Ask The Homesteaders: Homesteading Today's Homestead

We're Back!

2014-11-15T21:34:00.000-08:00

Well, it sure has been a while since I have had time to write a blog. So much has been happening, sometimes it just seems difficult to find the time to share what really is happening on the homestead. This past week, we butchered sheep. We had some that we just did not need to hay over the winter so it was time for their next purpose. The one thing that I don't know how to do yet is "tan a hide" where I end up with a soft leather. As I watched those beautiful hides go to waste with such lovely fleece, it reignited in me the great desire to not let ANYTHING go to waste! So I will learn how to utilize these hides before we butcher next spring!

Now the question is...where do I begin to look? I know...GOOGLE! Or YouTube. Yes, that is indeed where I will start. But I also plan on speaking with a friend of mine that is a taxidermist. Surely, he will be able to teach me how to take care of a hide other than salting it or using brains. Not that I have anything against either of those methods; its just that the salting method makes for a VERY stiff hide. And I would rather use something other than brains to tan a hide. That is just being honest! So there you have it...a new adventure.

Children Learning to Cook

2013-02-03T13:53:00.000-08:00

Making bread seems to be an art. Many people struggle with this and often they will try and solve the problem by purchasing a bread machine. In our home, we mill our wheat berries into flour and then make our bread. I have often had my sons help me with making bread, but they don't often make bread from the start to the finish without any help from mom. However, this past Friday, my oldest made three of the best loaves that we have had in a LONG time! I think he has challenged my bread making skills!

He said that he did not knead the bread like I do, but that he "mixed" everything together and mixed...and mixed...then shaped the loaves; let them rise and then baked. I honestly am not sure what he did; but what ever it was: WORKED! I'm thankful that I have sons that are not afraid of the kitchen and are willing to try new recipes!

And tonight, I will be thankful again as my 11 year old son is making a pecan pie for dessert. And yes, it will be completely from scratch!

Friendship...True Friendship is PRICELESS!

2012-09-09T08:44:00.003-07:00

I'm like my mom. I guess that is not surprising since I'm her daughter, but sometimes it really amazes me how much I am like her. And my boys, well, are going to be just like me and their grandma. I guess it is not because I'm raising them or that my mom raised me...it is because of what we have seen "modeled" time and again.

Family takes care of family....

Friends take care of friends....

I have always taken care of friends. If I had the means and had what you needed...it quickly was gotten to my friends and freely "given". From high school to college, my friends were my priority.

I'm now a mom and we have been so blessed to call many elderly people "friends". My two oldest grew up looking "up" under Mrs. Thorn's quilt rack. She would quilt a queen sized quilt, COMPLETELY by hand, in four weeks. Yes, she completed twelve a year. And each day, my boys checked on her and brought her mail into her. Often, she would be taking a "little" nap when they quietly put the mail on her dining room table. She invested time in my boys. She taught them about quilting, but more importantly, she taught them about life and serving our Savior.

Then there was "Bob". We had him over year after year for Thanksgiving. And we NEVER knew how many people would be coming for Thanksgiving which always made it fun and exciting! The second time Bob joined our family he called Thanksgiving morning and asked if he could bring some family. I asked how many and I think it was 6 extra. I took a "deep" breathe and said...bring them over. That was the first of many Thanksgivings with Bob's family. We honestly never knew how many would come on those Thursdays, but we always had left overs and plenty of seats. It was a few Thanksgivings ago that we were driving down the road and I asked each of the boys to complete the following sentence: It would not be Thanksgiving without ______________. I wanted to make sure that what ever would make Thanksgiving special for each of my boys would happen because these are special times....special memories. My second oldest said, "It would not be Thanksgiving without Mr. McClellan." I assured him that would not be a problem as I had already called Bob and left a message on his machine. Not that we needed to because he had a "standing invitation" for dinner every Tuesday night and every year at Thanksgiving. But as I have learned, it is always nice to "hear the invitation". I'm glad I called and left the message on the machine that year. You see, Bob passed away the Sunday before Thanksgiving. The family was having a small "family" funeral since Bob was being buried on his property. They checked his answering machine and heard my message and called to let us know that Bob had passed away. His funeral was the day before Thanksgiving. We did not have Thanksgiving that year.

We often talk about Bob and Mrs. Thorn. They invested in my children and my children will be better citizens thanks to them "investing" in my family.

Recently we had another friend in need. My oldest left summer camp to help. My husband and second oldest had already packed and made plans to travel the 500 miles one way to help finish a wheel chair ramp. Unfortunately, that late afternoon, the friend they had planned on helping passed away. What a shock! So instead, I took my two oldest over and they had their tools. They were going to finish the ramp that needed finishing and whatever "else" needed to be done. Those plans changed once we arrived and we helped in other ways. We did what needed to be done...not what we wanted to do. We put our friend's needs and feelings above ours. You see...that is what friends do.

After we returned home, my oldest played a song for me. He said, "mama, this is us". It does not matter the cost nor the distance, if we have friends in need, we are going to help. I told him he was correct. There is no excuse...take care of your friends...put their needs FIRST...that is what we are supposed to do.

