New Year, New Beginning - 2013

Happy New Year!  I've been away awhile.  I feel like I say that often.  It has been about eight weeks since I've published anything.  There have been a lot of reasons for this.  I was having a problem with worrying about my family, and being sad about things I can't change.  A lot of changes were going on in our home.  That means a lot of adjustment going on that affects everyone involved.  I have come to the conclusion that it does no good to think about how things were, and try to get back to that point.  Especially when you have grown children.  So I have realized that I need to just start where I am, and go forward.  And that is what I am going to do.  As children leave home, Husband and Wife need to pull together to fill in the gaps and make sure to think of the other.  I'm planning to try to be a better wife.  There is just not enough of Husband and I to do all the things that the five of us used to do.  But we are learning. 

So I am here again, starting over as I seem to do each New Year.  I hope I do a better job this year of being dedicated to this project that really does mean a lot to me.  Maybe it also means a lot to some of you.

We spent the first day of the year entertaining friends for New Year's Lunch.  Which stretched into an all day football fest.  We had the normal Southern fare:  black eyed peas, turnip greens, corn bread, rolls, ham, macaroni salad, chow chow, and cranberry relish.  Our friends brought a triple chocolate cake and pumpkin bread for desert.  Everything was good and we enjoyed the company.

We recently went away for a couple of days.  We left Christmas Day and returned the 27th of December.  This trip was to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary!  We went to a state park close by and had a wonderful time.  When we returned home, we were welcomed by new baby twin goats.  They are up and about, and look great.  We were a little surprised when we hadn't had any goats and lambs before Christmas.  I guess that will start again now.  I'll keep you posted.

We applied for a grant to have water run back to our property.  We will find our soon if we will qualify for any funds.  We applied for two pastures, the one where we live, and another in this county we rent.  We hope this works out well for us and would be a big blessing for us.  Currently I am boiling our drinking water to suppliment what I buy.

The chicks we got for Easter have started laying.  So this is a big help since some varmint got our layers late last summer.  Even in the recent temperature change we are still getting an egg or two a day.  We like our eggs and are egg snobs since having our own.

We recently bottled our strawberry wine.  We bottled two gallons in individual bottles this week.  This is the first year we have tried making strawberry, and we are pleased with how it turned out.

I have put some turnip greens in the freezer since Thanksgiving, and our neighbor brought more yesterday.  I had started making my list of items I need to restock this year.  The most important items are carrots and Lima beans to can, and green peas for the freezer.  Well, last night I was at the grocery, and they had 2 lb bags of green giant carrots in the produce department marked down to .69!  I got four bags to can.  GrandBoy loves carrots and we all eat them a lot.  So I will be doing that this week.  I also picked up some cabbage to put in the freezer.  In the meat department, I got one turkey marked .99 a lb.  If they get marked down again this week, I want to get a couple more.  I'm going to cook them, them can the meat.  I also got two hams marked down.  We ate one today, and I froze the other.  And I got 3 lbs of ground beef marked down to $2.00.  That is less than $1.00 a pound!  We don't typically buy beef because we have our own cows, but we are getting low on ground beef, and at that price, I couldn't leave it at the store.  So that is my restocking plan for this week. 

I'm working on my resolutions, and trying to plan our year.  I'm trying to get more things on our calendar, so I don't have to try to remember it in my head.  I'm getting too old to carry so much around in my head.

One other thing I wanted to share with you since I've been gone.  GrandBoy has started school.  There is a preschool program in our community school, and he was able to go.  Instead of wearing Halloween costumes, the children dressed as story book characters.  Well, GrandBoy is all about tractors and anything John Deere.  He plans to be a "tractor man" when he grows up.  So his Aunt Yay Yay made him a tractor costume (there are John Deere storey books - really there are!).  His costume was a big hit, and he was so proud!  His Aunt was offered cash for the costume by a couple of families after the costume parade.  But she told them she didn't think her nephew would let her sell it! 

GrandBoy in his tractor costumeduring the costume parade!

