Easter Rabbits

Despite rabbits being one of my favorite homesteading animals, we haven't had any for a little over a year. Before last winter, we decided to get rid of our current rabbits to avoid the winter care, and because we wanted to start with fresh stock the following year. Well, that never happened, and a year later we finally got on the ball to get more rabbits.

Friday, we got our Easter bunnies. Named for now, Thing 1, and Thing 2 from the temporary blue markings used to tell them apart.

They are a New Zealand/California mix. They are already bred to a Californian buck. New babies should be here in a few short weeks.

For now, they are in our hutches, but I'd like to see what we can do to get them out on grass this summer. Another project to add to the list. The farm they came from has their does in an old stall. They run together and are provided hay bales to burrow into for nesting. So, many different ways to do things. So, many things to try.

And, a few more pictures, just because.

Happy Easter to you!

Blogging at The Wild Ramp

Did I mention that I'm contributing to The Wild Ramp blog? There are several talented writers over there who share on a variety of topics from local farms, recipes using seasonal ingredients, and local food issues. Today, my post over there is about our first experience with wild leeks, otherwise known as ramps. Hop on over, and check it out!

"Spring" Update

This winter has drug along. We've been sick more than usual. It feels like we've had more cold weather than usual, and I do believe March has seen the more snow than any other month this winter. This was March 13th.

We had thunder snow that day. The snow (thankfully) didn't stick around for long.

The first day of spring came and went, and yesterday we woke to a winter wonderland scene that would have been much more appropriate for the week of Christmas instead of this week of Easter.

I know. I know. It is spring. It is still chilly in spring. Snow does happen. blah. blah. blah.

We did get the potatoes in, and a few things in the raised beds. Plants are started indoors. I may or may not have started my cucumbers far too early.

I'm really not asking for much. I don't want summer temperatures. In fact, at this point, I'd be thrilled with sunshine regardless of the temperatures. C'mon spring! We're cheering you on!

Spring Fever

Spring is always an exciting time. It is a time of anticipation, a time for new things. I've caught the bug.

I've started plants. Some of them I started too early, and am going to have to transplant and find a inside place for until it really warms up. I knew better, but I couldn't help myself! I wanted to have things growing!

I've made a lot of plans for the upcoming season, and have been itching to get them started! I've spent a little too much time browsing facebook and craigslist farming ads. We don't have any spring babies coming this year, and I think I'm compensating by bringing new animals to the farm.

We have our first batch broilers going, and another batch is coming next week. We've made a deal to get some rabbits soon. We haven't had rabbits for a couple years, and I am excited to start again. The pens need a little TLC before they come, and we are thinking about some ways to tractor them also.

We purchased turkeys! We've never had turkeys before. We brought these beauties home on Saturday. I love watching them, and love the sounds that they make.  The hens are laying, and we hope that they will hatch out some eggs this spring.

And our long awaited new arrival, Stella, came home today.

She has a future as a livestock guardian ahead of her, but today all the kids wanted to do was hold her and love her. Who can blame them? She is an adorable ball of fur!

Spring garden work needs to get here soon, and keep me busy. Who know what other animals I might bring home if it doesn't?

They Really Are Aren't They?

It is Ham, Bacon, and Eggs week! The three oldest kids started this 4-H project way back in October when their hogs were taken to be processed. The helped to cut the meat. They've salted, waited, salted, and salted again, waited, trimmed, kept records, waited a little more for the smoking, and final their hams and bacon are ready!

This week keeps us hopping. There are record books to complete, check, and finalize. Invitations to buyers to be sent. There are pictures to be taken. Eggs to be selected and prepared. Meats to be chosen for judging, and finally the breakfast and sale day bright and early Thursday morning.

The kids put a lot of time into these projects. The committee members are saints for all the work they put into this program, and we are very grateful.

