Let me spin you a yarn...

So one of our neighbors built Peanut a top whorl drop spindle. For those of you who aren't in the know, a drop spindle is a small hand tool used to spin yarn. So of cours, since he made it for my daughter, I had to play with it, so last night, I walked over and begged some roving from the neighbor. (I'll explain the whole process in another post, settle down, Sparky!) Here is a picture from my first attempt with the drop spindle.

Eh, not bad, but definitely not great. I wouldn't want to try to knit, or crochet, with it at this point, but give me a chance and I think I will be able to do this halfway decent. Then if I can teach everyone else in the family, we might be able to spin enough for all our winter projects.

So of course, looking at spinning and making yarn... in my typical head-first attitude, what do you think was my next thought? Hmmm, we are looking to put up a barn (as soon as it is delivered and I have the ground prepped). Now, I had been leaning more towards goats, but a couple sheep should give us enough for our winter projects, right? I dunno, buy why not give it a whirl?

Here's one other picture of my first attempt:

Enjoy and I will talk to you again soon!

Yarns and Barns...

Its another week and I realize that I have been neglecting to write anything up here for a while. Life has been keeping me occupied. We ordered a Backyard Barn kit from a local lumber yard, but they have yet to call to make a delivery appointment.

I have started working to dig out the new barn's location, but it is slow going. I am not sure if I ever mentioned it, but there used to be a small barn where we are going to put the new one. This is the perfect location because it is sheltered from some of our wind, is on a good flat spot, can be dug out for drainage, and has a water pipe and electrical lines run to it. However, one of the yahoo sons decided to go ahead and just burn down the barn. He didn't dismantle anything, or even empty it out before he set fire to it. This includes leaving a stack of shingles inside, parts for a tractor cutting deck, pieces of an umbrella, parts of a fox skeleton, and a huge amount of nails. Also, since he didn't pull any of the wires back down through the conduit before he started his blaze, the wires melted inside of their conduit. I get that dug out and pull some new wire through and then I will have electrical and water run straight to the barn! w00t!

So I am hoping that I will be able to get a few inches dug out this week, along with two lengths of french pipe for drainage. Then I can get a load of sand and a load of gravel for the base. Of course, all of this work just sets me up for the actual building of the barn... Anyone want to stop over for a barn raising in a few weekends? We will provide food and drink!

On the yarn note, a woman's whose kid is in sunday school at church is willing to teach me how to turn a heel. I started working on learning double-ended needles this winter, but the books describing turning a heel are a bit confusing to me.

On top of that, it seems that Peanut has decided that I should get some Fiddle lessons. Of course, I would need to find a fiddle on the cheap. There was one on Craigslist... $150 with 3 bows, rosin, 3 learn to play books, a music stand, shoulder rest, volume damper, and an electronic tuner. But y'know, that is $150 more than I currently have available. Of course, that would have to go on top of my working on my skills on the Bass and trying to teach myself guitar. Who came up with some of these chord fingerings?

Busy busy busy...

"Spring is here, spring is here. Life is skittles and life is beer." - Tom Lehrer

Springtime brings all of the thoughts of the new garden, the upcoming summer projects, the summer chores, and of course, the new baby birds at the house. A week ago last Friday, the family had to stop at Tractor Supply Co. because we were not going to be able to stop at the actual feed shop the next day. Do you know what TSC has in the store come springtime? That's right, baby chicks. So of course, we had to pick up 6 of those little boogers. This doesn't count the order that had been placed with McMurray Hatchery the week before.

Since Peanut is participating in 4-H, she had decided that she wanted to do the duck project, so we had to order her the ducks she wanted to raise. We ordered her 10 Cayuga ducks. That's right 10 of those little buggers was cheaper than just buying 5 or 6 because of shipping costs. She will raise them for a bit and then pick out a few for her project. The rest will either go into the general population or be sold on craiglist/at auction.

Then for the family we got the Homsteaders Delight. This package is 16 birds total: 10 brown egg laying hens, 2 ducks, 2 turkeys, and 2 geese. We get no say in the breeds of any of these birds. Surprise! Unfortunately, we also get no say in the genders of the turkeys, ducks, or geese. Boy do I hope that we don't get Muscovy or Cayuga ducks. We already have the Muscovy and the Cayuga are the second part of that order.

These new birdies would overfill the current coop. I think I mentioned that a local company has what they call the "Backyard Barn". Well, that will hopefully be going up soon (Ok, within the next three weeks or so), and that will house all of these birds plus the birds in the current coop. I just have to get the Health Department out first so that they can verify that we are putting this up farther than 20 feet from the septic tank, there goes another 60 bucks. Woo...