Well, I guess that is enough catching up for today.  Hope you all had a great New Year, and will have a wonderful finish to this week.  Honey

Day 29 The First Freeze

31 Days of Homestead Living!

Hello friends.  I have failed at this idea to post once a day for 31 days.  Sometimes life gets in the way, and that has happened to me.  But I have enjoyed posting again, and so I will get started for today. 

Last night we were expecting the first frost of the season.  When that happens, there are lots of things I need to do.  Of course, my husband makes sure the water won't freeze.  Some places on the farm, the water will need to be cut off until the freeze time is over.  He also winterizes the rental houses.  Puts antifreeze in the toilets, and runs the water out of the faucets.

The first thing on my list, was to go to the store to buy antifreeze.  I paid almost $50 for 4 gallons.  I got three that were 100% strength at $13 each, and one that was diluted for $10.  I don't know how I got that one.  I specifically wanted the full strength ones because it seemed like a better buy to me.  But it made its way home with me anyway.  I also got gloves for GrandBoy.  You  know, you never have too many pairs, and I didn't want to stay up half the night looking for his.

Next we (GrandBoy and I), went to the garden.  We picked all the green tomatoes, the peppers, and anything else that was still hanging around.  I also picked a few cactus balls that were left over.  I think Husband must have missed this cactus because it was up by the house, and he picked all the ones out by the barn.  We cut the flowers that are still blooming.  The roses especially.  I can't stand to leave them out there to ruin.  We move all the potted house plants into the green house.  Most years I cut the rose hips, and pick up the dogwood berries, but I didn't have time this year. 

But the freeze missed us so far.  Shouldn't happen before the weekend, so I still have time to gather some more.

We also spent time covering some of the windows, and putting rugs in front of the doors.  In the South, most of the year we keep our homes open.  We spend so much time outdoors.  But when it gets cold, I want everything to be warm and snug. 

I get the table clothes off the outdoor tables, and put up the cushions on the lawn furniture.  I move the good floor pots I don't want to freeze and crack.  I put them in the green house.  I get all the clothes pins off the line, so they won't get black with mildew over the winter. 

We pick up GrandBoy's toys and store them till the next warm day he will drag them back out again.  I guess that about covers it.  How we get ready for winter.  We will do more preparation when we expect the first hard freeze, but for now this will get us started.  What do you do to get ready for winter?

Day 23 - Predators (No, not the fly kind!)

31 Days of Homestead Living!

Today I am going to talk to you about predators.  No, not the fly kind I told you about the other day.  Every year we have a predator problem on the farm, and it's usually not the same two years in a row.  This year the problem has been with something getting our chickens and other small animals.  It's gotten rabbits, chickens, ducks, a kitten, all kinds of things.  We still aren't certain what it is.  All we know is that it puts its "hands" in the cages to hold still the animal it targets.  It eats as much as it wants, and leaves.  The chickens' heads will be gone.  A rabbit had it's head skinned.  The animal is probably some sort of cat or a raccoon.  But a neighbor told us there are weasels around here, so I guess that is what it sounded like to her.  It's smart, too.  It can get an animal used as bait, out of the trap, without getting caught in the trap itself.  We have hardly any chickens left.  And none will lay eggs.  I don't know if that's due to the season change, or some type of fear reaction.  I definitely need to get new chickens in the spring.  Husband has varmint-proofed the chicken house, and we haven't had a problem in a few weeks.  Just no eggs.

Some of our laying hens

Young rabbits

One year, something got every baby goat we had, in a week's time!  I came home from work, and my husband said, "Please tell me you sold all the baby goats and forgot to tell me!"  I, of course, had not.  We lost the whole goat crop.  That predator was a coyote.  At the time, our large male dog had died, and we didn't have a dog around the farm.  So we got a puppy to raise up for the next year.  We also put out hair trimmings all around our fences.  We got these at barber and beauty shops.  One beautician trimmed her dogs and put those scraps in the bags, also.  This puts out scent, that the animal will avoid.  Now, we try to keep the baby goats and their mothers put up for a week or so until the kids gets a little bigger and more active.  And we keep them up at night for a while.

GrandBoy carrying a baby goat just born

More baby goats

For a while we had something that would bite all the ducks' heads off.  It was a large turtle.  My husband finally caught it in our pond, in a trap.  That incident was very upsetting to the children, to say the least. NOTE:  I read this to my husband, and he said this story is not true.  He did catch a turtle, but a racoon was biting the ducks' heads off.   