Tonight was the night eggs are turned in for judging, and the meats are graded and then placed. First, all the meats are separated into three groups; blue, red, and white. Since each pig has two hams and two bacon, each participant starts with two of each. Only one ham and one bacon may be entered for the final judging and sold. After the meats are separated into the three groups, participants select which of their hams and bacon they want to enter into the final judging.

The extra hams and bacon may be donated for the buyers breakfast, taken home to be sold or consumed, or for FFA students, entered into the state FFA competition. Each of our kids chose to donate one of their meats for the buyers breakfast. I'm glad to see them do it, and it only seems to be the right thing to do. But as Kellen was donating a bacon tonight, a committee member remarked to me, "They are good kids."

I was glad for the reminder. It has been a long week already, and frankly, the kids were kind of on my nerves. But they really are good kids. Ham, Bacon, and Eggs has been our favorite 4-H project, and I'm proud that these kids have been willing to give back to the program!

Seven

Happy Birthday Vivian! 

(How can this be my baby?!)

Because They're Chickens

It was spring cleaning time in the chicken house. The first batch of broilers was due to arrive the following week. That is the perfect time to not only clean and disinfect brooder pens, but the entire chicken house.

We subscribe to the deep litter method for our chicken house. The concept is simple. You only clean out the chicken house once or twice a year. You start with a layer of bedding material. We use shredded paper because it is free. You let the chickens do their thing, and you add some more bedding material as needed. As long as the mixture stays dry, all is well. If you start to smell that ammonia smell, you know things are not dry, and you need to add more dry material. By the end of the winter we have a good thick layer of partially composted manure, shredded paper, and wasted feed.

Chicken manure is hot. Fresh and put directly on the garden it can burn plants. We use our deep litter clean out to fertilize the garden before tilling and planting, or in the summer, to mulch between the rows, especially for nitrogen lovers like corn, keeping the clean out a good distance from the plants. Both of these uses have worked well for us.

This clean out we hauled out the waste by the bucket to the garden nearby.  Remember, we are cleaning out  the hen house. The place the hens have access to 24/7. The place that they are all in every night. They've been with this stuff all winter long, and never found it very interesting. What is the first thing they want to do when it is hauled out and dumped on the garden? They scratch through it and act as if they have been given the biggest treat ever. That is a chicken for you.

Winner!

For months the kids have been torturing me with this song:

Besides singing this song repeatedly, they have begged me to make bacon pancakes. Today, I indulged their request. Using my favorite pancake recipe and adding some pre-cooked bacon for this all in one breakfast treat; Bacon Pancakes.

And because just bacon is not enough, we added some chocolate chips too; Chocolate Bacon Pancakes.

Yes, I have won the cool mom for the day award! Now, if they'd just stop singing the song.

Slow, but Sure

My winter "creative" project. 

This is my winter project, and braided rag rug made from old jeans. Considering that it is intended for the kitchen floor, and that spring is almost here, I better get busy! Or I could finish it off and call it a trivet!

Just for Fun

Take some climbing equipment. Add a couple of trees and a little imagination. You'll get a lot of fun!

Beginning Homesteading Class

In a few weeks, Tim and I will be teaching a beginning homesteading class at The Wild Ramp. 

Tuesday, March 19, 2013
6:00pm
Have you thought about starting a garden? Canning the harvest? Maybe you want to keep a few chickens, a dairy goat, or a pig. You might be interested in cooking from scratch, making soap, or just generally doing more for yourself. You are a homesteader. 

Wikipedia defines Homesteading; "Broadly defined, homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency."  

You might live in the city, suburbs, or out in the country, but regardless there are things you can do to become more self sufficient. Tim and Stephanie Appleton of Mil-Ton Farms share their experiences, and provide information and resources to help you get started. Specific questions are welcome beforehand to help guide the discussion!  

Class is $15 and $12 for Friends of the Market. Payable the day of the class.

I am excited about this class. I'm happy to share what we have learned, but homesteading is such a broad subject! Recently, I was talking to another homeschool mom who wants to become a little more self sufficient. She said she didn't even know what questions to start with because there was so much she didn't know.

