So It Begins Again

It's Planting Season! Ya!!! Yippee!!!! Yes, it's that time of year again. Busy, busy, hurry up, and wait. The anticipation leading up to the next few weeks has been building all winter. We've actually had a few days of warm (almost 80 degree) weather. So we've gotten a lot done for planting the garden previously. I'm still trying to dig all the compost out of the bunny/chicken hoop barn. It's slow going with a garden rake and shovel.

During the waiting period while things grow in the garden and indoor seed starts, we'll be dismantling the bunny/chicken hoop barn and eventually the chicken coop and run by the food storage out building. We're realigning them better and rotating them 90 degrees so there's less muddy areas. I don't know why Mel didn't think of it when she first built them.  In their current position, they run against the downhill slope so rain water gets trapped.

Meanwhile, we went to Tractor Supply and bought some Rhode Island Reds and Americana chicks to increase our flock of egg layers. They were straight run so we'll have to see how many hens to roos we get. We did try wing feather sexing them, but they are far from day old chicks so we'll have to wait and see. If we end up with more than 2 roos in a bunch they'll be destined for freezer camp. We could sure use the meat, but egg layers is what we want. The roos are nice for producing fertilized eggs for hatching but that's about it in our enclosed pens. Right now, Mel is saying "no" to hatching eggs, but we'll see. She also says "no" to butchering our own chicken. Again, we'll see. You do what you have to when facing the possibility of going hungry and Mel's a huge carnivore.

The latest stay at home dates is the end of April, but honestly, it could be longer. I'm not a fear monger. I'm just looking at the numbers of new cases each day. Eggs are in short supply in the grocery stores now. You'd be hard pressed to find raw meat in our grocery stores. Most of it is processed with all that breading and chemicals. Yuck!. With our stores building running low in meats and vegetables, I'm just praying we have enough to see us through this SHTF scenario until we can restock our pantry.

The longer America in general stays out of work, the harder it will be for the little guys (businesses) to survive and the shortages will get worse. Fresh foods will be harder and harder to come by.  People will be sourcing food wherever they can, even from us lowly homesteaders. I have no problem feeding others once our own needs are taken care of.

There are church based or community food banks that have almost bare pantry shelves now with this virus. Some food banks have even closed which makes matters worse. Desperate people do desperate things when faced with hungry children at home. Making it dangerous for everyone. I've seen it happen before and didn't expect to see it happen in the US, but it very easily could. Yes, I partially bought into the 'land of plenty line.'

I just ordered a pound of yeast from Amazon and more powdered whole milk while they still have it. I was running low on both. Have you noticed how many "Not Available" postings there are on Amazon! I never thought I'd see the day. There's more available listing for brewer's yeast than baking yeast. Now that's scary keynote to the times. More people are interested in their daily bread than drinking. Usually it's the other way around.

*Note to self- make a sourdough Herman. I let the old one die. Bad Jo, bad! In my defense, I did spend more time in the hospital and recovering last year than I have in almost a decade.

Now, if you are truly desperate, there's Ebay. Ebay used to be the place to find cheaper things. Now, it's home to price gougers. A friend of mine bought two mega rolls of toilet paper for three times the store prices. Yes, she was that desperate. Here's a woman who washed her husband's diapers and pads, but won't use personal cloths for herself. It sort of boggles the mind, but to each their own. I offered to send her some, but she'd already bought it.

Back to the topic of this post. The quail cages are built and awaiting quail. While I'd planned to do this in March, too many other income eating things occurred. So now, I'm calling a local breeder for adult quail and hatching eggs next week.  I'll buy two dozen birds and two dozen hatching to begins with. This way I can cull unneeded males immediately for freezer camp. In 18 days, I'll have a dozen chicks or more given a 50% hatch rate. In six to eight weeks, these will start laying eggs and they extra males will go to freezer camp or be sold. I can incubate more eggs, but Mel can also sell the eggs too. Three or four quail eggs equal a chicken egg. So it will take more of them to make anything with them. At $6 for a dozen eggs, or breeding quads for $30, this will add up to quick income for homestead expenses and expansion plans. It will provide income while Mel's chicks age up to lay eggs (6 months). That's a nice chunk of change in the interim.

