March on the homestead

[firegirl969]

We have started numerous seeds in the last three days. The pig and steer are gaining nicely. Rye is up in the pasture, so we turn the steer out each day to eat it and then put in safely in the paddock at night. The seniors at the center are bringing in slops for the pig when they clean out their fridges, so we are saving by not having to buy any food. We set 12 hen eggs under two silkie hens yesterday. I got 18 cans of tuna last week at 3/$1 and two 24 pks of tp. That gives us 12 24 pkgs of tp, but with all of these girls, it won't last as long as it sounds like it would. Also, DH and I will stay married. It is a joke between the family, but DH told me when we got married that the one reason he would divorce me is if he ran out of tp. Therefore, I keep plenty. He has no excuse now!! Ha-Ha. On a more serious note, I am going back to an envelope method of budgeting to try and stay on course and save more money. I did this years ago and it worked great. I am only buying grocery and health and sanitary items that are loss leaders as I have a nice "grocery store" now. I still need to buy jar rings. I have 30 boxes of lids, but very few rings. That is a must for March.

[jonvee]

I spent a nice weekend rototilling the garden and planting. The years I spent improving the soil has proven to be well worth the effort. Seedlings started last month are growing great and this week I'll start more. I was able to get 4 blueberry plants last week and they go into the berry patch this week.

Hens are setting about 6 eggs - hopefully they'll hatch this time. We haven't been too successful with hatching eggs, but we'll keep on trying. The lambs are growing great and we'll wind down our show season at months end.

The weather is changing so we are switching gears from winter chores to the more fun spring projects.

I'm still filling out the pantry and just received a rebate check that will be used for more supplies.

My next major project is to lay the groundwork for building a greenhouse near the garden. Hopefully I'll finish by late summer so I can grow during the fall and winter.

I'm also collecting more canning jars and freezer containers and re-organizing the freezer for better tracking.

I love March - the seasons are changing - again. :D

[cinok]

Well its time to start clearing the cedars and make some of our land usable have been living on it for 3 years and always wished i had a dozer, wife bought me a used JD 450b and what fun it is.

[jonvee]

cinok - sounds like a great guy toy ;D

[sbemt456]

Well its almost that time again.Time to do some clean up and get ready for spring.
I got out today and raked the dead stuff off the flower beds and then started on the wood shed. I tore out the floor that had rotted through and raked it in a pile to load on truck and haul to burn pile. Then took the pruning shears to the big cedar tree that over hangs the shed. Still got a big pile of cedar branches to move tomorrow and take to the burn pile. Found a couple rolls of wovenwire fencing in the vines that were well anchored by the ivy vines. I did manage to pull them free and get the vines off and now they can be used to trellis stuff in the garden. Got a lot of junk stuff that needs to be taken to the county wide clean up dumpsters when they are out for use. Tomorrow will be more of the same.
Got seed flats cleaned and ready for the seed starting medium. It is time to get those started soon.
Too tired to think straight. One hard day and I am killed. Dang this is gonna be a long spring at this rate.

Have a great day!

stella

[firegirl969]

I just had to garden today! It was 78 degrees and the sun was such a blessing. I planted garden peas, and started some dill, tabasco peppers, and papaya in the house. I got up some squash and cucumbers and tomatoes that I planted inside on Sunday. They were so high in the little Jiffy greenhouse box, I moved them to the greenhouse today. I will start the cukes in hanging baskets and the squash in pots that my fruit trees came in. Potatoes are not up yet. Neither is asparagus. Garlic I just put in the bed is coming back green real nice. Calf is putting on weight as is the pig. Spring is in the air.

[bee_pipes]

3/3
Sunday night we had one of the fryers slaughtered last month. It was quite tender compared to the roaster. The meat is extremely lean and could pass for chicken, but does not have enough fat to give the meat a flavor (as with chicken). When we slaughtered, we packaged the kidneys, heart and liver with the carcasses. Not having any particular use in mind for these giblets, we tossed them in the fryer for a quick cook and diced them up for the dogs. The rabbit meat, bringing no strong flavor of its own, would lend itself well to any dish not depending on meat flavor. Anything with sauces or spices – Italian, Mexican, stir-fry or other such traditions. It will be interesting to try making sausage from this meat. As advertised, it is densely grained and filling. I have not had a chance to ask folks that purchased rabbit how their meals turned out or their impressions of the meat. Karen and I ate less than half of the rabbit but were quite full and satisfied with the portions we ate. We had potatoes and green beans as side dishes. I used the leftovers today to make chicken salad. Rabbit salad would be more accurate, but somehow that calls to mind images of a bowl of lettuce with rabbit droppings cast about like croutons. The meat salad was as good as any chicken salad I have ever eaten. The addition of mayo, diced onion, celery, jalapeno and chopped pecans made quite the sandwich. You would be unable to tell it was rabbit.

Our sick dog is well on the mend. She is still somewhat emaciated from her crash diet, but her appetite has returned and she is wolfing down her normal portions. She is likewise interested in food – her food, the food of the other dogs and our food. I am afraid we have let them get away with begging. We have not actively encouraged this behavior, but it must be successful enough that the dogs will practice it at every opportunity.

Weather, as normal for this time of year, is a roller-coaster ride. Last night’s lows were in the teens, a continuation of a trend that has been present for the last few days. Today begins a warming trend and we will be near 70º in a few days. These contrasting temperatures bring severe weather with them. March is also time to start preparing the garden and plants. Karen already has three flats of seeds started with a box ready to plant more. The seed starter rack has been returned to operation and will be seeing constant use for the foreseeable future.

