A one acre homestead in Ohio

A true holiday inspriation

2011-12-02T10:18:00.002-05:00

Today I thought I would make a quick post about something local. This post reveals the true spirit of the holiays, and probably the hardest working man I've even met. His name is Bill Peters, and he's mostly known for his Auburn Records label and string of bands. I honestly don't know when this man sleeps.

He has a wife and 2 teenage kids that he is constantly busy with, he helps his parents, works with the bands and record label, (recording, practices, setting up shows, going to the shows, promoting the bands, etc), goes to the big German music festivals,hosts a Friday night radio show (26 years now I believe), helps with a Halloween event that gives proceeds to charity, and now this; all while still working a full time job. I'm sure there are many things that I've missed too!

He's put together the "3rd Annual Iron Ingo Cleveland Metal Holiday Food Drive". He's gotten seven bands to play a totally free show, with only the request that attendees bring cash or food goods for donation. The proceeds go to the Cleveland Foodbank and Friends of the Cleveland Kennel. Yes you read that right. Heavy metal bands and fans getting together to help the needy, both two and four legged. The 80's had Bob Geldoff doing Live Aid and John Mellencamp doing Farm Aid, and now we have Bill doing Iron Ingo. It is truly an amazing thing. So much for that stereotype of a heavy metal fan, eh? Maybe we need an all Auburn roster cover of "Stars"?? naaaa hahaha

In out time of a shaky economy and high unemployment, more people than ever are having a hard time making ends meet, and need help. While there may be food banks all over the place, few are able to really keep up with the string of people needing help. It's people like Bill who step up to the plate and put together something like this to get them the help they deserve.

Bill is truly an inspiration with everything he does, and that's why I wanted to share this with this quick post. Check out the flyer, check out his (the record label) website www.auburnrecords.com, and if you're local, stop by the show! Kudo's to you Bill! You and this event are what it's all about.

Something new. A book review

2011-11-26T19:13:00.000-05:00

In my ever increasing desire to know more about the things that interest me, I'm always reading. I read online forums, I read magazines, and I read books. Lots of books. My small library includes books on survivalism, preparedness, gardening, small scale livestock, herbal remedies, self suffiency, self reliance, and on our basic food supply in general. I'm not an educated man, but I have a strong desire to learn as much as I possibly can through reading and experience.

Every once in a while, I read that story or book that makes me say "wow". That story about some kind of real life hero, the article about the family growing a huge amount of food on a small suburban lot, or the tale of a persons fight with their town council to allow them to have a simple vegetable garden. All of these stories affect me in some form or another. Some perk my interest, some inspire me, and others make me push what I can possibly do here on one acre. My most recent read has done all of these and more. This one book has awakened me to the reality of the food we eat, and the real truths behind them.

I'm referring to "Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal", by Joel Salatin. Anyone who has watched Food Inc. or some of the other documentaries on the subject may recognise his name. He's making quite a stir in the food industry with his common sense approach, even though it angers and scares the officials and (so-called) inspectors. Joel is more than a simple farmer. He's a speaker, an educator, and a giant inspiration to many like myself. This book is merely a small list of stories from his own (mis?) adventures, run-in's, wins, and losses within the administrations, officials, inspectors, and law makers that every day involve our food systems.

Generally, when people think of farms, they think of happy cows, smiling farmers, sunshine, and a big red barn. In reality, most farms are virtually devoid of people. Animals are kept indoors in big confinement cages or feedlots. Most never see the light of day until they are on their way to slaughter. Joel prefers a simple, humane, and much more common sense approach. Let pigs be pigs, cows be cows, and manure and compost are king. Unfortunately, what he wants to do gives him the perfect title for this book. Everything I want to do is illegal.

I won't go into details, or give away a lot of the book, but imagine wanting to do some things on a 600+ acre farm, and find out you aren't allowed. I'll list a few examples:

Imagine that you want to raise cattle to sell the meat. You can raise your own, but you cannot butcher them on your own property. OK, so you take them to a commercial butcher and have them processed. You bring them home in nice little packages to sell, but wait; you still can't sell them. Now because they're in packages, they are considered a processed product and you don't have the proper licenses to sell them.

How about if you are OK to butcher and sell your own chickens, but only in your home state. A friend wants to sell them at a farmers market in the adjoining state, but you aren't certified there. Your chickens have to travel 200 miles to be killed in a place with that states license, then travel another 400 miles to be packaged, then another 300 miles to the farmers market that is 150 miles from your farm.

Bacon is the most evil of all possible farm products. Even if you raise the pork, buy the ingredients yourself, and take all responsibility for it; you cannot sell it. Nobody gets in to buy the bacon, not no body, not no how. It's again a "processed" product.

Here's one that I didn't intend to share, but decided to anyway. On his search for the selling of chicken outside his state, he took some to a commercial butcher, visited, and talked with the inspector. Now, when you clean a chicken, the gall bladder is right behind the liver. There is a market for chicken livers, so they are saved. If you happen to break the gall bladder, you get this disgusting, foul smelling green bile. There's no mistaking it. When he processes his own, like many others, he's careful to not break the gall bladder for this reason. He was talking to the state inspector, when along the conveyor belt came an iced tub of chicken livers, literally floating in the green bile. The inspector said NOTHING about the bile. He just dipped a thermometer in the tub and said "more ice". So having this disgusting bile in the tub was ok, but it could not get below temperature X. Even though I don't eat chicken livers, I nearly gagged at the thought of eating one from the store.

These are just examples of many that Joel covers in this book. He goes from animal welfare to zoning, and everywhere in between. I'm aghast, disgusted, and angry at the things people must do to comply with the ridiculous regulations governing our food systems. Some may seem necessary to the average consumer, but when you see how they really operate behind the scenes, you realize how ridiculous they really are. In fact, his writing of this very book on his own property is in fact illegal by the terms of an "agricultural zone". How’s that for a big steaming pile of future compost?

This book is more than just an idea book for the farmer or urban (holy crap he's gonna say it) homesteader. It's more than just a list of things to make you think about what you are buying at the store or the butcher. It's an eye opener to the scandals behind the food industry, and how big corporate dollars make every decision. If that wasn't true, why would a 1000 chicken operation have the same exact guidelines as a 1,000,000 chicken operation? Why would inspectors care about a guy with 300 cattle more than the feedlot containing 300,000?

I'll recommend this book to everyone I know. Anyone that cares the slightest bit about what they buy or what they eat should have this on their shelf. Maybe a few that don't seem to care would have their eyes opened just a little on the reality of where there food comes from. Just maybe.

After reading this book, I'm more inspired than ever to grow in our own operations here at home. I'm researching cattle and pig raising, and plan on talking to my uncle about putting one of each at his place. I want to raise more. I want to grow more. I want to get even further away from the grocery store and the clutches of the people behind the food on the shelves and in the coolers. I want the freedom to eat what I want, that "they" want so desperately to take away from us even more than they have. Honestly, how can it be perfectly OK for me to buy a pack of cigarettes, a bottle of whiskey, and a bag of fast food, but not a gallon of raw milk? How is it possible that I can buy a giant block of “processed cheese product”, but not some delicious colby made with fresh milk? How and why is it their choice what I put into my own body?

I'll leave you with a quote from the book that may make you consider getting your own copy- " The political rationale for food safety ultimately rests in the notion that we are wards of the state. Not a free people." Really think about that statement. Are we truly free when we cannot eat what we choose?

(not so good) Food for thought

2011-11-16T12:42:00.001-05:00

Today as I sit here spending time with the computer and my best friend Coffee; reading the news and happenings around me. With the more I read, the more I begin to despise today's world. I wonder how so many can be so blind to what happens around them, and go through life with no thoughts about anything at all. Work, home, eat, pay bills, go to sleep, repeat, and have occasional fun. It's the American way, and far to many live it with never seeing anything differently.

I'm well aware that I think and live differently than most of society. I've made decisions that I stand behind 100% and refuse to budge for anyone or anything. I pay attention to things that most don't. I read about what is happening to our schools, our second amendment rights, our political system, misc laws, financial issues, and mostly about our food system here in the United States. The one thing that tends to bother me more than the others is this. How is it that people can just eat something and not know or care what is in it or what brought it to their plates?

I'm currently reading Joel Salatin's book "Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal", and it has shed light on issues that I wasn't completely aware of. Just as an example, he raised some cattle for slaughter on his own property. He wasn't allowed to do so and sell them on site, so he drove them to a commercial slaugherhouse. (which he despised) Upon returning home with the packaged meat, he was told that it was now a manufactured product, and he didn't have the proper licenses and permits to sell it, and couldn't get them where he lived. So.....either way he was screwed. He's the small guy, and regulations and permits force him to pay fees that make it nearly impossible to make a living. It's the big guys trying to stamp out the little guys; and the big guys own those who make the rules. Plain and simple. They have many facilities, thousands of employees, and millions of dollars to absorb the costs. The little guy doesn't. It comes his pocket.
In another part of the book, he has his farm eggs investigated (inspected) by an inspector for the egg, food, and we'll screw your farm nazi's. Basically, if these guys inspect 100 eggs and find ANY trace of dirt or debris stuck to an egg, they fail. All of them. I know someone out there is reading this, and thinking this is a good thing, but it's not. One speck of dirt or one tiny sliver of straw from a nest box will not hurt you and it will not make you sick; but, these regulations insist that all eggs be 100% clean.
When a chicken lays an egg, her body puts a thin coat of film over it as it's layed. This protects the egg from moisture and contamination naturally. Washing eggs removes this film and leaves the eggs porous; allowing anything it is soaked in, sprayed with, or touches to soak into the shell; even the cleaners it is washed with. Now I'm not against cleaning eggs if necessary. Chickens are somewhat dirty animals that can and will defecate in their own nest. They do walk in dirt, mud, or whatever; and can leave traces on an egg if they step on it. When we get eggs with any of these, we wash them; but when an egg is clean we just give it a quick rinse and into the carton it goes. The natural film protects the egg from contaminates, so why wash it off if it's not dirty?
(just as an add on...don't be fooled by those "free range" labels at the store. A large chicken facility can get that label by having a door on their enclosure and having an area for them to get outside. It DOES NOT mean either have to be used. As long as there is a door, they can get that label, even if the chickens are kept indoors and never see the light of day. The door just has to exist.)
I just touched on two of the things that were covered in this book. There are many more that I won't go into; but I will say that each and every one has made me realize how wrong and corrupt our food system is. Each one makes me think even more, and makes me want to get further and further away from the grocery stores and this entire mess.
How is it that regulations that are supposed to keep us safe are doing just the opposite? How is it that the big guys can get away with nearly anything, but these small operations are always under government radar and watching over their shoulders for that next inspector to "find" some kind of infraction?
So many things about the food system bother and anger me. The mistreatment of feed lot animals, the inhumane way they are killed, the unclean operations, genetically modified plants, un-natural cross bred animals, chemical additives & preservatives, artificial sweeteners, rules, regulations, fines, and so many more. It just makes my head hurt and my stomach turn.
Think about this one. Everyone has had the chicken nuggets from either the fast food places or the grocery stores. Do you have any idea what is actually in them? What if I tell you that it's all of the leftover bits and pieces from chicken processing. You know...those yummy pieces of ligaments, tendons, and cartilage. They're processed down, and made into a gooey mess, and when it comes out of the giant grinder, it's pink and full of bacteria. After that lovely process, it is sprayed with a bleach to kill the bacteria, then dyed brown (ish) so it somewhat resembles chicken. After all of this, it has artificial flavoring added since at this time, it tastes nothing like chicken. Add some outer coating, deep fry them, and there you go. Chicken nuggets. Don't they sound delicious? Why are we tricked into believing that we're eating "chicken white meat" when we're eating leftover bits? (not so dissimilar than dad always saying hotdogs were made from lips and a-holes) Yep. Dip those babies in barbeque sauce and eat away.
I think what makes me the most sick and angry is the overall cost to us all. How is it possible that we can feed a family of four an entire meal at a fast food place for less money than two decent cuts of meat? When all of this junk food is proven to cause all kinds of health issues, why are we not working to rid them from our society and push for something more healthy? Why are we given more choices for flavors of pudding at the store than we are for truly good locally grown and true organic foods?
It's hard making the switch when we've eaten the same way our entire lives and believed that government officials had our best interest at heart. How many times have you heard "they wouldn't let them do that" or "Those labels are for our safety", and believed it? Ever since you were born. It's tough to see the truth, and many who see it refuse to make any changes. Even with the proven links from modern foods to cancers, diabetes, tumors, and many other diseases; people still shrug their shoulder and say "meh". I for one can no longer do this, and want everyone to know why; whether they know the things I am saying or not. I urge everyone I know, along with anyone reading this, to do some research on the truths behind the food that we eat. (I *HIGHLY* recommend Joel's book that I am reading as a perfect example) Read and let it set in, and realize that you have been being lied to your entire lives about the things you eat.
I don't expect everyone to drop their current diet overnight. I just want people to educate themselves and pay attention. Read labels and find out what the things in them really are. Think about what you are eating. Where did this come from? What's in it? Is it really safe or healthy for my body? What in the hell is _______ and why is it in my _______? One at a time, we can change the system. If we stop buying their products, they'll stop making them. It really is that easy.
And I'll leave you with this. If someone will boycott BP gas because of the spill in the Gulf, or not buy a certain line of clothing because it's made in a sweat shop full of kids in another country, why won't they stop buying foods that contain things that will make us sick or kill us?

2011-10-06T20:32:00.000-04:00

Once again, I've let the blog sit idle for months. Honestly, I've been disgusted all year about the garden here, and haven't thought much about posting when all I would do is complain. All in all, the strange weather this year gave us the worst garden we have ever had. NO corn, onions or green beans at all; very few potatoes, and little of everything else other than brussel sprouts, cabbage, and misc. peppers. It was pretty much a total write-off for the year. I'm disgusted, but not discouraged. Soon the garden will be pulled and prepped for winter. We'll hit it again in the spring and do it all over again.
In other news, I am finally back to work. A friend got me a job with a sprinkler contractor, and I've been working steady since mid July. I have to admit, that even as active as I normally am, the first week or two kicked my ass! But now I'm back in the swing of things, and we're 7 weeks into a new jobsite. The place is a total nightmare of coordination, (as far as architects and owners), but we're chugging along doing everything we can. It's steady work, a full paycheck, and only a 45 minute drive. I'm not going to complain at all.
Now that I'm back to work and we're catching up on everything, the plan it to concentrate again on keeping the house well stocked. With the instability of being in a construction trade, I never know if or when that next layoff may be around the corner. We're slowly adding more to the food stores and also to other things we kept well stocked in the house. After doing things this way literally saved our asses over the last 2 years of my layoff, I will never be unprepared for another similar event again. In doing so, we're well prepared for anything else that gets thrown our way....power outage, illness, extreme weather, or even the zombie apocalypse. I'd rather have everything than not. I'll be documenting the preparedness along the way through fall and winter.
Over the winter, I'll be doing a couple gun builds that I'm hoping to post about as they go. I plan to rebuild a Ruger Mini14 (that I bought with a folding stock) into a scout-type rifle. I plan to go with a full length synthetic stock, a mid-rail mount (thus the scout rifle comparison), with a red dot scope. I also want to pick up a 12ga pump (preferably a Remington 870) and build the HD shotgun I've wanted for quite a while. But this may wait until spring since deer season is fast approaching and used shorguns will be few and far between. I'm also considering picking up a Mosin Magant surplus rifle and toying with it. It's almost impossible to say no to a tried and true WWII era battle rifle for $100 or under when I can find 4-500rd cases of ammo for under $80. For years, I always turned up my nose at these rifles, but now I can really appreciate their simple reliability and beauty. I always need more projects, right? LOL

And.........it's that time of year again! Time for the big Halloween bash! I've wanted to start the yard haunt, but the past 2 weekends have been nothing but rain. This weekend calls for sunny and 70's, so I'll be running full bore to get as much done as I can. There are new additions this year, but I'll post those as I get them up in the yard. They're good ones!!!!!!!!!!

What a summer

2011-07-25T15:58:00.002-04:00

First of all, I have to say that today I'm a bit disgusted. A month ago, I had to re-sow our greens for the second time because our beds apparently became the neighborhood litter box. I was angry, disgusted, and disappointed all at the same time. Today, I'm inside reading, and hear the chickens going crazy. The last time I heard them act like that, 2 puppies were out there chasing them; so today I ran out to see. Low and behold, there is a cat (no idea who's) with one dead peep on the ground and another in it's mouth. I yelled at it and it ran off with the one in it's mouth. We *had* three cute little Mille Fluer chicks, and now we have one. I hate how people let their pets outside to do things, then get defensive when confronted with what they destroy. I won't even bother.....what's the point. Sorry folks, just had to vent.

The garden this year is disgusting. Due to the weather, and me not being home as much as I was last year, it's a disaster. First, there was the loss of the greens twice; once from near record rainfall in May, and another from the litter box incident. Our weather has went from excessive rain, to extremely hot and humid, (for Ohio, a week of temps over 100 is abnormal), to cooler (below 60), then back to the heat, and then a downpour last Monday night that dropped 7" of rain overnight.

We lost a few plants to weather and animals like always, but others are just stunted. My normally insane growing green beans are pitiful, and will be pulled and re-seeded sometime this week. Ah well....so I'll be picking beans in October. I have 14 or so beautiful tomato plants out there, and not a single ripe tomato yet. It's the same with the blackberries...hanging full of big beautiful green berries, but not ripening. All we have been able to pick so far from the vegetable garden are cucumbers, peppers, a few handful's of sugar snap peas, and maybe 2 salads worth of greens. While I'm disgusted with the whole thing, I refuse to give up. I'll just replant and go for a later season. I'm not done yet!

I've seen a lot of things in the news lately about home vegetable gardens. Some are good news, and others, well, just aren't. More and more, I see articles, websites, and blogs pop up about people taking control of their own food supply and begin to grow and/or raise their own. As I drive around, I see more gardens than I've ever seen before. It makes me happy to see people doing things like this. Whether it's a few plants in pots, or whether it's a full scale vegetable garden, people are catching on. It's a wonderful thing to see and watch grow in popularity.

Then, of course, there is the other side. There are cities, townships, HOA's, and many other places that have ridiculous rules and regulations against growing your own food. take for example Julie Bass in Oak Park, Michigan, who was being prosecuted by the city, and facing 93 days in jail for having raised beds for vegetables in her front yard. Why? Because the vegetables didn't fit "the norm" for acceptable front yards within the town. Soooo..."the norm" is yet again useless grass, and pointless ornamentals that do nothing but take up space, look pretty, and require care for no other reason than to look at. I've read of similar stories all summer long. One being a church garden,and another about a man in Canada, but Julie's has been the most publicized. Technically, it's illegal here in the township we live in to grow vegetables in your front yard. Why? I have no idea. My best guess is that it again doesn't fit the "norm" for proper front yard attire.

How far have we fallen when growing your own food is seen as either a revolutionary new idea, or as something rebellious? I remember when we first moved here and put in a garden in the back. People drove along the side road staring, as if they didn't understand what we were doing. I came to find out that they did in fact understand what we were doing, but didn't understand why. We were, and still are, known as the crazy hillbilly couple on the corner. I really could care less what people around me think about us or our place. My yard produces food, while theirs produces a bill from the lawn maintenance company and from the guys who spray it 3-4 times a year. My yard give me jams, jellies, sauerkraut, tomato sauce, and eggs; while theirs give them something to stare at from the occasional lawn chair under a tree.

I've posted many times about my hatred of "the lawn". Over the years, I have more and more became aware of how pointless they are. Acres and acres of worthless grass, that get watered, fertilized, mowed, raked, aerated, thatched, weeded, sprayed with pesticides & herbicides, for no purpose whatsoever. If anyone remembers a post I made back in March, I found some staggering numbers on lawns in the U.S.:

"In 2008, the EPA estimated that the area in the United States covered by lawns was bigger than the state of Texas. Can you imagine if that entire area, or even half of it, was used by people to produce their own food? We used close to half of our one acre for growing food last year. Just for example, the area the size of Texas is 172,000,000 acres of land. If just half of that was used (86,000,000 acres) to produce the same 1100 pounds that we managed last year, it could easily be used to produce an astounding 86,000,000 pounds of food"

Now imagine that the area of lawns is the same size, 172,000,000 acres. How much gasoline does it take to keep that all mowed? How much fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides are sprayed annually? I want to look up the figures, but I honestly don't want to see the answers. Just using my own estimates, I'll say that I use +/- 2 gallons of gas in a push mower to mow what's left of our place. So let's just say 1/2 acre, so it could be 4 gallons per acre to mow. If I was mowing that 172m acres, it would take 688,000,000 gallons of gas to mow. Sure that is a VERY rough estimate, but still insane. OK....that number is giving me a headache, so I'll just stop and let you think about it. (that's 34,400,000 full 20 gallon car tanks of gasoline!!!) ok ok ok enough already Chris........

These are the kinds of things that just annoy me and get under my skin. I (among many of you reading) are given grief for using yard space for food production by those who choose to use it for pointless green space. I'm called "hillbilly" or "green hippy" because I choose to do those things. Even my own dad cracks Amish jokes about us having the garden, chickens, and living fairly simple. When will things revert back to the other side? When will they guy with a half acre of grass be the odd one out in the neighborhood? Will we ever see that time? I can't say. I can only dream.

whoah.....2 months?

2011-06-13T06:46:00.002-04:00

I didn't even realize it had been so long since I posted! Things have been crazy here, and the blog just slipped my mind....ooops again.

The weather here was just insane for a long time. We had over 5 weeks of nearly non-stop rain; some of which was approaching flood levels in parts of the state. We ended up getting the second wettest May on record! Thanks to the weather, everything outside was on hold. Everything. We've never been this late getting things going, but we had no choice. All we could do was sit and wait.

Once Ohio's surprise monsoon season ended, it was a rush to get everything started. First, I worked on the front yard; digging the two 4x12 beds from last year together; taking out the area in between; and making it one large 4x32 bed. I also widened last years small 2x16 bed for sugar snap peas to 4x24. Both beds are now planted with potatoes. The two 2x16 beds I made last year for the free tomato plants are now both full of sugar snap peas,which I managed to get in before the rain started.

I had all intentions on using the three 4x24 beds in the back to thin and transplant strawberries this spring, but by the time it stopped raining, they were in full bloom and setting berries. Rather than chance killing them with berries coming on, we used two of the beds for sweet corn, and the other for yellow onions.

The main garden ended up being last,and ended up being the worst. When it was time to till, not only did I have to deal with a massive amount of weeds to rake out, but the temperature soared to the mid 90's and got extremely humid. But, heat and misery aside, it was tilled and planted. I used stakes and masons twine to mark out the rows, and noticed that the garden was way off being square.....nearly 3 feet out of square! I marked it out, and hand dug and tilled that area, giving us just a little more space; which we ended up needing for onions.

The list for the year, not counting greens and the peas is: ‎15 pickling cucumbers, 4 eggplant, 4 sweet peppers, 6 italian peppers, 3 red peppers, 8 hot banana peppers, 4 jalepeno peppers, 12 cabbage, 22 tomatoes (3 varieties), 9 broccoli, 3 cauilflower, 6 brussel sprouts ,6 bush cucumbers, 30lb yukon gold seed potatoes, 5lbs green onion sets, 15lbs white onion sets, 4lbs sweet corn ,and 6lbs bush green beans.

The existing fruits are looking great. The raspberries along our parking area have more than quadrupled in 2 years; the grapes are filling out and climbing the arbors that I made last year, and again I have to thin and transplant the blackberries; which may end up becoming a second 24-30ft bed if all of the transplants take.

I'm also doing a small side job, clearing about 1/2-3/4 of an acre of brush and small trees. The area has wild raspberries nearly everywhere, and my plan is to bring as many home as I can, and transplant them somewhere in the front yard. I'm thinking alongside the ditch on the north end of the yard, but that may change depending on how many I end up bringing home. I'll also be cutting the small trees to bring home and make trellis' for the tomato plants like the ones I had made last spring. With 22 tomato plants, I'll need a minimum of 3 trees roughly 1-1/2-2" in diameter for each one, plus smaller ones for supports. I'll be hauling a lot home!!

In between what needs done here, and clearing that brush, I've taken on some basic apartment maintenance at a building a friend lives in. It's simple stuff that just needs repaired or replaced...light fixtures, drywall patching, deck boards, painting, etc. Nothing major at all. It's not a full time job by any means, but it's a few bucks here and there, and that helps. Once the apartment building is finished, the owner has a rental house that needs minor repairs too. I'll be hitting that one soon.

The job situation, obviously, hasn't changed. I'm totally disgusted at finding work. I've tried more places than I can remember...in person, phone calls, online, return visits and/or calls; and nothing. I've had so many that sounded promising, but ended up being a dud. I had my heart set on a job at the garden center 2/10 of a mile away, but they ended up having all of their seasonal employees return. I had THREE interviews at a large racing/car parts store and warehouse, but that one ended with no more than "we'll be in touch". It's saddening and highly disappointing, but it's the situation. I'm nowhere near alone in this struggle to find work though. I have friends in the same boat, and millions across the country just like me. It's a lot worse than our government lets on and that the news media shows or tells. So many people are blind to this.

Today I'm off to run errands, pay some bills, put a coat of drywall patch on a few holes at the apartment building, then run back to work on more brush clearing most likely around lunch time. It will be a long, busy day, but I've needed these after spending so many days inside over the winter and during the rain we had last month. I thought I was going to lose my mind for a while! ( I know...what little of it I have left haha)

blahhhhhhhhh Ohio spring weather

2011-04-02T15:26:00.003-04:00

The weather here is making me absolutely insane. A week ago it was sunny and 70 degrees. Monday, it decided to snow, and we ended up with 3". Now it's sunny, and though the snow is gone, it's not quite 40. The cold seems to be hanging around as long as it can, just like the snow did over the winter.

