Well I have been wanting more chickens and today my hen led out 10 chicks . Last year I had 2 clutches hatch and lost them all to hawks and coyote's . Yes I have coyote's I have seen them twice this year. Well I decided to catch them . Needless to say easier said than done. A mad mother hen and 10 chicks made for 2 hours of chasing for 4 of us. Chicks hide when told by the hen .We caught 4 of the chicks first, the hen paced the side of the pen then she called out 4 more chicks that we caught . Catching her took an hour she has never been penned . Once she was with her chicks she calmed down and called the last 2 out of hiding and we got them into her pen covered it with a blanket watered and fed her added straw to the pen.
Now tomorrow I have to build a run for her and a small roost. I have some old dog wire and will line the bottom edge with fine mesh just 8x12 may make it portable have to see what junk I have. Some may die but I hope most make it. It will be nice to have 6 or so laying hens next year . Now that I am committed to having a chicken coop I wish I had bought those hens at Mt Top last week.
Showing posts with label farming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label farming. Show all posts
Monday, April 20, 2015
Monday, May 5, 2014
Spring time is a lot of work!
Is it just me or is geting caught up on the yard and house and other what not alot of work?Cutting the grass planting flowers tilling a garden(a friends not me this year)hauling garbage fixing the cars.When the weather is in the 70s it seems like work to be done is everywhere.Stop and think about what you have had to do.Ok now just be thanful you didnt have to milk cows or goats gather eggs plant 20 acres make sure the animals were bred.Sharpen tools cleaned a barn hauled manure(OK did that for the wifes flowers).Thinking about what i have to do verses what my greatgrand parents had to do in the spring.My life is a walk in the park. So take a few and compare your spring see how you rate :).
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Wastfull old farts !!
Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.
The woman apologized and explained, “We didn’t have this ‘green thing’ back in my earlier days.”
The young clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.”
She was right — our generation didn’t have the ‘green thing’ in its day. Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But we didn’t have the “green thing” back in our day.
Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown Paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribbling. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.
But too bad we didn’t do the “green thing” back then. We walked upstairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.
But she was right. We didn’t have the “green thing” in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts — wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that young lady is right; we didn’t have the “green thing” back in our day.
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she’s right; we didn’t have the “green thing” back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But we didn’t have the “green thing” back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family’s $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the “green thing.” We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.
But isn’t it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the “green thing” back then?
I did not write this it was in a comment section and i had post it.
The woman apologized and explained, “We didn’t have this ‘green thing’ back in my earlier days.”
The young clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.”
She was right — our generation didn’t have the ‘green thing’ in its day. Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But we didn’t have the “green thing” back in our day.
Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown Paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribbling. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.
But too bad we didn’t do the “green thing” back then. We walked upstairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.
But she was right. We didn’t have the “green thing” in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts — wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that young lady is right; we didn’t have the “green thing” back in our day.
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she’s right; we didn’t have the “green thing” back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But we didn’t have the “green thing” back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family’s $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the “green thing.” We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.
But isn’t it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the “green thing” back then?
I did not write this it was in a comment section and i had post it.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Doonsday preppers tonite on TV.
Tonite is doomsday preppers on the discovery channel.I love watching this show some of the people are either crazy or made to look like they are.Now we know most preppers are not as dramatic as they ar made to look.Most people that prepp are generalist there is no one thing that is all consuming that they prepp for.Around here tornadoes are the main weather threat and so i use my basement and storm cellar for storage.Now i don't know about anyone else but my food prepps are 3 levels and cost is an issue
Level 1 is 30 days of food that we use everyday
level 2 is got more caned meat vegetables soups spaghetti's sauces and other single dish items about 90 days worth
level 3 i hope is still unused when i die its wheat rice beans noodles flour corn sugar honey powdered milk and other long life staples i only have maybe 6 months worth of calories for me and my wife.
Now i know this is nowhere near what a lot of people have but i feel comfortable with 8 to 12 months food on hand.I treat prepping as a hobby it allows for other hobbies i love.
Camping makes use of a lot of my prepps
Solar energy learning its limits
Gardening growing some fresh vegetables (ps didn't plant squat this year)
History i think our future will resemble our past
Shooting i love target shooting out of 15firearms i only bought 2 at a store.(when someone needs a loan i take firearms for collateral if i get re payed fine if not fine ).
Beer brewing and Distilling.learned both from my exwifes grandfather.(i do not drink)
I guess i became a prepper because it includes a lot of things i liked anyway.I started prepping by accident it was more of a name change than anything.When i first quit working it sure made the first year a lot easier used a lot of supplies up and are SLOWLY putting them back.Did you just wake up and start worrying or were yo almost there before you even heard of prepping?