3/6
Today Karen and I completed the timber work on the storm shelter. We needed posts in the ground to hold back the outward sides and prevent cave-in from eventual soil shifting. We had a number of long timbers left and used two as a diagonal. They are buried 18 inches in the ground to hold back the free edges of the retaining walls. They lie across the wall and are tied to the overhead against the shelter. Using an old car jack and short timber, Karen spread the top end of these diagonals wide enough for me to place a timber between them. The timbers, due to the walls, were closer together at that end. When we got the timber in place we released the jack and tension held the timber in place. I bored holes and pegged the timbers in place with lengths of rebar. Attaching another timber that spanned the ends of the diagonals, we pegged that one down at four points and made an extremely secure mechanical joint. Two more lengths of rebar were used to peg the diagonals into the walls behind them. If Karen let me have my way I would use up the rest of the rebar on pegs into the walls, but she brings restraint to this partnership. Man, I wish you could have seen my wife jacking those timbers – she went at it like a natural and exercised a little more caution than I would have.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk217/patandkaren/timber_work_dinished.jpg

The next steps are to extend the snorkels, hidden from view in this picture. They are simply 3 ½” PVC pipe cast into the roof slab of the storm shelter. The timbers over the storm shelter door are high enough to ensure the entire top can be covered with soil, and the portion over the door on the front of the shelter will likewise be buried. To ensure adequate ventilation, the snorkels will be extended and outfitted so that they face the ground – preventing the collection of rainwater. The openings need to be fitted with window screen to prevent bugs from finding this delightful place to nest. The roof slab has two pipes for the snorkels. The one in back will be fitted with a pipe that ends close to the floor inside – this will provide cool air intake. The snorkel closest to the door will provide air exhaust. Circulation through this method is important to prevent mold and other problems with stored food. The earth will provide insulation to the outside, and a thin wall inside will compartmentalize the shelter, making the deepest back of the cellar colder and less prone to temperature swings experienced by that portion next to the door. An extremely shallow slat floor (2” or so) will permit drainage of condensation and provide a dry, uniform surface for shelves. The shelter was put in with a slight slope towards the door to permit drainage, the floor will just need to not prevent that process from happening.

We have a little finishing to do – we have near rotted 2x4 that will do much to fill the gaps between the timbers, plastic and landscaping cloth to put down, then dirt to fill. A friend, Joey, has recently purchased a tractor with back-hoe attachment. Everything Karen and I can’t do with shovels and wheelbarrow, he’ll get with the backhoe. My hope is the weave of the landscaping fabric, buried under the dirt, will wick water from the rains and channel it away from the dirt contained over the doorway. Plastic will be used as a vapor barrier on the wall over the door to cut down on seepage through the concrete. Some grading in front of the door needs to be done to ensure that water is carried away – we haven’t got much space to work with so far as elevation goes. Karen and I have been discussing how to approach this problem. We’ve also been discussing emergency preparations for the shelter – coleman stove, lanterns, sleeping bags, first aid kit, etc. In the mean time, there’s a lot of dirt to back-fill. Work for this job was done with a mattock, maul, shovel, post hole digger, chainsaw, skill saw with cut-off blade, miter saw with cut-off blade and electric drill with 14”x5/8” paddle bit. Materials used were 30 timbers and six 20’ lengths of rebar.

The book "Root Cellaring" by Mike & Nancy Bubel (ISBN0882667408) provides a lot of ideas.

Regards,
Pat

[sbemt456]

Well we have been busy here. Got my tomatoes started today,and peppers, cabbage, broccoli, and stevia. Guess I will use the chicken brooder house for now to start the plants.
Last week we had cut some trees near the big garden that were leaning and could have fallen on the garden later and we had cut them into firewood. Got one load of that hauled and stacked in the wood shed that I had gotten cleaned up and refloored yesterday.
It was 80 degrees today on the back deck and so nice and spring like today.
Got ties moved into place to extend the herb bed and onion bed by 10' each. Need to grow more of both this year. Am really tired and the back is hurtin, so that means I have been busy.

Have a great day!

stella

[Anon001]

Wow...everyone has sure been busy....

I have to run all new perimeter fences on this place but the cedars have been allowed to grow in the fence lines along the gravel road on both sides since the fences were built about 40 years ago. If you have no idea how fast and how tall cedars can grow! well...... Also, some of the timbered areas along the road needed to be dozed, too, in order to run a good fence.

So, in Kansas, the county is require to doze out your old fence lines if they are this bad.. and at no expense to the landowner. They had a dozer (D6) here for 8 hours a day for 5 days, a road grader for 8 hours per day for 6 days, and a bobcat for about 4 days. The road grader is just cleaning up and feathering the dirt behind the dozer. They finished with the dozer on Thursday afternoon but the grader still has a couple more days to work. Also, because this was such a major project for the county and took in part of the creek, FEMA is kicking in and reimbursing the county for a portion of the expense. Don't ya just love welfare when big bro takes care of ya! LOL The only stipulation is that I have to sign a paper saying I will keep the brush and trees off the right of way and out of the fence line in the future... That was fine with me considering how much it would have cost to do that work myself or hire it done. I do have a track loader, but didn't want to spend the money on the dozing, mysel, at 50 gallons of diesel per day. So, the track loader will be used to start clearing some of the pastures that I've let get overgrown in cedars. yuk!

I am also wishing the weather was nice today. I am craving a good catfish from the pond or, I would even settle for the bass. LOL I just want some fresh fish! LOL

I need to do some work on the chicken house and get it moved a little closer to the house. I also need to try and set a couple hens if they will go broody for me.

Otherwise, not much else going on. I'm hoping the "guys" (hired) will be here next week to start running new perimeter fence. They have one full mile to run now and then later, I will have another mile to run. It is a 6 wire barbed wire fence. Eventually, I have about 4 miles of fence to build.. Then I will start on the cross fencing. I want to divide this place into 6 pastures.

Otherwise, I haven't even bought new seed or looked at a catalog. I do have some saved seed leftover but it is much too early here to start planting anything.... I am hoping to get the garden tilled sometime in the next two to three weeks... have to check the signs in the Almanac first. I also have to work on the tiller. For some reason it won't keep running. I think it needs a new carbeurator. Oh well....

