October on the homestead

[bee_pipes]

10/1
Karen put up 11 quarts of pears on Tuesday. Probably more pears than we would normally eat, left to our own devices. This is an experiment of a new recipe, so we’ll see how it turns out. I am glad to have that behind us. Apples and peaches are much easier to peel than hard pears.

We have spent much of the last two days pulling nails on the last of our salvage lumber and reorganizing the pile. There is a black art to organizing a lumber pile and I’ve yet to master it. My poor, long suffering wife is beginning to think she is married to an idiot that likes to move lumber around just for the sake of moving lumber around. We have a variety of dimensions and lengths, but it always seems like the piece of wood you want is on the bottom of the pile, requiring the pile to be torn apart and restacked at some later time. Usually after a few rain showers. Some of the wood is in rough shape, but we are sitting on a good amount of 2x8 and 2x10, some in lengths exceeding 14 feet. We have an abundance of 2x6 scrap to finish the shed roof over the firewood. The 2x8 and larger will make dandy additions to the shed, and we have a number of posts – 4x4 and 4x6. Tomorrow we commence cutting the supports for the roof and should have the metal on by end of week.
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk217/patandkaren/lumber_pile.jpg

10/2
A good piece of work this morning. We cut cross members and got them attached to rafters. There are a few more supports that need to go in, and then metal roofing goes on. With the exception of the cedar posts, all of the roof was made from salvaged wood. With the last of the nails pulled, the last of the wood has been sorted and stickered into the pile. This will take care of a number of projects around the yard.

Regards,
Pat

[Anon001]

Pat,
Call me "clueless" but is this a photo of a house you're building with salvaged lumber? The reason I ask is that I built mine with salvaged lumber as well. I dismantled a hay barn, an old milk parlor, and helped on a one hundred year old house in town and got some lumber and all of the maple hardwood flooring as well as the old deep cast iron bathtub still in perfect shape. You can't buy quality lumber today like they used then.
Paul

[bee_pipes]

Naw, it's a shed/workshop. The roof going up in the back is an open area for firewood (now under a blue tarp). The old trailer in the background is a relic left over from the original owner. The last owners let it fall to pieces - leaks in the roof. Would have made a tollerable shop - water and electric - but the floor has rotted out. When the new shed is built we begin stripping the old trailer for useful pieces - counters, wiring, etc. The wife wants the windows to make a green house - most the parts will come in handy for future projects.

Our house is a double wide trailer. When we bought this place we were looking for a house, but fell in love with the land. For a trailer it does have some redeeming features - a large covered porch that runs the length of the trailer and a killer wood stove that heats the place during the winter.

I agree about the lumber. Lot of work pulling nails and screws, but the wood is cured and rock hard. Some bad spots where the weather has taken its toll, and splintered ends from removal, but the price is right.

Regards,
Pat

[LeatherneckPA]

SUCCESS!!!

After 22 weeks, we finally have eggs from our own hens! Now I really have to run lights back there so they get enough to lay steadily through the winter. I think the reason they hadn't started laying earlier was because we still have WAY TOO MANY roosters. It's 14 hens and 13 roosters. I think the girls were just getting too stressed trying to outrun the boys. Should be processing roosters in a week or two though. Only keeping one, my wife's favorite. I gave her a gift certificate for his life on her birthday. She can keep him as long as she wants. (Ain't I a romantic cuss!?)

[pcrowder]

SUCCESS!!!

After 22 weeks, we finally have eggs from our own hens! *Now I really have to run lights back there so they get enough to lay steadily through the winter. *I think the reason they hadn't started laying earlier was because we still have WAY TOO MANY roosters. *It's 14 hens and 13 roosters. *I think the girls were just getting too stressed trying to outrun the boys. *Should be processing roosters in a week or two though. *Only keeping one, my wife's favorite. *I gave her a gift certificate for his life on her birthday. *She can keep him as long as she wants. *(Ain't I a romantic cuss!?)

