July on the homestead

[bee_pipes]

We have 20 or so youngsters from the last hatch, a little over 2 weeks old. They are too big for the brooder and too small to be put with the adults, so we needed a quick pen for them. I wanted something moveable and simple. The pen we came up with works fine for youngsters, but is not large enough to keep a good sized population of adults, except maybe as over night quarters.

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

Regards,
Pat

[justgettinby]

Packaged up 56 pounds of sausage and put it in the freezer today. That should last us close to a year. Saturday morning we're going to get our 1/4 of a cow. My FIL grows the pork and we butcher it at a friends (call it a kill and grill as some of the meat goes right on the grill). The beef is grown by SIL's father we have it butchered. It's nice knowing where your meat is coming from and what's in it.

[Deberosa]

Pat, I was beginning to worry about you! *Glad to see you back. *You are probably as busy as I am these days! *Nice chick run!

justgettingby - how big of a freezer do you need to keep all of that pork and beef? * We have two very large freezers (one was a gift). *We are slowly emptying one to get ready for the half a pig and later maybe half a Dexter cow in order to stock up. *We also have three turkeys and a bunch of chickens to go into them plus the snap beans and other goodies from the garden that I don't can. *I am hoping we have enough space, but it sure beats store bought.

Around here this seems to be the season for farm tours! *After a blistering hot weekend where you barely moved it went back to the 70's. *Friends with grandkids came out to visit - hold the baby chicks that a hen just came out of the barn with, feed the pigs, cuddle the kittens and go home with a handful of peacock feathers.

Then we got to tour a neighbor's farm today! *What fun! *She called this afternoon - had a trailer load of hay to get rid of - fresh cut for 4 dollars a bail!!! *THey are bringing it by tomorrow morning! *That's perfect - just enough for two small cows and delivered to boot. *Part of the deal is veggies this summer- I can deal with that! *Well, she has cattle on her 40 acres. SHe's a widow in her 70's on this farm. *We went out to the back 40 to see the cattle as I had not seen them before. *A registered herford bull and white faced angus cows, plus a couple of pinzgauer cows. *6 calves and boy did they look nice - 5 heifers and a bull calf that was a beauty - typical pinzgauer markings of the white tail and stripe down the back. *If we end up on 20 acres they would make a ready made herd...

The other cool thing is that I wasn't there 30 seconds and I notice she has a whole stack of tin laying on the ground. Plus one of those street sweeper cylindrical brooms that are great cow scratching posts! She says - you want that stuff?? Make me an offer! We plan on building a lean to on the back of the barn and I have spare parts for everything except the tin roof! Plus Daisy loves to scratch on trees and the broom is perfect for both her or for pigs I imagine. I'll be comeing back with an offer on both and see what else she has! This is a very old homestead with a million treasures just laying around!

Then a Mexican family stopped by for chickens. *Bought two roosters, and two hens and two dozen eggs. *They'll be back for veggies later in the year and they also told me the meaning of the word Deberosa - my farm name which I have on a sign out by the road.

The garden is finally growing. *I've got to take more pictures this weekend. *Half of the first pig is sold - we are keeping the other half so only have two more to go in September. *The pigs figured out how to diconnect the float on their water tank! *It must have run most of the afternoon and made a wonderful mud hole for them right back in the evergreens where they like to hang out - very spoiled pigs, and a far better life than packed in a shed in a factory farm! *I am going to miss them, but have to keep reminding myself of their real purpose. *It will get easier I am sure as they get even bigger and eat even more!

This weekend will be getting the hay organized in the barn, Kurt is going to rewire the breaker box in the well house so that when we lose power we can just plug the well pump into the generator. *In the past he actually had to unwire and rewire the pump! Plus it will be time to start weeding and mulching now that the plants are starting to grow a bit. *Still far behind but the first tomatoe will be ready in a couple of days in the hoop house.

We are also going to take a ride down to see the 20 acres that is for sale near here. *On the way is the feed store so we'll stock up on feed for another month.

One other none homestead event - a former co-worker of mine won one million dollars in the lottery this weekend - go figure! I guess you have to buy tickets to win though. ;-)

[msta999]

"hen a Mexican family stopped by for chickens. Bought two roosters, and two hens and two dozen eggs. They'll be back for veggies later in the year and they also told me the meaning of the word Deberosa - my farm name which I have on a sign out by the road."

What is the meaning of Deberosa?

[Deberosa]

"hen a Mexican family stopped by for chickens. *Bought two roosters, and two hens and two dozen eggs. *They'll be back for veggies later in the year and they also told me the meaning of the word Deberosa - my farm name which I have on a sign out by the road."

What is the meaning of Deberosa?
I put it over in General in the name thread - it's pretty cool!

[justgettinby]

Deberosa, We only have a small freezer. It's between 1/2 to 3/4 the size of a full size. We mainly keep only meat in there, and we ran out of pork and only have a few roasts left from the quarter cow last year.

The tours sound great. I grew up in the country and loved it. I now live in the city (if you can call it a city, only 11,000) due to my job. I looked at my wife the other day and said Ya know I really miss the country. Don't get me wrong we live on the edge of the city in a very quiet neighborhood, but I miss looking around and seeing nothing but corn and trees. We had seven acres with an ideal house, full basement, never ending rose well, pool which I probably would have filled in by now, good neighbors, 30x30 Morton building. It was basically my dream home, but my job, and my wife's job, brought us to the city. She didn't like the 10 mile drive every night either. She was used to living about 1/2 mile from the limits.

Oh well, we plan to move back into the country someday (probably build) and we talk about self reliance, but I don't think she's as gung ho as I am.

[mom]

Figs - lots and lots of figs that I have to get early in the morning before the birds get there.

[wy0mn]

Finished the crown shingles this morning, cabin roof is complete.

Door is framed & mounted. Looks good unless you know what to look for.
Note to self: Never hang a door while sick & on meds.

Windows are due in this coming week.

Disassembled the wood cookstove & put it in the garage. Next trip out, it and the chimney kit are making the journey; along with the wind genny, batteries & PV's. Once I have adequate lighting, I can put in some overtime finishing the inside.

[justgettinby]

Well we put 203.75 pounds o' beef in the freezer, I still have a little room left.

Wife and I are deep cleaning the house in the mornings as we are expecting our girl in August. ;D then i go to work in the afternoon.

