Preparedness Challenge #2 - Planting an orchard

This week for the Preparedness Challenge we planted an orchard!

10 apple trees, 4 peach and 4 cherry and a whole lot of love and prayer! I know it can be a real challenge to grow organic fruit, but with lots of prayer and lots of reading and research, we hope that this becomes a large source of food for us and maybe even others! Oh...they don't look like much now...just 18 scrawny little trees that are about 5-6 feet at their tips....but they are the most beautiful little twigs I ever did see! In three years time if YHVH blesses our efforts, we should see some fruit for our labors! We have planted them in front of the house, across the street. This will provide us easy access the trees for maintenance and monitoring. Our well is also just across the street in our front yard. I am looking forward to sitting in my rocker on the front porch and watching my trees blossom into gorgeous bouquets of flowers. I am also looking forward to setting up benches and mowing the orchard. I can see it as a wonderful place of meditation and reflections. I can see bee boxes in the back ground....a swing, maybe a picnic table or a cot for precious Sabbath naps. Oh....how my romantic imagination runs.....

In this planting process...We also discovered that we will need to take down about 30 (count them, I said 30!) Cedar trees on the property for the sake of our lovely orchard, because of the dreaded Apple Rust Fungus that comes when apple trees and Cedar trees are in proximity of one another!! We hate to do it...but food trumps wood! It isn't too terribly hard of a choice, because while these trees do provide aesthetics we appreciate, the do not provide other imperative functions right where they are. So we gotta do what we gotta do!!! (I think I'll go back to that "happy place" of sweet fruit, birds, blossoms, bees and shaded Shabbat naps in the summer for just a little longer!)

Preparing the Gardens

Last week we set up our cold frames to get some seeds started. We re not "on top of it" enough to have our spring cold crops in this year...but we hope to do that next year. We worked with what we had. These are some windows that the previous owner left in the barn for us. We have them propped up with hay bales at an angle facing south. This is the first time we have tried to start seeds ahead in a cold frame. We always just sowed them directly before. I still have some strawberry seeds in the freezer that should be ready to be started this week, and I want to start some rosemary yet too. We are using Heirloom and Organic Seeds. We hope to pick a few to save this year in the learning experience (that's another post!)


Geodes!! We have some very rocky soil being tilled for the first time in forty years (if I get the hand me down story right). In addition to wheel barrels and wheel barrels of rocks we have removed so far...we also came across many of these little beauties. The bucket on the left is what geodes look like when they are unearthed - like a bunch of ugly rocks, right? Not right. When they are cleaned up and split open what is revealed are beautiful rocks liked what is pictured on the right. (I borrowed these photos. My kids are sick and in bed as I type...maybe we'll to a post on our own geodes one day. Can you homeschool mommas smell a science project??) We have these all over our property. We often find them laying about. The sun which catch them as just the right angle and you will get a glimpse of a sparkle and there one is, that has been unearthed, opened and sparkling... we think that's pretty cool. :-) YHVH's Creation never ceases to amaze me.



Next, pictured here, are our garden rows that we have prepared. What you are looking at is 5 rows 125 feet in length (there is a break in the middle) beds that are 3 feet wide. They have been tilled, rocks pulled, hoed, covered with a thick (decomposing) hay mulched then wet it down. Before that, we laid out tin roofing (that's what we had to work with) to kill the grass and weeds before we tilled it. It seems to have worked very well. This garden is behind the house. Now in a few weeks, as it warms up the soil should be getting rich with micro organisms and worms (WE HOPE!), and the straw will have settled in a little more. We are gleaning techniques from the Square Foot Gardening method that we have done in the past in creating these 3 ft beds. We have put 6ft between each row. This allows our mower to to pass by with the bulky bagger attachment without disturbing the precious plants in the beds. We are going to do some "aggressive composting" this year (yet another post!) and our collected clippings are part of that project.

