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“If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” Thomas Jefferson

Thursday, February 28, 2013

How Do you Know God Exists?

This was the question presented to me by my oldest a week or so ago? I was a little shocked to say the least. We talk about God and Jesus on a regular daily basis in this house. We surround our children with godly people, we have taken them to church and the extra classes that she attends as part of our homeschool curriculum are taught by godly women who talk about God in class and attended by churchgoing Christian children. So where did this question come from, but more importantly how do I answer in such a way that she will believe wholeheartedly what I am saying. What I say or don't say right now will make a huge impact on her faith or lack of faith. Nothing like being put on the spot. Since this is not a question that I ever had myself I had to think, say a very quick prayer and this is what I told her. When I was a small child one Sunday morning my Grandaddy took me to a special spot on the creek deep in the woods while my Grandmother faithfully went to church. As we were sitting on huge boulders overlooking the running water waiting to see if a deer would come to drink I asked my Grandaddy why he didn't go to church. He told me that God was with us on that creek bank more than He was in that church building. I won't go into the goings on that he was talking about at the church because he didn't at the time. He said be still and quiet and you will hear the workings of God and see the workings of God and know that He is here. I did, as still and quiet as a 6 year old could be. He then said when you hear the birds sing it is God who has given them song. When you see the water rushing it is God who put the water there to begin with. When you hear and feel the wind rustling through the leaves on the trees it is the breath of God surrounding you. None of this is possible without Him and it exists so that you know He is always here wherever you are whether or not you think you need Him. When I was much older, I went through some tough times. I thought my family had abandoned me and essentially part of them had. I changed colleges and the college that I was going to was close to my grandparents and so in order to save money I lived with them. My grandmother was not a nice woman and didn't approve of my work schedule and so she threw me out of the house. Without going into details I wound up living in my car and sleeping many nights in an empty horse stall on a horse blanket at the barn that I worked at. I stopped all contact with everyone because I was angry and hurt. I became a ghost for a little while at least. For 7 months I spent my days simply trying to survive. I got paid by the barn basically on commission so I made very little. My grandmother had called my real job so many times that I had lost that job. I couldn't afford school so I stopped going once the quarter ended. The other trainer at the barn was stealing from me and since I would lose my job if the owner found out I was sleeping there I could say nothing. I didn't want to go on like that but I didn't know what to do. But God knew what to do. He forced the connection back with my family. To make a long story short I was arrested and when I called a friend to help me, he called my Dad who just happened to be in town (trying to find me). My Dad came and got me and after my court date (all charges dismissed) took me home to my Mama. My life got back on track and I realized that the whole time I was in the wind they were trying to find me. I realized how many people were worried about me and trying to find me. Some people I had only met one time, but God made them remember and they prayed for my well being. Had God not intervened and forced me to stay put where someone could come and get me I don't know what would have happened to me. There have been many times that God has been there between now and then but remember last summer when we were low on meat and I was worried because we were low on money too. I kept saying everytime I opened the freezer that we weren't going to make it to deer season. But everytime I opened the freezer there was meat. Each time I would count the packages and we would have maybe 6 or 7 meals left, but the meat was always there. Someway, somehow we never completely ran out. We didn't have an abundance but it was there and after months of this deer season came and the rabbits started producing again and the pigs were ready to process. We made it with meat to sustain us only by the grace of God because I don't know how those 6 or 7 packages lasted us for months on end. But I do know the meat was always there and it never ran completely out. Then there was the time that you were little and remember when I went crazy. I was sick and the doctors were telling me I wasn't. I wanted to die. I couldn't function anymore and everything in my life was draining because I was drained to begin with. I thought about ending my life several times during that period. But each and every day God gave me the courage to keep going and then to change things so that I could get well again. I didn't have that courage. I wanted to die, but each time I was going to do something to stop all the pain and exhaustion something stopped me. I can only say that something was God because no one else knew the struggle that I was going through. Even now, I struggle with pain and exhaustion but I run a farm. I do more than many able bodied men are able to do, but I am never crippled by my infirmities. Each and every day God gives me the strength to do what I need to do and as a result we are blessed with an abundance of food. I never thought I would be able to homeschool, it just isn't in my personality but here we are. We have a close tight and loving family in a world that doesn't see family as important and most parents are divorced. I can only say all of this is because of God's blessings because I have been in the world and it is not a friendly place. I have been abandoned, turned on and hated by friends and family members many times. But each and every time I knew that God had to be with me because I managed to get through it and overcome it. I never could have done that on my own, I simply don't have that sort of courage. Whenever things is my life are just completely impossible, God makes something possible. It might not be exactly the way that I envisioned it or even wanted it but God makes things possible in an impossible world. In fact this has happened so many times in my life that I simply don't question anymore because I don't have the foresight that He has. I know in the end it will work out no matter how impossible it may seem. We live on this farm even though our move here was impossible. It seemed impossible when Daddy was out of work for us to keep going, or even to keep living here. But we did and we had the courage to simply have faith and face each and every day as it came. The impossible worked out to be possible and that only happens because of the grace and goodness of God. Humans simply don't have that kind of power. And so that is what I told her. I couldn't have made it this far in life without the grace of God so He has to exist because I couldn't and can't do it alone. Many blessings to you all, Kat