I have so many things that I need and want to get done outside, but this weather is keeping a lot of them on hold. I want to get the garden ready early, start some greens, clean some things up in the yard, and finish reorganizing the garage. I don't mind being out in the cold really, but I'm just tired of it. It's been a very long, cold winter, and it seems that it doesn't want to let go.

Because of the weather, the garden center job is on hold as well. They can't put out plants and young trees in this weather anymore than we can start things here at home. They need this weather to break just as much. I applied with a landscape company two houses to the south, but they are in the same boat, and also waiting for the weather. Whenever this decides to finally change, it's going to be very busy for everyone around here.

The book is going well. I have one chapter finished, and am working on the second. I may work on it later tonight, but I have other things I am working on and researching that keep the book from being the top priority. I really don't want to *make* myself write either. I'm afraid that if I force myself to think of things to say, I'll lose track of keeping it realistic and true to how I actually feel. I've been going back to it a few evenings here and there as thoughts hit me. I'm hoping that by the end of next week, I'll have the second chapter finished.

Right now, I'm going to get a cup of hot tea, and hit the herbal medicine & home remedy books for a nice, lazy afternoon. :-)

Yet another project

2011-03-23T09:10:00.002-04:00

For quite a while, I've wanted to write a book. I never really knew what subject I wanted to use, but I just knew I wanted to write something. Several idea's went through my head, and I even started writing a few of them. I started one on backyard gardens, but that has been done hundreds of times over. I wrote 6 chapters of one on disaster preparedness, but thought it sounded repetitive and like other books I had read. I considered another on suburban homesteading on a budget, but it just didn't feel right. I tossed a lot of ideas around in my head, and had almost given up the idea for a while, when yesterday morning it hit me.

I want to write about our journey over the past twelve years in escaping "the norm" in suburbia. As anyone who knows me, or reads this blog is aware of, we don't exactly fit in here. We live simply, homestead our one acre the best we can, live *gasp* without television, and man other things that put us outside the circle from everyone else. Since my last post about our weekend fire, I have felt rejuvenated from the long winter, and inspired to do more than ever while completely embracing who I have become over the course of my life. It may sound strange to many, but it's almost like a rebirth, not far off Spring itself being a rebirth of nature. I feel happy, alive, and inspired.

With all of this in mind, the idea for a book subject came to me early yesterday morning while sitting here at the computer over coffee. It was the same as many other ideas and thoughts. *facepalm* "Why didn't I think of this before??" I decided on a theme, and the title just came from nowhere. "Unplugged-Escaping Suburbia from Within". It fits. It's me. It's everything that Lisa and I do and have done. That is exactly how it is being written. It won't be an instruction manual or a how-to book, but just be the story of our "unplugging" from being somewhat typical suburbanites to where we are now. (note that I used "somewhat. Who am I kidding, we've never quite fit in.) I'm writing is as if I was documenting our own personal journey; step by step in great detail. I have a very rough draft of the first chapter started, and want to spend more time, possibly today, writing more. It's funny how little details about our choices come back to me as I write and remember. I'm doing my best to document every one of them, just so someone out there may understand our decisions a little better. I'm really enjyoying writing this.

I have no desire to be a best seller or to get famous. I just want to share our experiences with anyone that would want to listen to them. I want people to try understanding that just because you live in the suburbs;or anywhere else for that matter; you don't have to live the same cookie cutter life as everyone surrounding you. You don't have to keep up with the Jones's. You don't have to die with nothing to show the world of your existence but a nice little house with a perfectly manicured lawn. You don't have to rely 100% on the grocery store. I have a lot of topics to cover,and plan to make each one a chapter. The first one I have started is, of course, on one of my favorite subjects to despise-television and video games. I'm trying to do the same as I have lately in the blog, and play nice guy. In previous posts here, I've tended to be pretty opinionated, and I want to get away from that. I have to face facts that no one will listen to anything I say if I come across as being insulting, or insisting that my way is the only way. I've leared to keep that part of myself restrained, and I'm happier with my posts because of it.

Since I am due to start the new job next week, and the busy spring outdoor season is almost here, it is going to take some time to write this book. I won't have the spare time that I do now, so this will have to be pushed to the back burner while I concentrate on more important things. I'll definitely finish writing this one, unlike the other two that I started, just because this one is closer to my entire life than just one or two aspects of it. I'm excited bout doing this more than I have lead on to most people so far, but a lot are catching on to my childlike giddiness. I've talked about it to friends and on Facebook, and I'm getting a lot of encouragement that I never really expected. Maybe I'm just too used to getting strange looks or getting somewhat ridiculed by my family and a few others. Thanks to those people, and also the ones that read this blog, I'm inspired to write this book, and encouraged by all of you and your words and comments.

Well, so much for that whole going Amish bit. I don't think I could go without the internet and everyone that's kept me going. DRATS!

Spring fires and good friends

2011-03-20T22:11:00.002-04:00

Saturday night was our first bonfire of the year to celebrate the spring spring equinox. We decided to have one to see the giant moon we had heard about, and though it was a bit disappointing itself, it was a great night with a small group of friends. It was a little cold, but the wind layed down to almost nothing, and it was toasty warm around the fire. Rather than the usual BS and idle chit-chat, we were able to have some really in depth conversations. Lisa's friend talked openly about her experiences from coming back from a coma, after the doctors had said she had flatlined more than once. My friend Mike talked about some recent happenings, (I'll just say "spiritual" and leave it at that), and how those things have changed his thoughts, focus, and future. I even got to discuss my thoughts on the modern world, it's affect on people, society, and ultimately myself. My friend Bill was here, along with my stepdaughter Holly, but eventually it ended up being just the four of us. When Mike was the last to leave at 1:30 in the morning, I was exhausted; but I still sat in the house talking to Lisa about how wonderful the night was. We'll have more bonfires throughout the year like always. I just hope more turn out the same way.

For the first time, others finally began to understand my views and opinions. For me, it's extremely rare to try explaining myself and not get ridiculed by someone. I've had friends, acquaintances, and even family joke about and belittle my choices and the paths I have chosen to live. I've tried explaining myself, but it never seems to work. Most of the time, I just let the jokes and comments roll off like rain; but other times they make me wonder if I am really that odd; and sometimes they can be slightly hurtful. I can take a joke from a friend, or ignore a comment from an online forum or other media, but when the ridicule comes from my own family, it's hard not to take it to heart. But, finding new support from friends, especially Mike, give me the strength and encouragement to keep going. Thanks Peanut!

Most of my life I've felt that I was born 150 years too late. I've always been able to relate to characters more like Jeremiah Johnson, the Ingalls, or early homesteaders more than I could anyone or anything post-Civil War. I can't relate to the laptop computer at a 6 bucks a cup coffee shop type. I can't relate to the sitting in front of a tv all day type. I can't relate to the sports crowd either. I've never really fit in anywhere, and as I get older, I make decisions to make me fit in even less. While someone is out pricing a new weedeater for spring, I'm looking for a good used scythe. Someone else is looking at a new game system, and I have a list of books as long as my arm that I want to buy. Most of the time I love being outside of the circle, but now and then I want someone to come out and look back inside with me.

As spring approaches, I'm looking at more things I can do here at home. Beyond the gardening/growing food thing, there are many things that I want to teach myself to take me further down the path to where I want to be. I've been reading books for months on wild edibles, herbs, and herbal and old-time home remedies. Sure, I won't walk away from modern medicine if I was to get extremely ill, but I would rather work with natural remedies for simple ailments for things like headaches, sore muscles, upset stomach, and a few others. I want to embrace more things natural, and get less reliant on over the counter drugs. If I can drink a simple herbal tea from things I grow or gather here to get rid of a headache, why would I want to take a pill?

While the books I have are full of incredible information, most list ingredients that are grown in another area of the country, or even from another country or continent. I want to break things down to what I can grow or harvest locally, and work with those ingredients and their capabilities and uses. I've taken my books, and marked those herbs and wild plants, then marked their uses. When I'm done marking the pages, I'll start a notebook with everything I want. I've loved this reading so far, and the idea of my own home apothecary fascinates me. I haven't read anything else in a month and a half.

There are quite a few other things that I want to learn this year. I want to learn how to tan hides, use primitive fire starting methods, make my own clothes, (by hand or with the old treadle sewing machine I restored), make simple wooden furniture, carve kitchen utensils, and...................... The list goes on and on. The turns I have made in my life, the choices I have made, have made me want to learn. I want to know it all. I want to tell people that most of these skills aren't primitive, they're just forgotten. I want to continue this journey and see where it leads me. I'm pretty sure it will lead me back to 1815.....150 years before I was born.

Just like I do with anything else, I'll share those experience here. Experiments, failures, successes; you'll go through them all with me. Thanks to all of you who have become regular readers. When I started this back in September of 2008, I never imagined that there would be 160 people following my misadventures. Thanks again people!

Electronics-Addiction or Reliance?

2011-03-17T08:03:00.002-04:00

Yesterday while reading one of my regular forums, I came across a thread that made me think about a few things. This particular thread was about an online service that allows you to watch movies and television shows at anytime. Originally, this company was nothing more than an online dvd rental, but now offers streaming movies and tv through your computer or gaming system, along with wi-fi capability. While the responses within the thread were different from each person, they were all basically the same in their core. Every one of them used this service, and most of them had it set up for use in multiple rooms so they could watch something or get online virtually anywhere in their homes.

I hear of and see people with cell phones that are capable of nearly everything a personal computer can do. You can use this phone to check your e-mail, get online, take and send pictures, text message, read a book, and now virtually any application that you can think of is available. For the majority of people, their phone never leaves their side. Some simply cannot imagine functioning without it

I'm old enough to remember when my parents got their first color television. I remember when the first commercially sold calculator and digital watch came out. I remember the first people I knew with their own computer had both a Commodore Vic-20 and a Commodore 64. I remember the first person I personally knew with a cell phone had a Motorola bag phone in his work truck, and I remember when my neighbor was the first person I knew to own a video game system when he got an Atari for Christmas. With the exception, of course, of the first television; I have been able to watch home electronics first come onto the scene and advance into what they now are in my 45 years on this Earth. I even remember going from an old rotary phone to a push button. And wow, that first cordless phone was just the coolest thing ever made. We though we were just a few years away from flying cars. Really?? A phone that doesn't have a cord?? WOW, this is like the Jetsons! Where is my robot maid and flying car???

. This is the hard part to think and write about. Have you ever gotten to the point in your life when you realize you sound like your parents? "I remember when I was your age...." "...uphill both ways in the snow"...... Well, I'm kind of there with this post. It's a bit of a hard pill to swallow, but I can accept it. Excuse me while I go look for another 50 gray hairs on my head....

I can't deny that electronics have advanced and in many ways helped or made our lives easier, but I can't help but wonder what they have done to us as a society. We've become so reliant on these items that we can't imagine living without them, and some have become so addicted to them that these devices nearly rule their lives. It's strange to me to see and read of people doing so many things with some electronic device, that either they could easily do otherwise, or so relying on that device for their day to day lives that they cannot do anything without it.

As I said earlier, I remember when a neighbor got an Atari game system for Christmas. It was actually pretty cool at the time. We would spend countless winter hours playing Frogger, PacMan, or drag racing. It killed time on those winter days, or those rainy summer days when there wasn't much to do outside. But, when the weather changed, that system sat on the shelf collecting dust. We had things to do-riding our bikes, chores (anyone remember those?), helping our parents, hunting, fishing, etc. Now I see people that spend entire evenings, or even days, playing games on the newer advanced systems. I personally know several who sometimes brag about spending their entire day off lounging on the couch playing the latest war-type game.

I've watched the home computers grow over the past 30 years. In high school, we used Radio Shack TRS80 computers, and now there are phones that are capable of far more than they were. I remember using my friends Commodore 64 over a phone line and thinking how awesome it was to be able to access someone else's computer. Now I can send e-mail, access any information, talk to friends instantly, and, of course, write in this blog. Actually, for those that don't know, I even met Lisa online almost 13 years ago.

I remember seeing people on tv with cell phones years ago. Normally they were the car phones, but handhelds weren't far behind them. The first person I knew to have any kind of cell phone was my supervisor/foreman when I first entered the pipe trade almost 16 years ago.He had a bag phone the size of a duffel bag in his truck, and it got horrible reception. Now I look around me and know only one person who doesn't have one. I'm constantly surrounded by people whose phone never, ever, leaves their side; and is constantly going off whether it's a call or text message. They're everywhere, and you can barely go anywhere where you won't see someone with their phone glued to their ear or typing away at a text message.

We did, at one time, have a game system. I had bought it the same winter when I met Lisa. I was working out of town and staying in a hotel 5-6 nights a week in the dead of northeast Ohio winter. I bought a used system and a few games just to pass the time in a hotel room. I still had the game system when we bought this place almost 11 years ago. I didn't think at the time I played it often, but I soon learned differently. I was sitting in front of the tv, playing a racing game, when I got up to get some coffee. As I walked to the kitchen, I realized that it was a beautiful day outside, and I had just spent 2-3 hours wasting away at a game. I unplugged the game and traded it off a few days later. I had the exact same thing happen 2 years ago when I realized that I had wasted 4 hours of a wonderful summer day watching a Mythbusters marathon. Two days later, we had the cable company come get the box, and we've never looked back. Since that day, I have read more books than I probably did in the previous ten years. I've stopped wasting my time and have educated myself in many ways. We spend time reading, talking to each other, and even sitting at the table playing board games. Life itself has improved in many ways since tossing the cable out of the window.

I've been writing this post a little at a time over the course of several days. I try not to cop an attitude when I write something like this based solely on my own opinion, but sometimes I do. It's those times when I delete the part I didn't like, and let it sit for a while. This morning I sat to read one of my regular forums with my first cup of coffee. Their forum is broken down into categories like most others, and I see a new post in the "videos" section. Sometimes the videos posted are educational, sometimes they're just entertaining, and sometimes they're of the poster's things done at their own home. I click on one that's titled in a way that makes me think it's from his home. When it opens, I'm disappointed to see that it's yet another video promotion for another video game. I see grown men talking about how they can't wait for the release of this game. Grown men. Not kids, not teens, not even 20-somethings, grown men. Maybe I'm just too disconnected now from games and television, but I just can't understand someone my age getting excited over a video game. It boggles my mind.

I'm sure that everyone is wondering where I am going with all of this, and here it is. I have to wonder if advances in home electronics have not only helped us grow as a society, but somehow choked us as people and are holding us back from being human. I see so many people around me and in the world that can't possibly survive their day to day life without electronics. They can't imagine a day without a cell phone, television, or game system. What started as simple communication and entertainment devices have turned into things that, for lack of better terms, rule our lives.I know people who can't even go to the bathroom without their cell phone. I know people that spend every waking moment away from work playing video games. I know people who sit and either read online or play games just the same. We are addicted, and we are reliant on each and every one of them in some form, whether we will admit it or not.

I'm aware that we live a lot differently than most of society. We aren't "the norm". I get that. But sometimes I have to look around and see how people live so differently that I'm not making myself an outcast from the norm, the norm is making me an outcast from it. I can't say we don't own any electronics. We do both have cell phones, and obviously we own a computer, but that's as far as we go. We don't have cable or satellite tv. We have an old, regular, boxy tv that we use to watch the occasional dvd. We don't own any type of game system, portable book reading device, or the latest phone capable of more than this old computer running WIndows 98. We've made our decisions based on our choices of how to live, and quite frankly, we never plan to go back.

I'm not saying everyone should make the choices we have. I'm not going to suggest to everyone that they toss the tv out of the window and concentrate on nothing but growing and raising their own food. I'm just asking that people take a step back and see what these things are doing to us. Everyone laughs at those old pictures from the 50's with the entire family huddled around the tiny black and white television. At the very least, they were together. Now look around and see that everyone in the family has their own tv, phone, computer, and game system in their own rooms. The dad is playing a war game, the mom is watching a chick-flick, the son is playin a guitar-playing game, and the little sister is on a social networking site talking about her teachers mole.

Take a day sometime and turn off all the electronics. Unplug for a while. Leave the tv and computer off. Leave your cell phone alone except for calls. Go outside and get some fresh air. Go to the library or book store and get a book. No, not from an online store or an e-book; I mean a good old fashioned paper book. Sit back and relax. Educate yourself. Go for a walk in the woods or the park. Sit under a tree and enjoy nature. Go home and plant something, then watch it grow. Think about that new electronics purchase. Do you really NEED it?

Spring Cleaning

2011-03-17T06:54:00.001-04:00

What a dreary morning here. It's cold, raining, and the yard & garden look like a swamp. It's one of those mornings when you look out of the window and just want to go back to sleep. But, the snow is gone, the birds are singing, and warmer weather is on the way. There are so many things to do outside. I hope the warm and sunny shows up soon and sticks around. It's been a long, cold, snowy winter.

I've been tackling small projects over the past few days. The largest one has been cleaning and rearranging the tools and garage. I was able to get a nice metal roll-away tool box from the house I've been cleaning out, and I took the time to clean it completely and put away my hand tools. It's very cool to have everything organized and in separate drawers for the first time. Philips screwdrivers are separated from standard screwdrivers, 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 inch sockets and ratchets have their own drawers, metric and standard sockets each have their own spot, each type of plier has it's own drawer,(channel locks, pilers, snips, wire cutters/strippers etc), even torque drivers have their own drawer now. Ahhhhhhhh big box of red painted steel and tooliness, how I love thee so. Yes "tooliness" is now an official word. I think it belongs in the "Lisa-ism's dictionary with "roundy".

I had a much smaller roll-away box that I bought from Sears probably 17 years ago that I planned to give to a friend. But realizing that I have more tools than I had wall or available drawer space, I ended up using it. This one now holds drill bits and drill accessories, drywall tools, paint brushes and rollers, misc other household tools, and a drawer of tape measures. Yes, a drawer of different styles and sizes of tape measures. Lisa has shoes,(I dont have shoes...I have crafty stuff!!!) I have tape measures. Lots of them. It's a guy thing. (please note the edit from Lisa while I left this open on Wordpad) Remind me to not do that again.

While the workshop side of the garage is finally coming back together, I look at the other side and can't do anything but sigh. It's a small 2 car garage that I split in half by making a long workbench down the center between posts. The right side holds gas cans, garden tools, pots, and other misc things either on shelves or on the wall. The big problem is the floor area. In that one side; I have the tractor, tiller, push mower, wood chipper, garden cart, animal cage, four bicycles, chicken feed bins, straw, buckets, wash tubs, jack stands, floor jack, and a few other things. I've had to face facts that I have more "stuff" than I have garage. I'd love to build a lean-to behind the garage, or build a shed, but we don't have the money, and then there's always that ridiculous building permit thing that gets in the way. I'm going to try thinning out some things, but most in there are necessities. Arrrrrrrrrrgggghhhhhhhhh it's frustrating. Getting rid of tools? Is that really allowed? Will the tool gods strike me down?

I want to get things together, cleaned, and organized long before we start spring planting. I'm taking the time now before I start work in a week or two since we'll be back to just weekends and evenings for getting things done. It will be more difficult than last year since we added so many new garden spaces, but we'll manage just fine. The gardening and food production will just have to be on the very top of the priority list. Spare time for other things will be scarce this spring and summer,but I'm fine with that. That's what I do. I want this season to not only top last years production, but I want to prove that we can do it all while working two full time jobs. For me, the challenge itself gives me the drive. I do love a challenge.

Repost-A window to my past

2011-03-13T12:12:00.002-04:00

Last night I was talking to some people in a chat through one of my regular forums, and questions came up about some of the things I do here at home. Some of the questions were about rabbits, and I mentioned how killing and butchering them didn't affect me very much since I had hunted since I was very young. I told them that sometimes, hunting was a necessity, and it reminded me of a post in this blog I had written a while ago. I dug through the blog archives and found it, and posted the link to share. As I sat here reading it late last night, I decided that today I would repost it here in the blog just to give some of the newer readers a little perspective on some things that have partly made me who I am. Some of you I've met through online forums, some of you I knew 25 years ago in school, and some of you just stumbled across my little corner of the internet and decided to stick around. Either way, this post from December 30th of 2008 will let you see a little bit of my past, and how it has returned to form me into who I am now. Enjoy.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

After reading Farmergeeks response on his blog about the Boy Scout books, it somehow reminded me of my youth. Nope, I was never a scout, but I had always wanted to be one. I wanted to wear that uniform, I wanted to go on outings, have friends, and learn from them, but it never happened for several reasons. One, my parents never liked to drive anywhere other than work or to the store. Two, they could never have afforded anything I would have needed to be in the scouts. And three, dad always said they were wimps, lol, I imagine he couldn't get in either...grumpy old fart. Plus I was a very nervous kid..really withdrawn,shy, and afraid of everything. Hard to believe ain't it??? lol
While growing up, I never learned any of the wilderness survival skills in the scout books like making a shelter or tying knots, but I learned a lot from just living, even though at the time I didn't realize it. I learned to garden, I learned to shoot and hunt, I learned to fish, I learned how to preserve food, and I learned how to live on next to nothing. Times were hard at home, nearly my entire youth was spent from check to check by my parents barely making ends meet.At that time in the late 60's and early 70's, concrete guys just plain didn't work in the winter, so dad was always layed off. To understand where I'm coming from, I'll go into a little detail:

I grew up with my mom, dad, and sister on 3 acres in a small township in the same county I live in now. Our house was a 3 room basement home. NOT 3 bedrooms, 3 ROOMS...kitchen, living room, backroom, that's it. We slept in the same room as our parents on bunkbeds till I was about 12, when dad separated the 2 rooms. Heat in the house was via an oil burning stove in the center of the living room,no ductwork, just radiant heat.(so even though we had our own room, we had to keep the door open when it was cold) We had well water attached to a kitchen sink and a washing machine, and that was all. We bathed in an old galvanized washtub with hot water from the sink. Our toilet was an indoor outhouse of sorts, inside a closet in the backroom. Basically just a frame with a seat and bucket underneath, with a matching real outhouse behind the old shed that was about 80 yards from the house.In the evenings after dark, dad carried that bucket to the outhouse, 365 days a year. We finally got a real bathroom with a tub, shower, and toilet when I was 15, so we (sis and I)thought we were rich. We had a black and white tv attached to a 25 foot antenna tower dad scrounged from a jobsite, with a grand total of 5 stations. (anyone else remember antenna rotors?) I believe I was around 18 or 19 when we got basic cable.I remember an old rotary phone in the house till around '85 as well. The flat tar roof leaked, the floor was almost always damp, the bare block walls cold, and the place always smelled of heating oil and Hoppes gun cleaner. (though I still love the smell of Hoppes, lol)

Food was always a big issue. During the warmer months, we ate what we deemed as "normal" food, though most was the cheapest cut available, and usually other things from the dented can bins at the local Sparkle Market. We busted our asses with a decent sized garden all summer, and I grew to hate it as a kid. I remember many days of pushing myself and my sister through green briar to pick blackberries, as well as wild grapes, so mom could make jellies and jams to can or freeze. (I still hate freezer jam though!) We never had any animals other than beagles, so our only meat source other than the store (when dad was working) was hunting. I can't begin to imagine how many meals we had that were duck, squirrel, or rabbit. At the time there were still pheasants in this part of Ohio, and we were always excited to bag one since it meant a good sized dinner. I think the worst time we had was one winter when dad and I set off hunting on Thanksgiving morning hoping to get a pheasant so we didn't have to have rabbit for dinner. Luckily we got one that day .

Funny how life works, isn't it? Most of my life I hated the way I grew up and resented my parents for making us live that way. We were "forced" to help around the house and garden. We had to use an outhouse when everyone else had a real bathroom. We had to watch an old b&w tv when the neighbors had color, remote control AND cable! All through my teens 20's,and early 30's, I pulled myself as far away from that life as I could, buying and doing everything I could, just because I could. But here I sit, typing and thinking about all of this and realize something. I'm going back to that way of life on purpose. It makes me chuckle to think about it, but it also makes me kinda sad. I wasted all that time trying to ignore who/what I really am. It took me all this time to find myself, but I made it. Without my childhood, and without Lisa's encouragement I would never be where I am now.....make that-WE would never be where WE are now.Without going into any detail, she grew up very similar in a house not much bigger with FOUR siblings...and I thought I had it tough! Sometimes I write in this blog like it's all me, but it's far from it. Lisa had taken every step right beside me the whole way,taking this incredible journey of lifestyle change that we are on.
Though they'll never see this, thank you mom and dad for making me who I am today, and thank you Lisa for your love and encouragement. You are my guiding light down this path to self sufficiency.

Meat-Part 2

2011-03-09T15:07:00.002-05:00

In the last post, I talked about how much meat the US raises, consumes, and wastes in the average year. Today I'm going to touch on that a little more, and bring up the many reasons why we will no longer eat grocery store meat. Actually, make that *can't* eat grocery store meat.

First of all, we have to face the facts that society is always changing. In a previous post, I talked about how much things changed as people moved off the family farms and homesteads, and into the larger towns and cities. As these areas expanded and grew, people became more dependent on the store and the butcher. While a large population still provided for themselves, many people could no longer do so, or just plain didn't want to. They worked a job for a wage, and that wage provided them with the things they wanted and needed. The demand for food grew as these people settled more and more for city life. In a sense around this time, farms grew from providing for their own family and small communities, into businesses that could provide for more consumers.

