Grain

Wheat, barley, oats, rye, dent corn...all familar. Not so familiar...quinoa, spelt, triticale, millet, sourghum, buckwheat, chia. The culitating of these grains is what brought us from Hunter/Gatherers to what some say civilization and Farmers.  All I know is, I want to be self sufficient.  Self sustaining.  So I bought the e book "Small-Scale Grain Raising" by Gene Logsdon. 

I was planning to disc harrow an acre of the big pasture this spring and plant a foursquare.  One quarter each of wheat, oats, barlely and dent corn.  Followed by rye.  Well.....I started reading and he recommends planting the field with dried beans first if the field has been fallow.  Now, at first I was disappointed.  But upon further consideration, we planted a 12 foot row of tightly packed dried black beans the year before last and it only yieled 3 cups of dried beans.  So maybe an acre of dried beans might get us something more than one meal.  

And in preparation for having grain growing and hopefully harvested, we bought this last September. 

It's pretty big and red.  We've started using it. Works well.  We got a good deal on it buying it at the Mother Earth News Fair in Pennsylvania last September.  We saved 200 bucks.  And we got to meet the owners/manufacturers.  Great folks.  I saw another blogger post about her grain mill today as well.  You can see what hers is like by clicking here and by the way, take a look around. She has a great blog.
So far, we've made granola bars and cakes.  No bread yet. 
I think the hard part is coming....although labor intensive, it doesn't appear to be that difficult.  It's just that we've never seen it done and don't know anyone who has so it seems insurmountable. 
I will let you know next fall.
Be well,
Pam and Bill

List of Homesteading Skills

This blog posted this list and I thought it was interesting.  There might be other skills to be added. I have added some on the end in a different color.

Those in italics are skills Bill and I have done and those italicized and bolded are ones Bill alone has the experience.  Underlined ones are skills we hope to acquire in the near future.

Safely use an ax and hand saws.

Split firewood and kindling.

Stack and age firewood.

Grow a vegetable plant.
Plan, plant and grow a vegetable garden.

Sharpen any edge tool – knife, axe, hoe, chisel etc.

Basic firearm safety and gun proof your children and grandchildren.

Raise a chicken.

Shovel snow without putting out your back.

Read the weather.

Spin wool, cotton or flax into thread or yarn on a spinning wheel or with a drop spindle.

Use a garden shovel, spade or hoe without hurting your back.

Light a fire indoors or outdoors.

Go to a country auction and not get skinned.

Crochet.

Butcher small livestock like rabbits or chickens.

Hang clothes on a clothesline.

Basic tractor maintenance.

Know the difference between trees and the unique properties of various types of wood.

Cook 10 basic meals from scratch.

Pasteurize milk.

Distinguish healthy plants and animals from unhealthy plants or animals.

Basic sewing skills.

Set an ear tag or tattoo for animal identification.

Determine an animal’s age by its teeth.

Cut and glaze glass.

Drive a standard transmission vehicle.

Thaw out frozen pipes without busting them.

Know how and when to use hybrid seeds.

Sew your own clothes with simple patterns.

Hand thresh and winnow wheat or oats and other small grains.

Train a working cattle or sheep dog.

Read the moon and stars.

Make soft or hard cheeses.

Live beneath your financial means.

Fillet and clean a fish.

Use a wash tub, hand-wringer and washboard.

Make soap from wood ashes and animal fat.

Lay basic brick or build a stone wall.

Basic home canning and food preservation.

Save open pollinated (non-hybrid) seeds.

De-horn livestock.

Use an awl and basic leather repair.

Make long-term plans for the future – plan an orchard, a livestock breeding program, or plan for stored energy sources. 

Jury rig anything with duct tape, baling twine and whatever is on hand.

Be comfortable with emergency/home birth.

Read an almanac.

Euthanize large livestock.

Use flat cloth diapers and wool soakers.

Cook on a cook stove.

Entertain yourself and live without electronic media.

Shear a sheep.

Manage human urine and feces without plumbing.

Swap, barter and network with like-minded people.

Generate electricity for home use.

Make a candle.

Dig and properly use a shallow well.

Refinish furniture.

Drive a draft animal.

Realistically deal with life, death and failure.

Use non-electric lighting.

Butcher a pig or goat.

Restrain large livestock.

Slaughter livestock.

Use a treadle sewing machine.

Give an injection.

Use a handsaw, hammer & nails, screw driver, wire cutters, and measuring tape.

Know when to ask for help.

Know how and when to prune grapes and fruit trees.

Hatch out chicken, duck or other poultry eggs.

Use a scythe.

Skin a furbearer and stretch the skin.

Tell the time of day by the sun.

Milk a goat, sheep or cow.

