Thank you to everyone who left kind thoughts for us on the last post. We do have insurance. We spoke with the adjusters today and one of them will be stopping by this evening to take some pictures. The insurance company will be sending a fire investigator out to confirm our suspicions that the cattle started the fire by chewing through the cord on their stock tank heater. Brian ran the cord through a thick metal pipe to prevent this problem but the cattle must have pulled on it enough and reached the end. It is heartbreaking to think that this could have been prevented, and we will be looking in to different methods of providing water in these freezing temperatures.Our cattle are safely at a friends’ with his cattle. We’ll make long-term arrangements for them once we see how long it is going to take to rebuild. The building that burned was not ideal for our plans and so we may be redesigning it before we replace it. I feel that the threat of fire is just one more reason that raising animals on pasture is a far superior method. Here’s some video I took yesterday after the firefighters
Continue readingMonth: November 2008
Disaster at the Farm
Don’t know where to start – there was a fire at the farm here today. Half of our big shed is ruined along with the big lean-to we added on last fall. Thank god for our dogs, we were trying to sleep in this morning and they saw the fire out the window and barked until we woke up. It was too late to stop the fire but we saved all the cattle, the tractors, and the hay. Losses include all of the corn and oats we had kept to feed and heat our house, plus our planter and multiple gravity wagons/corn wagons. Our friends and neighbors have already rallied around us and helped in every way possible. We are so grateful. I took some video of the damage today so I’ll be posting that if I can get it to load properly. I figured this will be a part of the farm’s history and we might as well record it to show our kids someday. It just feels like I’ve been punched in the stomach. I’ll be posting updates in the coming days.
Continue readingHomemade Laundry Soap: Liquid
My Mom & I have been using this recipe for years now so I thought I would share it. It came from our local paper, author unknown. Liquid Laundry Soap Recipe: 3 pints water 1/3 bar Fels Naptha soap, grated 1/2 cup Super Washing Soda 1/2 cup borax 1 quart hot water 2 gallon bucket Note: You may be able to get your local grocer to order the Fels Naptha for you, or you can find it online. The grocery store should have washing soda and borax, looks near the stain removers and other laundry aids. Step #1: Mix grated soap in a large saucepan with 3 pints hot water. Heat on the stove over low heat until dissolved. Do not allow to boil. Step #2: Stir in Super Washing Soda and 20 Mule Team Borax. Stir until thickened. Remove from heat. Step #3: Add 1 quart hot water to 2 gallon bucket. Add soap mixture and mix well. Fill bucket with more hot water, leaving a few inches at the top, and mix well. Set aside for 24 hours or until mixture thickens. Use 1/2 cup of mixture per load. I like this mixture a lot and find it
Continue readingSunday Stroll
Here’s found I saw today as I walked around the yard. The garden freshly mulched for winter: Lots of hay ready to be fed: The last of the new landscaping, until spring: Chickens happily eating apple scraps: And then later, it snowed!!: Check out who else is stolling today over at Quiet Country House. Today I’m thankful for the space we have here to call our own. It is so nice to relax at home on a weekend and take a break from the rest of the world. I love having the yard to decorate the way I like and the house that feels more like home every day.
Continue readingHow to Store Carrots, and Save them for Seed
Today it was supposed to starting raining/snowing at around noon. I was determined to get some work done outside before the bad weather hit so I headed outside about 10AM. First I finished landscaping a spot near our back door. Now I have lawn edging and stone around two sides of the house. I’ll do the other two sides in the spring. I’m still amazed at the difference – it looks so much nicer. I’ll have to post before and after pics sometime. I really wanted to get the garden mulched today but that didn’t happen. Both of our wheelbarrows are full, one has a flat tire, and I really didn’t feel like opening up the big shed doors to lug out a bunch of hay for mulch. So instead, I dug up all of our carrots. The book Root Cellaring by Mike and Nancy Bubel is a great one to study in regards to food storage. Since the book said carrots can be left in the ground all winter in milder climates, I figured mine were safe out there for awhile. However, with lots of freezing temps in the forecast I needed to get them out before the ground
Continue readingBob Waldrop and Someday: A Tri-Cities Food Coop!?