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Twisted Bowel

We lost Strawberry last night. She went out yesterday afternoon with the rest of the herd to browse. She was a little reluctant when she left out of the barn and only when the rest of the herd moved far enough away did she move out to join them. She was supposed to have been pregnant and I had noticed that her belly was increasing in size especially over the past week. She wasn't hard or distended, just beginning to look pregnant. The day before yesterday she didn't really want me around her when I made my morning rounds. She let me briefly scratch her behind before she bolted away. I though this too was attributed to pregnancy and since I didn't catch when she was bred I though maybe she was closer than I thought. Well, I checked on her while the herd was out grazing and she seemed to be content with them doing what goats do. Then when I called the herd in for the evening she didn't come with them. I looked and she was laying down in the driveway, laying in a funny way like she just fell down on her belly. My first thought was that she was going to have a baby in my driveway. So I got her into the barn at which point she went down and wouldn't get back up. I went and got my husband and we picked her up and moved her into the kidding stall. I got all my meds to make my "rescue remedies". Even though her rumen was not distended I gave her a baking soda, corn oil, molasses drench. I did everything I normally do for whatever might be the problem although really I had no idea because she didn't have any typical symptoms. She started grunting and acting like she was having contractions, but then she wasn't dilated. Somehow I knew she was dying. She died within an hour of us getting her into the kidding stall. Again thinking that she was pregnant we did an emergency C-section. What we didn't find was babies. What we did find was a terrible bowel mess. her rumen was normal size, but her gut was a mess. Apparently it had twisted or impacted (I was holding most of it in my lap so not sure which at that point). She had loads of empty intestine (not normal) and one particular spot about a foot or so long that was incredibly distended and black. Her bile duct on her liver was also terribly swollen indicating that the digestive process had stopped. There is absolutely nothing that could have been done to save her nor prevent this. unfortunately it is something that happens. If you own livestock then eventually you will have deadstock. It just goes to how that since goats are prey animals they are experts at hiding pain and weakness. The intestine took quite some time to get necrotic, it didn't happen over night and she had been in pain while that happened for quite some time but she still acted normal until the day before yesterday. I am a bit sad this morning. I am a fixer and I just hate situations that I simply can't fix. unfortunately, we won't be able to use the meat for us since I thought I was doing a C-section and I nicked the bladder spilling all contents into the body cavity. The dogs however will get the benefit, they don't particularly care if their meat has been marinated in urine. At least she won't be wasted even though it was a sad night last night. Well, chores are waiting I had better get to it. Blessings, Kat