So, where do I start?  Love to have your feedback on what you'd want to know, or what you wished you had know before you started your homestead!

A Letter From Kellen

15/2/13

Dear Friends and Family,

I’m writing to you because I’m going on a missions trip this summer to the Dominican Republic. I’m not usually a person who likes to ask for things. So, typing out this fundraising letter, whose purpose is to ask numerous people for money feels incredibly odd. Like, really odd. It would, I admit, be much easier to just send out some generic letter, using all the latest Christian buzzwords. In fact,  I was given such a letter to use. I didn’t like it. At all. It just wasn’t me. It seemed really cheesy, and not at all like something that I would want to send to someone I thought liked me well enough to give me money.

Now, more than likely, I’m not the person you think of, when you think of some guy feeding the hungry, helping the poor, and going out to some remote village in a jungle, just because he want to show the people there what God can do. That’s because I’m not. And besides, my family has a farm to run, I’ve got school to do, and various life-y things going on.

Do I have the time to go to the Dominican for a week? Of course I don’t. Do people really ever? No, not really. There are tons of reasons why I shouldn’t go, or why I can’t go, and why I’m not really the person who should be doing this at all. But despite all that, I’m going. From June 22nd, to June 29th, I’ll be in Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic. Choosing to go really wasn’t a hard decision at all.1 Corinthians 12:6-7 says why extremely well, “And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:”   Wow. I think that’s pretty cool. “For the profit of all.”  All of us. Everyone. Makes me want to do something, how about you? And sure, praying for people is great. Prayer is amazing. It gets stuff done. But physically seeing what people are going through, that’s harder. It motivates. And I’m really excited to go, because we could all use a little prod off our, comfy first-world couches, right?

As I said, I’m excited. But of course, you can’t buy a plane ticket on feelings alone. You have to have some money. Most of you don’t know, but recently my siblings and I saved up and bought a $350 Wii U for our family. The feeling of accomplishment when we finally held that controller in our hands, it was the best feeling in the world. I can’t even describe it. I’d love to be able to do the same thing with this trip, but sadly, dollars are hard to come by. And 2100 of them are even harder. So instead of selling my Wii U 7 times, I’m coming to you, and asking you to help me pay for it. Because I can’t do it by myself, it’s just too much, too fast. If you decide I’m worth giving money, I don’t care how much you give me, a ton, five bucks, whatever. You can even send me a check for one cent, I don’t care. Actually, if you did, I’d probably hug you for it. Also, if you want to hire me to do something, I’ll do anything you want. Even manual labor.

That’s all I’ve got guys. Thanks for reading this weird letter from a guy you barely know. But before you stop reading, and throw this on your desk, I want to say one or two more things. You know that cheesy letter I was talking about? And while It talked about a bunch of stuff stuff I’m not, it also talked about prayer. I do agree with that prayer, as stated before gets stuff done. So please pray for me. I appreciate it. Also, if what I’ve told you here isn’t enough, message me on Facebook, E-mail me (kapplehead@gmail.com,) or you can write me back. I’ll tell you what you want to know, best I can. Lastly, I’ve put a form in here too, that you can fill out if you want a rigid system for giving me money.

Again thanks,



Kellen Appleton

Dear Newsong Church & SCORE International:

Please put the following moneys on account for Kellen Appleton, who is traveling to the Dominican Republic on June 22-29, 2013, with Newsong Church Mission Team.

Yours truly,

(Name)________________________________(Address)_______________________________
(City)__________________________ (State)__________ (Zip code)____________
Gift Enclosed: $100_____$50_____$25_____Other________________________

Please make checks payable to: Newsong Church (please put Kellen Appleton in the memo line)
Mail to: Newsong Church, P.O Box 459, Barboursville WV 25504

They Like Food Too

There are so many reasons to grow your own food. There are health reasons. There is the satisfaction of providing for yourself. There are economical reasons, but I think at the top of my list is taste! Food you grow yourself just tastes better. Worlds apart from anything you'll get from the grocery store, or a restaurant. Apparently, the kids have caught onto this too.