When we first moved here, one of our daughters had a pet duck named Feather.  Well one day that daughter came running into the house, telling me that her duck was flopping around in the water.  So here I go, running down the hill toward the pond to save a duck.  I thought that the turtle had Feather by the foot or something and was trying to pull her under.  Instead, the duck was having seizures.  We believe it was bitten by a snake.  So I wrapped Feather in a towel and brought her in the house.  We put her in our bathtub.  Daughter wanted to stay with her, so she slept on the floor, and I sat up with the two of them.  The duck passed away during the night and daughter was sad.  Those things happen when you live on a farm.  A friend's wife, who is a big animal lover, got mad one time when we didn't take an animal to the vet, in an instance similar to this.  Husband tried to tell her that these are farm animals, not pets, and we can't run up a huge vet bill over a $15 animal.  She never got it.

One of the oddest predators we ever had was a horse.  He was a certified mustang.  We couldn't keep him with anything except cows, and no little calves in his pasture, or he would kill them.  Well, we got a female horse as a companion for him, and she had a baby.  We wouldn't let him be with the baby.  We noticed, also, that the mother horse always tried to stay between her baby and the mustang.  But other farm people, who had been farming forever, thought we were crazy.  They said, "He ain't going to hurt that baby!  He knows it's his!".  Well, we quit guarding them, and put them back together.  Within about a week, the baby was dead.  She died in the night, before she was two weeks old.  Husband woke up, and felt he needed to check on things.  He found her body in the pond, and the mother horse wouldn't leave her.  We sold the mustang.  We had an ad in the paper for the mustang and another horse.  An old horse farmer from the community came by.  He said, "I don't want no mustang, but I'll buy that quarter horse there!"  I said, "That quarter horse IS the mustang!".  He was really a beautiful horse.  The farmer told me "a mustang will wait thirty years to hurt you".  I guess he was right.  In defence of the mustang; before we got him, he was on a stake, tied up on the side of a mountain.  I think he remembered that and wanted his own space.  Well, we don't have enough land so the horse can have his 15 acres to himself!  Or maybe the horse was just mean.

You can't put Jack donkeys in a pasture to guard the animals.  He will kill the babies, and run the animals sometimes.  We didn't know this, until we experienced problems, and then we read up about it.  Now we only use females to guard our herds.  Also, some people put a pair of donkeys in a pasture, to be company for each other.  Well, two of anything is a herd of its own, and it will be less likely to protect your herd if there is a problem.  Just use one Jenny, and she will make friends with your herd and everything will be fine.

Some years we have lost young calves, too.  No sign of them at all, just disappeared.  A professor at a local farm college told me that he had seen coyotes carry off calves.  Coyotes are a real problem around here.  At a pasture we rented this year, coyotes are a great big problem!  There has not been cows in that field in years, and it is very isolated.  The coyotes are so bad there, that the two cows and donkeys we put in to test the fence, busted out, and ran off.  Cows will get out, but they don't usually run off.  We have a photo of our cows at the local downtown restaurant.  They were out for about a week, and one cow turned crazy and had to be taken to the sale.  Hope we never have that happen again.

UPDATE to this story:  Husband said I forgot to tell you about the real Predator in this previous story.  The animal control man.  He was called by a neighbor when the cows were out, and began to chase them.  He chased them for six hours, and never caught them.  That is why the previously-good cow went crazy.  Oh, what a day that was.

nursing calf

Dogs can be a problem also.  They will chase animals until they can't run any more, then kill them.  That is why a lot of farmers carry guns. 

Owls are bad news on a farm.  They will kill and eat a lot of rodents, but they sometimes go after chickens and such also.  Husband killed one here in our hen house.  It was huge.  Its wing span was unbelievable.  His feet are still outside in our General Store. 