Later,
PaulNKS

[bee_pipes]

3/7
Today we got the pipe work finished. The snorkels were extended, screened to keep bugs out, and the interior piping was done to encourage air circulation. This is a good breaking point for the storm shelter. Karen is chomping at the bit to get the garden tilled. There are piles of rabbit droppings where I have been dumping manure from the rabbit shed. The compost pile from last year is ready to go and the chicken house is ready for a spring cleaning to start the next compost pile. The weather has been great for working outside the last few days, though we’re not done with the last of the freezing overnight temperatures.

3/8
Man, I love that old Huskee tiller of Karen’s. She had it when I met her. That thing just keeps on running. It is powered by a 5 hp Briggs and Stratton engine, has received minimal care and attention, and is one of the most reliable machines I have ever used. For the winter it has sat out in the back field, protected from the weather by a tarp and a plastic bucket over the engine. We fetched it back with the truck, checked the oil, filled the tank, and it started on the 5th pull or so. We got one patch done – about 20x30, and that was enough for the morning. The bed, easy to run a tiller through when the soil was hard, is getting more difficult with softer soil. The tiller tends to dig itself in with the tires and loses traction. Took some efforts, but we did manage to till in about 200 lbs of rabbit manure. The soil is beautiful – great texture, rich, lots of organic matter. We will put beans in this bed to rotate crops. Last year it was peppers and tomatoes.

This afternoon Karen and I worked on the rabbit shed for a while. The front door and flanking windows were completed a few weeks ago. Today we began the process of putting wire on the other sides. The skies threatened rain most of the day. We kept tools, tarp and other materials at hand in case we had to cut and run, but not a drop fell. Stapling poultry wire is slow, tedious work at best. The results were pretty decent – we have done this enough times to get competent with this sort of work. The front windows are not as nicely done, we used salvaged scraps and it was badly stretched in some places. We need to get at least one more wall done before we can start taking down tarps. With only one side having windows, I’m concerned about leaving them open through the night – a gust of wind could blow the remaining tarps out. It’s also going to take some thinking as to how to put opening windows on the side near the close trees. The rabbits enjoyed having the side opened and were basking in the breeze and intermittent sunshine.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk217/patandkaren/sm_rabbit_hootch.jpg

Regards,
Pat

[flatwater]

Nice pics pat (say that ten times fast) I had everything laid out for the green house and woke up this morning with 4 inches of fresh wet snow. Tomorrow it is supposed to be sunny and one degree outside then at the end of the week it turns normal again

[Southerngirl]

PAT,
I always enjoy reading your post, the pics are always wonderful and really puts a "pic" in those of our minds that are just starting out! And you are always very descriptive with your work! Thanks for that! I have saved a lot of the things you have done, along with photos so we can get some ideas on our own farm! Just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your support in teaching the rest of us. Wish we were neighbors!
Southerngirl

[jen_in_southtexas]

bee_pipes,

You and Karen did a great job on the 'Rabbit Inn'. It looks great!

-jen

[Southerngirl]

DH and I went and rented an auger from the rental company today and planted 33 white pine's on our farm. Several of our neighbors, that we hardly talk to, stopped to ask us what type of trees we were planting because they had never seen them before. They aren't local right in this area, but maybe 100 miles or more from here. They are good to grow in our area, but none around here, so it will be nice to have something different. We planted them for shade and for privacy mostly. Our place is pretty bare with trees when we bought the place and we are just too much in plain site for our liking.
We were exhausted but it felt great to get it done right before dark. The auger was more work than we thought, it was a huge 2 man operation. The ground was terribly hard and it took my husband and I both pushing down on it as hard as we could to get through some spots.
The man we rented the auger from said he did 80 trees in 45 minutes with it, well his place must have better ground than ours cause in 45 minutes time we had done like 5 trees.
Next are the fruit trees, but that will have to be next paycheck!
Southerngirl

[firegirl969]

DH, DS, and DD began hand digging for the root cellar. They are 4 ft deep right now, through GA gumbo clay. I say they have done very well. We have 3 new baby bunnies, and we hope some are girls to replace our old breeders. The garden peas are up, and I planted them a little close. It looks like every seed I planted came up. I started more transplants, because I have not mastered that aspect of homesteading yet. We fertilized the fruit and pecan trees today. We thought there were two dead peach trees at his dad's old house, but when we walked over there, they were both blooming, but white blooms, so they must be either plums or pears. I can't wait to see which. We did not even see any leaves on them last year.

[MIKENSUE]

MAN, I AM SOOO ENVIOUS. WE LIVE IN NORTHERN SD, AND THE FROST IS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO GOING OUT OF THE GROUND YET. HAVE HAD A FEW UPPER 40'S DAYS, CREEK IS OPEN AND PUTTING CLOTHES ON THE LINE, BUT NOT SPRING YET.

SUE

[offroaddiesel]

same here frost still deep as well as the snow its at leasr 4-5 ft deep ,oh well maybe next month. steve

[jen_in_southtexas]

Been a while since I posted any happenings on the homestead. I hadnt been there in over 3weeks! There had been too much going on with the family and what not. That left me either no time or energy.

Today I thought I would drive out there and piddle around and check on stuff and to drop off some used garden timbers that I found on a curbside yesterday. I was so happy to see my trees getting their new leaves. The grass is still horrible with that 'crunchy brown'. That pretty much stays like that until late spring to mid summer. The long skinny cactus that I cant stand is growing everywhere so I took a shovel to the ones that were accessable and dug them up. I was on a roll until I came to some nasty weeds. The roots were deep and i kept on with the shovel until SNAP..the handle broke so there went that chore. I could not put it back to gether because it was like a reduced size. So next I busted out my chainsaw and away I went. I have some trees that were in need of some manicuring. I took care of all I could and salvaged the mesquite wood for BBQ-ing. The little pieces are perfect for my itty bitty Weber Grill. I set them out to start seasoning. I did not finish with the trees but I feel like I put a little dent in that chore. My hands were hurting something awful. Actually its my thumb, forefinger, middle finger and ring finger all on my right hand that I have big problems with. I needed a little break so i sat down on a make-shift bench from scrap wood while i crunched on some ice and enjoyed the quiet of the country and the sound of the wind blowing. It was a wonderful breezy afternoon and I didnt want to come back home. For a while everything bad that is going on in my life seemed like a bad dream. I felt so far away from everything. It was a good feeling and I felt like my spirits were renewed.