Now, honestly, what good is money? Other than paying bills with if you can't buy groceries? Everyone has to eat. My Momma used to say when people asked why she gardened, "You can't eat money?" You see, my Momma had experienced the food shortages in WWII Japan. Her father was wealthy, but they couldn't buy food. So he bought out a bombed out air field and offered a place for farmers a safe place to farm. The American wouldn't bomb an air strip that had been destroyed already. In those days, most air strips had their own water supply and ponds. So with no electricity, farmers came to farm the land. My grandfather built huts for their families out of recycled bits and pieces. They paid my grandfather a portion of their crops. Food was used to eat and to barter with for other essential needs.

My Momma also said, "There will always be an again." She prepared us for living without and how to survive. My grandmother did the same thing having raised a family of ten during the Great Depression. I never forgot their teachings. So ask me now, why I homestead and try for a more self sufficient lifestyle. While this virus may only create hardships for a few months, it's a wake up call to the US just when everyone was forgetting 9/11. Get ready. There will be an again. So, the busyness of spring time begins again on our little homestead.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo

Starting Seeds for Spring Planting and Beyond

StWhen it comes to starting seeds, some people will wait until they can plant to seeds in the soil. That's fine if you want to wait the whole time to maturity, seeds that don't sprout, or have them wither and die off in the first weeks of life leaving empty patches in your rows. I understand why you would do this if you were planting acres of one crop, but most homesteaders don't. We grow more manageable rows that are 10', 25', or 50' to get the yields we need for our personal consumption, or have extras to sell at the local markets. We aren't commercial growers. We grow what we like.

For example take tomatoes. We love tomatoes on this homestead. We sauced, stew, dice, and even dehydrate them. Plus we'll eat them fresh all season long until the first heavy frost will kill the plants. I calculated how many pounds of tomatoes we'd need to accomplish our goal of a year's worth of produce. There are several kinds of seeds you can buy. Our choice is heirloom and grow them chemical-free. For canning, I like Roma tomatoes. They are oblong versus big and round.several hundred pounds of these to can. For fresh eating nothing beats Purple Cherokee and Beefsteak. While, technically can these also, I usually don't. We just 💓 good old 'mater sandwiches during the summer. It's making my mouth water just thinking about it.

The same goes for green beans.  Although a harvest of a little over eighty pounds will be needed for long term storage plus fresh eating. These will be grown in succession planting for a harvest until frost for fresh eating. I prefer bush beans to pole beans. You'd think as little as our gardening space is (less than 1/8 an acre) that I would grow vertically, but with this vegetable I'd rather not.

So here it is the middle of February and I'm just now starting my seeds for my spring garden. The couple inches of snow fall was unexpected, and then I remembered the video Mel sent me just two weeks before I moved here  in March 2016 of it snowing. It still kind of threw me off starting my seeds indoors like I planned.

So what am I sowing indoors?
Assorted lettuces, spinach, carrots, onions, radishes, beets, English peas, celery, green cabbage, and napa cabbage. With my limited planting space, I can't grow enough broccoli or Brussels sprouts to make it worth my while.

So how many plants will I need to plant for a year's worth for the two of us?
Assorted lettuces-I cut the outer leaves as they grow but still I started a 10x20 flat tray of them. I usually buy a variety of lettuce seeds we like and mix them all together to plant them. I'll start several trays a couple weeks apart before the summer heat starts. Then plant again in the fall. If Mel builds me a high tunnel greenhouse, I can continue planting through December.
Spinach-This is a tough one to guesimate because we also use them in salads. But I planted 40 plants and that should yield me about 7 lbs.
Carrots- I dunno, who can count carrot seeds? I sprinkled about half a packet over a 5"x10" container.
Onions- Again, as with the carrots, tiny specks of seeds sprinkled over a 5"x10" container.
Radishes & Beets- I mainly grow these for dyes and the greens, Twenty-five each and planted in succession.
English Peas- On average the figures are 30 plants per person. So I sowed 60 seeds
Celery- This is another cut as it grows. I sowed ten seeds and do succession planting.
Green cabbage- I sowed six to make my sauerkraut and freeze some. I'm the only one that eats it. I may dehydrate some to put in soba noodles.
Napa cabbage- I sowed six of these as well for Kimchi and stir fry. It dose not preserve well.

The summer garden indoor seeds begins the last of March and April. That's hard for me to believe since our last predicted frost date is mid April. We won't actually plant any of the seeds I start today until May 1st.

It's Almost That Time Again- Spa Homestead Days

Every year in March, we have spa days. Everybody except for Nnyus, the chickens, and the cats get shorn for approaching warmer weather. Nnyus' hair is too short, chicken don't have fur, and all our cats are the short haired variety.

