To live a self-sufficient and organic lifestyle for the next half century. With the Grace of God and the power of prayer, we will succeed. Nothing is impossible with His help. It wouldn't be us without laughter and joy at the Cockeyed Homestead.
I'm really late in posting this. I advertised the puppies on Craig's list December 21st. "Free to Good Home, 8 Pit Bull Mixed Puppies." I included about five pictures of the ones I've posted here before of them at 5-6 weeks old even though they were almost just shy of 8 weeks old. I couldn't believe the response! Within five minutes of posting them I had four calls, text messages, and emails inquiries. Within 45 minutes I had to delete the ad. I had ten inquiries to sort through and six more I had yet to sort through.
The selection process was simple. No, I wasn't charging a rehoming fee and no, the pups had not had any pf their shots yet, wormed or anything yet. On the call backs, they each answered the questions I asked. Yes, they understood that these would be 75-100 lb dogs when fully grown, yes, they had room for them (full grown) to run and play in, and yes, they had raised/had big dogs before. What kind of life could they expect living with them? Vet? Feeding? Environment? Who would be around them? etc. Puppy mill type calls or suspected were immediately deleted. That wasn't what we wanted for our puppies. We'd rather keep them than go that route.
Mel and I went through the likely candidates and picked four. All but one had acres of land and that one that didn't had a double lot in her subdivision equaling a quarter of an acre. .All the puppies were going to families with a child(ren) or stabile home lives. In fact they were Christmas presents for them.
All said my post was an answered prayer. This was not a requirement but it didn't hurt. All had made an appalment with their vet or TSC and bought what the pup(pies) needed before pick up. It was not a requirement, but we liked their proactive quality. They even called me and told me before they picked up the pup(pies). They were all enthusiastic and excited about their new family member. This also wasn't a requirement, but it reinforced our ease with the owners we picked.
We all agreed to do the hand offs of the puppies at the local McDonald's in Gainesville (about halfway for all the new owners to meet with us). They all were not local. One person drove from Atlanta wanting four puppies for his nieces and nephews for Christmas. They lived in a 20-avre farm west of Atlanta. One decided not to get her puppy at the last minute, but the guy west of Atlanta gladly took that extra pup for his cousin. He was the person that reserved four prior to the listing. He got Bruiser, Star, and two others, he was also the last to arrive because of the traffic in Atlanta.
.Another lady took two puppies for her twins boys. The boys (7 y/o) had been asking for a dog for a year and she couldn't afford the bulldogs they wanted at the pet shop even though the boys compromised and said only one puppy for the both of them. She explained to me that they had lost their father in the Middle East a little over a year ago. Yes, they had been a military family. When I told her she could have two picks of the litter that weren't already spoken for, she cried happy tears over the phone. In fact she texted me eight times prior to picking them up the next day filled with news about her preps for the pups. She was so excited about her puppies that she was waiting for us when we arrived. Her enthusiasm and happiness was infectious. She actually drove almost 100 miles to get them. She took Frankenbaby and Bully because out of the eight, they looked the most like bulldogs. She kept thanking Jesus and us for answering her prayer.
Now, sweet Baby Girl went to a lady that had mourned for her last dog, 17 year old German Shepherd, for the past six years until she saw this puppy's picture in the ad. She was my first caller after I placed the ad... only 3 minutes after. She just went on and on about that puppy, and how she had to have her. When I called her back and told her she was hers, she immediately went to the store and pick up everything she would need for the puppy, and then some. Her young-ish children picked out the name Rory for her after the character in Gilmore Girls. Baby Girl/Rory started licking her face and wagging her tail furiously when I handed her to her, and I knew I had made the right decision.
In checking with the new owners the next day, all was fine with the exception of Baby Girl/ Rory. It was a day and night full of firsts for her. Her first car ride, her first new owner, first time in a strange place, first time dealing with children, and the first time she'd been alone without her siblings. According to her new owner, she had a fitful night until she brought her to bed with her. She snuggled next to her under the blanket and finally slept the night through. We had warned the new owner that this might happen.
As of that morning the pup ate a bowl full of food, did her business outside, and was now playing with the children, and getting to know her new surroundings. I think she much prefers the children to the chickens because they won't steal her food and they will interact with her. I did warn the new owner about making her a lap dog. She said, "Oh I know that! My Sadie was all the time trying to get in my lap. All 100lbs of her."
As we breathed a sigh of relief after gave away the puppies, we realized how strange the house will seem without the puppies, It's so quiet! There are less chores to do three or four times a day. We can walk without swarms of puppies clambering up our legs or tripping us up. In some ways we miss it, but not enough to have them all back. For now we'll just kee)p busy cleaning up the mess they've left us. with ..tearing up the carpeting in the formal dining room (we'd planned to do this anyhow) and scrubbing down the back porch.
The chicks are four weeks now. I had to look back at my posts to be sure since the chicks hatched. They are almost fully feathered out...just a little tuft of fluff on their heads and chests now. They are huge compared to when they were born, but too small to go into general population. But they need to go somewhere. They have stayed away from the heat lamp for a week now. In fact, I've turned it off. They're ready to go somewhere else.
I had thought to move them into the "hospital/quarantine" pen, but they'd quickly outgrow it. I decided to keep these birds separate from Mel's flock. I think I've got four hens. It's still too early to tell. While the blurb on the chicken enclosure says four to six chickens, from experience it's more like two and even then, the birds are crowded than we like. I'll use the eggs from these girls for homestead use.
Mel calls them "mutt" chickens because they are Rhode Island crosses. Personally, I think they are unique and beautiful. The variation of the colors of the Barred/RIR, and the laced feathered Americana/RIR are striking plus the ones I haven't figured out yet. Their coloring awakens the artistic gene in my soul. I wish I could show them to you. I wonder how much an effect the RIR genes will play with the egg colors and sizes, but that's four to five months away.