Level 1 is 30 days of food that we use everyday
level 2 is got more caned meat vegetables soups spaghetti's sauces and other single dish items about 90 days worth
level 3 i hope is still unused when i die its wheat rice beans noodles flour corn sugar honey powdered milk and other long life staples i only have maybe 6 months worth of calories for me and my wife.
Now i know this is nowhere near what a lot of people have but i feel comfortable with 8 to 12 months food on hand.I treat prepping as a hobby it allows for other hobbies i love.
Camping makes use of a lot of my prepps
Solar energy learning its limits
Gardening growing some fresh vegetables (ps didn't plant squat this year)
History i think our future will resemble our past
Shooting i love target shooting out of 15firearms i only bought 2 at a store.(when someone needs a loan i take firearms for collateral if i get re payed fine if not fine ).
Beer brewing and Distilling.learned both from my exwifes grandfather.(i do not drink)
I guess i became a prepper because it includes a lot of things i liked anyway.I started prepping by accident it was more of a name change than anything.When i first quit working it sure made the first year a lot easier used a lot of supplies up and are SLOWLY putting them back.Did you just wake up and start worrying or were yo almost there before you even heard of prepping?
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Foxfire books a must read
If you have never heard of the foxfire books please look them up online and read 1-5.What they are is a collection of stories wrote in the sixties by high school kids talking to their grandparents great aunts and uncles about life in the Appalachian Mt's.Most of the books are first hand accounts of things that had to be done to just live a lot of how to a lot descriptions of there daily life.If you do read the books remember they had no electricity no cars few stores and little money.
I have a lot of respect for the abilities of the people in these books .When i read books of this type i look at modern things that we have available for off grid living today vs back then.Our modern mountain families even if they are off grid and living off the land have it so much easier than the folks in the 1800s had.By the same token people from back then knew more about what it took to live that kinda life.If i had to live off the land with only 1 modern item i think i would pick a chainsaw.The amount of time they took with falling trees and making lumber and usable items was huge.A chainsaw would free up a lot of time for other things.You may wonder why not a truck? No roads .Solar panels ?Why a lantern was available and candles.Guns yea modern ones would be nice but black powder was OK and it wouldn't save time.A fridge? No i have waded a mt stream its plenty cold for milk and most food .So i am back to the chainsaw.Even with a good chainsaw falling cutting and splitting a cord of firewood is a lot of work.Could you do it using a 2 man saw bucking horse saw then split it?
If something happens and we devolve back to this level read these books and choose what you could do to make it as manageable as possible.For me a chainsaw is my pick i have 3 and 10 gallons of Coleman fuel for long term.I also have a 10 gallon ethanol generator (a still) that i have used for many years.What do you think your 1 item would be for you.
I have a lot of respect for the abilities of the people in these books .When i read books of this type i look at modern things that we have available for off grid living today vs back then.Our modern mountain families even if they are off grid and living off the land have it so much easier than the folks in the 1800s had.By the same token people from back then knew more about what it took to live that kinda life.If i had to live off the land with only 1 modern item i think i would pick a chainsaw.The amount of time they took with falling trees and making lumber and usable items was huge.A chainsaw would free up a lot of time for other things.You may wonder why not a truck? No roads .Solar panels ?Why a lantern was available and candles.Guns yea modern ones would be nice but black powder was OK and it wouldn't save time.A fridge? No i have waded a mt stream its plenty cold for milk and most food .So i am back to the chainsaw.Even with a good chainsaw falling cutting and splitting a cord of firewood is a lot of work.Could you do it using a 2 man saw bucking horse saw then split it?
If something happens and we devolve back to this level read these books and choose what you could do to make it as manageable as possible.For me a chainsaw is my pick i have 3 and 10 gallons of Coleman fuel for long term.I also have a 10 gallon ethanol generator (a still) that i have used for many years.What do you think your 1 item would be for you.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
What will our food options be in 10 years.
Last nite i was watching a local show it had a local farmer on it.The farmer runs a large U pick it farm.He was talking about most his customers we older because they still can and freeze fresh produce.He said it was a shame that younger folks was losing the knowledge to feed themselves.The old farmer made a statement that rang true to me he said 50% of all food was grown on cooperate farms and if it continued in 10 years 80% of all food would come from a few conglomerates.He said the family farms were dying due to age and cost lower profits.The next statement he made got my wife's attention.The old man said in a few years it may be not how much food cost but how to get enough to eat and will it be what you want or fit to eat.
Now that is a scary thought.What if 80% of food is controlled by 5 or 6 food companies will we have a choice or will we be fed soy lent green and told its organic( OK maybe not soy lent green but you get the idea).Marketing is these companies strong suit and when they control the supply they set the price.