Use a smoke house.

Stomach tube a newborn animal.

Build basic homestead buildings (sheds, animal shelters, smoke house, ice house, etc.)

Break ground and plough.

Use a wood stove and bank a fire.

Make butter.

Knit.

Make and use a hot bed or cold frame.

Deliver a foal, calf, lamb or goat.

Know how to tell when winter is over.

Plant a tree.

Brood day-old chicks.

Dye yarn or cloth from plants.

Haggle like a horse trader.

Bake bread. 

Use a pressure tank garden sprayer.

Halter break a horse or cow.

Graft baby animals onto a foster-mother.

Weave cloth.

Grow everyday kitchen herbs.

Make sausage.

Set and bait traps for unwanted vermin and predators.

Grind wheat into flour.

Make paper.

Make ink.

Know when it is more economical to buy something ready-made or when to make it yourself.

Castrate livestock.

Choose a location for a vegetable garden or orchard.

Catch and care for wild yeast for bread making.

Weave a basket.

Use electric netting or fencing.

Make fire starters from corn cobs or pinecones.

Use a pressure cooker.

Use a pressure canner to preserve meat and vegetables.

Correctly attach 3 point hitch implements to a tractor.

Trim the hooves of goats or sheep.

Sew your own underwear.

Make your own wine and beer.

Darn knitted or crocheted items.

Know basic plumbing and how to sweat copper pipes and joints.

Keep bees.

Change a spark plug.

Cook on an open fire.

Make vinegar. (read about it, never done it)

Purify water.(read about it, never done it0

Graft trees.

Make and use a bow and arrow.

Preserve meat by curing.(watched a demonstration, read about it, never done it)

Erect a fence.

Hang a gate.

Make and use herbal tinctures, infusions and other herbal remedies.

Replace electrolytes in a battery.

Charge a battery.

Change a car tire.

Repair a tire.

Do an oil change in any vehicle.

Build an effective compost pile.(I've tried for years....not successful)

Correctly set spark plug spacings.

Change all light bulbs – household and vehicle. 

Prime a well pump.

Fix water troughs around the paddocks.

Suture both animals and humans.

Catch a fish without expensive fishing gear.
Gather edible wild greens and prepare them.
Catch and keep a swarm of bees.
Render fat into lard. 
Use non-typical fats (lard, tallow, schmaltz, bear fat, etc) in cooking.

Make mayonnaise  

Build a pond/lake

Build an ice house

Harvest ice

Make and store hay

Make maple syrup

Make maple sugar

Make wicks

Braid rag rug

Cut hair

Pull teeth

Lance and pack boils

Sterile technique

Make a poultice

Make clay and form objects

Fire clay objects

Use a flint

Make bullets

If you think of any others....leave me a comment.

Winter's back and we're gonna be in trouble....

Not really, but I couldn't resist alittle retro Chiffon's.
There is something connatural about a significant winter storm. You hunker down and dig in.  It's less destructive in many ways than tropical storms.  As long as you are prepared.  My last entry was about the lack of snow.  We are expecting 18-24 inches total.  We currently have around....8 or more.
The world gets quiet when the wind stops.  All is covered by a vestal white blanket. A new beginning in a strange way.  This is as important as spring and summer and fall. Each has a plan and a purpose. 

All the animals are secure.  I wish we could convince the turkey's to get off the perch and get inside the coop but they have done very well so far this winter.  The high winds blew off the green house or high tunnel cover last week and we put it back on this morning.  The significant snow will freeze the extra plastic to the ground and prevent it from blowing off again. Need to do a serious redesign and reconstruction on that idea. The goal of simple and frugal was not successful. 

We are working with a hobby farmer/veterinarian in New Hampshire regarding Dexter cattle.  I'm still struggling with details.  Such as, where to put a winter run in. How to keep their water from freezing. What type and how much permanent and temporary fencing is needed.  These are things no one can tell us without doing some research on the place.  I finally decided that if we had to, we can put them in one section of the carriage shed/garage.  And we are planning to remove all the packing boxes in the overhead section of the garage to put hay in.

In the past, I have read books and articles and then proceeded to make a plan and with Bill's help, implement it.  With little stress but lots of diligence.  Cattle are different.  This is a big financial investment and time investment and more importantly, a much bigger responsibility.  This is a large animal that requires attention and intelligence to adequately care for properly. Our dear friend Peter assures me that sometimes you just have to "go for it".  I am working on it but I find myself not following up with our farmer/vet friend as diligently as I would like.  I am a bit afraid I must admit.  But delaying will only put us way behind the curve and years out from production.