I do have a line on a used computer that I'll be checking out this week though if not, I'll be buying another thumb drive. Thumb drives are really cheap these days. I remember when they first came out and how expensive they were. Computers too, but even the cheap ones are beyond my reach right now. I miss my pics on my posts, don't you? It's hard to replace or buy anything when you're broke all the time. Sigh! But I digress.
I was thinking of a way to house my new chickie babies and keep them separate. I could just let them free range throughout the yard, but they'd have no protection from predators. I could build them a small coop and run. I started looking online for designs that I could build. Mel is too busy with her own flocks. All the authorities say 1 1/2 to 2 square feet per bird, I'd rather have 3 square feet per bird in their run. A 3x8 run was doable, but I'd need a 8' square coop at a minimum. What if it were mobile? That way my chickie babies would have the luxury of being free range, but have the protection from predators. Now there's an idea...a chicken tractor.
THE PROBLEMS
It would have to be lightweight enough for me to pull. There in poses a problem. I have a hard enough time walking with one bum leg. I can push or pull the garden cart with no issues. I can lift 45-50 lbs of feed with one working hand and arm. but dragging the same amount of weight is problematic. Whatever mechanism I build to pull with, it's got to be waist high, 3' for me. So a solid wood contraption is out. It would be too heavy. The coop alone could almost be that heavy.
I've got another issue too. I found another broody hen! I thought I was missing one the black Australorps. 😏She's sitting on three eggs in the barn/workshop. When I went to check the eggs, they are full, heavy, and one even was chirping. So it looks like three more chickie babies are about to be born. This will make eight babies. So I'm revising my estimates. Sigh!
In revising my estimates, I've got to know how many hens I have, but need to house them somewhere between 4 weeks to 13 weeks old to allow them to grow out. Hmmm, I could use the old chicken coop. Of course I'd have to rebuild it. The constant rains and winds have pretty much destroyed the seven-year old coop anyhow. Half the roof caved in while we went through the storms spawned by Hurricane Sue when it hit us. It's been a bad year for rains and hurricanes coming from the Gulf where we are. It has either smacked us from the Gulf or sideswiped us from the Atlantic. Not to mention other rain storms.
I think we'll do another pallet coop, but smaller. Yes, I'll have to involve Mel. If we turn the pallets longwise up, we just need to break apart a few pallets to have board and batten side walls so we wouldn't need additional plywood. I can fashion a new roof from the old sides. Two pallets for each wall, four pallets covered with reused plywood for the floor to keep the varmints out. Plus the wood frame of the current structure to do the roof. We also have the tin from the outdoor rabbit hutches to do the roof. Unlike the previous coop, I'll paint this one. The new 6x6x4' hen house should be big enough to last for a while. I can even reuse the branch roost and laying boxes from the old coop on the new one.
Pre bunny barn and chicken coop n run
If the law of averages holds up, of the eight chicks, 50% or four will be roosters. These will go to freezer or canner jar camp. For our homestead of two adults, four hen would supply our needs perfectly. It will allow me to bake goodies to my heart's content and have an egg breakfast once a week not counting other egg use breakfasts. Any more than four hens would be too many. So if I use the number of four hens and possibly a rooster, for protection, I'd only need a tractor for five chickens at most, right?
So, I'm right back where I started from in number of birds. I've got pressure treated 2x4 pieces from another project on the homestead. If I split them that's half the weight. Or, I could use PVC or electrical conduit to build a tractor. Now the shape could be either hooped or squared. I'm thinking rectangular so everything will square up and be more sturdy.
You may ask why not just use the refurbished coop and run for the chicks on a permanent basis? Well, I look at it this way. I had five hens of Mel's flock go broody this year and they were less than a year old. Usually, once a broody chicken, they'll always be broody trying to hatch out more chicks. I'll need that grow out area each year whether they are the colorful egg layers or not. I can see them hatching out the purebred flocks too for the types of chickens that do not go broody. We'll just swap out eggs. It will keep Mel from having to buy new chicks as they age out of laying prolifically about 2-3 year old. We'll have a built in incubators as nature intended them to be. I don't intend on having anymore "mutt" chickens.
That also means that Mel will have to decide on the purebreds she intends on raising for breeding and raising for her farm this winter. Though there's always the Rhode Island Reds and readily available, she's also got her heart set on Barnevelders. Although Sussexes wouldn't be a bad choice either. both of the latter are dual purpose breeds and vary in rarity. So chicks and pullet/cockerel sales would be more desirable. Who knows, she might choose both. The egg sales enable us to buy a month's worth of feed for the birds, we have and build a new coop and run every two months towards progress towards the future. So the first batch of chickens are now self sustaining. Wohoo!
So the chicken tractor for my new chickie babies will be a split level 3'x8' there will be space underneath the coop for an automatic chicken feeder and waterer. While Mel prefers the nipple waterers, I prefer the cups like I use for the quail. I'll be making it out of the leftover tin from the rabbit hutches for roof screwed into the PVC frame. The sides will be made of leftover political (vote for me) signs. Total weight is about thirty pounds. I'm recycling all the previous rabbit cages' cage wire to protect their free range area. Why not make it 4x8? Because I want it to fit over my rows in the garden each fall after the last harvest. The chickens will pick over what's left and fertilize it for the next spring. A hefty layer of compost and hay will follow the the chickens, and then the garden will be put to bed for 6 months. The walkways between the rows will get their pass of the chickens to gobble up the weeds/ leftover plants before new wood chips are added in the spring. There will be a slight overlap of the garden beds but no worries, I usually don't plant within 6" of the walkways unless it's flowers later in the season.
Will I put wheels on the chicken tractor? I dunno yet. If it proves too heavy for me to move safely, I will. I'm thinking big wheels like the front wheels of a tricycle rather than small ones. We've got some pretty uneven terrain on this homestead. I've even considered an adult bicycle wheels. Considering these are large birds apposed to bantams, the lift shouldn't be an issue.