I know i haven't made any new revelations here but i felt it was worth a few lines. I learned as a kid that men in bibb overalls knew a lot more than most in Armani suits.what worries people in overalls should worry us all!
Now that is a scary thought.What if 80% of food is controlled by 5 or 6 food companies will we have a choice or will we be fed soy lent green and told its organic( OK maybe not soy lent green but you get the idea).Marketing is these companies strong suit and when they control the supply they set the price.
I know i haven't made any new revelations here but i felt it was worth a few lines. I learned as a kid that men in bibb overalls knew a lot more than most in Armani suits.what worries people in overalls should worry us all!
Saturday, May 18, 2013
What the term TEOTWAWKI realy mean to you vs your kids
We have all read this term and in our mind an image appears.Its different to everyone.Some think of no electricity no gas for cars nothing that we use without thinking everyday.Now i got to thinking for my kids it would take just returning to the 70s for them to think the world had ended.Lets just look at the changes to everyday life in 40 years.
1. A 19 in B&W TV vs 55 in 1080dpi plasma
2 3 channels on a good day vs 280 channels on cable
3 2 dials to change channels vs a remote control {do we miss the butt crack of the channel changer]
4 pong video game was the bomb vs Xbox PlayStation's
5 the commode 64 and tandy1000 vs the laptop or net book
6 5in floppies vs flash drives
7 rotary phone vs cellphone
8 notes on the fridge vs texts
9 110 cameras vs 10 mpix camera function
10 going to the library vs the Internet.
11 writing a paper letter vs an e mail
12 cash vs a card
13 a paper map vs map quest or GPS
14 a record or 8 track vs i tune or mp3
15 using the stove oven vs a microwave
OK writers block is setting in but the list is verrry long between anyone 45 and up and our kids under 30.Give it some thought to us going back to the 70s would be easy sure we would miss what was gone but it wouldn't be mind altering.Think of our kids it would seem like they were in a totally different world.To anyone a change back to 40 years before they were born is TEOTWAWKI. It may be that the only ones that can adjust are those that feel they were born in the wrong century.Me personally i love history and reading how they did things in the 1800s and i also read what people in 3rd world countries find benefit's them the most as far as modern tecknowledge.To survive after a TEOTWAWKI event the bottom rung in the world may be the ones that do best.The best we can hope for is that MAD MAX is short lived.
Stop and think where in time your TEOTWAWKI is.Mine is around 1930 .
1. A 19 in B&W TV vs 55 in 1080dpi plasma
2 3 channels on a good day vs 280 channels on cable
3 2 dials to change channels vs a remote control {do we miss the butt crack of the channel changer]
4 pong video game was the bomb vs Xbox PlayStation's
5 the commode 64 and tandy1000 vs the laptop or net book
6 5in floppies vs flash drives
7 rotary phone vs cellphone
8 notes on the fridge vs texts
9 110 cameras vs 10 mpix camera function
10 going to the library vs the Internet.
11 writing a paper letter vs an e mail
12 cash vs a card
13 a paper map vs map quest or GPS
14 a record or 8 track vs i tune or mp3
15 using the stove oven vs a microwave
OK writers block is setting in but the list is verrry long between anyone 45 and up and our kids under 30.Give it some thought to us going back to the 70s would be easy sure we would miss what was gone but it wouldn't be mind altering.Think of our kids it would seem like they were in a totally different world.To anyone a change back to 40 years before they were born is TEOTWAWKI. It may be that the only ones that can adjust are those that feel they were born in the wrong century.Me personally i love history and reading how they did things in the 1800s and i also read what people in 3rd world countries find benefit's them the most as far as modern tecknowledge.To survive after a TEOTWAWKI event the bottom rung in the world may be the ones that do best.The best we can hope for is that MAD MAX is short lived.
Stop and think where in time your TEOTWAWKI is.Mine is around 1930 .
Friday, May 10, 2013
A farm homestead {the bud ogle place]
A few pictures of a mountain farm. They raised 10 kids farming on land the Tax assessor deemed unfit for crops or cattle.
The farm is about 2 miles above and to the right of the building.The town is a mile below this picture.
These pictures and what little has survived a 140 years only give a hint of what life was like in the 1870s.A lot of people call themselves survivalists but these people didn't just survive they thrived and left us a rich and vast knowledge base.I guess thats why i love history.
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| the mt where this farm is |
The farm is about 2 miles above and to the right of the building.The town is a mile below this picture.
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| from the porch of house up to barn |
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| the corn crib |
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| the hogs and chickens house |
These pictures and what little has survived a 140 years only give a hint of what life was like in the 1870s.A lot of people call themselves survivalists but these people didn't just survive they thrived and left us a rich and vast knowledge base.I guess thats why i love history.
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