Remember our two donkeys, Beauty and Moose? Moose was a jack, or an entire male donkey. We do not plan on breeding donkeys and a jack can become a problem when you have other horses/donkeys. They sometimes bite viciously, trying to “chase” a jenny into heat. I’ve seen their ears ripped and gashes in their body. Moose is such a sweet guy, I did NOT want this kind of behavior to begin. So reluctantly, I called our friend and veterinarian, Dr. John Fisher, from Cook.

I was a nervous wreck. I’d heard that donkeys often had problems with anesthetics and also with bleeding following castration. Moose is a great pet, and I sure didn’t want to lose him. But it needed doing before he matured.

Luckily, the anesthetic worked perfectly, and the surgery was routine. He was a little staggery, but was up walking fifteen minutes from the time the surgery began. John left and I went back up to the house when Moose started eating grass.

Two hours later, I went down to check on him and he was bleeding pretty bad. Panic! I called John from the pasture and tore up to the house to get elastic bandages and something to pack him with. Luckily I had some Depends pads for urinary incontinence from Mom. I grabbed those, a Depends, the elastic bandages, some blood stopper powder and a kitchen towel.

Would Moose even let me work on him after what had been done to him? David was gone haying, and I had no help. I was relieved when Moose seemed to know I was trying to help him. He never lifted a leg, but stood while I worked. My hands were bloody and I began packing, wrapping and packing some more. It was a hard spot to put pressure on. Finally, I had him wrapped pretty well, but he was bleeding through the pads, etc. I folded a kitchen towel and pushed that up against the area of the incision. It was hot and I was scared.

About then, John came and he also had some elastic wraps, but these had adhesive on the back, making them hold in place better. We wrapped some more, and the bleeding stopped. Whew! I was a wreck.

I washed my hands at the water tank, then rode the four wheeler around the lower trail Will had pushed next to the woods. I stopped by the spring, where he had dug a nice holding pond for the water and washed my face in the cold water. I stayed there for a few minutes, getting settled down, enjoying the dappled shade and sparkling water. Wouldn’t this water be great, when pumped up to our garden next year? It’ll save on our generator and the well pump, too.

I kept Moose tied for 24 hours, then cautiously unwrapped him. No bleeding. Today he’s just fine and I brought him lots of treats for being such a good boy when I desperately needed him to be. Animals are SO smart.

Readers’ questions:

Using splenda in canning

I planted lots of extra beets this year because we loved pickled beets. The only problem is that they have so much sugar. Do you have a canning recipe that uses less sugar? Can you use Splenda in canning? Thanks for such great information. Your garden looks wonderful!

Donna Clements
Hoquiam, Washington

Sorry, Donna, but I’ve tried sugar substitutes because of my late husband, Bob’s diabetes, and really wasn’t too happy with the result. Why don’t you do up a small batch with Splenda and see if you like them?

We’re tickled with the garden this year! My potatoes are blooming as nice as flowers. — Jackie

Making pickles

I hope you have some cucumber advice. I usually don’t have a lot of luck with them, so I didn’t plant many. But this year they are doing so well I’m getting more than we can eat fresh. I thought about making pickles, but all the recipes I’ve found call for more cukes than I’m getting at one time. Do you have a recipe that makes small patches or have any other suggestions for them? Or can I save the cukes in the fridge until I get enough for a batch?

Sandy Higgins
Allen, Maryland

What I do when I have this problem (usually at the beginning of the season), is to just divide the recipe to fit my needs. For instance, cut the amounts in half or thirds. That way you can put up a few jars at a time until the main crop hits. — Jackie

Worming animals

I remember reading the question about worming animals organically & your response that the touted herbs didn’t not work very well. In looking up info on another question I came across this page http://www.ayrshirefarm.com/wi.php

The owners of this organic farm had all the problems you described but finally found an answer. The best part is that they did the follow up lab work to prove the results. Maybe this might help others. (I love the improvised drencher.)

My question: is it possible to make turpentine at home? or would a can off the shelf work?

Stephanie Arnold
Corning, Arkansas

This is an interesting solution. Turpentine has been used for a “cure all” for centuries. And, it looks like it may help animals with internal parasites. No. You really can’t make turpentine at home. I would recommend using organic turpentine, as was suggested in the article; off the shelf turpentine might work, but I don’t have any experience/information about it. — Jackie

Canning from freezer

I am wanting to can some of the stuff from my freezer to make more room. Have you ever canned frozen vegetables and meat that has been frozen? If so, are there any tips so the vegetables don’t end up mushy?