Lydia (11) had a writing assignment this week. I think the assignment was talk about something you consider a blessing in your life. My girl, she picked food!

Farms and School Food
I live on a farm. Your probably thinking; eww gross. Well sorry, but you're wrong. Farm life is cool. You get to eat so much better food. I mean come on, you like bacon.... right? ( Because if you don't, you are not worthy to live in this world.) The bacon is so much better. Do you know why Jesus created farms? So you can eat. When you eat at school, do you think that's good food? WRONG!!! That food is not good at all! My family hates public school food. ( Its a good thing I don't go to public school, huh?) To me school food tastes like, crap. To me school food is not even food. So there you have it school food is gross. And nobody should have it, in their body. Farms are amazing. There you get the best food.  The food the schools and Wal-marts get are from  factory farms, that is not good at all. You need good food from our farm or other small good farms.        

Not exactly on topic for the assignment, but her paragraph cracked me up. By the way, the extent of her experience with "school food" is 4-H camp. I guess she also, isn't aware of the effort to improve school food through the Farm to School program.

For lunch that same day, we had salad with greens from our low tunnel, boiled eggs, and bacon. Kellen (14,) who has been know to post pictures of things he has cooked on Facebook, took a picture of his lunch. With the following caption, "Behold. A real man's salad. Full of delicious deliciousness. Tremble in fear as you stand in its presence. And yes. That is bacon."

 We are raising young foodies in this house. Guess it is just a by-product of the life we live.

Our First Maple Boil

Last summer we marked the trees. A few weeks ago we tapped them. Sunday, the sap was gathered, and the boil began.

And it continued:

And oops! Got distracted. Didn't get the candy thermometer in soon enough, and it was ruined; hard as a rock and slightly scorched.

~sigh~ The learning curve is no fun. Luckily, it looks like some more good days for the sap to run are coming up soon!

Puppy Love

Today we went to pick out a puppy. We are purchasing a Great Pyrennes working dog from another farmer.  She and Nolan bonded. She was particularly enamored with Nolan's chin. 

Can't wait to bring this little cutie home. She needs a few more weeks with her mama. Looking forward to her guarding the property and keeping the flocks the safe.

 Now our task is to give her a name. Stella is at the top of the list right now. Suggestions are welcome.

Hillbilly Raincoat

Last week, during one of our unseasonably warm days, before the freezing days moved in, the kids spent the morning playing outside. A heavy rain storm moved in quickly, and Vivian and Kellen found themselves stuck in the chicken house. As the story was told to me, Vivian did not want to go out in the rain. Big brother improvised, as would any good homesteader, and cut a holes in a feed sack for Vivian to wear.

Apparently, she didn't mind getting her head wet, as this solution obviously doesn't not provide head covering. She played in the rain for some time with this get up. It wasn't too long until Nolan was sporting a similar outfit. Then they all played for about an hour in the rain while I enjoyed a quiet (dry) morning inside.

The things these kids come up with. Long time readers may remember another impromptu solution the kids came up with a few years back, Hillbilly Swimming Pool.

Ah good planning!

The beginnings of the pig barn 2009

Long time readers will remember that this little farm was built from nothing. All the buildings here, we put here. Houses were moved in, and animal shelters were designed and built (with some help) by my dad.

Most of our building materials were salvaged. Which saved a lot of money, if not time. My dad always had a lot of ideas. He had farm experience before we began this adventure. So, he was looking to design the buildings to make our work in the future easier.

One of the features he installed in the hog house was automatic waterers. This involves running the water line to the barn and plumbing the interior. Nipples are inside for piglets to access, but the adult water nipples are outside to help keep the inside of the barn dry. This system works like a charm for all but a few weeks of the year.

