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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

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Springtime on the farm

Wow, it is definitely spring even with this cold spell we are having. Yes, I said cold spell. Normally we are hitting mid 80s and a couple weeks ago we were doing just that. Now we are hitting mid 60s. I had to close the windows in the house and am having to put on a jacket for the morning chores! Unbelievable. But if it means that summer will be slightly cooler I will take it. So we are definitely seeing springtime on the farm around here. 3 hens have been sitting on nests and two have hatched out babies. One hatched out at least 6 that I saw, but since she nested in a very bad spot we lost 3 right off the bat. One of the other hens has 3 bitties with her and I have no idea if she hatched out more or how many she was sitting on. She was a total surprise. Another hen is sitting on about 7 eggs so we will see if she hatches out any. So far we have 6 baby chicks on the farm. One of our ducks is sitting on a nest also....right in my new huguelkultur bed in the garden. I don't care she can sit there as long as she needs to if she will hatch out some babies. The wild birds are nesting and we found some Robin eggs in the garden. Not sure if they hatched and the shells were cleaned out of the nest or if something got to them and dropped the shells. However, they were very pretty and made for a nice science lesson for Little Britches. Now, if the goats would just do their part and have some babies of their own so I can get to making cheese. It looks like Sugar and Coffee are beginning to develop udders and a milk line so we will see. The others I simply have no clue. Although milk production with Dolly is up because of all the fresh browse. Even old Thunder is feeling frisky these days and I think I am going to have to separate him from his daughter. He hasn't shown any interest in her in years but the new feeding program for him must be doing some good. I think I might need to back off his Red Cell for a little while. The rabbits are in full production mode and I can't keep up with the litters that are being born. The only problem is that they all seem to like the same nesting box, which is the top of a dog kennel. So thank goodness it is big enough because one will have a nest in one corner of it and another one will have a nest in another corner of it. My chinchilla doe is by far my best producer and she loves to be pregnant and having babies. Thank goodness she does take the summer off because I am afraid that she will wear herself out. I put two of her daughters in the second colony so hopefully I will continue with her great mothering genetics. She produces nice large babies that grow out well also. So far with everyone in full production the buns are getting their full feed ration, along with hay and fresh greens picked daily. When they stop producing for the summer then I will cut back their grain ration. With all the rain everything is really wet around here and I already had to strip the main rabbit colony once after the big spring cleanout. Usually I only have to do that once every other month, but it barely lasted a month with all the rain. We just seem to be getting so much at once and the roof leaks in a couple spots and sometimes if it is heavy enough it will come over the edge of the concrete into the colony soaking the bedding. I don't want babies being born in wet bedding so I had to make sure to get it stripped again. The buns were so excited to have clean fresh bedding. We were worried about colony 2 with all the rain because water does seem to seep under the walls if it rains hard enough, but apparently it is holding up well and the bedding was dry. The conveyor belt that a friend gave us seems to have really helped with that. I guess the water went under the belt and that way the bedding and bunnies stayed dry. I really have to get those bunnies some more toys and hidey holes in there. The garden is coming along well and of course the weeds are flourishing as well as the veggies are. So everyday I spend about 30 minutes or so pulling weeds. If I keep on top of it then it doesn't become such a chores. I need to move some tomato plants today. I even have several volunteers from around the garden coming up so I will move those into the tomato patch as well. Of course, I am still planting in the garden it takes awhile to get it full and I keep coming up with spots to plant more. If everything keeps going though we will have an abundance of food for us and for the livestock. At least that will cut down on the bill some. I am concentrating on protein (peas) and black oil sunflower seeds for the livestock because those are our two most expensive ingredients in our feed. We will see how it goes. This winter I will grow some grains, but I don't expect to be able to grow nearly enough. We have also been getting in wood for this coming winter. It is nice to have the "new" woodshed to stack it in and to work near. We are getting a second wood stove and so will need all the wood we can get for this winter. And of course with all the rain we are fighting fire ants once again. They are popping up all over the place. Where the chickens are we don't have too much of a problem with them but they are everywhere in the garden and all over the pastures. I also have to be watchful of the rabbit colonies because believe it or not they will come over the concrete into the colony. If you have been reading here long you know I don't like poisons, but for fire ants nothing else works. Believe me I have tried every single home remedy there is. I use the minimal amount that I can get away with to kill those suckers but they must be killed! So that is spring around here so far. How is your spring going? Hope it is going well. Blessings, Kat

