![\"spencer-at-12-weeks-jpeg.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/01\/spencer-at-12-weeks-jpeg.jpg\" "\\"spencer-at-12-weeks-jpeg.jpg\\"")
\nIt’s amazing how quick a puppy learns.\u00a0 Just three weeks ago, our new lab puppy, Spencer, was just a little panting baby.\u00a0 Now he’s almost house trained, knows all about how to do chores, and even has learned how to bark at deer.\u00a0 (They don’t pay much attention to them yet.\u00a0 I think I saw one big doe smirk at him.)<\/p>\n
I had put off getting a new puppy because of all the puppy work.\u00a0 We keep our ranch dog in the house so he learns the ropes.\u00a0 In time, they learn a whole lot of words, which really helps in the future.\u00a0 They learn manners and basic commands.\u00a0 At twelve weeks, Spencer knows how to come, sit and what “NO!” means.\u00a0 He also knows “get down” and “get your toy”.\u00a0 He’s also jumping at the door when he needs to go potty.\u00a0 Usually.<\/p>\n
Yeah.\u00a0 He makes potty mistakes.\u00a0 And he chews up our shoes, tissues, the toilet paper and almost got my checkbook.\u00a0 But I knew he’d do that before we got him.\u00a0 All puppies do.\u00a0 But we do have dog crates, and brought one into the new greenhouse for Spencer’s “house”.\u00a0 We keep him out with us most of the time, but when we need to be outside and can’t have him with us, like when we’re operating vehicles in the yard, Spencer’s given a dog biscuit and put into his house.\u00a0 At first he howled, barked and whined something awful.\u00a0 But after awhile, with nobody paying attention to him, he finally quit.\u00a0 Now he’s gotten used to it.\u00a0 He spends the night in it, then is let out early in the morning to go potty outside.\u00a0 The crate remains clean and he’s learned to go outside.\u00a0 It’s a huge help in training a pup.<\/p>\n
He tried pullng the tail feathers on one of our turkeys, but I yelled “No!” and threw a feed can down by him and he stopped.\u00a0 Now he would like to, but doesn’t try.\u00a0 We don’t want him to get used to harrassing the poultry.\u00a0 When he gets bigger, he could do some serious damage or even kill chickens.\u00a0 It’s easier to train him now.<\/p>\n
Although he’s still small, he’s growing by leaps and bounds.\u00a0 He still likes to sit on our laps, but no he takes a lot more space than he did three weeks ago.\u00a0 David is his special love because he takes time to play with him every day and Spencer really gets into that.\u00a0 But when he gets tired, he lets David pick him up and lay him on his back on his lap.\u00a0 It’s great to be a puppy!<\/p>\n
Readers\u2019 Questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n Pickles!<\/strong><\/p>\n I’d like to comment on an answer you gave to Bernard Falkowski in the Jan\/Feb 2008 issue of the magazine. Brined pickles do not need to have vinegar added to their fermentation process. In fact, those pickles he remembers that were fished out of a wooden barrel were salt brined. If vinegar is left out of the fermentation, the resulting pickle will be lacto-fermented, meaning that the brine will be full of those good lacto-Bacillus bacteria. One recipe that I use calls for 6 tablespoons of salt in a half gallon of water for the brining liquid. Use a crock that holds about one gallon total, or a gallon glass jar. Place in it a couple of grape or horseradish leaves if you have them. They keep the pickles crisp. Then add 3 or 4 dill flower heads, 2 or 3 garlic bulbs (that’s whole bulbs divided into cloves, not just 2 or 3 cloves,) and 4# of cucumbers, not too big but they don’t have to be very small either. Pour the brine over all this, weigh it down with a jar filled w! ith water or rocks, and cover with a clean towel. In the summer\u00a0 these are ready to eat in one week. The downside is that they then\u00a0 have to be refrigerated to keep for a longer time; I’ve kept mine as long as 6 months. You could also can them after they have\u00a0 finished their fermentation, but they lose their pro-biotic\u00a0 bacteria and some of their crispness.