My cabin project still awaits me but it is not a priority right now. Besides, there are many modifications that I plan on doing to it. Time is an issue and now with the upcoming lay off at work Im sure money will be an issue too. I will do what I can when I can.

I didnt realize until today what a nice little pile of recycled material I have acquired for either very little money or no money at all. Here is a pic. I also have some posts I got for free but they are not in this pic. I bought the baby grill brand new coupla years ago.
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh112/lillybug71/One%20acre%20homestead/Marchonhomestead001.jpg

Small part of my yard
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh112/lillybug71/One%20acre%20homestead/Marchonhomestead018.jpg

Gotta go jump in the shower. I smell like fresh cut green mesquite wood and dirt. ;D

Until next time, see ya on the back roads.

-Jen
eL Chiquito Ranch

[Southerngirl]

Jen,
Looks like a nice piece of property! I did the same thing, broke the shovel while digging up thistles on the property. A friend told me that round up won't get rid of them, that you have to dig them up by the root. There are so many, it's going to take away. Good thing it's going to rain the next 2 days, will make it easier to dig up in a few days :)
Looks as though you are on your way to fixing up the farm!
Southerngirl

[DM]

Jen,
Looks like a nice piece of property! *I did the same thing, broke the shovel while digging up thistles on the property. *A friend told me that round up won't get rid of them, that you have to dig them up by the root. *There are so many, it's going to take away. *Good thing it's going to rain the next 2 days, will make it easier to dig up in a few days :)
Looks as though you are on your way to fixing up the farm!
Southerngirl

I don't know if that's true about roundup, but if you mix up a batch of 2-4-D in one of those 2 gallon hand sprayers, ------------> adding a quart of diesel to the mix, it will kill them deader than dead!

The diesel makes the 2-4-D stick to the plant longer, and it will even kill willows, with thistles having no chance at all...

DM

[Anon001]

DM and Southerngirl, that is what I use on thistle.... the 2-4D and diesel. Also, Tordon 22K will work but you have to be licensed to use it and I don't like Tordon 22K.

[DM]

*We've had some nicer days here lately, so i thought i'd crank up the sawmill, and mill an old short oak log i cut out of the top of a tree, LONG time ago... *This log has been laying around here "at least" a couple of years, but it will still make decent "stickers"... *I already had a nice maple on the mill bunks, but i have enough track so i can easily set the short oak on the mill too...

*First i sawed a slab off the log, then turned the log 180* and took the second slab off...

http://www.fototime.com/D622063AC250C6E/standard.jpg

*Next i took a couple 1" flitches off (i saw my stickers 1"x1")

http://www.fototime.com/DA1B14424D61988/standard.jpg

*Setting the flitches aside, i turned the log 90*, and took the third slab off, and with one last turn the last slab also came off...

http://www.fototime.com/8EFEA24B27EBA59/standard.jpg

*Now i loaded some of the flitches/boards back on the mill and started making 1" cuts, getting several 1"x1" stickers with each pass...

http://www.fototime.com/0990ADC2E3BDCA0/standard.jpg

*Untill i had a pile of stickers all sawn out,

http://www.fototime.com/C5530B55913D8DB/standard.jpg

*Now, all that was was left, was to put some straps on the stickers so they will dry reasonably straight to be ready for use at a later date!

http://www.fototime.com/9F0006704A1092D/standard.jpg

*Next, will be to get that maple milled up!!

*DM

[firegirl969]

Our homestead is growing today. Two chicks have hatched today and two more are pecking out as I type. One of the mama bunnies is pulling fur, so babies should be on the way. DH is working on the large garden spot we are adding to the raised beds we already have.

[Southerngirl]

DM,
LOVE the sawmill! So many ideas to use the wood for, I could get some work done around here with one of those! Might have to check around and see if anyone wants to do some trading for one.
Thanks for the pics!
Southerngirl

[bee_pipes]

3/10
Another beautiful day yesterday. We started out the morning by going to Tony & Kay’s place. Tony had just recently received a beehive in the mail and wanted a little advice on putting it together. I took a goodly number of 2x8 timbers we had made on the sawmill. The wood was not pristine – it had been bug-eaten – but they were good heavy timbers. After having a fine visit and seeing Tony well on his way to building the bee hives, he ripped the 2x8 (2x7.5 actually) into 2 inch boards. When we returned home we set about building windows for the rabbit shed. The work went quickly with the miter saw Tony had given me. We got three new windows built, covered with plastic and mounted on the shed. Temperatures last night were in the 50’s, so I left the windows open for the rabbits last night. Day time temps have been in the upper 60’s and lower 70’s for the last few days and the rabbits are enjoying the air and sunshine.

3/12
What a difference a day made! Tuesday night we slept with the windows open. Wednesday we needed a fire before supper. A cold front has come marching through from the north, bring with it a cold north wind. A storm from Texas has come blowing through, dropping rain, sleet, ice and snow. We are cold here – not terribly, but the Kentucky border and points north are seeing some wintry weather. Yesterday the rain and colder temperatures held off long enough to get additional work done on the rabbit shed. I took some boards to Tony’s place to rip. We should, theoretically, have enough cut lumber to complete the shed. This is home milled lumber and tough as iron. We had been using a staple gun to attach the plastic, but this home milled wood is so hard that the staples crumple against the wood without penetrating. So, I used an old trick Tony told me about. We took scrap boards and shaved slices 1/4-1/8 inch to make spline. The spline is attached with 1 inch screws and clamps the plastic to the boards. The plastic sheeting is quite slick and difficult to keep tension on in while attaching to the frames – even pulling with fingers. So far the spline seems to be doing the job. Two entire sides are completed and frames are already made for a third side. The chilly weather will slow down the work, but we should have the shed completed well before we leave for Florida. Other than window frames for the fourth side, we have a doorway to frame in and a door to put together. We were running low on milk and did not know how the roads would be this morning, so Karen and I took a trip to town in the late afternoon yesterday. While out we picked up the hinges and misc. hardware needed to complete the shed. We also discovered the plastic sheeting was running out. The roll, 10’x100’, has lasted us for four years now and had been handy for a number of tasks. It’s not cheap, but thick enough to hold up and has been a good investment.