So here are some lyrics of the song:

You find out who your friends are
Somebody's gonna drop everything
Run out and crank up their car
Hit the gas, get there fast
Never stop to think 'what's in it for me?' or 'it's way too far'
They just show on up with their big old heart
You find out who your friends are....

The song is by Tracy Lawrence and titled, Find Out Who Your Friends Are. When you open the link, you will see Artist, Song, Album. By "Song", you will see a play arrow. Just hit that and you will hear the song.

Find Out Who Your Friends Are

Take a moment and listen to this song. And think about your friends. Give them a call today...
tell them hello...
check to make sure they are doing okay...
and if they need anything...
go do what needs "doing"...
just because...
that is what friends do.

My goat thinks he is a DOG!

2012-06-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

Zeb: he is our three year old buck. When we first got Zeb, no one could touch him and no one could catch him. When we had to worm him, we would have to rope him. Honestly, it was that bad!

Then one day Zeb became ill: VERY ill. Of course, it was during the winter and due to his blood lines, we did not want to lose him so we did what anyone would do...we moved him inside next to the wood stove. At this point, he was two. Yes, that means we moved a two year old buck into the living room. We started out with plastic garbage bags down so the hardwood floors would not get ruined...then newspapers...then towels. There was a LOT of maintenance using this method!! We progressed over time to a sheet of plywood with 2 x 6 sides. We put towels under the plywood so the floors would not get scratched. Then, inside the box, we put plastic garbage bags so the wood would stay dry. Then we filled the box with saw dust. Yep, we made a small stall in the house just for Zeb!

This last method worked VERY well! It was low maintenance and smelled nice. And with the saw dust, we were able to "dig" holes for him to lay in so he would not fall over as he was weak. All said and done, Zeb lived in the house for four months. That really is a long time to have a buck in your house!

We knew he was ready to move out when two days in a row, he met my husband in the hall way early in the morning. He did not like the idea much, but we put him out during the day so he could get some sun. After about two weeks of being out in the day and inside at night, we moved him outside. He lived up by the house for about the next six months before we returned him to the buck pen.

During this time of illness, he lost all fear of people and developed love. Right now, we let him graze the upper ten acres during the night and pen him up during the day. Each morning I wake up and feed the chickens and then the cats. Zeb always enjoys nibbling on the chicken food. I then grab his food and I call him just like a dog and he comes running for his breakfast! Honest, he does! And if he is not penned up when I am working around the house, he is right by my side walking and hanging out with me. He loves to have his head petted. If you come for a visit, you will likely see my GP, Joy, standing ON my right foot and Zeb standing to my left. They are great shadows and I am so thankful that Zeb survived his illness. We have many babies thanks to Zeb and well, I have a goat that thinks he is a dog!

Saving Goats Milk for Soap

2012-05-06T11:58:00.000-07:00

When you are making goats milk soap, it is important that you measure all ingredients accurately. A simply way to save goats milk for future soap making is to freeze it in an ice cube tray. Simply milk your goat; filter the milk; pour into ice trays and freeze. Once the milk is froze, transfer the milk cubes to a gallon sized zip lock baggy. Then once you are making soap, just pull out as many cubes that you need for your recipe. And don't forget to fill some of the cubes in the tray half way or a quarter of the way up. This will help you achieve your exact measurement.

Happy Soaping!

Pigeon Fever in Horses

2012-04-22T08:36:00.001-07:00

Pigeon Fever...what is it? Really, it is something that I have never heard of before. I just happened to see a post on a friend's Facebook and decided to read about it. Then I shared the link. Then I heard that three people that I know personally have horses fighting this illness. Now that was a SHOCK! All of these friends live in Florida, too.

So what is Pigeon Fever? Basically it is CL in horses. CL is a disease that can be transmitted to people through the milk of dairy animals. Due to this, we test all of our dairy animals every year for CL. Boer goats are more prone to CL than the dairy goats and it is due to this, that we have elected not to own Boer goats. One day, I will take time to locate a clean herd of Boer goats and add them to the farm, but not yet.

There are different names for Pigeon Fever: Dryland Distemper and Colorado Strangles. It is more prone in drought areas and out west. However, this year it is in Florida. Here is an article from the Florida Extension telling about some new cases: Pigeon Fever in Florida. I understand that there are many more cases than just the four mentioned in the article. The horse in the pictures now has an opened abscess that is draining well. They have the horse isolated and have to clean the wound regularly with betadine. They plan on burning any material used to clean the wound.

Another really good article that I saw posted on Facebook about this was published by the Quarter Horse News: Pigeon Fever. This really was very informative and shows the abscesses after they have opened up.

It seems that fly control is very important to prevent the spreading of this disease. A very good topical spray for horses is Endure. You can purchase that at Jeffers Livestock. If you are have horses in the infected areas, then you may want to consider a feed through fly control. Now remember, it takes two to four weeks for these to start working, but since we don't know how long this disease is going to be around, you may want to consider one of these. The one that I would recommend is Solitude. Remember, you would need to have all of your horses using this product for it to be effective.