<\/p>\n A question I have about the pickles I can is how to keep them crisp. I’ve often heard about adding powdered alum to the jars, but have not used it because I don’t know what it is. Can you tell me Thanks for all your help and interesting articles.<\/p>\n Nancy Starr Yes, alum is a mineral and also related to aluminum.\u00a0 Just type “alum” in your browser and you can find out more than you really want to know about it!\u00a0 I did and WOW!\u00a0 (Couldn’t understand a lot of it, but oh well….)<\/p>\n The upshot is that using modern canning methods, you don’t need alum.\u00a0 Or grape leaves.\u00a0 I keep my pickles crisp by NOT boiling them.\u00a0 They’re salad ingredients, after all and you just don’t cook them and expect them to stay crisp.\u00a0 It also helps to pick fresh cukes and begin pickling them the very same mornin.\u00a0 I always soak my cleaned cukes in ice water for at least half a day….often over night….before beginning to put them up.\u00a0 They always stay nice and crisp.\u00a0 Without alum. — Jackie<\/p>\n Feeding chickens Kristi Ewing <\/em>Well, that depends; on what kind of chickens you buy (heavy hens eat more than light ones; light ones lay more eggs but can’t make much meat when the time comes), what else you feed them (you can’t feed laying hens just corn and get lots of eggs; the free range will help, but the need a mixed grain, such as scratch feed to make sure they have adequate protein) and how much space you have available to raise corn (a city lot or a corn field).\u00a0 I buy my dozen hens, four big turkeys and two ducks 100 pounds of feed twice a month in the winter and once a month in the summer when they are on free range.\u00a0 My hens are araucanas and mixed banties, so they are smaller hens and are very active.<\/p>\n ANY feed you raise yourself is a great help.\u00a0 I raise plenty of “livestock” feed in my garden; weeds, spent crops, bad tomatoes, extra squash, carrot tops, corn cobs and a whole lot more.\u00a0 If you have enough land to raise corn, by all means, do it, even if you don’t raise ALL your chicken feed.\u00a0 In figuring how much corn you can raise on X number of square feet or acres is impossible, as it depends on what kind of corn you raise, what kind of soil you have and your farming practices.\u00a0 Each corn stalk will usually produce two good ears under decent growing conditions.\u00a0 This would feed your 5 “average” hens for one day, provided you also had other feed (free range or wheat\/oats\/barley) mixed in.<\/p>\n Give it a try and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.\u00a0 Remember your chickens will also eat your kitchen leftovers, too, further cutting down the feed bill. — Jackie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s amazing how quick a puppy learns.\u00a0 Just three weeks ago, our new lab puppy, Spencer, was just a little panting baby.\u00a0 Now he’s almost house trained, knows all about how to do chores, and even has learned how to bark at deer.\u00a0 (They don’t pay much attention to them yet.\u00a0 I think I saw […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5102"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5102\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nif it’s a mineral, or derivative of aluminum, or what else it might be?<\/p>\n
\nWest Fork, Arkansas
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\nYes, some pickles in a barrel were salt brined.\u00a0 But many weren’t.\u00a0 We had a small general store when we lived in New Mexico and Bob sold pickles in a barrel that were floating in a vinegar brine.\u00a0 There are literally hundreds of dill pickle recipes and most of them are great.\u00a0 Love those pickles!!!<\/p>\n
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\nThanks for taking the time to answer questions and share your knowledge with all us other homesteaders. I am hoping within the next year to get 5 or 6 chickens. I wanted to know how much corn it
\nwould take to feed 5 or 6 egg laying hens for a year. They would be free range also. The reason I’m asking is to know if it is feasible to raise the corn ourselves. If yes how much space do you think we
\nwill need to do so? Again thanks very much for sharing your know how.<\/p>\n
\nMondamin, Iowa<\/p>\n