There is minimal chance for them to escape. But these birds will be trained to the sound of my voice and come when I call them too (just like the others) if they do. The other chickie babies we raised were no problem getting into their area. All it took was me walking into the run and they followed me. They were clambering all over themselves to see who could be the closest to me. All except Big Red, the rooster, that is. He still gives me a shovel handle distance just in case I've got a shovel or stick handy. It was just a question of me getting out before they did, but I did have a can of scratch grains for that eventuality. Ya gotta love well trained chickens.😜
Hopefully, I'll either have a new (to me) computer or a new flash drive for pictures of the mobile coop and run with the chickie babies in it soon.
It's a little over my 5' waist in height. It's about 3' high at the most. It has tassels and silks. If it had been 6' or 7' tall I would have believed it to be corn. But. I dunno. I'm talking about my five lone plants in my corn patch. These are the five planted corn seeds that survived the chickens and the dogs out of twenty seeds that sprouted.
Getting them to grow to this stage has been a constant battle. The have been knocked over by the animals and storms repeatedly this growing season. I dutifully propped them back up trying to will them to survive. It's April's and May's unseasonable cold spell that I blame the stunted growth on. I've never seen corn so short. It will be amazing if the ears fully form. I did my usual bag pollination as soon as I notice the pollen falling to enhance a possible yield. There's only one ear per stalk though so I'm not holding my breath. It remains to be seen.
My straight neck yellow squash has put off showy male blossoms but no female flowers yet. Watch them be sterile. Now my zucchini is just the opposite, all female and no males. I've watched the fruits go unpollinated, turn brown and fall off the stems. The good news is that everything has survived the onslaught of Japanese beetles and so far, no sign of aphids nor squash beetles. But then, I've seen great flurries of ladybugs and lacy wings. I've even seen a few praying mantes. They have to be eating something. Since we've not been able to keep the grass mowed, I figure there's an abundance of food for them in the weeds. So far nothing has touched my tomato plants.
I had to water the plants this week for the first time in months. We've actually had a dry spell of dour days without rain! Although the ground is still moist a couple inches below the live ground cover (clover) they were a little thirsty and limp so I gave them some out of the rain barrel. With barely a cup and a half per plant, they stood taller and happier. The thunder rolling off in the distance tells me I won't have to worry about it tomorrow.
The heat index is in the 90s finally with the lows in the low 70s. It's definitely summer. I think I'm going to plant some more cucumber seeds tomorrow. It looked like stem rot or cut worms are nibbling the bases of my six plants.
Mel lost interest in her experimental garden when it didn't instantly didn't take off and it developed weeds. Sigh! I pulled the weeds, scratched in some bone and blood meal, and then added some organic 4-4-4 fertilizer to each bucket she planted. There's no such thing as a "no work" garden. It needs love and attention. The added boost has produced about a foot of growth in her experiment. She had planted wild flower seeds with the cucumbers and the have robust growth.
In Mel's partial defense, she has building the new coop and run in the orchard. First she had to cut down the 5' weeds in the spot she wanted to place it into. No mean feat with only a hand sickle and no power tools. She picked up the wrong canisters at Lowes for our weed eater. She has since rectified it so the second coop and run will be easier. But loading sand and concrete cap blocks have to be done manually down to the second terraced level one load a a time in the cart. The cap blocks are the flooring for the 4'x8'coop and 4'x8'feed/straw storage building. Some 40 blocks later, they are all leveled and sanded in. The walls and the rest of the coop is just wood working, and for Mel, a piece of cake. She's definitely getting her exercise going up and down the 6' drop between tiers with first the blocks and bags of sand, and then the cut lumber. After the building goes up, she'll be digging the post holes for the 2x3 fencing for the run. It will be covered on five sides for the ultimate predator protection. We've got enough lumber and fencing around the homestead for the first one and egg sale money for the second one. The chickens are now laying an average a dozen eggs a day. We've set
aside monies for the next purchase of breed specific15 chickens for the coop nearest the house for a grow out area until they start laying. Then, the second chickens will go into the the coop and run on the third tier. By keeping two roosters with the 13 hens, we should have a good fertilization ratio to let the first batch of hens go broody. For of them have already tried to brood some eggs, but with no rooster with them, it was a wasted effort. The coop and run nearest the house will become the brooding/chick house. The chicks will either be sold or allowed to become layers. That's the plan, anyhow. So Mel's Poultry Farm is finally on it's way, and will continue to grow a bit smaller than she first thought, but it's going.
We are almost a week into summer and I thought I'd give you an over all update on the garden. I'm loving the weather now finally. It seems like summers of five years ago though not as hot. On average, from 7AM to 5PM it sunny and breezy. From about 6PM to 7AM it rains. My gardens are loving it too.
I'm two weeks into the green bean harvesting of the first planting of this vegetable and the second planting of four 4'x10' rows is just starting to come to size for picking. Since I'm planting the bush variety, they tend to all ripen within two to three weeks of each other. They'll get another burst of flowers but the harvest will be smaller. I planted my fourth succession planting two weeks ago and they are already ankle high. This will give me a continuous harvest until fall.
My sweet, bi-colored corn that I planted the beginning of spring is over waist high and doing wonderful. Unfortunately the dogs and chickens have wrecked so much havoc upon them only five out of twelve survived. But that's okay. I filled in the spaces with baby, green limas and pumpkins to make it into another three sister grouping. I still have my three sisters sweet corn (30) that are doing well. If you remember two years ago, I got 30 ears of corn to can and freeze whole. I just pulled the last jar I canned. So even if I only get one savable ear plant I'll have plenty. The limas are putting out stringer towards the corn and are flowering. The squash is developing flowers too.
