New Adventures in Gardening for Me

I don't know anyone who enjoys pulling weeds. Do you?

In the orchard area, we simply lay down cardboard, rough compost, and straw/hay every fall. We are still conditioning the soil in that area from hard, compacted, clay soil. We sow orchard grass seeds in the spring, and deer forage in the fall. We've tilled it all under once. Each year the weeds we don't want grow less and less as the plants we do want produces more and chokes out the weeds. Our orchard area is 1/4 acre of terraced hillside dropping a total of 300 ft. There's no way I'm hand pilling unwanted weeds there.

My 2020 garden experiment

In our summer garden in front of our house, we are trying something new I saw on YouTube, landscape fabric. I know we've tried it before with little to no success, but we'll be trying a different tactic, as Living Traditions homestead does. To try it out, I bought a heavy duty landscape fabric like they did. It's 4'x50' and much heavier than we've used before. After Dave's grandson tilled the garden, we let the rains settle the soil a bit. We laid two 25' rows of the weed cloth down. We pinned it down about every  8"-12" and overlapped the edges about 6," I burned holes in the fabric every 2' for the transplants to go in. So it looks like this. The black area is the landscape fabric. I'll put 6 cattle panels anchored by T-posts between the two rows of tomatoes to support them. I'll also be putting a drip hose line between the rows and on the outside edges, so 3 lines total.

For the other two rows of Roma tomatoes, I'll do it the same way I always have. If this works, I'll buy more landscape fabric for the other areas of the garden. This should make it easier to work smarter, not harder in the future. None of us are getting any younger. FYI (for your information), I rotate where I plant my vegetables every two years. I planted my tomatoes where my 3 sisters row is in 2018. I planted them a foot apart and that was way too close together so this year I'm giving them 2'. Even after all these years of organic gardening, I'm still trying new things to make it better, There's no absolutely right way to garden. You can read dozens of books but until you get your hands dirty, get out there, and do it, you'll never find what works for you. You take the basic principle, tweak it, and make it your own.

The only bit of bad news is that our last remaining angora died. I believe the same parasite that killed Buddy Baby was the reason. So we are out of the rabbit fiber business. There goes my instantly usuable rabbit poo tea and time release fertilizer. Well, we've got plenty of chicken manure. It'll just have to be composted first.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

Get to Know Your Weeds and a Rabbit Emergency

What's up with this weather??!! This is Georgia at the end of May, and our highs are in the 60s!

After selectively hand weeding all of my garden over the last several weeks, I thought I'd let you know what I left in there. Granted a large portion ended up in the compost heaps. But I left quite a bit to pull up while waiting for my neighbor to till. I might mention we haven't mowed our yard yet also because I'm still harvesting spots in rotation. If I miss some of the roots, by the time I get back to a spot, 3 or 4 days later, the missed roots will spring back with new growth. They are easier to see because everything else is cleared out.

When I say know your weeds, I mean know how they grow. Take a look at their roots, how they grow, and how they propagate.  Are there any medicinal qualities you might need? Are they edible and do they taste good? These are important factors in knowing how to kill them, or simply move them to a new spot where they can flourish.

Weeds like plantain, wild strawberry, violets, blackberries, clover, fleabane, and wild Amaranth do double duty as critter food and for us. If you wait until the wild Amaramth goes to seed, These are easily harvested with a paper bag. Once fully dried. it can be a grain side dish or can be ground into a gluten-free flour. All the rest can be eaten in salads or dried and made into medicinal teas or tinctures. The chickens love the small red berries and leaves as much as the rabbits.

Speaking of rabbits, Buddy Baby, is ill. When I went out to feed her yesterday, she was lying on her side. Only her ears and nose twitching at the sound of my voice, made me realize she was still alive. I tried to stand her up to no avail. She can't use her hind quarters. There was something neurological going on with her because she had no external bleeding. This doe was my entry into angora rabbits before my husband's death. He and Buddy had a firm bond. No matter how high I elevated his hospital bed, she found a way up there to be loved, snuggled, or just nap with him. 

I'd have Mel bring her in when we got back from my treatment. We'd check her our thoroughly then. After my  treatment, which I was 15 minutes late to because of my bunny baby (she's six years old but still my baby bunny) issues, I told Mel about her. Mel brought in my girl after feeding the pretty pullets (I did think of a new name for my chickie babies). We ran warm water in the kitchen sink. We gave her a good soaking and checked out her skin and bones. Nothing. We did our normal March shearing of the bunnies in April just in time for the weather to get cooler in May. Go figure. With less than an inch long fur, there was little danger of her fur matting. In the bath, there was one instance of her fighting. That was when she got a snout full of water. Otherwise, she was cold and limp.

Buddy Baby

I figured she was on her way out to join my husband in heaven. Mel wouldn't give up so easily, thank God. Now normally, Buddy Baby would drink a 32 oz water bottle of water a day sometimes one and a half. Now she wasn't drinking. She just laid on Mel's desk while Mel sprayed her down with a generic brand of "No More Tangles" and vigorously started rubbing her to get her circulation going. The spray will allow agitating her fur without matting.

Mel ground up some rabbit pellets, water, and a pinch of antibiotic powder and gave it to her for nutrition. She only managed to get two syringes full into her. This was followed by six syringes full of water. We still didn't know what was wrong with her. Mel and I put her in a medium dog cage with several folded towels under her and a hand towel over her for warmth. She was as snug and comfortable as we could make her.

