken bag is getting there, so it will be soon that I may have my answer. And the strings when you open these bags...why didn't I think of saving them to sew on buttons or tie things with. They are fairly thick and sturdy thread.

So much to learn, so much to try. Life is certainly not boring is it? I will post a pic of my first tarp. Be prepared. Do not have liquid in your mouth for your own safety. It could go in or out at the sight of it.

Update on Laundry Soap

Just wanted to say that I love, love, love my laundry soap. I use about 1/8 of a cup (its a scoop from something else so haven't measured exactly). And thank you, Lisa Davis, for the vinegar fabric softener tip. I don't use much, since I don't want to smell like salsa, but even about a tablespoon in the rinse cycle makes a big difference in Bruce's Carharttwork pants, both on the line and in the dryer. We have four hampers in the house, usually at least two if not all of them are full. I am pleased to say that I am down to one that I should finish tomorrow. What will I do if I get the laundry caught up...and no, you can't send me yours, nice try though. Yes, the laundry soap is part of the motivation, but really, it is probably the fact that I had to finish off the gallon ice cream so I could use the bucket to put my laundry soap in. Sugar, sugar! Luckily, it is about gone---just like the dirty clothes :)

More Chickens!

Dern you, Murray McMurray Hatchery! Why do you tempt me with your sales in my inbox! Yes, I am weak when it comes to chickens. Especially since we have the brooder built. I have 25 heavy straight run coming September 13. I ordered those about three months ago to ensure I would have everything ready and cleaned up. And last week, there was a special. Duke's Mix they called it. A plethora of variety. You know, my mother chastised me for just ordering all one breed of white chickens last year; she called them "boring." So, now I have gone to the other extreme. Yes, I clicked order now! And they will be here in two weeks. Oh dear, what have I done. I will have 25 more three weeks after that. Guess, I better divide the brooder. At least I know the ones I ordered in the past will be useful for eating and eggs. I guess even if I get fancy ones I can still eat them and their eggs. I will just call them gourmet.

Laundry Soap

I made my first batch of laundry soap today. I hope that it works well. I had read one recipe that was just shaved soap, 1/2 cup of washing soda and 1/2 cup of borax. And you use it just like that. Well, it sounded like a lot of shaved soap, so I looked up a few other recipes and ended up making a batch that is in my 5-gallon bucket. I will find out tomorrow how it works. Can't wait...what, wait, can't wait to do laundry, really??? Did I hit my head :)

Still Regretting

Oh how wonderful the cooler air felt as I opened up the greenhouse and walked to the mailbox. The humidity is so much lower. And it is only supposed to be 90 degrees today. On my 0.6 of a mile walk to mail my package, I looked around the place. I have not been doing anything to "beautify" the place this summer. I didn't plant any flowers or have any hanging baskets out. I didn't even feed the hummingbirds. I feel horrible. Of course, I had a few veggies in the garden, and even picked three cucumbers from the plants around the porch this morning, but have pretty well let the rest of it go. It had been so dry and hot. That is no excuse. I will be sorry when my few bags of frozen corn and cans of green beans are gone before Christmas! Now that the reality of the end of the growing season is here, I am feeling regret for my lack of perseverance. I guess that is why I am now, in the heat of the summer, trying to make up for lost time by making sure this fall and early winter are different. When I have a menu and grocery list for the week and spend over $120, it irks me, especially knowing that some of these things should be in my garden! Although there is regret, there is still hope.

When I opened the greenhouse today I was so happy to see several trays have sprouted; cabbage, collards, beets, lettuces, kale and basil. Especially with the fact that I have been at war with a mouse in the greenhouse. I saw him running into the fuse box a few weesk ago. He destroyed my first batch of sown seeds. He even decimated this batch of spinach and brussels sprouts (much to my husband's joy-he hates brussels sprouts, even swallowed one whole to avoid tasting it-ouch!) I am seriously considering a greenhouse cat! First, I will try some good old fashion traps. I can only dream of the morning I find him in the trap...ahhh, the joy it brings my heart. Sorry if that offends, but he offends me by eating my seeds that are supposed to provide food for my family this fall and winter! I am sure there are more lovely things he could find besides digging in my seed trays!!

I am hoping to get back into the overgrown garden soon and redig some of the old beds to put some of the vegetables in. If I have enough energy, I would like to make some tunnels for fall and early winter to save the greenhouse bed for other experiments. I will be putting a few in the greenhouse bed nonetheless. I also need to put another bed in the greenhouse to make sure we have plenty of winter growing space. There is a whole other compost pile to dig and use for that purpose.