Monday, February 25, 2013

It's Raining... Again

Ok, really I am just a little tired of the rain. The garden is now officially way behind. Seeds that were planted a couple weeks ago are probably rotten because there is no sign of them. The onions look like they are beginning to rot before they even get started. I have a foot of mulch in the pathways and I am still splashing water when I walk through there. Now, the septic tank is beginning to grumble because the ground around the field lines is saturated. Really, did we need a whole years rainfall within a month's period of time?! Ok, I guess I have gotten my grumbling off my chest now. The good news is that I have done some things that I was putting off so that I could go play in the dirt. I have made and milled lots of soap and I am finally getting the goat fat that I had in the freezer rendered so that I can make more soap. My goal is to get all the soap made and all the fat rendered and out of the freezer. The laundry is caught up and put away and the taxes are almost finished. I probably will finish those today along with the soap. Tonight I get to catch chickens and clip their wings. They are devastating what is in my garden. yesterday morning I had turnip greens...yesterday afternoon I had turnip stems. Yep, in just a few hours they got in and stripped the turnip greens of anything leafy and they started nibbling on roots that were poking out of the ground. I really hate chickens and if they didn't provide me food for next to nothing then I would butcher every last one of them. However, right now I am getting between 8 and 9 eggs a day and that certainly helps if nothing else than to feed the dogs and pigs. Speaking of pigs, I think I might be about done with pigs. It doesn't matter how well we repair the fence they get out. Only two of them mind you, the other one never gets out. you can leave the gate wide open and he is content to stay put. Also, with small pigs it takes considerably longer for them to get to any size worth butchering and by then they are tough. I want pork chops and ribs that melt off the bone when you cook them. I don't want pork loin that is harder to chew than jerky. We just butchered a sow that was just under 2 years old. She was a good size and we got about 35-40 lbs of meat off of her. We ground every last bit of it because the loin that we cooked was too tough to chew. The ribs we cooked needed tyrannosaurus rex teeth to pull the meat off the bone. The other ribs will go to the dogs, maybe they will have better luck. The one thing I did like was the amount of lard that I got off of her....over 2 gallons after rendering. So, I am debating on whether or not to go back to larger hogs that grow out faster (but eat you out of house and home for 6 months) or stick with the little pigs and just butcher younger and smaller. I have two breeders now though that right at a year old would only yield maybe 15 lbs. of meat and that is being generous. I might keep the pair of little ones to produce lard and dog food and just raise a large hog or two for us. I don't know, definitely a dilemma. The little pigs cost very little to feed. They don't get much grain at all. They mostly live off kitchen scraps and garden gleanings. They get extra eggs also and a little milk thrown in now and again. But they are much harder to fence in because they chew their way through a fence and can make just enough of an opening to squeeze their little bodies out of. The problem is that now they are heading onto my neighbors land in their daily wanderings and for those of you that have read my blog for any length of time you know that I don't need anymore problems with any of my neighbors. Pigs rooting their way through their manicured yards would definitely create some tension. Oh, well I am sure that I will come up with a solution to this issue soon. My little sow still has not has piglets yet even though she looks like she is pregnant. If I don't have piglets soon then I probably will sell her and the little boar. She is so sweet that I don't think I could butcher her. Then I will repair the fences and start looking for feeder pigs. I could always raise one for us and sell the other one. That might be an idea. So blessings from the farm and here is hoping that you all have a sunny, clear day! Kat

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Preserving Rabbit Hides

I think I have said this before, but in case I haven't this is the year that I learn to not only preserve my rabbit hides but learn to use them. I have always hated that waste of burying a batch of hides because I didn't know what to do with them or if I had the time to fool with them. I am still not sure about the time issue, but I am going to try. So what is the first step (after butchering that is) to keeping those hides for those lovely projects you have floating in your head? The first step is to scrape all flesh and fat off the hide. There isn't much on a rabbit hide, but there is more than you think once you scrape it. I don't have a proper fleshing tool so I use a de-barking tool that is really supposed to be used to de-bark logs. It works. A dull knife can also be used and I always have several of those around. To de-flesh a hide I use a large diameter pvc pipe, put my hide so that part is over the end of the hide and then lean that end against a building. Then I straddle the pipe and begin to de-flesh by moving the knife from the middle of the hide to the outside. Don't put too much pressure and don't saw back and forth or you will tear through the hide. When you get to the edge of the hide then simply continue straight off the edge and that will give a clean edge and pull the flesh right off the hide. Rotate your hide as needed until the whole hide has been fleshed. The hides are small so this doesn't take very long. Then salt the flesh side of the hide liberally and rub the salt in well making sure that all the flesh surface area is covered. Fold the hide flesh side to flesh side, roll it up and place in a box (left open for air circulation) and store for 2 weeks in the summer or 3 weeks in the winter. Once that period is over there are more steps, but I haven't gotten to that point yet. I worked some hides yesterday and have a few more to finish today. I can't wait to make a blanket from these hides. It will be nice to actually use them and not feel like they have been wasted. Our little one was giving me a whole list of things to make with the hides that she would like to have so she might keep me very busy. Rabbits are doing well in the colony, we have a brand new litter of 6. So we should have plenty of hides to work with. Blessings, Kat