We hit the internet researching what possibly be wrong with my beloved bunny. I know it couldn't be poisoning from the greens I was giving her. I'm extremely careful about what I give our girls to eat and what's around them. We ran down the list of what it could be. The only thing that fit was Encephalitozoonosis (E. cunculi), a small microsporidian parasite that's intracellular (it has to live within another cell. parasite). It's carried by rats and mice. As much as we've combated rats on our homestead, we still have some that frequent the bunny/chicken barn. There is no treatment. All you can do is boost the immunities and pray. Once infected, you'll stay infected. The leaky hoop barn had lowered her immunities to where these spores attacked her. But Mel, God bless her, fed and watered this bunny every couple of hours through the night.

This morning, I checked on Buddy Baby. She's still alive! Mel again fed and watered her with the syringe. This time she ate/slurped down four syringes full of food. She passed urine and a tiny bit of feces during the night. This is a very good sign that she might recover. We're crossing our fingers. Rabbits can be an easy or difficult animals to raise. No, we aren't taking her to the vet. He'll just say there's nothing to be done and offer to put her to sleep. Better not to put her in more stress. She'll be by those who love her and cared for. If she dies, she'll die. She will be sorely missed by me for the love and antics that always made me smile. But if she survives, so long as she is kept healthy, she continue to make us smile. So long as she's not in pain she'll be with us, we'll have her.

After I typed this my Buddy Baby died. RIP Buddy Baby. You'll be missed but I know you are happily reunited with my late husband.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

Arctic Blasts Come Early This Year

We usually don't get the first of many arctic blasts until January. This year it came early sending freezing temps of nighttime lows in the teens and daytime highs just above freezing. It leaves me with foreboding of the winter to come.

It's a good thing I didn't plant a fall garden to offset our year's garden loss. It would have frozen. Icy frost covered everything for two days this week.  With all my health issues this spring and summer, we've been ill prepared for these cold temperatures this soon. Our firewood pile was nonexistent except for 1/4 cord of firewood leftover from last year. I was scouring the yard for the twigs and branches we use for kindling between rainy spells while Mel was on the phone arranging for another half cord of firewood. Did I mention that the price had increased over the summer to $80 for a half cord?

It's a good thing we're out of the rabbit business. The extra water bottles have come in handy for our two, long eared babies. Their fur have has come back in nicely to keep them warm. Before with all the rabbits alive and kicking when their water bottles froze overnight, we'd have to thaw them out and refill them, or substituting crocks of water for them. Rabbits can dehydrate very quickly. Now we have ten spare bottles so I can fill them from the tap inside and carry fresh water to them.

The chickens are another story. Their 5-gallon buckets and pans ended up with an inch or two of ice and they can't drink. I fill an apple cider jug with lukewarm water for them. When I go outside, I have a pointed branch (I keep one by each bucket) to break through the ice in the 5-gallon buckets. I'll pull the ice out because it usually has debris trapped in the ice and drop it on the ground. In the bunny/chicken barn, I'll pour some of the water from the jug into the pan. It'll help wash the pan clean of dirt and debris so the birds can have good water to drink. I then fill it up with fresh water.

I rarely give them more than a gallon of water in the barn because they are free range chickens and they can avail themselves to one of the 5-gallon buckets (4 of them) around the house. After all are fed, the straw is raked under the bunny cages and roosting bars. This gives me fairly stable walk ways through the barn. It's enough to keep the stay-in-the-barn chickens (4 of them) busy for hours spreading it back out. The cold temperatures are keeping most of the chickens from free ranging in the garden and orchard areas so I've taken to scattering grains and seeds around the barn. As well as, their feeders in the barn. Nobody wants to be out in the blustery wind with the temps so low. I even dropped the tarp down over one end to keep everyone warm. Since the wind and rain blows in from one side, this is sufficient. There are still the wired slats between the pallets to provide ample ventilation for the critters.

We are huddled inside for the most part. We are keeping busy with computer work, spinning, knitting, and crocheting. We are definitely glad to have the wood stove. It keeps us warm and cozy. The kettle and water bath canner on top of the wood stove provides the much needed hot tea and chocolate available on demand and humidity in the house. I'm cooking dinner around 3PM because Mel has this thing about eating after dark. By the time we finish dinner and watch two shows on Netflix (currently Supernatural & Agents of Shield) while knitting and crocheting, it's time to go to our respective corner (laptops) to work or play for an hour or three with the alternating chore of fetching four splits of firewood. Mel is nice enough to leave me enough wood to start the morning fire. I'm up most times before her. After that, I'll spin some wool and Mel will read her books until bedtime.

So we're in full winter mode this week. Next week it's suppose to warm back up to our normal November temps again. We'll pick back up with our outside activities like a new coop and run for Mel, and I'll continue with revamping the old rabbit hutches into quail hutches.

Oh, and the coyotes are back. Between Mel, Nnyus, Kassity, and I, we're making it known that they are not welcomed here anymore!

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo 

Picking Fresh Greens for Rabbits

Every year around April or May, I transition my rabbits from a pellet diet to a regular green diet. I used to grow fodder for them, but I started looking at all the fat cotton tails running around the property and thought why am I bothering to grow this? We have a virtual smorgasbord for them to eat for free. It was a hand slap to the forehead moment.