Pictured above is on the left (facing) side of the house. We have four rows that are 40 feet long and 4 ft wide. Last year we realized how hard our ground was going to be to prepare...we have never done a project of this scale before, we have only manual equipment (we do not own a tiller or tractor), and we got thinking like homesteaders. Instead of getting uptight about what we don't have or doing something financially irresponsible to get something we think we need. We started thinking...what DO we have? The list looked something like this:

• Little to no experience
• 40 year old bodies
• 4 small + 2 medium children
• Very limited money
• Faith in YHVH (knowing He has called us to do this)
• Space and full sun
• City water (chlorinated and fluoridated!!!!!!)
• The willingness to work
• Hand tools and the ability to get more
• Seeds
• LOTS and LOTS or book knowledge and research skills
• LOTS and LOTS of hay from our empty fields
• Our health (as long as we keep those back injuries in check!!)
• Flexible employment
• Not afraid of failure

So we decided to research Hay Bale Gardening (yet ANOTHER post). The picture above is of some hay bales we layed out at the end of the fall cutting of hay. We let them sit in the weather to decompose. We will empty our previous compost from our raised beds on a portion of them, and as a small amount of top soil and the others we will enrich with nitrogen (hoping to finish that though process this week on exactly what we will use for that). One of the BEST things you can use ironically, is urine. We are all about, off the grid living and sustainability..but we haven't quite reached THAT place yet! (Thats a big garden!) Although I wouldn't be at all surprised if my husband has made a trip or two out there during his star gazing and moon observations on nice evenings. I am sure my beagle has hit it more than once...lifting his leg is his trade mark move that drive my husband crazy!! Needless to say...we are still searching for an alternative.

My DH trellised one of the rows when we set it up last year. and it is one of the finest I have ever seen! However, I forgot that when I went through the seeds and planned the garden. The only thing I have to trellis this year is cukes. I might get adventurous and try melons...SFG shows that is can be done....but not likely.
Lastly, pictured above, are our beloved raised beds. We brought them with us from PA. These things are wonderful for small spaces and raised bed gardening. They are made of recycled plastic and are solid as can be. I think they had a 50 year guarantee if I remember correctly! They are 8x4 ft (although planting space inside is a little smaller). We warped wood beds in the first year we tried them...maybe we didn't make them right??? But these have "done us right". Anyway, they are now designated for our new winter greenhouse, planned for the fall as we hope to follow Elliot Cole's method of harvesting cold winter crops all winter long in an unheated simple cold frame/green house. They will also play an important role in our aggressive composting plan this summer. We will move these boxes in the back, by the main back garden and set it up there. The space you see in the bottom picture(before the little "road" that runs behind it) is where we are planning to place our perennial herb garden (ANOTHER POST). It is roughly and 80 ft square space.

Preparations we have not yet completed in regards to gardening this year, but HOPE too:

1. Tilling a sorghum patch
2. Tilling a corn patch
3. Preparing a Strawberry bed
4. Setting up our rain collection system
5. Installing the solar well pump system for the well we had dug last year
6. Preping the Herb Garden
7. Planting our 18 fruit trees we got this week!!!

That's all that comes comes to the top of my head. :-)

This post was shared at Barn Hop #5

Blessings to you and yours!

p.s. If any of our local friends are reading this (Middle Southern TN) ...when I said we have lots of hay...I mean LOTS. A lot of it is damp/wet and will make wonderful mulch for your gardens and trees. If you would like to bring a truck or trailer by to load some up and take it home....please please do! (Before we got our trailer we used to take the seats out of our caravan and fill totes up with compost from our community compost pile back in PA. That is how we filled our raised beds at the last house!) We are trying to clear that space beside the barn. It is free for the taking! We have more coming this year...until we have more animals....and our storage solutions worked out...we have LOTS to share.

Squirrel Skin'in

My 10 year old son and his 12 year old friend Andrew were hiking in our woods when they came across a (freshly) dead squirrel. It was stiff but not bloated or stinky. So they rushed to the house to show us and ask if they could skin it! The following post is Mom interviewing Elijah on the process and dictating his words. This interview may not be for the faint of heart, girls, vegetarians or die hard animal activists. But the boys and men will probably love it!