Mel's and my hair gets cut usually the first or second week in March. All the fall and winter growth, that's kept our ears warm all winter long, gets a well needed cut and styled. It's our timely passage into spring. Plus we don't want a mop of hair come summer.

We'll spend a day scrubbing, shaving, manicuring ourseves. Our legs have hairs long enough for piggy tails. Sounds sick, but our legs felt warmer under our pants during winter. It's one of the benefits of not having men folk around. We'll heavily lotion up rough winter dried skin and may even start apple cider vinegar foot baths again.We ain't girlie gals.

Next comes Herbie. This little dog has a love-hate relationship with spa days. He hates to be touched especially his feet. But he loves the way he feels afterwards. By the end of winter, his hair is 6" long. Mel enjoys doing something cute while shearing him. The year before last was a Yorkie cut with extra poofy ears. Last year was a lion type tail tip.

He is never a pleasant boy to wash. He'll growl and snap the whole time. He rarely bites hard enough to break the skin. Once or twice he'll knock my glasses off my face while shearing. Cutting his nails, fergetaboutit! There aren't muzzles and tie down straps strong enough to do the job without getting bit several times. A Doberman or German Shepherd in full attack mode are infants compared to this dog if you ever touch his nails. He'll eventually break or chew them off.

After we release him from spa torture, He'll scamper and dance around happily. He expect to be called "funny," "cute", or "pretty boy" repeatedly. This will continue for several days until he's bored with it.

Next comes the rabbits. Each will be shorn down to the skin. Their nails are trimmed seasonally. Mel's in total charge of nails and ears. They'll binky around their space happy to be rid of all that hair. Angus has heavy facial furnishings. "I can see!" he'll say. " Thank you, thank you, thank you!"It takes almost the whole month to accomplish them all.

But then, the rooster's spur is clipped to make his breeding attempts easier on the hens. I really hate doing this to him because his spurs help keep the flock safe.

All the hens will be checked also. Hopefully the Buff Orpingtons will go broody this year so I won't have to purchase as many  meat birds this year. But I may purchase half a dozen to a dozen anyhow.

Nnyus and the cats don't escape untouched during March. Their nails are clipped too. They each get a pass with a brush.

Everybody (critter wise) gets their bi-annual dosing of DE. This is done internal ingestion for parasites, and externally for fleas and mites. The dogs have their dose added for 6 days into wet (homemade) dog food and they are dusted. For the cats, we just dust them heavily a couple of times. They'll lick it off grooming themselves. The rabbits have DE sprinkled on their fodder for ingestion. The chickens have it make in a special seed crackers I makes for them a couple times a year for extra ingestion doses. Several pounds of DE and wood ash are added to their coop, run, and dirt bathing areas in lieu of dusting the chickens.

So let the spa days begin.

Y'all have a blessed day.

Jo

Signs of Spring?

Daffodils and Forsythia

It's Indian Spring here in the north Georgia mountains.What's Indian Spring? Y'all know what Indian Summer is, right? It when in the fall you get unseasonably summer like temperatures. Yes, I made the term up, but it fits. We've got several more weeks until spring, but you couldn't tell it by the weather this week. We've had daytime temps in the mid to high 60s with nighttime temps in the 40s.

With the warmer temperatures, the daffodils, crocus, and even our peach trees are ablaze with colorful blooms. On my drive down to Atlanta this week, the medians were full of these harbingers of spring. It makes me almost giddy at the prospect. The Earth is waking up from it's long winter's rest,

Peach blossoms

or is it? Nope. It's Indian Spring. Come Monday and Tuesday, the weather service is calling for sleet and snow.

We'll be breaking out the smudge pot to try to protect the peach blossoms from the worst of it. I drove past the local peach orchard Wednesday and all their trees were ablaze with peachy pink blooms too. But then again, it was the same last year. We can only watch and pray for this year's crop.

We still did not get a chance to move the peach trees down to the orchard this winter. There were just too many rainy days and not enough dry days in between to get it accomplished. We may just plant new ones in late summer and chop down these when the new ones start fruiting.

credit

It would be easier if we had our own Bobcat or large tractor with attachments. I just can't mentally justify the purchase price of one. Sure, I can think of a dozen jobs or more that would be easier and quicker with one, but the purchase price, even older and used, plus the maintenance costs hold me back. It would sit in the barn/ workshop more than 50% of the time unused. That's doesn't make good fiscal sense. Not right now anyhow. It's just just another gas guzzling expense.

Y'all have a blessed day.

Jo

Spring Has Sprung, I Think

?????