Just going back 80 years to the 1930's, 24% of the American population worked in agriculture. In 2002, that number dropped to 1.5%. In 1940, each farm worker was able to roughly provide for 11 consumers, yet in 2002, that one worker was able to provide for 90. Data I have found has shown that agricultural production had doubled four times between 1820 and 1975, while the number of actual farms has fallen 63%. since 1900. So, basically, less farms today produce more food. Farm operations have become specialized, from an average of five commodities per farm in 1900 to one per farm in 2000. While the number of farms and farm workers has dramatically dropped over the years, the US population has exploded by roughly 205 million people in the 20th century. The population was around 76 million in 1900, and was close to 281 million in the year 2000. These "factory farms" were nearly a necessity, simply because of demand.

As the demand grew for food production, the landscape changed dramatically. Since 1860, approximately 260 million acres of forests have been cleared out for meat production in the United States. Simple ranches have turned into factory farm operations, growing larger each year. As of 2009, 74% of the worlds poultry, 43% of the worlds beef, and 68% of the worlds eggs are grown in these factory type operations.In whole, 56% of US farms are devoted to beef production alone. With the growth of the factory farms, agriculture for crops had to grow along with it. In the US, 80% of the corn and 95% of the oats grown here are consumed by livestock. I looked for a nationwide average on water usage by factory farms, but couldn't find anything. I did, however, find that on average, it takes 2500 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat. A 600 pound steer will drink between 3.5 and 13 gallons per day, depending on weather and temperature. I've also found that the amount of water used to produce ten pounds of steak is just over the average water usage of an American household. Once again, I don't even want to do the math and get a rough estimate on how much water is used annually in the beef industry. I won't even go into how much of these crops are GMO's, that was another post.

I totally understand that there is a need for more food production as the population grows. That is not my issue. My problems are in the way these farms operate. Animals are generally kept in cramped quarters, given feed that is not natural to their diets, pumped full of antibiotics and steroids, deprived of sunlight,rarely (if ever) see open pastures, and not to even mention that the feeds are most likely GMO. Don't get me wrong, I'm no tree hugger or PETA type. I eat meat. Hell, I even raise and butcher my own chickens and rabbits. But I believe that not only I should be able to eat something free of chemicals, but I also believe that any animal, whether it's grown for food or not, deserves a good quality of life. That just doesn't happen on these farms.

Before I even go into spewing statistics and information on commercial farms and feed lots, I want to take a look at how much beef we actually consume as a nation. Americans on average, eat 67 pounds of beef per year. Numbers vary by location and even race, but those figures aren't important in keeping this where I want to go with this post. The fast food industry alone uses an enormous amount of the beef produced. In 1996, McDonalds beef usage alone was over 644 million pounds. Just like some of the numbers I found when I was writing the last post, this number to me is just staggering. Just out of curiosity, I looked up the US population of 1996. 265,189,754 million people, which I divided into that 64 million pounds. That works out to 2.43 pounds, per person in the US, in 1996. Just using McDonalds as an example. I honestly think I am going to be sick.

Roughly 13 suppliers in the US supply beef for the entire nation. Their numbers have decreased, but the number of cattle per feed lot has risen approximately 20%. Some of these feedlots can contain up to 100 thousand heads of cattle. I'm not going to do research on amounts and figures, but keep in mind that these cattle are fed mainly corn and soybeans (or products of them) so they fatten faster than they would grazing as they are designed by nature to do. Because of cramped, unsanitary conditions, the cattle are given antibiotics, whether they are sick or not, just as a "preventative" measure. I've found that nearly 30 million pounds of antibiotics are used annually on livestock in the US.

Cattle, the same as any animal eats, and creates waste. It's estimated that beef cattle alone in US operations produce 25 pounds per day per cattle, 250 thousand pounds per second nationwide, and over one billion tons annually. Waste from these farms can, and has, leaked into the waterways, eventually leading to the ocean. Though not from cattle, a six acre lagoon holding hog waste in North Carolina in 1995' spilling an estimated 25 million gallons spilled into the New river. Figures show that approximately ten to fourteen million fish died as the result. This problem is far more than just your normal waste. With the practices of these farms, the waste can contain growth hormones and/or antibiotics. There are studies that link dead zones in the ocean to this runoff.

The affects of the antibiotics and steroids on humans is a big debate. There are no studies that show 100 percent, without a doubt, that these are causing health problems. There are studies that show the possibilities that these are linked to cancers, birth defects, and many other health issues. My look at it is simple. I don't care what any study shows. Steroids and antibiotics do not belong on my plate.

I really have to stop here. I've spent enough of my time researching this stuff. Honestly, I don't want to read any more. I get more disturbed and disgusted with everything I read.

So what can we do about this? There is no one answer. What I can say, is to avoid grocery store meat as much as possible. Buy from local farmers who raise there beef with organic methods. Ask your local butcher where their beef comes from, and if their suppliers are organic. Stop eating fast food and supporting the need for these places. (that stuff is horrible for you anyway) Consider eating meatless meals more often. We generally eat 3-4 meatless dinners a week, and it hasn't been a problem. I though I would hate it, but I've grown used to it and like it now. Though I'm not a vegetarian, and have no plans to be, I do know that we don't "need" meat. There are plenty of other ways to get protein in your diet.
Think about all of this the next time you go shopping or make dinner.Any time you buy their product, you're adding to the machine. Make some changes. Make a difference. No one person can change or stop all of this, but many of us together can at least put a hurt on them. Personally, I sleep better at night knowing that my dollars aren't supporting these practices. How do you sleep?

Meat-part 1

2011-03-06T16:39:00.001-05:00

Just the same as with vegetables and gardening, I get a lot of comments and questions about the meat we consume at home. More so than getting people to understand growing their own food, most have a very hard time understanding why, and how, I could raise chickens or rabbits to butcher them. For some strange reason, people who have no problem at all going to the grocery store to buy chicken, beef, and pork from the meat department are absolutely horrified at the thought of my killing a chicken for a meal. They just have to choose which package they want. Someone else does the "dirty work". The majority of people don't even think about their choice at all. They just grab the biggest package of chicken breasts, or choose the largest steaks, and never give a thought to what they are really buying. Was this animal healthy? How was it raised? Where did it come from? People never think about these things, and most seem to not even care.

It's strange how everyone has become so disconnected with their food. Out of sight, out of mind. Two years ago, Lisa and I went to the local county fair. We did the usual walk through the 4H barns, looking at the animals. We were near the pigs, and noticed a sign hanging on a post. It was a typical cartoon-type picture that we've all seen. It showed the outline of a pig, with all of the different cuts of meat marked with dotted lines. A woman walked by with (I'll assume) her kids with her. She was the kind we've seen there many times. The ones that obviously don't want to be in the barns. The look of disgust and bent up nose made it obvious that she didn't like the smell of the barns. I still cannot understand why people like that even go there. Anyway....as she walked by the same area with the pigs, she noticed the sign. She jumped in front of the sign, holding her arms out to block the view of it from her kids, as if she was blocking Superman from a piece of kryptonite. She was blocking the view so her kids wouldn't be horrified at finding out where their chops and ham they had for dinner last week came from. Some people simply don't know about where food comes from. Others choose to keep a blind eye to it. Others, like this woman, choose to intentionally block any knowledge of it at all from people like their kids. More and more each year, the disconnection grows, even though our consumption grows at staggering rates. For example, the statistics used below are based on just beef and nothing else.

While the United States is only around 5% of the total world's population, we consume 15% it's meat production.In 2009, we as a nation produced 26.07 billion pounds of beef, yet consumed 26.9 billion pounds. While our consumption was larger than our production, we still exported 1.87 billion pounds throughout the year. Imagine what that 26.9 billion works out to be. That is the equivalent of 107.3 billion quarter pound cheeseburgers. In 2009, the US slaughtered 33.3 million head of cattle, and our cattle inventory stood at 94.5 million. Those numbers, once again, to me are staggering.

What is even more staggering is figuring out how much is non usable or wasted between a single full live beef steer and what is actually consumed. If we figure an average sized steer weights 540lbs, the usage below really opens your eyes. While I'm not going to do the math, imagine what those figures would be when multiplied by the 33.3 million head of cattle slaughtered in 2009. I didn't figure out the total amount of waste that 33.3 million head of cattle averages out to be. I don't think I really want to know.

Live weight 540lbs 100% Full size avg.steer
Dressed weight 330lbs 61% Hanging carcass
Saleable weight 250lbs 46% Includes bones and fat
Edible weight 205 lbs 38% Actual cuts of meat
Actually consumed 185lbs 34% Including weight loss in cooking and table waste

I'm sure by now anyone reading this post is wondering where I am going with this. I'm not trying in any way to tell people to become vegetarian. That is not my intent at all. My intent, however, is to try making people realize what we as a nation are doing. I plan to make another post soon about the perils of commercial farming. Their practices are far beyond disturbing. They're disgusting. What I want to do with this post is to get any of you to think about these numbers when you are at the store buying that next meal or next weeks worth of groceries. Consider what you are buying. Are you adding to these figures by buying from giant farming companies, or are you supporting your local economy and buying from a farmer nearby. Sure, even if you buy from someone locally, you are still buying beef. But consider that in the US alone, four companies produce 81% of the cattle,52% of the pigs, and 50% of the chicken consumed annually. When companies like these get that large, a $6.5 billion industry in 2002, they don't care about the animals or your safety. They just want your dollar.

We don't raise our own cattle here at home, because it's obvious, we're just on one acre. We do though, buy beef and pork from a friend who raises them on a large farm with his father. Besides the fact that we know the animals aren't pumped full of chemicals and hormones, we know that we aren't giving our money to corperate giants that want nothing more than to dominate the industry. We do however butcher our own chickens at home, and have raised rabbits for an additional source of meat.It's been almost 2 years since we have bought any meat from the grocery store, and we never plan on buying from them again.

I'm no tree hugger. I will never be the kind to protest at beef plants or tie myself to a tree. But, I can't help but feel a bit guilty that I added to those figures before we changed our lifestyle and eating habits. I'm happy to know that we are not causing that 1 or 2 cattle a year to be somewhere in that mountain of figures. I'm glad to know that my money isn't going to these giant companies that care about nothing but the almighty dollar. And last, I'm very happy to know that I'm not supporting the giant operations that support growth hormones, large doses of antibiotics, and horrible living conditions.........

That one, my friends, will be the next post. You'll just have to wait!
Chris

GMO's Explained-The not so good, the bad,and the ugly

2011-03-05T08:10:00.001-05:00

Many times in this blog, and other places on the internet, I've mentioned my thoughts and cautions on GMO's. They're a big controversy because there are concerns over long term exposure and health risks. There are many reports from lab tests involving animals, and many medical studies linking them to diseases like cancer. Though there is nothing 100% definite that can state that these are a danger to human health, why take the risk?

I've tried explaining GMO's to family and friends, but, as always, most think I'm crazy or paranoid, just like they do about many things that I choose in my life. Some of them do listen, but not a single person I know personally has made the choice to avoid these crops as much as possible. Generally I hear the same things-"The FDA wouldn't let them give us anything that bad", or "I can't make a difference", or simply "I don't care what's in my food as long as it tastes good". It's strange to me how people can worry about the enviornment, using antibacterial cleansers and hand sanitizers, or cars with safer emissions, but not have much, if any, of a concern about what they eat on a daily basis. My thought behind this post is that maybe, just maybe, to get just one person to think about their food and GMO's. One at a time, we CAN make a difference.

First of all, for those that don't know what a GMO is, let me explain. GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organisms.Genetic engineering is used to alter the genes of the very organism, using DNA molecules from different sources to create a new set of genes. These genes are transferred into a living organism (in this case a plant), giving it the traits of those modified genes. Generally, GMO's are in the plant world, but others exist and even more have been tried. Once, the DNA of atlantic salmon was modified and introduced into a tomato to attempt making the plants more frost and cold weather resistant. Is anyone seeing this? Frankenplants?

As far as I have been able to find in my research, the first GMO plant was a tomato in 1994. It was "designed" to ripen on the vine faster, stay firm longer, and have a longer shelf life after being picked. There were no GMO plants used commercially in 1997, but now in 2011 nearly 10% of all worldwide farmland is dominated by GMO crops. There are many GMO cops grown commercially worldwide, with 81% being soybeans, 64% being cotton, 29% being corn, and 23% being canola. Other crops also grown with GMO seed are sugar beets, alfalfa, summer squash, potatoes and sweet peppers. In the United States alone, 93% of the soybeans, 86% of the corn, and 95% of the sugar beets grown are genetically modified. Land devoted to growing GMO crops grew 10% in 2010, and 7% in 2007 in the United States. 29 countries plant crops of GMO's, with the United states using 165 million acres, Brazil 63 million acres, and Argentina using 56 million acres, just as the top 3 in terms of size.

GMO crops, for all intents and purposes, started off as trying to design strains of crops that would be less prone to disease, cold weather, and many other instances which can produce poor yields or crop failure. After a short time, plant genes were modified to contain the gene called Bacillus Thuringiensis. This gene comes from a soil bacteria, and through it's introduction into plant DNA, allows the plant to produce it's own insecticide. 17% of all GMO crops contain this gene. Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) works as a toxin, which binds the digestive system of insects, therefore killing them. BT is harmless to humans, so it is fairly common to be used in organic gardening or crops. OK, this isn't so bad, right? A plant, somehow through the magic of modern science, can produce it's own "natural" insecticide? While it may be "safe" to use, I simply cannot get away from the fact that man is changing nature in a laboratory. Whether it works or not is not my issue. My issue is the act itself. Are we really meant to mess with nature?

To myself, and many others across the globe, there is a much more scary part of GMO crops. These crops are modified to withstand the effects of a chemical known as Glyphosphate; which is commonly known as Roundup. Seeds are with this gene are marketed as "Roundup Ready". Fields of these seeds can be planted, and be totally sprayed with glyphospate, causing them to be nearly completely weed free. From my own research, I've found that 61% of all GMO crops in the United States are "roundup ready", while 17% of the same GMO crops are grown worldwide. What does that mean? It means that the US grows more of these crops than anywhere in the world, which also means that the US sprays more glyhosphate than anywhere else. It has been estimated that 7.3 million pounds of it was used in 1994, compared to 119.07 million pounds in 2005. That's a 1500% increase in use in just 11 years, and a LOT more chemical than I can even begin to comprehend. I honsetly can't conceive 119 million pounds. That number itself is staggering.

So, with all of the statistics I have quoted in this extremely long post, you're probably asking what my point will be. I have lots of concerns over GMO's, especially the last one. No matter what any company or laboratory might say, I cannot begin to think that 119 million pounds of herbicide sprayed on the ground can be good for not only the earth itself, but us as humans. There are lots of companies and labs that have researched the affect of this stuff, and some of the results are downright scary. There are links to cancer, low birth rate, low sperm count, birth defects, DNA damage, hormone damage,and many others including the most deadly of all.....death! Besides affects on humans, continuous spraying will ensure that most any plant that does not contain that gene will never grow on that land again. No matter how much companies claim is dissipates and loses toxicity over time, built up amounts make up the difference. It's also gone another way with weed-type plants in that the weeds build up an immunity to it over time, therefore causing them to grow different strains, which in turn mean more or a stronger dosage or mixture of the herbicide is used each year. Imagine that weeds keep evolving and becoming more resistant. What next? There are also links and studies about the runoff of the chemicals into waterways and eventually the ocean. Studies show disease in fish and ocean areas totally free of life of any kind. These areas are known as dead zones, and the largest known is in the Gulf of Mexico near the mouth of the Mississippi river. It spans approximately 7800 square miles, roughly the size of the state of New Jersey. While these areas cannot be linked totally to use of this herbicide, it is known to be a large factor due to runoff from large commercial farms. Dead zones are also increasing worldwide. Studies showed roughly 146 in 2004, and 405 in 2008.

So, what can we do to change all of this? I really wish I knew. Until the world stops consuming more food and resources than we can grow naturally/organically, these practices will continue to grow. More and more farms will use the GMO seeds, more herbicides will be sprayed, and the companies producing these seeds and chemicals will have even more of a hold on our entire food industry. These companies already dominate the industry both in farming and in home use by buying smaller seed companies so their products can expand to even our very own backyard gardens. Quite frankly, they want it all.

These GMO's are one of the many reasons why I tell everyone that possibly can to grow their own food. If you can't grow your own, try buying as much produce as possible that is grown with organic methods. Read labels.Find seeds from companies that are not just non-GMO, but aren't owned by the company who produces them, because even if you don't buy their herbicide or use it, you could be still giving them your dollars. I, for one,. want to make sure these companies never see another dime of my money.
Do your own research. Pay attention. If you can't buy your own, buy from local farmers or farmers markets who don't use GMO products. Take back our food and once again make it safe for us and for the world. One at a time we can add together and change all of this. To quote from a podcast and online forum that I frequent daily-"The Revolution is You". Remember that.

Grow your own, and please, keep it simple

2011-03-03T14:00:00.001-05:00

As anyone who reads this blog knows, last season we managed to produce nearly 1100 pounds of our own food here at home. Sometimes even now, I look at that number and realize what an accomplishment it was. While it seems like that may have been an endless amount of work, it really wasn't. Other than the initial sod pulling, the rest was a breeze. With all of that out of the way, this year will be even easier.

That very part leads me to the reason behind this post. I've been asked many time, in many place, how we managed that much produce from just one acre. There isn't just one answer to that question, but there is one main point, and it's easy-make it a priority.

I read about and hear of so many people that have, or want to, start their own backyard gardens, and honestly, they turn it into something more complicated than building a space shuttle. I've read about people who have built a raised bed from lumber, purchased all of the "proper" ingredients to make the perfect soil, made a cumputer spread or data sheet on each and every plant, spent countless hours laying out the perfect grid to within 1/8 of an inch, and end up spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to grow $75 worth of vegetable. I commend anyone who makes the decision to grow even some of their own food, but at times I have to stand back and ponder the logic behind it.

It's hard for most people to consider their property to be anything more than the typical suburban lot. As much as I'd love to convince people otherwise, they've been programmed by generations of suburbanites to think of it as nothing but a lawn to be mowed and decorated with flowers and a perfectly green grass. Lawns are ingrained in our brains as the norm, but at one time were only for the wealthy. Most people had simple dirt yards (ever heard of someone sweeping the yard?), or had small gardens with a mix of flowers, herbs, and vegetables. No one owned a lawnmower, or at least one that we think of. If the grass wasn't cut with a scythe, it was kept down with livestock. The first available lawn mower wasn't available until 1870,and it was nothing more than a large scale production of a machine that was used to cut the nap from velvet in factories. The first commercial mower was born, and sales boomed as people let the grass grow. Largely after World War 2, with the growth of what we now know as suburbs, the simple reel mower has changed into the machines that we all know today, machines that can cost upwards of $5000 with one single purpose-cutting grass that has no real purpose. Most don't see it as anything but normal. Dad had a lawn to cut, so did grandpa, and now we have our own. Figure in the cost of a mower, fuel for that mower, maintenance on that mower, trimmers, edgers, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and we Americans spend $30 billion annually on our lawns. Think about that number. Thirty Billion Dollars.......on grass. It makes my head hurt.

Lawn grass has no purpose, none at all. Why have it? Why spend money year after year to grow something that you have to mantian, to do nothing with it but cut it and look at it? Why not turn that land into something usefull? In 2008, the EPA estimated that the area in the United States covered by lawns was bigger than the state of Texas. Can you imagine if that entire area, or even half of it, was used by people to produce their own food? We used close to half of our one acre for growing food last year. Just for example, the area the size of Texas is 172,000,000 acres of land. If just half of that was used (86,000,000 acres) to produce the same 1100 pounds that we managed last year, it could easily be used to produce an astounding 86,000,000 pounds of food. That figure is breathtaking. But, instead of all of that food that we could feed our family, friends, and nation with; we use it for grass. Do you see where I'm going?

My approach in the past few years has been simple. Eliminate as much of that worthless grass as possible. I've hand-dug the main garden, along with beds for strawberries, potatoes, peas, greens, carrots, cucumbers, and all of the other fruits and vegetables that we've grown here. I took the food production as a priority, and not just a hobby. To me, producing our own food is more important than nearly anything else we do. When I put it at the top of the list and dug up more areas for it, I not only was able to produce more, I was able to not spend as much valueable time on mowing, trimming, and maintaining that same worthless grass that I have mentioned many times. The initial work was hard. I can't lie about that. Every bed last year was hand dug with a shovel before tilling; but I enjoy the labor and refuse to rent equiptment to add to the cost of gardening. It is partly about saving money, right?

That brings me to the next part. As I mentioned earlier, I've seen or read of people spending hundreds or thousands of dollars putting together a vegetable garden no bigger than our car. My garden areas are extremely simple. I mark them out with stakes and string, then pull the sod layer up with a shovel. The sod is piled generally behind the garage, grass down, and covered with plastic until the following year. This way, the grass is burned off, and I have clean soil to add to areas before I till in the spring. When available, I border the beds with landscape timbers at ground level. This way, I can just mow the grass around them right to the very edge of the bed, and never have to worry about needing to use a trimmer. I use no pretty fencing or stained lumber. Just those timbers to keep the grass from growing into the beds. As always, my garden is to produce food, not to impress anyone or try ending up in some magazine. While I try me best to keep things presentable, I never, ever strive for "pretty".

We were lucky enough to have soil beneath that horrible grass that once held a vegetable garden. We haven't had to add any kind of fertilizer or other additives at all, other than the normal spring dose from our compost pile. While I'm sure that many who want to garden haven't been blessed with good soil, and they may need to work with it so it is suitable for gardening, I see lots of people that make it a lot more work than necessary. I've seen people go for a certain mix that they got from a gardening book that I won't mention. This mix, is to the author and his followers, THE only way to grow vegetables. Sure, it's a great mixture that will work wonders, but again, it isn't necessary. All you need is rich soil, and the basic old time super-secret garden soil amendments that our ancestors used for thousands of years, and still continue to use to this day. They get rather complicated, so grab a notebook and pen to write them down. Here they are-Garbage and shit. C'mon, that's all the garden needs, right? Compost and manure? Sorry to put them into such blunt words, but that's what they are. We only need terms like compost and manure to sound like we're reading straight from the gardening bible. It's no different than calling cow meet beef, or pig meat pork. It's just a made up title to cover up what it really is. But, for now I'll stick with those terms and use them, just for the sake of playing nice and non-offensive.

Anyway....back to my point. All of this soil testing and additives aren't necessary at all. Look back in time at how our ancestors fed their families year after year from their gardens. They never had to run to the local hardware store to get bags of this, packages of that, and sprays for another. They used nothing more than compost and/or manure. No peat moss, no vermiculite, and no chinamart bags of ready-to-go vegetable garden soil. They used physical labor, and what they had around them to gorw their food, and this is the very main point to this very long and outspoken post. Keep things simple. Use the basics that you have already available. Don't try to follow each and every thing that these books say. If you must use these books, use them as a guideline and not a bible. Seriously folks, don't make your garden more work than it actually is or needs to be. It's not that hard, it's not that complicated, and it's not that much work when you put it first.

Get out there and get your hands dirty. Dig your beds and grow things to feed yourself and your family. No matter what your reason behind your garden, give it the attention and respect that it deserves. Feel the power within you to free yourself, even just a little bit, from the marketing trap of the grocery store. Feel the freedom of doing things for yourself that you once felt could only be done by others. Take it seriously and make it a priority, and it will reward you with food and satisfaction for years to come.

One last thing, for those that know who I am referring to. There is a somewhat famous family who has managed to feed themselves for years on a plot of land smaller than ours. They have written books and articles, teach classes, and run several websites. By recently turning themselves into one of corporate-like, money grubbing machines that the spoke out against for so many years, they have lost thousands of followers. They stood on common garden ground with many of us for many years, but now thanks to greed, and quite frankly, egos, they are nothing now but the manure between our toes. Use them as an example. Show them that anyone can do the same things they have by making it a priority. Show them that they aren't and weren't the kings of the movement to bring homesteading back to the suburbs. Prove to them, and to yourself, that it CAN and WILL be done by anyone. Knock them off that high horse they have been riding for so long, and put them in the compost pile where they belong, with the rest of the garbage.

2011-03-02T22:34:00.000-05:00

After many promises of coming back to the blog, here I am. Things around here have been tough for a while, and I just honestly haven't felt inspired to blog. I still haven't been able to find work, and unemployment benefits ran out the second week of January. While our persistence on storing food has kept us fed, paying the bills has been a challenge. We're working with creditors and the mortgage company the best we can. I've had a lot of interviews, but nothing has panned out yet. Some are for seasonal work, and we're still dealing with 8+ inches of snow. Hopefully soon, spring will rear it's head and something will open. Until then, we just go day to day and do everything we can.

Our situation and the economy in general has caused a lot of changes. We've drastically changed spending habits and have made a lot of lifestyle changes. We've taken them all in stride, realizing that we are doing better for ourselves in the long run. We both have a feeling that this economy will get worse before it gets better, and plan on changing nothing about the way we live at all. In fact, there will be more changes to come. This will be the year we really push things to the limits on being self sufficient here. This year we'll try to rely on outside sources as little as possible. This year, like many behind it, will push us closer to our goals. It may be difficult to see as we juggle one bill to pay the other, but that's where it will lead. We'll get there.