[justgettinby]

wy0mn how about some more pictures...

[Deberosa]

I am encouraged now that I have enough freezer space for our pigs and beef - thanks for the info! ANd yes - more pictures of the cabin!

I promise, more pictures tomorrow. Was going to today but guess what - RAIN! ::) We may have seen our two days of summer.

Yesterday one of the two tons of hay we got went into the barn. Tomorrow the rest will go in. It's going to fit fairly easily in the main part of the barn. We did get all of the old straw and hay mucked out for compost and mulching before putting down plastic or tarps, then pallets and then stacking the hay 5 layers tall. That should easily last the two cows for the winter.

I did get my first tomatoes of the season - yeah! I did some weeding between rain storms. The corn is growing now but getting smothered by volunteer tomatoe plants - at least they are easy to pull out and lay back down for mulch. However while doing this I had an audience. The corn patch has a strand of hot wire along it that has been very effective keeping the cows out so I didn't pay much attention as I am bent over picking weeds. Then I turn around and T-bone has one leg over the fence! I yell for Kurt - he discovers the breaker has been flipped but not before T-Bone completes her move to the corn patch and heads straight for the tallest corn plants. Now I can't get her out because the wire is hot! She snarfs up one plant and I shreik and get her to the side a bit, yelling for Kurt to come open the spring gate! We get her out but I lost a few of the tallest plants. GRRR. Now they are blocked to the front - need that area to muck out the barn anyhow.

After that I took a break, sitting on the back of the hay trailer at the back of the barn and - there goes a rat!!! Kurt joins me with the BB gun. Not one rat, two, three, four - bunches! Back and forth from the weeds to the corner of the hen house. I think we hit the biggest one but not very much luck! So we rigged up one of those barrel traps. It's a board to the top of a garbage can with 1/3 full of water. Across the top of the can is a stick and on the stick is a couple of toilet paper rolls covered with peanut butter. Rat goes up board to stick - reaches out to get peanut butter but it spins around and dumps rat into the water. We'll find out tomorrow how well it works. ;-)

The good news is we cleaned out most all of the barn to put in the hay and did not see a single mouse or rat or sign of them inside the barn - yeah!

Well, tomorrow will be more work and I hope some pictures.

[wy0mn]

justgettingby & Deb- You bet. I forget the camera last trip out.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This is all I have for now. http://s91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/wy0mn/IV%20Play%20Ranch/
This summer cold is kicking my butt. Been on antibiotics for three days now. Gotten past the bronchitis phase, still wheezy, coughing & sniffly. I've not been to a Doc in over nine years for meds. Guess I'm ageing...

CONSPIRACY THEORY: My meds may be fake! Five pills/five days, any real physician can tell you that you'd die, or recover on your own, in that amount of time. What if all antibiotics are now no more than sugar-pill placebo's? Only the elite get the real stuff!

Euthanized a pet ferret today, old age, couldn't get up to feed herself.

Heck of a week.

[bookwormom]

have you tried hydrogen peroxyde (inhaled)? or colloidal silver?

[Deberosa]

Antibiotics are nearly worthless anymore. They've been prescribed for anything so the bugs have become immune! Our dog Jake had a bad cough last summer. We took him to the vet and they gave us antibiotics that didn't do a thing.

As a last ditch we gave him echinacia extract in some water via a dropper and he was better within days!

[jen_in_southtexas]

wy0mn,

I sure hope you start feeling better. That cabin is coming along nicely. Antibiotics are good for somethings but not everything. I was really really sick one time and doc said that had i waited till the morning i would have had acute pneumonia in both lungs. I felt terrible and couldnt take a good breath. I got shot up with antibiotics and put out of work for about 3days but i know it was the antibiotics that saved me. It is the most awful feeling when you cant take a normal breath. Other times i was given antibiotics that didnt do a damn thing so Id stop taking them and just treat it myself and in time got better. However there were cold like bouts that ive had that were real stubborn no matter what. Its great when you have health insurance with prescription coverage for situations like that but those of us that dont have to do without medical treatment most of the time. I just hope you can shake that nasty cold soon. I cant stand colds but summer colds are the worse!!

-j

[wy0mn]

Thanks ladies! *:)
First good nights sleep I've had in a week. Pardon my spelling, but the Ecinacea I didn't try, Colts-foot took most of the cough.
I avoid colloidal silver, blue skin with my eyes? I'd need an entire new wardrobe!

I don't fully agree with the over prescription theory of weakened antibiotic potency. If we are proponents of that theory, then we should just surrender now.
I'll admit that virus live at an accellerated evolutionary rate from us, adapting several generations to our one, a ratio if you will. But then whats the answer? Refuse people stronger antibiotics, the survivors will pass along better immune systems to their offspring? Passive genocide... and it still wouldn't work. By the time super kid grew up he'd still be six generations behind the virus, more or less. Bugs kept evolving at their own pace...
EDIT:
Drove out to the Ranch after work & shot a pic. As you can see I have some work still to do. Wind damage forced some modifications as did poorly written & illustrated instructions. But my biggest personal blunder was pre-cutting lumber & panels in the garage & hauling them out for assembly (based on the instructions). It would have been much easier & more accurate to have paid the price for a rental generator & done those tasks on site.
http://s91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/wy0mn/IV%20Play%20Ranch/?albumview=slideshow
Lex

[rideaway]

Is it fair time yet? Please tell me it is, so I can tell the piggies and sheep good bye! With all the stuff going on this year, (my sister's stroke, having her daughter with us for a month, money probs, etc) I haven't enjoyed the animals a bit and am just ready for them to go.

I am sad as I have sold my old mare-hopefully they are coming to get her this weekend. 100lb grass hay bales here are between $17-21 a bale and I just can't afford to keep her. I sold her on a payment plan as there are so many horses for sale right now. Someday maybe when we refinance I can afford another horse, but it seemed silly to keep one when I have a hard time affording groceries or needs for us.

Garden is growing well, finally. Lots of weeds too. Am finally getting the beans strung. I hope they don't tip over this year. Last year we put long 2x4's in the ground and put bird netting across but that ripped with the weight of the beans. This year we put 8' t-posts in, strung wire across top and bottom and then strung twine, hay rope, whatever I could find up and down it.

