Pepper Seeds

I planted my pepper seeds today. I planted 36 bell peppers and 6 jalapeno peppers. Some of the tomato plants have their second sets of leaves coming in.

The hubby went and got hay today, also. He bought a round bale and 13 square bales, so I helped him put the square bales away in the barn, after he fixed a water pipe that froze a couple of days ago.

Here's a picture of our "chicken tree". Some of our chickens insist on roosting in a tree we have in our yard. It was a funny sight last winter when we had an ice storm and the branches were iced over. The chickens flew up there, but couldn't get any traction on the ice.

Today's Chores

Today we had to do some minor maintenance on the farm. The hubby welded up our metal stock tank. While he had it empty, he went ahead and cleaned all the gunk out, moved it to another spot, and hooked up an automatic waterer.
While he was doing that, I gathered up a bunch of loose hay to put in the chicken nests and to scatter on the ground for the chickens and ducks to eat. The ducks always crack me up because they get so excited about anything new added to the yard. I also cleaned out the duck and chickens' water tubs and refilled them.



Tonight I joined my first blog challenge. Melinda over at Elements in Time has challenged us to grow one new thing this year from seed. (Follow the link over there on the side.) Then we have to write about it on our blog. I'm really looking forward to the garden this year, as we have added a lot of organic material to our garden spaces. I'm hoping to get a better crop this year than last.

How We Got Started...part 2

Sorry that things got rushed towards the end of part 1. It was actually close to 11 pm when I crawled in bed, and the hubby was getting rather impatient. ; ) That is one thing that we agreed on when we got married, that we would go to bed at the same time, at least as close as possible.

Anyway, I was talking about the animals... At the time, the house was our major "homesteading" thing we did. We gave up a "big fancy house" to move into the neighborhood "crack house". After we moved it to the 15 acres, we added a hallway and a portable building that my dad bought for $50. The portable building became our bedroom. People still had comments to make about how we lived, but for the most part, we ignored them.

There were times that we both got so frustrated what the amount of things that needed to be done that we almost gave up and went and bought a new house. Luckily for us, I'd get frustrated at different times than he did, so we'd be able to talk the other one out of rushing out and signing our lives away.

New people who met us and came to our house commented on how much love was here and how comfortable they felt in our home. Those were the kind of people that we wanted to be friends with, not the ones thinking that we needed a big, fancy home.

I had never even heard of "homesteading" until we went to visit a Haflinger ranch that was owned by a husband and wife. We stayed for the day, thoroughly enjoying ourselves with these neat people we had just met. Their ranch was run on horse power. The horses were their tractors, they tilled their garden, pulled logs, etc. We had been having a wonderful day, when the wife asked me if I had heard about the Homesteading Movement. Of course, I thought about "homesteading" your house to lower your property taxes. She kinda laughed, then explained what it was about. Hmmm...could it be that we had been homesteading all this time and didn't even know it? I thought we were just living like my grandparents and parents.

We came home, and I did a web search on homesteading. The hubby walked past me, saw what I was looking at and said, "you're not serious, right? I like air conditioning and TV." You see, he's been married to me long enough to know that when I'm interested, I tend to jump in with both feet. I assured him that I wasn't going to take away all of his toys, that I was just looking for ideas to lower our grocery bill, maybe raise a garden, and farm fresh eggs are much better! He gave me a half hearted "ok" but he was still suspicious. The poor dear, he knows me too well for his own good. ; )

Well, after a while, even he was interested in some of the topics I was reading up on. He hates writing that check out to the light company every month, and it seems to get higher and higher, but when we got serious about looking about going off grid...well, lets just say that it's not in the budget. Shoot! I have managed to ease him into a few other things. He loves fresh homemade bread and the fresh veggies from the garden cut our grocery bill quite a bit. We discussed raising animals for meat for the freezer, but neither of us have the stomach for butchering and butcher shops around here charge so much just to butcher the animal, that it's cheaper to buy meat on sale in the store. And he certainly doesn't mind me cleaning the barn out to put in the garden!

So, I say all of this, and I've probably forgotten a few things, because the thing about homesteading is that you can pick and choose the aspects that work for you. You don't have to jump in with both feet, like I would have, at least until the 100+ temps of August. You can pick and choose things that work for you in your current circumstances. The things we have accomplished have been over years, and things that we want to accomplish will take even more years. Our farm has a life of it's own, and sometimes it's just like watching a child grow and develop.

The Beginning of How We Started Homesteading

The hubby's parents and grandparents bought the land we're living on in the 70's. The grandparents changed their minds before the first payment was made, and his parents took over the notes. His parents got a divorce when he was a teen, but kept the place. His dad decided he wanted out, so his mom bought out his share.