Before moving up to the Cockeyed Homestead, I had a suburban homestead of an acre sized lot. Think of swimming pools and well manicured lots until I moved into it. I grew wild roses for rose hips. My front yard was typical suburbia unless you looked closer at my hedges and realized it was neatly trimmed rosemary. If you looked at my 3'x25' gorgeous flower bed and you breathed the scent of of herbs surrounded by insect deterrent/beneficial insect attractant flowers.

Behind the 8' wood privacy fence to the backyard was where suburbia stopped and where Murphey's Madness took over. Almost 1/4 acre was an organic garden or as organic as it could be, with pecan and fruit trees, a small chick chateau, rabbit cages, dogs and cats, composting bins, and a rain water catchment systems.

Jennifer, it's her 33rd birthday in a couple of days

My now pastry chef daughter and semi homesteader got her start at home. She work along side me in our galley style kitchen creating to die for pastries and chocolates. Even sugar-free versions her insulin dependent, old mother could eat. Competition pieces for various culinary contests and wedding cakes were made in that very kitchen.  She also learned useful skills like canning and preserving that she helped grow. So it wasn't that bad living with old Mom and Dad except when they turned up the stereo too loud and were dancing. "Some people have to wake up early in the morning! Ya know?" But I digress...

Even the game room (26'x16') was solar powered. It was our youngest daughter's teenage sanctuary. It had all the modern conveniences. She had a sitting area, telephone, a jukebox, a stereo, a television, a wet bar with running cold water (courtesy of rain harvesting), a mini fridge, microwave, composting toilet in a private closet space, air conditioner and/or ceiling fans, a small wood stove, electronic darts, and even a pool table. She could runaway from home and never leave home. Not that she ran all that at once. We were teaching her about amp hours on the batteries and survival. How to live off grid and she juggled it all in her decision making. Her other choice was to come inside where one or both of her parents were. Yuck! But I digress yet again, but the was building accurate...

But even before all of that, I was hunting. I'd follow rabbit tracks. I'd see what they nibbled on and what they devoured so I learned where to place my snares. Later, I used the same tactics for wild pigs and deer. I don't believe in catch and release. It was hunt and eat even though I had to money to purchase what I wanted. I was learning and refining skills I might need one day.

So when it came to finding fresh greens for rabbit food. I had a

poplar seedling

basic knowledge. I'm still learning. On this cockeyed property, what looks like a disaster of a yard is actually a gold mine in fresh eating for all. Variety of different grasses, plantain, wild violets, clover, wild strawberries, blackberry bushes galore, hibiscus, dandelions, and assorted other yummy things growing wild and only moderately under control. It's just there for the picking so I do. Along with those our property is loaded with tulip poplar, oak, other fruit trees and bushes we've planted, and sweet gum trees. Every year they shed a small ton of seeds. These sprout up every spring through summer. The rabbits love these. Not to mention what we grow in our garden for all of us to enjoy. Now we even grow 50% of their hay intake too in our orchard. Cha-Ching!

If your not sure whether it's healthy for a rabbit to eat, do your research. I'm still doing it. That's what books and the internet is for. Don't just take my word for it. Read various sites. While I'm at it, I'll add this caveat. Be careful. On our property, it grows the way nature intended (about 2/3 are still wild) within reason no chemicals, fertilizers (composted chicken waste and rabbit manure only), or pesticides with minor emissions from our lawn tractor or our vehicles (we may drive 25 miles a month baring doctor visits or trips). Our weed whacker, small chainsaw and cultivator are electric. Still I hand pull their greens daily and rinse them well before feeding them to our rabbits. Who knows what might have urinated on them during the night.

lemon balm

 I rotate what I pick to feed our rabbits each day. The constant is the broader leaf grass that they favor, violet leaves, and plantain. I'll throw in some dandelions. The rest alternates between a smattering of clover (it can be hard on their kidneys), chicken planted strawberries with strawberries (it's all over our yard now), blackberry leaves, poplar, sweet gum, and oak seedlings. Later, will be hibiscus and roses flowers and leaves. Then there's the herb gardens to add to their meals. In fact, as spring turns to summer, and then again to fall the smorgasbord changes. During winter, it's hay, and commercial pellets again.  With each feeding, their feces are checked for signs of digestive upset. For that there is lemon balm growing in my garden for that. It works for people too.

It's usually an early morning chore for me rain or shine. I love getting busy in the sunshine especially since my pain levels have dropped between 0-2. I have time to commune with nature and my Father. I don't mind tending to the critters unless there's snow or ice. During winter feeding the chickens and rabbits is Mel's job. Even though the job is easier with just hay and pellets. She gets out of her seasonal depression a bit and get some weakened sunshine.

My feeding ratio is 65% of the rabbit's body weight. Our smallest rabbit is, Ebony a lionhead/Jersey Woolie cross, is 1 3/4 lbs sheared weight so it's mostly bunny. Let's do some math, fun right? Convert the weight into decimals 1.75. Now, multiply that  by 0. 65. <Er, um, it's too early in  the morning for that! Grabbing my calculator!> 1.13 ozs of fresh green stuff per day for her. For our big girl, Cara a English/Satin cross, is 8 lbs sheared weight. She gets 5.2 ozs of green stuff each morning. A big difference. Yes, I weigh the greens too for each bunny. Yes it's mainly grass and weeds, but no sense in wasting what God provided us either. I'm also an equal opportunity chef when it comes to my rabbits. I'll make sure every rabbit get a proportional amount of alternating goodies bits in their breakfast.