The temperature seems to have settled down again, although the nighttime lows are still in the 50s, I finally feel it's safe enough to plant my Roma tomatoes in the garden. While Mel planted heirloom Beefsteak tomatoes in her bucket garden experiment a couple months ago, They've just come out with their third set of true leaves. The weather really delayed them. Meanwhile, my Romas have had the benefits of inside temperatures of 70+ degrees to grow in so they are bigger. No, they do not have tomatoes nor flowers on them yet. They have been on the porch steps for a week now so they are ready to go into the ground. I'll have to burn holes in the weed cloth a little bigger for them to fit and run the fence between the rows. None of my marigolds sprouted.😒 I guess the seeds were duds. I'll have to go to the garden store and purchase some to go around the tomatoes.
On Mel's experimental garden, only the green beans did not come up. I've replanted them with an extra yellow squash and two basil plants in the two empty buckets. As I said above, the growth was stunted somewhat because of the weather but they are doing well. The cucumbers are almost a foot tall and I gave them each a 5' stake to climb up. She planted wild flowers in the buckets also. I harvested some nasturtiums for some peppery high notes in our salads.
I split my rosemary plants between four truck tires along the front of the garden. They reseed or propagate themselves over time. I gave each plant a severe "haircut." Some I brought in to root to propagate and the rest I dehydrated. My stores needed the boost. So far I've dehydrate 5 lbs to fill a quart jar full. It always amazes me how little there is left after dehydrating. Next week, I'll be clipping some more for skewers for my grilled chicken. Yes, it will have grown long enough again to do this with by then.
I'm still cutting and replanting oregano into new spots. So far, I've harvested 8 lbs all from six little oregano plug packs three years ago. Of course, this herb reseeded and propagated itself many times over the years. I love perennial herbs for this very reason. I hardly do anything for them either. In early winter, before the first frost, I'll clip it all back to about 3" lengths, throw some well rotted compost on them, and cover them with straw. In the spring, I'll leave only a thin layer of straw on them, water them in well, and leave them alone. Soon, green stems and leaves begin forming again. It's instant oregano! Just add water and give them space to grow. It's so thick that it blocks most weed growth.
So the race is on to grow, harvest and stock the stores building out building again before the first freeze. I don't know if we'll make self-sufficiency levels because everything got such a late start, but I'm trying. All I know is canning season has begun for me with the green beans. May it continue for the next 4 or 5 months.
Our fruit trees are heavy with fruit even with the squirrels and birds. Our harvest season for the fruit trees are about a month behind the usual harvest seasons. The early fruit drops were minimal. Our peaches and apples are almost the size of baseballs now. I'm honestly looking forward to getting a harvest. The cherries should be ready next month, if the birds will leave them alone. We loped the middle trunks of each to five foot during the early dormant season last year. The blue berries are ripening so Mel and I grab a few ripe ones when we work on the new chicken coop and run in part of the orchard tiers. The raspberries, I'm sad to report, died back in winter and did not return. I'll need to replant them later in the summer or early fall. The grapes are having a slower start this year. Although I'll have grape leaves for pickles, they haven't even flowered yet. It's doubtful as to whether we get enough grapes to make Mel's (and Whirling Dervish's) wine ration this year, but there's still time.
Well, there's my beginning of summer garden update.
I'm a bit late with this report by a week or so. I simply just plum forgot to blog it.
Three days before we stopped turning the eggs, Mel candled them with a small mag-lite flashlight. Mel was impatient (grinning). One of these days, I'll spring for a regulation egg candler, but that ain't today. We can't justify the expense in our mind.
What she found were two empty eggs, unfertilized! I still can't figure out how this happened with two roos and only five hens. But then, maybe they (the roos) were having an off day, or the hens managed to run faster or hid well.
We lost two eggs, to temperature variations, they died in the eggs. Darn Kassity kept pulling the blanket off the eggs during the night for a comfortable spot to sleep.The last five were kicking up a storm inside the eggs. I'm guessing these were highly viable eggs. 😝 We candled them again before we put them in lock down on day 17 with the container, same results.
When we put the eggs in lock down, we filled the bowl with the sponge with water to increase the humidity within the tub, We also removed the heat lamp leaving only the heating pad under the eggs. The temperature held at 100 degrees just fine.
On day 20, we heard cheeping in the tote, but resisted the urge to open the container. It was hard not to cuddle the new babies. But if we wanted all the chickie babies to hatch, we had to keep the humidity high in the tote.
Sorry for the blurriness.
On day 21, the noise in the tote had increased so we chanced it. The new babies would need hydration. Their internal yolk sack would handle the nutrition. Plus, we couldn't wait any longer. We opened the lids and were greeted by five little puff balls. I haven't sexed them yet, but we're hoping for hens. They look to be all RIRs because of the darker coloring on their heads. But as they get to feathering out, we'll definitely know.
So we would have had 100% hatch rate again except for the unfertilized eggs and if Kassity had left the blanket alone. I still can't believe two eggs weren't fertilized! Instead, Mel's method gave us a 55% hatch rate this time. Next time I'll break out the gifted incubator too to see if we can get more. I'm experimenting here preparing to hatch quail eggs closer to spring.
WTG! for Mel's Cockeyed Homestead Chicken Farm, but none for Hoo-De-Hoo's (AKA Houdini) harem, poor guy. Maybe he'll have better luck with the next hatch out. We plan on doing this three more times before spring. I'm still hoping for at least five more RIR/Buff crosses for him. All crosses will free range plus get fermented feed.
We should have a full complement of Rhode Island Reds (RIRs) and more than enough to start her egg selling business and a few spares to sell at auction. So some reason, brown egg layers command a premium at auction. I guess it's an esthetic thing, they don't taste any different. We'll start all of them on organic starter feed with no antibiotics. Yes, I'll be supplementing their water with ACV (apple cider vinegar) and their crumble with dried herbs and garlic powder.