My oldest daughter is here with her fiance. They are sleeping out in the orchard in a tent about 60 yards from the house. He grew up in a small town, but is somewhat of a city kid, was thrilled to see the deer right outside the tent the first night, but Kaitlyn told us when the sheep baaa'd he about knocked her over jumping up. Fun...love to rattle his chains a bit.

[bookwormom]

that used to be Wyoming, I am planning to get me some gizmo to make CS for the animals. I have used it very successfully for pinkeye in dogs and humans. However, for anything involving Bronchies and Sinus, sore throat and the like I find, from my years of experience, there is nothing better than hydrogen peroxyde. You can't beat the price either. Plus it has oodles of other uses.

well, folks, I hope your gardens are all doing really well.
I spent two mornings and one afternoon (it was sort of "cool" yesterday weeding. you sure have to stay with it to keep on top of the weeds. I know, mulch is great, but I have a large garden and two loads of leaves don't go far. I have the corn interplanted with white clover, that should help.

I guess I'll dry the beans I broke up last night. I did a test drying on potatoes and onions, the taters turned into bone dry morsels. I liked to eat the onions, dry as they were.

tell me, am I over reacting? I am getting really mad at hubby's critters. He can not resist and brings home turkeys and ducks from the fleamarket without having a proper place for them. so he lets them run all over the place. I have five flower beds around the place and they have demolished them, yesterday I saw the turkeys getting busy on my rock garden, destroyed several groundcover plants. the ducks with their big feet never watch where they step in the first place and the turkeys pick on everything and trample things down. I have several places in my flowerbeds where they like to dust bathe. The dogs like to lie in my herb garden, 75% of the chamomile is destroyed, he just gets this pained look on his face when I complain, like, is she never going to shut up? I am almost done putting up chickenwire so the fowl will be contained. He keeps chickens outside of our living and garden area, we fenced in the house, yard and gardens, to fence the goats, chickens etc out. they are free ranging, but the little stuff he got is free ranging inside the fence and they are getting big and even while little did a lot of damage.
The ducks are big enough to butcher, but I do not have time to deal with ducks. grumble grumble grumble.
l

[Terri]

I am reseeding the garden.

Again.

Seems the lower end of the garden was under water during the spring rains, and many of the veggies dies. So, I reseeded and it flooded again!!!!!!!!

We are lucky: the garden was the only part under water. I hear that the Southeast is suffering from a drought: I sure wish I could have sent them some of the water we got this spring!

The spring greens were lost, but the fruit trees are loaded.

And, I am posting this from the library, as this site always kicks me off whenever I try to post. I have tried enabling the cookies but it does no good. Oh, well: this time of year there is much to be done in the garden!!!!!!!!

[Funkhouser]

We've had some good soaking rains in the last week or so...hopefully the drought that started last year is coming to an end. We're actually ahead in rainfall for July right now, so that bodes well for us.

I feel for all the folks who are struggling through the flooding and reflooding in the midwest. But my hats off to you for coming together and working hard to help each other pull through.

[stilltryinat50]

wyOmn, so sorry to hear about your ferret..eldest son and fiance have two...never thought i would like them for pets, but have gotten attached to these...they are SO funny..

[homesteadingnky]

We spent the day in the garden. Picked the last of the Roma green beans and then pulled up 6 of the 8 rows to dry the bean vines for rabbit food, the other 2 we have been saving for next years seed. The romas had been playing out lately and had very few new blooms on them. We will plant another pack of Romas tomorrow in the same place for a fall crop.

Picked over the KY Wonder pole beans and left a section for seed as well. They are still going really strong and probably will for the next month anyway.

Picked 6 of the 8 rows of Golden Midget corn. Again left 2 rows for next years seed. We ate some of this corn for supper and it was delicious!! ;D

Picked several more squash, zuchini, peppers, tomatoes, and egg plants.

Broke beans and shucked corn and then headed up to the other garden to finish planting it. We have watermelon, cantelope, sweet potatoes, beets, Indian corn, butternut squash, and spegetti squash all ready planted and doing great in this garden. Several rows of peaches and cream sweet corn, roma green beans, and fordhook limas just starting to come up. And today we planted 5 more hills of black beauty, 4 more hills of yellow straightneck, 2 rows of red pontiac potatoes (I used some of the smaller potatoes that I had dug from our spring planting a few weeks ago plus some of the peelings from the larger ones that we canned this week, as seed potatoes), 2 more rows of goldedn midget and country gentleman corn, and a row of garden huckleberries.

Later this week we'll plant more pepper plants and herbs that are currently on the float bed. We will also harvest the jacob's cattle dry beans and dig some more potatoes.

The Garden is doing great!!!! ;D There are few things I enjoy more than gardening. Spending time with my awesome family is just about it!!

Been planning my next steps these last few days. Next on my list is getting my worm bins established. I feed my rabbits, dandelions, plantain, clover, tomatoes, breed, etc, then I'll feed my worms rabbit droppings, then feed my chickens worms along with what they freerange and the kitchen scraps that the worms don't get. Sustainability, that's the goal.

Then I want to build a chicken tractor. Something simple and easy to move. Then next will be my greenhouse that I hope to build (or have built depending on how I'm doing physically) this fall. CAN'T WAIT! :)

Happy gardening!
Homesteading Dad

[sbemt456]

Is it canning season or what? Sounds like everyone has a bountiful garden this year. Our Ky wonder beans are starting to come on and the white half runners are as well. We have 10 rows 50 ft long so I do think we will have plenty of beans. We picked over them last night and canned 7 qts. and had a big pot for supper tonight. I made 6 qts of mock pineapple and decided to try it to see if it really tasted like pineapple and by golly it made a darn good pineapple upside down cake. I was impressed. I had a bunch of carrots we pulled to thin out the row and canned 10 pints of carrots and a few bags for the freezer for carrot cake.
While hubby mowed the yard this evening I took the puppy for a walk and with berry bucket in hand and just around the yard picked enough blackberries to make 12 pints of jam. Had already canned 7 qts on Wednesday for cobbler.
We pulled some of our onions too. I now have a 1/2 gallon jar full of onion flakes dried and 4 gallon zip lock bags in the freezer. Guess I'll pull the other 50 ft row tomorrow and dehydrate them as well.

Got to try my new german fermenting crock too, made saurkraut in it. It is starting to taste like kraut.
I think I may have planted too many cukes, we pick them every other day and make about 6 qts of pickles each time.
I;m up late just too tired to sleep.
But tomorrow is another day and I can be just as worn out then. I just need to stop, I think I am rambling.