So I attended a very interesting presentation Tuesday night titled, “Re-inventing the Family Farm”. I found the flyer at the Greenstone Farm Credit office of all places, which made me a little leery to attend. However, the presentation was by Robert Waldrop, President and General Manager of the Oklahoma Food Coop. The coop is incredibly successful, more so than I would have ever expected. Mr. Waldrop was hosted by Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU), almost an hour away from where I live. I had no idea there was so much great work in progress at SVSU. They are working on everything from vermiculture and hydroponics to alternative energy development. For more information on the projects going on there check out the Green Cardinal (the cardinal is the school mascot) and the last few posts on Bob Waldrop’s blog. While you’re on Bob’s blog scroll down to the post about 20 Things to Do Now that the Election is Over. I found it very interesting and motivating. So, back to the presentation. Really it was mostly practical advice and tips on how to start and operate a large food coop. I have considered in the past the idea of trying to
Continue readingHow to Buy Locally: 9 Easy Steps
I’ve been working on my post for the APLS Carnival for a couple days now and it turned in to me blabbing on about reasons why buying locally is good, etc.,etc. I decided to put together something quick and basic instead. I’ll leave the philosophical parts to someone else. Assuming you support the idea of buying local products here are 9 easy steps to get you started:1. Get yourself some reusable bags. Ironically, you may not find these locally. You could always make them yourself, or the organizers of you local farmers’ market may have bags with their logo on them. My personal favorites are baggu bags, available on Amazon.com. There are several options out there so if you can’t find some locally look around online. It is still better than using plastic or taking new paper ones every time. Plus, a lot of vendors don’t even have bags. 2. Get organized! Find a spare little notebook in your desk or find a spot in your PDA for “local” contacts. When you find the one guy in 100 miles that grinds flour, you don’t want to lose his phone number! It helps if you have a place to store business
Continue readingSunday Stroll
So today I went strollin’, and this is what I saw. The leaves are so thick you can’t see the grass in a lot of spots. I’ve still got some peas trying to grow in the garden. I don’t think they’lll make it much longer. Temps are supposed to be down to 27 tonight. Here’s a bigger picture of the garden, all done now. That’s the asparagus there in the middle (I didn’t want anyone thinking my weeds were THAT tall!) Maci, enjoying the fall. And the horses. They were very happy to get a new round bale. Check out who else is strolling over at Quiet Country House. Also, thanks to Joyce, I’ll be mentioning something that I am thankful in each post this month, in no particular order. What a great way to carry the Thanksgiving spirit all the way through! Today I am thankful for my dogs. We have 3: Bear, Sam, & Maci. I appreciate having them around because they are always in a good mood and happy to see me, even when I’m crabby and not particularly nice to them. They keep us from being lazy by waking us up every day – there pretty
Continue readingLiving Like A Pioneer
So in honor of Crunchy Chicken’s Pioneer Week I’m doing things a little different this week. The idea is to live as much like a Pioneer as you can by using local, non-processed goods and giving up some modern conveniences. For me this means no TV this week. I did watch the election coverage last night and I’m not avoiding my husband by leaving the room when he watches TV, but I am keeping my attention on my book (currently reading You Can Farm). I’ve also been baking like crazy. Honestly, I just pulled the last breads out of the oven and now the entire length of the counter is lined with homemade goodies. Today I finally got my first order of locally grown & ground flours from Hampshire Farms. Perfect timing for this challenge! The flour is definitely more coarse than store bought. The whole wheat bread flour didn’t work too well with the dough hooks in my mixer so I kneaded it by hand for the whole 10 minutes. I also got some pastry flour and cornmeal, so I made a pan of cornbread with dinner. I cooked pork chops from our local meat market where most of
Continue readingThank you
Just wanted to take time out to thank all the people who worked hard on this election and helped promote our future President. If you baked cookies, held fund raisers, registered people to vote, or even put a sign in your yard – THANK YOU! In the blog world I know Eco-burban worked hard on this election and I’m sure there are many others. On the other hand, if you promoted the opposing team – we’re thinking of you too. I can’t imagine what it must be like for someone who lived and breathed the campaign all these months to have a disappointing result. Please don’t let it get you down, there are still plenty of ways to get your opinion out there and make changes in your community. Even with the problems we have here, I am thrilled to live in a country were we have a right to freely express all our different opinions, and still be friends in the end of it.
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