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

The Horse Meat Scandal

I guess I am getting a bit tired of hearing about the horse meat scandal in Britain. Seems everyone is in an uproar because a supplier mixed horsemeat (actually it might be donkey meat) with beef and sold it in the UK, mostly to Burger King. Now in all fairness Burger King didn't really know what their supplier did. Burger King only did what their customers wanted. That was buy the cheapest product available so their prices didn't have to go up. But lets look at the heart of this story why don't we. First lets go to Poland, where it all started. Poland up until very recently had a good portion of the population that still used horses to pull carts to market. Poland banned the use of horse/donkey pulled carts on the roadways, rendering thousands of horses and donkeys useless. So their owners unable to make a living because they couldn't use their only transportation of goods and unable to feed something that didn't work sent those horses and donkeys to slaughter by the thousands. And the people of Poland allowed this ban. This huge influx of equine into the slaughter houses greatly reduced the cost of the meat. Consumers who frequent Burger King demand that they keep their prices ultra cheap or they will go down the street to MacDonald's so Burger demanded that their suppliers keep their prices cheap. Beef was not cheap, but here was a sudden influx of very cheap horse meat. So the supplier mixed it and sent it to Burger King and all was well and good because the consumer was still getting cheap food. And then the consumer finds out and is now uproaringly mad. Consumers in the US are terrified that it could happen here. How could the government allow this?! They say in outrage. This article explains exactly how it happened and how it was allowed and no one is to blame but the consumer who didn't care about anything but cheap product. And if anyone in the states is foolish enough to think that the government here is protecting them from this while they stumble into the grocery to demand their portion of cheap meat then they need to think again. They are already being served pink slime and catfish labeled as grouper, all in the name of cheap meat and the "we don't care as long as it's cheap" mentality. One day you will care and when that day comes you will have driven all of the honest small farmers out of business with your cheap mentality and lack of caring it will be too late. You will only have corporate agriculture and guess what....they don't care. And if you think that they federal government's various alphabet agencies care about you then you are an ostrich and you best get your head out of the sand before the wolf bites devours you from behind. As long as the people allow small farmers to be attacked and driven out of business all in the name of "cheap food" then they deserve what they get. Nothing is gotten free or cheap you will pay somewhere down the line and that somewhere down the line might just be being forced to eat nothing but the pig slop of chemicals that they call food and the cost will be your health and the health of your children. So, in my opinion the customers of Burger King in Britain got what they deserved especially since they practically begged for it. It's sad really because I think of the farmers in Poland that have now lost a way of life. Now, Poles will reap what they sew when they demand cheap food. Hardworking farmers have fed the world for centuries and now the mass public is destroying them as quickly as they can. I bet many people don't understand that the Roman empire fell mainly because there weren't enough farmers to feed the population. Same thing with the Greeks. The great empires became so great and demanded that everyone became as enlightened as the town folk, or the government that there weren't enough farmers left. Farming was attacked and as a result the empires weakened and fell. Enjoy your pink slime and meat glue America. Don't worry the wolf is watching your behind. Blessings, Kat