Have a great weekend everyone!

stella

[wy0mn]

Slept at the Ranch last night, sipped coffee a la Coleman until after midnight. Only heard one plaintive coyote, but a cacophony of geese from the Laramie river. Watched the Milky Way for hours. The air is SO clear & crisp up here, more stars than I ever saw in the South, even in my youth.
Finished an Andre Norton sci/fi story, via 12vdc lighting, one of the few books I've read more than 30 times. The others being the Bible and Robinson Crusoe.
40F last night, surplus mummy bag felt good, even on a hard wood floor.
Adjusted my over medicated door this morning, perfection!
Just returned from Casper with the chimney sections & windows I needed for tomorrows assault.
Gotta order more assembled LED cluster lights from www.ccrane.com/
Peace
Lex

[rAcErRicK]

Good for you, wy0min, won't be long now, before you can crissen the place proper, right ? ;) 40 degrees, huh, man, thats good sleepin' in a good far*sack. I'm envious.

Be sure and shoot us some new pics when you can now, y'hear ?

rick

[Deberosa]

It was hot here today - the garden is taking off and now the weeds are a battle.

We got the bedding all out of the lean to on the barn and into a compost pile. In the morning you can see it steaming as it cooks away - it made quite a mound! Next is the chicken house and we got a start on that before the heat set in.

Then we went to a garage sale - a disappointment, but somehow three new weaner pigs jumped into the truck. ;-) We got them at the same place we got the first set of pigs. these are real weaner pig size, not the big ones like we got the last time so they should be ready the end of the year. If we didn't get these it would be September before we got the next bunch. They are getting along fine with the other batch so that's good. We got all females and the farmer helped us pick the best ones in case we decide to keep one or two for breeding. He rents out his boar and only lives a few minutes away. Gee pigs are as addicting as chickens have been!

We are still eating fresh strawberries but this heat may mean the last of them. During the heat of today we moved the contents of freezers around so that the second of three of them could be defrosted. One more to go and it will be ready for fresh meat and veggies.

[jen_in_southtexas]

Nice to hear of things happening around your homesteads. I just contracted a small job so I've been busy with that and havent been to check on my property in over a week. Im sure it is fine. The rain we had last week probably made the grass and weeds grow. We needed rain really bad though. It has been very hot over here.

wy0mn, glad you're feeling better. I'll bet it was beautiful at your ranch last night. There is nothing like clear crisp skies and the still and quiet of the night. I can almost picture it. 40degrees sure does sound nice. We've had temperatures in the high 90's and 100's with humidity levels that feel in the thousands!!!lol Post pics of your cabin.

Deb, Im glad to hear that your garden is taking off. You had me worried there for a while that you may end up losing your crops. That would have been a real disappointment. How did Jake take to the new pigs? Post up pics when you get a chance. I'd like to see the new kids on the block.

-j :)

[msta999]

Slept at the Ranch last night, sipped coffee a la Coleman until after midnight. Only heard one plaintive coyote, but a cacophony of geese from the Laramie river. Watched the Milky Way for hours. The air is SO clear & crisp up here, more stars than I ever saw in the South, even in my youth.
Finished an Andre Norton sci/fi story, via 12vdc lighting, one of the few books I've read more than 30 times. The others being the Bible and Robinson Crusoe.
40F last night, surplus mummy bag felt good, even on a hard wood floor.
Adjusted my over medicated door this morning, perfection!
Just returned from Casper with the chimney sections & windows I needed for tomorrows assault.
Gotta order more assembled LED cluster lights from www.ccrane.com/
Peace
Lex

wy0mn,
if your at your cabin, which isn't finished yet, how are you accessing internet? By cell? Just curious as to how your doing it.

[wy0mn]

Mornin' all.
msta999- The cabin is only a good solid hour from our 'townhouse'. Wife is threatening to get DSL, so then I could haul the dish we own out there. I'd still have to subscribe to the service, but there would be satnet; OR, I could get a data package for the cellphone (13db antenna & 3w amp).
But honestly, I'll probably do neither. Taking the world with me when I go out there, just doesn't seem right. Sort of like commiting a sacrilege.
Don't ya just love going somewhere for peace-and-quiet but all you hear are campground boomboxes or a-holes on ATV's?
Gotta finish my coffee and get out there, if I'm to "Get 'er Done" today.
Lex

[msta999]

Mornin' all.
msta999- The cabin is only a good solid hour from our 'townhouse'. Wife is threatening to get DSL, so then I could haul the dish we own out there. I'd still have to subscribe to the service, but there would be satnet; OR, I could get a data package for the cellphone (13db antenna & 3w amp).
But honestly, I'll probably do neither. Taking the world with me when I go out there, just doesn't seem right. Sort of like commiting a sacrilege.
Don't ya just love going somewhere for peace-and-quiet but all you hear are campground boomboxes or a-holes on ATV's?
Gotta finish my coffee and get out there, if I'm to "Get 'er Done" today.
Lex

Got ya! I thought you were living in your cabin, while building it. I see that is not the case. Thanks for the info.

[TNDadx4]

Today we woke up and our oldest son had gone out to the garden to check it and came back with our first corn of the season as well as some tomatoes.<BR>
http://www.homesteadblogger.com/uploads/t/TNDadx4/27413.jpg

[wy0mn]

Installed the windows, chimney & cookstove yesterday.
Only glitch this time, was a lack of hardware in the box; no nutz~n~boltz! Right now its held up with collected toolbox trash, but it is in place. I'll go back this afternoon if I can get the right stuff.
The windows are cheaper than the ones I originally wanted. A LOT cheaper, I'll just buy dupes and install on the inside too, add a thermal dead air space.
(If anyone knows how to sort photobucket pics inside an album... please pm me. Right now I have to empty & reload for sequential slideshows, since it posts your last pic first. There is no click & drag feature allowed.)
http://s91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/wy0mn/IV%20Play%20Ranch/?albumview=slideshow

Don't speak so loudly Tndad, the corn has ears!
Lex

[WileyCoyote]

Whoo Hooo!!!
The turkeys are in!
Not tame turkeys. Wild ones. Every year, or so I was told, the wild turkeys come to ours and our neighbors' properties to roost in the trees. One neighbor was dreading their arrival last week - she says they make a terrible mess of the yard. I asked her if she minded if I shot them in her trees when they arrived, and she said, "Take 'em all! We don't like the taste of wld turkey."