With weather not encouraging outdoor activity, there are indoor tasks that can be caught up. I have a carburetor for the sawmill that is wanting disassembly and cleaning. Karen would probably like to get back the use of the end of the table the carburetor is sitting on. We are also on our last loaf of bread, so making a batch of bread would be good use of indoor time. The house smells great when bread is baking. The dogs will be getting a little stir crazy, but if the rain isn’t too heavy they should be able to spend much of the day outside. The birds don’t seem to mind rain or inclement weather – the ducks seem to prefer it. These last cold snaps each bring us closer to spring, with St. Patrick’s Day being the traditional start for potatoes, cabbage family plants and other greens. Around the county there are Bradford pears, forsythia and peaches in bloom. Daffodils and crocus have been blooming for a few weeks – all encouraging signs that winter is retreating. We’ll just take the weather in stride and bide our time.

3/16
Friday and Saturday were pretty much wet and cool. Sunday saw and end to the rain and we got a third side of the rabbit shed completed. It only has four windows, but had the original door. The door was framed in by double laps of 2x8 and a simple frame door with wire stretched over it. The wood used for the door is so hard that staples are impossible to use – even the large, hammer driven staples. We might be dealing with red oak, but I have yet found a practical way to mark logs and lumber to tell what kind of wood it is after the leaves are gone. I am not enough of wood expert to do better than to guess at the type of wood by looking at the grain. The stuff is hard as iron though. We used spline and wood screws to attach the plastic to the windows and wire to the door. The plastic over the door was put on with a staple gun – the spline is thin enough to accept staples, though still rock hard. There is no forecast for rain today, so I am hoping the final side of the shed can get done today, but the gloomy skies and cool temperatures are not that encouraging.

While doing yesterday’s work, I came across a chunk of home made 2x8. The wood is thick and heavy, but not suited for use as a timber. The dogs, who have been busy gnawing at the lumber on their dog house, have a bad habit of dragging any straw out of the house that we put in there for bedding. We cut the 2x8 into 24 inch lengths and will put it across the bottom of the doorway as a short wall. Hopefully this will make it more difficult for them to push or drag the straw out. My thinking is that during the summer we can treat the straw with 5% sevin dust as a flea and tick control measure.

Later…
This morning we made a trip to our mechanic to give the Honda the once-over before traveling to Florida. It was due to be examined by an experienced eye and the brakes have been feeling odd for the last few months. Good thing we made time for this trip. Turned out there was a leak in the master cylinder. As luck would have it, it wasn’t a matter of gaskets or fittings, it required a new master cylinder. Looks like we’ll be driving the truck to Florida. The truck is a little hungrier for gas, but more comfortable as the seats were made for anglos, not orientals. It rides quieter than the Honda too.

So far as the rabbit shed goes, the most I was able to do today was wire the storm windows so that the can be held open. We have a few chilly nights in the forecast, but daytime temps will be in the 70’s, so ventilation, air and sunshine will be much needed by the occupants.

We did manage to get the compost buckets and collection cans emptied and cleaned. Not a minute too soon. The buckets were full and the cans almost completely used up. We have 40 some odd cans, so there were quite a few to clean. I also had the collection bucket from the meetings in town. I have been collecting coffee grounds; some have also been collected by friends, for use as fertilizer. They are a source of slow release nitrogen and acidic, making them perfect for the blueberry plants. The coffee grounds were dumped in the blueberry beds. Blueberry plants seem a little more cold-hardy than the other fruit trees, so I don’t believe it is too early to goose these plants.

3/18
Yesterday we finished the shed. It’s not as pretty as I hoped, but quite functional. We have 360º of ventilation and two doors.
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk217/patandkaren/front_view.jpg
front view

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk217/patandkaren/rear_view.jpg
rear view

Today we made a Wal-Mart run to get ready for the trip. Just minor stuff – fruit, cheese and water for snacks while driving. We’re only going to be gone four days, but have acquired the habit of thinking what will keep in our absence. Things like milk, mixed orange juice – stuff like that. Tony and Kay will be watching the animals for us while we’re out of town.

Karen gave me a shearing today. We have a kit that includes hair clippers, scissors and accessories for cutting hair. The nearest barber shop is 45 minutes away – inconvenient at best. The price of a haircut hasn’t decreased over the years either. Finding a barber has always been a hassle; finding a reasonable barber has gotten increasingly difficult over the years. There are a large number of hair places – chain salons. I don’t really care for sitting in a chair while someone fiddles with my hair, cutting with scissors and trying to make a fuss over what should be a straight-forward process. I just want someone with a little experience to take a pair of clippers and get a reasonably uniform cut. In the service there was a joke that the difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut was about two weeks. Karen did a fine job, but with the infrequency of my haircuts she doesn’t get much experience. Still, with the price of the clippers, we have been ahead on money spent and time wasted – they have more than paid for themselves.

Dinner tonight was chili and skillet-baked cornbread. Karen really outdid herself and produced a fine batch. We should be able to live off this until we leave on our trip.