During this whole mess, I tend to watch those around me. Family, friends, neighbors, internet friends, I watch them all. It's sad, but also funny to me, how most still spend despite the state of our economy. I hear people talk about the new $1200 television they just bought, or how they got a great deal on this new car. Even someone we know came straight out of bankruptcy and losing their home, and took a Caribbean cruise. I shake my head often, and wonder if people like these will ever learn. It's doubtful to me that they will. I've even known people well into their 70's that have had to file bankruptcy. Not for medical bills or lack of pension or social security benefits, but for accumulating a lifetime debt on credit cards. People sometimes make fun of my uncle, who has never had any kind of credit in his life. He simply only buys something if he has the cash. It's funny how living that way is a long forgotten way of life and way of staying out of debt. Someday we'll be able to live the same way, and life will be better because of it as well.

In spite of the financial situation, plans for this year are still pushing the limits of what we've done before. I've not only inspired to out-do myself like I have in previous years, but also because I have less and less faith in food from the grocery stores. There are so many things to be concerned about, I can't go into detail about them now. Between growth hormones, genetically modified seeds, pesticides, herbicides, preservatives, artificial flavors, and many other things, buying from the grocery store is nothing more than a game of russian roulette. We plan to break even further away from the store, and rely more on ourselves. If we were able to produce just under 1100 pounds of food last year, 2000 pounds shouldn't be a problem. We'll also be utilizing some land at my uncles this year. We'll plant things that we can, for the most part, plant and leave alone other than the occasional weeding. As of now, we plan on corn, potatoes, onions, and possibly some form of grain. I'll track that property separately than what we produce here at home, but I will add it all together at the end of the year. I'm excited to see what that total will be.

I promise folks, I'll be back into writing. I have things in my head now as I finish this that I plan on using in the next one. Now if spring would just get here to motivate me just a little more...........

Hoarder House on Haunted Hill!!!!

2010-12-05T08:59:00.000-05:00

Over the past 3 weeks, I have been cleaning out the house of the mother of a girlfriend from 20 years ago. She contacted me this summer about doing some plumbing work, but I never heard back and assumed that she had forgotten about it. I got the call a little over 3 weeks ago that she had the materials and that I could come do the work. I got there the next day and began the job, and we ended up talking more than I worked. I forgot how much I missed this woman. Though things obviously didn't work out for the daughter and I, I often thought about her parents. If anyone remembers the post I made last year about attending a funeral, that was her husband. We sat and talked about the times when I dated the daughter, and all the fun we all always had. I really did forget how much I liked her.

Now....if anyone has ever seen those TV shows about hoarders, this is one of those places. It was bad 20 years ago, and it's worse now. As if it weren't bad enough that the house is piled full of "stuff", she is in her late 70's and has Parkensons. She walks with a 4 legged cane and has a hard time navigating through the house. After a few talk with her and the daughter, she's kept me on to get rid of things and clean the house. I thought I knew what I was getting into, but now after being there at least 5 days a week for 3 weeks, I have barely scratched the surface. It's truly unreal.

I started in the basement, which was the worst of all just because of garbage. Not food garbage, but emty boxes, containers, and bags as far as you could see. As of yesterday, I have 36 giant contractor sized trash bags full of just trash to go to a dumpster, which we're getting next week. I've found things down there that the wife and daughter didn't even know about. Tools. Unopened, unused power tools. A 6 foot tall rollaway box full of Craftsman hand tools, most of which has never been taken out of the package or used. I found a Craftsman chainsaw from 1986 that was never opened, gun blueing tanks, boxes and boxes of fishing gear, metal detedting equiptment, diving gear, a 1976 Coleco air hockey table that was never opened, an All American pressure canner, 7 dozen canning jars, coins, knives, 3 never opened Coleman lanterns from the 1960's, 72 packs of mantles for the lanterns, 12 packs of flints for the same, handwarmers, and clothes. WOW the clothes. There are three racks, 24 feet long, of womens clothes, sealed in garment bags that have never been worn. This place is like a treasure hunt and a junkyard nightmare at the same time.

A few days ago, we decided to skip the basement for a while and start upstairs. We first attacked her bedroom. WOW again. There were so many piles of clothes that she had barely a 10 inch wide path to get to her own bed. Along the back wall is a long dresser, maybe 8 feet long. On top is a stereo system, cable box, 27 inch tv, two vcr's, and hundreds, no lie, hundreds of video tapes in stacks. At the foot of the bed were 6-7 file storage boxes, again full of videotapes. She decided to start with the husbands clothes, and we attacked his drawers. Yea....wow yet again. Unopened wool socks,flannnel pajamas, t-shirts, dress shirts, and then came the boxes. Every drawer had boxes. Boxes of what? Jewelry. New, never worn jewelry. I don't mean costume jewelry or the $100 Target-Kmart type jewelry, I mean platinum watches, solid gold rings, pearls, emeralds, diamonds, real jewelry. There was so much that by the time we finished just that room, we had filled two dresser drawers with nothing but jewelry. I'm still shaking my head at the literally thousands of dollars of jewelry in that room.

On Saturday we started the spare bedroom that was once her daughters. Again, 25+ boxes of not only video tapes, but now DVD's. Never opened DVD's. Singles, packs, box sets, hundreds of them. I moved those aside, and hit the gun cabinet which was in the middle of the room behind the piles. Seven long guns were still in the cabinet for ten. I moved piles of junk from behind it, then moved it so I could get inside. I got the drawer on the bottom open, and found ammo for things he hadn't had for years, scopes from the 60's that were still in their box, unopened cleaning kits marked 1972, an 1874 revolver in a sock, an old never used straight razor, and other pistol accesories for long gone guns. As we got into dresser and desk drawers, I found even more jewelry. Some were new, and some were things he had found while metal detecting and had cleaned and repaired. Again, thousands of dollars worth. Then came the dolls. Collectable dolls. From stores, from catalogs, and from tv shopping channels. Dolls from 12" high to 4 feet. Special edition Disney dolls to high dollar collectables marked $500. Once again, thousands of dollars just sitting in a room piled with junk.

After moving around and rearranging things in that room, she mentioned the mens shoes in a closet inside the front entry. We went there next, and added over 40 pairs of mens shoes to the mountain of womens shoes I already had in the truck. As I was loading the boxes, I saw one with a shipping label and curiousity got the best of me. USPS label-September 4th, 1964. Holy shoe fetish Batman! These shoes are a year older than ME! I loaded them all in the truck, again shaking my head, then sat with her for a cup of coffee. It was then that she said something she's said to me at least 3-4 times since I started this project. "I'm sure glad I'm not one of those hoarder people like you see on tv". I really have no answer for her on this one. I can't outright tell her "umm, you ARE one of those people". I just can't say it to her face. Though she's aware that the house is a disaster, she can't see that she is one of them. She always makes comments about how much the husband had bought over the years, but she somehow justifies the thousands of movies, hundreds of shoes, and who knows how many articles of clothing that she owns. I changed the conversation and talked about our garden, finished my coffee, and headed for home knowing that I have many more days, or should I say WEEKS left to get this place cleaned out and liveable. As I'm writing this now, I am trying to think of a plan of attack for today when I get there. It's overwhelming.

She's letting me take anything usefull that is in the house, with no care as to what it's worth. I repeatedly said I could sell things and give her the money, but she refuses every time. A few things she wants to give me as partial payment for the cleanout, and for the repairs that will need done inside and out once I'm finished. I forget how many truckloads I have hauled out, but here is a list of things that I have brought home so far:

Browning BLR 7mm mag (unfired)
Remington 870 Wingmaster 12ga (unfired)
Marlin 60 .22 semi (unfired)
French 6.5 WWI bolt action rifle
British Enfield .303 rifle
Marlin 30as 30/30 unfired
Interarms MKX 25.05 (unfired)
Interarms MKX 30.06 (unfired)
Marlin/Glenfield 20 .22LR bolt action
3300 rounds CCI minimag .22 LR
misc cleaning kits for above
200rds .357
300rds .303
NIB straight razor from the 30's
two NIB safety razors from the 50's
2 Buck hunting knives (lockblades)
2 Buck pocketknives
2 Ronson lighters from the 60's (NIB)
5 Coleman lanterns (3 of which have never been used)
72 packs of mantles for the lanterns
10-10 packs of flints for the lanterns
Gun blueing tanks
Misc ice fishing gear
Fishing gear from the 30's (2 reels alone sold for $300)
6ft rollaway box full of mostly never used or in-package Craftsman hand tools
NIB Craftsman circular saw
NIB Craftsman hand sander
NIB Craftsman 1/2" pro series drill
NIB Craftsman 16" chainsaw
NIB Milwaukee sawzall
Craftsman battery charger/starter
Coleco air hockey table dated 1976-never opened
NIB mens workboots and rubber boots (size 10 1/2 dammit lol)
And more things I can't seem to remember at the moment

Now you see why I haven't been back to the blog since the last post. This place exausts me both physically and mentally. I finish there for the day, come home, eat dinner, shower, and sit. It just drains me every day. I'll keep everyone informed on the happenings there and what the newest finds are. For now, I'm off to let the truck warm up (we have about 3" of snow), and head over for another adventure.
Wish me luck!

Fall = Squirrel Season

2010-11-11T08:36:00.003-05:00

With the fall season finally in full turn, I've been thinking a lot about going hunting. I haven't been out much for several years and I really miss it. I grew up hunting and these cool mornings remind me of that all the time.
I remember those cool mornings when dad and I, or my old friend Joe and I would head off to the woods squirrel hunting. Even most fall afternoons after school were spent hunting. The leaves were gone, the air was cool, and I was most at peace sitting near a big hickory tree watching for bushytails. Most of the time it didn't even matter if I came home empty-handed. I was in the woods where I belonged. I never felt more at ease or at peace than those days sitting against a tree. When Joe was with me, the smell of Swisher Sweets cigars wafted through the woods with us. They became a tradition when I was around 16 and have been a constant ever since whenever I set foot in squirrel woods.
Soon the snow began to fly, and that meant one thing. Rabbit season. Dad and I would have already had the beagles out to run, but now that snow was on the ground, it was time. Rabbit season gave me some of the best memories of my life. I can walk (what's left of) those woods now, and almost every spot holds a memory. I remember the exact spot where I shot my first rabbit, I remember places where I would see dad smile. I remember tree's that always managed to get a squirrel, or a brush pile that always held a rabbit. For the most part, my life is written in the pages of trees somewhere in those woods. But now thanks to greed and logging, the woods are mostly gone. What was once acres of big open trees are now masses of thick underbrush thanks to the logging. The best rabbit areas are now acres of green briar and vines. Most of my favorite places are nearly inacessible.
I was always with dad, and usually surrounded by friends and family. My uncle Glen, my cousin Walt, my friend Joe and his dad Big Joe; they were always around during rabbit season. I miss them all. Glen passed away years ago. Walt quit hunting. I rarely speak to Joe anymore, and big Joe no longer hunts except for one deer each year in West Virginia. My dad can't even get out of the house now due to health issues. I'm pretty much alone in my hunting now, but I'm working on that with an old friend Bob who we've been back in contact with for the past year and a half or so.
Thanks to spending time behind the counter at a gun shop, I generally stay clear of public hunting land. Believe me, if you spent time meeting some of the folks that go to public land and hearing the horror stories, you may not either. But....now the time has come where I really have no choice. My old friend Joe called me over a month ago to tell me about a new public land just 20 minutes or so south of here. It's so new in fact, that it isn't listed on the state DNR website. I'm hoping that this may mean it isn't being hunted as much. *fingers crossed* Bob is going to get a map of it today, and we may head down on Saturday morning to check it out.
I'm still leary of public land, but I can't resist anymore. I *HAVE* to get out in the woods. I feel lost this time of year sitting here looking out the window. Maybe this place will be a great spot. Maybe I'll have some new squirrel woods. Maybe I'll bring home a few for the stew pot. And who knows, maybe it's time to start making new memories. I truly hope so......................

Halloween Pics 2010-just a tad late

2010-11-11T08:24:00.005-05:00

No longer MIA!

2010-11-09T09:01:00.000-05:00

Wow, it has been a while since I have posted here. I knew it had been some time, but I didn't realize that it had been this long.

I think that for a while I just got bored with this whole blogging thing. Nothing against anyone out there, but I just got tired of writing the same old same old, and getting the same responses back. I know that not everyone who reads has the same interests as I do, and frankly I'm not sure what I really expected to get back out of it. Maybe somehow I thought that I would enlighten some people with things that I do. Maybe I thought that producing nearly 1100 pounds of food from one acre would be more impressive. Maybe I thought that occasional rant from atop my soap box would get more "ohh yea" kind of responses, but it hasn't. I just took a break for a while from this blog to re-think a few things and possibly make a change, maybe even go in a new direction. But..I've decided not to. I've decided that I'm keeping this blog more about me than going after readers. That really wasn't the intention to begin with. I just had to remember that.

Instead, I'll get back to this and continue to make it about everything we and I do. Whether that is gardening, the chickens, camping, preparadness, shooting, or anything else that we do here. I have many hobbies and many interests. I'm complicated yet multi-talented. I like to consider myself as a jack-of-all-trades but a master of none. I like to dabble in things that I may find interesting that to others may seem silly or a waste of time. I do so many things that I can't possible just keep this blog about one or two. I want this to be more of an online journal kind of thing, and just take you few readers along for the ride.

So....rather than go on and on about my reasons for not being around, lets start up that first hill for the new rollercoaster ride.........

First of all, last weekend was the big Halloween bash. We had nearly 50 people show this year, and almost all came in costume. It took 3 weeks to decorate the house and the front yard. What was 15 feet of decorated outdoor space last year was 60 feet this year. I made 6 more dummies, 2 stone & marble full sized crypts, 12 more headstones, 4 graves, fog machines, colored lights, a cage full of zombie babies,and lots of other decorations that we didn't have last year.

Inside we had an AWESOME old organ (thanks to a craigslist freebie), last year's coffin, and more little things than last year. We had plenty of food that Lisa had made, and others brought food with them. A friend of ours brought an amazing giant Halloween themed cake that she had made. I'll have to do a second post with all of the pictures. YEA! Pictures! We ended up with over 100 this year, which was awesome considering we had barely 20 at last years party.

For now, I have to get a few things done around here, but I'll post those Halloween pictures later today.
I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack

and we have a winner!!

2010-09-02T06:57:00.002-04:00

Wow. I haven't posted since the 16th? Ooopsy. I've been busy with other things and just plain forgot to write in the blog. So.....guess I better do an update.

Tuesday was a landmark day here. I spent the morning butchering 7 more free chickens, then the rest of the day picking from the garden and berries. I came inside after weighing everything individually, and added it all to the list. We finally did it. The total came to 1002 1/4 pounds of produce off our one acre! I'm still in awe that we reached that much, but we did it. I did have to laugh since it was, of all things, brussel sprouts that took it over the 1000lb mark. I never imagined that we could produce that much food here. Not in my wildest dreams. It's been a lot of work, but well worth it. Now we have to sit down and set a goal for next season. Hmmmm....2000???

We would have had quite a bit more if it weren't for corn smut/fungus and for the %&#@! moles taking a large chunk of the potato crop again. Out of 190 feet of corn, we managed to get maybe 20 small ears. With that fungus and unusual weather this summer, the corn was a big disappointing bust. Our cucumbers were a total loss as well. Not a single one at all. This weather has been hard on everything this summer, and the garden has been no exception. I see a lot of local backyard gardens as well as full scale farms with losses this year. Our corn only grew to maybe 5 feet tall, but looks giant compared to a few farms I have seen in the area. We just haven't had any steady rain, and it's been mostly hot and humid. Ohio just doesn't normally see temps in the 90's like we have.

This year I've also set a new record. Free chickens. As of Tuesday, I have butchered 31 chickens for FREE. Last year topped at 22. Granted, none of them have been a larger meat breed, but free chicken is free chicken. The word spread fast through friends that I'll take young birds, and I check our local Craigslist every day. The last 5 were rather funny. I got a message on Facebook from my neighbors daughter about a friend making a post regarding 3 month old roosters that needed a home. A few calls and a few days later, I came home with them to butcher. They had, like so many others I have talked to, purchased sexed chicks from Tractor Supply only to find out that they were wrong and had half to mostly roosters. ( I suppose cockeral is the correct term but I'll just say roosters) I don't mind them being smaller birds, especially with 31 of them. The biggest I have butchered weighed in at 4 1/4 pounds, but they are averaging at 3 1/2. Everyone is used to seeing the larger cross bred meat birds weigh a lot more, but these are just average sized birds. Think that before there were meat breeds, we all ate normal sized chickens. We don't mind one bit. Another goal set and met-not buying factory meat from the grocery store. 31 chickens should last us a good long time.

Today is supposed to be unusually hot again, so I won't be doing much outside. I have green beans to can, and one last cooler full of peaches to cook down for jam or peach butter. If all goes well, we'll spend one day this weekend making blackberry jam since there are around 30 pounds of berries in the freezer waiting. We have more grape jelly to make from frozen grapes from our place, and I have grapes and apples to pick next door. While we're doing jam this weekend, we'll also do a few big batches of pickled green beans, and I'm going to make a batch of "fireballs", which are green cherry tomatos pickled with hot peppers. I saw the recipe on one of the boards that I frequent and have to try it. I love hot & spicy foods, and I love pickled, so this is one I *have* to try.

Beyond all of that, there isn't much going on here. We have been bike riding quite a bit on weekends and on Wednsdays when Lisa gets off work at noon. Lisa is up to 6 miles, which isn't bad at all considering she hasn't ridden a bike in 30 years. I made it to 8 a few days ago, and would have went for more if Lisa wasn't with me. I just don't want to ride off and leave her by herself. One day next week I'm going to load up my bike early in the morning, grab a few bottles of water, and hit the trail trying for 19 miles. I've missed riding a bike. I rode everywhere as a kid and up into my early 20's. This trail is nice to ride. It's paved the entire way, and runs along the Cuyahoga river mostly on an old train route. I don't care that it's paved, but I'll stick with that for now till I can work myself up to mountain bike paths. Riding has not only been good exercise, but a great way to clear my mind and let a lot of bike riding memories come back from 30 years ago or more.

Well.....think I'm gonna go shave my nappy face since I've missed shaving for a good 3-4 days, then get started on the canning. The sun is coming up strong and it will soon be hot again. blah

2010-08-16T05:51:00.002-04:00

Things here have been fairly busy lately. The garden is doing great, though the cucumbers are a total loss thanks to this lack of steady rain. We didn't get in the garden at all over the weekend, so I'll be out there most of the day getting what needs picked and more than likely canning tomorrow. As of the last picking on Friday afternoon, the produce total stands at 760 1/4lbs. I'm sure that after taking two days off, that number will jump fast later today.

There's still no sight of a real job. I look and apply every week, but nothing. I've gotten a few odd cash jobs here and there though, so that helps. Last week a friend and I built a deck and I was able to pocket $300. I've never built one from the ground up, and though I was a bit nervous about doing the job, it came out wonderful. We were a bit slow because...well...we're pipefitters and not carpenters, but we got it done and the owner was very happy. Sometime this week I have to look at another house that has some drainage pipe clogged and replace that, start a deck repair, and still manage to get to the cement block porch rebuild that I've been holding off with this rediculous heat and humidity. It's been tough to do these jobs with the weather we've been having. I'm so used to being home and being able to come inside for breaks when I get overheated. Working on that deck for two straight days definitly wore me out. I slept like the dead Thursday and Friday night.

For now, I'm going to head outside (its 6am) and get started so I can beat the heat as much as possible. I'll do another post of what the garden brings today, and do my best to catch up with everyone out there in blogland.

Time to do the math.....

2010-08-04T16:54:00.002-04:00

In spite of the unusually hot and humid weather, the garden is doing very well. (as I type there is the scent of fried squash, green beans, and sweet corn coming from the stove, mmmmm) We're getting a HUGE amount of yellow squash and zuchinni, and quite a bit of blackberries. Squash and zuchinni are washed, sliced, dipped in eggs, battered with a flour & cornmeal mix, flash frozen on cookie sheets, then vacuum sealed and put in the freezer. I love fried squash. Set a plate of it in front of me and watch out. You may get stabbed with a fork for trying to get to one. Oh yea.....blog post.....oops.

Today we got the first small picking of sugar snap peas and broccoli. The peas will be eaten raw, and the broccoli is going to be blanced and frozen after dinner. So far we are just freezing green beans simply because it's just been too hot and humid to fire up the stove and canner. Hopefully things cool off this weekend so we can actually start canning. The freezer has one shelf jammed full of frozen strawberries and blackberries, and I'd love to get them out this weekend and do a few big batches of jam. Lisa has always done the jams and jellies, but I figure it's my time to learn since I've been canning everything else. Later this evening I'll rearrange the freezer and see what we have to work with.

As of the latest garden picking today, the total count stands at 278 3/4 pounds of fruit and vegetables off of our place. When I rearrange the freezer and start canning, I'll keep track of not only weight, but how much is put away. (canned, frozen, basement storage, etc.) We still haven't gotten into the big stuff yet either-corn, tomatos, cucumbers, and potatos. I can't wait until those start producing, just so I can see how high the total weight can go. I'm shooting for 1000 pounds, but I'm not sure we'll be able to reach that. I imagine if I add in eggs and chicken, I could; but 1000 pounds is a long way off from 278. I'll have to check just to see what a dozen eggs weighs and take that into consideration. Food production is food production, right?
OK...so after writing that, my curiousity got the best of me and I weighed a dozen eggs. They were over 2 pounds for all 3 I weighed, but I used the weight of 1lb11oz from the store carton to do the math. I have counted 160 dozen eggs since January 1st and used that number, so 160x 1lb11oz=270lbs of eggs! Holy Layin' Hens Batman! LOL So.....add that 270 to the count of 278 3/4 of produce and we get 548 3/4lbs. Now...if I add in 26 chickens at an average of 3lbs each, I get 626 3/4lbs of total FOOD production. I suppose that technically, I can count the eggs and chickens since they were layed/gathered/fed/butchered here on site. (even though the chickens were free and raised elsewhere) For all inents and purposes, I'll leave the count at that amount just for the sake of knowing how much food has come from our property and left us that much more non-reliant on the grocery store.

Sitting here looking at that number, I am still in shock. I never expected to get that much food from one acre. Never. It's amazing how much things have grown since that first small vegetable garden and since the very first 3 laying hens. It's almost funny now to look back at how excited we got over that first ear of home grown corn or tomato. I'm never one to brag or gloat, but this is a perfect example. For those that think you need a huge amount of property to grow a lot of food, take a look at what can be done on one acre, IF you make food production a priority. Sure it's a big commitment. Sure it's a lot of work and an almost daily chore, but wouldn't 626 pounds of food that you wouldnt have to BUY be worth it?????

Garden growth-usual happenings-and the future

2010-07-26T09:31:00.000-04:00

Well, we never did get that nice all night rain we really needed, but we have managed to finally get some decent rain on and off over the past week. It's still been unusually hot and humid, though yesterday was a nice break. 95 degrees just isn't normal for Ohio, and this humidity? WOW There have been days that it was so bad that I was drenched in sweat just walking to the garage. The forecast for this week calls for 80's and not the 90's like we have been dealing with. Hopefully they're right, but they seldom are.

Last week was however, a great week for freebies. We ended up with twelve more chickens through someone that Lisa works with. We added the new layers, taking our flock to 18, thinned out some of ours, and added others to the freezer. As it stands now, we have the 18 layers, two more I'll be returning to the main run today, the same five mille de fluers, and four more hens to butcher; which will bring the total freezer count to 22 this year alone. I just hope the egg orders keep going strong now that the flock is larger than ever. The last time we had a larger flock, the orders all but stopped and we had to get rid of some

.
Besides the chickens, I got around 60 cinderblocks that I plan to use for a few new raised beds, a roll of poultry netting, some 4" drainpipe, a camp toilet, misc lumber pieces, a chicken tractor, and a bunch of misc nuts, bolts, hinges,latches, link pins, and other goodies to add to the garage shelves. After all these years of making fun of my dad, I finally have came to terms with the fact that I inherited that packrat gene from him. LOL

Granted, I don't keep parts from a tractor that I haven't had in 15 years, or snow tires from a car I got rid of 30 years ago like dad did, but I try to keep a lot of other things on hand. I have two 4x8x1ft deep wooden shelf units in the garage full of nuts, bolts, washers, screws, nails, pipe fitting, electrical fittings, wire staples, hinges,latches, pins, and all kinds of other handy little items. Anytime I start a project, or have to repair something around here, I check what I have on hand and rarely need to get anything but lumber. Just the other day when I was repairing the freebie chicken tractor, it needed a door on one end. I had the piece of plywood, hinges, screws, and even the hook latch. I didn't have to buy a single thing. I even have 2 pairs of pneumatic wheels & tires that I'll be putting on it today that I took off of an old compressor in dads barn. I even scrounged the motor off of it for another project I have going. I love having all of this "stuff" here when I need it, and 90% or more of it I have for free. I do need to thin things down a little, which I've already started,but I'll be sharing some with a friend who has little of their own "stuff" stock. I just HAVE to quote my dad on this one....."thats not junk, its good stuff!".

The garden has started producing fairly well, though some things are still slow since we got everything in so late. We've been picking squash, zuchinni, blackberries, and green beans almost daily. As of the last picking yesterday, we've taken 136 3/4 pounds of produce out of the garden, not counting greens. I just won't bother weighing greens since we only take out a salad or two at a time. While for some that may not sound like much, for us on this one acre, it's pretty impressive for no more than we have been able to pick so far. I figured out the amount of eggs so far this year too, and came up with a total of 164 dozen. Add that to the 22 chickens in the freezer at an average of 3lbs each, and we're getting a helluva lot of food off of this place. It's funny now to look back at that first year and that tiny 10x10 garden when we were happy with just a few quarts of green beans to can. We've grown here more than either of us ever imagined back then. We had no idea that we would someday be literally out of growing space or have chickens. At first, this way of life was an obsession, but now it's just how we operate from day to day. Things next year, like I have said in the previous post, will be growing even more when we start using some of my uncles land. We've talked quite a bit on what exactly to plant there, and decided on things that we can, for the most part, plant and leave alone. Corn, potatos, etc. Anything that needs watching or daily picking will stay here. With the open space here then, we'll triple the amount of tomato's to make sauces, soup, and juices. We'e still kicking around wheat and oats, but thats VERY new to us and we aren't sure about the work or details. We'll be researching that more before we decide.