Rabbits do not gorge themselves. They will move away or trample uneaten green stuff. Once they trample it, they won't eat it. I feed their greens to them in the same spot as their empty J feeders.  For us, we just brush the uneaten bits under the cages to compost, or our two disabled hens that live in the rabbitry will eat them.

In the mid afternoon, they'll be let out of their cages to bunny hop and binky to their hearts content. They may graze a bit on the grains that have sprouted from feeding the hens...all rabbit friendly too. Then, after an hour, they are put back in their cages ready for a nap.

So you could say my knowledge of feeding rabbits fresh greens has been decades in the making. Almost half a century worth since I first set my first rabbit snare at age 12. But there's hope for you to learn now. Look around your yard for some of the things I talked about here and check it out.

Trapped in an urban life style? Ever go hiking? How about parks with wooded areas? Away from chemically treated areas. Start foraging. Or, grab some seeds and flower pots. Grow them organically. Get your buns some fresh grown weeds. They'll do them and you some good. Just look at the "weeds" in my fresh salad post.

On a sad note. This morning when I went out to the rabbitry to feed our precious bundles their breakfast wild salad, I found Angus, one our English Angora bucks had died during the night. We named him Angus after a YouTube contest. With his heavy facial furnishings he reminded of the cartoon sheepdog on the Bugs Bunny. Oops! Just googled it and the sheep dog's name was Sam. Well, I named Angus. It fit.

We'd lift his fur  covering his eyes each morning to say good morning to him. "Are you in there?" He'd even gladly let us comb his hair away from his face. Having just sheared him at the end of March, his fur was already 3" long partially covering his eyes.

He'll be sorely missed.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

A Long Winter's Rest-Not in Homesteading

Santa's catching some ZZZs

During winter things slow down, but not on a homestead. Winters are spent caring for your animals and doing all the things you weren't able to accomplish during the year. The only thing getting a long winter's rest is the garden and orchard. It should be sleeping soundly with temps in the teens at night.

For the rest of us, we're just as busy as any other time. We do switch gears though. We switch the rabbits and chickens from their automatic waterers to water bottles and buckets ahead of freezing temperatures. All the animals get a thick layer of straw added to their enclosures. The rabbit cages will be mucked out weekly now to compensate. The chicken house will continue with deep bedding. The circulating, cooling fans come down and are replaced by lights. It gets dark mighty early and people need light to keep from tripping over things that jump out at them in the dark (a bale of hay, a rake, a table, hoses, and even a suspended rabbit cages <grin>). One side of the rabbit barn roofing tarp (windward) will be pulled down and fastened.

Egg production slows down supposedly, but it hasn't with our two=year old hens. I'm still getting six to eight eggs a day coming up on the winter solstice (December 21st). Not a bad haul for ten hens. Houdini went on to his next stage of life...pressure canned and into our stomachs. That's okay, the hens have spoken and we listened. Poor fellow was having a hard time getting any between Lil Red and the hens beating him up. Maybe, we'll try again in the spring for a total Buff Orpington line of chickens, or not. We only have two Buff hens left.

Look at the drumsticks on him!

This leaves us with Lil Red as our only rooster. He's content with his eight hens in the run and roost. I still want a Silkie hen because of their broodiness so I can quit buying chicks. Maybe, our Buffs will go broody next year along with Gimpy/Broody. We'll have to build some brood/setting boxes for them separate from the other chickens and a run big enough for mama and chicks to be protected from the rest of the flock. From experience, I know their cannibal nature. This way they won't be harassed and kicked out of their nests by the other hens.

Since we opened the gate in Gimpy and Gimpy II's habitat, everyone wants to lay their eggs in there now. But since we've put the other chickens back in their coop and run, it's easier on the two, older New Hampshire Reds (Gimpy & Gimpy II) to have their habitat to themselves. They are still producing eggs into their fourth year (one every other day). They are our special pets. Mel hatched them out and they are the only two left.

Video featuring Gimpy!

These were only the short term projects quickly remedied. The long term, all winter long, that replaces the garden deals with angora fiber/yarn production and needlework. I've got a dog sweater/coat on my loom right now, a second one for Nnyus and the one for Herbie to go next. Mel is crocheting a new bathroom rug for her bathroom in cream and lime green cotton yarn. Many hours will be sort of "wasted" spinning in front of the television during the coldest winter months. That's the only "rest" we get in winter. The television rots our brains but our fingers are nimble.

Mel has finished her expanding the floor in her workshop. This project was put on hold while we put the orchard and garden to bed. Her next big project is to build a storeroom out of pallets in the workshop for the extra feed and hay for our Cockeyed Critters. This is a total recycled materials project. We'll be putting down extra sturdy blue pallets for the base floor. We'll be breaking down pallets all winter long for the walls and siding. Luckily, we have a never ending supply of free pallets. We'll be using washed feed sacks as a weather barrier both inside and out. For insulation, you know those umpteen dozens of air sacks and Styrofoam pieces and peanuts that you get when you order or buy something, and people fill up landfills with? You got it. We are reusing those between the feed sacks. Eventually, we'll be adding more pallet wood slats to the inside walls too.We'll even try to reuse the nails the best we can, but we much prefer screws. The only thing we'll have to buy is the plywood for the top and some spray foam or caulk to fill in the cracks. We're trying for a rodent proof room. Just to be safe, I'll buy a 3-gallon bucket of rat killer to put in the room.