Monday, February 18, 2013

Overwhelmed

Ok, here is one of my more human posts...you know the kind where I admit that everything is not always fine and dandy and that sometimes doing all that I do is just...well overwhelming. It's especially overwhelming when I can't keep up or when things keep coming up that take my attention away from what is on the list. I guess I haven't done too badly yet though since the house is still relatively in order. I do try to keep up with my 5 minute tidies and the little things that I do in the morning before the sun comes up. It doesn't help that it has been bitter cold the past several days which makes it hard to get outside since I just can't tolerate the cold for very long before the pain gets to be too much. So, I am overwhelmed. All the barns need cleaning out and each one is a full day's work to do so and that is with me in optimal shape. The garden is behind because of all the rain and it needs mulch and compost and seeds and weeding etc. My CSA starts April 10 and so this is not something that I can just say oh well. I have customers depending on me. I have several articles that need proofing and editing and then sending off. There is the spring cleanup around here that needs doing, fence repairs, barn repairs, house repairs. I also have several workshops coming up in March that I need to finish preparing for. I have produce from the winter garden that needs to be put up so that I can finish planting the spring garden and start preparing for the summer garden. And did I mention....it's cold outside. Here it is the end of February and winter decides to finally pay us a visit. We haven't had this much cold all winter and then it is supposed to rain again at the end of this week. On a good note the chickens are laying pretty well now. I guess they heard me talking about putting them all in the freezer and starting over this year. They are also making sure that I can find them also. We are getting a good steady supply of eggs and my mom might actually be able to have some. Did I mention that my studio is a wreck and I really need to get in there and do some work. Right now I guess I am at the point where I have so many things that need doing and so many of them are priorities and I feel overwhelmed and simply don't know where to start first. I guess the first thing is to finish cleaning out the goat barn which we started the other day, but didn't get finished. Well, I had better get the house chores done so that I can get out there and get that started. Blessings, Kat

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

It's official

It's official, the computer is fried and can't be repaired...or at least not repaired for less than it would cost to buy another one. So I guess I am hunting for another computer. This really stinks. It's money we really don't need to spend, but I can't write and send articles without one and I can't telecommute to my part time job without one. right now I am on my daughter's lap top which is just a simple little laptop for a student, not nearly powerful enough for what I need. The rain is supposed to stop today, which is good news because the pond is literally overflowing. It was 1/2 empty just a couple days ago. The barns are flooded and we have a huge amount of cleaning out to do. What a mess. On a sad note we have decided that it is time to put Thunder our old stallion down. I know this is something we have been talking about for a couple of years, but it always seemed like he kept plugging along. Well, he isn't plugging along so well anymore and is losing weight again despite the senior feed that we feed to him in copious amounts. he also appears to be going blind. We have noticed several times that he bumps into the doorway of the stall once he figures out where it is. It takes him longer to find the doorway as he seems really confused and frustrated trying to come in. It is a hard thing to accept and that is why we have been putting it off so much fo so long and doing what we could to keep weight on him and keep him happy. He just doesn't seem happy anymore. It is almost as if he is spending each day waiting to die. It is hard to watch him age this way. he has always been such a proud and noble animal. Don't know when we will get around to this, but we have decided that it probably needs to be soon. Well, I suppose I had better get to work. Lots of things to be done around here. Blessings, kat

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Rain! Rain!...and more Rain!

We have had loads and loads of rain the past two days and apparently we have more coming. Everything is soaking wet and flooded. Mud is the word of the day. So here is my little ode to the rain: Rain, rain, go away Please don't drown my onions today Rain, rain, go away Little seeds want to come out and play Rain, rain, go away and please come back again another day I know, not award winning stuff. But really my poor little seeds are probably drowned in the garden and my onions will rot with this amount of rain. Truly do we have to get a month's worth of rainfall in two days. Can't we give the ground a few moments to soak it up rather than being so much it runs away. Oh well, i am thankful as we are behind in rain. and it gives me an excuse to catch up on inside things. Blessings, kat