3/19
Today is a day for tying up loose ends before leaving. There is some cleaning and putting away of tools and materials from recent projects. Scrap wood, especially scrap from home made lumber, needs to be collected and saved as fire starter for the wood burning stove. This late in the year it is unlikely that we will need the services of the stove again, but the wood scraps will be handy when we need the stove again. Shortcuts taken on routine chores while working on projects have also resulted in minor messes that need to be cleaned up. We have feed bags scattered around the chicken yard that were discarded. These paper bags do have some uses as containers, but will serve most immediately as weed shield on areas we want to use for equipment and walkways. The paper eventually breaks down and grass begins growing through the paper, but it does serve a purpose for a time. We are also making arrangements for feed and instructions for Tony and Kay that will make maintaining the livestock simpler. Labeling rabbit feeders for quantities of feed, filling buckets and feeders for the chickens, setting out a plastic bin of dog food, etc. should cover the four days we will be gone. The guineas will be turned loose for the time we are gone, the other poultry will remain confined. It is not difficult rounding up the poultry at the end of the day, but we do it every day. Getting them into a routine has been an on-going task and it would be an imposition to expect Tony and Kay to round up the flock at the end of the day. Thankfully, the daylight hours run later into the evening so Tony will be able to stop by on his way to town in the evening on Monday and Friday.

Without any projects in the works, it is a fine time to ruminate over future plans. On our return it will be time to jump into planting and work in the garden. The storm shelter is another project that will need additional work to prepare it for use as a root cellar. Dirt still needs to be back-filled around the retaining wall, sealing overhead timbers and preparing for dirt with plastic and landscape fabric. The interior needs a simple floor with enough gap above the concrete floor to allow drainage and ventilation. I was considering using home sawn lumber, which would require periodic replacement from the damp conditions. The more I considered it, the less appealing the idea became. Rotting lumber would no doubt be a host to a variety of moulds and fungus. Pressure treated wood seems like a better way to go. A table saw will be needed to rip boards, providing the 1-2 inch interval between concrete and board floor. Orientation of the lower members will need to be towards the door to provide drainage, with floorboards above crossing perpendicular to these lower boards. Ventilation is another consideration – one of the snorkels runs to the floor, providing entrance as far away from the other snorkel as possible. Shelves will need to be at a small interval from the wall to allow air circulation on all sides of the contents of the shelves. Some produce will need to be hung. I don’t want to pound nails into the concrete walls so boards will need to run across the ceiling, attached at their extremities to wood structures running up the walls. Wooden crates – well ventilated through slats in the sides of the crates, will need to be constructed. As these will not be in contact with the concrete walls, floor or ceiling, they can be constructed from home sawn lumber. A good choice, particularly in that they will contain the food we are preserving – making the use of pressure treated lumber undesirable. A partition will also be needed to help maintain cooler temperatures in the back of the shelter and still provide ventilation. An air-tight seal is not necessary, just a barrier to permit accumulation of lower temperatures. This needs to be a simple wall that can be quickly and easily removed if we should need the use of the structure as a storm shelter. It also needs to incorporate a door, permitting entrance into the back for storing and retrieving goods. My thinking is a plastic curtain with some wooden members for rigidity, but this may collect moisture and be unsuitable. The alternative would be separate boards, attached at top and bottom with some sort of fitting that allows them to be easily slid off of screws or nails. We have a number of months until the first surpluses will be ready for storage, so I have time to start on the aspects already worked out and research and experiment with some of the vaguer aspects or these arrangements.

A trellis needs to be constructed for the grapes. This is the second year and my readings have informed me that this is the year to begin training the vines. From what I have read, and seen around the county, the trellis is a simple affair – two wires strung between posts. The top wire needs to be 5 ½ feet high, with the second wire two feet below. The stress on the posts will be the wire pulling between them, so supports will be required to keep the structure from collapsing when heavy with vine and fruit. We have some eight-foot fence posts and scraps of cedar post from other projects, so it should be a simple matter to cut a diagonal edge on the cedar scraps and use them as supports for the fence posts. Between burying the fence posts two feet into the ground and these cedar supports, we should have ample support.

Regards,
Pat

[reedb66]

I just noticed that my asparagus is up about 3 inches,what a beautiful sight!!!! ;D
Here in nw missouri we may get a snowstorm on sat,up to 10 inches NOOOOOOOO.
Grass is green trees are starting to leaf out ,just not right It will melt I hope as we moved here from nw wisconsin to get away from snow

[bee_pipes]

3/26
We had a good time on our trip. I have always found Florida an interesting environment. The climate is different enough to favor species of plants and wildlife that we don’t see around here. We also learned a few new things, such as lamp posts are made of concrete because of termites, and that March is too late to get fresh oranges. We picked up a sack of grapefruit and tangerines. Karen assures me that the grapefruits are excellent, but the tangerines must have been nearing the end of the season. They are good, but not as juicy as earlier in the season. We also learned that Florida is big cattle country – second only to Texas. The drive was 13 hours – 14 counting the hour lost on crossing a time zone. There was a time I could handle a drive like this, but it has become apparent that I am getting too old and don’t have many more drives like that left in me. At one time Florida was receiving 1,000 new people a day – folks seemed to be moving there in droves. Water is on rationing, they seem to have been in a drought for three years or so and the added burden of an increasing population seems to be stressing municipal freshwater supplies.

We left Florida for Atlanta to visit my mother and family. I have three nieces and a nephew there. I don’t know what they are feeding those children; they seem to be growing faster than bamboo. Mom, sister, brother and his wife all seem happy and thriving in that environment. Atlanta still seems to be growing. The traffic around the city is unbelievable. It occurred to us when we were driving to Florida that we had not traveled on an interstate in almost a year. We got the crash course in Atlanta and I feel up to the task of navigating cities again. We took the truck because the car was being repaired. Karen wanted some weight in the bed in case we encountered any rains. We picked up six sacks of manure and threw them in the bed. My thinking was I didn’t want even a blind car thief to consider stealing the truck. In Atlanta I tried to convince my niece that the manure was a gift for her, but she wouldn’t bite. Another niece is playing the bassoon. I have never gotten a close look at a bassoon before – it is an interesting instrument – sort of a mac-daddy oboe, but without the family resemblance to the clarinet. It makes some interesting sounds, especially in the hands of a novice. The youngest niece was practicing for a number in a school talent show, but arrived with her mother to the only dinner we had together. Makes me proud to see my siblings doing such a fine job of raising their offspring – they are healthy, good looking kids.