Another short project is taking all the aluminum soda cans to the recycling center for cash. Before I came here Mel just crushed and trashed them. I got her to start saving them. Last year, we took a full year's worth of soda cans. Yeah, Mel and I have to have our sodas. We tried Kombucha, but it didn't curb our addiction. Mel was surprised that saving just the cans netted us a $54 profit. Now she saves cans religiously, but not so much to pick them up from the side of the roadways. We turn them in just in time for Christmas spending monies or it'll be put towards one month of electric bills.

I'll be canning some also. What is their to can during winter? I'll can up dry beans, leftover soups and stews, all those tomatoes just taking up space in my freezer that need to be sauced too. They'll be quick meals heated on our wood stove.

Having the wood stove going for winter, there's a dry heat in the house. To combat this, I can or put my water bath canner on the stove to add humidity. Coming from south Georgia, humidity was never a problem. Rarely did the humidity drop below fifty percent. But at this higher elevation, the humidity the other day was two (2) percent outside! I've never seen it that low except for AZ. Without the canners going, it's way too dry in the house.

In spinning yarn, especially angora and alpaca, moisture is the enemy and the friend. Unlike sheep's wool, there is no lanolin in either of these fibers so it's fly away tendencies are high. Coupled with a low crimp ratio, we use spray bottles filled with water and a glycerin mix to help make these fibers easily spinable. I prefer glycerin over oil. It's water soluble so it rinses out of the yarn when washed after spinning.

Halo= fuzziness

While in the garden I reuse spray bottles, but for our wool prep spray, I spend the money at the Dollar Tree for a non BPA spray bottle which is smaller. It only takes a little spritz to condition the fiber for spinning with the lower humidity of winter plus the wood stove. The fiber slides through my fingers much easier. The fly away nature of
the fiber is contained without felting the fiber. Once the yarn is washed and dried, the classic halo of angora is restored.

Well, now I'm rambling so it's time to stop.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Jo

Homestead Year End Summary 2017

What a difference a year makes, but then again not that much has changed over the past year. This year has flown by at record speeds. I've blogged it all since April 2016 with 81 posts here. The Cockeyed Homestead is better organized than when I first came here.

Some major and minor achievements in 2017...

1.  A driveway was installed to replace the washed out one that was here before. An additional 80 feet of new driveway along the side of the garden, house, and down to the chicken and rabbit areas. This has been a godsend and well worth the price.  All together 1/4 mile was sub-surfaced and graveled. My mini van thanks me every time I go out on it. Even though we have a large car park area in front of the barn, we no longer use it. Instead, we now park around back beside...
 
2.  The new deck and ramps off the back porch. It makes for easier access into the house, rabbitry, and chicken area. Now we have access to the screened porch from both sides. The ramp makes the transport of feed, and canned goods from the storage building much more easier for the both of us. Bringing firewood from the firewood sheds to the house is a breeze via a wagon. We have planted yellow mums under this deck section to prettify the area. We also planted spearmint and peppermint around the base of the storage building to deter rats.

3.  We contracted out the refurbishment of our water delivery from the well to the house. It meant a trencher and dozens of new PVC pipe all buried two-foot down. You may remember our previous "pipe" was flexible hose buried, in places, 6" below the surface and was constantly leaking, breaking, and freezing in winter.

4.  We added extra circuits to our power panel and had the electrician make sense to our two circuit boxes. The workshop/barn now has dedicated circuit breakers, and lights. We were using an extension cord from the house. The storage room also has it's own circuit to run the air conditioner, heater, and lights. A small freezer will be added later for frozen bunny water bottles and maybe a mini refrigerator for egg storage. The house also got some wiring and additions in the way of two new ceiling fans  with overhead lighting for the living and breakfast rooms, and a dedicated circuit to run the larger air conditioner in the living areas. Yippee!

5.  We had an additions to our homestead too! We bought twelve Rhode Island Reds and Buff Orpington chicks in the spring to revamp our chicken flock after predators maimed or killed 3/4 of our New Hampshire Red chickens. As of today, we still have eight after culling out the roosters. We now get seven eggs a day and have plenty of chicken in the freezer and canned.

6.  We lost Bennie to a car incident and Devon Angel, but the Lord blessed us with Flynn. Other than Mel thinking she was a boy, she has been quite the character. She fits right into the Cockeyed Homestead Critter collection. You should see her playing in the rain and snow. Hilarious for a cat to do this. Everything is new and exciting for her and she knows no fear..only adventure and playfulness. At six months old, she still demands her Mama snuggles and follows Mel wherever she goes around the homestead.

7.  We lost three of Mel's original English Angoras, but bought five in the spring. We also changed our rabbitry set up. The storage building we originally had our angoras in is no more. The building was cleaned and converted into a food storage building for our home canned goods, root cellar, and staples storage.


8.  A quarter acre was cleared and terraced in preparation of a fruit and nut orchard. We are still laying cardboard and straw over the area in preparation of our organic orchard. Slated to go in are Muscadine and Catawba grapes, blueberry bushes, raspberry bushes, and blackberry vines in the spring. With apple, pear, cherry, fig, pecan, and black walnut trees to follow.

9.  Our garden has a major revamp. With the addition of the side driveway and the drive through area beside the barn, the garden now has definite borders. The trapezoid shaped area has had two feet of wood chips, cardboard, and straw added to the whole area. The raised beds are gone. Along the driveways will be straw bale garden beds. These areas were previously weeds and hard packed clay. They need intensive conditioning and soil improvements. The whole area will get a thick compost boost over winter for the 2018 growing season.