If you are like us and have chickens roaming around, you need to be care and not feed a growth inhibitor fly control. Instead, two products that are natural and effective are Get-Away and Bug Check. Notice that the Get-Away has vitamin B-1 in it. I was speaking with the nutritionist at FRM about a month ago trying to encourage them to put herbs in their horse feed like Seminole does. He asked about the benefits of the herbs and when I mentioned garlic and bug control, he said their research showed that vitamin B-1 was more effective than any other product on the market. That was news to me! He said it is so effective that they actually add it to the deer feed that they produce to help the deer out! So I'm thinking that Get-Away would be a very good bug repellent. Again, remember that it will take more than one week to help protect your horse.

Another product that helps stop the parasite cycle is Diatomaceous Earth. Be sure to get a food grade product, not the stuff for the swimming pools! Here is one that I plan on picking up the next time that I stop by Tractor Supply: Red Lake Diatomaceous Earth. In addition to the DE, it has a natural clay that will have added benefits for your animal. I have not tried this product yet, but it is on my shopping list for the next time I go to town.

I came across another article worth mentioning as I researched this Pigeon Fever. I have used Vetericyn on a calf that had a grapefruit sized abscess at the umbilical cord site. The calf survived and had a complete recovery. We used a combination of products on the calf, but one of them was Vetericyn. So since there was this testimonial of successful treatment of Pigeon Fever with Vetericyn, I thought I should mention this too.

I guess I will end this article by saying the most important part of dealing with Pigeon Fever is knowing that you have it. You need to go out and groom your horse every day. Simply by doing this one daily task, you will be so familiar with your animal that you will notice problems immediately. This is really important with this disease to prevent the spread and to save your animal.

Loading Difficult Horses

2012-03-21T17:51:00.000-07:00

We have been blessed with horses that will just walk into any trailer. I love those types of horses! But I guess all horses can't be easy loaders and well, we have one of those now. Or should I say, we had one of those!

One day we spent six hours trying to get this horse into the trailer. We finally admitted defeat, but ended on a good note. I was determine to fix this horse and I decided to listen to the 'old timers'. From my observations, the old timers really do know what they are talking about.

We have been told that if you will feed a horse in a trailer, they will learn to go in and out with no problem. So we put our trailer in the round pen. Then we gutted the trailer so that it was just a ramp going in to an open area. We started by putting the feed on the floor half way in the trailer. After doing that about four times, we put the food on the floor in the far end of the trailer. The horse ate there for about a week.

Next we put the partition back into the trailer and set it up so the horse could only walk up on one side of the trailer to eat. We hung the bucket so that it was close to the horse when he walked into the trailer. Again, we did this for five days, twice a day. Then we put the bucket on the other side of the rail so the horse would have to walk all the way into the trailer to eat. This was good and again, he ate in the trailer twice a day.

The final phase was getting him into the trailer and putting the butt bar up and hooking him up to the chain. Then we put the food in the trailer. He now will load into the trailer with no problems. This has made a huge difference and we are very thankful that we have "old timers" in our lives that are willing to teach!

Broken Legs on Sheep and Goats

2012-03-18T06:57:00.002-07:00

We have had our share of broken legs on the farm. In the past two years, we have had five animals with broken legs.

Our first happened with a doeling that lost its mama and was being bottle raised at the house. My husband was moving a vehicle and did not realize the doeling was under the SUV. She broke the bottom half of her leg in half as well as shattered part of the hock. I was faced with a very difficult decision: The vet recommended putting her down....my son assuring me she could live. I decided to go with my son since the doeling was only three months old and I knew if we could get it set, as she was still growing, she would mend. We tended to her day and night for several days...and then weeks. My son was right, she healed just fine. It was not easy and we could not have been successful if the vet had not done a EXCELLENT job setting the leg and showing us how to rebandage her leg. The doe has just turned two and we will breed her next year.

The next break was also by a car, but this was out on the road. My lovely doe Olive escaped through the gate and was evidently hit by a car. The person did not stop to tell us so we really did not know when it happened. I just noticed her at the next feeding limping. Her leg was broken at the femur. I was back at the vet with the same scenario and the same son. The doe was eating and functioning well, but with a broken femur. Our vet called another vet who could put a pin in her leg. The starting price was $600.00. I did not have the money. This time, I listened to the vet. She was put down. I cried and I still sometimes wonder if she could have pulled through...but then I realize...it was a bad break....the femur...she was full grown. Setting the leg and wrapping it would not have worked this time. I'm glad she did not suffer through our attempts to save her and that instead, we put her down.

I was out of town this past January. Okay, I was out of state by many states but I left that same son who will try to save every animal at home to tend to the flock. He called one morning in tears. One of his ewe twin lambs had a broken leg. We have no idea how it happened, but it did. I told him to call the vet and speak with her. Yes, of course it was on the weekend! He asked me to call her and I assured him that she would not mind him calling on the weekend and that she knew I was out of town. He called. She answered. He explained what happened and she gave him instructions. He did good. He listened and even though he had some problems keeping the cast on the leg, it worked until I could get home a couple of days later. I was able to put the cast on where it would not come off. The ewe lamb healed completely and keeps up with her sister with no problems. And I found out later that when my son called the vet that she was working on a horse's eye. When the vet saw the caller ID, she stopped working on the eye and answered the call. She knew I was out of town and the only call from my farm would be a true emergency. I'm blessed and grateful. And I learned it really is wise to let the vet know when you are out of town! Remember this the next time you go out of town. Give your vet a heads up and let him/her know who will be caring for the animals.