The last predator I am going to tell you about today is a hawk.  They will fly over, pick up small animals, and carry them off.  One day, I was in the yard.  I love Silkie chickens.  They are a "fancy" type of small chicken, and I think they are so pretty.  We keep ours in a separate pin, because they are smaller than regular chickens, and kind of delicate.  Well, I heard a ruckus in the silkie pin.  I headed that way, and I see a bird has swooped inside the pen somehow, and has a hold of a silkie.  The hawk is slinging my silkie around, banging it on the ground, and the silkie is screaming.  I take off running toward the pen (I really don't run as much as this article makes me sound).  In my head, I'm thinking,  "I really need a gun".  I yell, but all my children are inside and no one hears me, so it is me against the hawk.  I pick up a stick and get to the cage.  I beat on the pen and went to open the door.  The hawk let go of the chicken and flew out a hole in the roof.  I was so glad that he left, and my chicken was OK.  She just got up, shook herself off, and clucked to herself for a while. This is the reason people cover their chicken yards with netting or screen, so the hawks don't pick up the chickens or their baby chicks.  My husband said he would have paid a lot of money to see that event.

Well, I guess that is all the predator tales I can think of at the moment.  I read this to my oldest daughter, and she couldn't remember some of these stories.  She now wishes she doesn't remember the horse story!  Check back tomorrow and we'll think of something else to talk about.  Honey

Day 22 Donkeys

31 Days of Homestead Living!

Hello friends!  I have been unavailable for a few days.  Computer trouble.  But I hope that is all behind me now.  I was going to write about donkeys Saturday, so that is what I will do today.

My husband told me he wanted me to find a black male donkey to breed our Jennys to.  I put a notice on Craigslist, and you can imagine some of the responses!  But I got one email from a town about an hour from here.  They said they had one, free.  So my husband went to pick it up.  He got there, and there were two men there, and neither seemed to know how to catch the donkey!  There were also a mother and baby donkey.  My husband asked for a price, and that was not an easy decision to come to, either.  Finally they said they would take $150 for the two females.  We usually only pay $50 or less for a donkey, so since we were actually getting 3 for $150, my husband said he would do that.  They eventually got all three donkeys loaded and husband and his friend started for home.  The male donkey was dropped off at the pasture where our females were residing.  The older black female, turns out to be the male's mother, so they don't need to breed.  She and her daughter were brought here to our farm.  GrandBoy thinks she is so cute, and calls her his pony.  He wants to ride her.  We keep telling him he has to have patience.

On the farm we use donkeys to guard the animals.  But males can't be used with the herds, because they will chase and hurt the animals.  They are likely to kill the baby animals.  These new Jennys will be put with the sheep, goats, or cattle at different pastures.  The male will be sold or given away after his services are no longer needed!

 Honey

Day 19 Wine Making

31 Days of Homestead Living!

Each year about this time we make wine with the juice we have produced during the year.  In years past we have made Blackberry, Grape, Peach, and Fruit Mixes.  I started out several years ago using the Welch's Concentrate Wine recipe on the web.  Since then, we have started to use our own fruit juices, but I still basically follow that recipe.

My recipe:  (CORRECTED TWICE)

11.5 ounces of grape or blackberry juice
Add:
4 - 5 cups of sugar (depending on how strong you want it)
1/2 tsp dry yeast

Add enough water to dissolve sugar and yeast.
Put in Gallon jug and finish filling with water to about 1 inch from the top.

Put a heavy large balloon or surgical glove on fastened at top of jug with a rubber band

Set in warm place for about 6 weeks.  When balloon or glove goes down your wine is ready.  Wine should be checked each day, because sometimes the balloon bursts or comes off, and you have to get another one on quickly so the wine will make.  We usually put our wine in regular size bottles once done.  Everyone loves this.

Next weekend is the time we will probably be ready to bottle our wine.  Right now we have 11 gallons making ready.  After we bottle ours we usually wait a month or longer to drink any.  The longer you wait, the better it will be.

Good luck with your wine making!  Honey

Day 18 Pest Control

31 Days of Homestead Living!

Pest Control - Where do I start?  When you live on a farm, in the middle of 100 acres of cotton, there will be pests.  Some are not as bad as others.  Some you really don't want to think about. 