10.  The rabbitry was moved to the new rabbit barn. Mel built it with a broken wrist if you can believe that. The bucks are now housed in 24x36 cages along one side and the does are all in 30x36 cages along the opposite side. The grooming table is at the other end pictured with all their supplies and compartments for each rabbit's fur. When the grooming is finished the rabbits are allowed to run free within the barn. Two large hurricane type fans were added for their comfort and tarps were added to the ends for increment weather.

11.  The chickens also got their own enclosure. It is wired across the top and all around to make predator access more difficult. I'm not going to say predator proof because predator will find a way in no matter what you do. But they should be considerably safer this winter. The nesting boxes are accessible outside the enclosure which makes harvesting the eggs a simple matter of opening a hatch. We can still free range our birds too. This way they will stay out of our garden. Yeah!

12.  With the pick up of sixty cases of pint jars (free) from North Carolina, we actually have a food storage pantry. See #7. While the garden this year was lack luster in production, we made some new friends in the local produce market for produce to can. Some valuable contacts were also made for when we launch our own chemical free produce and products maybe as soon as next year.  While we are no where near filling all sixty cases, we are comfortable in what we have. Next year, we hope to have even more. It's a start. I can see needing another sixty cases of jars easily to supply our needs for a full year. While we aren't totally self reliant yet, we are on our way.

As I write this blog, I'm amazed about how much we actually got accomplished in 2017. It didn't seem like that much with long periods of hurry-up-and-waits. It's good to jot things down and look at accomplishments. Hindsight is twenty-twenty after all and we have been truly blessed in 2017.

Y'all have a blessed day.

Homesteading Dreams Versus Reality Two Years Later

Homesteading ain't cheap. Every penny earned is put back into the homestead in one form or another and then some. You are never out of wants or needs on the homestead. A better driveway for access to and around your property to save wear and tear on your vehicles. The well water delivery system to the house is on the fritz. A handyman with a trencher is needed. Digging  a trench with a shovel and pick axe several hundred feet is just too much work for ladies in their 60s. Gluing pieces of PVC pipe together is a no brainer. A tractor would be nice, but until you can afford one, you scrimp and save to buy one. We compromised and bought a used 17HP lawn tractor. Good quality seed (initially), setting up the garden area, gardening hand tools and maybe even a tiller so you can grow more. Clearing ten years of undergrowth and small trees where you want to put an orchard and grow your own rabbit grass/hay? A bobcat and operator is needed. Of course you could buy them outright and only have to worry about learning how to operate it, storing it, and the maintenance for it. It'll only set you back about $35,000 (that's used). Oh, electricity in the workshop/barn is almost a necessity because you can't run everything off an extension cord. Oh with electricity in the workshop/barn, we can actually install lights! That way we can use it any time. A rain catchment system to help with watering the animals and garden needs PVC pipe, gutters, downspouts, and something to hold the water in. Those big 275 gallon totes are cheap enough at $75 each delivered, but when you talk about 10 of them to provide your needs. It ain't cheap. Sigh! All of it only costs money and lots of it. It would be a steady drain on finances in the beginning and just maintenance.

If you get livestock, the housing, feed, and general care also costs money. As far as I know, none of it is free. I'll start with every homestead gateway into livestock... chickens. Whether you dream of producing fresh eggs for your own use or take the challenge of producing eggs for sale, it has a continual cost. Sure you can frequent Craig's List and find someone giving away chickens ...mostly roosters which may be fine for meat but you don't get eggs from roosters. Or, maybe even a chicken coop. You still have to provide them with a safe environment to do their chicken stuff. This mean predator proofing your property or a small portion of it for the chickens. Fencing against predators don't come cheap. We mostly free ranged our half a dozen New Hampshire Reds for two years. They roosted on our front porch at night. Our property is not fenced. We were doing it cheap. Last winter and early spring, predators reduced our flock down to two hens. But it was spring, everybody sold chicks. We repopulated our flock with a dozen Rhode Island Reds and Buff Orpingtons. They were all one big happy family decimating my garden and going where they pleased. Organic feed ain't cheap and we were supplementing their diet with commercial organic feed. We started losing hens after the rooster culling to predators. We are down to seven hens out of twelve, two New Hampshire Reds (Gimpy and the other injured one), three Rhode Island Reds and two Buffs. There went my dream of selling eggs this year. The certification you paid to be able to sell your eggs is wasted for another year. So we built them an enclosure and coop for them. It only cost money, right?

We fell in love with angora rabbits early on. It was hoped that it would bring income into the homestead by way of fur/yarn/babies sales. Adding five new English Angora rabbits to the rabbitry was the first step. The fact that all five were related (mother, father, and three babies) didn't matter because we had others who were related to breed to. That was until our original angoras died before the newly purchased does reached breedable age (for us 1 year old). Now our angoras are related so no babies which are the biggest money maker (on average $400 per litter x 5 does). It would have easily paid our property taxes, electricity and feed bills for a year.

Losing my buck American Chinchilla this past spring, stopped my meat rabbit production. Mel's adversity to butchering rabbits has kept me from purchasing a new breeding trio. She didn't have to butcher them, I did that. But she preferred cuddling all rabbits. She'd even cuddle the wild cottontails if she could catch them. So we are out of the meat raising side of the rabbitry. A shame too! I do love me some rabbit almost as much as I like venison. We've seen deer on our property all year long, but now that it's deer season...not a cute face to be seen. Sigh! At least, there is an abundance of squirrels to feed the dogs with.