Elijah has been reading about preparing animal hides for some time now. So he knew exactly what to do! His favorite resource was Little Bear's Outdoor Adventure Guide, by Richard Wheeler. Elijah wanted to make it clear that the technique for skinning the squirrel (described below) are his own, it was not in the book. The book taught him how to do the following steps of preparing the hide once it was skinned. He practiced his own idea of skinning it by using the toy stuffed raccoon (and his finger) as he plotted it out in his mind..way before this day arrived. He also used Shiloh our Beagle who is willing to lay on his back for anyone who will pet him...to run the drill with his finger as well. (I just learned this in the interview!)

This is what he did

1. Skin the squirrel: Chop off it's head and all four feet (not the legs). Turn it over to its back so you can see the stomach. Then with a very sharp knife, you slit it half-way down the chest staying clear of the stomach. Then you slit down the "arms "from the "wrist area to the center slit on the chest. Then you carefully proceed down the chest, careful not to puncture the stomach (because that would be very stinky and gross). Then you proceed from that center slit down each bottom/back leg with one straight cut to the paw. (Much like you did on the top legs.) Then you peel the skin away like peeling a really tough orange, until you get around to the tail bone where it will "get stuck". Then you chop through the tail bone. You cut a little slit up the bottom of the tail and try to remove the bone. This is a tricky process, you may lose some tail. Peel the skin around that bone and you have skinned a squirrel! (Discard the body.)

2. Fleshing: Lay the skin fur-side down on a clear surface (OUTSIDE your Mamma's house!!). Than you take knife or flint and scrape away any fat or flesh that may remain on the skin to create a smooth inner surface.

3. Tailoring and salting (otherwise known as stretching): You can build a square frame similar to a picture frame to fit the animal you are stretching. Then you take a stiff nylon string and poke it through the skin up at the point where the "wrists and ankles" are and tie that string to a frame at the four corners. Then you let it sit propped up so air can get around the skin, in a dry room where varmints can't get to it and the skin side is up. It is ideal to be around 70 degrees. (We put ours in the attic to dry.) Use about an 1/8 of a cup of salt to sprinkle on the skin side of the hyde. After about 12 hours you tap the fur side of the skin like a drum (skin side down) to know the old salt off and repeat. You will repeat this process twice a day for 2 days or until you can scrap the skin side of the hyde and it is dry, kind of like a tough jerky.

Then you are done. Just clip your string to take it down from the frame and take the string out of the squirrel. Now you have a fully prepared hide.

Elijah (and Ma)

Making a Live Stock Cage for Transport

The goal:

To build a med/small livestock cage to transport animals we collect, to bring on the farm. This cage would be suitable for medium to small animals.

The budget:

$0

The time frame:

We would be picking up our first lamb next week and this was Ben's one day off to do it.

The trailer:

We had two choices:

1. We could use the back of the farm truck, but it has its cons. It doesn't often leave the farm, because it is geared really low and made to be a work horse, not a road car. It takes some "doing" to get it up to 55 mph. Currently, it's battery is dead and we just discovered our battery charger is too. We could jump it...but it is one of those vehicles that is best not driven far from the house and just used ON the farm. It only carries 3 passengers.

2. We have an open trailer we pull behind the Maxi Van. It has a loading ramp in the back. It measures 5x12. It has a wood floor and an open metal guard rail around the sides that reaches about a foot. (You can buy these in different sizes at most Lowes.) It has a tall loading gate in the back.

We chose to work with the trailer.

The parameters:

• We wanted something we could easily take on and off the trailer, so we wouldn't lose the versatility of the openness of the trailer.
• We hoped for something we could re-use with simple or no re-assembly.
• We wanted it to be strong and sturdy, knowing we would likely be transporting adult rams..with horns...who like to "ram" things!
• We also wanted it to be something that could be put on and off the trailer by one or two people. (Like a Pappa and a Mamma team or a parent tween child team.)
• We wanted to work with materials we had on hand.
• We wanted to be able to use it for smaller animals like chickens, turkeys, guineas, etc.
• We wanted to utilize the whole size of the trailer if possible.
• We need it to be well ventilated so we can use it in the summer time.