Monday, February 11, 2013

Think About It

Ever since the government started using the word homeland, it has really bugged me. What really bugs me more is that it doesn't seem to bother anyone else. So let's take a look at who have been the users of that term. Mussalini, Hitler, Stalin. The term was heavily used by Hitler to sway the people to his way of thinking. It was all for the protection of the homeland don't ya know? Stalin might have started it but it was something heard throughout the entire existence of the USSR, United Soviet Socialist Republic for those too young to remember. It is a communist/socialist/fascist term. Now do you understand why the use of that term over and over bothers me when it applies to the home of the free and the land of the brave. I highly doubt Jefferson or Washington would ever have used that term and I think they would be appalled at its frequent use now. The term has no place in a constitutional republic (we are not a democracy). So does it make your skin crawl or are you one of those that think it's just for the good of the "homeland"? Just something to think about. Have a good day, Kat

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Why Carry?

This post is to let folks know that the time for complacency is really over. In the past I rarely carried a pistol anywhere. Really, there were very few places that I really felt that it was necessary and I have worked in some very unsavory areas in my past. I truly believed that by not putting myself in situations to be a target then I wouldn't be. That held true for most of my life, but times are different now and I don't feel like that is really true anymore. Society has spiraled downward in many ways of which I won't go into. A couple of recent incidents lately though have me convinced that the time for complacency is over. Recently a friend of mine was in a gun store. She was looking at a gun that she and her husband had been wanting to purchase. They only had two of the caliber left that she was looking at. Someone else came in and wanted to see the one that she was really leaning toward purchasing and was obviously upset when she made her decision. In fact, he hung out in the store for a good amount of time watching her. It made the owners of the store so nervous that two men escorted her out to her car and watched her until she was out of the parking lot to make sure that she was safe and not followed. This was broad daylight and not in a bad area of town. It was one of those areas that many of us are really complacent about. One thing that the gun shop owner told her while she was there was that it wasn't just the law abiding citizens that were buying guns like they were going out of style, it was the other element as well and they were buying them in droves. Then just the other day this same friend drove a couple hours away to meet a dog breeder to pick up a puppy that she was purchasing. She arrived and one of her children needed to use the bathroom so she pulled into a gas station parking lot. As she parked a man started to make a direct line to her vehicle. In broad daylight in a very busy area of town. Now grant it wasn't the safest area of town, very unsavory. She rolled down her window and told the man to stop approaching her vehicle. He ignored her and kept coming. She again told him that she had nothing for him and to stop approaching. He again ignored her. At this point she simply pulled her carry pistol out and showed the man that she had it. He immediately backed off and left the area. Fortunately, she had taken a look around her before she jumped out of her vehicle with her 3 small children. However, how many times do we harried moms get so carried away with our kids that we forget to stop, look and assess what could be waiting for us outside the safety of our car. Unfortunately our children make us a target because they weaken our focus. They are also a tool to be used by the criminal element and let me tell you that element is everywhere. I have seen it spread alarmingly in the town nearest us. Areas previously considered "safe zones" aren't anymore. The time for complacency is over. I carry because I refuse to be a victim, just like in the days that I always made sure that I parked in view of the door to the restaurant under a light. I carry because now I have children that could also be victims or used against me and I refuse to allow that to happen. I remember the police telling us business owners in a very upscale shopping area of town that we were going to have to police the area ourselves and their recommendation was to "take whatever steps necessary to protect ourselves" because they simply didn't have the manpower. The problem we were having was broad daylight crime, mostly against our customers. But any owner leaving their business for the day became a target. I refuse to be a target...that is why I carry and I believe that every mom should carry. Blessings, Kat daylight

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Oven Cleaning-the easy way

I cleaned the oven yesterday. Want to know why? My soap volcanoed all over it on the inside. yep, I was making hot process soap in the oven and it volcanoed with only two minutes to go. The good news is that my oven is now shiny and clean, but the bad news is that I lost half my soap because it was encrusted with oven yuck. Oh, well. I am thinking that some of it can be re-melted and used for garden soap when I need to clean the dirt off my hands out there. And to make things better...my computer is on the fritz. i took it to the repair placde and they said that it might have fried because of heat build up due to ....dust. I know I know I should have done a better job of getting down on the floor and pulling out the tower and dusting it. Well, I didn't. I am now reduced to my daughter's laptop and it looks like i will be looking for a new computer soon. maybe they are wrong and will call me to tell me that it can be fixed for a reasonable price. And of course the kicker is that I have not backed it up for a few months and have added several new files and worksheets along with articles that I have been working on for magazines so if the computer is frizzled all that will have to be redone. I have no one to blame but myself. Sometimes things go wrong, but it really stinks when things go wrong all at once. I think I will go dig in the dirt today and forget about real life for awhile. Blessings, Kat