Striving to be sustainable and self reliant is a costly proposition on this homestead. The best laid plans versus the reality is a huge difference. We've had our shares of ups and downs over the past two years. While Mel has been out of work for a year, stuff is getting done on the homestead. She does the manual labor and I foot the bill. It seems like an even trade. Meanwhile, we are planning the third year's growth of our Cockeyed Homestead. Plans are being made for a bigger garden, one that will fulfill our needs for a year without having to purchase extra from surrounding farms. The groundwork for the orchard's five-year plan is underway. While it is slow going now, soon we'll see the fruits of our labor.

My original five-year plan is out the window. But our lives have been enriched by the journey so far. We are happier and healthier than ever before. Mel's depression is starting to be offset by faith. I still expect the SAD to be bad this year, but not as bad as last year. I can see God working and so can she. That makes a huge difference. How bad it really gets, I'll just have to wait and see. I just may have to runaway for a couple of months because I'm not going to put up with it again. I hate to do it but I have to love me too.

So that's it for my reality check.

Y'all have a blessed day.

Homesteading Update

I can't believe it's the end of October already!This year like last year has zipped by.

One wood shed is almost bare

Here on the homestead we use wood to heat with here at the Cockeyed Homestead. We'll go through about two cords of wood each winter which isn't bad. Mel volunteers at one of the local churches who provides free, split firewood to the needy in the community. As a result, we receive two cords of firewood free of the umpteen dozen cords she helps cut and splits.

 Yes, we have a chainsaw besides the little 14" electric one you've seen in our videos. What homestead wouldn't along with axes and mauls? We save the latter to use it the chainsaws go down or the area is too inaccessible on our

homestead. There's quite a few areas like that now. The problem with the big chainsaw is that Mel lacks the upper body strength to pull the cord to start it. While I have the upper body strength, I'm also paralyzed on my right side, so balance is an issue. You want to have great balance when operating equipment that can easily cut off limbs. I'm taking about arms and legs versus tree limbs. So most times, the big chainsaw is useless on our homestead. Mel does use it on church firewood days. There are other men folk who can pull that cord for her. No other women from the church are present. Go figure. I guess the church has different ideas on what woman's work is. But on a homestead, there is no such distinction. And for us, two women alone creating a homestead, it's all woman's work. Everybody works and does what they can.

The chicken run is complete. It's completely fenced in top and sides. It would have been faster going up if I could have helped her, but I've had some medical issues and couldn't help much. No, predators allowed. We've even extended the fencing two foot out from the bottom and have concrete blocks and rocks on top in case a predator decides to get frisky and burrow its way in. Now we just have to sort through the scraps of plywood to find pieces that are big enough the cover the one and a half open sides. While we have a full sheet of plywood we can cut to do the job, we also have a rack full of pieces leftover from other building projects. We might need that full piece in the future like for an additional coop that's in the overall plan.

What's been the delay in doing this? Well, Mel's workshop in the barn was a disaster. Stuff pilled on top of stuff.  Overflow from the house, my stuff, and tools and such dumped wherever. It had to be cleaned and reorganized. That took a few weeks with Mel being side tracked with her ADD tendencies. The weather hasn't cooperated with two tropical storms blowing through and temperatures higher than usual. The barn becomes hell in a few short hours even with the huge fan in there. The lack of a current source of electricity and lighting in there also hasn't help. Hopefully this will be resolved shortly when the electrician can get out here. I've purchased the additional ceiling fans for the house and four florescent workshop lights. Now I'm waiting on him.At least now we can get to the plywood that was stacked against one wall. Now, if she could only find her other cordless drill,  circular saw, and electric staple gun. Not that we don't have spares. She's been using mine, but that also means I can't help her.

The garden has officially been put to bed until spring. All it needs now is another covering of cardboard and manured straw on top. It will been nice and tucked in for a long winter nap. We have to recover the greenhouse. The knock-off version of duct tape, Mel used when she recovered it last, peeled off like cheap wallpaper leaving gaps in the plastic. It's an easy fix. We'll be growing our fodder, salad greens, and transplants for spring in there this year too.

We are still picking up after the brush by of tropical storms Irma and Nate. Sometimes I wonder if there will be a shortage of kindling this year when looking at the huge pile of sticks and twigs. I know I'm tired of picking them up and this is only from walkways and driveways. We started three piles 4x6x4 and there is still a lot more where that came from. We still have not broken out the electric chainsaw to chop the smaller limbs into more manageable pieces. But it will get done eventually. I much prefer doing this ahead of time instead of when I need it. Plus we still have all the piles that were made when Bobby cleared the driveway and orchard for us. That another six piles (think small foothills like where we live). There's never enough time for all the work on the homestead that needs done.

Although we've been blessed with an unusually long Indian summer, the cold weather is coming and we can't dally.

Y'all have a blessed day.

Rabbitry Revisited

It's actually level.

As you may remember, we bought a shed for our angora rabbits last year. We insulated it, ran power to it, and added air conditioning to it. We even built a poo removal system. It never really worked as we envisioned it. Mainly because Mel got fed up with the project.

It was too small for the rabbits we had. While the smaller cage worked, the rabbits were miserable. That's not exactly how we wanted to humanely raise our angoras.This is what we came up with after the shed company refused to deliver our carport.