So yesterday I was sitting on my side porch and heard a huge commotion in the trees behind her house. Sure enough - a BIG female was raising heck over there! And today, a mama turkey and five youngsters were in the tree next to my garage!

Gotta get me some feed corn so they get all comfortable and fat... grin. I'll be fillin the freezer directly! MAN I DO LOVE turkey!

I can't believe the folks around here don't hunt these turkeys. They actually consider them a nuisance! Once the antelope and deer babies get to be a good size, they'll be on the property too. (They go to the river 8 miles away to brood.) And the bunnies have been everywhere on the hill, 2 and three in a group, behind our house, and hopping merrily past our shop and side yard, on their bunny business. Fall looks to be GREAT for meat this year!

Yum.

[wy0mn]

Hey neighbor
Glad to hear of the turkeys. I eat them although I prefer waterfowl.
Heres one for you... many, many locals call pronghorn antelope "prairie maggots" & don't like the taste! Nor will they eat the plentiful jackrabbits!
Prongs are delicious & gorgeous, but I'm amazed that they are trophy animals. Too easy to kill, no sport a'tall, dumb as a rock. Anyone bragging about killing one... we'll, he'd brag about anything.

[TNDadx4]

WileyCoyote - Wow, that sounds great! I'd love to have a neighbor like that :)

Around here, EVERYONE hunts turkey. Our pastor even takes people hunting with him a few times a year.

[WileyCoyote]

LOL true, wy0mn! I was amazed when we came out here and saw the antelope not only standing at the sides of the road, staring at the traffic like cows - but one whole herd was actually CHASING a farmer's truck as he was driving toward his homestead! What? Does he feed them, was it suppertime? Good grief!!

I'm not much on waterfowl; the ones I've had were just too greasy. Plus many of them are protected - and they, like doves, are just too durned small to waste a bullet on, IMHO. But maybe I'll get a shot at a pheasant - I've never seen real, wild ones til we moved here, and they look big enough. ;D

To me, hunting for trophies is silly - I like my meat. But I just may have a prong head mounted to 'gift' some friends back east; more to aggravate them then anything else. Afer all, they don't know how dumb the prongs are.

BTW, do you want your moose back? He seems to be eating his way across our state; and his presence is notable for being this far south and east... I understand they expect him to turn around and eat his way back. There isn't even a season for moose here! (Which brings to mind the questions - are moose like vermin; when you see one, are there more hiding? and - what does that moose know about weather and foodstuffs that we don't? Or is it just an anomaly?) Time will tell, I guess...

[wy0mn]

Sorry, don't know diddly about moose. Thats a hairy manatee with long legs, right? Most pics I've seen show them semi-aquatic, foraging the lake bed.
The only live moose I've seen here reminded me of those black thingies on Harry Potter, just a dark amorphous mass flying across the road.
Anyway, if you see Bullwinkle again point him west and smack him with a boat paddle.

[LeatherneckPA]

wyOmn, oh man did you just make me laugh! Back in 1979 I was canoeing a meandering creek in ME with a buddy. He froze in mid-stroke, so I turned that paddle around prepared to beat whatever was around the bend, just out of sight. As the canoe drifted around the corner I saw this BIG bull moose standing belly deep chewing sludge. That paddle sure didn't feel all that protective at that point. We drifted by and he apparently never gave us a thought, thank goodness!

[wy0mn]

Glad I could share a laugh with you.

Went to the Ranch yesterday & reinstalled the chimney properly, hung an interior door (so I can lock it up) and started painting.
The genny is up but unattached. I gotta get more hardware for the PV's, then I'll do them all at once. I wanted to hang the PV's over the windows as a type of awning but the framework isn't amenable to that application, so I hadda re-thunk that too.
The tower looks crooked, and it may be. Cows tripped over a guy and I had to reattach it (note the pallets). Must apply level and adjust turnbuckles again I suppose, but then again... the end window looks un-level and I know for a fact that it is indeed level. Fences can't come too soon!
Lex
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/wy0mn/IV%20Play%20Ranch/080713002.jpg

[jen_in_southtexas]

Nice job on the cabin wy0mn. I hope that it is the beginning of many great memories.

I headed to my property today to check on it. Got there around 7:15am to avoid the hottest part of the day.

**Earlier this week i broke out in hives that got so bad i had to see the doc. He told me to stay out of the sun for a few days and put me on some meds.

The grass and weeds grew alot since last week. I didnt mow though but cleaned up around the trees, limbs, threw some shortribs on the pit and had me a nice little lunch under the big tree. I walked around the property just thinking of stuff. I have changed my mind about the location of my future cabin and have relocated my markers. There is still alot to do as far as tidying up around the yard. I think im going to have my friend dig some holes with his auger and put up a fence as a partition. The front part will look its best while the back part of it will be my cabin and the "sitting area". It will also give it some character. Next week I hope to mow the grass weather and work permitting. We are supposed to be getting some more rain on Tuesday and Wednesday.

After I was done for the day, I dropped by to visit some friends. I had a nice time while i was there but I was also ready to come home. They sent me on my way with a big bag of freshly picked squash. Yum!!

I just got done with the laundry and its time to relax and get my mind set for tomorrow after a nice bowl of pinto beans.

I hope everyone had a good weekend.

-j :)

[bee_pipes]

7/18
This morning we started harvesting honey. We pulled 5 supers off the two langstroth hives – we haven’t even looked at the top bar hives yet. It took about an hour to sort through frames and pull the supers. This year we used a fume board to clear the supers after they were pulled from the hive. I can’t recommend one enough to anybody working bees. It is a simple structure – a wooden frame with a cloth across the bottom. You squirt a liquid called bee-go, which smells like some sort of nail polish remover, on the cloth and place it on top of the super. The fumes from the liquid evaporating drive the bees from the frames without contaminating the contents. In the past I would smoke the bejabbers out of the frames and brush bees from them, but the results were not nearly as good and it took quite a bit of smoke and effort. With the bees evacuated from the supers, they can be handled without protective gear – a blessing on such a hot day. I threw a pallet in the back of the truck and loaded the supers when the bees cleared them. We drove the truck over to the area we had set up for decapping and extracting.

After pulling the supers, we went into town to pick up our blueberry order. We bought two gallons of blueberries and Karen is processed them for the freezer.