On another note, I parsed 4 raw chickens that we had stored in a neighbor's freezer and made a large pot of chicken soup with the carcass. I have gotten quite adept at this process.  Only took an hour to cut all into pieces, including wings (for Buffalo wings real soon) and package them and refreeze for cooking later.  Now I need to take all the garlic and chop it up and mix it with olive oil to preserve it for future use.

Other winter chores include cleaning the basement, preparing for the garden and starting seedlings.  Hoe'ing out drawers and closets. Also doing baking and cooking.  A Pampered Chef cookbook I picked up a while ago, Simply Sweet, has 56 desert recipes.  Back in December I decided to cook one recipe a week for a year.  I organized the recipes to coincide with the seasons.  So recipes that require fresh fruit are planned for when they are in season.  Cooking in season is another sustainable practice  We try but there some items that we purchase every week that can only come from very far away at this time of year.  Tomatoes, lettuce and cukes. We eat a lot of salads.  And berries.  Yeah, not very sustainable.  But while I can purchase them, I will.

Another sustainable practice we just instituted was buying an e reader and purchasing books and pamphlets related to homesteading.  We have a solar recharger.  This will allow us to have a respectable reference library without it taking up what little space we have.

Our next project is to do some sugaring.  That will be interesting.  And will be coming up real soon.  In the next month or so. We've helped a neighbor who tapped our trees 2 years ago and decided we can do it ourselves and have more maple syrup for our own use.  Interesting to note that before the American Civil War sugar made from maple syrup was the primary source of sweetener.  Improvements in cane sugar processing during the War between the states made cane sugar less expensive than maple sugar and the maple industry focused on syrup.
Hope to post some pictures soon. 
Stay warm!
Pam and Bill

?Winter No More?

So, it seems as this will be the third disappointing year (for me) in regards to snow.  I truly cannot explain why the lack of this frozen form of precipitation depresses me so or why I am so giddy when we are inundated.  It goes way beyond the whole Christmas thing.

Well, here's what is new on the Homestead.  The green house made of fence panels and plastic, bowed to one side and neither Bill nor I are strong enough to right it on our own nor are we home together in the daylight so that we can fix it.  Probably Christmas day.  The good news is it still is working!  We continue to harvest Brussels's sprouts.  Mmmmm, they are mighty tasty.
Planted the garlic seeds in there as well.  So in two years we will have our own garlic from seed.

We've been researching growing our own grain.  Barley, oats and wheat this spring and then rye and corn the next year.  We will plant them in a foursquare in the big pasture.  We will borrow a neighbor's disc harrow to plow up a square acre and enclose it with fencing to keep the deer and turkey out of it.  We plan to harvest with a scythe.  Our grain will be purchased from Wood Prairie in Maine.  Then we can really put our Grainmaker grainmill to work. 
We purchased this at the Mother Earth News Fair in Seven Springs PA this past September. We got a fabulous deal purchasing it at the fair.  We saved several hundred dollars.  Plus we got to meet the company owners.  Randy and Bonnie.  Please visit them at http://www.grainmaker.com/.  You won't be sorry.  Truly lovely folks.  So much fun to talk with.

We came really, really close to having our first bovine animal on the homestead this fall.  Dayspring Farm in Bellows Falls was going to sell us a Dexter steer to overwinter and get our feet wet, so to speak. However, we declined due to money constraints.  Someday.  Or so I have been promised.

We are still planning to double our meat chicken production next year. Half is for the Big House on the Hill....http://outermostvillagegreen.com/.  This means we have to build another chicken tractor.  We will also build our own plucker.  The scalder I made for the turkeys worked reasonably well.  If we can't borrow the propane burner from the next door neighbors next year, it's not too expensive to purchase. 

The other project we are looking at is a Cider Press.  One of the residents at the Big House is an architect/carpenter and is excited to jointly work on this project.  Hopefully we will have more than 8 apples next year.  Truly a very bad year for apples!! 

Projects we were able to complete this fall despite Bill's injury and subsequent surgery were:
Bring in a cord of wood and put it up.
Build a winter turkey coop for less than $100
Turn the garden and spread a dumptruck full of organic compost.

Plus other mundane and routine homestead chores.
Pictures always make a better post but I'm lucky to get the words on the page at this point.

Here's hoping you all have a safe and joyous Holiday Season, whatever you celebrate.  Spread the spirit of the season...the world, your neighbor and you need it and deserve it.

Peace,
Pam and Bill

Here She Blows...