This is what we came up with:

We used some metal grid fencing that we had. Each panel measures 4X14. We were going to cut it to size, but we found that it bent easily enough, so we did that for most them in stead. We took it over to the trailer and got as many panels as we needed to enclose the top and sides and started bending. We fastened it together to itself with zip ties. This gave a tight strong hold. We will leave the cage in tact when not in use, and simply lift it on and off the trailer as needed. We will tie it to the trailer itself to ensure a solid safe unit that can NOT be removed by a ram's horn. It is well ventilated, yet, we could use tarp if we needed it to be sheltered/covered for long distance cold transport. We can also add chicken wire around the cage, as needed, for transporting smaller animals like birds when that need arises. Ben did end up cutting a 2 ft strip of the gate, with a saw-zaw, to close a gap in the ceiling of the cage so that it would be flush to the ramp gate. This cage met all the parameters we had hoped for, with the materials we already had on hand!

It was a triumphant "new homesteader moment" upon completion of our little project. We felt like "real farmers". We demonstrated, resourcefulness, ingenuity, and frugality. We filled a need to further advance our farm's growth. That's what good old fashioned homesteading is all about, right?! Maybe there is hope for these 40 year old (former) urbanites after all! :-) (Some days we wonder.)

Halleluyah!

This post was shared on Barn Hop #4

Cloth Pads

Sorry, Fellas - this post is for the ladies only.

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In recent months I was toying with idea of going back to cloth menstral pads. I have used them in past, I even made my own. So it wasn't a new topic for me. I just found myself in a different season of life and went back to store bought pads. I blessed someone with my cloth stash (I did the same thing with diapers in that season too and just recently had to replenished that supply!) Now that we are living on the farm and I am "training myself in frugality" in order to put every spare penny we have toward paying off our farm and developing it into something we can making a living from. I could not ignore the disposable nature and repurchase of this monthly need when I am not pregnant. Well...as I was pondering all these things and "leaning back in that direction" to convince myself to sew up a batch of pads...I found myself actually developing a sensitivity to the commercial paper products I was using. My procrastination was turning into a real urgent issue when that time of the month rolled around! The commercial pads made me itch and chafe! Yikes! That's not OK! So in the midst of my NEED, I started searching for them online. I came across a lady that makes and sells them on Etsy and purchased a pack. I was so pleased with them that I decided to give her my business instead of making them myself. So I bought more (probably more than I relly needed - but now I am well stocked for many many years to come and for me and my daughters to use.). I think she makes them better than I would anyway! I have been asked in the past for resources regarding this topic and this maker excels all the others I have suggested/used in the past. So I wanted to share her information with you.

Rachel (a.k.a. Pleat on Etsy - linked above) makes a "all in one pad" in several sizes. I personally own every one (with the exception of the thong style!). There is a panty liner, regular, overnight and an extra long overnight. Her descriptions are very thorough and detailed if you visit her page on Esty, so I will leave that to her. Below is photo of some of my (used) pads to show you the difference in scale between all 4 sizes. (I also want to show you how nice you can keep them if you wash them the way I do.) In addition to size coverage, they have different thicknesses to keep you covered in obsorbancy too. She quilts the different layers into a sturdy one piece pad, which seems to make the absorbancy more effective than the pocket style (in my opinion/experiance). Rachel (at Pleat) has thought of everything!

I have really come to appreciate the "all in one" style over the "pocket style" that I used to use. The pocket style pad is one that has inserts (usually folded to the thickness desired) and tucked into a pocket of the main pad. These are said to be advantageous because you can take them apart for cleaning and drying and customize the level of thickness/protection you need. However, I found them (in comparison) to be cumbersome and less comfortable than the "all in one" version. Depending on the brand/maker they can feel "wadded" and even slip some. Than you have lots of pieces to deal with in washing and storage. They seem bulkier to me than the "all one" design that Rachel makes. Because that was all I had used in the past, I was concerned about the idea that I might not be able to get them clean and or that they wouldn't dry effectively. However, I am very pleased to find out that I actually prefer the cleaning process with the "all in one" style pad!