This is all on top of the seedlings in the basement, and trying to wait till the ground gets dry enough to work, and getting a spot ready so the onions can go in ASAP, and and and... well, you get the idea. Hopefully I will be able to get some pictures up of the new birds when they arrive this week, plus a picture or two of the chickies already in the basement.

Well, I think that's enough for right now.

Storey Books...

Storey is a company that publishes books that relate to the "country" or "homestead" life that so many people are looking to get back to. Their books are treasure troves of accumulated experience and knowledge on topics ranging from the household to raising livestock. Their mission statement is as follows:

To serve our customers by publishing practical
information that encourages personal independance
in harmony with the environment.

They published Made from Scratch by Jenna Woginrich (yes, that is Jenna from ColdAntlerFarm). They publish their series Storey's Guide to... that tell how to raise all the different types of livestock, and they are constantly on the lookout for new authors and ideas. I highly recommend checking out their line-up at http://www.storey.com/.

But that isn't what I want to talk about right now. Right now, I want to discuss their Country Wisdom Bulletins. These are little gems that sell for about four bucks apiece, new, and that cover the gamut of topics that Storey publishes. The nifty thing about them is that they are so focused they transfer a lot of information about something specific in just a few minute read. They are not exhaustive, but they are excellant introductions to different topics. If you want more in-depth information about a specific topic, guess what? Storey has a book about that.

Of course, Storey has been publishing these since 1973, so every once in a while you run across some information that is a little... dated. The bit that has started this post topic is in the bulletin Axes & Chainsaws: Use and Maintenance. This one in particular was Copywritten in 1977. The line that cracks me up is that it says steel-toed boots are not available in most stores, but that they can be special ordered. Now-a-days, every store seems to be carrying steel-toed boots. Heck, I am having trouble finding a cheap pair of black boots without a steel-toe! I used to be able to pick them up at any #-mart store for $20-$30. Now, they are all steel-toed. Don't get me wrong, all of the information regarding axes and chainsaws is still relavant and useful. This booklet was still well worth the money, but that little bit there just makes me chuckle.

What about you? Ever read any of these? How about another publisher that is similar?

I'm allowed to change my mind...

So after doing a bit more reading and thinking about the problem we had last year with a rat eating the duck eggs. I think I may now be leaning now towards having a full wood floor for the new barn/coop. This way I can brace it on concrete and stone pads so that it is raised up from the wetness. This will also allow a hose out of the floor if it gets necessary. If I wind up with a rotted floor, well, thats what they make saws and jacks and replacement boards for!

What do you think of that?

What type of animals...

So I talked about getting some new animals for the homestead, but we have a bit of a conundrum here. See, I like the idea of heritage breed animals... the more endangered, the better. I am not one of those greenie weenies that puts animals as more important than humans, or that thinks that anything and everything is excused if done in the name of "the environment". However, I do think that the forced breeding of modern livestock in order to ensure that every animal produces a consistant end product, is wrong.

What good is a chicken that reaches full weight in 7 weeks, but in that time, it is now not able to walk because it grew so fast and its breasts are disproportionately large? It is not good for foraging for bugs and greens. It is not good for pest control. It was developed solely for the meat industry and its existence ignores all of the tangents and side-effects of the traditional role of the chicken. Pigs, cows, turkeys, etc. So many breeds have been bred for specific purposes that they have lost their original capabilities and intents.

Heritage breed chickens tend to be dual-purpose birds. Bred for both meat and egg production. They do not produce eggs as well as commercial egg layers, and they do not grow as fast as commercial meat birds. But they can forage in the yard and control the pest population from eating your garden, and they can subsist on less grain/feed than other breeds.

Heritage hogs are able to forage and subsist majorily on pasture as well. They are able to roam the pasture and fields without becoming sunburnt. They do not nip and bite each others tails or ears the way pigs do when kept in a pen and not allowed to roam.

Each breen has their heritage breeds that are basically on or near the endangered list. These heritage breeds are important for us to remember where the modern small homesteads animals came from. Those of us looking for only one or two animals could go for one of the modern breeds.

Of course, I seem to make this sound as if heritage breeds are perfect. Part of the problem is that farmers and breeders are able to charge a lot more for these animals. Where you are most likely able to get a cross-breed goat or sheep for $50-$100 (if not less if you have an auction near you), you are most likely not going to be able to get a heritage breed for less than $200 at the minimum.