The last story is a current story. It is a ewe that is 10 months old. All we can figure is she was caught in a stampede of horses. Either way, her leg is broken below the hock. The question is this: Do we put her down or hope that she has enough growing left to mend well? We decided to splint the leg and hope for the best. Again, it took two tries to get the splint to stay on but as of now, it has been on for 18 days. We check it every so often but I can tell it is not ready to be removed. I think we will actually splint her for six weeks. We have not done that with the others, but this case is different. She is using the leg so I am hopeful that she is healing, but really, only time will tell.

I will keep you posted as to her progress and tomorrow I will show you how we splint a leg.

Day Old Chick Update

2012-03-13T13:14:00.000-07:00

In the past four weeks, our day old chicks have really grown! In fact, they have moved off of the porch into their first coop...and then into their second coop! The meat birds are now in a 12 x 12 portable pen that is designed to be moved daily. They drink so much water that we are are thankful for a six gallon drip system. I will post details on that this week.

The laying hens out grew their first coop and are now in a second coop. The first coop needs a few modifications and then we will divide the laying hens between the two coops. In about four more weeks, maybe sooner, they will move to the large chicken coop and covered yard. Right now however, they could be lost if the lows at night are too low, so we keep them near the house so we can keep lights on them.

The meat birds are growing big and strong. I think we have 70 of them left. The laying hens are doing well, but we are down on the white leg horns. I don't remember how many we actually have left, but we lost several due to cats. The cats really like the 'yellow' chicks.

So there is our update on the current 4-H project. More tomorrow!

Fix those Fences!

2012-02-16T10:54:00.000-08:00

So often we see a problem on the farm and it seems we decide it can 'wait' to be fixed. That really is a bad attitude to have and it really is not being a good steward of the property. And as things go, we all know that the animal will discover the hole in the fence at a REALLY bad time!

That is exactly what happened last night. The boys and I were at a 4-H function having a grand time. When we arrived back home, we had two messages on our machine from the neighbor telling us two of our cows were on the road. Of course, my husband is out of town on business. This is how it ALWAYS happens!

So the boys and I located the cows. Then we lowered the fence and with lots of good encouragement, the cows returned to the correct side of the fence. Next we located "T" posts...and the neighbors came...then we fixed the fence like it should have been several months ago...and then two hours later, the boys and I ate a small dinner before retiring for bed.

Watch Those Live Traps!

2012-02-14T17:02:00.000-08:00

We have two, "Have a Heart" trap. My boys were playing with one yesterday and left it on the picnic bench. They really thought that it was not set, but it was. Sadly, one of our cats ventured into the trap sometime during the night and was caught. It was really sad because it rained and the cat was caught in the rain. And everyone knows that cats don't like the rain!

The good news is that the cat was discovered this morning, sad and wet...but safe. The boys brought her back and put her in a warm spot with good food. She was thankful to be out of that trap! I was thankful she was okay. The boys were thankful that we have 'kind' traps!

So if you have traps, make sure they are put away and that the children know how to make sure they are not set.

The Egg Layers are here!

2012-02-13T20:24:00.000-08:00

My second oldest son started an egg business when he was ten. He delivered about 50 dozen eggs every two weeks to customers for about three years. Then we took about a two year break, but with college around the corner, he has decided to start his business up again. This time he hopes to have 100 dozen eggs for customers every two weeks.

To achieve this goal, he ordered from Stromberg Hatchery. He ordered 50 white leg horns; 25 brown leg horns; 25 Americana and 25 Rhode Island Reds. As usual, he was very pleased with his order. Upon arrival, we had no dead birds. This is normal for this hatchery. We have lost three white leg horns at this point due to the cold the other night and the heat lamps going out, but that is all. And we do have two others that arrived with leg issues. We are not sure if they will survive or not, but time will tell.


100 hens for egg production

With 125 hens, they came in two boxes. One box held 100 and the other box held 25 birds. Of course, we had to make sure they knew how to drink.

Teaching the birds how to drink

These birds are smaller than the Cornish X rocks, but they feather out quicker. Today they are already getting their flight feathers. We love their 'peeps'. It really is music on the farm!

125 hens...four varieties

The Well is FROZEN!

2012-02-12T07:10:00.000-08:00

It happens each year...okay, it happens several times a year...the pipes from the well freeze leaving us with no water in the house.

I did my very best to prevent that from happening! Honest, I did! I ran the dishwasher before I went to bed and then at 3:30 am, I put a couple of items in the dishwasher that I found and ran it from 4:30 to 6:30 am just to have the water going. But by 8:00 am, we had no water.

Normally we wait and wait and wait for the solar power (sun) to thaw the pipes out but that can be as late as 10:30 am and today, well, I have to be at work by 1:00 pm. So I looked at my husband and said, "I need water!" Then I smiled.

Amazingly, we had water in about five minutes! Now that is a first! We have only lived on the farm for 20 years and it normally is a LONG wait. I really was not expecting water 'quickly'. How did he solve the problem? He hit the metal pipes with a blow torch. He said he was 'gentle' with the pipes and slowly warmed them. Now this idea I like! Thanks honey!

Don't put your EGGS all in ONE basket!