When we were out running errands on Saturday, we stopped to visit my uncle and see how he was doing. He doesn't do well with this heat so I wanted to check. We sat and talked about a lot of things, but when we started talking about planting and doing things there, he told us stories about what my grandparents did there when he was young. They had chickens, pigs and a dairy cow. There were blackberries, blueberries, and elderberries all over the property. He told us that the property next door had a HUGE blackberry patch, but the newest owners bulldozed them over when he started bringing in loads of soil & fill to level it out. He remembered spending days picking berries for grandma to make jam and jelly, and how he and my dad sold extra berries to get things they wanted. Dad sold enough berries to get himself a real AMRY puptent, speeping bag, canteen, knife, and mess kit to camp in the woods. I have that WWII mess kit now. My uncle saved his money to buy a .22 rifle and ammo. We talked about all of that and how they used to trap muskrats in the old creek for extra money. I love hearing those stories from him and from my dad. It not only makes me almost see what life was like back then, but always brings a smile to their faces as they remember their youth. Even though I'll be in most likely y 50's when we take over, I hope to make just as many fond memories on the land. It's strange how yesterday I had the thought that I will be there on that land when we can celebrate 100 years of our family on it. OK granted that's 19 years down the road, but I plan on having a bit celebration. Hell, I'll even make a nice sign to put out front. "The W farm-celebrating 100 years"

Garden update and weathermen are paid to lie!!!

2010-07-20T22:54:00.002-04:00

The weather here has been insanely hot and humid for weeks now. We've had rain, but it's been very sparatic and never lasts long. The forecast calls for rain starting tonight and lasting all of next week. While I don't want to lose a week of working on things here and some other projects that need done elsewhere, we really need the rain. The garden is doing fairly well, but with how late things went in, and the lack of rain, it could be doing a lot better. It still needs to be finished with weeding, but the heat and humidity has kept us out of it for nearly a week. I weeded 4-5 rows on Sunday night while Lisa picked, and I was soaked in sweat. She did manage to get quite a bit picked considering all the factors we have against the garden doing well right now. We got 4 1/2lbs yellow squash, 5lbs green beans,4 3/4lbs cabbage, and 10/4lbs zuchinni. Not to bad considering how dry it's been. If we get this rain, things will most likely explode and canning time will start with a roar. With all this in mind, I took an inventory of canning supplies and we're actually pretty well set, other than being a bit short on wide-mouth lids and rings. Those are cheap, so we'll get some in a week or so just to make sure they're on hand when the time comes. With the diet change, more awareness of processed/grocery store food, and trying to save money, we plan on more home canning this year than ever before. Yep, it's going to be a busy, busy canning season.

Earlier in the week, I was supposed to help my uncle take down two trees over at his place, but we weren't able to because his neighbor didn't leave the keys in the lift,(he owns a tool rental an brought home a 60ft boom lift), and because of the heat. He's FINALLY realizing that he is 75 and can't do everything he wants to. He's not giving up and just sitting, but he's not pushing himself either. While we were there, we took a walk to the back of the place simply because Lisa has never seen the whole property. We all talked about what he has done to it over the years, and he began to talk about what else he wants to do. He knows that we have pretty much dug up every available & usable square foot of our property, so he wants to clear a spot, plow and till it, so we can use it next year. He said he wants to finish clearing another area so he can fence it in for us to use as a pasture, then he said he wanted to dig a pond next to that area because the neighbor had offered to do it for him for nothing. It was funny to hear him say that with a pond, he could put in a pump that he already has so we would have irrigation water for whatever we had planted. We're thinking corn & wheat but we aren't 100% positive. He's actually fine with the idea of a couple goats and meat birds next year. I know we've talked about it before, but we're pretty serious this time. I'm going to slowly start gathering materials for a couple of buildings there.

It's hard sometimes to have those talks with him. He wants to do things for us for when he passes and we take over, which is greatly appreciated, but it's still him talking about what will happen when he's dead. While it will be an honor for me to be the 3rd generation on the land, I don't like thinking about it much, let alone talking about it. He even talked about putting up some fencing and building a pole barn because he knows that we would need it. I love the fact that he is thinking of us and how we will treat the place, but it's sad to know that he has to die before we can move in. I should just feel honored that he chose me out of my sister and my 2 cousins to take the place and not just money, but it's still hard to think about. I don't want to lose my uncle. I just hold on to the fact that I'll be the next line of W's to be there since 1929. I'll do my grandparents and uncle proud when we take over. I just wish my dad felt the same, but he thinks we're nuts. Ah well, can't win em all.

Today I scored close to 70 free cement blocks which I'll be using for more raised beds. I already used some to raise the height of the outoor sink/chicken station since it was just too short. Anytime I spent a few hours out there cleaning chickens, my back was killing me from that slight bend over the table and sink. Not anymore!! We also got another dozen FREE chickens this evening...as if we really needed them. The plan is to keep the majority of the young ones and thin our flock of the older ones. I'll be using the older hens for soups, (they're not quite 2), and buthering the last five freebie roosters tomorrow since they're finally big enough to be processed. Between all of the freebies this year so far, we'll have a total of 20 chickens either in soup or in the freezer. YAY on beating last year's record already. I'm positive there will be more. I can't wait for the carrots to be ready so we can start making giant batches of soup to can. MmMmMmMmMm

Today it rained off and off again. (yes I started writing this a few days ago lol) I think I would almost rather have no rain than these quick 2-5 minute showers. C'mon already. Give me a good steady all night rain. We hit a good downpour on the way back with the twelve chickens this evening, but of course, as soon as we got closer to home, we drove out of it. UGH this is frustrating. I can water with a hose if I really have to, but it would take me all night or more to get a decent soaking on everything. The forecast had said rain on Saturday afternoon-nothing, Sunday was supposed to be rain all day-again nothing. Monday and today said the same and we got a few random sprinkles here and there. Arrgghh. When I *don't* want rain-we get rain. Just my luck. DRATS

Lehmans goes chinese? Luckily not....

2010-07-16T13:54:00.002-04:00

Last weekend Lisa and I set off to one of our many annual trips to Lehman's. It's only 45 minutes away, and a great day to spend a day there and driving through the area finding new places to visit. I have loved that store since my first trip there nearly 20 years ago. We generally have a shopping list, which is always wayyy less than the "want" list. We've often joked about the same thing many people do- "when we win that lottery we're going to ________) Our list is short and simple. Pay off everything, hit the Ford dealer,trailer dealer, gun shop, and Lehmans. How cool would it be to walk in Lehmans and say "OK gimme one of everything!" Ahhhh dreams.

One of the things we wanted to buy last weekend was a corn cutter since canning season is fast approaching. We found them in the newly remodeled kitchen gadget area, and there were three to choose from. Sadly, two out of three were made in China. We began to talk about the way the store has slightly changed, and the apperance of chinese products. Had it finally happened? Had Lehmans sold out? We really wondered if it had came to that. Well, Lisa had written a post in her blog about the very same thing, and recieved a much unexpected response. That response was from Galen Lehman himself, son of Jay Lehman who had opened the store 55 years ago. I gotta tell ya folks, Galen's response was very impressive. It really answered the questions we had about chinese made products in their store. I'll post it here for you:
"Lisa,

Thanks for your blog posting. I am sorry you were disappointed with your visit to our store.

I absolutely share your frustration. We are trying our best to carry only USA made goods, but we're finding it harder and harder to do so. The corn cutter you mentioned used to be made in America. Now it's not. What should we do??

I stand on this promise: If it's available in the USA and our customers want it, we will carry it. If you find a Chinese-made item on our shelves that you think should be made in America, it means we haven't found a USA made source for it.

And by all means, if you know of a USA made product we should be carrying, please, please let us know.

To read more about our struggle against Chinese products, check out this article on my blog: http://countrylife.lehmans.com/2007/10/01/should-lehmans-be-buying-from-china/

Thanks for your hard work on this blog! You're fighting a good fight!

Galen Lehman"

She never expected many responses, let alone someone from the Lehman family. This response really brought back my respect for Lehmans store. Knowing that they care about what they carry and do their best to avoid imports makes me very happy. Galen, hats off to you and your family for keeping this policy and for running such an incredible store. I won't hesitate to return like we always have. Thank you.

Here at home, Lisa and I are still struggling with eating fresh and local. It's hard to deprogram your brain from the huge variety available at the grocery stores. We're all so used to having anything we want, any time that we want, that we never think about it anymore. We're still searching for local, and affordable, beef and other produce that we can't or don't produce here for ourselves. It's a lot harder than we imagined. Another one of our goals for that trip last weekend was to hopefully find locally grown grain or flour, but we had no luck. Everyone had the same answer. "it comes off the truck" We'll continue to look as best we can and not give up. Sure we can buy flour from the store and skip the extra preservatives that are in store-bought bread, but we'd rather try to skip what was sprayed ON those crops, what kind of seed they were grown from, and basically just not give our money to big agriculture. It's the same with meat products. It's a continuous struggle, but we're slowly gaining ground.
It's amazing to read labels on food from the store and see ingredients that you can't even pronounce. What IS that? Why is it there? What does or can it do to me over time? Read "Death by Supermarket", and "Food Inc" and it's companion movie and you'll really start to wonder about what you're having for dinner. It's been a real eyeopener for us, and has pushed this journey to self sufficency even more. Getting used to having less than 25% of the choices will be the largest hurdle, but we're getting used to it. Right now as I type, there are two large cookie sheets of cereal in the oven. Oats,honey, dehydrated apples, cinnamon, and a touch of brown sugar. Not flavor enhancers, no preservatives, no nothing. That cereal is just one of many things changing around here in our diet and food storage. There will be many more to come soon, and I'll keep them all posted here.
If anyone is local and knows where we can find locally produced/raised flour, grain, beef, pork, or any other things we don't already do for ourselves, please let us know!

Doc results and a rather long rant

2010-07-02T22:36:00.004-04:00

Well..........the virdict is in. My bloodwork came back and I had a dr. appointment on Thusday. I try to eat well as best I can, and I'm highly active, but my cholesterol was high. REALLY high-182. Nearly double what it should be. (100) So, along with the diet change, I started meds today to bring that down. I'm also going to dump the cigarettes once and for all. With the high cholesterol. smoking, family history of heart disease, and being male, I have 4 out of 5 risk factors for heart disease or attack. That is some pretty scary stuff. Tomorrow we're having friends over for a dinner that was already planned and all four of them smoke. I've decided to go as usual through tomorrow night and make the big changes starting on Sunday. What better day to totally change my life than on Independance Day? I'm really looking forward to this.

Right now I'm going to touch a bit on my viewpoint of the BP oil spill. Now first of all, I am in no way going to defend BP. What happened was completely avoidable and tragic. That isn't my problem or what I want to go into at all, so don't think I don't see how bad this all is. I do.

My problem with this isn't what happened, it's WHY it happened. I don't mean it's because of money hungry oil moguls going for that extra almighty dollar. I mean the DEMAND we have for oil. I look around when I'm out and still see the gas stations full of cars and trucks. (sadly BP still remains busy here) I do see the handfull of hybrids and electrics, but mostly I see normal gas or diesel vehicles just like always. Though we all hear the stories of oil shortages and see the ever rising fuel prices, people don't slow down at all. They bitch about the price, but they still fill up on their way to wherever it is they are going. Even at $2.85 a gallon a few weeks ago, I saw people filling their ski boats and jet ski's for a weekend at the lake without a single concern. I see them fill their cars as they head to aimlessly wander through the mall or to go see a movie. Not a one of them has, or will, change their lifestyle for gas prices or the *possible* oil shortage. (and no I don't believe that either) They continue on their same old routines and just pay the price no matter what. Well.....guess what. Supply equals demand.

Even the people who drive electrics or hybrids that get eight bazillion miles to the gallon are STILL contributing to the demand for oil. How? What is the interior of that electric car made from? And what is that stuff made from? Hmmm?? OIL. Yes, I mean plastic. And not just plastic in the cars we drive, but in everything we buy. Look around the room you are in right now and see what is made of plastic. Look at the computer you are reading this with. Look through your kitchen at all of the utensils, cups, food storage containers, jugs, bottles, cartons and wrappers all made of plastic. Even the people you see and read about being so "green" are surrounded by plastic. That solar panel on the roof, that fancy overpriced rain barrel, that hose running around the house to water those eight vegetable plants in your little garden, all plastic. Again, plastic is produced from fossil fuels, and again, supply equals demand.

I am well aware of recycling. We have a recycle program with our local trash company. But consider this: Those trucks that pick it up run on fossil fuels. The machines that grind and re-use it run most likely somehow on fossil fuels. It takes fossil fuels to make whatever is packaged in these containers, more to produce the containers themselves, more to ship that product, more for you to get it and bring it home, more to run the fridge that keeps it cool for you, more for that recycle truck, then the cycle starts all over again. It's a horrible vicious circle all run on fossil fuels. Once again, supply equals demand. It's really, really scary to think and look at how we use fossil fuels, and this is only one example. Though granted, it is a big one.

Is it possible to live plastic free? In today's world, I honsetly can't see how it's possible. Sure you can quit buying bottles of pop and get an aluminum water bottle, but that's a tiny part. Even using cloth shopping bags or opting for paper doesn't make much of a difference. Nearly everything we buy in a bottle is plastic. From ketchup to vinegar, from dish detergent to shampoo, all in plastic bottles. I don't see any way of changing this, even with all of the recycle programs in place. People continue to buy, so businesses continue to produce. Supply equals demand yet again.

Now I'm not going to try telling everyone to stop buying plastic. That is nearly impossible. I just want anyone that is reading this to think just a bit about the demand for fossil fuels and realize that it's far beyond gasoline and diesel fuels. Let me clarify once more that I am in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM defending BP and the horrible mess that they have created. My reason for this post is to get you to think, just a little bit, about WHY they were offshore drilling in the first place. I know, I know, money money, big oil blah blah blah, but that's not my point so don't go there. My point is to just hopefully have one person, just one, see the big picture of the demand of oil from a slightly different perspective.

*climbing off the soap box for now*

Handshakes, hugs, and how are ya's where they belong....Chris

MORE free stuff and an afternoon in yuppy hell

2010-06-27T23:10:00.001-04:00

This weekend was yet another trip to the house to get more things that were left behind. I ended up with two metal shelf units, five more 4ft shop lights, a new push broom, a Hilti gun, (it's a tool that shoots heavy anchors/nails), some hand tools, and my come-along that was borrowed 3 years ago and left in a ball of twisted wire cable in the corner of the garage. Mike got eight of the pieces of 6ft privacy fence, and a few of the 4x4 posts that easily came out of the ground. My neighbor was kind enough to haul it with his trailer, grabbed a big pile of scrap metal, and hauled off the old paintball tank that he ended up buying. It was an old Amphikat...the six wheeled amphibious vehicle. He's going to leave the tank body on, rework it a bit, and turn it into a swamp hunting vehicle. It's sad to see it go, but everyone stopped playing paintball 2 years ago and it was just sitting. The artillary I spent weeks making was in the same garage and totally destroyed. Granted the things were made from pipe fittings in my garage, but they were pretty impressive. I was launching nerf footballs 300 yards with an anti-tank bazooka, and designed paintball mortars that were getting over 150 yards, both CO2 powered. There was no reason to destroy them, none at all. It was just total lack of consideration and respect, just like the house and everything in it. I'm just disgusted with my friend and the whole situation. I never expected any of this out of him.
Today was Lisa's neice's graduation party. It was held in a bar & grill in a area of Akron that I have always hated. Why? Because that area and it's bars are full of the people I dispise the most, yuppies. Sandal wearing, convertable driving, microbrewery beer drinking yuppies. I swallowed my pride and hatred and went along and played nice. Soon I was surrounded by people that I can't stand, and getting the usual stares for wearing a concert t-shirt and work boots rather than a designer mall store shirt and $100 sandals...how dare I!!! The party wasn't really all that bad, and I played nice the whole time like a big boy. Not a comment or bird flipped at all. I deserve a smiley sticker and lollipop for being so good, hahaha. My sister-in-law on the other hand, made things difficult. She's one of those people who is miserable in her own life and strives to make everyone around her just as bad. She can't say "hi how are ya" at all. Instead it's "your hair looks like shit", "if mom knew you had a tattoo she'd just die", "what do you mean you don't drink pop? thats just stupid", or " I can't believe you would have all those stupid chickens". She can't play nice for anything. Luckily she doesn't come around here anymore and we only see her at holidays or family functions. None of us (me, Lisa, or Holly) can take her more than that. She has the ability to drain the fun out of anything. At least now we won't see her till at least Thanksgiving. WHEW no yuppies with a cue stick up thier rear end and a sis-in-law yet to be told off....where's that sticker and lollipop???????????
Right now it's raining, and has been off and on all afternoon and evening. We need this rain. It's rained a little here and there for the past few weeks, but usually just a half hour or so. We need a good overnight soaking rain for the gardens. The forecast calls for rain all day tomorrow too, but we'll see how that goes. If it rains or not though, I'll be spending the day inside doing my house-hubby things, working on the basement storage area some more, and just catching up on everything I am behind on. With the garden things, moving all the stuff from that house, the graduation party, working a few hours for Lisa's employer, and other misc things, I need a day to catch up. I'll also be trying to get the pool filled since it takes forever with a garden hose from the well. Oh yea, the pool was a freebie too. It's just a 12x3ft round chinamart pool, but free is free and it will be something fun to get out of the house in the evenings and on those hot and humid days. We already moved the picnic table (another freebie from the neighbor) out in the same area and will be moving the screen tent out there too. It's funny now how I have to search and measure yard space to fit these things in. The pool is at the end of the back patio, at the corner of the dogs fence and the garden. I ended up taking out one of the clothesline posts to put it there, hahaha. I'll be putting those elsewhere sometime this week. The screen tent will go between the main garden and blackberries, and behind the little horseradish bed. Yard space is getting harder and harder to find around here!!
Tuesday I'm finally going to be able to head to my friends house and get together a material list to start rebuilding her deck. They ordered the bathroom sink too, but it won't be in until July 8th. I have to start at my folks too, digging up clogged pipe in their buried spring in the backyard, cutting down some small tree's, and rebuilding the block thats cracked and moving by their side door. I'm gonna be a busy boy doing all this during the day and garden stuff in the evenings. At some point I'll be rebuilding the chickin killin' station too. I got 4-5 pieces of marble from a friend, (yet another freebie), that are 34x34x1inch thick and 104 years old from an old building in Cleveland. That marble will make a beautiful countertop next to the sink I have out there already. I remodeled it a bit last week when I butchered 3 chickens, making a bracket and mounting one of those stainless steel butchering cones over the sink. WOW did that make things easier. I won't go into gory details, but using razor sharpened pruners/loppers beats the old hatchet anyday, hahaha. Five more to go now possibly next weekend then it's time to watch for more free chickens.
For now I'll stop the endless babble and sign off. Time to read a few forums, check e-mail and head to bed. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Rain, rants. ramblings, reowrking and reasons for change

2010-06-24T10:10:00.001-04:00

There isn't much to write about today. I woke up to rain and it hasn't stopped yet. We really needed this so I can't complain. It's been so hot and humid the past week that we were beginning to worry about the garden. Yesterday we had a thunderstorm, but it was nothing more than some high winds, lots of thunder, and less than 30 minutes of light rain. So, this steady soaking rain is a welcome sight. It'll do wonders for the garden.
Everything that we've planted is looking good, other than the gourd seed. If nothing is popping up above ground by Monday at the latest, I'll check the seeds and resew the area with something new. Maybe celery. All of the other plants though are doing well. The sweet corn is even standing close to 16" tall already. It looks to be a great garden year.
This morning I'm going to do some re-working in the basement. The little chest freezer I picked up for free last week will be going in the walk-in closet in my room downstairs where we store all of the canning supplies and goods. My plan is to turn that area into food storage since we planted so many potatos and onions. We plan on using that small freezer for chicken, but that could change at any time. I've already butchered three freebies, and there are five more outside that will be getting the same in another week or two. I'm hoping to get back into rabbits as a supplimental food source, but I haven't seen any breeders for sale at a reasonable price. I'm watching for some, but it's not all that important right now.
Over the course of the past few months, Lisa has dramatically changed her diet. She has changed due to wanting to lose more weight and to lower her cholesterol. So far she's lost 62 pounds, which to me is amazing. Just by cutting back portion sizes and all the work I've been doing outside, I've gone from 228 to 186 myself. We've both been doing more research and reading into food and what we eat and have decided to make a giant change in some things. We will no longer be buying any meat of any kind from ANY grocery store. Though Lisa has become vegetarian, I haven't. And if her cholesterol checks out ok tomrrow when we both go back to get checked, she'll return to just white meat. (red meat has never agreed with her system anyway) We'll find sources for local meat or work with our friend in southern Ohio
This decision has been made for several reasons. First of course is what is IN the meats we buy at the grocery store. Growth hormones, forced antibiotics, all kinds of nasty stuff. I want to know where my food came from, and what it's diet was. There are links to all of those chemicals and additives to disease that plagues this country. That we want to avoid.
Secondly is how those animals are treated. I'm never going to be a PITA member or any other similar organization, but I have to look at how these animals live. Chickens live their lives in a giant warehouse in a tiny box that they can't even stand up in. Cattle are fed feed full of growth hormones to make them grow fatter and faster. They eat strictly corn and feed. Cows just aren't designed for that kind of diet. Chickens for meat have been cross bred into mutant-like birds that grow so large and so fast that they are prone to broken legs and just dropping dead from heart attacks. Some people may say "it's just a chicken" or "it's just a cow". Look next to you at that dog or cat laying at your feet and say the same thing. Really, do it. It's just a dog. Stick it in a tiny doghouse that it barely fits in and feed it garbage. No? What's the difference? Where do we draw a line? I not only want to know what these animals have been fed, but also how they have been treated. Read FOOD INC. and it will open your eyes to a lot of things. Do some research online on how "factory" farms treat animals and you will be disgusted. I can no longer with any kind of concience support that way of production. We have found several places locally that raise and butcher their own on-site and will be buying from them now on. Sure it will be more expensive. Yes, the buy1-get1 meat sales from the big chain store will be gone, but what price do you put on your concience? I wish more people would do some reading and research, but most either don't care or are happy being totally blind to it while they jam fast food burgers down their throats. Well...no more of that for us. If we can't raise and butcher it ourselves or get it locally from someone that we can trust, then we just plain won't bring it into the house.
The same will go for other food products as well. No more canned anything from the store. I don't want to eat canned vegetables from god knows where sprayed with herbicides and pesticides that more than likely aren't even legal to use here in the U.S. Home canning will be taking a giant leap this year, which is the reason for reworking the basement storage area. Some things will be unavailable to get locally, but we'll keep those at a minimum. It's time to not only take responsibility for our food, but for our health and well being. This will be another big turning point for us, and we've yet to take one of those turns that hasn't worked for the better.
Sometime in the next few days Mike and I will be returning to his brothers house to get more things that he planned on leaving behind. The list includes 12-15 flourescent shop lights, a trampoline, 16-20 pieces of 6ft privacy fence, some storage shelves and possibly some workbenches. There is some carpeting laying inside that was meant to go in his dining room, and if it is still in decent shape, it will come here and go into either my room or Lisa's sweing room, or course depending on size. My garage is going to glow like a tanning bed by the time I get all of these lights up. Again, I don't feel like I'm taking advantage of a bad situation and a friend. This is mostly his own fault, and why leave things behind that will most likely just be thrown in a dumpster.
For now, I'm off to check eggs then start moving things around downstairs. Luckily this small freezer doesn't weigh as much as the last chest model we had...whew.

I need a nap

2010-06-22T08:12:00.003-04:00

Today we're finally getting some rain that we've really needed for a few weeks. The forecast has said several times that we'd get rain, but it never happened. I've been having to water the tomato plants sometimes twice a day because it's been so dry. It was a great sight to wake up at 6am to a good solid rain. We can sure use it.
The moving on Friday was brutal. It was really hot, and his place was a disaster. We ended up with two 19ft box trucks and two pickup loads full. Loading was a bit bad but unloading was easy since we were able to just back up and unload into his mothers garage. I felt bad for him losing his house, but at the same time I remembered that it was partly his fault. He'd quit his job in the late fall of '08 and never really bothered to even look for work. His fiancee and kids had left, and he'd had various friends staying there with him. Needless to say, the place was trashed. And I don't mean just messy, I mean TRASHED. His mother had gotten a pretty large insurance settlement right before he bought the house 3 years ago, and she insisted on furnishing the entire place. New appliances, carpet, paint, everything right down to privacy fence and lawn equiptment. You would never know everything in that house was only 2-3 years old.
He had packed up a few boxes and set aside the things he wanted to keep. The rest he just plain didn't care about. So....his brother and I loaded the pickup twice with things he didn't want that we did. Why just leave things there that were fairly new for the bank to just take anyway? I ended up with two 12ft swimming pools, a 12x12 screen tent, a weedeater, misc garden tools, 5 ton chainfall (hoist), small unused chest freezer, and a few things that I can't seem to think of right now. Sometime later this week I'm heading back with his brother to help take down the privacy fence and see what's left. Some might say I'm taking advantage of a bad situation, but he doesn't care about most of the things and planned on just leaving them there.
Thursday was a long rough day of outdoor things and moving that pile of sod. Friday was all the moving. Saturday was our annual party to celebrate summer solstice. We were up from around 6:30 until the last guests left at after 2am. Sunday morning we got up, headed to my folks for fathers day, then drove almost 2 hours to a picnic at my friend Bens and didn't get home until close to 9pm. It was an exausting four days.
Yesterday I just cleaned up outside from the party, cleaned the mudroom and patio, and just put things away. It was in the high 80's, really humid, and no wind at all. It was just too hot and I was too exausted to do much of anything strenuious. The evening was just sitting around in the screen tent reading and eating a big bowl of raspberries that I picked from the front yard.
Today since it's raining, I'm just going to clean house a bit, do laundry, and put things away that are still sitting out from Saturday's party. I have 3 or 4 books started and plan on spending some time reading later today as well. I'm just physically drained, even after an easy day yesterday. It's going to be a lazy,lazy day.