Word of advice: keep more than one. If the favorite dies, you'll be without fertilized eggs if you want to let a few of the hens go broody next spring/summer. Also, if you only have 1 rooster per 14 hens, that's spreading it kinda thin, and he may not get the "job" done. I'd keep 3 roosters. That way if the favorite rooster dies/gets killed, then you have something to fall back on. It's expensive to go out and buy new chickens, especially now with the shipping prices so high! I am speaking from experience, although our losses were from theft - took all but 10 of my BEST laying hens in one night! >:(Funny, they didn't take a SINGLE rooster. >:( So, I separated out the hens from the roosters, and only put 2 roosters in. After 3 wks, when the hens started going broody, I let them, and we now have 9 baby chicks running around, with 8 of the rest of the hens now sitting on gobs of eggs!

[cinok]

Congrats on the eggs we lost all our layers to a dog or dogs I only got 1. Not sure If were going to start now or wait till after the holidays. I miss my fresh brown eggs. Had great plans for the past weekend and this week but mother nature is not cooperating. Need to get some fence up,someone at my wife's work wants to give as many goats as we want. Need to finish the roof and find a water leak. But I love this life

[LeatherneckPA]

Word of advice: keep more than one.
I might just do that. there is one of the NH Reds that I find very attractive. He'd be my pick if I were to keep any extras. Love his colors.

[sbemt456]

There is something falling out of the sky, and I think it is called rain. We are in bad need of rain here.
We finally got the roof on our new chicken house. It is "snake" proof. No more losing my babies to those creapy critters. The 8 chicks that survived the snake attack are loving the new digs. They will have 50 more room mates on Thursday.
I hauled about a ton of good soil from the river bottoms today to put in the new onion bed. Even got the tater onions, walking onions and garlic planted before the rain. Darn near needed a flash light to plant the last few rows as it was getting quite late when I got done.
Finally finished off the last of the Boone County White corn that needed to be shelled for cornmeal. Will get that ground and stored in the next couple of weeks. We picked about 2 bushel of pears to ripen to be canned in a week or so.
Nothing makes a place look better than newly painted out buildings. I got all 3 chicken houses painted yesterday. Still scrubbing paint off me.
Dug 10 bushel of sweet potatoes last week while hubby was on vacation. When they dry for a while, guess they will be in boxes under the beds, I am totally out of food storage space. Cant wait to get the root cellar built. Getting a little late in the year so that may be a spring project.

I made soap yesterday for the first time in several years. I had forgotten how much stirring that takes. Needless to say my body is really sore all over. From soap making to hauling dirt I over did it. Supposed to be rainy and cool tomorrow so maybe I can stay inside and rest a little.

The trees are changing here and are they ever pretty.

Have a great day all.

stella

[jen_in_southtexas]

Got my used but new to me Troybilt riding mower on Friday after work. I love it. Saturday i had a familial committment and on Sunday i mowed and mowed and mowed. My yard was way overdue and needed some attention. I kept hitting hidden tree stumps and finally slightly bent the deck causing the blade to hit against the deck. Happened a few times but i took that dent out with a pipe wrench and then decided to lift the deck up by the bolts at the bottom as high as it will go. I left the adjacent acre that i am going to buy alone until the deal is sealed. I need to weed whack around the trees now but that wont happen till the weekend.

I noticed that my trees leaves look like they are thinning out a little at a time. We are still having hot temperatures over here well into the 90's and some nights it dips into the lower 60's which is really nice for us. Mosquitos are still pretty bad when it is hot. They disappear when the temps drop.

Hopefully this weekend i can get to Sutherlands to buy my material for cabin project and get started on the floor.

Here are some pics of my place. You can just barely make out the stakes in the ground where the cabin site is.
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh112/lillybug71/One%20acre%20homestead/Afterthenewmower005.jpg

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh112/lillybug71/One%20acre%20homestead/Afterthenewmower001.jpg

The lot you see with the high grass is the one Im in the process of buying. It has lots of trees. It looks really nice when the grass is mowed.
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh112/lillybug71/One%20acre%20homestead/Afterthenewmower011.jpg

I wasnt kidding when i said i come from brush country. Not much to some but its home and its mine and im proud of my place and all the work i have put into it.

-j
eL Chiquito Ranch
South Texas ;)

[leasmom]

I had to winterize the chicks coop and put in a light, in the hens coop, I put in a light and we expanded their chicken run and added grass. Because of the winter, we aren't getting eggs everyday and we were just getting them daily, so I had to go buy eggs...that was sad...but I will be patient till after winter and then the babies will start.