2012-02-11T18:08:00.000-08:00

We learned a lesson last night...thankfully it was not a 'hard' lesson. As I got up to let the dogs out and check on the chicks, all was well. That was at 1:00 am.

At 8:00 am I thought I heard a cat in with the chicks. Now we have over 200 birds as another 125 arrived on Friday. So I'm laying in bed thinking that it is cold and I'm wondering if the wood stove is out and if I really need to check on those birds. Since it was over $500.00 in birds, I decided to get out of the warm bed and see what was going on out there. I was thankful to learn there were no cats! I was not so happy to see that there were no heat lamps on however!!!

Our son had plugged all of the heat lamps into one power strip which stopped working! Thus, all of the chickens were without heat on a night where the low was below freezing! It looked like we had lost several birds, but with quick work of extension cords and warm honey water, we have not lost a single bird!

With the low dropping to the teens over the next few nights, I'm very thankful we learned not to use only one power strip before the lows were WAY low! I hope someone will benefit from this lesson.

Remember...don't plug all of your heat lamps into ONE power strip! If you blow a fuse, you chicks will have no heat lamps!

Mail Order Chickens

2012-02-08T11:10:00.000-08:00

Many people don't believe me when I tell them that day old chicks are shipped through the US postal service. When I assure them that they are, then I get a thousand questions about how it works and how in the world do the chicks survive. So in today's blog, I'm going to share a little about our experience with "mail order chickens".

There are several hatcheries that you can do business with which will mail you your chicks. Basically, what happens is you pick up the phone and call the provider and place your order. You will have to pay for the chickens when your order is placed. Once you have placed your order, the hatchery will give you a ship date and an arrival date. The chickens that we picked up yesterday were ordered from McMurray Hatchery. This is only the second time that we have ordered from them and we were pleased with the results. This order was for Jumbo Cornish X Rocks which my oldest son raises. We just call them 'dinner' here on the farm. And no, these are NOT genitically modified chickens! I have seen many blogs about how these are 'freak' birds of nature. WRONG! These are hybrids and if you don't like hybrids, you better not eat anything that you don't grow yourself because organic vegetables are often hybrids. That topic will be saved for another post.

The day before your chickens arrive, you should get everything ready. Make sure you have your boxes, newspaper, feeders, FEED, water systems, heat lamps and working bulbs.

The day the chickens arrive, expect a call from your post office around 6 am requesting that you pick your birds up. I suppose you could ask the carrier to delivery them, but I would never do that as the mortality rate would sky rocket!

When you get to the post office, there will be a bell to ring that lets the people in the back know that you are there to pick up your birds. They are always happy when you come and get the birds in a timely fashion.

This box contains about 100 birds. Yes, the Post Office is where you pick your birds up!

Now you need to get those birds home as they are thirsty and hungry! We ordered a vitamin supplement to help our birds grow without any problems. The electrolytes also help them rebound after a long trip. But first, we give them honey water. We take about a 1/4 cup of our fresh farm honey and mix it with a gallon of well water. This is the first thing that our new birds drink.

Here is a box that we use for the first two days.

When you arrive home, remove the dead birds. You are sure to have one or two. This time we had several, but they shipped extra so we still have our order. If you are missing any birds from your order, call right away. If you have lost enough birds, they will re-ship; if not, they will refund your money.

We loaded our birds into the box, four at a time. My two oldest boys moved the birds while I did the tally marks. In the end, we had 83 birds of which some were male red stars. They added extra of those birds to keep our original order of birds warm.

As you put the birds in the box, you want to dip their beak in the honey water to help them learn how to drink and to give them energy. Notice that we have marbles in the bottom of the water container. If you don't put marbles or rocks in there, the baby birds WILL get in the water...they WILL get all wet...and they WILL die if you don't find the problem in time! So put marbles or rocks in the water to PREVENT this problem from occurring.


Dip the beak in the water to help them learn how to drink.

Once you have taught the birds how to drink, they will do just fine.


Drinking on their own.

Now for some strange reason, I thought picking up feed for the birds yesterday would be easy...BUT I WAS WRONG! We normally start the birds on game bird starter because it is not medicated. HOWEVER, yesterday when we went to pick up our feed, I read the label like normal and much to my horror the feed contained poultry by-products! After looking at every feed this store carried, I left with scratch and alfalfa pellets. At home, I put the scratch in the blender. The scratch is corn, wheat and millet. It is an 8% protein which is not nearly high enough for the birds. So I added alfalfa which is somewhere around 20% and some soy bean. I know many people are anti soy-bean, but to be perfectly honest, I don't know what else I can use to get the protein up to the level that the birds need. And then I added some of our oats. Once that was finally milled, I put it in the feeder and fed the birds.


Home mixed feed for the baby chicks.

Here are the chickens in the box after 24 hours. They are doing well. We now have water with the vitamin in the water container. We need to freshen the newspaper. We have lots of food choices and heat options for them and they are happy as can be.

The birds can get out of the heat or get closer to the heat as they need.

Neighbors and Friends

2012-02-01T19:47:00.000-08:00

One of the nice things of being a homesteader is being able to 'visit' with friends. It seems to me, that when I lived in the city, that I did not even know my neighbor's name, much less where they worked.