2010-06-18T07:01:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I managed to finally get caught up with all of the garden stuff around here. Since the last post, we've put in a 24x2 foot bed for sugar snap peas and two 16-1/2x2 foot beds for tomatos. I managed to get SIX flats of free tomato plants, mostly heirlooms, so I've been jamming them wherever I can find room. They're in the new bed, in pots at the end of the greens beds, and along the fence where just two of the transplanted wild blackberries survived. There are somewhere around 60 total planted so far, and there are still two flats full outside waiting for a home. I don't think they'll find a home. I'm just plain out of room. I hate to toss plants, but I think they'll end up in the compost bin.
It was one long, long day yesterday getting everything done. I was out the door at 6:30 and didn't finish until close to 8:30 pm. That giant sod pile from the new potato beds has been calling my name for weeks, and after FORTY SEVEN wheelbarrow loads, it was all finally moved.
That area was raked, and managed to give me two good wheelbarrow loads of good topsoil, so it was used to add to the bed by the yarrow, and planted the twelve freebie sweet basil that I got with the tomatos. After that, I weeded the blackberries, moved two new starts that were buried in there, weeded the grape arbor,cleaned the garage,weeded the main garden, watered all the plants out front, cleaned & weeded the back patio, then started to mow the yard. I got about half of the front yard done and my legs just plain gave out. There was nothing left. I sat in a lawn chair and had two cups of coffee for a breather and finished the day by butchering the three older roosters. I used the stainless butchering cone for the first time with them and it's definitly the ONLY way to go. It made things much easier and a lot less messy. I think my head was on the pillow last night for about 15 seconds before I was out. What a day.
Today I'm helping my frind Mike move everything from his brothers house. He lost the house to foreclosure,and doesn't want a single thing from inside other than a chair, tv, and playstation. We'll be taking everything to Mikes and some of it here. Lucky me, the paintball tank that was stored here over a year is now coming back after a 3 year stay at that house. I'm still exausted this morning, but I'm sucking down coffee like it's my job so I can be motivated to help. Hopefully this doesn't take all day. I still have to finish mowing and help get things ready for the solstice party tomorrrow afternoon.
Sunday morning we're going to my folks for a bit for Fathers Day, then heading 2 hours south to our friend Ben's for a picnic. Maybe I'll get some rest next week.LOL

chickens chickens chickens

2010-06-14T21:07:00.002-04:00

So......yesterday I responded to a post from someone in the local homesteading group I belong to. She had 5-7 young roosters that she wanted rid of, and,well, my freezer was getting low. We set off to her place around 1pm and found it to be chickens-r-us. We've talked via e-mails and the group for a few years, but this was the first time we actually got the chance to meet in person. It was a wonderful visit. Sort of....
We talked for a while, and she gathered up seven roosters for me to take. Five are only about 3 months old, and the other two are ready for the chopping block. Of course, after looking around and talking chickens, we ended up with more. Aside from the seven roosters, we got one black easter egger, and five mille de fluer's-three hens and two roosters. Yea.......thirteen more chickens. Add that to the 15 layers we now have thanks to the five I bought last week, and the grand total is TWENTY EIGHT. I gotta be out of my $#$%@* mind. Granted, seven will end up in the freezer, but dayum, twenty eight?
Of course, we didn't have anything made for the five mille de fluers, so I spent most of yesterday and all of today reworking the main run, pulled out the old chicken tractor, made another run on it, cleaned both houses, put new straw in them, then removed the old round-top run that I had built the new one over top of. Luckily my friend Mike showed up and got conned into helping. *haha* nothing like popping by for a surprise visit and end up going home covered in mud and chicken poo. Gotta love it. I managed to save the round-top frame, and now it's sitting over the top of the greens beds and will be converted into a large hoop house/short greenhouse when I can straighten the few bent poles and screw it back together.
Tomorrow the forecast calls for rain and thunderstorms all day, so outdoor plans are on hold until Thursday. Instead I'll be cleaning the garage from top to bottom and putting away the tools from today and from a weeks worth of garden work that are leaned against the door. I have to clean it well since we'll have food there for a small party on Saturday.
We're having a small group of friends over for our annual celebration of Litha, or summer solstice. We'll be having a big shrimp boil. A giant pot of shrimp, sausage, potatos, corn, and squash. Side dishes are still up in the air, but we know for sure we'll be having sugar cookies and deviled eggs. I think I know where I can get plenty of eggs.
Aside from finishing chicken stuff, cleaning & preparing for the party, doing the normal garden stuff, and taking care of things while Lisa is at work, the mini-CSA thing has taken off. We now have six customers. I managed to get SIX flats of tomato plants for free and will be planting them next door since they aren't having a garden this year. I'm sure we'll end up with more tomatos than people will want, so we'll be canning even more this year, and then try putting a sign out front and selling some from home. Yep...eggs and tomato's. I'm gonna make my fortune two or three bucks at a time.
I might have to....chicken feed's getting expensive.....hahaha

Blog award?

2010-06-12T11:55:00.002-04:00

A few days ago, debbie over at the Happy Days blog gave me a beautiful blogger award and asked me to respond by putting up a list of 10 things about me that you may not know. I'll do this one myself WITHOUT Lisa's help...as in the response she put in for me 2 posts ago. She does think she's funny.

1-I DISPISE sports. I've never watched a game of anything in my life
2-I can quote Texas Chainsaw 2, Student Bodies, and Blazing Saddles pretty much from beginning to end.
3-I'm a professional steering wheel guitar player while driving
4-I'm an admitted and untreated peanut butter & jelly addict
5-I (we) haven't had any kind of cable/satellite/antenna t.v. since last January
6-I'm a HUGE list maker but tend to lose the notebooks that contain the lists
7-I am the last of my family name
8-I can't sleep if my feet are covered at all
9-I'll eat deviled eggs till they come out of my ears but can't stand the smell of egg salad..go figure
10-Anytime I am in a bigger city where there is concrete and tall buildings everywhere, I almost feel like I can't breathe. Cities make me feel like I am choking. Even little-bitty downtown Akron nearby. I can't stand being there.

Rainy Day pictures

2010-06-09T21:19:00.005-04:00

Of course after just two days of warmth and sunshine, the Ohio weather gods decided to make it turn cool and rain again. I think they're in cahoots with the orange barrel gods Ohio has too...gonna have to do something about that. So, I sat around with a pot of 2 of coffee, read some herb books, and snapped some pictures of how things are going outside so far.

These are the greens beds. Everything is up and/or gone and resewn already. The spinach that was in the bottom left spot was nearly gone and what was left had bolted. It's been resewn as well as the lettuce in the one to it's left.

This is one view of the front yard. I wanted something a little better, but I was hiding from the rain under a pine tree. That trellis/obilesque has a cherry tomato plant under it, and there are 2 more stakes of them straight up. I just have to make more...many more. In between those are small beds for Lisa's gourds and pumkins that I dug and tilled yesterday. In the center is the 30ft round herb bed. It's nearly finished. It just needs a few more herbs and some kind of border or edging. Right now it contains-lemon balm,spearmit,yarrow,chocolate mint,oregeno, basil,chives,rosemary,catnip,sage,lavender,parsley,dill,thyme,peppermint, mugwart and wormwood. In front of the round bed are two other beds planted full of cucumbers, and behind those you can see the grapevines.

This is just another view of the bed for the gourds and cucumbers, and the raspberries growing along the fence behind them. I can't wait for that whole area to fill up with berry plants.

Just a little better shot of the herb bed and the two for cucumbers. I'll be making something fairly tall for the cukes to grow up.

Just a picture of one of the cucumber beds and the grapes. It's hard to believe those grapes were just five little plants two years ago. I have to make something taller for them to vine on when I can.

Partial view of the main vegetable garden. The corn, onions, green beans, squash, and zuchinni all planted from seed just a week and a half ago are already 3-4 inches above ground. Now if we can just get more than 2 days of sun and heat, things will really take off.

Little different view of what is above ground already. That one lone onion made it through the winter.

Happy chickens with 4 wheelbarrow loads of grass clippings.

Speaking of chickens....in the past 3 weeks we have lost two, one being the cute little banty that was everyone's favorite. We decided that since we have more people asking to buy eggs, that we needed to bring the flock back up a little bit. I talked to my neighbor today, and after he got home from work, we went to his friends house where I got five young layers for $20. That brings us back up to fourteen layers now. I'm going to be looking around for some cheap or free fence and posts so I can expand their yard and rework the old round-top end.

When we picked up the hens, the guy laughed and said "for buying five you get a bonus". I laughed and before I saw what he was doing, he tossed this rooster in the cage I had brought to transfer the hens. He's a beautiful bird, a blue cochin, but I have no use for a young rooster. Anyone wanna give him a home before he ends up in the freezer? LOL

Tomorrow it's supposed to get warm and sunny again..at least for two more days until the rain and storms come back for the weekend. I have one more project in the front yard to do and thats making a bed for sugar snap peas. I'm going to put it in front of the herb bed and between the two crabapples that we got for free. After that, it's just adding edging/borders and cleaning up before I move to the backyard and concentrate on the big stuff.

I have to still move off the 24x3 foot pile of sod pulled from the potato beds, weed the edges of the garden, dig the last 5 foot extension, dig/widen around the blackberries, then possibly move the clotheslines so we can expand the junebearing strawberries in the spring. I may just let that one go till fall.

For now, I'm gonna post this, swallow some coffee, read a few of my regular forums, and call it a day....I'm going to need the rest.

Garden growth & business ventures

2010-06-08T06:58:00.003-04:00

Again, we finally got a break in the weather, so things are finally starting to catch up outside. The main garden is done, other than broccoli,(which we can't seem to find anywhere), and the last 5 foot extenstion which will be 2-3 more rows of sweet corn. We did have a good laugh at a mistake though. In the haste of getting things in, and lack of normal planting with a list and garden drawing like we do every year, we managed to forget cucumbers. How the hell did we miss cucumbers? Of course the garden is full now, so I had to dig 2 new beds in the front yard for the forgotton cukes. I put in two beds for them, each 4x8 feet. Of course Lisa also reminded me that she wanted to plant gourds and pumpkins, soooo.....there are 2 MORE beds marked out front with stakes and string that I'll be digging, tilling, and planting today. I also need to dig and till the section I have marked for widening the blackberry bed. It's just getting too big and is a pain to mow around. The herb bed is nearly done too. I got it dug and tilled on Friday, then planted on Sunday when we had the first break in the rain. I'll have to make a list of all the herbs we have planted out there. There are far too many for me to remember.

Everything we had planted last week is doing well. The corn is already standing around 3 inches tall, as well as the onions and green beans. We didn't lose a single plant yet either, so we have high hopes for the whole thing so far. We've been picking a lot of strawberries already too. We picked some on Saturday, then yesterday I picked 5 pounds of junebearing and 3 pounds of everbearing. I still have half of the everbearing bed to pick today, so I'll probably end up with at least another 3 pounds. The total picked so far is at 11 1/4 pounds, our best first picking to date.

The mini-CSA is doing well too. Right now we have stopped at 5 customers. They aren't getting anything but greens, eggs, and strawberries; but everyone is happy so far. Lisa also has a few steady egg customers beyond the CSA people, so we're going to end up getting a few more hens to keep up with the demand. It looks like the next major project is going to be extending and rebuilding the chickens yard to allow for more....yay for another project!!

I heard back from one of the stores last night where I have the staffs and wands on consignment. Apparantly they are both getting great customer reviews, and the owner said that she would take anything that I would make. The other store had a few requests for items that I am trying to work on in my spare time in the evenings, so I'm woodburning designs in boxes for tarot cards, gemstones, and runes, cutting and designing wooden runes, and giving a try at making carved wooden knives. Mike got orders from the same place to make a larger version of this awesome teepee style incense burner that he designed and made to try at the market.

All four of us, (me, Lisa, Mike, and his wife Chrissy) have started a website for our crafts. It is nowhere near completed, but it's starting to take shape. I came up with our company name and Mike has been working on getting the website up and running. http://www.alchemyamongus.iwarp.com
Lisa has been making her jewelry and has a store set up on Etsy as well. http://www.etsy.com/shop/AlchemyAmongUs?ga_search_query=fishing+jewelry&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=7&includes[]=tags&includes[]=title When Mike and I get more things made that don't go directly to the stores, we'll be adding them to sell there too. Making them in....yanno....all that spare time I have.

Holiday Weekend

2010-05-31T18:18:00.002-04:00

Well...the flea market was a total waste of time. On Friday I sold ONE staff for $35 and nothing else. On Saturday, Mike sold 2 necklaces @ $10 each and 2 $1 refrigerator magnets. That was it. $57 in two days, minus setup fees ($18), minus what I bought ($11), minus what Lisa bought ($2), minus a sausage sandwich and fries ($4), minus what Mike bought ($5), minus the food and drinks we took ($15), we came out $2 ahead. It was 90 degrees and sunny. Some of Lisa's treasure candles melted, I dropped and destroyed Mike's favorite sculpture, two of Lisa's clay figures got broken, she got sick from the heat, and now I have to fill the truck with diesel for what we wasted driving there and back. What a horrible waste of two days. We left an hour early, sick, dissapointed, and disgusted over the whole experience. By the time I fill the truck we'll be as a loss of around $30. That may not sound like much, but we were counting on making a few extra dollars there to help., and it just didn't happen.

Yesterday we did manage to get most of the garden in. I started at 6:30am to try to beat the heat. We had a good pace going. then the neighbor behind me stopped over with his brother-in-law from Florida,(who was raised in my house) and stayed almost an hour. Then the neighbor in the back of the orchard stopped by for about another hour, (though I did manage to swap him 3 of my handmade wands for a garden cart and he gave me a barrel stove). Then as I was digging the last 5x24 bed, friends of ours stopped by since they were out yard saleing in the area and stayed about 2 hours or so. Don't get me wrong, I like having company and people over, but it was one distraction after another. The weather was horribly hot and I took 5 minute breaks about once an hour to drink water and sit in the shade. (I drank my 2 gallon cooler dry twice). I ended up sunburned red from the waist up, hot, sweaty and dirty. Everything is planted but squash, zuchinni, beets, broccoli, and the rest of the herbs.

Today I slept in a bit longer than I wanted but was still up at 6:30. I made coffee and did a few things outside then worked on cleaning up the garage and garden tools from yesterday. I tinkered in the garage a bit and made a wreath from the grapevines with a star in the center, then made two small horseshoe shaped beds behind the chickenhouse and transplanted some spearmint in them. We had a barbeque, but a storm rolled in and it got windy and fanned the flames in the wood cookstove. Some of the corn was burnt and almost half of the steaks ended p ultra-well done. Of course, just as I was ready to take everything off the grill, it started pouring rain and stormed for not quite an hour. I wasn't too upset with the rain since we needed it after just planting yesterday, but it only lasted an hour then got sunny and really hot and humid....typical Ohio. The forecast now says rain the next 4-5 days straight, so I have no idea when I can finish the garden. Hopefully I'll get at least a one day break to finish planting. I could now since the rain stopped, but I'm just plain drained both mentally and physically from the disappoinment at the flea market and from spending 13 hours outside yesterday. Lisa is sitting across the table from me making jewelry and I'm doing laundry at the same time I write this. I think it's gonna be an early night............................................

Friday's flea market adventures...and a surprise

2010-05-28T17:56:00.002-04:00

This morning my friend Mike and I set off to the flea market at 4am. The people there told me that it got so busy that I should be there at 5 or sooner to get an open spot. All I can say is one word..........LIARS! lol There were quite a few people set up, and others arriving with and after us to set up, but we found after putting up tables and displays that the place was half empty. We talked to a few other vendors, and they all said that Friday is slow and basically a setup day for everyone planning for Saturday and Monday. AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH I was up making coffee and sandwiches at 3 am for nothing!!! I wanna know who I talked to on the phone so I can slap 'em silly. *sigh* The price for the spot was marked in the corner at $13 and I was told it was an extra $5 for holiday weekends. When the young guy came around to collect money for space rental, he told us that only Saturday and Monday were extra, and actually that Friday was half price. So the spot cost us $6.50 instead of the $18 we expected. I felt a little justified with my irritation over getting there before the sun thought about rising. Maybe this day was going to be ok.........or so I thought.
When these people said slow, they meant SLOW. There were a lot of people walking around, but most of them were the regular flea market vendors. You know...the type that will buy something from you for $5 then take it to thier table and sell it for $8. Yea, those guys were everywhere. Of course there were the typical flea market buyers that never bothered to look, and just asked for specific things.....lionel trains, pocktknives, watches, guns, WWII items, etc. I know they're after certain things, but c'mon folks, learn some manners. Don't just stop and yell then say I have stupid stuff. Quite a few times I eyeballed the meat grinder at the table next door hoping for that one next rude old guy so I could make a great big batch of Grumpy Ass Sausage, but I held my patience and smiled. One even stopped, picked up a wand, and said to his friend "what the hell would anyone want THIS for", to which I politely responded "to smack you upside the head with". Hmm..wonder why he didn't come inside the tents and look around.
I do have to mention one really awesome, incredible, and totally amazing thing about today. Guess what?..................I'm a celebrity! Thats right. You didn't misread this. I'm a celebrity. Remember the posts that I've made about the flea market and the staffs I was making to sell? Yea.....I had someone stop in, looked at the staffs, and asked if my name was Chris. "yea thats me" I responded in total curiousity. "from One Acre Homestead?" he asked. I stood up rather puzzled and said "yes". I walked over, shook my hand and asked how he knew me. It turns out that he is a long time follower of this blog and came all the way from Chatanooga Tenneessee to visit this historic flea market and to see my incredible woodcarving skills. Can you believe that??????? Well, you shouldn't lol. He is a blog follower, but he's local. Actually from the same town the flea market is in, 10 minutes from our house. (gotta admit my story is WAY cooler) It was great to find someone that reads the blog and follows it, local or not. I wish I could remember your name. Sorry, but I'm HORRIBLE with names, but thank you for stopping by and saying hello. It was a pleasure to meet you.
So..........now for the grand total sales figure for the day. An hour and a half before the market officially opened, I sold one staff for $35. Mike pushed his merchandise and the refrigerator magnets that his wife had made, and made a whopping whole dollar. Yep.....36 bucks. Now subtract the money for renting the spot, and we made $19.50. Then (lol) subtract the $5 I spent on an oil lamp (hey its a nice one with a wall mount bracket!!) and we came out ahead $14.50. It got so slow that we left at 3:30, soooooooo.........there at 4:30, out at 3:30, total profit $19.50.....that figures out at $1.77 an hour for sitting in 90 degree weather dealing with grumpy people and making a permanent mark of a lawn chair on my ass cheeks.
I was assured by everyone I talked to that tomorrow will be INSANE. One guy even told us that it took him 3 hours to get to the flea market from the highway, which is under 10 miles. Another said that it gets so busy you end up waiting 30 minutes to use the bathroom or an hour to get a cup of coffee. We shall see mister flea market.....we shall see.
Keep your fingers crossed for me folks! Another day like today and you may see me on the evening news. "Ohio man goes insane at flea market and puts 3 people through meat grinder".

Holiday Weekened Happenings

2010-05-25T06:46:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was finally nice enough that I was able to spend the whole day outside, around 75 and sunny, yeehaaa. I had two new strawberry beds marked out do thin and transfer from the overstuffed 6x24 bed, but since this weather has been so bad, I was never able to get them finished. Of course, now the plants are blooming and starting to bear fruit, so I don't want to dig any and chance killing them. So instead, I moved things around a bit and made three beds the same size instead of two. Two we'll use for potato's, and the third will be either bush cucumbers or more corn. Next year they'll get strawberry plants.

I staked out the main garden addition, adding another 4 feet, widened the blackberry bed since it's gotten to be a pain to mow around, and added a small triangular bed in front of the blackberries and beside one of the new beds. I hate wasted space and open grass, so that at least took care of the small roughly 6x9 area. I don't think we'll have a problem filling it with something, lol.

With our love of vegetable gardening and hatred of open grass, we've decided to take on yet another little venture. We're going to run a little CSA out of the place. Lisa already has two people on board wanting in, and we'll take on 2-3 more for this year, just to see how it goes. We're offering them a pretty low price for vegetables, fruit, and eggs every two weeks through early October. If the herb bed does well, we'll add fresh and tried herbs, along with some homemade teas. If all goes well, next year we'll plan on more people and more garden expansions. Right now we'll stick with the 4-5 people as an experiment.

We aren't going to get rich off of this by any means, but we'll make a tiny profit and basically get our own produce for free since the fees will cover the cost of plants and seeds. For now I won't count our time since we would be planting the same things anyway. We'll track everything we do time-wise and with production vs sales and evaluate everything for another go next season.

Today I *have* to spend the day inside finishing the things for the flea market this Friday and Saturday. It's gonna make me insane staying inside when it's so nice out already, but I have to get these done. My friend Mike and I will be there all day Friday and the wives will be with us on Saturday. Both days will be from 5am to 5pm...ugh, but I hope things go well and we sell quite a bit of items. After that, it's ALL garden time. Lisa will be off work Sunday and Monday, so those will be our massive catch-up days. I'll keep things posted on how the flea market goes and how things are going oustside. For now, I'm running Lisa to work and heading out to put in an application at a local garden center.

What's that bright thing in the sky???

2010-05-21T08:46:00.000-04:00

FINALLY FINALLY this rain and cool weather has given me a break. Yesterday was sunny and near 80. The plan was to mow the worthless grass since it was 2 days away from needing bailed, but the always spring-finicky Loboy didn't want to start. I charged the battery, changed the oil, then noticed a gas leak at the carb. The leak is a simple rubber hose, but I opted to let it go for a day and use the pushmower. I figured that by the time I remove the hose, go get another one, come back, put it on, and get the tractor started, I could just go ahead and mow. It's been 11 years since I mowed the whole place with a pushmower, and lemme tell ya, I forgot how much walking that is! I imagine it wouldn't have been so bad if the grass wasn't 8-9 inches tall in a few spots, but I got it done. Today I'll definitly get the tractor running. I'm not doing that again.

It was nice in a way though; walking along instead of riding on the tractor. I payed more attention to things. I noticed three anthills that I would have missed. I noticed that the tiny blueberry bush is setting berries. I noticed how much the grapes have grown in just the past few weeks since we had the last actual look at sunshine. I noticed the name written on the wreath in the front by the telephone pole where someone was killed 30 years ago. While it made my legs a bit weary mowing an acre with a pushmower, it was a nice break from just driving along and just paying attention to where the mowing deck was.

When I picked Lisa up from work, she of course wanted to go walking at the park. We made a half mile and my legs were just too tired from mowing. We walked back and sat at the edge of the Cuyahoga River and talked a while before we came back home. On the way, we stopped and got the extremely rare sub sandwiches and sat at our picnic table to enjoy the weather. We talked about what needed done outside and walked around the whole yard making mental notes. to ourselves and each other. We have the usual pruning and weeding to do, and I have a lot of little bed extensions to work on. Both of us love the smell of the various mints and lemon balm we have growing outside, so I'm going to expand their areas to almost double. We're both interested in experimenting with teas and using more herbs for medicinal purposes, so the expansion will work out great that way. We have three different kinds of mint right now. Spearmint, peppermint, and chocolate mint. I can't wait to get them expanded and filled out. I love the smell of them all.

There are lots of things to get done outside, the little bed expansions, the herb bed, and of course the vegetable garden and new strawberry beds. Of course, being Ohio, the weather is going to change again and start raining today and not stop until monday morning. I'll use the weekend to catch up on the things to sell at the flea market next weekend, then have the week to get as much done as I possibly can. It's going to be a long,hard week but I can't wait. I live for this stuff. Sitting around idle makes me insane. I can finally catch up, get some sun and fresh air, and enjoy myself outside.

To get away from my normal blog material for a minute, I have to say goodbye to an old friend who we lost last weekend.Though I never actually knew the man, he has been a part of my life for 30 years. I have many memories of him in song and of those I have seen in person. I am actually in the beginning of day four of my own tribute to him, playing many cd's from my collection of him on vocals. Most people don't understand my view and my passion of my music. It touches me. It moves me. It makes me angry, happy, or just plain want to move and sing at the top of my lungs. His music has never been an exception thoroughout his entire career, whether it was Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, his solo recordings, or Heaven and Hell. His lyrics, his incredible singing style, his massive stage presence, all of them encompass who he was. He lived for music and for the fans. I'll forever be grateful to enjoy his music and to have the opportunity to say I've seen him live. Ronnie James Dio, you will never be forgotten.