Cockeyed Dog Food
They'll eventually "free range" in our garden and orchard in tractors until the hens start laying or they are sold. Our breeder flocks of RIRs will not be free ranged, but will have their organic, fermented feed supplemented with fresh greens and veges daily. We only produce organically raised birds not that it'll matter to most frequenting the auction house, but for us it matters. All but a select few RIR roosters, will be culled or sold at about 20 weeks old. Mel still hasn't found a processor for her chicken yet. I guess she's going to have to learn how, because I ain't gonna do more than two a day for our household consumption. That will cut into her dog food making ideas.
I'll cull the Hoo-De-Hoo/cross rooster babies because we only need the hens for egg layers. I consider these homestead only stock. I'll use the meat for our use. I don't expect to get many of those. I'll keep an eighteen-month rotation of hatching these eggs schedule unless one or two go broody. Hens older than four years-old tend to lay more sporadically. We can't have our eggs business lag once we get a strong customer base. After all, we all do even more baking during the holiday months, don't we?
Americanas
Once Mel gets established, I can see needing a greater number to sell to maintain and increase her profit margin. I don't foresee a glut in the chick, egg, layer, rooster market anytime soon. So she'll probably have a pretty good income/profit margin within two years. We still want the Americanas too. We'll probably purchase those in the spring from our Tractor Supply. As far as a third or fourth breed, I dunno. It remains to be seen as she grows and whatever strikes her fancy to add.
I haven't mentioned a lot of what we've been going through on this blog. That will change with this posting to let y'all know what's going on. Why we haven't started filming our YouTube videos yet and post them on our channel. It's been a while since I've even mentioned our channel. Now defunct after a two year absence of any new content. Especially after an anonymous subscriber bought us a new audio set up and still no new videos. Only the subscribers who get our newsy email each week know about three-quarters of what's been going on. Want to join us? Use the contact form in the right column and a valid email to get your copy ever Saturday-ish. Today, I'm getting personal with y'all. I'm not making excuses just telling it like it is.
Well, there are a couple of reasons for this.
Since this May, I've been fighting for my life or some semblance of a life quite literally. For now, I'm battling cancer. I've battled this beast and won four times in my past. By the Grace of God, we will beat it again. Since my seizure in July, really since my car accident in May, I haven't been able to drive. It will be July 2020 before I can do so again with no repeat in seizure activity. All late spring and summer long, it's been one medical thing after another my head, my eye, my heart, my spasticity due to my strokes, my pressure sores on my foot, my cancer returning after being gone for 26 years. I just started getting my stamina back from July only to have a pressure sore on my foot appear.
It's been a perfect storm kind of thing with me dying and being brought back to life. My body is revolting against me and I'm not recovering as fast as I used too. I'm constantly being slapped in the face that I ain't a spring chicken no more. It'll be the new year before all is said and done. I'm praying 2020 will be my return to "normalcy."
Finances have been so tight that we almost lost our homestead. We've gone through periods without electricity, and still have not filled our propane tank to cook with. So we are relying on the electric cook tops, crockpots, microwave, the grill, and a toaster oven to cook my recipes on. Now, we have the wood stove too so it's a little bit easier. I hope to have propane before I start videoing my cooking spots again. I'm crossing my fingers, but any money we could have saved is now spent on firewood and the price went up this year.
Since May, Mel has been carrying the load by herself once again. She's even had to carry me. As a result, her seasonal depression has been a year long depressive state. Her medication has helped her not hit the suicidal/destructive state of three years ago. But her frustration level increased with taking over the finances (with my money), my health issues, and doing it all. Her once every two months jaunts into town have now become a three times a week thing. She has deemed herself unemployable because of age and attitude. She hasn't held a job for more than a week in three years.
She's writing a new program for her chicken farm record keeping so by mid 2020 she could really be making money to supplement our working capital and homestead. But programming is hardly easy, especially self taught, or without it's own frustration points. Chickens are much easier to raise than angoras rabbits. So her lack of attention won't kill them. At least she's not talking about chucking the homestead idea anymore.
The fact is we are getting older. Even though we've planned our homestead with this in mind, it's still a lot of work. We've only cleared about 1/2 an acre out of two. Trees still need to be cleared and the land terraced to be usable. What can we do when we can't afford to pay someone to do it, and we neither have the ability nor the equipment to tackle this? Both of us being transplants, still do not have "friend"/family base to fall back on, nor know enough people to ask for help. I've been so far out of the loop this year, it shows. To everyone, we've fallen off the edge of the world.
So for now, I'm combing the three pounds angora fiber, four pounds of alpaca, one pound of angora mixed fiber, and six pounds of wool into rolags for me to spin into yarn. I've got my work cut out for me in my usual fall and winter pastime activities. I'm still posting twice a week here, and once a week on my other site. There's my knitting. This winter, I'm planning on completing four sweaters and a bed throw. If I feel froggy, I'll try my hand at beading/ spinning some more art yarn. It will depend on if the muses hits me just right. There's also converting the outside rabbit hutches into quail hutches. I'm still shooting for spring.
So for now, Mel is focusing on her chicken farm. She'll be building her chicken coops and runs weather allowing. So come spring we can started in earnest on her newest venture. She's been researching hatcheries to get her base stock. She changes her mind constantly on the type of chickens she wants to raise. Americanas are a given. I'm firm about them. But RIR, Orpingtons, Barnvelders, or who knows what she'll finally decide on. She's in charge and it's her venture. I'm just funding her start-up again. They'll just have to be cheaper by the dozen.
When in life you are down and out, you better have a plan to get back up again.
Like many new homesteaders Mel built a greenhouse out of pallets and cattle panels. Watch videos here. It actually worked fairly well. But there were two major problems with it. It way too hot in our GA summers and the winds howling through our hollow destroyed the plastic covering so we had to replace it yearly.
As you can see, those nifty shelves filled up with assorted junk too. Nothing was protected from the elements for very long. It became a royal pain in the behind in upkeep to grow vegetables and house rabbits in winter.
Kassity @ 5 months old
Stripping the shredded plastic covering off the outside and the floor was the easy part. It took two days with chasing down Kassity who insisted helping us by carrying off pieces to other parts of the property.