It's spring finally, I think but it's still in the 40s at night. We actually had some 80 degree daytime temps. Talk about a temperature shift between the two. It's now April. You'd think it would be safe to plant outdoors, but you'd be wrong here. May 1st is our last frost date.

I did plant some things though this week. English peas, potatoes, onions, garlic, lettuce, and a few other things that a late frost won't damage too bad. I've held off until now. It's a way different mindset.

When I think about my children's childhood in southeast Georgia, we had this rule. No swimming until after May 1st. That's because it was already 80+ degrees in February, and the ocean and outdoor pools had a chance to warm up. But here, nope! It would be like my childhood spent partially at my Grandmother's house in Nebraska. There would be snow on the ground until after Easter. The community pool didn't open until mid June when school let out. No, it isn't that bad here.I haven't even worn my heavy coat this year, mostly sweatshirts and my bulky sweaters. But then, I grew up and lived in northern type climates.

As you might have guessed, the proceeds from the sale of my south Georgia house has been reinvested somewhat into the homestead. I'm researching grading and driveway installation for our 1/4 mile drive. I've only talked about it for the past year. We are also researching companies for bush hogging and tree removal. This was an abandoned property for far too long. The sun doesn't hit the ground in most of it. We want to terrace our down hill slope into usable areas.These are big bucks things. With big bucks come big changes.

This will be easier for me to access. By planting the orchard and grains this way. The amount of sunlight and rain that the trees, plants, and bushes get will be optimized. It's a win win situation. It's also working within our property constraints. Or in other words, making applesauce. The only semi flat area we have is where the double wide and barn sits. Everything else is on a slope of a foothill. With the terraced sections being ten to twenty feet wide, It'll give us ample space for whatever we want to grow. it will also enable us to raise American Guinea hogs, or goats, or sheep plus have pastures for them to graze. Another step in becoming more self sustainable.

No, we won't be cutting all the trees. But we shouldn't have to cut firewood for a few years. This will be a good thing, because we aren't getting any younger. On this two-acre lot even cutting fifty or sixty trees to start with, is a small dent in the trees.

We've bought a used, but good rototiller for gardening. This hard packed clay takes years to get very productive. Now I can't use a tiller, but Mel can. It's a two handed thing. By adding lime and lots of organic material, even newly tilled soil can become very productive within a year. It is just a hardship to turn the soil with a shovel for new areas. While we have the chance, we're doing it.  If ever the SHTF situation arises at least we'll be prepared. If it doesn't, we still are prepared and more self sustainable.

Mel and Moira

Meanwhile, the English Angoras have blown their coats yet again. I plucked 5 ozs of just the back and shoulders of Moira yesterday. In all total I think I got 10 ozs of usable fiber off of her.  I did remove all her mats and buzz cut around her poo area with a mustache trimmer. I'll weigh it all up after I finish her up today and do Daisy next, then Dustin, Angus (so he can see again), Alby and start on the Jersey Woolie/Lionhead - Ebony, Kiki, and Early Gray. Luckily, our two male Jersey Woolie/Lionhead have the shorter Lionhead gene for hair more prominent so it's just a brush through on Squirt and Snowballz. After that, it's just standard beauty parlor grooming for them for a couple of months until they blow their coats again. Mel will give all of our rabbits a manicure this week.

We culled eight meat rabbits this week and they are in the freezer. Eighteen meals + for us and treats for the dogs and cats. We don't eat the livers, hearts, and kidneys. While I'm told they are tasty, I don't care for them. I'll be breeding Ms. Colleen again in the coming weeks to get our total rabbit meat needs until Fall when we breed again for human consumption.

Our baby chickens are four weeks old. Although I thought I bought six Buff Orpingtons, the feather pattern is different on two of them. It might just be our two roosters. I've never raised Buffs before so I don't know for sure. Time will tell. The Rhode Island Red chicks have almost tripled in size. I'd heard they were fast growing. Their coloring and feather pattern is more pronounced every day. All the chicks crowns have begun to form. They are at that gawky stage where their necks have elongated with their heads are tiny compared to their bodies. I'll be replacing their little, 24-hole chick feeder with a standard one. They are just going through the feed to fast. I draw the line at filling it more than twice a day. Their 2 gallon waterer is working out well. Now to get busy on their chicken tractors. No, I haven't started them yet. I've been too busy with rabbits.

So we are starting in earnest. Join us on YouTube to watch the journey and here for updates.

For now and always

Y'all have a blessed day.