Weeks, like the last couple,  where temps fall and stay below freezing create extra work and care to keep the hogs in water. The hog house is well insulated. The hogs themselves are fine all winter as long as their is enough bedding material (and a heat lamp for piglets.) The water pipes though, they require some heat. Below freezing temperatures mean we are running some sort of portable heat, most often kerosene.

While everything is nice, warm, and safe inside, there still are those nipples outside the building. They require a little more attention. On really cold days, especially cold windy days, we will head to the pig barn at least three times a day to keep these babies thawed. We use a small propane torch to thaw them out.

Most of the time it doesn't take too long to get them thawed, but this year it has taken a little more work. If you've had pigs, you know they are hard on buildings. We did quite a bit of winterizing work to this building in the fall. We missed however, that the interior and exterior walls where the water nipples are have been pushed apart a bit, and that it needs insulating again. The years of using heat for these pipes has also worn away at the hardwood around them. All of this allows a lot more cold air to that pipe. On really cold days, we have to thaw the inside elbow and use the heat longer to get things moving.

Last week I was having a particularly hard time getting the middle pen going. To complicate matters, this was the pen where the new, and rather protective, momma was with her piglets. I was trying my hardest to thaw that nipple without going inside her pen. Then I saw the flames. Something between the walls (in hindsight I'm pretty sure it was the plastic sheeting insulation,) was on fire. It wasn't a lot of fire, but enough to make me panic a bit. I couldn't stomp it because it was between the walls. Any significant source of water was frozen, and at that time, there was no snow on the ground.

I ran inside the building, and there it was, a fire extinguisher. I imagine dad put that there with just such a issue in mind. A quick squeeze of the trigger and all was well.

Later, I figured out I could reach that inside elbow from the other pen, and there have been no issues since. Add to the to do list: getting the extinguisher charged, checking other buildings for extinguishers, and working on that wall of the pig house.

Weather Swing

January 30th:

The weather was gorgeous first thing in the morning. A heavy rain quickly moved in, but that didn't even stop the kids from playing outside. It was so warm. They played in the rain. 

February 1st:

The predicted high today is 22F. When I went out to feed animals it was 15F. 

Crazy weather swings!

Nosy Little Piggies

Yesterday I tried to get some pictures of our 2 week old piglets. Do you know how hard that is? It is so much easier when they are little. When they are little they lay with their momma or under the heat lamp a lot. They aren't too sure about me, and the keep a save distance. That you can capture in a picture.

Fast forward a couple weeks, they are still adorably cute, but now they are very active, not to mention nosy. Sweet photos are hard to capture because they are checking out what that contraption is in my hand. I end up with photos like these:

They just don't hold still! I try to get back for a photo, and this is about the best I can do:

Would you please hold still! Poor momma pig with eight of these guys running around. They won't even wait until she is ready to feed them. They just help themselves while she is trying to eat her breakfast:

Darn little piglets! You are so cute! (for a few more weeks anyhow.)

Weeks Like This

It is one of those weeks. One of those weeks with precious little white space on the calendar. One of those weeks where commitments made weeks ago just happen to fall in the same calendar square as things I don't want to miss, or don't want my kids to miss. A week where activities and responsibilities are colliding. A week where Tim also has a busy schedule, and late work nights. One of those weeks where I sat at the computer Tuesday at 6:00 PM already tired from the week.

The weather yesterday was absolutely gorgeous. Unseasonable warm and sunny, it was a welcome change from the gray freezing weather we experienced last week. One of the things I didn't want to miss on my calendar this week was lunch with a friend of mine who I do not get to see as often as I once did. We enjoyed the wonderful food at one of my favorite local restaurants, and then took advantage of the beautiful weather by sitting out on the porch for awhile chatting, partially about weeks like this.

We have similar personalities, and she could completely empathize with my over booked calendar for the week. Being busy is good; to a point. I work best when there is a deadline, when I am busy, and have to be efficient to accomplish the tasks. When I don't have a lot to do, (or maybe I should say a lot of pressing things or things with a deadline) I tend to dawdle the day away, and find myself at the end of the day with nothing really done. But there is a fine line between that place, and weeks like this.