[bee_pipes]

10/3
This morning we took a small trip to Flatwoods, a town in the southern end of the county. A friend of mine had extra ducks. We got our one remaining duck from him, and after the female disappeared we decided to get him a little company. The extra feed won’t be much trouble; the females lay nice, big eggs and are very regular. Hopefully we’ll get some youngsters out of this group. We added three hens and a drake to our remaining drake, giving us five ducks total.

10/4
A good day today. The meat chicken pen is cleaned out and the compost bins primered with the litter. Karen got the top of the fume board painted – flat black to generate max heat from sunshine. The bee yard has been mowed and the old chicken pen raked of gravel and littered with straw. Tomorrow and Monday are going to be the warmest days of the week, so an excellent time to get the last harvest of honey before shutting down for the winter. Also a good time to assess population of the hives and feed, if necessary. A newsletter I receive from the Lake Barkley Beekeeper’s Assn. had lots of good information along these lines. The cold nights we’ve been enjoying the last week or so are signaling the bees that the season is drawing to a close. This is marked by the workers driving the drones from the hive. The hive will stop growing – the queen will cease laying eggs, unless stimulated by a nectar flow – and honey stored so far will carry them through the winter. Since every member of the hive is on rations, there’s no room for the non-productive males. When the hive is rid of them, there will be that many less mouths to feed. More drones will be hatched in the spring.

Tonight we are going to Parsons, the town across the river in Decatur County, for an annual catfish dinner. I was not a big fan of catfish until the first time we attended this dinner. I don’t know how they prepare the fish, other than deep frying, but have come to look forward to these events. We don’t go out that often in social settings like these, so it is a good time to catch up with old friends. The price of gas has reduced the traffic between here and Parsons so there will be much catching up to do.

10/5
This morning was the second morning here for the new ducks. Today I saw them find the creek for the first time. They don’t seem to have much desire to leave the pen during the day. They lie around the pen and empty the waterer. I don’t even know that they are drinking – they may just be playing in the water with their bills. While they did get into the creek, it doesn’t seem to hold much attraction for them. I have no experience with ducks, so it is interesting to observe their behavior. This all may be just their way of adjusting to new surroundings.

10/6
Worked on the bee hives this morning. Pictures and details at: Post in Livestock (http://www.backwoodshome.com/forum/yabb/forum.pl?board=fau-livestock;action=display;num=1223329682).

10/7
Rain today, and it feels like it. The comb pulled from the top bar intact was a total loss. I abandoned it to the bees and they had pretty well emptied it by this morning. I got out in the yard and picked up stuff to get ready for the rain.

The two buckets had an incredible number of bees in them, even after driving them off with the smoker and fume board. The buckets were placed in the freezer overnight and are now thawing. The honey will be strained to remove the bees, and then the comb will be crushed to release the rest of the honey.

The rain started so we are inside with the dogs. The poultry was turned loose to graze. About 12:30 or so I saw a creature come running down the hill from the woods. I thought it was a raccoon – all I saw was a gray blur, looking through the wrong part of my bifocals. I went to the window and there was some sort of wild cat watching a group of ducks and a turkey that were next to the house. Of course, it’s raining and I don’t have shoes on, and the shotgun is in the bedroom, unloaded. I ran for the shotgun and put the shells in and crept around the side of the house, but by the time I got there Karen had scared it off. She said the cat was coiling to spring and would have had a bird before I could get to it. I can’t fault her for that – the only thing worse than the critter getting away would be for the critter to get away with a bird.

It was a curious looking animal. I know what a bobcat looks like, and this did not look like one. I only saw its face and shoulders – it had smoky gray fur that appeared kind of frizzy/wooly. All the bobcats I have seen (TV and stuffed) have tan fur with spots and color transitions to white around their chest and underside. This critter had big eyes too. That was probably the most impressive characteristic. It was good sized, but no bigger than one of our smaller dogs – if that big. I didn’t get a look at its rear end, so have no idea of what sort of tail it had. Though a tail was not obvious when I saw it coming down the hill, making me think it was very short. Pictures on the web show a juvenile bobcat – with grey fur – about the closest thing I have found. But the color pattern of the fur is wrong. I set out a trap baited with a piece of chicken and bologna. Bologna gets pretty ripe when it starts to turn.