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Lost Income

Well the result is final. With the new tax increase we have lost 250.00 a month out of our income. That is a lot of money when things are tight anyway. At this point I really don't know what I can do to stretch our income anymore than it is already stretched. I cook from scratch (mostly stuff we grow and raise here on the farm), we try to keep the power bill low, I don't go anywhere unless I have to and then I bundle trips, I make most all of our household things like soap,kitchen towels, handkerchiefs, etc. Really seriously we have very little left over at the end of the month as it is and now they are expecting us to live on even less. I am sorry but I have less and less sympathy for those that don't work and live off my dime. In fact, I am to the point of having no sympathy. In fact the very thought of someone getting a fancy hairdo and nail job while buying ribeyes and driving home in a cadillac escalade with 2000.00 specialty rims on it with my money makes me angry, very angry. I remember a time when my husband and I were first married and we made half the money we make now. We managed somehow on that tight budget to pay the bills and even go out to eat once a month. Back then if you had said we would make what we make now...we would have said we would live like kings or at least be able to save a bundle of money. Savings, hah! What we have in savings is a joke. My husband works hard and he works a lot of overtime. I work hard here on the farm and at odd little things that at one time I thought would build our savings account. I have health problems and still do more physical labor than most men in this country so that our family eats. I have heard all the excuses as to why someone can't work, but I have no sympathy. I simply see no reason that someone can't grow some food in pots or cut down on the junk food at the grocery store to help make ends meet. I know one woman who is a paraplegic, in a wheelchair. She is a teacher, lives in her own house, drives her own truck to work and takes care of herself. She has always made her own way. I know another that lives off of the taxpayers. She too is a paraplegic and sleeps all day and plays games on the computer all night. She lives with her great aunt who pays all the bills. This one spends mine and your money going shopping. She's a leach and frankly I wouldn't care if she starved to death. Not anymore. The first woman I would do anything in the world for, but she never asks for help. I was at her house one time and she had a fire going in the fireplace. I offered to bring in some more wood from the back porch for her and she said no she would get it and she did. If a man doesn't work then he doesn't eat and I have become a firm believer in that. Some may say it isn't a very Christian attitude to take. If not then so be it. I am angry and at this point I am tired of being used and abused.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Raising Puppy