About 2 PM we went back outside and started extracting honey. By 4 PM we had 4 gallons of honey extracted and bottled. We seem to be getting a gallon for every three frames. We have a total of 39 frames, some of which will be processed as cut comb. The remainder will be bottled. For now the supers will sit on a pallet on the tailgate of the truck until we can resume work tomorrow. The extractor is covered with a new garbage bag and pulled tight with bungee cords to keep it from filling up with bees. The longer this stuff sits out, the more bees are attracted by the smell of the honey.

7/19
WRTN came over from Wayne county with his wife and one of their daughters. They just started bees this year and it will be their first harvest. This is a chance to get some hands-on experience before trying it on their own. I am surprised at how well the processing is going. We seem to have learned from last years mistakes and have gotten organized for this year. Last year we tried an electric decapping knife – no good. The honey would caramelize on the knife between cuts and it made a mess of the comb. This year we tried a capping scratcher – still too messy and too difficult to use. We have found that nothing works better than a cheap serrated steak knife.

(mozilla and firefox users right-click view image for larger picture)
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk217/patandkaren/z_WRTNs_daughter_decapping.jpg

The best improvement was Karen’s idea – she brought out a large bowl of soapy water with wash cloth and towel. It was most helpful to be able to wash hands between tasks, reducing the stickiness of tools and equipment. We processed 21 frames in the extractor and cut 6 frames of comb. The final tally was 11 gallons and 3 quarts of bottled honey and 18 boxes of cut comb.
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk217/patandkaren/z_bottling_harvest.jpg

We have a large amount of wax and heating it will allow the wax and honey to separate – perhaps giving us the last quart and making an even 12 gallons. We still have the top-bar hives to harvest, though I doubt we’ll see the amounts we got from the langstroth hives.

The first year I tried bees I was in my 30’s and used full sized supers. There were warnings about how heavy a full super was when loaded with capped comb, but I was young and stupid. We use the shorter Illinois supers now – about 2/3 the size of a full super. These were heavy enough that I had to take a break and get a drink before finishing the job. Sometimes I feel really old. Last year we put brackets on the supers to reduce the number of frames. This might sound counter productive, but in reality it actually improves the work. The frames contain thicker comb and result in no less volume of honey – perhaps they even increase the volume because there are less cappings. The comb is easier to decap when it is thicker and you have less frames to process. Needless to say, by the time we’re done, everything is sticky. Outside it isn’t much of a problem – the bees will clean up any spilled honey. Inside is a bit more of a problem and requires wiping down everything with hot soapy water. Door knobs from entering and exiting the house, the kitchen floor - virtually every counter space and horizontal surface between the staging area and processing area. This year we used a vinyl tablecloth on the dining room table – that made clean-up much simpler.

7/20
Today we had a commitment to be in Columbia, so the old frames and supers needed to be cleaned up this morning. After sitting on the truck for two days there were quite a few bees working the old frames and I had to dress in protective gear.
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk217/patandkaren/ejnd_of_harvest.jpg

I don’t know if they would have gone defensive, as the would protecting a hive, but these foragers were going crazy with robbing behavior and I wanted to get the job done quickly. The supers were spread out on the pallet so none of them could tumble off, and the truck driven back to the bee yard. The langstroths had been left with frames missing, so the first job was to open the hives and replace those frames. They have been busy the last two days and all but completed the frames left behind. One hive had started filling the spaces of missing frames with bridge comb and drawing comb from the inner cover into these empty spaces. The super left on each hive was filled with empty comb and an additional super of empty comb was replaced on each hive. The remaining empty comb was left out where the bees could rob them and clean the equipment. The process took about an hour. I have run out of burlap, my favorite smoker fuel, so have been using old straw. It makes smoke and is easily lighted, but causes the smoker to burn extremely hot. One of the biggest surprises this morning was the chick waterer. Our processing area was next to a small pen where chicks are being kept between brooding and release to the flock. The foragers working the supers on the truck were also getting water from the chick waterer. This was no big deal, the chicks were having fun chasing and eating bees, but this morning I found their waterer completely empty. They should have had enough water for another day, at least.

This year’s honey has a darker color and stronger flavor than last year. For some reason the comb had a higher amount of pollen stashed in it. The pollen is kept in separate cells from the honey, but it is almost impossible to avoid it when decapping. The pollen is sticky and resists extraction – most of the cells remained full, but enough comes out to color and flavor the honey. It is not unpleasant, just different from last year’s crop. I have had very strong honey from other yards that was almost bitter, but this is not that bad. Personal taste accounts for some of it. Buckwheat and other honeys have a very strong flavor and are very popular with some people. I do not care for it and prefer the milder clover honey. We ran out of last year’s crop a month or two ago and are on our secong jar of purchased honey. The first jar we purchased was from the coop and it had a bitter taste. This is a good crop and will be fine for cooking and baking.

7/23
Got the last of the honey and bee gear out to the bee yard for the bees to pick clean. The extractor, bottling bucket, strainer and frames are all sitting on pallets in the bee yard, to keep the poultry from pcking bees off as they glean honey from the ear. As soon as the new burlap gets here we will be harvesting the top-bar hive. The comb, only supported on the top bar, will require different techniques for harvesting. As we have never done this before, we will blazing new territory. Rather than placing comb in a box and transporting it, I am more inclined to think of a bucket and spatula. The comb is just too fragile to be moved. The comb can’t be extracted because of the absence of the support of a four sided frame, so we will no doubt have to crush the comb in a colander.

We are getting a significant amount of wax, and should get a lot more from the top-bar. To separate wax from honey and other impurities, we bake the wax at a low heat in a 13x9 pyrex pan. The wax moves to the top and all other impurities settle to the bottom. When it cools, a sheet or cake of wax can be pulled from the top and the honey remaining can be strained. This honey gets labeled as stout because it has been heated a number of times. It is fine for cooking, baking or as a sweetener in coffee or other beverages, but we try to keep it separated from the pure, unheated honey. We collected about a gallon of this stout. But even so, impurities cling to the bottom of the cake has impurities clinging to it, some embedded in the wax when it hardens.