Regards,
Pat

[sbemt456]

Bee Pipes sounds like you had a bobcat. We have them here in Eastern Ky by the oodles and they are gray and fuzzy especially around the face.
A few years ago we had hens in a pen out of ear shot of the house and a bobcat would climb the fence and take a hen about every other day. I found the claw marks on the fence post. That one is no longer but we have others. They are rogues and will steal. They are bad on house cats and small dogs also.

Better luck next time.


stella

[homefirst]

I had all of yesterday off because I worked late the night before. So my husband took the kids to the sitter and I slept in 'til...8. After that I spent a good 2 hours trimming up a grape bush left behind from the previous owners. Apprently the house was vacant for two year before we moved in. But I don't think the grapes were trimmed before that. Anway I can see under it now and I see that they wrapped this wild bush in wire that is now rusted. And the posts under the bush are falling over. I will be spending another couple of hours cutting that rusted wire fencing off.

Then I spent about three hours picking through the grass where I put my first three fruit trees and where the old chicken coop was. There were bricks and wood pieces and pipes just laying everywhere. I got about 8 large baskets of wood pieces and was burning them as I found them. The I did the same thing in the acrea where the old owners used to burn...everything. Now I have to do that with another area where we tore down an old shed. Then I spent a good time mowing and creeping slowly through the area I had picked through. Didn't hit anything so I can mow over there now safely. Finally we are getting this land tamed!

In between all that I spent a little time picking cabbage worms off of my cabbages! I got my revenge though The chickens loved 'em!

We cleared out an above ground pool when we first took over the property. There was a frog colony in it. Last weekend the neighbors got some soil from the woods behind us and filled in the hole with his tractor. No more pond after a hard rain. I was hoping to make that a duck pond but I lost that battle ;)

This place was in such bad shape when we took over it. After pulling stray trees and tearing down old sheds we had three large burn piles and one is still left for a good burning day. This was after we had taken two or three truck loads of junk to the dump. The property is starting to look good. Still waiting on some chicks to hatch. Anyday now.... I was thinking about getting some 2 x 4's from the burn pile and some old chicken wire and see about trying my hand at making a brooder. Still trying to figure out the plan though.

Wednesday we will be getting three more fruit tree to put in. And today I will be hoing two garden plot and hand picking all the wild oinion bulbs out of it. (I have about two acres of wild onions) then laying it to rest for the winter under a layer or heavy mulch. But I have to wait for my 1 year old to go to sleep. Glad it is a 3 day week end.

My husband is at Lowes right now getting 4 x4's to run a trellis for the raspberries and blackberries. I have the plants 5 feet apart with 15 feet between the two types. 5 feet from the last bush will be the posts. This will leave me 5 feet to walk between them.

Well I better get going and put this little one down for a nap.

Homefirst

[WileyCoyote]

Wel, here it is cool and wet; lows in the upper 30s, highs in the 50s already, misty rain yesterday and today, with thunderstorms predicted for tonight and all day tomorrow.

Nevertheless, I have to rake the leaves and get them piled around my plants; take up the hoses, put some bubble wrap over the back porch door window. Then I have to tote the ladder upstairs and check out that window in the attic; last night when the North wind was blowing, I could hear the attic door rattling.

I made a boston butt for supper last night with au gratin potatoes and of COURSE the potatoes overflowed, so now I have to clean the oven before I can bake bread. We've had the woodstove lightly going the past two days to take out the damp chill; cleaned the firebox first thing this morning and put the ashes in the compost pile, and laid a little fire to ember for awhile. Have to do laundry of course, and I keep staring at the pile of material next to the sewing machine, wanting time to sit and sew together my quilt top pieces.

The maples and hawthornes are turning gold and are very pretty. I am grateful for their leaves!

The horses do not like the cold north wind and misty rain; they are all in the pole barn pouting, which will make getting their manure easier.

Next weekend we are supposed to be clear with highs easing back all week up toward the projected weekend high of 60 degrees. My trigger finger is itching to go get some of the wild turkeys in the back 40!