It was hard when we lost Shotgun and really we didn't plan on getting another puppy for quite some time, however....we did. Now we have Titan (pics soon I promise), an English Mastiff/pit bull mix. He looks like an English Mastiff with just a few less wrinkles. I am sure that he is probably slightly smaller than a purebred mastiff would be. We would like it if he stays midrange of a mastiff and pit (even that is a BIG dog). He definitely has the personality of a mastiff which sometimes makes it hard to forget that the pit bull is lurking in there somewhere. No, that isn't a bad thing and pit bulls have never been an issue with me. I guess I have know too many good ones and like many other people know that there are good dogs and there are bad dogs no matter what the breed is. Believe it or not I have been bitten by more cocker spaniels than pits, rottweilers, dobermans or other "guard" type breeds. And don't even get me on the subject of jack russels! Enough of that though. This is about raising a new puppy in a farm situation. The first rule of thumb is don't trust your puppy. Puppies chase and chew and pounce. It's what they do. Puppies should not be allowed around livestock without human supervision because they will need correction for not allowed behavior. Depending on the breed will depend on the type of correction. With Dakota, I had to roll her several times to make her believe that the chickens belonged to me. With Titan a sharp no sends him running back to the house with his tail tucked shamefully between his legs. Take the puppy with you everywhere you go on the farm and enforce good behavior (just sitting watching the chickens) and correct unacceptable behavior (pouncing at the chickens). Consistency is important and even if your hands are full of feed buckets when bad behavior starts you must stop right then put the feed buckets down and correct the behavior. Dakota caused a good deal of spilled feed, while I haven't yet had to drop the buckets with Titan. Notice I said yet. He is 9 weeks old and we have a long way to go. Some dogs are much easier. Dakota, even though she is an LGD, was tough, adult chickens were great play toys. Valentine a pit mix was easy except for chasing the horses, small livestock she didn't pay attention to. We had a hound at one time that was terrible about chasing the horses. Not only would she chase but she would grab onto their tails and swing from them as they flew across the pasture. It took extreme measures to break her of that and even then we couldn't always trust that she wouldn't try. Shotgun was so bonded to me that he stayed by my side no matter what, but then he didn't have very long in life to figure out that chickens made great chase toys. Titan loves to pounce cats and is beginning to look at the chickens with interest. The next thing is to teach the dog not only basic obedience commands but give them a job. A working dog is a happy dog. Dakota guards against predators and she takes her job seriously. Valentine used to be my personal guard or the children's guard when they were in the yard. Those were her younger years and the days before her skin allergy became her obsession. She was also Cujo's muscle in confronting stray dogs. She always engaged the stray first. Cujo was our all around farm dog. He guarded against both two legged and four legged intruders. He watched over the children like a hawk. He babied and protected a lone chicken without a flock. He helped to move animals when needed. We are hoping Titan will be an all around farm dog. So far he has been learning to move pigs. To teach him he walks with us and we tell him to bring the pigs. Repeating this each time we move the pigs back to their pen (they have become Houdinis) teaches him that when I say bring the pigs they are to be herded back to their pen. Same movement, same command, same end result. He is not a herding breed so he won't ever herd like a border collie would. However, like any command he can be taught to do that command. Raising a puppy on a farm is a huge undertaking, so much more than raising a town dog because there is so much more stimulation and so much more for them to learn. Commands that we use a lot and consider key commands for a good farm dog are: Leave it (it's mine don't even look at it), sit, stay, drop it, come, and no. Of course there are other commands that are great but those are the main ones that we use on an everyday basis. I am the alpha and my dogs know that everything is mine. To have a dog on a farm the farmer absolutely must be alpha and that means that you have to behave that way from time to time. The dog has to believe it, understand it and live with it. With Dakota it took rolling her and growling at her when she grabbed a chicken or grabbed at one. With Titan it takes a sharp NO in a growly voice (so far). I truly believe that most any breed of dog can be a good farm dog if raised in the right situation with the right praise and discipline. Some breeds that have a higher prey drive (terriers, hunting breeds, herding breeds) are gonna be tougher than others and if one isn't up to the task then choose another breed. Pick a job that suits the instincts and nature of the breed or breed mix that you have. If you work with those instincts then chances are much higher of success that you can let your dog in the yard with free-ranging chickens and there won't be a bloodbath. Titan has the instinct to guard and be a companion from the Mastiff side, the pit side gives him a high prey drive. He has to learn when that prey drive is acceptable (moving pigs) or when it isn't (chasing and killing chickens). Both breeds are territorial so hopefully when he gets bigger and more confident he will be able to be Dakota's muscle. Hopefully, both sides will give him a fearlessness where predators are concerned. Anyway, that is how we raise our puppies here on the farm and in a farm situation. It is a full time job and one that we invest heavily in. A good farm dog rarely happens it is usually because someone has put a lot of work into that dog. Blessings, Kat

Sunday, February 3, 2013

3 Little Pigs

Yep, that is how many piglets Zoe the pig had and that is how many she promptly crushed. Livestock simply is not easy and sometimes more frustrating than anything. So now we watch Miss Piggy and hope and pray we don't have a repeat. I really need some pork! Hopefully, Zoe's next experience will be a better one. I don't think she meant to crush the little piglets but was overzealous in her mothering and trying to keep them warm. In her efforts to keep raking more straw into the nest I think she tossed them under her and that is simply where they stayed. Disappointing day but we will move on. Blessings, kat