For making candles, we use a pyrex measuring cup in a pot of boiling water. Beeswax, like paraffin, is too flammable to melt without a double boiler. Even with repeated separations, there remains a sludge at the bottom of the pyrex cup of honey, bee parts, propolis and other impurities. Pure wax can be poured off the top of the cup, but the sludge accumulates in the bottom. Much of the honey has been removed, so this is primarily dead bees, propolis with a small amount of caramelized honey. Caramelized honey is toxic to bees, another reason to separate stout from pure honey, and the final sludge from the measuring cup is even more concentrated. So far I have not found a use for it. The next time we head out to town we will pick up a non-stick cupcake pan and use that to pour cakes of pure wax until we can get down to the sludge and remove it.

7/26
The cupcake tin works well for collecting wax. We have about a dozen cakes of good, clean wax. We have also been able to discard about 2 cups of sludge that started collecting since the last harvest. The wax melts, the impurities generally sink to the bottom (though I have found dead bees will float). Floating impurities, a minority, can be skimmed off with a fork. The impurities that sink can be further settled with hydrogen peroxide, but the peroxide is cold and starts hardening the wax. I have found that hot water, taken from the bath of the double boiler, will float the wax. This isn’t a perfect substitute – impurities that would sink in peroxide are buoyant in water. Still, with a reusable container to hold clean wax skimmed off the top, we are virtually eliminating undesirable impurities in the wax and concentrating the impurities in the sludge to the point where there is no regret in tossing the sludge.

Lately we have taken to buying frozen waffles. They can be prepared quickly with a toaster and ready to eat in short order. Two waffles with two patties of the local sausage make a fine breakfast and do much to prime the pump before going outside. I have owned a waffle iron in the past, and it was a handy little appliance, but the irons got covered with some sort of gunk – maybe baked on pam – that was impossible to get cleaned off. It doesn’t help that the irons are a grid of nothing but corners. So I tried making French toast the other day and deliberately made extras to freeze. A few days later the extras were pulled out of the freezer and run through the toaster. The results were excellent – even superior to the store-bought waffles. With an abundance of eggs and our own bread, we will be mass-producing French toast for the freezer to serve as quick breakfasts, when desired.

Regards,
Pat

[wy0mn]

I spent the night on my place.
Went out to do some priming & painting, and to read. Practiced the harmonica a bit, less likely to frighten folks way out there.
Coyote music at night, and elk fluting this morning. I’ve not seen the elk out there before, and by the time I got my sneakers on he was gone; but I know what I heard. I thought they only did that during the rut.
Made coffee on the woodstove (smart investment), thru-the-wall chimney working grandly. Smoke alarm & fire extinguisher in place.
Took a noon’ish break to watch a soaring Bald Eagle.
Wife neglected my shopping list, so the PV’s aren’t hooked up yet. I’m getting so crabby about going into town, but I guess I’ll have to do it.
Lost my 2nd trolling motor battery, they lasted almost 8yrs, only two more remain. Following a maintenance schedule is the key! I suppose now is a good time to grow-up and get some L16’s.

Ain't life good?
Lex

[mom]

No rain in almost a month - typical for this time of year; 105 right now and 25% humidity - also typical for this time of year. We actually set up a mister for the chickens and ducks.

[Deberosa]

Gee I wish it would be a bit warmer here! *Still good if we hit 70 during the day. *A bit of rain, but not enough to prevent watering.

Been real busy this month - got the gardens mostly weeded and mulched - a big job! *Went on the annual tansy and thisle hunt and got most of that down. *Hauling in more hay for the cows since the grass has been poor this year and the cows have everything eaten down. *

The barn is almost clear of manure and it's composting for next year.

Picking Berries but not much else from the garden! *It's been a really bad year with the cold weather. *I am slightly hopeful that we'll get some produce in a few weeks though. *Thinned the mangle beets tonight and gave them to the pigs - they thought that was great!

We got 9 new turkey poults - 2 naragenset, 2 royal palm, one blue, one wild turkey, two black spanish and one mystery white turkey. *All heritage breeds to go with my three red bourbon hens that all haved clutches of chicken chicks now because I lost my Tom turkeys last winter. *I still have more groups of Dark cornish chicks coming out of the bushes so there will be plenty of chicken for the freezer. *They are perfect to raise free rangle like they are - safely fenced in with Jake on guard.

The neighbor has an acre and a half field next to my property. *He pretty much leaves it go wild and it's covered with ox eye daisy and queen annes lace. *The pollen drives Kurt's allergies nuts. *Well last week the neighbor met me at the fence and wanted to know if I wanted to graze my cows on his field. *Turns out he is in construction and the down turn and a dead beat customer caused him to lose his tractor so no mowing for him. *We thought about it but decided the forage is so poor and the danger of not only keeping the cows in (he has little grandkids) but also stray dogs out that it would not be worth getting the poles etc. to do it. *However I offered to mow his field for him since I have a tractor and mower. *He was grateful for that so Sunday I drove my tractor over there and mowed the entire field - looks really nice now! *Plus the pollen count has reduced substantially. * I'll offer again in the spring before everything seeds and my weed problems will be greatly reduced. *

Still waiting on more tomatoes, waiting on zuccini, and on all of the rest of the veggies. *I know they'll all come in at once and it will be crazy again!

Zuccini and summer squash and patti pan squash and a few extra tomatoe plants:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/deberosa/003-4.jpg

Guinea's checking out the newly mowed field:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/deberosa/007-2.jpg

Beets, cucumbers and flowers, plus some celery, lovage, cilantro and heritage rasberries:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/deberosa/005-4.jpg

Mangels, turnips, parsnips, carrots:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/deberosa/004-6.jpg

Corn (most of the "weeds" are volunteer tomatoes!)
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/deberosa/006-4.jpg
Purple green beans (left) and soybeans (right)

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/deberosa/008-4.jpg

Spelt (left) and ALfalfa(right)

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/deberosa/009-5.jpg

Lots of tomatoe vines but no more ripe tomatoes!

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/deberosa/011-3.jpg

[wy0mn]

Beautiful pics Deb. Nice way to start my day :) .

Karens garden has been a cruel jest this year. We're having to un-think the way we gardened in the southeast.
Lately our temps have been 85-95F daytime, and still manage to drop into the 40's at night.

[TNDadx4]

Thanks for the pics everyone. Here we are performing maintenance tasks around the place and waiting for some tomatoes to come in.

Something happened to our herbs... they all (basil, parsley, oregano) died this past week. They weren't doing well to begin with, but sheesh. I may replant and see how much I can get out of the summer months.