[bookwormom]

my mind was set on fall and I had a hard time taking the heat today, even though it was only in the high eighties. We really felt wrung out.
such a dry summer and my firewood is soaking wet. I don't understand it. the pieces are heavy as rocks and yesterday we put down a pallet, then put a circle of cattle panel around it to sort of make a round cage and tossed the driest pieces off the top of the pile in there. when it is full and before it rains we cover the top with a tarp.
the calves are at times pretty good walking on a lead. But other times they brace their little legs and resist with all their might. we need more time to devote to them.
The day before I was getting a segment of garden ready to plant in a green manure cover crop and found that the manure I had put on earlier was just full of big fat grubs. I just could not leave them so I wound up digging up the whole area and picking out the grubs. I could not believe the amount, I picked them up by the hand fulls and wound up with almost two gallons of them. The chickens, turkeys and ducks were ecstatic. Now when they see me they come running.
we are eating greens every day, the tomatoes are nothing to write home about, the volunteer cherry tomatoes are doing best.
I got the green house ready to plant lettuce. It may be a waste of time. I filled big mortar tubs with good soil and plan to pack in straw around them and put bubble wrap on top when it gets cold. I have tried planting in the ground in the green house with no luck, voles just undermine the whole thing. We lost a couple of blueberry bushes due to voles. I hope it won't frost for a while yet. right now it is such nice growing weather, we had so little of it.

[homefirst]

Kind of sad news from this homestead. The chicks are hatching. But when I went to the neighbors house to see I saw one that had blood around it. They said it hatched that way and they didn't think it was going to make it. I asked to take a closer look. Because it seemed as though the back end just didn't look right. I took it out and it was very weak. It was bleeding from it's back end and it looked like it just had not formed right :-/. I told them we were going to have to help it out. And asked them if they would mind if I took care of him(or her). I made sure they fully agreed that it was the best thing to do (they are pretty sentamental about this stuff). Then I had to do out my first chicken :-[. Don't know if you all went through the samething the first time but I worried for about an hour that maybe I didn't do it quickly enough and maybe it felt it. But I have come to the realization that it is over and it was probably in pain anyway whether I did it quickly enough or not. I'm better. After having MANY pets and raising wild bird orphans I know sometimes to take care of an animal you must do what has to be done. Plus if I can't do it now how do I plan on getting some chicken on my dinner plate later? Anywho that is what is happening on our homestead today.

-homefirst

[bee_pipes]

10/8

I talked to some fellows at a meeting last night and they said it was a bobcat. It would seem a bobcat is a matter of size, not coat or color. Hopefully we can trap this critter and get some decent pictures. So far as disposing of the animal goes, the landfill is too close – we’ll add to the wildlife of the local state park.

A welcome sight in the chicken pen today – three duck eggs. We didn’t keep them – they were too dirty by the time we found them. I was impressed they hadn’t been broken. We will have to remain watchful during the day and retrieve the eggs when they are layed. The last female duck we had would lay in the nest boxes. These new ducks don’t seem to be real comfortable with the hen house. With the meat birds in the freezer we now have one unused side of the chicken house. That may get put to good use training the ducks without the pandemonium of the chickens and guineas to contend with.

We picked up a scale today. Out of curiosity I weighed one of our frozen meat birds – a whole roaster. It tipped the scale at 3 lbs.

10/9
Two day with the trap out and no luck. Yesterday I picked up a can of tuna to use for bait. I have been doing some research on trapping and it would seem a lot more involved than the dumb luck I have been having with the possums and armadillo. We have never caught a raccoon or bobcat, maybe because they are a little smarter than the average possum. This would seem like a topic worth reading up on further. The real question is how to put out snares and other traps without catching your own livestock or deer. The CoOp sells steel jaw traps – I could see me stepping in one of my own traps. I think it will take a lot more research before we do anything more sophisticated than the box trap we are now using. It would also seem like a shame to trap and kill a varmint, then toss the carcass into the compost bin. Even coyotes have nice pelts. Tanning doesn’t look impossible, but again we need more background information before we decide to pursue this line of thought. A .22 would also be useful for dispatching anything caught that can’t be released. I don’t want the animal to suffer; I just don’t want to feed them.

10/13
Yesterday we finished the roof over the firewood. In hindsight, the slope of the roof is not severe enough and in the future I will use a greater slope, but for the small amount of snow we have and the fact that it is covering firewood, it will be adequate. The slope we did have stretched our resources on salvaged roofing – don’t know that we could have done a longer run, which a greater slope would have required. We will get a benefit from the roof, and it has served as another learning experience.