The new rabbitry is 24x12 (outside dimensions). The tarps used are reflective so the sun won't increase the heat on the inside. There still some more that has to be done like bracing and a couple more pallets for the ends. The cages need to be hung, lighting and fans to cool the rabbits even further. We are installing and automatic watering system for the rabbits so no more water bottles. The cattle

panels sit on top of the pallets making the structure almost 8' high at the highest peak. Leaving us plenty of room to move around inside the rabbitry. It will also need chicken wire screwed into the inside pallets to prevent predators and allow the rabbits to hop around on the ground safely. We'll be doing a deep bedding method of the rabbit manure.

To watch the build click here for part 1 and here for part 2. There will be a part 3 with all the stuff mentioned above so stay tuned. It will be a bit more chilly caring for the rabbits during winter but they don't mind. Mel has done a great job on it. Even though I'm not shown on the videos, I did help.

Now to get started on the chicken structure and run. Oi Vey!

Y'all have a blessed day.

Rainy Days on the Homestead

It's been raining here on the homestead. In fact, I'm thinking about building an ark. No, not really. It hasn't rained that much. Still, for the past couple of weeks, it has rained more than not.

It's great for the garden.  It's even helping replenish our spring and our creek. A real shame we didn't get the totes for our rain catchment system yet. We've had a few inches dropped on us in the past couple weeks and it's cooler. Yesterday during a break in the weather, I did a tour of the garden and pulled a few weeds. Since we mulched the beds with straw the seeds in it started to sprout. No worries, I just fed them to the rabbits. They loved it.

Speaking of rabbits, all but one rabbits eating fodder now. Keekee, a Jersey Woolie/lionhead, is the only holdout. So I'm still buying rabbit pellets. You may have heard Mel talk about her. She's an ill- tempered bunny. She'll growl and try to nip at your fingers whenever you put your hands anywhere near her. We'd sell her, but she's got such luscious fur. Three inches long and soft as any of our angoras. We can't get rid of her because of her bad temper. Nobody would want her. Everyone wants nice bunnies even us. I'd cull her but there's not enough meat on her for a meal unless I made rabbit stew with plenty of potatoes and carrots. When she's sheared, she only weighs a pound.

So what do you do on the homestead on rainy days? Not much. Most of our time is spent on the internet or watching Netflix shows. Sad isn't it? I mean other than the morning and afternoon chores of feeding and watering the animals, not much else can be done. All we want to do is curl up in the bed with a good book.

When there's  a break in the weather, we go out to the new metal structure to build the new chicken coop. But most of the time the lightning is so bad, it's not a good idea. Or driving metal fence posts or connecting fencing in the rain is not a pleasant idea for that matter. A metal roof and metal supports make excellent lightning rods.  Have you ever seen St. Elmo's fire run along a fence line? I have. It's real interesting to watch, but not when you are holding onto the fencing. But still, we try. It is slow going. The weather is putting a damper on our videos too.

 I could always cook, but without the work, we are not so hungry. I guess I could do some canning videos. Lord knows the weather has been cool enough to stand to be in the kitchen. But it means a trip to the grocery store or the farmer's market. In the rain? I don't drive unless I have to. Maybe when I have to go for my therapy session or my podiatry appointment, I'll make a quick dash into the store.  
What am I talking about!? There's nothing quick about the way I move these days. I'll be soaked by the time I get inside and then be chilled by the air conditioning in the store. I mean I'm a one handed gal who walks with a cane. Hello! There's no holding an umbrella. At times like this, I really wish my stomach tolerated coffee because most stores offer complimentary coffee. I guess I could always pray for a break in the showers. My daddy used to tell me that I need not worry about getting wet "because poop floats." Okay, he was just being ugly and didn't really mean it. Hmm, I sometimes wonder after he tells me that for the umpteenth time, I'm a product of his loin, so what does that make him?

chicks in the garden

The chicks are adolescents now. About three-quarters of their adult size. The roosters' voices are changing so soon they will begin crowing or at least they are trying to now. They utter a squawk in hoarse undertones. It'll probably be in another month or so. I can hardly wait. It's been pretty quiet since Whitie died.

But rainy days are no fun for anyone except ducks and we don't raise those. All the chicks are stuck on the front porch. The roosters start fighting. The little hens try to roost on the Camellia bushes and are getting so big that only one can fit on a branch at a time. The branches can't hold that much weight. They start yelling at others trying to get on because they will all fall to the ground.

When bored, like they always are when it rains, they'll play "king of the mountain" on the wood pile next to the dining room window. A few chicks will get over rambunctious and actually fly into the window. The dazed looks on their face when they hit are precious. "Duh! Where did that come from!" Every evening they look at me through the window as I'm on my laptop. Just as curious as can be about "that human that feeds us." They will peck at the glass or the fan to get my attention. Not that they are out of food, but just because I'm not looking at or talking to them.

 Just like every morning, they trail behind me as I go to the rabbitry building (No! we still haven't moved the rabbits). The older hens have shown them that Jo gives them goodie! The unsprouted seed from the fodder system. I've started spreading the seed in the area where their run will be. Any uneaten seed will continue to grow if they let it. Once they are in their run permanently, I'll continue the process and give them their ration of fermented seed for feeding time. It shouldn't upset their young tummies by then.

That's it for this soaking wet weekend.

Y'all have a blessed day.