January Planning and Backwards Day

A busy time of year and who would have thought January would be so  busy.  It is a lot of planning.  We are looking at our seed packets and planning gardens.  It is time to start getting our chicks again, both layers and meat hens. We need to decide where were we are going to build a permanent place (could be temporary if we decide this is the year for the barn to be built - we aren't getting any younger) for them before they go to the Big House.  They were in the greenhouse last year.  Soon we will get turkeys too.  We are raising turkeys for  more than just for us this year.  The BIG ADD to the homestead  will be the new copper roof and the rain barrels. And in the spring we plan to get a new little lamb to mate with Wilbur plus Wilbur will be sheared. 

But for now, we celebrate each day in small ways. Today is National Backwards Day.  My mom, being a military wife and home alone with six kids most of the time, had to get very creative...and creative she was!  We had Backwards Day twice a year... preferably when there was no school. We wore our clothes backwards (Even my dad wore his uniform backwards. He wore a jacket over it and changed as he got on the base!)

So here we go with our meals.  Dinner for breakfast. A cornbread /dog casserole!  Just your favorite box mix with dogs gently nestled on in there.  Back for 25 minutes at 400*.

Serving with ...okay, I couldn't do coleslaw first thing this morning! 

Next I had to get my lunch ready using homestead food!  Egg salad with dill pickle powder. 

Awhile back I dehydrated some of my dill pickles. Woooey! They are some powerful things dried. 

Here they are dried. 

Then ground them into a powder. 

Ohso, tasty! 

Hard boiled some of our hens eggs, added mayo and mustard, some ground pepper and teaspoon of ground dill pickles ...ohmy, this is good.  Lunch is ready and packed to go! 

Breakfast for dinner is granola with yogurt and honey topped with berries. 

Time to hit the road. 

peace 

Well trouble...again

Living on the homestead you have to be good with setbacks.  Just you begin to think you've got this and something happens that makes you want to scream.   Dude went to church with me and when we came home he walked over to talk to Wilbur our little woolly ram.  While he was walking to the barn he passed the pump-house and began to yell - NO, NO, NO!  I ran over to see what was wrong (I thought something was wrong with Wilbur!)  Water was streaming fast out of the pump-house.  Dude ran in and tried to turn it off . At first nothing happened and he was yelling - why aren't you turning off?!  Somehow it stopped running and we found this.... the filter snapped right off. 

 We don't know why it happened and here it is Sunday with plumbing supply stores closed.  We did go to 4 stores to see if , by chance, they had what we needed.  Nothing.  Remember how it looked just a couple of days ago?

Again, if you live on a homestead it is always wise to store water... well, even if you don't. 

This size is for toilets and dishes and such. 

This is for drinking and cooking.  (oh and don't forget your animals need fresh water daily) This year we will be putting in rain barrels since it is no longer illegal. 

Tip: It is good to have a bit of savings for just such event. Otherwise you're up a creek.

We couldn't find what we needed so with good old ingenuity and know how.... Dude bypassed it since all the other ways didn't work. Awhile back we put in a whole house filter system so this filter wasn't even needed.  It is now 6pm and we have water! Total cost was about $75. 

I was hoping to quilt and go through my seed packets  today but since Dude wanted me to spend time with him driving from store to store (it is my only day off this weekend) I worked on the crocheted  mermaid tail I got the main part finished and working on descending to the tail fin tonight.  Still hoping to quilt at least a half hour before settling in with Dude and once again, crocheting or reading. 

peace

New life and tough lessons

Remember our milk goats Pepper and Running Water?  Well, even though we sell or trade our goats we make sure they go to great homes and we stay in touch with folks.  We traded these for a pig and a female kid to be born. Pepper is a Nubian and was bred with Skippy, our Alpine so any girls born will produce lots of milk with high butterfat.  Community is extremely important to us.  I was on my way to work when we got the call Pepper was in labor and had been for a while. 

When we got there we could instantly tell something was not right. We have had many goat have kids without any incidence but we knew it would some day happen... no one is immune to the stress of nature. 