I recently decided to try hedge apples to deter pests such as bugs and spiders in my home.  I was told by a friend that you place them around your home, and the bugs don't like them and stay away or leave.  She cut her hedge apples into quarters and placed them in saucers, one in each corner of the room.  I wanted to put them in our basement mainly for crickets, and such.  I was planning to stop on the side of  local highway to pick some up.  I was in the process of trying to decide how many I should get, and what day to go when GrandBoy wouldn't be with me.  I didn't want to take GrandBoy because I would have to keep one hand on him, and try to pick up hedge apples with the other.  I guess this sounded like a dangerous trip to my husband, Pappy, so he surprised me with a bucket of them the next day!  I'll let you know in the spring if I notice any difference.

A problem I am having right now is with gnats!  I have never had a problem like this before.  I have tried making fly traps with vinegar, rotting fruit, paper funnels, and nothing works.  I have used these methods in the past and always had success!  I tried spraying them with hairspray (I heard they won't be able to fly, and would die),  but it didn't make a difference.  I searched and searched last week end, and finally found what was attracting them.  Rotten potatoes!  So I got rid of those.  I've never had that happen before in almost 30 years of marriage, either.  I guess you could say I've been a little distracted!  So I hope in the next week or so, the gnats that are here will die, if they are able to outlive my fly swatter!  If anyone has any idea to get rid of these pests, please let me know.

In early spring we always have ants come in the kitchen window, and sometimes the bathroom, too.  Those windows are on the same wall of the house.  The pest control man told me that ants will travel a long way to come in your house.  People put poison around their homes, but the ant hill may be a ways away.  So I try to put ant bait in the window sill.  We pour boiling water on the hills as we discover them around the house.  The best luck I have in killing them inside is to spray them with just anything.  Febreeze type product, glass cleaner, maybe water would do.  I haven't tried that yet.  But when I spray them, they die instantly.  I have a cleaning bottle marked "ant spray" in my kitchen, so no one will carry it off and clean with it.  It sits on the counter of the kitchen when we have the ant problem.

I buy all the rubber toy snakes I see at yard sales and thrift stores.  We put them on the car port, deck, and sun porch to keep the chickens and other birds from pooping where we spend time.  These rubber snakes also frighten the repair men who aren't expecting to see them!  Well, at the start of this summer, I started out the kitchen door and headed toward the dove cage.  A real, live snake was laying on the concrete.  It was striped and as long as my arm. The snake saw me and turned and started toward me.  I turned and started back toward the house for a broom or something.  I glanced back over my shoulder and the snake had turned away and was headed toward the cage again.  I couldn't see where it went.  I never found it.  GrandBoy found a green snake wound up in the screen door last week!  He started to grab it by the tail, but his Aunt yelled at him to stop!  They caught it and put it in a juice bottle to look at.  We usually don't have many snakes, because the chickens and guineas will eat them.  But snakes are good for killing mice and rats.

Speaking of mice and rats.  They have been bad, this year, too.  We see them in the yard, out in the open.  They are in the chicken and rabbit houses, and anywhere we store grain.  I think it is because we had such a mild winter.  But we also didn't have a cat this year.  Well, now we have two barn cats, and they are hunters.  So hopefully next year the mice will be history!  Just this week, I was expecting a gentleman to do some work at our home.  I went downstairs to our daughter's room, and there was a mouse.  I couldn't be sure if it was real or not, because it just sat there and looked at me.  I moved very slowly and grabbed a coffee cup.  I turned it upside down over the mouse, and he started to cry.  His tail was caught, but I didn't care!  I called my husband to remove it from the house before the repair man arrived.  Shew!  That was close.

The first year we lived here, my husband worked nights and I was home alone with the children in the evenings.  At that time we had one or two gopher rats!  They would only come out (or inside I guess) late at night.  A few times I would look down the hall and see one in the kitchen.  About the size of a miniature dog.  Once it stood on its back legs slowly and looked at me down the hall.  Pappy asked me what I did, and I said, "Nothing!  I stood and watched it to make sure it stayed down there!"  My husband said it sounded like it was old, since it moved so slowly.  One time I came in the kitchen, and there was one on the kitchen table eating an apple from the fruit bowl, like corn on the cob!  Husband looked around the outside of the farm house, and found an opening where the dryer ductwork vented to the outside.  He sealed that up, and we haven't had one since.  I'm glad they were outside when we sealed the hole!