[LeatherneckPA]

Well, we've been without water for going on three days now. the flapper in the toilet leaked or something and our pump ran dry. Apparently it ran dry long enough to burn out the impeller. That was Sunday evening. We found out as we returned from a long motorcycle ride.

So yesterday I worked on it for something like ten hours, and still didn't get it fixed. Now don't judge me too harshly, because that 10 hours also includes three separate trips to Lowe's. Once for PVC couplings and elbows to try to fix a suspected air leak that might have caused it not to pressurize. Failure, so the second trip was to purchase a new jet pump. (Why do people always look at me funny when I strap stuff like that onto a motorcycle?) Got home and found out that I sometimes don't know my own strength. When I put that last pump together I really tightened those nipples on the face of the pump. I can't get them out now for love nor money. So a third trip to pick up parts and I decided to use PVC this time. Well, once I got home, wouldn't you know it, the PVC fittings are too thick to install next to each other. So this morning i will have to go to Lowe's AGAIN and buy those nipples I should have bought last night.

Thank goodness for the swimming pool. We've at least been able to bucket water up to the bathroom and wash up in the pool.

I find myself wishing that I hadn't built such a large chicken tractor. Sure, the chickens apparently love it, and I built it to meet the higher space recommendations I could find. (Like 4 sq ft per bird instead of only 1 sq ft.) But it sure is heavy. And it takes up an awful lot of room. I've only got 1/4 acre and that includes the house, the front yard, the side yard, the driveway, and the swimming pool. Doesn't leave a whole lot of space birds. I guess somewhere around 1/3 of my tiny lot.

I am going to try to move the birds daily instead of every two days. They can really tear up a piece of lawn in two days, and it takes a long time to recover. It is my hope that moving them daily will lessen the stress on the lawn to the point that it recovers before I have to put them back on a particular area. (Which is not the case right now.)

Well, better head out to Lowe's. See ya'.
I don't know whether it is the relaxed pace of being retired, or the dread of working on that darned pump again, but I've procrastinated about as long as I can.

[WRTN]

Well, we've been without water for going on three days now. *the flapper in the toilet leaked or something and our pump ran dry. *Apparently it ran dry long enough to burn out the impeller. *That was Sunday evening. *We found out as we returned from a long motorcycle ride.[/i]

Leatherneck, do yourself and family a BIG favor and install a Pumptec

http://www.aquascience.net/Franklin-Pumptec-Control-and-Pumptec_p_20-82.html

or at least a Square D Low Pressure Well Pump Cut Off Switch.

http://www.waterwell.cc/m4howto.htm

BOTH are worth EVERY penny. The Square D low pressure cut off switch is the least expensive but you must go out to where ever the well pressure switch is to rest the switch. If your pressure switch is far away or a pain in the neck to access, the Pumptec is real nice since it cuts off the pump and restarts is automatically on its own after a preset off time has passed.

[bee_pipes]

7/30
Yesterday the babies were moved from the small pen to the chicken house. The little devils were almost too much for me. I was doing something in the yard when it occurred to me I could put the extra rooster in a cage, open his side of the house, chase all the hens out of the enclosed side, and place the babies in there. So I put the rooster in a cage and started about rounding up the chicks from the pen. By the time it occurred to me I should have called Karen out to help me, I had a dozen in a cage, 6 still in the pen and another 6 running around outside the pen. Of course it was hot as the devil and sunny, I’m getting mad and sweating like a racehorse, and these agile little chicks and keets are dancing around just out of reach. I managed to get all of them, with the exception of one keet, into the cage and moved them to the chicken house. They were turned loose, set up with food and water, and left to explore their new quarters. The lone keet that escaped ran across the creek and through the fence. For the rest of the day I could hear him calling for his mates, but had no luck finding him. I figured he’d be found by a possum or owl in the night. This morning when I took the gods out I saw a keet trying to get into the pen to rejoin the rest of the babies. Managed to catch him and get him inside (while holding the dogs at bay).

Today I cut some tobacco. I started some slips from seed last February and planted them in the newly tilled ground out back. A few of the plants died – they were getting too big to be in pots by the time they got transplanted, and the weather has been dry, but the rest of the plants are thriving in the heat. I have seen tobacco plants and fields of it in Virginia and Maryland, but this is the first experience I’ve ever had with it.

(mozilla/firefox right-clieck and view image for larger picture)
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk217/patandkaren/x_tobbacco_row.jpg

The leaves feel fragile, but are leathery and stronger than they seem. Not knowing what I was doing, and wanting to keep the varieties straight, I cut the lower leaves off and bundled them up. Each bundle was tagged with the name and location of the plants in the row. This was a mistake.

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

For the next harvest I will need to build boxes with wire bottoms. The leaves start to wilt after cutting and can get bunched up in this heat. They are easier to handle if they can be kept flat. Since we are not a tobacco farm and don’t have a curing barn, I have to make due with what’s available. We do have a porch with exposed rafters and a tin roof. The heat below that tin roof is mighty fierce during the day and has done well in curing the garlic. The tobacco leaves were hung on the porch and we’ll see how well that works.

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

The plants and leaves have a sticky surface. There is some sort of coating that makes your hands sticky – some sort of sap or juice to the leaves. There are also hornworms on the plants, eating holes in the leaves. Hornworms are easy enough to take care of, but it is surprising that any critter can eat a plant that produces nicotine. Nicotine is an old pesticide that is still in use today. Its major benefit is that it breaks down quickly, leaving no residual, and that no bug has ever developed a tolerance for it. Tobacco has few pests, but it does have them. Tobacco also makes a good mulch and is good for compost, though quantities have to be limited around food crops, because of the nicotine content.

I am a smoker – one of my few remaining vices. Cigarettes contain tobacco that has been adulterated with chemicals and subjected to processes to make it burn uniformly and lower processing time and costs. The pH of cigarette tobacco has also been altered to enhance it’s effect from inhaling the smoke. Smoke from pipe and cigar tobacco is not inhaled. I am making to transition from cigarettes to pipe so that I can enjoy this vice with our own produce. Tennessee state law permits the growing of tobacco for personal use without taxing the crop or other government regulation. The price of cigarettes has gone up astronomically in the last year or two, it has all but been banned from all public places and there is no telling what the tobacco companies are putting on the tobacco they are selling.

Regards,
Pat