She was exhausted and trying to push. Right off we notice how bloated and hard her abdomen was, something we had not seen before. 

Dude called the vet and the vet suggested there may be a dead kid blocking the way for the others and Dude needed to get in there and get it out. He has done this before but he knew this would be different. 

He pulled out the first kid. There was no sack around it and it smelled horrible. We all knew the worse had happened. It was dead and probably had been for a while.  Farmsister, Alethea's son had come out earlier and said something smelled . None of us had noticed but leave it to a young nose to notice what none of us had. Lesson one... always listen to the young.

Lesson two...with homesteading you do deal with death.  Sadness and tears but we had to keep going. Pepper was ready  to  push but she was weak. 

She is tired and exhausted. We help her push while Dude goes in and pulls gently on the next one. 

Number two, a boy. Healthy one but he seems a bit tired. 

Pepper wants to take care of him but she is just too tired. Contractions began again...

This is the first one all cleaned up. 

Jamin, Alethea's husband built these warming pods for the kids.  They are genius and worked great. Just what they needed.  We are definitely going to steal this idea!

One more to go.  Another boy finally born. Can you see it, it is white...the opposite of the one above. Healthy and loud. A very good sign.

The birth was very stressful for Pepper.  Lesson 3... she couldn't stand or walk.  Alethea called the vet who said it was fairly normal.  A round of antibiotics and steroids were ordered.  She should be fine in a day or two. 

If you want to follow their journey too you will find them at Green Prairie Farm.

peace 

Keeping things warm on the homestead

Keeping things warm isn't just a matter of comfort on the homestead but a necessity.  Here are a few of the ways we keep things going.  Last night it was 16* and we can't have stuff freeze.

In the hen house.... warming red light. We use red instead of white light so as not to mess with their cycles and sleep.

Under their water is a warming stand so it doesn't freeze. 

This is the pump-house ... it is our source of water from the well.  We can't have this or the pipes freeze so we do keep a space heater on low in there.  (caulking can't freeze either)

Animal's water drought has a heater in the water.  Water is a must for our animals. 

I need to find a more efficient way to heat the greenhouse. We use space heaters but it is too expensive. We didn't grow this winter. 

The very first thing I saved for, even before moving in, was a wood stove. It is worth every penny. 

Here's pictures of it going in and I was very proud when Dude got the chimney in!

 

Then last but not least ...to warm our hearts and souls. 

Stay warm today. 

peace 

Monday walk, cleaning the sewing room and other stuff

Our efforts to clean and purge continue. I wish I had taken a before picture, but quite frankly, I was rather embarrassed of the stage I had let it become. You couldn't even walk in here and I began to just pile everything up.  I made up three goodies boxes for those who are beginning to sew of fabric, thread and other stuff and then set to work to CLEAN.  It took most of the day yesterday after mass but it was also a lot of fun. I had to hold myself back to not just dig in and start another project every time I found  fun project I forgot about.

I found so many unfinished project I started a jar of them to finish. I found this idea online when scrolling through stuff about a week ago but I don't remember where.  You just write down each project, put them in the jar, and pick one project at a time to complete.  As you can see from above one of the bee quilts is first up.

After religion class this morning Dude and I went out to walk the land.  As you can see the snow over the mountains is heading our way. 

We did free any tangled tumbleweeds along the way. 

Angelo is beginning to lose weight and looks great. He felt so good in his new light skin he walked with us to mend the fence. 

Wilbur and Callie the cat came along for a little while. 

This cracked us up. Angelo hasn't been able to play for a long time due to his weight but today he gave it a good try. 

Then it was time to head home. 

Wilbur doesn't think walks are all that great. He stayed and chased the chickens. He loves to chase chickens. 

The sun has gone behind the mountain now.  It is cooling off quickly.  A fire is in the stove and time to make dinner. 

We did get a wee bit offtrack today in class talking about Lord of the Rings and the comparison of Christianity soooo we are making homemade pizza with cauliflower crust and settling in for the night to watch Lord of the Rings tonight. 

Have a great evening.

peace