Caring for the pads are easy. I just wash most of mine by hand in the sink after each use by using very cold water, and ringing them until he water runs clear. Then a add a squirt of my foam pump liquid castille soap I have on the counter with warm water, scrub it together and ring and rinse until it rinses clean. Than I ring the water out and hang it on a hanger with a clothes pin to dry. Or throw it in the dryer if I have another load going in at that time. Sometimes, I will do a partial rinse and throw it in a load of wash that is going it at the same time, but I rarely do that. Washing them right awat by hand ensures that I leave no stains behind. If I let the pads sit unwashed (like in a can or waterproof bag) they are more suseptable to stain. But hand washing at each change with cold water does the trick! They are so pretty, so I would like to keep them that way as long as I can. :-) It really is a simple process. When I go away, I just have a opaque waterproof bag, I carry in my purse or diaper bag. If I am in a place where I am not comfy rinsing them (like a public rest room) I will just do it when I get home or change to paper for that short time. I still keep some paper in stock in case company needs one.

Another thing I really appreciate about Pleat's design and function is the heavy duty snap she uses. I have used velcro before and had ones with cheaper snaps that were not constructed as strongly as these. The velcro, can become uncomfortable if it is not lined up just right. It also can collect lint in the wash, if you use a machine. I didn't like having to pick lint out of the sticky side of the velcro to get them to continue to hold together well! The cheap snaps wore our quickly, while I have not used these for along time, it is very obvious that the construction on these pads are much more solid than the other brands I have tried. Which was another reason why I just went ahead and stocked up hers instead of trying to make them myself.

Lastly, my oldest daughter is entering into this new season of life. I wanted to teach her how to use cloth right from the start. W would not have to pay for the expensive organic disposable pads to avoid the chemicals yet she would be protected. I like that!

Cloth pads are a little bit of an investment right up front...but it pays for itself in so many ways down the line! I feel really good about my choice to (finally) get back to cloth.

So if you are considering, a safe, soft, comfortable, effective, pretty, chemical free and sustainable alternative to commercial disposable personal care...I highly recommend checking out Rachel's Pads over at Pleat. I believe you will be as satisfied as I am.

(This is not a paid referral or affiliate program. Rather, just a satisfied customer who would love to send business Pleat's way because she has produced an exceptional product! You also might like to know that, the sales of these pads are the primary income for there family at the time of this writing!!) We have a developing friendship (they hope to homestead one day and thinks outside the box too, so we have some things in common!). So, go ahead and tell her I sent you. She'll know who you are talking about! :-)

This post was Shared at Simple Life Thursdays

Tapping Maple Trees

In the fall we made preparations for making gallons and gallons of our own pure maple syrup. We marked enough trees for 50 taps while the leaves were still visible, insuring that we wouldn't accidentally tap a pine tree or a phone pole =). We have good friends who successfully tapped their trees and had given us good advice and encouragement.

This coming full moon (March 19th) is known in The Farmers Almanac as "the Maple Moon" as it marks the perfect time to tap your trees. Of course, this little tip only works in Canada and the far Northeast, not Tennessee! I called our friends for some advice on tapping in early February, and found that they had already tapped their trees and were boiling down their sap! We were already far behind schedule. What Rookies!

Most of the delay came from the sudden panic that came from realizing how much sap we could potentially collect. After getting our metal taps on Ebay, and getting our buckets online, we realized that if each tap produced a mild 2 gallons of sap, that we would have 100 gallons to store and boil down. We had no place to put that much, let alone a vessel to cook it. It took us some creative "out of budget" spending to find and rush 4 stainless steel rectangle pots, 1 foot x 2 feet x 15 inches tall. When placed side-by-side, these fit perfectly on the top of our wood stove, and would work well outside on a fire-pit too.

Finally, once we had all of our tools, and the perfect plan...the weather warmed up in a huge way. Instead of the FREEZING nights and chilly days, we suddenly (in February) had t-shirt weather at night, and days as warms as 70 degrees during the day. Tree tapping requires really cold nights and days no warmer than 50 degrees (at least ideally). After 2 weeks of this early Spring, we finally had ONE day where the weather was remotely close to ideal.

Under the imperfect conditions, we opted to tap only 3 trees. The taps went in perfectly, but as I was preparing the bucket, I noticed a label on the bottom...warning that to wash my hands after handling the bucket as it was made with cancer causing chemicals. So much for cheap buckets on the internet. We managed to scrounge up 3 food-grade buckets from our pantry and used those instead.