Saturday, May 4, 2013

The Advantage of the Pack

One of my recommendations on a farm with livestock that needs a livestock guardian or guardian type dogs in general is to have a pack. A single dog is great and many times will alert to a problem. However, I have found that a single dog will rarely engage with a large problem. Dakota our great Pyrenees will take care of small predators like opossums, fox and such but she is often even reluctant to engage larger predators even single ones such as other dogs. She will chase and bark but not fully engage. When the neighbors dog came through the fence to attack our pig she chased him off the pig but that was where it ended. As long as he left the pig alone he was left alone. When Cujo was alive the pair of them would have made sure that the dog did not return and went back home with some physical memory of why it shouldn't come over here. Valentine is a sweet dog but she is getting up in age as well and has never been intent on protecting much other than her couch. She will on occasion give some back up confidence to Dakota. The other night the coyote pack was close...real close. Dakota was going mad at the back fence and suddenly Valentine joined in which gave Dakota more confidence in defending that back fence. We grows he too will join in the pack defense mode. He is showing good signs of doing so and Dakota is doing her best to teach and train him. Day before yesterday there was something in the woods behind the back fence. Dakota was going mad again along the fenceline and desperately wanted to get into the goat pasture. So I let her in and Titan went right along right behind her. She raced along the fence barking and growling while he was trying to figure out what was going on. Then he started barking and growling too, following her every footstep. That was when I saw the other neighbors dog. Now we have had problems with his pair of labs chasing our livestock. The one dog by itself won't cross the fence with Dakota, but the pair of them paid her no mind as they easily outnumbered her. Now she has backup and Titan will hopefully continue to grow into that position giving her more confidence to engage should they ever cross the line again. I highly recommend a pack when the safety and security of livestock is concerned against both 4 legged and 2 legged predators. Many predators work as a pack and won't give a single dog a second thought, but a pack against a pack will keep them (predators) at bay and keep your livestock safe. It is an amazing thing to watch the pack work together. When Valentine was younger and Cujo was alive they had their roles. Valentine would alert and Cujo would engage. Because of the nature of his breed and his courage level he had no trouble engaging by himself. After he engaged then Valentine would engage as well. However, they were pretty limited in what they considered an issue which is the reason we got Dakota. I am hoping that Titan will learn well from her. She works hard to keep everyone safe even without having to engage predators. If she hears a dog bark too close she will move the goat herd back up closer to the house and barn and then stand between them and the sound of the bark. I enjoy having my pack and I enjoy seeing them work together even though two of them are not livestock guard dogs. They still have their dynamics and for them it works in keeping our property and livestock safe. Blessings, Kat

Thursday, May 2, 2013

The Cost of this Life

Lately on the homesteading type forums there have been loads of questions about the cost of this life vs. the cost of continued consumerism. Many people want to know what they can do for themselves to save money. I am completely amazed at the responses that tell them that they are better off buying their groceries because they will spend more. The average answer is that buying groceries is cheaper, but think of the quality that you get from growing your own. While that is true, I find it hard to believe that I and a handful of others actually truly do save money. If I bought all that we eat I simply couldn't afford it. So how is it that I can save money while it seems that the rest of my homesteading friends spend more than they would at the grocery store. I think the answer can be as simple as KISS...keep it simple stupid. I saw an answer that detailed the list of things needed to have a garden. The list was a paragraph in and of itself. Here is my list...a shovel, a dirt fork, a hoe, a rake, open pollinated seeds, a hose, and a wheelbarrow. With those few things one can grow a tremendous amount of food year after year. If you buy those things used then you save even more money yet. I recently saw a craigslist add for about 60 hand gardening tools for 30.00. Yes, I called and they were already gone. Whoever got them got a great deal! People were also saying that chickens produced expensive eggs and that you can buy eggs much cheaper in the grocery store. Hmmm....maybe for some but my chickens cost me nothing. They free range and get kitchen or garden scraps. Even their housing can be built for free using reclaimed materials or pallets. If they must be confined because of predator issues they can still be fed scraps and garden trimmings/waste. my hens not only produce eggs for me but they raise little ones to replace themselves each year. So while I might have spent 75.00 or so on my initial flock, I have made that back over and over again. There are two ways to approach this life...1. is the willingness to put in the effort of using the resources available and the other is still with the consumer mindset of buying everything you think you need brand new. So this life can cost as much or more than the traditional consumer lifestyle if you want it too or it can cost much less with some effort and ingenuity. It is up to you. I just want to encourage those that don't have a lot of capital that this lifestyle is attainable and no you don't have to go broke maintaining it or even starting up. Blessings from the farm, Kat