Despite the fact that the hubby grew up in a big city, he knew that the country was where he belonged. He desperately wanted horses, but having less noise and being able to see the stars were an added bonus.

We put in a well and septic, then had our first mobile home delivered in 1995. Despite the fact that there's 15 acres here, we lived on about 1/2 acre because that was all that was cleared. We gradually cleared a path to the well, then expanded a bit more. We lived here for a couple of years when he was transfered to another town. We sold the house, bought another one in another town. We lived there for a couple of years when the hubby was transferred back. This time, we decided that we didn't want a house note.

We made a deal with my parents to "buy" a 1980 single-wide mobile home for what they had in it....about $400. The house was in deplorable condition, and we took quite a bit of ribbing from neighbors about moving into the "crack house". Some of them changed their tunes when we tore all of the old siding off and put up new vinyl siding. Then we weren't so crazy, but they started to see what we had seen all along. I say "buy" because we ended up taking it out in trade. My parents decided after an unexpected medical retirement, to follow our lead and build their own and get rid of their housenote. The hubby helped and my parents canceled our debt. Thanks Mom and Dad! The hubby's mom helped us out with more than just the land, she wrote us a check to help buy building materials. We are truly blessed with wonderful parents on both sides!

We moved the house to the 15 acres, after clearing more land. The hubby wanted the house further off the road. We didn't get it where we wanted because we were trying to clear land in 100+ degree weather. We cleared just enough to get it in, the back yard came later. ; ) We still didn't have horses, at least not for a few more years.

The first horse we got was also our first rescue. This poor old starved horse showed up in our front yard, eating the dog food. Come to find out, this horse was about 30 years old and belonged to a lady who didn't know what she was doing. We stabled him at a friend's house who had pasture. Our 13 year old (who wasn't 13 at the time) was down there every day, brushing him, talking to him, and just generally taking care of him. He only lived 6 months, but it was probably the best 6 months he'd had in a very long time!

This earned the 13 year old the right to own a horse of her own. We decided that if took that good of care for a horse she'd never be able to ride, then she'd do a good job for one she could. We found an ad in the newspaper for a Haflinger. We had no idea what a Haflinger was, so we did some research and fell in love with the breed.

The hubby's horse came next. He was a surprise for his birthday. A neighbor was in serious danger of losing his job and was worried about feeding 2 horses. He decided to sell Buck, as he was just a pasture mate. I worked out a deal with the neighbor and surprised the hubby with the for sale sign. I marked in big red letters "SOLD". It's the first time that I've brought tears to his eyes with a gift. Most of the riding that Buck had done was with the hubby in his saddle.

The third horse (technically 4th) was another rescue. I found out about 2 horses in the neighborhood that weren't being taken care of. I basically informed the owner that he could either give me the horses or I could kick his rear-end and then he could give me the horses. (The hubby says that I'm a rather fiesty little German woman, especially when animals or children are involved.) He finally agreed to give me one of the horses and he would take the other to someone else. Dollar is a thoroughbred/quarter horse mix, and now that he's put on some weight, he's quite a looker.

We also have chickens, and we sell the eggs at the hubby's work. We never seem to have enough eggs for the demand, so this spring we're getting more chickens.

I'll finish this story tomorrow....the hubby keeps looking my way, sending a silent message that it's bedtime. ;)

All God's Creatures, Great and Small

Our latest adventure on the farm is a sick chicken. My youngest and my mother-in-law discovered her lying in the chicken pen. The other chickens were attacking her. My mother-in-law (the self-professed "city girl") rushes in to protect her until I can get there. It didn't look good for the poor soul, but the looks on the two hero's faces sets me to action. I ask Mom if she can hand her out to me, as the poor hen was in a difficult spot. Mom gives me this "you've got to be kidding" look, but with sheer determination, picks her up and hands her to me over the fence.

I took the poor thing into the kitchen where I mix up some antibiotic water and literally spoon feed the mixture to the hen. I've never force fed a chicken before, nor have I seen it done, but we managed just the same. I added a little sugar to the mixture, and in short time she's a little perkier. My youngest heats some left-over mashed potatoes in the microwave and the hen really perks up. She manages to stand and eat most of the potatoes. Mom and the youngest were on chicken guard duty while I went and prepared a cage.

We set her up in isolation in our mud room in a wire cage with table scraps and medicated water. She did ok for a couple of days, when back down she goes. By this time all of the extended family had gone back home. I sit most of the day yesterday with her wrapped in a towel in my lap, spoon feeding her sugar/ medicated water. She is now living in the kitchen in our make-shift brooder with a small space heater, table scraps and medicated sugar water. She's standing on her own two feet, has managed to eat a bit and is very interested in the water.

I'll keep you updated on her progress.