We got smarter after chasing her a couple times. We started stuffing the plastic into an outdoor trash can to prevent this. We'd take a break making sure to press the lid closed only to find the trash can rolled down into the orchard and the plastic pulled out of the can. The trash can lids couldn't withstand rolling down the 25' incline littered with small blueberry bushes, fallen trees branches, and a 40 lb puppy jumping on it the whole way down. The lid didn't stand a chance with this puppy having fun. How could you stay mad at such a sweet, lovable face? We ended up hauling the trash can into the barn during breaks.
Finally, the plastic was off. Then the job of cleaning up the mess. Every few handfuls we'd traipse to the barn with it. Kassity, not to be left out, would grab something and follow us...most times. If the item was something fun to play with or had a good chewability factor, she'd try to run off with it. We'd stop her in her tracks by the only way we've found that works- a cutesy voice with that held the promise of play or being loved on.
With Kassity's help, it took us a week to get it accomplished. I'm just glad the greenhouse is only 8'x8'. I shudder to think what the three proposed 8'x 24' greenhouses will be like. But we're thinking of old windows and doors or those clear tuftex panels for those. We've got some time to gather what we need for that project slated for 2020.
Now all that's left to do on the old greenhouse is to install the shade cloth over the wire structure. It should arrive next week.We've filled the new planting beds on both long sides of the greenhouse with the cleaning out of the rabbit barn on top of wood chips. Everything planted is growing well. Inside the "new" shaded greenhouse should allow us to continue to grow cooler weather crops and jump start our fall garden seeds.
Well, I don't know about her garden, but the Cockeyed Homestead is starting to green up. The seeds are sprouting there first true leaves and the transplanted tomatoes and peppers are loving these warmer days.
In fact we've only had to water once so far. Mother Nature has been good to us. We harvested some Dandelion seeds last week to plant them where we want them. We've got a spot for these nutritious and medicinal weeds. They can grow and spread to their hearts content. We've also reseeded the bunny patches. Yes, I'm already pulling plantains, clover and grasses for their yearly diet transition. At least as much as my back and abdominal incisions will allow.Yes, the surgery sites are still tender because of all the bending. That's the thing about not being a spring chicken nor a fall hen anymore, you do everything slower including healing. If it wasn't so hard getting up again, I'd kneel or squat. The Golden Years are so great, why are we having such "fun" dealing with 'em?
$27 for a new looking porch
But honestly, I'm enjoying these days. I can take my rest periods with my glass of tea on the porch swing. Yes, the house is going through the yearly transition too. Porches are cleaned off for the warm weather migration. Now that the weather is nicer, I'm investing in the evergreen paint for the porch and shutters. We'll have to invest in some new roller and brushes since the 45 lb puppy, otherwise known as Kassity or chew up everything she can get to, has absconded off somewhere in the deeply wooded property with them. Nothing brightens them exterior of a house faster than a fresh coat of paint. I'd planned to do this in the fall, but fall lasted two days. Not a lot of bending so it's a perfect job for me.
A quick sanding job and a new stain would make it almost new again patio set. I may even get new patio chair cushions. The old ones are getting thin. Maybe new foam will suffice. Bennie, our previous German Shepherd, made short work of shredding them. By the time I get the porch done, I should be healed enough from my surgery to do the chairs and table. At least that's the plan.
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.
In a few weeks, is our first frost date. This growing season has zoomed by. I'm still trying to adjust to having four seasons again.
Honestly, it's been a cockeyed roller coaster of weather this year. Marked with late freezes, a cooler than normal summer, rainy spring and summer (not that I'm complaining), and a tropical storm blowing through our mountains. I keep saying that next year will be better. Or, I hope it will be.
BECAUSE of our strange weather patterns, the orchard wasn't planted, but it is cleared now with a thick layer of cardboard, wood chips (thank you TS Irma), and straw so it will be ready in the spring for the trees and bushes. We did expand our garden area. It now has a blanket of cardboard, wood chips, and straw too. My goal for the garden this year was to produce six months worth of vegetables. We fell short. I only managed a few months worth. Vegetables that grew well for several years didn't this year. In part I blame the chickens...they ate the seeds, and decided my garden was the ideal place to sunbathe and dust bathe. Once again, I had no idea what would come up, or even if the plants would survive the chicken claws and beaks.
Most of what I canned was chemical-free, non-GMO, and locally sourced produce. Although it seemed like I canned a whole lot, it isn't when you look at how many meals and sides it will be. But then again, I did manage six months worth. I'm still working on Mel's attitude of not having too much food around. She just has a hard time understanding the quantity of food that is necessary to feed us for that amount of time. It's the city girl in her. It's so much easier to go to the grocery store every couple of weeks and buy what you need without thinking what the total amount needed for months. Sure we could still do that, but it goes against a healthier, self-sufficient lifestyle. It's hard to find good, whole foods in the grocery stores.
She griped when I canned two cases of apple pie filling. "We aren't going the eat THAT many pies!" Then, I made my pie filling muffins. I didn't hear another peep out of her.
When I canned two bushels of green bean, her favorite. It was the same thing. I tried logic. "How many cans of green beans do you want to eat a week?" That didn't work. So finally I told her, "Shut up! It's my money." She stopped fighting me about food stuff. She's also got a part-time job now too so she's out of the house more.
While our 5 cu ft freezer is filled to capacity with beef, chicken, pork, and shrimp, I keep hearing her say that there's no more room but yet, I find room. Mel has a giant love of animal protein. I can take it or leave it. Five pounds of organic soybeans and dry beans will supply the amino acids I need without the animal based meat products for quite a while. Not that I don't like a well cooked steak, or chicken and dumplings from time to time. I really do! I love my veggies. I made a video of making Lo Mein. Mel's complaint, "It has too many vegetables." When I made chicken Lo Mein the other night I made hers with mushrooms, onions, and garlic for vegetables. Mine was loaded with about six ounces of vegetables. I try to get her to eat healthier, but sometimes it's a losing battle.