I remember when my husband and I moved to the country how our neighbors would just stop by and leave "welcome gifts". Often, when we arrived home from work, there would be a note on our front door with a package of food on the steps. The note always said how they were disappointed that they missed us and how they hoped that we would meet soon. And often we did meet them soon!

Then there was the fact that we had no mailbox. So our neighbor behind us stuck a 2 x 1 in the ground that was about five feet tall. He cut a 'slit' in the wood and placed a note in the slit. That became our 'mailbox' for about a year!

I remember coming home from work one day to find that another neighbor had pulled a complete fence line for us! That was over 20 years ago and that fence still stands today! I often think of him...he moved a couple of states away...and I wonder how he and his wife are doing. Does he know that we still remember him fondly and smile every time we think of him?

The pace in the country is slower. It is nice. It is nice to be able to 'give' back. Last year when a friend was giving birth to her fifth child, I was called to watch the other four children. The call came at 5:00 am. I met her husband for the first time around noon when he came home. It was neat because neither of us cared that we 'looked' less than presentable. What was important at 5:00 am was the fact that I arrived to their home safely and they made it to the hospital safely too. The fog was BAD that morning!

And today...my son and I visited with another friend. She is due to have a baby any day now. My son made the baby a beautiful blanket that he wove on his loom. I'll post pictures of it next week. Trust me, it is BEAUTIFUL! It was very nice to be able to go and just visit with her today. We made bread and just talked. Her life will be changing soon. She will have diapers to change, toys to pick up and spit up to clean up. But today, we just sat back and talked and relaxed. It's just country to slow down. And I'm thankful that I make that opportunity to slow down...and smell the roses....

Cooking on a Woodstove

2012-01-31T09:50:00.000-08:00

I recently visited a friend of mine in Louisiana. She is a true homesteader and a GREAT friend! I asked her about her woodstove that appeared to be well used. She laughed and assured me that it worked well. Then, since it was a nice cold, January day, she showed me how to work it!

The first thing that you will notice is that it is up high. She said she got tired of always leaning over so she had her husband put it up on blocks. What a GREAT idea!


Notice that it has been elevated so one does not have to bend over to use.

The first thing she did was get some wood split to put in the stove. She had lots of wood handy as that is how they heat their lovely home.

Splitting wood

Then add the wood to the stove with a little newspaper.

Remove the burners and add the wood from the top.

Next you need to put the burners back in place.

Place the burners back where they belong

Light the fire...this is really easy guys!


Light the fire.

Now you have to wait for the stove to get hot. Really, it did not take that long at all.


The biscuits were cooked on the gas stove. We are waiting for the fire to get hot.

Eggs cooked on cast iron with a wood stove: YUM!

And there you have it! A wonderful breakfast cooked in a very little amount of time using cast iron cookware and a well loved woodstove. Yes, everything tastes better cooked on a woodstove!

Upgrade To the Birthing Kit

2012-01-29T11:12:00.000-08:00

Ok...the basic birth kit is for when everything goes as it normally does! Sometimes, however, things go wrong. I have already written about my favorite book for newbies to read if they plan on getting livestock, and that book is 'All Creatures Great and Small' by James Herriot. I learned a lot from the book about general birthing problems that I still remember and apply today!
So...the first additions to the birthing kit are latex rubber gloves and a tube of lubricant, such as K-Y jelly. These are for if a baby gets stuck inside during the birth process and you need to go in after it. Make sure your hands and arm as clean as possible first! The gloves are not sterile, and are mostly for protecting the inside of the animal from your fingernails. This is especially important if you have long, rough nails or dirt under your nails.
Now...if you just stay in the vaginal canal, you don't have to treat the goat with antibiotics. If you enter the uterus, it is a very good idea to administer penicillin in case you accidentally introduced any harmful bacteria.
Therefore, the next part of your birthing kit includes 20 gauge needles, 6 ml syringes, and a bottle of penicillin. The penicillin will need to stay in your refrigerator, but is still a part of your kit!

The Very Basic Essentials for a Lambing/Kidding Kit

2012-01-28T06:19:00.000-08:00

Its that time of year...lambs and kids are arriving! Be ready, NOW. Do NOT be rushing around trying to assemble what you need when your doe or ewe has begun to push.
The very most basic kit is very simple. Though there are many thing you should...and ought to include, these are the bare necessities.
#1 Towels- These are for helping to clean up and dry off the new baby, starting with the head. The stimulation of being vigorously rubbed is good for the babies! The towels also give you something help grip slippery feet and legs if you need to assist with the birth. Fold a towel like a pot holder over the legs, and pull. The towels are also good for setting the new baby on to keep them off the dirt for a bit, or cover up a cold baby, or for the midwife to sit on!

#2 Nasal Aspirator/bulb syringe. Not to be gross, but we call these 'snot suckers'...its what they do! They are used to help clear the mucus and birth fluids from a newborn's nose and throat. I use the ones I got from the hospital when my human children were born. They have a much longer tip that can reach where it needs to! Most of the ones sold in the baby section of stores are quite inadequate. Instead, go the the pharmacy section and look for an ear syringe. MUCH better!

#3 Iodine in a medicine bottle, and sharp scissors. This is for trimming the umbilical cord to 2 or 3 inches, then dipping the cord in iodine as a preventative for infection.