The next challenge was the wind. For every two precious drops that fell from the tap, one blew horizontally and missed the huge target completely. Plus, all kinds of schmutz fell into the bucket, including more than a few ants. I ran out to the hardware store, and came back with 3 1-foot sections of 1-inch hose to run from the tap itself directly into a hole cut into the lid. Overnight, we collected nearly 4 gallons of sap from our three buckets. The sap was schmutz-free and was a subtle carmel color. After running it through some cloth to filter it further, we were finally ready to boil it down.

For those of you expecting free samples of our tasty finished product, you must realize that 4 gallons of sap needs to boil down to 1/40th of its volume to remove the water and intensify the flavor. The process took several hours, as we transferred the liquid to smaller and smaller pots. At last our finished product was ready to taste...it was indeed yummy. We finished it after just 2 pancake breakfasts.

We are really excited about doing it "for real" next year.

-Ben

This post was shared at Barn Hop #4

Talkin' Chicken Feed

What do YOU use for chicken feed? We started investigating thing a little more thoroughly, we were concerned about the GMO corn everywhere and not sure about soy and decided to do some homework on the nutritional needs of our birds. We intend to increase our flock, brood and rotate our laying hens as meat birds, keeping fresh birds on the table and maximum egg production going, at a minimal cost for renewing the flock. We eat organically as a family and use natural means for our health care. We intend to farm and raise our animals in this same way, as our budding farm growns. Chickens are our only farms stock so far...so we figured we ought to start with them! We have kept chickens for a couple years at now including our previous residence, which was only one acre. We have never had to treat our chickens for any thing. We hope to keep it that way! Back to the topic of feed.....

I found this great site which gave me exactly what I was looking for. The nutritional needs of my chickens and the nutritional value of things to feed it. (YES!) While I would love to give my chicken organic feed like my family (and they have actually gotten some form my own pantry from time to time!) it is not reasonable for our tight budget to do this. So...it is our ultimate goal to grow our own for them. I am not sure if that will be realistic this year but if we can we will. If not - we hope to make a priority for next year. In the mean time we seem to have found a wonderful corn free/soy free inexpensive solution. Millet based wild bird seed! A friend referred us to the local feed store where we can get it for 11.50 for a 50# bag! (We thought we were doing prety good at 20 for a 40# bag...so imagine our delight to find that we could do it for half that!!)In addition to this, we feed them organic scraps from our kitchen; they free range, getting lots of good scratching; They have oyster shells nip at and when Spring, Summer and Fall come into their own, round we will throw them our garden scraps and maybe some grass clippings (They LOVE grass clippings!).

In addition to increasing our flock of Road Island Reds to account for meat birds and have enough eggs for sale, we plan to add Guinea and Turkeys to our list of fowls (hopefully this year).

So the last piece to our bird feed puzzle is worms! We had a year experience in worm farming (on a HUGE scale) and that's something we know how to do. They are an amazing creature that is so beneficial to the farm eco system, that we decided our farm can not be without them. (That is another post) They too, will be part of our bird feed in the future.

I would love to hear how others feed their birds!

This post was shared at Simple Lives Thursdays

Vote for Our Homestead Business Name

One of our goals long term goals is to "bring Papa home" so we can make a living from our farm. This plan is very complex and involves many things. We want to produce our food, live debt free and operate business, and minister in the midst of it all (which is the primary call). We hope to have an online/local store on the farm which sells homestead supplies of all kinds and is much like a simple old fashioned general store. We hope to sell things produced on our own farm as well marketing things from other homesteads and craftsman. We are likely to have bulk foods and produce locally as well. There is a small Amish community here which we hope to serve and a little bit of tourism in the summer time, so we also hope reach that market as well.

We have purchased two web addresses but can't decide which we prefer. This is where you come in. We wanted to poll folks to see which name they prefer. You are welcome to further comment below as well. The poll will only accept one vote per person.

**We had "technical difficulty" with the widget code we were trying to use for the poll in the post, and had to use different one over in the top side bar of the blog. Please cast your vote there. If you have any comments - you'll have to post them here. Thanks for helping us decide!



This post was shared at the Homestead Revival Barn Hop