Still so much to do. Thank goodness I am re-motivated everytime I come home from the grocery store!

At Least I Had a Good Weekend

I am giving this weekend a B...for me. I got my package mailed out for my paying job, I got 12 trays of seeds in the greenhouse (fingers crossed), the semi-permanent brooder is up and ready, the kids' school supplies and a good start of clothes is bought and paid for, the animal food is in the containers (I will explain in a second), the fire ants have somewhat abated from the kitchen, Penny and Cherry free-ranged a bit, and my office is finally painted, partially cleared out and ready for organization. I am content with what we got done.

Bruce and the kids, on the other hand, probably graded a bit lower. Jake got several ant bites and cuts. Sarah got a lot of ant bites on her feet, and every time I turned around she had hiccups. And then there is Bruce...poor, poor Bruce. Right now he is lying on the couch in a Benadryl/Ibuprofen coma. He got stung in the eyelid while feeding the bees. No, he didn't wear any veil and had on a sweaty black T-shirt. He looks like he was in a boxing match with a gorilla. He also has ant bites up to his knees. And last, but not least, he stepped on a stick that went through his shoe and stuck into his foot. Very rough day, indeed. Bless their hearts.

Okay, I am trying a new animal food system so I am not taken unawares when the kids say they have been out of food since last night. I have started using, and will be buying more, those 18-gallon totes you can get for $4 at the dollar store. I lined them with trashbags and dumped a bag of food in it. My goal is to have two totes per animal feed/type (two goat chow, two sweet feed, two chick starter, etc.) stacked on each other. When the top one is full the last person to feed the animal is to bring the empty container to the porch so I know what we need when I make a trip to the feed store. Theoretically it will work; however, I know the day will come when the new container is not rotated or left somewhere between the feed shed and the porch, but hopefully those moments will be few and far between. I also think this will keep the food fresher and not waste as much. But, time will tell.

I'm Back!

Not that I have been gone per se. Over the last six months, I have been posting on Facebook. Social Media is great, but I miss the simplicity of the blog. It is not intertwined with all these other things that can make you lose focus, which I have a tendency to do. Okay, the past six months. Spring was an absolute disaster! We lost so many animals. I was almost afraid to try anything. Our chickens were massacred. They were destroyed by dogs that had been running rabbits across the pond. The man got ill and left, leaving behind one dog who found his way to the chicken pen. Our dogs had been trained and did not bother the chickens, thus we free-ranged. I have one hen left. That very same day Snow White, our NZ rabbit had 10 dead bunnies that I had to dispose of. And I had left the cage door open and she got out and our chow did get her. At that point, I came in, sat down, cried like a baby, called my mommy and then put my big girl panties back on and grabbed a shovel. Not one of my best days, ever!

Currently, I have Cherry, she is a registered Nubian (disbudded) goat, whom we will have bred next month. Suzy was given to a wonderful family who love her and treat her as a pet. I have Bucky, the white New Zeland buck. My one hen, whom I have named Henny Penny.

So, we are at the building stage again, starting over. Maybe I am trying to do too much. Maybe I should slow down, but in my gut I have this urgency to get the farm up and running quickly.

What am I up to now. As I mentioned, Cherry will be bred next month and we will be getting the milk house ready, which means rebuilding it. We have 25 more chicks on the way-brown layer straight run. Some to eat, some to keep. With that, we are also going to be building a chicken tractor so that they can free-range...safely. (Lesson learned). I am not actively looking for rabbits at this point, but I do scan the Market Bulletin if something is close and reasonably priced. I expect it will be March or so before we get any more.

The garden is so dry that I have let it go. I will be removing the fencing and trellises and posts next month as well. I have put a small raised bed (yes, it is a redneck bed, but it was free) in the greenhouse to try and grow throughout the winter. I am not sure how this will work out, but as everything else, it will be lessons learned until I perfect it. We have several trays of fall/winter crops started.

The yard has not been mown for quite a while now. First, our lawn mower is down and I am waiting to get that fixed. Luckily it is so hot and dry that the grass is not really growing anyway.

We have two beehives. I am feeding them now with sugar water and a supplement of essential oils to keep them healthy while there is nothing blooming on our land anyway.

That catches us up, yet, it seems I am further behind than I was.