One of the younger guineas turned up missing about the time we saw the bobcat. We are exercising a little more caution about turning the poultry loose. Since these critters hunt mostly at night and morning, we make sure that the sun is well up and that we are active outside. Last Saturday we went to Pulaski and the poultry were kept penned until we returned. The ducks continue to lay eggs in the chicken yard, requiring that they be washed before placing them in the fridge. The hens are still laying sporadically – very few eggs. They should be shut down soon. I have kept the turkeys restricted the last day or so to see if the hen is still laying. She did not lay yesterday, and this morning I found a paper shell floating in the water dish. I don’t know if that is due to a lack of calcium or if her ovaries are shutting down for the season. We will keep her penned for a few more days and see if she is truly done. She was laying out in the woods, a compromising position with a predator making its rounds. We think that’s what happened to our first duck. She may have gone broody on a nest out in the woods and a predator found her.

Young turkey is a Tom. We are planning on using him for the main course at Thanksgiving. My sister Katy and her husband will be joining us, and this small bird will be more than adequate.

We also finished harvesting the top-bar hive today.
Top Bar Hive Harvest (http://www.backwoodshome.com/forum/yabb/forum.pl?board=fau-livestock;action=display;num=1223329682;start=4#4)

Regards,
Pat

[bookwormom]

Who would have thunk it, we found someone in our community (an amish told us) who installs solar.
he came over and ,knock me over with a feather, the guy is fundamental mormon with two wives and 14 children, number 15 on the way. He is in our state because here is considered an adulturer and there is no state law against it, so as long as he is only married spiritually to his second wife he is okay.

we decided to put a panel up and light the barn with power from this. It will cost as much as setting a couple of posts by the power company, so money wise there is not much difference. I guess we can get an inverter and batteries a

[LeatherneckPA]

Wednesday, I took 11 roosters and a scrawny hen to a Mennonite place for butchering. From start to finish it took these two teenaged boys (definitely not over 17) 35 minutes to clean and quarter 12 chickens. Cost me only $2 a bird. Not bad. HUGE quarters too. Seems we let them grow a little longer than most people. I think next spring I'm looking at more like 12-16 weeks instead of 20-22 weeks.

Last night I took the tattered tarp off the yard at Cluckingham Palace and installed Tufftex translucent plastic roofing. That should keep the yard nice and dry!

[jen_in_southtexas]

Hello folks,

Lots of things going on over here. *Between work and home there have been family birthday celebrations, getttin' my little nephews ready for Halloween, a trip to visit my friend in the beautiful piney woods of East Texas, etc.

During my trip to east Texas, I had a wonderful time. *I spent time with my friend, we rode around in the four wheeler on the property, and we went deep into their woodlot and cut some logs from a huge felled tree caused by hurricane Ike. *When I left there, I was sent home with just shy of a cord of wood. *On my way home I was thinking that i needed a wood shed for my wood and some other wood i had at my place. *I thought that during the week, I would come up with a simple design and use some salvaged material i already have. *Well the following weekend, I was really gung-ho about this little project and i needed some deck screws so there i go to Sutherlands to get them. *While there I started to think about how wonderful it would be to have a place to stay during the weekends and even during the week when i check on things on my property. *It was a beautiful morning and temperatures into the lower 50's. *The want and need for a cabin really hit me. *So, I decided that it was a good day to start on it. *
Several months ago, i purchased the little cabin plans from "solarman" at http://www.freewebs.com/simplesolarhomesteading/index.htm and am so glad i did. *Thanks for making this easy Lamar. *This is the first big building project i have ever attempted. *I use tools in my profession so it didnt seem so bad. *I made some minor changes and my floor plan is a 16' x 16'. *Last Saturday I put up my poles and floor frame. *This isnt a hard project so far but my pace is slow because I am doing this alone without any help. *It took me a while to put in the floor joist hangers just because it was time consuming. *I went back a coupla times during the week to set my floor joists. *Today i put in the center girder for the floor frame. *I used deck blocks and 4" x 4" post. *I am thinking to put in another girder to the right and left of the center girder as well just for reinforcements and peace of mind.

This is what i have done so far:

Last Saturday:
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh112/lillybug71/One%20acre%20homestead/cabinthebeginning007.jpg

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh112/lillybug71/One%20acre%20homestead/cabinthebeginning008.jpg

Last Sunday:
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh112/lillybug71/One%20acre%20homestead/cabinfloor016.jpg

I will post more pics to show progress as I go. *I hope to work on it this weekend if I can. *We are celebrating my sweet Gramma's 89th birthday tomorrow(Saturday) evening so we will be busy with company as well.