The Cockeyed Critters are doing well. I had the opportunity to buy a new breeding trio of Chinchilla rabbits, but didn't. Mel helped me butcher the roosters this go around! She held them while I dispatched them. She learned how to pluck them and watched as I butchered them saving the choice bits. It's a start. But by the same token, she loves the cuddly, fluffy bunnies. She doesn't mind eating them but raising them for meat purposes, she's against it. I don't understand the difference meat is meat. I watched her tear into a deer roast with no problem. If I could still maneuver, I'd be packing another freezer with venison hunting season. She doesn't think of deer as Bambi, or beef as Elise the cow. I do know that I'll be getting my quota of squirrel meat this year. Wait there is no quota. :o) I'll eat squirrel in a pinch but it'll go towards dog food. Anybody else notice how expensive animal food has gotten? I wish the cats and dogs would eat fodder too, but their diets is meat protein based. I really love knowing where my food comes from and how its grown. It's quite a bit quieter around here since four roosters went on to their next stage of life.
Moira and Mel
The cockeyed rabbits, now down to ten, are doing great in the new, rabbitry barn. The does love their new, larger cages. The bucks are content. They get their weekly outings. All the bucks are allowed to hop and play for hours inside the rabbitry area (12'x24') while they are groomed. The does, likewise, are allowed their time too. Moira, while sweet and timid with us, is a holy terror and territorial in the open space. She'll stake out a corner and chase everyone else out of it- including the cats and chickens. It's really hilarious to watch her guard her territory. This giant poof ball chasing a full grown hen. Even Flynn the fearless runs from her. She actually only weighs a little over three pounds without the fur, but you'd never know it from her thick, luxurious coat. But then, all our angoras are great woolers. Our Chinchilla rabbit doe, Colleen, doesn't seem to miss the kit rotation I've had her on before we lost Keiran. But who really knows what bunnies think?
Unless you plant several dozen plants of what you want to preserve, you will rarely have enough to put up for later. For us, we are just starting out (2 year old garden), so we preserve little by little as we go. Most of the harvest is freshly eaten. We are expanding as we go so each year new ground is broken to plant. We are limited by extensive tree coverage on this formerly abandoned homestead. We are slowly clearing as we go. There's just so much of this property that has been neglected for so long.
Clearing an area and keeping it clear is an issue right now. If you bush hog an area and do not have the means to keep the growth down, you've wasted your time, effort and money. Although buying a tractor to do this would be great, with only two acres of land it seems like a waste. It would spend most of it's time in the barn. That's a waste of resources. Plus repair bills on a largish tractor is expensive. Especially now with so much of the land filled with trees. So we opted for a tiny tractor that can also be used as a lawn mower. We got it second hand off of Craig's list. It'll haul a trailer behind it too. I imagine, I could even get a small tiller blade set up for the twice yearly turning of the gardens.
But getting back to the garden harvesting and preserving. A couple of weeks ago, I made a video of making no pectin added Triple Berry Jam for Mel. Now each of this berries ripen at different parts of the summer. I just gather them whenever they ripen and put them in the freezer. When I find the time and have the extra sugar...I'll make jam with them. Not to mention berry pies and cobbler. By putting up little by little like this no huge water bath canner is needed. A simple large pot will do.
Our cucumber harvest is coming along. I've calculated that we need ten half pints of pickle relish and ten pints of bread and butter pickles each year. I figured this by how many we used last year. That's really not a whole lot of cucumbers if you think about it. Eight medium sized Boston Pickling cucumber will fill five pint jars. We'll also do half a dozen pints of Kosher dill pickles. I make my relish out of zucchini instead of cucumbers. All the rest of the harvest pf zucchini and cucumbers is for fresh eating. All this canning stems from two of each plant.
Now tomatoes are another thing. We go through a ton of tomato products a year. We planted twenty-five Roma tomato plants, three Cherokee tomato plants and two Beefsteak this year. So far I've put up 27 quarts of tomato puree. We'll need three to four times that amount four a year. I still have to put up my pints of diced tomatoes. For diced tomatoes, I'll put the tomatoes in the freezer overnight or for months. All I do is wash, core, and place them whole in 2 gallons zipper freezer bags. The freezing process loosens the skins when thawed. The skin just slips off. Just run the thawed tomatoes through a couple times with a knife and they are ready for the jars. No standing over a hot pot of water, and then peeling them. For my tomato puree, I'll wash, core and quarter my tomatoes. I'll bring them up to a boil in a large stock pot, and then hit them with my stick blender before jarring them up. From the puree I can make ketchup, sauces, and even soups at a later time when it's cooler. Remember, we don't have air conditioning on this homestead. So any long term cooking and canning projects wait until fall and winter if possible. Luckily, we had a late cool spell that allowed me to get most of the green beans canned this year.
Having a covered and screened porch helps in my canning endeavors. This is worth its weight in gold for the garden produce that can't wait to be canned later. We have an old Coleman propane camp stove and a couple of electric burners in our make shift kitchen at the back of the house. This is an essential for us. The house doesn't get heated in the summer with 100 degrees temperatures outside. A large fan keeps the porch from being over heated. I can can or cook to my heart's content. Well, almost.
Today, I got an estimate on the new driveway and the plumber to get my honey-do list partially completed. The new driveway is way cheaper than I allotted for. Yah!! No more getting stuck to my axle in red clay mud! Another YAH! The best part is they can start next week. The plumber still is about what I figured. The electrician has to put their bid in for the electrical work. Now, to find a handyman to build my ramps and deck, and we'll be set. At least for now. We are pricing new gutters and downspouts for the rain catchment system too.
Things are hopping and finally coming together for us. It's about time.