Camping Trip Gear Review

2010-05-12T11:09:00.000-04:00

When I took my little 2 day getaway a few weeks ago, I took a lot of gear with me. In fact, 74.2 pounds of gear stuffed in my ALICE pack. Some items were standard camping type gear, and others were more of a survival type gear. Some were older,some new, and a few homemade. Though I didn't get to test any real survival skills, my gear got quite a workout cutting forewood, making my shelter, and cooking. A few items were a total sucess, and others, well, didn't do very good at all. Here is my review of the items that I used most frequently:

1-the Samuri Survival Tool from Emergency Essentials. First of all, I wasn't expecting a lot from a $5.00 combination hammer/hatchet/pry tool. I asked for it for Christmas just cause it was 5 bucks and might be something fun to play with. I was a bit disappointed when I first opened the package. The hatchet edge looked like it was sharpened on a bench grinder with a chunk missing from it's wheel, very rough and lots of tool marks. The black paint had runs all through it, almost like it was dipped in a 20 year old bucket of Dutch Boy and left to dry. But hey, what did I expect for 5 bucks anyway? I spent an afternoon filing then stone sharpening the blade so it would actually cut more than warm butter or a bar of soap, and it got a decent edge on it. I made a heavy nylon sheath for it and fit it to my pack to take with me. I tried using it to cut some firewood, but the blade dulled VERY quickly, and it was just too light to do any real cutting. The handle is very small, especially in my ape hands. (seriously..with my fingers fully spread it is 10 1/2" from the tip of my little finger to the tip of my thumb) I had to swing twice as hard as a normal hatchet to compensate for the lack of weight, which brought out another problem. The plastic handle kept sliding off of the frame. NOT a good situation to have when swinging something sharp (or at least as sharp as this thing could be) I ended up putting it away and using a folding saw to cut and a big rock to drive stakes for the tent and shelter. Overall, I can't REALLY say it's a piece of junk. It would work fine for an emergency pack in your vehicle, but not for any extended period of time. Again...what can ya expect for five bucks? lol

2-Strikemaster H-25 firestarter from Emergency Essentials. This little gadget worked flawlessly every time for starting a fire. I never had a problem with spark or with the magnesium starting. The size is just right for fitting in a pack and for the hand.(even mine!) With the magnesium and some small tinder (I used tree bark) it worked every time. With my homemade TP roll/drier lint starters, it took usually just 3-4 strikes to ingnite. This thing was well worth buying, especially at the price of just $9.99.

3-Since I just mentioned them....my homemade TP roll/drier lint firestarters. These worked very well, but were a bit picky. All I did was stuff a TP roll full of drier lint and seal 10 in a zip seal bag, that was it. To start a fire, I removed the lint from the tube and fluffed it up. Without pulling it apart and "fluffing", it was more difficult to light, but after I did, they lit quickly with just a few strikes from the Strikemaster. I tore the TP roll at the corner, unwraveling it from the seam, and started the corner on fire with the now ingited lint. With a small amount of tinder added, ( I used tree bark and/or tiny dry twigs), I had a fire in no time. I will definitly be making more of these. They work great, and though they are a bit bulky, they are extrememly lightweight.

4-Harbor Freight machete. I was unsure about this thing for the $10 price tag, but I've wanted to try one for years and this was a cheap opportunity. I've never had much use for a machete, but I thought what the hell, for ten bucks I'll give it a shot. Rather than use the beltloop on it's sheath, I cut small slits in it and slid MOLLE clips in them to attach to the pack. This actually worked really well. I had it on the furthest front left loops that I could use, which made it east to take out with the pack still on. (putting it back was a whole other story) It came in handy for clearing small brush around my camp area, and for cutting briars when I made a sort-of trail from the woods to my campsite. I can see now why a good machete is a handy tool to have! I know that I need to put a better edge on it though. Not a very sharp edge, but just enough to cut brush and briars. I'll hang onto this one until I see another one thats better quality that I can afford, but I'm in no rush. This one worked just fine. (I would however kill for a Woodsmans Pal lol)

5-ALICE pack-large. This pack was everything I hoped it would be. It had a lot of capacity, and even more when I added variuos pouches to the MOLLE loops on the outside. It carried the total 74.2 pounds of gear I took without a problem and asked for more. It was comfortable to wear with all of that weight, thanks to the heavily padded shoulder straps and wide padded kidney belt.(though my back disagreed a bit) When I got it, it didn't have the waterproof bag that was issued with them, but I managed to pick one up at the local surplus store (Stars & Stripes Flag and Military) for $10, bringing my total investement to $40 for the whole rig. I did pick up some $2 nylon straps from the camping section at Chinamart, so actually adding the 4 straps, it totalled $48. The straps hooked on the bottom of the frame and held my 2 man tent and sleeping bag. I don't see myself buying some expensive name brand pack in the future at all. I don't get out THAT much, and this thing was more than I bargained for at the price. If I somehow kill it, I'll get another one without a thought.

6-My homemade Sterno Stove. I made this little stove on a whim after looking at them in a catalog. I just took an old sqare grater, cut it off at 5", bent over a lip at the top, and pop rivited 2 pieces of stainless steel to make a cook surface. That was it. EASY. But this thing was a tossup. Did it work and heat water or food? yep. Did it take almost an hour to perculate a 4 cup pot? yep. I imagine it worked just as well as a commercial model, afterall they both do the same thing. It DID heat water for my coffee, (I did the perculator test at home on the porch), but it did take an awfully long time. For something small to pack and not have to light a fire, it would work great, especially if you weren't concerned about time. I imagine it may work inside just as well, if not better, since there would be no wind to fight against keeping it cool. I'll take it next time anyway, and just use it for some mid-day coffee so I don't have to light a fire. I'll try digging a small hole to set it in to help retain the heat more than just being in the open air. It's worth a try again for sure.

7-Ozark Trail multi tool. This was something else I picked up on a whim from Chinamart for $10. I love multitools. I have a Leatherman I have carried with me every day since Lisa stuck it in my Easter basket about 9 years ago. I love my Leatherman so much that I didn't want to take a chance on losing it when I went camping, so I got this cheap one to take along. First of all, compared to my Leatherman, this thing is HUGE. That's not good for some, but again for my ape hands, it fit perfect. It has all kinds of tools that fold out of the handle. Frankly all it was missing was the spoon and kitchen sink. I used the tiny woodsaw for cutting off small branches for the wind break and shelter frame quite a bit, and it worked great. Though it is a small blade it's thick and tough.I used the wire cutters inside the plier end to cut the wire fencing I found to make a grill top for over the fire. It cut just fine, though the wire kept slipping into the small hole at the bottom that I assume is for stripping wire insulation. The knife blade had a good edge right out of the box, so I didn't have to sharpen it at all, and it worked well for cutting the paracord and plastic while making the shelter. The pliers have a spring in between that holds them open, and while it's a good design idea, I see the spring either wearing out fast or breaking/falling out. Great idea, bad design. The only real complaint I have about this tool is the knife blade. The tools all fold out from the outside, rather than the inside like a Leatherman, so the blade has nothing to stop it from folding back towards the handle, and my hand. It really needs some sort of lockblade. Other than that, for a $10 tool, it worked well and perforned without a hitch.

8-Mountain House freeze dried chili mac. Yea....ahhh....yummm. I'm pretty new to freeze dried foods. We've been ordering a little at a time, experimenting with them to see if we liked them We ordered a Mountain House assortment pack from Emergency Essentials a few months ago, and everything was a hit. We ate the pack of beef stroganoff for dinner one night, and it was actually really good. So when we were at Chinamart and I got the multitool, I saw that they carried Mountain House and got the pack of chili mac to take with me. I had it for dinner the first night out on my trip because I wanted something fairly fast and easy to make while I worked on the shelter frame and gathered more firewood. I got a good fire going and boiled water, which is all you need to make this stuff right in the pouch. After the water boiled, I guesstimated the (i think it was) 2 cups to add to the pouch, resealed the zip pouch, and let it "cook" for 15 minutes. Thats it, that simple. I sat by the fire with some coffee and ate it right out of the pouch with a spoon. Yep, yummm.

9-While on the subject of freeze dried foods, I may as well review my dinner that I made on Thursday night from all freeze dried and dehydrated ingredients. My main ingredient for the "soup" was TVP, or Textured Vegetable Protien, beef flavored. I took along some home dehydrated mushrooms and onions, along with some brown rice, bullion cubes, and a small bag of dried beans. I set the beans in a pot of water early in the morning to soak, and didn't start my dinner until around 5:30. I put some water over the fire and when it started to boil, I added all the ingredients and covered it to cook for around 20-25 minutes. The beans of course, hadn't soaked anywhere near long enough and ended up being kinda half crunchy-half soft, but the rest was actually really good. I picked the beans out and enjoyed the rest. TVP has a slightly odd texture that takes a bit of getting used to. It's small, soft, and just a slight bit chewy, but a great meat substitute for things like this. I was really happy with the outcome, (other than of course the beans), and plan to make bags of the same ingredients for the next trip, all mixed together and ready to go, almost like the dry soup you see in the stores. I'll make this a camping staple for sure. It was quick and easy to make, lightweight, and took up very little room in the pack.

10-Last but not least, the Coghlans folding camp saw, their model "180 Sierra Saw". I wanted something beyond the small survival hatchet for doing any wood cutting, so I picked this up at the local sporting goods store while looking through their camping section. I liked the size. The handle is wide and thick, again perfect for my ape hands, and the 7" blade was just the right size that I needed. Again with shopping on a very tight budget, it was only $10 so I picked one up and brought it home. I have mixed reviews on this tool. First and foremost, it does cut wood great. It zipped through the saplings I used for the shelter and through some larger pieces of firewood with ease. It did cut like a dream. But...the blade is rather thin and had a tendancy to bend and bind when I was using more force to cut. It straightens back out pretty easily, but the bending was a bit of a PITA. I also don't care for the blade lock on it. Rather than lock and "click" open like a lockblade knife, this has a lever that you have to move into a notch on the bottom of the blade when it's opened, then lock the lever backwards toward the handle to hold the blade open. While the mechanism did work just fine and not pop open, I would prefer a one handed operation type of lock mechanism, just for ease of use and that rare need to open it in a hurry. I'm not sorry I bought it, and will take it with me on future outings, I'm just pointing out a few things I think would need improved. The size and weight are perfect for fitting in a pack so I can overlook the other problems with it for now. Would I buy another one if this one broke? I doubt it, but it does do what it's supposed to do.

And there it is. The long overdue review of some of the gear I took with me on my first camping trip of the season. This post has been sitting for a month now, and quite frankly, I forgot about it. OOOPS. I am planning on many more camping trips this year, but as of now nothing is scheduled since there are too many other things going for me to disappear in the woods for 4-5 days. I'll get out on days when I can and prepare my now permanent campsite little by little for the next trip. I have plans to make a larger fire ring outside of the shelter, dig a privvy, cut more firewood, and improve on the shelter little by little.I'm sure I'll keep things updated here on the progress and log any future trips to share with anyone. For now though, it's yet another 50 degree, rainy, Ohio spring day and I'm heading back to the basement to finish more walking staffs.

Just thought I'd share...

2010-05-08T08:30:00.004-04:00

Last week while looking for more twisted branches for the walking staffs and more firewood for my little camp area, I came across the biggest grapevine I have ever seen. It's about 50 feet from the top of my dads property line and almost directly in the center. I had Mike snap a picture with my cell phone, so it isn't the greatest quality, but you can at least see the size of this giant thing. Remember that in comparison, I stand 6'3" tall. It's hard to see in this picture, but it goes upward from me and turns almost completely horizontal (to my right) before going straight down into the ground. (where it's kinda hidden behind the brush and saplings) At the base, it's at least 10 inches in diameter. I've seen lots of big ones in those woods, but this one definitly takes the prize! WOW.

When we were there, I gathered a few more twisted pieces for staffs and then cut some others to make a display rack for at the flea market. It didn't take long to put together in the garage, though a few days later I added pegs along the top bar so they didn't fall over. If the staffs don't take off and sell well, at least we'll have an interesting garden tool holder, LOL.

2010-05-06T06:46:00.002-04:00

There isn't really anything happening around here all that blog-worthy. The garden is tilled and ready, but it's not quite planting time yet. We always get at least one or two more good frosts in May, so we never plant much of anything until after Memorial day rather than chance it. I do have some greens in the small beds, but that's it. I do have the two new straberry beds marked out and ready to pull the sod and till, and the herb bed is almost ready for planting. I'd love to find a source for stones to border the herb bed and around each variety inside,but so far I have none. It'll take a lot of stones to border a 30 foot circle, around the rose of sharon, the azalea (sp?), and around each different herb. I'll just gather little by little and eventually have enough, even if it takes longer than this year. We're in no hurry.

There is still no luck on the job front. I had my hopes up for a job with the local park system but never heard back after sending a resume and making 2 e-mails. (no calls allowed) I filled out an application at a cemetary a few weeks ago, but when I called back I was told they hired someone with previous experrience. I recieved a reply via e-mail later and was told once again that I am "over qualified" for mowing grass and digging holes. UGH this is so frustrating.

We're trying a few different routes with making some extra cash and setting up at the big flea market on Memorial Day weekend. (Friday and Saturday) Lisa has been making some awesome looking jewelry from my lure making supplies that she raided, and I'm making walking staffs and wands. (yes wands) For those that don't know, Lisa is pagan and we visit a few stores now and then that cater to that comunity. The last time we were at one, I was looking at wands with a $30-$80 price tag, saying to myself " I can make those!". Afterall, it's a sanded and finished stick with some woodburned designs, stones, and some other embellishments. Right now I have around 16 ready to finish. Some are sanded, some are stained, but they'll all be ready very soon.

A few weeks ago when I was in my parents woods gathering more vines, I found one small tree that had a vine wrapped around it and had grown with it like that. The trunk had this beautiful twist to it from growing into and around that vine. I cut it and looked for another and managed to find 8 total. They're getting the same treatment as the wands, and I'm also doing some minor wood carving on a few. The pagan community would again have an interest in wands, but also there is a bit of a market from people who walk the local parks. I'll gather some more twisted ones soon, but also look for some straighter ones I can make plain for the park people to stick the little pins in that they get for attending an event and hiking a certain distance.

Lisa is making the fishing lure jewelry, (which she has named Reel-a-Luring Jewelry!), hand dipped candles, and what she calls "treasure candles) with earrings inside that you can wear once you burn the candle. She's also making clay figures, candle holders, and incense stick holders. Though she tends to disagree, her clay work is amazing. I tried once and managed to make the most beautiful little clay ball you've ever seen, LOL. I have no artistic talent like she does. I'll have to take and post some pictures.

Our friends Mike and Chrissy are going to set up with us. Mike has been making some really awesome stone carvings at home using his Dremel tool. He's very big into his family lineage, which he's traced WAY back to early Irish/celtic roots. Most of what he is carving has been along those lines, written in Oogum language. (oh-gum) He's also making leather and stone necklaces with the same similar designs carved in them. They're in the same boat we are, actually worse, since Mike lost his job and Chrissy only makes $7.75hr. We're all trying to find our little niche and a way to make extra cash when and where we can. This flea market is a start, just to see what kind of reaction our stuff gets. We're planning to get a booth and set up at the Mabon Festival this year too, but thats not till September. Lisa has opened an account on Etsy too, so now we just have to get some good pictures of what's made and start posting them for sale. Sure none of this is or will be a steady income, but right now anything will help. I'll take and post some pics of everything we're all making sometime soon.

For now, I'm off to take Lisa to work and go visit my uncle. He called me last night and told me he just found out his best friends wife was given till the end of the month to live, and his friend's doctor pretty much told him to get all his "affairs" handled soon. He's taking it pretty hard. I'll go see my folks while I'm there since they're 3 minutes away. Mom has to have minor knee surgery on Monday, which is an outpatient thing now, but they're still stressed out like she's having brain surgery.

Back from camping!!!

2010-04-17T09:19:00.006-04:00

It's now 6:15 on Friday and I just got back from my camp outing. I'm exausted and waiting for some real coffee to brew in the perculator my mom just gave me. I don't mind instant, but 2 days of it has been enough lol. Gimme some real perculated coffee!!

I got there later than expected on Wednsday, but still managed to get into the woods at around 4pm. I had planned to go further northeast, but I heard 4 wheelers and a truck. I assumed it was the loggers back for the spring, so I settled on a small clearing near the edge of my parents woods, right near the old fence to the west side. I cut a small sapling with lots of brances and used it as a rake to clear a spot for the tent, just so I could easily check for roots, stones or sticks.

When it was clear, I refilled the area with around 2" of leaves and set up the tent. Once that was done, I used the small folding shovel to dig a fire pit around 30" wide and roughly 8" deep. There were plenty of stones around to circle the pit with, all from years of digging them out of my parents gardens and carting them off into the woods. The trail that was once there is long grown over, but stones and traces of dads bad habit of dumping junk left me knowing exactly where I was.

I gathered kindling and firewood, which was extremely easy with all the trees that had fallen down around the area. It didn't take long before I had a pile of firewood 6 feet long and close to 2 feet high. I piled small branches for kindling in the front, set some inside and decided it was time for some coffee. Rather than take the easy way out and use my lighter, I opted for the Strikemaster Firestarter I got for Christmas, using the homemade starters of TP rolls and drier lint I had sealed in a gallon freezer bag. The TP-lint starters worked great, and with a little kindling quickly added, I had a fire in no time. Since I had no grill top to use over the fire, I bent over a tall sapling tree, made a stake from a stick driven in the ground, and tied it off over the fire. It hung around 4 feet over the fire, so I used paracord attached to a cutoff section of tree as a hook. It worked great! The water from my canteen was heating over the fire in a small pot as I went back to work gathering firewood. While I was gathering, I tripped and grabbed a tree to catch my fall, only to find out the tree was dead, and ended up having a handfull of very dry dead bark. I looked at it and realized it was PERFECT tinder for the fire, so I stripped the dead tree of as much bark as I could reach, setting it near the pile of firewood on top of a piece of log to keep it off the ground. I found some old pieces of fencing laying in the woods, which I cut with the multi tool and formed into a grill top. I thought it might be handy, but I never used it.

As the coffee water was heating, a strong wind whipped through the woods and into my little clearing, blowing the fire and cooling it down. I decided that a wind break was in order, so I bent and staked over another sapling around 6 feet from the fire, to the southwest, being the direction the wind blew in from. I cut smaller finger size saplings, cutting off the branches, and laced it in a criss-cross pattern along the larger one, tying the ends with the roll of paracord I had in my pack. About 50 yards away I spotted an evergreen with thick full branches, and cut off enough to lace into the frame and tie off. Taaa-daaa, instant wind break. The sapling I had bent over for the frame was roughly 2 1/2" in diameter, and I cut off all the branches, leaving the ones at the top with close to 2" from the main trunk. I used these as hooks to hang my Camelback, jacket, sweatshirt,and gun belt from. So, I had a combination wind break and handy gear hanger. Not too shabby for my first 2 hours in the woods.

I decided on an easy dinner, so since I already had a large pot of water heating up, I went for the Mountain House freeze dried pack of chili mac and some crackers I had tucked away in my food bag. It only takes 10-15 minutes to "cook" inside the same bag it is packaged in, so while it was cooking, I tossed my sleeping bag inside the tent with my bedroll, camera, book, notebook, and anything else small I wanted to keep dry. I took a square light that my dad had given me that has two 8" flourescent bulbs, and hung it on the tiny gear net in the center of the tent. I figured that if I couldn't sleep, I could at least sit and read, or at least make it easier to find something in the night if need be. By the time I had things ready inside the tent, the chili mac was hot enough to eat; so I poured a cup of water, added some instant coffee, and leaned against a tree to have dinner. Gourmet? Of course not. But it was good food, and I was in the woods. I think even 3 day old reheated McDonalds would have tasted good in that setting. I was in total peace, with hot food, hot coffee, a nice fire going, and totally relaxed. Yep...this is why I wanted this trip.

I had forgotten how fast it gets dark in the woods.It's been a great many years since I have camped this way, with no lanterns or giant raging bonfire. I checked the time on my cell phone, and saw that it was only 8:00. I sat against that tree near the fire for another hour, sipping instant coffee and just listening to nothing but nature. I let the fire burn down, and crawled into the tent at around 9:00. I don't have a cold weather sleeping bag. I took my old Coleman with me, along with a fleece summer bag tucked inside. Even though it got fairly chilly through the night, I stayed warm the whole time. I had to laugh just a little bit since here I am, sleeping on the ground in a bag when we have the matress at home that isn't even a week old yet. I curled up my jacket and sweatshirt as a pillow and went to sleep to the sound of tree frogs, crickets, and bullfrogs in the tiny pond not 60 yards away. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......Before I went to sleep, I texted Lisa to tell her goodnight and I miss her, this is what I got back-" I love you too honey, watch out for Yeti's!!" I smiled as I layed back to go to sleep.

I woke wide awake and it was still dark outside, and cold inside the tent. I was warm other than my arm I had stuck out of the bag in my sleep, so I flipped on the light over my head and checked the tiny 2" square thermometer I had taken just to log the whole experience. It was 51 degrees and 4:30.....umm...yea.... I may be camping, but I'm not getting up yet, lol. I turned off the light, layed back down, and fell half asleep for about an hour. When the sun started coming up, I crawled out of the bag, slipped on my boots, and started a fire for warmth and for some morning coffee. There was a lot of dew on everything, which made starting a fire a little more difficult, but not too bad. Once the fire was going well and there was water heating up for coffee, I realized that the heat from the fire was wasted, most traveling straight up into the air. I need some form of shelter to contain the heat. I'll work on that later. I sat around the fire, had a cup of hot coffee once the water got hot, and gathered some basic gear to take a walk. I just grabbed a canteen of water (which I dropped 2 spoons of TANG in lol), my folding camp saw, binoculars, small knife, and .22 rifle. After my second cup of coffee, I headed out for a walk, just to see what I could see, scout for deer and turkey, and take a chance on seeing a squirrel or rabbit for lunch.

I walked about a half mile to the field near where Tammie and I had seen the turkeys 2 weeks ago, pulled back into a line of trees and brush, and just sat, watched and listened. I heard the turkeys off in the distance, in exactly the same spot where we had seen them before. Now I know where they feed. Two deer passed by me as I was sitting there, one of them within 10 feet without noticing me at all. It was so peacefull and serene. Before I knew it, I had sat there against that tree for two hours. I lost all track of time like I normally do when I get into the woods. I don't know if I really lose track or just don't care. Either way, two hours had passed and I figured I should get up and go explore some more. I walked around the fields, staying tight to the treelines watching for squirrels. I did see a few but I never took a shot. I was enjoying myself out there and took enough to eat for 2 days. If I decide to get some game later, I will, but for now I'll just enjoy the walk and the scenery.Of course,of all things, I left my camera back at camp...oops!!

After another hour or so, I headed back to camp, figuring I should gather more firewood and get some other things done. On the way back, I took a different route through the woods, passing through the area that the loggers had started last year. What a horrible disgusting mess that was. I hate knowing that someone is destroying those woods just for a buck. In my mind, they're destroying a piece of my past, and it makes me crazy and mad. While I hurried through the area the best I could, something orange caught my eye. There layed a pile of empty gallon jugs of chain oil. They never bothered to pick them up. They just left them lay in the woods, leaking. I put them all in a pile, to kind of leave them a message, when I found a roll of black plastic that they had left behind. I don't know what they had used it for, but obviously it wasn't important enough to pick up. I stuffed it in my bag and headed to camp, thinking of what I can use it for. When I got back, I gathered more firewood and started gathering more vines for the garden thingymabobs. As I was winding them into wreath like circles for transport, I looked at my fire ring and knew what I would use that plastic for.

I bent over another two saplings that were near my tent and over the fire ring, staking them to the ground with sticks the same as I did the one over the fire. I cut more and used the paracord to make the same criss-cross pattern along it horizontally about every 3 feet.

The frame ended up being rather dome shaped, around 10x10 feet and 4 feet tall in the center. I twisted the corners of the plastic to make a holding point, attached the two ends to the back bottom of the frame, streched it tight along the whole length, cut it, and again twisted the corners and tied it off to another horizontal sapling. I repeated the process 3 times to cover the whole frame, and when I was done, I twisted the lowest sapling tight, cranking it like a wind up canopy and tying it off tight. In the center over the fire pit, I pulled apart the seams, leaving a diamond shape 3 feet long and 2 feet wide, just enough to let smoke escape but trap the heat inside the dome. As I started a fire to make lunch, I found out how well it worked. While the temperature outside was 71, the temp inside the domed structure climbed to 90. The plastic moved a bit with the heat, which actually worked well since it streched it tighter onto the frame as it heated and begin to shrink. I now had a cover that would not only retain the heat of the fire, but would also keep my camp area fairly dry in case it rained. Thanks jackass loggers! I guess you're good for something afterall!!

I ate a lunch of hot oatmeal and coffee, while I sat and admired my work. It's not really pretty, but I was happy with it. After I ate, I walked about 30 feet from camp to get rid of the morning coffee, when something silver caught my eye. I kicked this silver thing that was half hidden by leaves and debris, and out popped a reminder of my youth. There it was, dented and dirty, but still there. That genuine Boy Scout canteen I had lost when building a treehouse when I was about 12 years old. I picked it up and it still had water in it after all these years. It didn't leak at all, that water had been in there somewhere around 23 years. I carried it back to camp and snapped a picture. What a funny coinicidence that I find a piece of camping gear from that many years ago while I was camping. I smiled when I looked at it, remembering making that treehouse when I lost it, remembering how sad I was to have lost it. It took me 23 years, but I had it in my hands once again. I didn't bring it back with me. I left it where I had set up camp on Wednsday. I figured that it had a permanent home in those woods near a place I camped many years ago, and now it can stay where I camped now. It just seemed only fitting.