We left Atlanta on Tuesday morning and arrived home by 11 AM. The drive from Atlanta was not that bad, but by then we were hurting from all the hours spent traveling. We didn’t do much more than nap after arriving home. Tony and Kay had taken good care of the livestock and all were healthy and well fed.

On Wednesday I got word that a friend was traveling through the area on her way to Virginia – she is relocating from Washington state. We met her in Jackson, about an hour and a half down the road. Along with her were two other people we had never met before, but as we sat down to lunch it felt like we were with old friends. Karen was a good sport about it, though climbing back into a car and traveling was the last thing she wanted to do that day. The drive back and fourth was without incident, but pretty much wiped us out. I don’t plan on traveling any further than town for some time, if I can avoid it.

3/28
Yesterday we worked a little on the storm shelter. I glued a sheet of plastic against the exposed wall over the door with silicone caulk, hopefully it will serve as a vapor barrier. We used old plastic weed shield over the timbers and put a number of wheel barrows of dirt in place to hold the whole mess down – should the wind come up. I had entertained a notion that we could probably get the dirt moved by ourselves, a little at a time. Any such ideas are no longer held – man that is difficult work and hauling dirt up a hill is no easy job. We’ll wait on the back-hoe.

This morning Karen and I took a little drive through the county. There was an auction, just over the Hickman County line. An estate sale, liquidating the holdings of a local farmer. The fellow had a few nice tractors and people showed up with large trailers. There were more trailers than tractors, so someone was going home disappointed. I enjoyed walking along the lines of merchandise, looking at the fellow’s equipment. There was a Lincoln arc welder, complete with mask and tools; a number of tractor attachments – a grain drill, hay/straw bailer, mowers, winches, harrows, sickle bar mowers – all kinds of stuff. And for every tractor implement, there was a horse driven equivalent. They even had a log skidding arch. If we had more money and time, I wouldn’t have minded putting a bid on it. I’m pretty sure the farmers that showed up wouldn’t have been too interested – they seemed more concerned with tractor accessories – though there were a large number of Mennonites present. I also saw two of the old manual drill presses. They are called “beam press”, I was assured by a friend, because they were typically attached to a sturdy beam of the barn in the work shop area. These are simple, beautiful pieces of machinery. All the accuracy of a drill press without electricity or gas. I wish we still had goods manufactured with this sort of quality nowadays. Some of that equipment was older than me and probably had another good 50 years of service left to it.

The benefits of modern technology are dubious. A recent conversation with my mechanic really brought that home. Modern vehicles, appliances and other machinery are heavily dependent on solid state devices and the software that comes with them. He swears that any new vehicle he will purchase can’t be any newer than a 1972 model. When on a road trip with a vehicle of that vintage, a shoebox with $20 worth of parts under the front seat will meat most emergencies on the road. With modern cars the value of a vehicle can be realized with the replacement of a collection of on-board computers. He had a good illustration of the problem – a 2000+ year Cadillac and a 1930’s ford pickup. The pickup had been kept in a barn for 30 years or more. It required points, plugs, wires, oil, filters and tires to be returned to street legal. It had been used daily before being rolled into the barn. The Cadillac had been properly maintained but had suffered some sort of catastrophic failure of a few of the solid-state components. Not counting the tires, the truck required $200 in parts and labor. The Cadillac was surrounded by small empty boxes and the charges were in the thousands already. My mechanic also told me about a Mennonite farmer that lives next door. He performs most of the work on his farm with horse drawn equipment. When he uses the equipment for the last time, it is grounded wherever he is and sits until it is needed next year. When that time comes, he hooks his team up to the equipment and takes off. He just assumes the equipment is going to work and so far it hasn’t let him down. For some reason this farmer uses a gas powered rotary tiller. When not in use, it is stored in a shed. Every spring this man must spend at least a day changing oil, cleaning the plug and filters and performing other routine maintenance. It requires gas, maintenance and can’t compete with the area covered by his larger equipment. My mechanic was also telling me about his tractor. It is not a large tractor, and he performs all the maintenance himself, but right now it is down due to hydraulic problems.

After strolling through the auction, we headed to the feed store in Lobelville. Today is chick day. We have plans for buying some chicks this year, but of a variety not usually seen around here. Still, chick day is a sign of spring and we enjoyed looking at the animals and the big crowd that had turned out. They also had ducklings and goslings. We have our hands full right now, but geese are something I’d like to try in future years. The feed store also had this dandy little chicken coop. They were charging almost $400 for the coop – kind of pricey, but if you were making the coops to sell, you’d probably need to charge that much for labor and materials. The coop was nicely organized, the nesting boxes are accessible from the outside, and a wall in the rear swung down to permit cleaning droppings.
http://poultry.purinamills.com/stellent/groups/public/documents/web_content/ecmd0007987.gif
Additional Pictures/description at:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=95956
This is a small coop and I could see it most useful in numbers. It would be possible to fence in a run and attach it to the front of the house, keeping a mini-flock of 8 or 9 birds. The biggest problem I see is that the house is geared for egg laying – it would be dangerous to expect a hen to hatch eggs in the nesting boxes and get her brood to the ground floor. There would be nowhere for the mother and brood to rest on the floor except under the roosts, where droppings will collect. Still, quite nicely designed and constructed.

Hanging plant baskets were also evident – the greenhouse at the feed store was starting to put out their wares. Makes you feel like spring is getting close. On the drive home we noticed redbuds blooming. They are far from full bloom and not as advanced as the ones we saw in Alabama/Florida/Georgia, but they are coming along nicely. Our peach trees, mere juveniles, are likewise showing blossoms. Today we also found our first turkey egg of the season.