The weather here has sure been nice with nights dipping down into the low 50's. *

I hope everyone is enjoying these fall temperatures and homesteading projects.

Until next time...see ya in the woods.

-J
eL Chiquito Ranch
Deep South Texas

[LeatherneckPA]

Jen, that's starting to look pretty sweet. I am SO jealous!! Most of my work around here is getting done a little at a time too. I call it the "putter" method; I putter here, putter there. But I suppose waiting until next spring to buy my land is at least bearable. Now that it's in the foreseeable future.

Winters here get too bloody cold to just put our place on pier blocks. But I am planning on nothing more than a slab foundation, leaving out the basement will significantly reduce the cost of building. And the whole point for us is supposed to be downsizing. My goal is to fit everything the wife and I both want into only 1200 sq ft or less.

[jen_in_southtexas]

Thanks LeatherneckPA. I am learning new things working on my cabin project. A little at a time is all I can do time and $$ permitting. I didnt work on it at all this weekend but i did go and drop off some mesquite cooking firewood that my cousin called me about. He works for the parks department and everytime they cut mesquite down he takes some home or his co workers. Around here we love to cook with mesquite wood. It is a full and hardy flavor and smell. I love it! So i did that and didnt mix it with the firewood i brought back from East Texas. I put it on top of two pallets. Those pallets sure come in handy for alot of things. I had to cut some small twigs and limbs off the tree i put it under. After that i had to leave to get ready for my Gramma's birthday party which went well and we all had lots of fun.

Yesterday(Sunday) we still had company over so i didnt get to go over there again. I feel like i lost a coupla days work on my cabin but that is just the way it is.

By the way, gas is 1.89 a gallon right now!!! :o

-j

[LeatherneckPA]

LOL, add a dollar to that gas price here in PA.

Stumbled into two potentially great bits of news today. *One of the teachers in the lunch room clique that I hang out with asked me if I might be interested in buying a farm next to his. *He wants about 200 acres of it. *But he doesn't want the house and barn that are currently there. *He thought I might want the house, barn and say 15 - 20 acres. *He's getting me details.

And then the Home Ec teacher, who runs a small restaurant completely staffed and serviced by students, was talking to a couple of us later and it turns out she breeds Halflinger horses. *Halflingers just happen to be my number one choice for a draft animal for our farm.

[pcrowder]

Wow Leatherneck! Things are looking great for ya! Land AND horses? Wow! wish I had some of your good luck! I just paid the feed bill today (ouch) and the nursing home bill for my mom (DOUBLE ouch!), so I keep losing ground! Congrats on the potential to gain some!

[bee_pipes]

10/15
Yesterday a young friend came out to the house to help. He’s between jobs right now and has a little time on his hands. It all started with hauling some old coops off his property – his mother didn’t want them. It took two trips with the small truck, but we have them here now. At present we don’t need the coops, but they will be handy to have in reserve and will see more use here than they will in the landfill. Karen made an outstanding batch of chicken & noodles for lunch, using one of our fresh meat birds.

Bottling totals so far are 4 gallons. We still have at least a half gallon of stout that needs to be bottled after the wax has been processed. The whole process is slow and not too efficient. I have had no luck finding a comb press on the internet and will have to construct one. The average seems to be a little over a quart per top-bar. We might have reached 2 quarts per top-bar if they were completely filled.

10/17
The guineas are really earning their keep. A coyote came strolling across the creek in the evening and they started kicking up a ruckus as soon as it cleared the tree line – might have even started sooner, they are pretty good at detecting motion in the trees. By the time I could snatch the rifle, chamber a round and get out the door, the guineas had chased off the coyote. I looked through the woods but could not find it. It would appear the honeymoon is over – word has gotten around in the local predator community that there is a buffet line here and they are starting to come around. The guineas do an excellent job of calling attention to a predator, which the predators hate, and can do so from a distance that prevents the predators from sneaking up on them.

Today we get our annual delivery of firewood. We have purchased four ricks. It will be nice not to have to fiddle with tarps this year in our new, roofed over firewood area.

The last of the honey is done. Stout has been drained and needs to be bottled, wax is being refined and poured into cakes.