Hurricane Sandy, Class 1 has arrived.  Wind is going to be our problem.  We spent the weekend battening the hatches and all things preparatory.  Wanted to have a shelter for the turkeys completed but since I am alone most of the weekend, as Bill has to work, getting projects started/done is problematic. Managed to prepare the site and lay some foundation stones and do a general outline.  Stacked our firewood and split more with the help of some neighbors.  Spread the compost and managed to see my mother perform on stage as well.  I had to go to work this morning just so I could rest!  Wanted to do more.  Lucky we put all summer things away like deck furniture, wading pools, flags, and decorative plants and corn stalks.  Stocked up on canned foods, batteries and fuel.  Filled the tub with water and got the lantern out.
It's warm out...around 58 degrees so if the power goes out, we don't have anyplace to put our freezer full of chickens.  Bought ice but if we are more than 3 or 4 days without power...we are in trouble.  Can't afford to let 30 odd whole chickens go to waste.
Too late to buy a generator and really, in the end, a generator is not sustainable.  Solar panels are financially out of reach at the moment.  I guess we'll have to hope for the best.

Some folks are disdainful of the predictions and preparations. Others are hunkering down like it's the end of the world.  I'm choosing to see it as nature's way of tree pruning.  Our power lines are just our problem.  And of all we have here on the homestead, the turkeys worry me the most.  They are used to be outside but the wind may be too much for them.

Here's wishing all of the mid Atlantic and New England states the best of luck.
Pam and Bill

We got chickens and turkeys!

So our fiftenn Bourbon Red turkey poults now number eight.  Four didn't survive transportation and were DOA. One died shortly after arrival and one probably got taken by the fox.  They are very interesting.  The tom's have been strutting and puffing up.  Never when I have a camera available.  They have jumped on my shoulder to roost and daily fly over the poultry net fence to wander the pasture.  Usually around 6pm.  They like to follow us around and will come right up to you and occasionally peck at your foot or leg...but in a gentle probing manner unlike out laying chickens who are looking for a handout.  I have sighted a fox, in broad daylight....around 4pm, stalking the enclosure. 
The meat birds...which I believe to be Cornish Cross's, have done well.  No losses...knock on wood.  We are two weeks out from harvesting.  It has been a straightforward experience with them.  We had one night on the third or fourth night out on pasture where it got cold and rainy and we had to go out around 10 pm at the end of May and put a tarp over the tractor. By morning they were dry and happy. A week or so later, around the time we spotted the fox at the turkey enclosure, we noticed the chicken wire had been pushed in at 4 spots.  So we had foiled the fox temporarily but knew he/she would be back.  After all....it's a smorgasbord. Bill had the fabulous idea of putting a radio out on the tractor at dark.  The dial glows orange, resembling a predators eye and along with the music, has so far kept vermin at bay. 
The garden grows but I was very delayed getting it into the ground.  We just harvested yellow squash and zucchini yesterday.  The first produce from the garden.  The asparagus bolted on us due to the hot weather in March and we missed the opportunity to harvest.  The carrots, radishes and spinach we planted in March didn't survive a cold snap.  But the potatoes, beans, tomatoes, squash and broccoli are doing well. 

Pulled the garlic but they need to cure for 6 weeks.  And in that spot I am planting some lettuce and beans for a late harvest. 

Looking forward to sweet corn and fresh tomatoes.  I forgot to plant cukes.  It was a difficult spring.  I had 60 tomato plants and 40 bean and pepper plants started in February but only 1/3 survived transplant. 

I've been getting a bit of seat time on the tractor.  Mowed one pasture in May and have used it to move chicken poop from the coop and weeds from the garden into the compost pile as well as move the A-frame tractor for the turkey's to use when they were still small.  Bill has used it to move the roost he built for the turkeys and mow the other pasture. 
I do believe I could farm full time if I had the resources....more pasture and knowledge/experience.  I guess I will just have to work into it slowly. 
Happy Gardening,
Pam

Crazy Weather and Fowl

So, it's March 26th.  And my hosta is coming up, daylillies are about 4-6 inches high, daff's are blooming and we live at 1200 feet!!!  In Brattleboro, the magnolia trees are in full bloom!!  That's what happens when you have very little snow, rain and then temps in the 70's for a week.  Sheesh...we had the bedroom windows open all night for 4 days in a row.  Now the furnace is back on.  Crazy weather.

The garlic is 4 inches high and the radishes and spinach I planted have first leaves.  Wondering what will happen with temps projected in the low 20's tonight.  Indoor seedlings doing fairly well.  Have the fan on them intermittently to prepare to harden them off.

Have ordered the meat chickens and turkeys from Murray McMurray Hatchery.  We ordered Bourbon Red Turkeys which are scheduled to be delivered Monday, April 2nd.  They are a heritage breed. Here's a pic of a tom I pulled off the internet from this site:
 http://www.ruralintelligence.com/index.php/blog_section/blog_articles_AgriCulture/agriculture_taking_a_long_last_look_at_our_turkey_flock