When you live around livestock, flies are always a problem in the warmer months.  A few years ago, we found a product called "Predators".  Every few weeks, we get a box at the post office.  In it, is a zip lock bag with saw dust, and a bunch of black specks.  When we notice the specks starting to move, it is time to set the bag outside and open it up.  The black bugs, called Predators, eat flies.  We have found such a difference since we started using this product.  I don't know what kind of insect they are really, but they are great.  Each year we order more than the previous year.  I guess because we have more livestock.  The company said we needed to go two more cycles this fall, but we thought we had done enough and stopped.  Maybe that is why we have a gnat problem!  I believe we pay about $18 a shipment for Predators, and they are worth every penny!  Another thing we have tried with the flies are hanging zip lock bags with water near the doors.  I guess maybe some of you have seen these hanging outside country restaurants!  Some people think you should place a penny in the bag to reflect the light.  We stopped doing the bags since we have our Predators.  The Predators were originally used at horse farms, but now a lot of farms use them.  I would recommend them for anyone who wants to get rid of flies, farm or not.

Something else we have noticed a problem with this year is moles.  We never had them at this house before last year.  They dig tunnels in our yard.  My husband has set traps for them, but I don't know if he has caught any.  I also purchase some pellets for them that you pour down the hole.  The neighbors have had them for a while, so I guess it was inevitable they would come.

A different kind of pest we have from time to time is a crane visiting our pond.  My husband hates cranes because they eat our catfish!  But it is a federal lawn that you can't harm them.  So I ordered a metal crane decoy that stands on our dock to scare them away.  Now the crane just stays on the far side of the pond.  Mental note:  Buy another crane decoy.

I've talked about so many pest problems I bet some of you never move to a farm!  I just remembered I have a book my mama bought me a few years ago about homemade remedies for pests, made from pantry items.  I think I'll go look and see if they know how to get rid of gnats!  Honey

Day 17 Harvesting Cactus

31 Days of Homestead Living!

This time of year, we pick our cactus balls.  I believe they are really called cactus pears.  When the pears turn dark purple they are ready to harvest and use.  In the past, I juiced them on my stove.  This involves making a juicer from several bowls and a double boiler.  This year, I think I will simmer them on the stove to soften them up.  Then my husband can juice them in our fruit juicer on the carport.  Husband thinks they are too big and tough to juice that way from the start.

GrandBoy helping make juice

Then I can the juice.  This juice is very bright red and pretty.  We drink it.  It is suppose to be great and helps with many health problems, including joint pain.  Another thing we have done is use the juice to make jelly.  I heard that this is good to do for Christmas gifts because the color is so pretty and holidayish.  I have heard of people making wine with the juice.  I won't be surprised if my Husband tries this, too.

The leaves of the cactus are also edible.  These are called paddles.  I can't seem to find out how to process them or use them in recipes.  So I haven't done anything with ours before.  I understand they are cooked somewhat like green beans.  Sliced and diced into smaller pieces.  But they can be slimy like okra, so you have to know how to prepare them.  One day I will find someone who knows what to do, and I will learn.

Now that I think about it, I think the blooms are edible, too.  So I guess just about all the cactus parts are edible.  The blooms can be fried and used in other dishes.

Cattle also like cactus.  If I don't plan to do anything with our cactus pears, we dump them out in the pasture for the cows.  We will also see the cows nibble the paddles, if there are any within reach! 

So now you have a quick tutorial in using cactus to feed your family.  I often see big cactus patches in someone's yard, and am tempted to stop and ask if I can pick the pears.  I haven't done that yet, though.  But you can usually get cactus to plant in your yard for free.  And I hate to waste items I can use to feed my family for free.  We also have some cactus that is spineless.  We would like to get more of this growing and phase out the other type of cactus. 

In case you were wondering, you pick the cactus pears with some sort of long tool, and you probably should wear gloves.  I use long bar b q tongs.  Then you singe the spines off  the cactus pears.  At this point you would be ready to juice them.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.  Honey