Since my last blog post on May 9, we have received 4.4 more inches of rain. Add in the rain from the first part of May and our rain total on the farm comes to 8.7″ for the month and that includes the 1.6″ we got over night last night when a nice thunderstorm blew through. My big dog, Beethoven, scratches frantically until someone (me) lets him in in the middle of the night. If I don’t hear him scratching at the front door, he has learned to go around to our bedroom window and scratch the house there. I need to find out exactly what he is scratching because the noise is jarringly loud when I’m trying to sleep. I need to check mainly to make sure he’s not tearing something up out there.
I did manage to get the gifted Jerusalem artichokes transplanted into a spot that should be okay, even if they take over that section. I also posted “So Much Rain” on the Grandma’s Homestead channel. It can be seen here.
I’m a little concerned about my barrow, Yoda. He was the runt of his litter and had some odd features in his head and ears, hence the name, Yoda, and that is why I had him castrated. He is half the size of his sisters at a full year of age, and I get the feeling that is as big as he’s going to get. I really like the little guy. He’s in his own little world, (I’m wondering if he’s deaf, too) and squeals the loudest and longest if he feels like I’m not feeding him fast enough. Recently, he has been having trouble standing up. His hind legs don’t seem to be working well. His father developed the issue badly enough that he couldn’t stand at all and I had to get him processed. I’ve known that Yoda was going to be taken to the processor all along, but I am wondering what’s going on with the hind leg issue. His brother is my boar for now and he does not seem to be developing that problem, yet. His sisters are looking good so far too. I guess that I’m just concerned about the genetics.
I have some old footage I’ve taken for my Farm Animal Life channel. I just stick a camera in with a set of animals; chicks, ducklings, piglets, etc., and video them doing their own thing. Because this channel is not on my priority list, I have taken too long to get the footage processed and posted. I did get “My Birds Help Spread the Straw” posted the other day. It can be seen here.
I also take snippets out of the full length version and post them as shorts. The “shorts” for this video are still in the works.
I pray that you ladies had a wonderful Mother’s Day. I certainly did, although it was a little eventful. Actually, for Tom, it was a little distressing but he handled it okay. First of all, Kinzie had a flat tire that needed to be changed. In stead of teaching Kinzie how to do it, mainly because her jack and tire tool were subpar, Tom changed it himself in the church parking lot. The asphalt hurt his knees and we found a towel to put under them and that helped. When we got home, some of the pigs were out. That always aggravates Tom. They had gotten into the barn and tore a few things up in there, mainly a bin full of feed. It didn’t take long to get them wrangled up again The pig hut had slid into the electric fence in such a way that actually created a tunnel to freedom without fear of getting zapped. I got the pig hut moved and repaired the downed fence and every body was where they belonged again.
Tom bought me a nice potted Dianthus flower and I got some nice things from my secret sister at church. Kinzie also got me a nice gift. She bought me an insulated cup for my water, with a handle, and filled it with chocolate. I really appreciated the handle as my hands age. Actually, my secret sister also got me a really cute insulated cup and I’m really glad to have these cups with handles. Kinzie also got me a card and I really love what she wrote in it. The three sentences were sweetness sandwiching funny insight. I’ll let you read it here.
I always knew I was “something else” but never thought my granddaughter would remind me. I adore that girl. I laughed because it was funny, but there were also tears in my eyes because she has healed from her old life enough to actually show me that she loves me. We both have come a long way and I am so very grateful.
I have learned a lot over the past few years on doing things on the computer, but it has always been a chore for me to learn new things technologically. I eventually get it done, but it takes me much longer than anyone else would have taken to do the same task. All the experts say to hire someone to do those things for you, but you have to have earned money in the first place to have money to pay someone. I say all this to tell you that I have opened a new Etsy shop to sell skits and devotions, mainly for women who attend women’s church meetings and for plays that have several women characters instead of the man-heavy skits that pertain to the Bible. That is not anything against men. It’s just that most of the people written about in Bible are men and the women of the Bible are considerably less. I have written skits that fit well with women’s meetings, that are Biblical, many of the pieces pertaining to current times. So far, I’ve only gotten one script up but many more will be coming. Keep and eye on scriptureskits.etsy.com for future pieces. I think you’ll like them.
I use the John Suscovich-style chicken tractors on my farm. We have built two of them and I like the mobility of these structures so that any animal I put in one can have fresh grass every day without the fear of predators. I had hatched some layer chicks and was going to take them to an animal auction the first Saturday of the month but it was storming that morning and I chose not to go. Because my brooder shed blew down in a storm last year and we have not rebuilt it yet, I decided to put the new chicks in the chicken tractor with a kiddie fence inside of that to provide an extra barrier to the outside world. Apparently, there were still some gaps that I had missed on the uneven ground and I lost three chicks early on. Never found them. The other morning, I noticed that another was missing but soon found it on the outside of the chicken tractor but under the covering tarp that is zip tied down. It took some doing to get the little guy out and back in to the chicken tractor. Since then, as they continue to grow, escapes have stopped.
I have been slowly rolling out a series about being ready for the next Great Depression. I feel that, as Americans, many of us feel that we will always have food available. I understand that mindset in an age of food and grocery delivery services. We not only have food from all over the world available at our local grocery store, we can have it delivered right to our door. Still, history has many gruesome stories of people starving, not always in the far past nor in faraway countries. I never want to scare anyone nor be a fear monger of any sort, but I do want to open people’s eyes to the possibility that there may not always be such a ready supply of food at our fingertips.
Along with the Great Depression series, I have recently started a video series on my YouTube channel showing you how to eat well from your pantry. I am excited to also say that I am collaborating with Toolman Tim Cook on his podcast Workshop Radio. He has a much larger audience than I do and he has graciously allowed me to post those pantry cooking videos on his show. We are also working together to create a Cookbook of the Collapse to help people make good-tasting, nutritious food from their pantry. I am very excited for this opportunity and pray daily that I do an excellent job.
Another project I recently completed is creating an introduction segment to Grandma’s Homestead YouTube channel. I think it turned out pretty good and I’m looking forward to implementing it in future videos.
Last Saturday, Tom and I drove to Pryor to an interesting place called Kla-Mart to buy discounted wood trim, a new brooder tub and a barrel to turn into another waterer for the pigs. The trim I wanted for my bathroom was $22 a stick at Lowe’s and I found some that is relatively comparable at $1.50 a stick. I still need to paint it, but I am really excited to get started on that project soon.
I also ordered thirty broiler chicks that should arrive the first week of June. That should be all I need at this time for the year as my freezers are still relatively full.
On my audio-only podcast, Books Highlighted, I recorded and posted Part One of The One Thing. I’m not sure how to do links for that yet, but you can check out that podcast on every pod-catcher except iTunes as I still have not determined the problem with them recognizing my RSS feed.
Over all, I am very happy with the way things are going so far this year and I look forward to following through on all these exciting projects. Come along with me and we’ll see how it all comes out. See you next time!