This is the most basic of basic kits, and should ALWAYS be ready before kidding/lambing season starts. Do not raid this bag of its scissors or towels because they are needed elsewhere and 'you will put them right back'...once is it ready to go, consider the bag in another dimension and DON'T TOUCH IT until a doe or ewe is in labor! I said so and I mean it!! :)

Is Three Months Too Young for a Goat to Become Pregnant

2012-01-25T16:37:00.000-08:00

In a word...no. And here is the story...my friend bought a purebred Saanen doeling a little under five months ago. The doeling was born in June, 2011. Here it is January,2012, and last week, my friend called me and said that the doeling was developing an udder. My first thought was precocious udder. This is when a doe who has never freshened develops an udder, which frequently happens in young does from really 'milky' lines. It has happened to a couple of our does, and we generally just leave it alone.
However, my friend said that it appeared this young doe's ligaments were loosening as well, and then...she saw kicking from the kid(s). Uh-oh. Her doe is not even eight months old, and will be kidding any day. The breeding happened before my friend got her, and the goat was not kept with any buck, but somewhere along the lines she did come in contact with one for long enough.
So...a word to the wise about keeping your buck and doe kids running together...better not do it too long, or you may get a big surprise 5 months later, in the form of a doe kidding that is too young and too small!

Horse Story Part Two

2012-01-22T18:53:00.000-08:00

So...my friend got home and went to go check on her horses. On her way, she almost tripped over the afterbirth, so she knew the birth had happened. However...there was a problem! The two adult horses were mother and and daughter...and the new grandma had decided that the foal was hers...no ifs, ands, or buts about it! The real mom was, understandably, very upset. My friend had to get past the upset real momma horse to separate the foal from its well meaning grandma...who could get aggressive when angry. And...seeing as how she claimed the foal, she fully believed that my friend was stealing her baby! It all worked out in the end, with the two adult horses being separated, and the foal being put with his real mom...and finally getting the milk he needed! What a day!

Horse Story Part One

2012-01-20T07:22:00.000-08:00

My friend had a horse that was pregnant, but she was unsure of the due date. The horse's udder started to fill up with milk, so she knew the time was close. She kept an eye on the mare, but with two small children, could not be watching every moment. However, her Great Pyrenees livestock protection dog was watching...not just over the goats, but over the horses, too.
Now, dogs can't speak the same language that we do, but they can be very innovative in how they can convey messages. My friend's dog, Sadie, pulled the horse's afterbirth all the way over the entry gate of the pasture, where her people would have to trip over it to enter the pasture. This was not 'normal' behavior for a dog. She did not eat the afterbirth, or drag it over to her 'valuable' belonging pile...those of us with pyrs know what I am talking about with that. This pile is a location where the dogs drag every toy and interesting stick, bucket, or scrap of what-have-you. However...this is not what Sadie did...she pulled that afterbirth across several hundred feet of pasture and deliberately left it at the gate, letting her people know what had happened...and there was something over there in the back pasture that needed some fixing! Which will be my next post...

Chill Your Milk!

2012-01-11T12:41:00.000-08:00

It is very important that once you have filtered your farm fresh milk into clean jars, that you chill the milk immediately. We have found that old yogurt containers and cottage cheese containers to be very helpful with this. We take our quart size yogurt containers and fill them with water. Not all the way, but for the most part, fairly full. Then we will put the lid on the container. If the lid does not have holes, we will use a knife to 'pop' holes in the top. Now put that in the freezer.

Twenty-four hours later, you will have a very large ice cube! We will fill our kitchen sink with water and then put the ice cubes in the sink. Normally we put two or three large cubes from the containers in the sink. Then we will filter the milk. By the time we are done filtering, that water is literally ice cold! Put your jars filled with milk in the sink and in about fifteen minutes or so, your milk has chilled quickly to a nice cold temperature.

Now all you have to do is dry off your jars and put them in the refrigerator. Make sure your refrigerator is set for around 39 to 40 degrees or your milk will spoil quickly. Many people don't realize how temperature really does effect the quality and longevity of milk: but it does!

I hope this is helpful information and that your milk will last a long time and taste great!

How to Filter Fresh Cow's Milk

2012-01-10T11:03:00.000-08:00

We filter milk a little differently than most people. This is because it really is a one person job here on our farm. Here is a picture of the filters that we use. We purchase these filters from Hamby Dairy Supply.

Buy the size filter that you need for your strainer.

Next, gather all of your supplies into one location. I run our jars through the dishwasher on a high heat cycle to ensure they are sterile. Then I store them with a sterile lid and ring attached until I need them. The milk buckets and strainers also go through the dishwasher on a high heat cycle.


Here are my strainers, jars and filters...all ready to be used.

Because this is a one person job, and sometimes we use small mouth jars, the first strainer that we put on a jar is a small milk strainer for goat's milk. This is a 'cute' strainer that is good for a family that has only one or two goats. Any more milk than that and you need something bigger.


Place the small strainer on the jar.

We use this also because we can then pour the milk without the strainers falling. This is important!

Next we add another strainer. This one is for more goat's milk. It is good for someone that has a few more goats. This is nice because it will fit in a small mouth jar. The reason 'we' use it now is because the first strainer is too small for our large strainer. So now we have something that will catch the milk from the large strainer and that will funnel the milk down into the jar.