Laraine Hanson
Kenai, Alaska

Yes I have canned both vegetables and meat from my freezer. And frozen game animals hanging in a tree outside, too!! The vegetables were when we lost power and were living on grid. I canned all day and night for two days before I began losing food.

What works best is to can up the vegetables with meat or broth, as mixed meals in a jar. Not only do they turn out pretty good, but these jars make quick, tasty meals when you’re in a hurry. The key to un-mushy vegetables is to bring them TO a boil, but not boil them before you put them into the jars to process. They boil enough during processing. Good luck. — Jackie

Lots of spinach seeds

My spinach crop did well and now I have spinach seed coming out my ears. I hate to throw it away. Do you know is it safe to sprout and eat on salads or can it be ground for flour. I am hoping there is something I can do with it as I have about a gallon of it!

Sandy Coates
Indian Valley, Idaho

Yes, you can use spinach as sprouts or let the sprouts grow just a little to use as micro salad ingredients. I’ve never ground it for flour. Another use would be to use the spinach seed in the future for wide beds, heavily seeded, to clip and can. Home canned spinach is very good! — Jackie

Electricity or solar?

I always look forward to everything you write and it is great to have your blog! I have this dilemma–and I figured your experience would be helpful to know what to do. I have a couple acres that I have a small cabin on. The well has just been drilled, and I am trying to decide whether to go ahead and hook up to the electricity which is on the road by my place, or try to go the generator/solar power route? It is just me here the majority of the time. I am putting in a half acre of gardens and raspberries, and have a small orchard with 8 fruit trees that is separate. The pasture is not irrigated at this point. I don’t have a lot of money, but want to use what I do have wisely! What would you do?

Lynn Royal
Olympia, Washington

If I was in your position, I’d go ahead and hook up to power, provided that it can be done relatively cheaply. I would have a backup generator and later on down the road, try to pick up some deep cycle batteries and a solar panel or two. It’s a great idea to be off grid, but it IS either kind of inconvenient if you’re poor or expensive if you can afford it. We’re off grid because it’d cost us about $50,000 to hook up to power. Yeah, right. I’ll do it tomorrow. Ha ha. So we got along first with the generator, then added a battery bank and saved over 1/2 on our gas consumption. Now we’re aiming at a couple of solar panels to help charge…and to cut down even more. Then it’ll be more panels and a wind generator, way down the road sometime. Be as prepared to be off grid, if it becomes necessary, but it’s cheaper to pay a light bill than fork out money for alternative energy components all at once. — Jackie

Storing potatoes

We took your suggestions of using tires to plant potatoes and the potato plants have been growing very well. Now I would like to know the best storage container for the harvested potatoes, especially here in the hot, humid south.

Veronica Hinkle
Hodges, South Carolina

I’ve had the best luck using slatted wooden crates. These allow some air flow along the sides and bottom and are sturdy enough to take the weight of the potatoes. I hope your crop needs lots of crates! — Jackie

Canning seasonings

I will have an abundance of jalapeno peppers this year. I would like to make some Italian Beef “seasonings” with the peppers. I thought I would try canning them with some onions, garlic, fresh basil, fresh oregano, about 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1 tablespoon of vinegar per jar. I plan to pack the above in 1/2 pint jars with boiling water and process them at 10 pounds of pressure for 20 minutes. Can you think of any reason why this would not work?

David Runde
Teutopolis, Illinois

I would up your processing time to 35 minutes for pints and half pints. Otherwise, I think your recipe would can up nicely. — Jackie

Canning mixed vegetables

What do you think of canning frozen mixed vegetables.? I use them alot, but what if we lost power, I would like to can them and want to know if this is possible. Also, I buy my chicken frozen and would also like to can it, What do you think and how would I do it? I have a garden and have been trying to make it bigger, but can only do so much. Thank you for your time and knowledge! I greatly appreciate all that you give in the magazine, and I too believe that times are fixing to get really bad.

Tina Ross
Eureka Springs, Arkansas

It depends on a couple of things. What frozen mixed vegetables? The corn/peas/carrots types can up fine, provided that you can get them at a cheap enough price to make canning them worth while. (You can buy canned vegetables cheaper than frozen ones, usually…and don’t have the work.) The mixed vegetables that have cauliflower and broccoli really don’t can up well; the cauliflower and broccoli are strong tasting and most folks don’t like the taste, which overwhelms the other vegetables in the mix. I make my own canned mixed vegetables, using green beans, potatoes, peas and carrots. Sometimes I throw in a few rutabagas too. It’s surprising at how much you can get out of a few of this and that. It might also be a good idea to pick up the raw vegetables and make your own mix, adding what you do have in your garden. For instance, buy some carrots, use your own green beans, buy potatoes and use your own peas. Suddenly you have your own home canned mixed vegetables at a lower cost than the frozen ones. Good canning! — Jackie

Preserving vegetables

I live in a small condo. We are not in the financial position to move to the country. I am trying to become self-reliant. How do I store such vegetables as potatoes for a long period of time? I know that I can preserve some of them by canning. A root cellar is not an option. I just started canning after reading your articles.