When I find myself with a week that is entirely too full, I tend to shut down. Seriously, looking at this week's calendar, this week's to do list, and the tasks that I didn't get checked off last week, makes me want to just sit here and do nothing. Well, maybe spend hours on Facebook or Pinterest or some other no brain required activity, but nothing that I need to do. I just shut down when there is too much.

This used to be a regularly occurring problem for me. As homeschoolers, our schedule is somewhat flexible. It is hard to say no to all the field trips, activities, and play dates offered by the different groups in the area. I've learned that I have to. I have to say no if we ever going to do any school work at home. I have to say no to adequately attend to my responsibilities at home and the farm. I have to say no to maintain my sanity.

I've learned that I have to put everything on the calendar. We have guitar every Thursday. I can remember this without my calendar, but putting it on the calendar provides a visual cue to how full that week will be. I put farm tasks on the calendar to remind me of what needs done, and to create a deadline for those tasks. I have even been know to put household tasks, such as "pay the bills," on the calendar so I don't forget.

Weeks like this are not as common as they once were, yet, here I find myself smack dab in the middle of one. I have to cope. I don't have time to shut down. So, this is what I'm doing. I'm writing. I suppose it seems counter productive. I really don't have the time to write this blog post, but writing is a release of tension for me. Writing a post like this helps me to organize my thoughts, and stop the swirling chaos in my brain. Writing helps me see the big picture.

I am enjoying the moment. I am trying hard to not constantly have my head in the next activity or task while I should be focusing on the moment at hand. I enjoyed a long and leisurely lunch with a friend. I took a few moments to enjoy our two week old piglets while feeding this morning. I walked past the computer to enjoy coffee and time with Tim this morning. I try to keep my focus on what is really important.

I am re-evaluating and prioritizing. This week's list looks pretty hard to trim, but quite a bit has already been checked off. I can only do what I can do. I can't make myself or my family crazy in the meantime.

I'm putting my head down and getting to work. Focusing on one task at time. Refusing to let myself shut down, or get distracted, I can get a lot done.

I am considering what went wrong. How did this week get so ridiculously full? How can I keep this from happening again? It seems like some weeks, including this one, it just happens. There are things that have to be done, and they just happen to fall in the same week. I don't know how to fix that.

One thing I am considering is just marking out whole days. Not necessarily to not do anything, but marking them out to not go anywhere. Needing to go somewhere every day messes up my week. It is hard to get things done when we are in the car half the day. Would I stick to it? I don't know.

Weeks like this are a hard. They are exhausting to me, but we will get through it, hopefully with minimal stress. Now, it is time to take a deep breath, grab a cup of coffee, and dig in.

Chicken Stock

Making your own stock is incredibly easy, and results in a healthier and tastier stock than what you'll ever buy in a can at a store.

The best part, to this frugal minded farmer, is that making chicken stock is practically free. You can make it almost entirely with things that you would otherwise be throwing out, composting, or feeding to your chickens.

For the most basic of  chicken stock you need chicken parts including the bones and water. You can boil a stew chicken as a start to your stock. You can use the carcass of a broiler, or you can use other parts of the chicken like I did here. This pot of chicken stock was made with the necks left from a processing day.

Adding vegetables and herbs adds more flavor and nutrition. You can even use vegetable scraps. In this pot, you'll see onion skins, celery leaves, and carrot peels. I also add a little salt and pepper, but generally keep the spices to a minimum. Seasoning can be added later according to what the stocked is used for.

Simply throw all the ingredients in a stock pot full of water. Bring to a boil, and let simmer for an hour or more. Strain out the chicken and vegetables, and you're left with an incredibly rich and delicious stock. The stock can be used immediately, kept in the fridge for awhile, frozen, or canned.

Skip the cans of chicken broth and the bullion cubes. Making your own stock is easy and economical!