Another major problem with heritage breed animals... Availability. If you are looking at a breed that endangered, they are not going to be available around every corner. You may have to travel hours or even days if you are set on getting a specific breed that no one around you has. Whereas cross-breeds and commercial breeds are often available at a moments notice. Not only are the farmers not necessarily close to you, but with a small breeding population, there are less litters/kids/etc. each year. Where a goat or sheep may throw twins twice a year if you really push them, that is still only four kids a year. A swine may give a litter of 4-6-8, but still, that is not a lot to try to repopulate farms around the country.

Heck, when you are starting out, does it really matter what breed you get until you are sure you want to raise that type of animal. If you are getting birds, do you want to be responsible for letting them out in the morning and putting them back in at night, making sure that they have enough food and water. If you are looking at dairy goats, do you have the motivation to be up and out to make sure that they have food and water and shelter. Once or twice a day do you want to go out to milk them. Make sure they freshen and get bred properly.

These are questions that each individual and each farm and homestead must make for themselves. But if you are in the market for some new animals, why don't you take a look at some heritage breeds?

This year's garden...

So every year, those of us "crazies" that don't like paying the store for foods and things that we can grow for ourselves plan what we will be planting and how we will arrange them in the garden and whatnot. You always hear about the joy that we get reading through seed catalogues and picking our varieties for the next season.

Well, at some point, all those fantasies and dreams need to get started. Now, I will share a little secret with all of you. I have always had a lot of trouble getting anything to start from seed, but this year, here I go again. At this point, I have planted:

8 broccoli
8 kale
8 roma tomatoes
8 gr/rd sweet peppers
4 green zebra tomatoes
Dill
Sweet Basil
Sweet Marjoram
Thyme
Cilantro
Parsley

These have all been planted since last Friday. So far the Broccoli and the Kale have already started to germinate. One of the tomato seeds is starting as well, but only one, so far. There are more that need to be planted, especially some more cool weather seeds that I can hopefully get in the ground before the last frost... but for now, I am happy with the way things are starting this year.

The garden will also consist of cucumbers, corn, brussel sprouts, cabbage, lettuce, pumpkins, zuchini, beets, and various and sundry squashes. And I am sure the other in the family will put in some requests that I am not aware of yet. *grin*

How about it, any strange or unusual suggestions for what should go into the garden?

I still use mine...

So I was puttering about in the kitchen today making breadcrumbs and the thought occured to me that I was doing something that to me is just an obvious money and food saver. But I wonder if anyone else still does this? With the cost of food being so cheap at your local megamart, do people still keep the heels and scraps of bread to be used for something else just so they can save the couple bucks they would spend buying breadcrumbs.


Either way, here is what I do, let me know if you do something similar or if this is a new concept or you think I am nuts for doing this!

1) Save your scrap bread, bread ends, mis-cut pieces, stale or not, toss them in a paper bag. The staler you let them get, the better, but make sure it stays dry... wet bread will mold, dry bread will stale up nicely.

2) Once the bag is full (or you are cooking something that needs breadcrumbs), dig out the bag and your trusty meat grinder with the finest die that you have.

3) Clamp the grinder to your table or counter and start grinding up all the bread you have (or as much as you need).



4) I always do up all that I have and put the rest into a clean dry mason jar that goes right into the fridge or the freezer, depending on how fast I will be using it. I find that one brown paper lunch bag will fill up 3/4 to a full quart mason jar.

Spices, herbs, etc. can all be added to the bread crumbs when you go to use them. This means you don't need to buy bread crumbs and Italian bread crumbs and etc... It is pretty easy to make all the different flavors from whatever type of bread you have lying around!

5) Finally, time to clean it up. The grinder doesn't get very dirty, but I take it apart, run some hot water through and rub all the nooks and crannies with a stiff bristled brush, and then push a towel through. After that, I let it air dry on a drying mat.


* Just a trick that I learned a while ago. If you do use your grinder for meat (what a crazy idea), when you are done, run a few pieces of stale bread through. The bread and the crumbs will pull the meat out and bind up any oils and fats. It makes it easier to scrub and seems to help get all the pieces of meat out when you scrub it clean.

Write at ya soon!

More Updates

Well, we are down to 7 ducklings. We hitched the coop up to one of the vehicles and moved it to back behind the garden. It seems that the rain made the rat or whatever rodent that was taking them followed. So we put out a poison trap, which we both really hated to do, but we can't be losing any more ducklings. They rely on us for their care!

We also got us a "barn" cat. The wife is very allergic, but we needed to do something, so Jade, the kitty, is out in the chicken coop. Seems to be ok with it. Doesn't really like it, but I think she will grow accustomed to it. Her previous owners were moving to Phoenix and were not able to take her with them.