Linda Anderson
Powell, Tennessee

Good for you! Everyone can help themselves to be more self reliant; living in the country just makes it go a step further. Dehydrating is a good way to store vegetables, especially where room to keep your bounty is a factor. You can store many bushels of dehydrated vegetables on a small shelving unit. I just finished an article covering dehydrating and some other food preservation methods, for the coming issue of BHM. This might help you quite a bit. Dehydrating food is very easy and fun, too. Of course I also can a whole lot of food, too! I’m glad you are learning to can. Fun, isn’t it? — Jackie

Cleaning a wood cook stove

I just bought a old Log Cabin outside Baudette. My question is how can I clean the old cook stove? It is cast iron and covered in rust. But it is in good shape otherwise. Any clue?

Donald Franck
Plainview, Minnesota

Sure, Don. I’ve done that before! If the rust is thick, use a wire brush first, then steel wool pads and lots of elbow grease. Once it is pretty clean, build a small fire and open the window. It’ll stink. Then while it’s still warm, rub the cast surfaces with a rag dampened with grease or olive oil. Rub it in well; don’t over-do the grease or oil or it’ll smoke to beat the band. Let the fire go out and rub the surfaces well with a dry cloth. This makes it shine and repels more rust. After several uses, you can use stove blacking if you wish. I just use the oil; I like the soft, natural look of the iron. — Jackie

Besides all the great improvements going on around here, the big garden, our new house garden and keeping busy taking care of Mom, I have had a few minutes to work in the flowers….and work in the wood. I can’t be long at any one job because I can’t leave Mom alone for more than about 15 minutes. Her mind’s kind of fuzzy sometimes and she panics if I’m outside too long. So my work flits from this to that and back a few times a day. I try to keep mostly at one project until it gets whipped. But mostly I’ve got a few fish frying, so to speak.

It’s said that in Minnesota you have two seasons; winter and getting ready for winter. That’s true. And we’ve been splitting, hauling and piling wood under our porch where it’ll stay handy and dry for winter. So far we’ve got six truck loads under there, with a whole lot more left to cut and split. That’s the “grunt” work.

To reward myself, I take a few minutes most every day and work in my flower beds. My aim is mostly perennials that won’t need constant weeding and care. So far I’ve planted day lilies, oriental lilies, peonies, roses, columbines, iris, phlox, veronica, clematis, hostas, and more. Of course I stuff some annuals among them and my violas and pansies are not only perennial, but also reseed themselves prolifically. Love that!

Last year the flowers were kind of blah; we had an open, cold winter and a lot of them winter killed. But I kept pulling the weeds, which NEVER winter kill and planting more flowers. It paid off big dividends this spring, and it only gets better. WOW!

So I have my vegetables and fruits to feed us, the wood to keep us warm and the flowers to make it all worthwhile. Pretty darned nice out here in the backwoods!

Readers’ questions:

Food for a year

Great pictures of your garden! I too spend hours out there weeding! But that’s ok we need the food. Plus it’s so soothing and restful listening to all the birds.

We too are concerned about the economy and food supplies. We live on a limited income and don’t want to be caught off guard next winter when the prices go too high and we can’t afford food! I can only fathom a guess as to how high some prices will be during the winter based on how high they are now! Especially fruit and vegetables in the produce department!

Anyway, can you give a suggested list of things we should have on hand and the quantity desired for , lets say 3-4 people? I really need help in the meat area, flour, dried beans and whatever else you feel are the “basics” to eat with. This would be for a year until we can garden again and raise more chicken.

I have never stocked up like this before on food and have no idea if I need 1 bag of flour or several. What is the deal with dried beans? I am just starting to use them so don’t’ know much about them. Root crops that you speak of?

Last year I had 100 lbs potatoes, 50 lbs of onions, 1 bushel of carrots, 1/2 bushel of beets, not enough green beans since I only canned about 50 pints and have 1 left! I also put up peaches, pears, applesauce, pie filling, tomato juice, and whole tomatoes. Anything else I should be looking at?

I hope this wouldn’t’ be too much trouble but I am sure there are others who wonder too. I will have our own eggs and lots of home grown chicken too. What does your mom suggest too?

Thanks so much for sharing with us all that you know!! I appreciate it!