10/22
We have seen plenty of deer in recent days. The guineas call attention to them. I did not know the deer make a sound, sort of a loud wheezing, almost like they are blowing on a broken harmonica. I have heard that sound a number of times, coming from the woods, usually when I’m doing something outside in the dark.

We have the firewood stacked and done. The supply is more than ample, two skids being left over from last year. The olds stuff is well seasoned and gives us a good supply to draw from before starting on the newer wood.

Wax and stout were finished today, We have a good supply of wax and have started rounding up old candles in glass containers. The old candles, some with a quarter inch or so left in the bottom, are placed in a pot of boiling water. When the remaining wax is melted, primarily paraffin, it is poured into an old glass jar for collection. This old wax is of questionable composition, so will be used to make fire starters. Cotton cord is dipped in this wax and cut into short segments when cool and hard. The short segments can be used to start fires in the wood burning stove, burning long enough to start the wood without creating a mess or involving more flammable liquids. Our usual method or starting a fire is to use old newspaper, which can often leave large piles of ash that interfere with the draft of the fire at a time when it is just getting started.

10/24
Found 10 duck eggs in chicken pen. One of the ducks is digging a hole in the ground and laying there. I usually check the area but the hole was deeper than I expected. I had only been collecting the top egg, never realizing there were a number of eggs below it.

With the recent appearances of the bobcat and coyote, I have taken to locking the guineas up for the night. The new pen seems to be easier to herd them into than the chicken house. I can call them and throw out scratch in their view. In a matter of minutes, after I have cleared the pen, they are inside and eating the scratch. The door gets closed behind them and they are confined, with access to the chicken house and a supply of food and water. Of course, the Guineas are not happy with this arrangement, but they keep falling for the same old trick.

10/27
Today I helped an acquaintance with his house. He has a large wood burning stove in the back of his house, about as far removed from the living room as possible. It is right off the bedroom, so works well at night, but the heat takes quite a while to reach the living room and can get uncomfortably hot in the bedroom. He wanted a cold air return duct to the stove to draw air from the living room, causing a draft and increasing efficiency of heated air from the stove. The work was interesting and I learned a lot of new tricks for handling sheet metal. He nailed sheets of metal to the bottom of the floor joists under the cold air return vent in the room above, then ported it to 12 or 18 inch round duct. He had been collecting salvaged duct for some years, so we had an ample supply. Claude, the fellow I was working for, earned a living working with sheet metal, He is old school, so many of the tools he had were hand tools. Taking off the sheet metal screws to separate old lengths of duct work was tedious, using screw drivers and sockets, after the joints had been exposed to the elements for a number of years. But the work got done and in a six hour day (about all I could handle in a crawl space) the panning was nailed to the rafters and a collar/adapter transitioning from the panning to the round ducts was in place.

10/29
I returned to Claude’s place and finished the job. Today I brought along an electric screwdriver with fittings for the sheet metal screws. This not only made disassembly faster, it eliminated the need for an ice pick and hammer to make pilot holes when reconnecting lengths of duct work. The roomy crawl space under the living room quickly narrowed as the duct approached the stove at the other end of the house. Some of the old duct work was too badly dinged to join properly and Claude fabricated collars and clamps to fix this problem. Rather than suspending/hanging the duct work from the joists, Claude made wooden blocks to hold the work off the soil. It was a nuisance dragging the blocks and the bricks they sat on through the crawl space, but in the end was easier than cutting wire strapping and nailing it to the floor joists above. A length of flex pipe was used to take the duct work over a waste pipe, the only major obstacle under the floor. After crossing the waste pipe, about the middle of the span, the exit point was closer and simpler to reach than the entrance. The exit point was 18 inches tall, a tight fit for me, but it was necessary to exit and reenter through that point a number of times. The job was done by 3 PM or so, Claude amply compensated me for my time and effort, and if I never have to travel through another crawl space it will be too soon.

10/30
The turkey stopped laying around the beginning of the month but the ducks show no sign of slowing down. This is an unexpected benefit. They may very well keep us in eggs until the chickens resume laying. The turkey hen looks quite raggedy, she is molting. Couldn’t have picked a worse time. The nights are getting quite cool; we have even had a few freezes and a number of fires burning in the stove through the night. It has become routine to check the duck nest in the chicken pen, but the rest of the ducks seem to prefer the nesting boxes in the chicken house.

Regards,
Pat