So this week we have been planning to go to the Golden Isles for a long weekend. No, it's not vacation. I'm finishing my moving out process. It also means the last of my stuff is coming up here. It's a good thing Mel cleaned up the barn. It will be stored there until our tiny houses are built. We are still a couple months away from that.
Mel has been working 9-1 each day at her job. It seems that home office finally decided to train her in her job. After a year. Government jobs, ya gotta love them, right? She's been hopping between one location to another on a daily basis instead of two days a week. It seems that they are coming up on funding review and that's the reason they are doing it now in a hurry.
Our free video editor went to pay for use. We had made several videos during the past couple of weeks and needed to edit them before uploading them. It made for a flurry of internet searches to find a new one so we could edit our YouTube videos. I suggested just buying a program out right with Mel arguing that we should be able to get a fairly decent one for free. We finally found one that we both could agree on after each trying a couple of them. So we are back in business.
It doesn't help that Mel's truck windshield got hit by a rock on her last trip with me. The little ding spread with our heat wave to show a crack almost to mid line of her windshield. She got pulled over for it and was given a warning. Joy, joy. What fun she is having out and about. I took her Tuesday and we carpooled it back to the homestead for more fun with rabbits and pickles.
Tempest, Blue English Angora
On the homestead, she's been dividing her time between her workshop, where she's rebuilding our rolling cart, to nursing ill bunnies. Tempest is still nursing her sore hocks and is playing it up big time with Mel. She hobbles around her cage lifting her now healed front feet in the air for attention. Her rear feet are healing nicely.
As many know, rabbits can sleep with their eyes open. She is a heavy sleeper. Tempest has to be around here with the chickens, dogs and cats. She's been loving her time in the bunny hospital aka Mel's air conditioned bedroom. She was flopped over on her side when Mel went to check on her. Mel being Mel spoke to her through the cage in a loud, corny voice she does. Mel even poked her through the cage. Tempest would not rouse. Mel thought she had lost another English Angora. The rabbit was only sleeping because when Mel reached into the cage and picked her up, the rabbit looked at her with a startled look. I might also mention this rabbit has been treated for a body mites. So she's almost hairless. She looks so pitiful.
Dustin, Gray English Angora
Mel came rushing in from checking on the rabbits Monday. "Dustin has diarrhea! What do I do?" Nothing will kill a rabbit faster than diarrhea in the summer time. They can't drink enough to keep them hydrated. I told her to empty out his cage. To give him only timothy hay and put some apple cider vinegar into a clean water holder. We bleach and clean their water bottles and food dishes routinely. In fact, we had done it over the weekend. Nothing had changed drastically in his environment to cause the stomach upset. After Mel returned from work, she bathed his hind end of all the mess. Straw and poop everywhere.
In the end, so to speak, there was nothing wrong with him. What Mel thought was diarrhea was just rabbit poo drenched with urine. Once cleaned off, he was his usual playful self and getting into everything. She clipped his poo trail because I'm dangerous with scissors. Now electric shearers is a different story, I can handle those fine. We have yet to get those. They can be a bit pricey for good ones. But they are in the budget for two months from now with the purchase of the new rabbits.
In the garden, I have been waiting and on tomato watch. The one and only tomato we had earlier this month has been joined by about fifty or more little tomatoes. Considering the tomato plants themselves are now 6' high, it's about time. That first tomato started to go yellowish-orange. I could almost taste it. The first tomato to harvest from our new beds. Every morning I'd go out and peruse my tiny garden. I'd retrain feeler vines, talk to the plants themselves and hand pick any varmint that was trying to damage them. The chickens have gotten used to my routine because they wait for me to throw the offenders over the fence for them to munch on.
This first tomato was my pride and joy. It had gotten so heavy that it carried its branch to the ground. I placed straw under it to cushion it from the ground. It was now on its way to be harvested. Imagine my surprise to find that 6" tomato half eaten this week. I picked it up from its cozy bed and just stared at it. It was then I noticed not the rounded bite marks of an insect or even a rabbit, but the "V" shaped bite marks of a chicken. GRRRR! I threw the tomato into the compost bin. The chickens raced for it, and then squawked loudly because I'd thrown it into the center and they couldn't reach it.
The chickens strike again! But their uncontrolled free ranging days are numbered. They need to enjoy them while they can. As fun as they can be, I'm tired of them thinking my house is theirs to come and go as they please. I'm tired of cleaning up their poop, or slipping on it. But most of all, I want to be able to eat my own vegetables that I grow for us. Giving them scraps and leftovers is fine, but not everything the greedy buggers. I can honestly say, I'm going to enjoy culling day. At least I know what they are eating was good stuff, but it was meant for us. They are eating all of my garden, their chicken food, the scraps, and whatever they find when they are foraging around the yard. So far I've harvested 2 lbs of green beans, 3 lbs of zucchini, 1 winter squash pumpkin and that's been it. They have eaten the rest! And, they say sharks only live to eat and make babies. What about chickens?! They even eat their young.
I know, I know, I always seem to complain about the chickens, but can you blame me? Yes, they give us eggs but compared to what we've lost is free eggs really worth it? Something doesn't balance. Around here right now, we are the Cockeyed Homestead under chicken rule. The chicken building can't get here fast enough. Unfortunately, too late for a garden this year.
Next year, I'm (human) taking control back. (Laughing wickedly and maniacally) I will rule, or so they will let me think so. Yes, insanity is hereditary. It's gleaned from rampant homestead animals and plants. No, not the illegal kind of plants either. If not careful not only will be talking to yourself but answering yourself too.
Okay, so I'm dreaming now. Any minute now Whitie will crow and wake me up. Ah, there he is now. It was a nice dream while it lasted. The Cockeyed Homestead is brought to you by the letters D, B, and C for Darn, Blasted Chickens. It's a good thing I'm not home right now. I hear sirens approaching to come and take me away from the homestead.
I watched this a couple of years ago. Enjoy while we're away. Shaking my head sadly. I didn't read between the lines and listen to her.