I don't think I mentioned before, but our neighbors across the street are really awesome. They raise animals and buy/sell at a number of the auctions around. They had gotten us another female muscovy, but between the time of purchase and the time we got her to our coop, it seemed like she broke her foot. She was hobbling and unable to move it or straighten it out. We were keeping a close eye on her in case it would be necessary to have duck for dinner some night, but she is doing excellently and is walking around with barely a trace of a limp.

Of course, the neighbors do just about every type animal under the sun except for three that we are interested in. We have talked about getting some pigs, some turkeys, and someday a dairy cow. They can point us in the right direction, but its not like sheep or goats where we can just walk over and they have some there for us to get used to. I believe a lot of what we are waiting for right now is the money so set up the housing and the fencing. Ha ha.

Then again, since our only pup now is 1/2 border collie, 1/2 brittany (100% spazmodic nutjob), we have talked about maybe some sheep or goats just to give him some meaningful work to expend some of his energy. Oh if only the neighbors sheep were dog broken! Although, he did do a really good job herding our muscovy drake back into the run last night. I really wish I had a picture of that... he looked just like he should, head down, tail down, stalking and herding that duck. Of course, I don't see a whole lot of sheep dog trials near where we are, but who knows, get a couple sheep and then maybe travel some to compete or something. Yeah, right.

I was laughing to myself last night... think about a sheep dog trying to herd some fainting goats. That would be hilarious. I can just see the dog looking at a goat after it fainted going, "oh my, oh my, i killed it, oh my, oh my!!!!" If you don't know about fainting goats, check out youtube and do a search. They are cute and funny as all get out.

Anyways, I think that's enough for right now.

Busy busy and some additions

Well, I am not sure who knows what or what I have mentioned in the past, so here's an update on most and sundry.

First. Dear Wife and I are now licensed Foster Parents for our county/state. That has taken up a huge amount of time in preparing for this and for getting the house and everything ready. Also, the meetings with the case worker and the phone calls/emails have been quite time consuming as well.

Secondly, one of our muscovy hens has been broody on 14 eggs for... well, just about 35 days, and we now have ducklings! 13 hatched, and for those of you who don't know, 13 out of 14 is a really good hatch. At least in our experiences, if you get eggs from a hatchery, our normal hatch rate is just over 1/2. They hatched this past Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately, somehow we have lost two. :-( We don't know what happened, but we only have 11 as of this evening. No bodies, no down, nothing. Our hope is that the two most adventerous escaped and followed some of our neighbors back across the street. Our neighbors across the street make their living raising and selling animals... mostly working the auctions. They have sheep, goats, all sorts of chickens, ducks, geese, a llama, rabbits, pigeons, etc. Their ducks like to come over to our yard for something new and some of them come through because if you work your way through our yard, our neighbors yard, and back a little, there is a nice big pond for them.

Third, a nine month old border collie/brittany mix is well... time consuming as well. This is such a high energy dog that even if I work with him for an hour or two a day he still has the energy to be a spaz and to go go go go go go.

Well, this is some of what is going on, I am going to try to get a couple more composed coming up to cover some more of what has been happening. I may not be posting as often as before, but still... thanks for letting me vent. So for now, your reward is... Baby Ducky Pictures!!!!

Everyone knows, it's Windy.

Stupid song, been in my head for a while now. Well, as I am not sure where everyone is from, I will toss in my $.02 about this. We've had some high winds for the past couple of days, and there was some damage done. Seems our house escaped unscathed (Thank God!), but a couple people have posted some pictures of some of the damage (Chris @ 1acreohiohomestead & DivaHick).

This got me thinking. My dinky little chicken coop, that I rushed and didn't plan out very well, is hopefully going to be replaced this summer. This time I intend on doing it right and planning everything out. Also, I am hoping to be able to put up a large shed/barn this year as well. Man would it be nice to get the straw and feed out of the basement!

With all of the wind that we had (and its not the first time), and the melting snow/rain that we had, I have to make sure that the new coop and barn aren't going to sink in mud and that they aren't going to blow away. Now, I have gotten a couple books about barns and pole buildings and animal housing and whatnot, and they seem to be very useful books. I am just thinking that I am actually lucky that this happened again so that we know that last falls wind storm was not a freak accident, but rather something that will need to be taken into account.


Have you thought about your weather? Just remember, if you are looking to move to a homestead or a farm or something in a completely new area, you are bound to run into things like this. Things that make you go, "Gee, it wasn't like this back at (insert location here)".

"Be Prepared" that's the Boy Scout motto. Boy, aren't those Scouts' smart!