Cindy Hills
Wild Rose, Wisconsin

It’s real hard to pin down just how much a family “needs” to last a year, especially when everybody has different tastes, likes and dislikes. There is a whole lot of difference between “survival” and getting along well during hard times. When we were isolated on a mountain top in Montana, I went through 25 pounds of flour a month for the three of us. I also used about 10 pounds of whole wheat flours, 10 pounds of sugar (including canning time), 5 pounds of cornmeal and 5 pounds of masa harina de maize (corn flour).

To help you figure out your home canned food needs, remember that there are 52 weeks in a year. Therefore if you plan on eating meat twice a week, you’ll have to put up 104 pints/quarts of meat. I found that this was a little misleading, however, as I also had leftovers and extra meat that I saved for another recipe/meal…so the meat actually went farther. I’ve been canning up “meals in a jar,” which include chili, meatballs, etc. that not only include meat but other home raised foods. So I not only have meat and poultry in jars, but mixed meals, as well.

Remember to have about 25 pounds of dry beans, 50 pounds of rice, dry noodles (unless you plan on making your own), split peas, lentils, etc., depending again on your family’s likes. There’s no sense in storing up a bunch of stuff your family really doesn’t like. I’d recommend that you pick up a copy of the BHM SURVIVAL AND PREPAREDNESS GUIDE. It has a whole lot more tips on just how much and what you should consider storing. — Jackie

Fall garden

I was glad to hear that your mother is doing better. I also am glad you had Will with you while she was sick and to help out with all the work you do. My question: if you could have a fall garden what would you put in it? I didn’t do do very well with my summer one. I didn’t know that the boys had been feeding the deer and turkey in the corner by the woods. So you can guess what happened. Not much to eat and nothing to can. So I am hoping to get in a fall one and fence it in because there is no use in putting all the money in seeds for the deer. I read your blog and love to read Backwoods Home but I get through it the day I get it.

Brenda Jarrell
Varneville, South Carolina

I would get on that fencing job as soon as possible. I can’t tell you how much relief it is to go to the garden and not have to worry about what is missing today! And the sooner you get it fenced, the sooner you can get to planting. If you get it fenced fairly soon, you could still get in some bush beans and carrots. Besides those, you can put in your fall crops; turnips, collards, broccoli, greens of all sorts. To speed your broccoli up, start seeds inside now so you can plant nice starts out in the garden when the weather cools down some. I’m glad Mom’s doing well, too. I can hardly wait till September. Will is planning all sorts of projects for his next two week vacation here! — Jackie

Eliminating weeds

Due to the fact that I’m about to have a July baby, I wasn’t able to do a huge garden because of timing, heat and exhaustion. Just a few tomatoes and peppers for enjoyment. I’m already thinking of what to do with next year’s garden, and what’s really bugging me is weeds! We call them “Frankenweeds”. They are huge and stubborn.

We cannot eliminate them. We’ve done pine straw, weed tarp, newspaper, pulling by hand, and they just keep coming back. I don’t want to use chemical killers and I do compost my yard and kitchen waste. All I can come up with is that we live in a very semi-tropical climate for almost 6-8 months, and the sun, heat and moisture we experience are just ideal for weeds thrive.

Any suggestions? Could my yard waste in the compost bin be the culprit, or do I just have to put up with the weeds as a normal part of gardening? As always, thanks for your advice; I’m really jealous of the pictures of your garden…wow!

Andrea Del Gardo
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

The only way your yard waste could be a problem would be if you put weeds/grasses in it that had already gone to seed. NO you don’t have to live with the weeds. You can get a handle on them. The first few years is tough, because you do have them. But if you keep after them, you will get them under control. If your garden is too big for you to do this, consider keeping half or a part anyway, fallow. Either keep tilling it up to kill all the weeds in it, throw down an old chunk of carpet after watering it well, or plant a thick cover crop, such as Will and I just did in our new strawberry bed (peas) to choke out the germinating weeds. My garden wasn’t anything to brag about the year I had radiation, chemo, Bob died and we were building our new log house. I was pretty ashamed of all the weeds, but oh well, I did the best I could at the time and I was able to can from it, anyway. As you can see, it looks a whole lot better now…and the weeds are very manageable. In a year or two more, I will have them pretty much whipped. My big help is mulch, mulch, mulch. Just don’t mulch with hay or anything else that has seeds in it; I did and ended up with a hay field in my garden from old hay seeds. Ooops! Straw, THICK pine straw, dry grass (without seeds or chemicals) or dry yard leaves all work well. Any weeds that do show up can be pulled easily because their roots are tender. — Jackie