This strainer is used because our larger strainer will not fit into the first strainer.

Next I will put on my larger strainer. This is for the cow's milk or lots of goat's milk. The diameter of the bottom is 6.5 inches and that is why we need the middle strainer.


It may look funny, but it works! It is perfectly balanced and I don't have to worry about loosing milk.

Now I'm going to put the filter in the bottom of the large strainer. The wire ring is very stiff and holds the filter in place very nicely. We were given this from a dear friend of ours that used to have a dairy back in the 1960s. He hand milked five cows each day growing up and then had about 20 cows when he had his own place. We love the fact that he blessed us with this strainer a couple of years before he died. He taught us much about dairy cows and horses!

First put the filter in under the plate; then add the wire which is not shown in this picture.

Now, pour the milk! Keep an eye on how much milk you add to the strainer. You don't want to add too much and overflow.


Pour the milk into your clean jars is easy!

Cap your jars and now you have clean milk to enjoy! I will share how to properly cool your milk in another blog.

Enjoy your fresh milk!

Our Jersey is 12 years old now. We have had her since she was six. We have bred her three times and she has always given us great milk! We normally get about one to two gallons of milk each day from Laurie Belle.

Managing the Homestead

2012-01-09T06:56:00.000-08:00

Being a homesteader is not always easy. In fact, often you have to make hard, but necessary decisions. This weekend, we finally 'acted' upon a decision that was made last spring. It took us a year to 'finally' say: enough is enough and put our ram down.

Unless you are a shepherd, you probably don't realize that a ram is the most dangerous animal on any farm or homestead. Yes, they really are more dangerous than a bull. I don't know if they are more dangerous than a Jersey bull because I don't own a Jersey bull, but I have heard they are from people who have had both.

I am not even going to speak concerning other sheep breeds, because I am not familiar with any breed except the Gulf Coast Sheep. However, I have been told by friends that have had these sheep since the 1960s, that the Gulf Coast ram are the most aggressive rams around and will take down rams from other sheep breeds in one blow. They have seen it happen more than once.

There seems to be a distinct character and physical trait to determine if you are going to have an aggressive Gulf Coast ram. It's the horns. Yep, if your ram has horns, it will be aggressive. If your ram is polled, it normally is not aggressive.

Our first ram, Dodge, is polled. We were advised to never get a horned ram due to the aggression. So as newbies back in 2005, we purchased our first polled ram. Our flock grew and we gained experience. Then in 2009, we had the opportunity to purchase a beautiful Blue Gulf Coast ram. The blue describes the color. It is a sheep that starts off black and then fades to a beautiful chocolate color. Since all we had were white sheep, some natural color for our fiber friends would be nice. The only trouble with the ram: he was horned. We made the decision to go ahead and get this ram.

When he was young, he was fine and easy to handle. But time quickly passed and as he turned one year, we learned to NEVER and I mean NEVER turn our backs on Blue. And then we learned that we had to keep at least two ewes with him at ALL times or he would go through the fence to get to the ewes. Then he learned, I'm sure by smelling, that we had another ram. It seemed he would bust into the barnyard to get to Dodge every two to three months this past year. More than once we got there and you could tell the fight had been going on for a while and that the ONLY reason Dodge was not killed was due to his mature size. Honestly, it is not easy for a polled ram to defend itself against a young horned ram.

In fact, I can remember getting up in the middle of the night for a drink only to hear hammering going on down at the barn. I listened and listened and listened. I could not figure out 'who' would be at the barn at this hour hammering! So I woke my husband and after making sure our oldest was up with the phone in his hand, we proceeded down to the barn to check out the problem. We could not believe that Blue had broken through two strong gates and was butting the front of Dodge's stall to get in to him. I quickly ran back to the house to get the boys and ropes.

For the past two years, the big pasture has been off limits to the young children and to me. We just could not walk out there safely. And we are not set up to run two completely different flocks of sheep, but since Blue had the big pasture, we had to run another flock up in our orchard. This is not healthy for the trees as it is full of young trees! And this past week, Blue decided he was going to be sneaky to get to Dodge. He went threw our main fence that separates us and our neighbor's property and came at Dodge from that angle. We fixed the fence, but the patch did not hold him. So then we put him in our calf pen which put him closer to Dodge, but had two strong fences between the two rams. When he had almost made it threw one of the fences, we finally decided that we had no choice but to put him down.

I'm sure some of you reading this will say: Why didn't you sell him? In today's world of lawsuits 'just' because you 'looked at me wrong', how can you sell a dangerous ram to someone who 'thinks' they can manage him? And how could we sleep at night knowing that the ram had killed or maimed someone just because we did not have the courage to kill him? It was not an easy decision. In fact, it took us a year of being chased, butted, and knocked down for us to make this decision. And then it took us another 9 months to act on this decision.

He has three years worth of babies on the ground. And in fact, the latest one arrived today. We are blessed because we still have his color genetics in our flock and a good friend of ours has a BEAUTIFUL blue ram from him...that is polled. And we now have a freezer full of meat. We don't know yet if we will like it. I will let you know. If not, that is fine. We will grind it up and use the meat as dog food. His fleece is currently salted and being tanned. His horns will be turned into Shofars

Blue, a mature Gulf Coast Ram