3/29
Yesterday was a nice day, but the contrasting temperatures of air masses this time of year has resulted in some drastic weather changes in surrounding regions. Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms started in Texas and followed the line of weather up into southern Kentucky. Miraculously, this weather has side-stepped us again. Yesterday we had temperatures in the 60’s and 70’s, today we will be lucky to see 50. Overnight lows last night and tonight will be in the 30’s; I am just grateful we won’t hit freezing. Karen and I were just wondering the other day if we had used the wood stove for the last time – apparently not. I had pulled the feed bags from the vents to the chicken house last week. I was concerned it might be a little premature, but the days had gotten so nice that it was getting too warm in the house. I think they’ll be okay and the short return to chilly weather is not enough reason to replace them. The biggest hassle of cold weather is frozen waterers – that is not a problem with this cool weather. Last night we closed windows to the chicken house and rabbit hootch. When feeding and watering this morning, I found the rabbits were comfortable and the inside was a number of degrees warmer than the outside. Stopping the breeze (15 to 20 mph today) made all the difference.

Regards,
Pat

[reedb66]

I was really enjoying spring ,flowers all up ,trees leafing out , asparagus up 4",rubarb up ,things looking great .Probably have to mow the lawn for the first time this weekend (2 and a half acres with a push mower cause the engine is still out of the tractor and I was looking forward to it ;D ;D ;D)
Then it snowed :'( >:(,not just a little but more snow than we had at 1 time all winter!!! Between 6"and 8" :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(.Weather guy says 60 tomorrow :-/ But he didnt say he was sorry ???.I shouldnt cry to much cause the poor people in kansas got it real bad but geeez. oh well

Reed

[EarthMama]

The last 2 weeks I've been raking, trimming, hauling said leaves and trimmings out to woods, etc. etc. *The muscles in my arms are beginnin' to show again and I'm starting to tan up. * ;D

Thinkin' about putting the few strawberry plants that are left into a strawberry pot and using that raised bed for some other edible. *I don't have too good of luck with strawberries... my wildlife friends like em too well. * :-*

That's what is happenin' on this homestead this month. Cleanin' and makin' tidy.

[cwatson]

We had a freeze last night so I had to try to cover up as much as I could before the freeze came in. Very tops of potatoes got a littel frost bite but other than that everything else came through okay. I got a couple more rows added this year, Yay.

Been working for weeks trying to get a section of our little acre sectioned off so I can add a couple of goats and let the chickens loose without our lab playing fetch with them. Friday I was moving along on the holes when I hit Rock with only to holes left to go. Yep, it's mount everest down there. Tried moving a little this way, a little that way, forward, backward....nope the rock is there Don't know anyway around it. I thought to try to dig it out but when I said it was mount everest down there it really is. I might have to get someone out hear with one of those machines to do the last two. Stinks huh? So close and yet so far away.

Tomatoes of every kind are are sprouting up inside. I took two trays out last week to start hardening them off. The weather is so funny here it could be freezing at night and 80's during the day.

Got 4 new baby chicks a couple of weeks ago and surprizingly the old girls don't seem to mind them being there.

[rideaway]

I haven't posted in forever-making a simpler life is so much work- ;) Pulled the last of the carrots out of the garden for dinner the other night-they were getting pretty bad looking but still tasted good. Took out the last of the beets yesterday and threw them to the 3 piggies we have-they really enjoyed them.

I got some asparagus roots and planted them yesterday. I know it'll be awhile before I can enjoy them, but I'm happy to get them in the ground.

Itching to get started on the garden, but it's still too wet here. Haven't gotten DH started on the green house yet, so will throw up a temporary cold frame with bricks and windows and get some seeds started this week.

Waiting for my 5 hens to realize they are old enough to lay eggs now-come on ladies, get with the show! Going this next weekend to get our second lamb...will be weaning the bummer around the same time. I hope I remember what a project a bummer lamb is the next time someone offers me one-LOL.

Other than that, just working around the house, finally going through and sorting my sisters stuff that has taken over the garage since her stroke last spring-I finally realized my family wasn't going to come help me like they kept promising. My sister must have had that hoarding disease, as she has soooo many duplicates of things...sad!

My youngest daughter's surgery for her intoeing has been scheduled tentatively for early August at the Shriners Hospital in Portland. I'm looking forward to getting it done, but dreading seeing her in pain. 6 weeks of absolutely no weight bearing-they are going to cut and rotate bones in both her thighs...makes me squirm just to think about it...

Time to get off the computer and try to unwind before the work week starts tomorrow. Construction is so slow that the building department where I work is a horribly boring place and the week just drags...

[DM]

It's April 1, but i thought i'd close March out with some pictures i took in March... All of them were taken from my back yard...

http://www.fototime.com/18480C9DCCDDE8E/orig.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/451E7B7DC5D96F4/orig.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/0A8888C7FD8AE14/orig.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/AA14752166BFEBB/orig.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/13DD16C69B944D3/orig.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/F9DAF5D665D3779/orig.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/5125A3E63BB74B7/orig.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/1938D2D190B93BC/orig.jpg

Hopefully, i'll have some even better ones in April... :)

DM

[harvester]

Ive got a few seeds started in the windows, they have sprouted and are doing good.
We got more snow last nite but it didnt stick, temps are still low but the frost in the ground is breaking up now. Grass is just barely beginning to turn green.
Have a brother in law comming up to spend the summer with us and help us get a jump on things around here. we have so much to do.
Hopefully we'll get started on a new garden fence and get the tiller repaired and the garden tilled and ready before may. Horses are comming through the temporary fencing now so the permanant fencing needs to go up VERY soon.
Chicks are all in the coop and doing well..ive only lost one out of 45 birds.
The hatching eggs i ordered have arrived and are going into the incubator today.
Next week more seedlings will be started 'en-mass.
The first goat is due may 2 she looks like she has atleast twins, shes already been miserable and complaining for a month..
Yep spring is here!
I dont know why i always get excited about spring, it just means i have to work harder now! :)

[EarthMama]

*It's April 1, but i thought i'd close March out with some pictures i took in March... *All of them were taken from my back yard...

Real purdy, DM!!! Thanks for sharing!!