After lunch, I really didn't do much of anything. I gathered more firewood and vines, and spent a lot of time just sitting. I did wander around a bit, looking for berry patches to revisit later in the year, but I had very little luck. I found an area elsewhere where someone else had dumped off a bunch of junk in the woods, and scavenged a 5 gallon bucket to use as a seat back at camp. I don't mind sitting on the ground against a tree all the time, but sometimes my back doesn't tend to agree with me on that. A bucket seat it is, just like sitting on one at lunch on a jobsite. I was a bit disappointed in the fact that I never really sought out any small game for a meal, but no matter. I know that I know how to hunt, shoot, clean and cook a rabbit or a squirrel. I really don't need a reminder. I came back to camp, sat and watched chipmunks and birds for a while, read a bit, and figured I deserved a small nap. I fell asleep inside the tent with the door open for not even an hour, got up and had a drink from my TANG canteen. I read a while longer and went for another walk, still taking the .22 in case I changed my mind.

When I sat against another tree to scan for game, I looked at the rifle I was carrying and remembered when I bought it. I was 20 years old and bought it at the Woolworth store I worked at for my sister. It was my 16th birthday gift to her. She did carry it through the woods a few times, even though she has never shot any game in her life. That rifle has had barely 50 rounds shot through it, almost always at empty cans in dads backyard. When she moved out, got married and started a family she left it there. I asked her about it one day and she told me to take it since she never used it anymore. So here I am, almost 25 years later, carrying that good old Marlin 25 into the woods. I never appreciated it's simplicity before, but now I do. I'll never get rid of this rifle, never.

When I once again headed back to camp around 5, it was time to start dinner. The Strikemaster and lint starter once again did the trick perfectly, and with the treebark tinder, dinner was cooking in no time. In a pot, I added water with instant rice, 3 chicken boullion cubes, TVP,(textured vegetable protein-a meat substtute), dehydrated onions, and dehydrated jalepeno peppers. It smelled wonderful wafting through the woods as it simmered over a fire. I started another small pot for coffee and relaxed against the tree while I waited.

The tree I always sat against at camp made me laugh to myself every time I looked at it. At some point in time, my dad had dumped some junk in the woods, and this tree grew with a piece of fan belt stuck in it. The tree now stands well over 30 feet high and around 14" in diameter, with that piece of hose sticking out the west side about 4 feet off the ground. Later when I had gotten to their house on Friday, dad asked me if I saw that tree with the belt, which made me laugh out loud. "yea dad, thats where I set up camp". Funny how he remembered one particular tree and that happened to be where I sat up. Coinicidence??? I snapped a picture of it with my cell phone and sent it to Lisa....I got back in response "Stop using your phone, your battery will die, I love you". I had to laugh.

I sat on that bucket and had dinner with coffee. It wasn't really bad at all, it just needed a bit of salt, which I had in tiny containers. I *had* some black pepper, but the container came open and spilled all through my bag, oops. I ate and wrote notes for this entry in my notebook,and just relaxed with some more coffee. It wasn't a busy day by any means at all, but I just sat and watched nothing special. As the temperature started to slowly drop and the sun started to set, I sat under the shelter and added more wood to the fire. THIS was what it was all about. Sitting around doing nothing at all and watching a fire. No noise, no distractions, just me, nature, and the glow of a warm fire. I don't want to leave this. I considered another day and night, and wondered about the forecast. Since I can get the Weather Channel on my phone, I checked and it still called for rain and thunderstorms in the morning around 8-9:00. I was a bit disappointed, but I missed Lisa and a nice comfy new mattress. I had a permanant camp set up now. I can always come back again, and I will, probably several times.

I woke up early again, long before the sun and layed in the tent until the sun started to peek over the hill. I got up, started a fire to get some heat, (it was 54), and make some coffee. As I got light from the fire and from the rising sun, I checked the forecast again, hoping something had changed but it didn't. It called for rain starting around 9am and storms rolling in around 10. As the water heated, and I warmed up under the shelter, I began to pack things up to head back. Of course, nothing packed up as easily as it did at the house. How the hell did all of this fit in that pack anyway??? Arrrrggghhhhh!!!!! The last of the things finally packed, and I sat back for my last cup of coffee in the woods, which ended up being three, lol. I don't want to head back. I want to stay here one more day, or seven. But, I can't. I really don't want to sit through a thunderstorm right now. Maybe on another trip, but not this one. I finished the coffee, smothered the fire, strapped on my pack, and walked to mom and dads at 9am.

I walked in the door to my dad yelling "hey! It's Jeremiah Rambo!" I had to laugh, cause it was kinda funny and normally he isn't. Even though I had oatmeal back at camp, mom insisted on making bacon and eggs. We ate breakfast and sat down in the living room with dad in front of the t.v. that's on all day. For once, something interesting was on, and we watched three episodes of Lock N' Load with R. Lee Ermey. Great show with a great host. Watching that show got us to talking about guns and shooting like old times again. While we watched, I got in his gun cabinet and one by one brought out all the rifles and shotguns, wiping them down and checking for rust. We talked about each and every one as I cleaned them. When he got them, where he got them, and what he did with them.

I brought out an old single shot bolt action WInchester, and he had a hundred stories about it, everyone one of which I enjoyed. Grandma had gotten him that rifle for Christmas when he was 12 years old. He told me that grandma had hidden it in the couch and he found it, shooting it when she was at work, and cleaning and putting it back every day till Christmas morning. He told me how he would pick and sell berries to make money for ammo for it all summer, and how he would sit in the back and shoot pennies into a tree and walnuts off another one. I've heard from people my whole life that it's impossible to shoot the bore out of a rifle, but believe me, this one is. I shot it once 20 years ago and was lucky to hit a pie plate with it, lol. It's worn out. The bore is gone, the bolt is loose, and you have to hold it closed to even fire it. It's old, beat to death, and basically worthless as a firearm. But as a piece of family history, it's priceless. He told me to take it home, but I didn't. I will someday, but not now, not yet.

We sat around and talked the rest of the day, which turned out to be nice, of course. That 9am rain didn't start until almost 3:00. Those thunderstorms never came. But I had a great time in the woods and a great day with my dad. It was well worth taking those 2 days off of everything. I didn't practice any of the skills I intended to. I didn't try making that solar still. I didn't set snares to catch or shoot any wild game to cook over a fire. I didn't gather and eat any wild plants. I spent my time either wandering around the woods or just sitting and staring off into the trees. None of this is what I expected but it was everything I wanted. I have no regrets on this trip, other than I wish I had stayed longer. Well....there's always next time. And believe me, there will be a next time.

I can't wait to get out there again. I don't know when I will be able to, but I am definitly going back several times throughout the spring and summer, maybe even fall when I want to squirrel hunt. I loved my solo trip, but I kinda wish I had company. Lisa will camp with me, but there has to be a potty (LOL) and she can't sleep on bare ground. My friend Mike had mentioned he might want to go, but I'll talk to him about it for the next trip maybe. I know my bud Tammie would love it there as much as I do, but I don't see that happening again. Yanno....that whole thing with spouses and all. It's silly, she's my bud, but I understand the whole view from her husbands perspective. I'll just show her my camp when we get out for more vines and materials or later in the year during hunting season. For now, I'll enjoy the memories of those two short days on my own, and revisit the new camp area when I get time. The neighbor is giving me a camoflage tarp he has on his utility trailer sometime soon, and I'll use it to add a second layer to the shelter frame for more water resistance. (I won't always avoid camping in the rain!)

I had a wonderful time out there. I cleared my head and came back refreshed, which was the main purpose of the whole trip. I think I am going to do a second part of this entry about the trip, making it a gear review of everything I took with me. Some things I took along were new, some not so new. Some worked well, and others didn't. I packed a lot of things that I didn't use, some things I didn't really need, and some things I forgot or ended up needing. I may start that entry this weekend, but for now I'm going to close this now longest blog post in history. Thanks for reading, and I hope you've enjoyed it!

and I'm off....

2010-04-13T18:03:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow (Wednsday) I'll be leaving on my little trek/adventure/getaway/skills practice/clear my head trip. The ALICE pack is fully loaded with gear, minimal food, and 8 canteens and one camelback of water, weighing in at a total of 74.2 pounds. I'm glad I eliminated a few things! LOL It coulda been well over 85.
As if right now, the forecast calls for warm and sunny tomorrow, upper 70's Thursday, and upper 60's on Friday with a chance of rain. My plan is for tomorrow afternoon through Friday evening but if the weather agrees and I'm doing fine, I may just extend it to Saturday morning.
I'm pretty excited about going, so of course everything is ready and stacked, including clothes like I'm some kid hyped up to head off to summer camp. The camera has fresh batteries and a spare set, and I have a notebook & pen with me to take notes the whole time. I'm hoping this trip not only does wonders for me, but makes for a pretty interesting blog post.
'talk to ya when I get back!

Survival/Camping trip plans-Part 2

2010-04-08T14:21:00.002-04:00

Over the past few days I have been going over my serious overkill list for my little planned getaway in the woods. I removed a few things that were just plain silly, like 4 different knives and 2 of the pots I had in my cookware set. I have no idea what I thought I would be making in 3 pots, LOL. Told ya, overkill. I reduced the weight now to 44 pounds, not including food and water. I'll be taking some beef jerky, dehydrated fruit, and maybe just 1 or 2 small cans of soup. Afterall, I can't plan on there being a steady supply of fruit/berries considering the amount of deer and turkeys that are in those woods, plus I may be heading out sooner than expected, and berries are barely budding let alone ripe. I do need to get probably 2 more canteens for water for now,since the 2 I have plus the camelback only hold one gallon total. I still plan on getting water from one of the creeks and trying a solar still, but I do want water on hand for this first trial run in case I fail miserably. I don't want to have to sneak back somewhere to get water. I also have the plans to take some food for now just because I may not be able to pop off a few squirrels quite yet. If I plan my trip during the week, there are 2 areas on that hillside that are being logged out, and I imagine that loggers seeing a crazy guy in camo might not be the best idea, let alone having them hear that lone .22 shot coming from somewhere. If it's a weekend, I may be open to the idea a bit more.
This first time out is afterall a trial run for me. It's been many years since I have done anything like this, so I don't know 100% for sure that I still have what it takes. Also things in those woods have changed quite a bit since I regularly hunted and walked up there. All of the old paths are gone, areas that were once wide open are now filled with green briar or vines, some woods have been logged out, one of them being my once favorite squirrel hunting woods ever. Times have changed, I have changed, and the countryside has changed. There were once lots of rabbits and pheasants in those woods, but now that people have stopped hunting the fox, and the coyotes have moved in, the pheasants are long gone and rabbits are very scarce. There are LOTS of deer and turkeys up there, but nothing I would kill out of season right now just to feed myself for a few days. I just won't do that. I wouldn't worry much about a squirrel or a rabbit on this little adventure,but I won't shoot larger game. I wouldn't eat that much over just 2 days, and besides, there's that whole illegal thing. Nope,no large game for me. I'll eat what I take in with me and ration it out, and I may get that one squirrel or two, who knows.
I imagine this all sounds really crazy to a lot of people. Trekking off into the woods by myself for a few days and just living with what I have on my back. This definitly isn't for everyone, but it's something I have wanted to do for a long, long time. Like I said in the other post about this, I used to make these trips when I was younger, and I miss them. I miss those woods and the wildlife. Somehow over the years, that part of me has become lost, and I want it back. My hunting buddies are gone, dad can't go anymore,and I don't live closeby anymore. I just plain stopped going. That one day rabbit hunting trip with my old friend was far more than just rabbit hunting for me. I would walk around, stomp some brush, watch for rabbits, talk to him, but a lot of the time I would just stop and look around. Every square foot of those woods holds some kind of memory for me. I remember this spot where I shot my first pheasant, or that spot where my dad and I once talked while we listened to the beagles run. I remember the old gravel quarry where my childhood friends and I used to race our bicycles. Those woods are full of memories. Those woods were much more to me than a place we would all go hunting, they were my playground as a kid. We didn't have a park, or sidewalks to ride our bikes, we had those woods.
While other kids I knew spent their summer at vacation homes, or off somewhere with their family, or playing basketball on the school court, I was in those woods. Nearly every day of my summers were spent there. I never had a real reason, I just was. My friends and I ride our bikes around the trails that are now long grown over. I would sometimes just wander off by myself with a book and just sit under a tree and spend the day in the peace and quiet of nature. When hunting season rolled around, it was always me and dad up there with a pack of beagles. Sometimes my great uncle Glen would tag along with his dogs, and sometimes the neighbor with his dogs. Dad taught me all those years ago that hunting was far more than just shooting something to eat, and that is still with me today. I appreciate nature now as much as I did back then, and probably more so. Back then I almost took it for granted that I could go anytime and those woods were always there. Now that I am 20 minutes away and can't get there anytime I want just to walk around, I realize how much I still love those woods. I miss them terribly. It's like missing an old long lost friend.
Everything I have just talked about is the main reason for my little trip. Sure, it's a small bit of a survival test for me, but it's also a trip to visit that old friend. Those trips out there lately to gather branches and vines have reminded me how much I miss it. Sometimes when I'm there, I have to push myself to stay busy or I just want to sit, stare off into the woods and think, remembering years gone by in those woods and all of the memories that they hold. This solo trip will allow me to do that all day, and that is the main plan. I'm not going to spend my days foraging for food, I'll spend the time sitting and relaxing, remembering every little moment that I can. I'll walk and visit all the areas that dad and I or my friends and I used to go to all the time, and remember the things we did. Though those times are long gone in the past, they're all still alive somewhere in my head, and I plan to re-visit each and every one that I possibly can.
I need this trip to not only bring back all of those memories of my past, but to also clear my head. This layoff has been pretty stressfull, and has taken it's toll on my mind. I tend to have a lot of sleepless nights, thinking and worrying about things. Not just worrying about money, but of my own feelings of self worth. I've felt like less of a man for quite a while, staying home and doing housework while Lisa goes to her job. I feel kinda useless some days. This isn't how it's supposed to be. Maybe I am too old fashioned, but I still believe that the husband should be the one out there earning a living while the wife stays home. I hate seeing Lisa leave for work while I am sitting here in pj's drinking coffee. Sometimes I stay in bed on purpose, just so I don't have to see that. I know that things have happened that are out of my control, but I still don't like it. I want to be the one heading to work while she stays home to read, or quilt, or spend time outside in the garden. I hate this, I really do. I know something will come along, but this waiting is killing me.
So....this trip out will hopefully do wonders for me. It will let me reconnect with that part of me that is lost,and it will let me clear my head. I can't always just sit and think around here, there are just too many distractions. The chickens are making noise, people honk their car horns, the dogs want in and out, the cat wants attention...just too many distractions, even in my little getaway room in the basement. I need this trip. Hopefully this entry didn't end on a really down side. It's just a cold rainy day and I haven't slept much for days. This was written last night before bed, edited a bit at 1am when I couldn't sleep, and again re-edited now at 11am. Geeeeeeeez I need a job!!

2010-04-06T07:04:00.002-04:00

Finally yesterday we got a bit of a break in the weather...again. It was in the upper 70's and sunny all day. A few days ago, I brought home some more old RR ties from mom n dads and decided to go ahead and made the new greens bed right next to the other one. Of course, I had to move the compost bin, the solar dehydrator, and condense down the woodpile about 6 feet. I added the 3 new ties to the end of the other four, giving me a second 8x8 bed. There was one untreated landscape timber in the pile I brought home, so I used it in the center to divide the new bed in half, one side for spinach and the other for garlic.
When the kids were still living at home, I had to make a spot for parking for them and for one of our vehicles. (an older lady lived here alone for 30 years and only needed the one spot) I had surrounded the area with RR ties, and on the upper end, wrapped them around a big oak tree, making a flowerbed at the end. Of course, I later decided against using the space for pointless flowers, so I removed the ties to use elsewhere, but left the soil that was in them, leaving just a 6x4x1ft deep mound. This is where I got the soil for the new bed, pulling the now grass from the top and taking it by the wheelbarrow load to fill the bed. YAY for getting rid of a bad spot to mow around and for using the soil for something more usefull.
Of course, as always, I'm working outside with the garage radio blasting to make my day to better. ( yesterdays selection was a beautiful mix of Yngwie Malmsteen, Rainbow, and Rough Cutt). I work much better with music, though the neighbors must imagine I am crazy singing along and having the occasional garden rake guitar solor hahaha. I got pretty warm around 11:00, so again, as always, I took off my shirt which left me with a lovely sunburn by the time I stopped around 5:30 to make dinner. I ALWAYS manage to give myself a monster sunburn on that first hot sunny spring day, so yesterday was no exception. Ah well, it's not too bad this morning.
Today is going to be another trek to my friends farm for more branches and vines for the garden trellis's/oblesques. I thought the pile I had last week would last a while, but of course I was wrong. I had enough to make 2 full ones and have just enough left to make 1 more. Today I plan on filling the truck as much as I possibly can. I made the first one with just 3 legs to see if it was stable enough. I put together the tripod legs, then started wrapping the vines around it from the bottom to the top, then created the wreath at the top, then wrapped the rest of the vines back around in the opposite direction back to the bottom. I hung one of Lisa's small windchimes inside the wreath, and I gotta say I'm pretty happy with the results. I made a second one with four legs and gave it the same wreath at the top, and put a windchime inside it and a little fake birds nest with plastic birds I got at the dollar store. I was just going for a little more of that "cuteness" that people seem to like so when I get some in the yard to sell they might just have that extra *push*. I still say it's worth a shot, people love that cutesy garden stuff lol.

2010-04-04T00:31:00.003-04:00

On Thursday, my bud Tammie and I set off to a friends farm to get more tree branches and vines to make more garden oblisques. I was a gorgeous sunny day and almost 70, a perfect day to be outside. We set off around 11am, got there, talked to my friends wife while she was walking around with two young sheep that she was caring for, and walked off into the woods. It was a perfect day to be out, mid 70's and sunny. We couldn't have picked it better.

We decided to hit the vines first, which were in the far back of their 14 acres, and started walking. I was carrying my fully loaded ALICE pack, just so I could get used to the weight, and she was carrying her saw and some drinks. We got to the spot we wanted, and before long, had a good sized pile of wound vines ready to haul out. We sat down for a few minutes and took a break, just sitting and talking a little while we spent more time just looking around and enjoying the scenery. We heard some deer walking off in the distance, and saw a hawk fly low within 50 feet of it. This is why I still love this place that I have known for my entire life. It's beautiful, peaceful, and quiet being so far from any roads and people. That hillside and all that property around it has always been my escape. I have many great memories there.

We talk quite a bit while we are gathering there, in between the long bouts of total silence while we work and enjoy the quiet. In my world of few friends, Tammie is one of the best I have ever known. Few people I have known understand what Lisa and I do here at home and what we want for the future. Tammie gets it because she wants the same things. I have never had another friend that I could talk to about living off grid, gardening, self sufficiency, and all the other endless topics that we chat about, all of my others think I'm insane, she doesn't. We talked about a lot of things there in the woods the same as we do when she comes to the house for coffee on random days when I am home. (which Lisa loves to joke about, saying we sit around and talk about our cramps and our feelings, LOL) It's somewhat funny to think that I met her through the online group she started, never imagining her place was 5 minutes away. I can truly say that in the 2 years since we met over an e-mail and a bucket of horseradish from our garden, she has become one of the best friends I have ever had. I have to thank her for that, it means more than she knows from someone who has not had very many.

We were able to find one spot that had vines as far as the eye could see, and gathered a LOT of vines to bring back, twisting them into rings like christmas wreaths to be easier to carry...which was a real bonus considering I was wearing that fully loaded pack already, lol. We both had two armloads, and headed for the truck so we could drop them off and get another drink since we had both already finished the large vitamin waters we carried in just 2 hours earlier. We tossed the vines in the truck, grabbed a quick drink, and set off once again to get branches for the legs. Luckily, there are plenty of piles of branches left from the loggers about halfway to where we gathered the vines. We picked through the piles, tossing out the straighter ones, cutting off the small branches, and tossed them in piles. After 3-4 areas of gathering, we bundled them up with some rope and decided to call it a day. We got them in the truck, headed home, then divided them up for her to head home to start more of her own projects. I was tired, hot, sweaty, and covered with scratches since I was silly enough to wear a sleeveless t-shirt. Remind me NOT to do that again!! My right shoulder looks like I was wrestling with a 6 foot raccoon.

I came in the house, got the dogs outside, grabbed a giant iced tea, and headed to the garage to start my own. I decided to go with a tripod design for my first rather than a 4 legged one like we watched Rick Pratt make for the video. I made this one around 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide, which went really quick. Wrapping the vines around it however, took a little more time. The vine I grabbed to wrap around the frame ended up being close to 20 feet long, and I didn't want to cut it quite yet. I started on the bottom of one leg, turning the frame instead of trying to wrap 20 feet of vine around it over and over. Yea....lol...not as easy as I thought. The vines are stiff and don't bend quite so easily. It took me about 20 minutes or more to get it wrapped around once from bottom to top. My plan for this one is to roll the vines at the top to make a sturdy wreath that will stand straight up, then wrap it around the frame again in the opposite direction back to the bottom. I had just started the wreath part when Lisa came home, and I stopped.

Lisa had quite a surprise for me when she got home, she had bought us a new mattress. WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!!! We've had that same one since before we moved in this house 11 years ago, and it was getting really uncomfortable and had springs starting to pop up so much that you could feel them. We were wayyyy overdue for this. They had told her it would be delivered on Thursday, and since I have NO patience, I asked her to call and see if I could just pick it up. Of course, the store doesn't even stock the mattresses, and their warehouse is in Cleveland. The best we could do was up the delivery date to Monday, so that will have to do. I hate paying for something and not having it in my hand right then. I hate waiting for something to be mailed, shipped, or delivered. It makes me crazy, lol. Ah well, at least I know it's on the way.

The weather here is starting to make me insane, even though I know it's the typical Ohio spring. 75 one day and 50 the next. Sunny one day, rain the next. Arrrgghhhhhhh. On Monday, Tammie and I were supposed to go film one of her blog videos of someone who plows with draft horses. The forecast on Friday called for rain and storms on Monday, so she cancelled for now, which was really disappointing. We were really looking forward to that one. She'll just have to talk to the people and re-schedule sometime when the weather is more stable.

While we were at the farm gathering the materials, the owner, who I have known most of my life, asked me if I was still out of work. He is bidding a job that he is pretty sure he has, clearing out a pretty large warehouse not far away, and would take 3-4 months. He wants to hire someone to oversee the demo crew, letting them in and locking up every day, while watching them and making sure no one gets hurt. Kind of a job supervisor/safety/security guy. I told him I would be VERY interested, thanked him for thinking of me, and told him I would be gladly waiting for the call. Keep your fingers crossed for me folks.

Survival/Camping trip plans-Summer 2010

2010-03-31T15:33:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I took my uncle to the local gun show just to get us both out of the house. Of course, I am in no situation to buy much of anything, but it was something to do, and my uncle has been talking about it since I mentioned it to him 2 months ago. So...as much as it killed me to go practically broke, I picked him up and we went. I haven't been to this particular one in 10-12 years, but for him it was more like 25 years. WOW were we both in for a shock!
The place was absolutely packed, even though we didn't get there till after 1pm. We were at the very first booth when my uncle spotted a rifle he has wanted for years, a genuine COLT civil war era musket. For me, the $3k price tag is far out of reach, but for him it isn't. He took the guys card so he could think about it for a few days, but called me today to say he wants to make the call and go get it if I drive him to this mans house, lol. Good for him. We were talking on the way back, and the conversation somehow went to a great uncle of mine who had passed away several years ago. After he died, the family found over $250k in savings and cash that no one knew about, and my uncle was telling me how sad it was that he saved it for all those years for nothing. I told him it was the perfect example of why he should go ahead and get the rifle. He saw the point...so we'll be making that trip later this week to go get it. I'm happy for him.
Anyhoo....back to the show. Both of us were absolutely floored by the prices of everything. It's been some time since I've had to buy any ammo since I have so much here, at the folks, and ready to reload. Prices are nearly double what they were the last time I had to buy any 45acp or 9mm, I was honestly in shock. Gun prices were insane, of course making me sick to my stomach about what I sold when I divorced 13 years ago, and what I sold them for...not to mention remembering what the prices were in the early 80's when I worked at that Woolworth store. Those chinese AK47's I had bought there, (and sold later) for $195 were selling for over $600. Everything I had owned at one time was 2-3x what I had paid for it back then. I spent most of the day walking around and looking, all the while wanting to kick myself in the ass for selling everything I used to own. That stickershock is still with me.
My uncle got 2 boxes of ammo, a few small things, and some beef jerky that he loves. I ended up finding a large ALICE pack for $20 on my way out. It's a complete military surplus backpack with the metal frame, shoulder straps, and waist belt...a GREAT deal for the price. I wanted an XL pack, but I can make a large do for what I need. I had a fully set and rigged XL, stuffed full of gear, but it was one of many things I left at the house when I left my ex wife, and of course, she made no effort to make sure I got it back. Ah well,lesson learned. I have this one now, and spent some time last night and a little tonight packing it with some essentials that I want/need in it.
Years ago when I was in my teens, I used to "escape" to the woods behind mom and dads place all the time. Sometimes it would just be for a few hours, sometimes for a day, and other times for a few days. I had a cheap nylon backpack that I would fill with gear I thought I would need, grab a .22 rifle, and dissappear. Sure, it wasn't like walking into the Amazon jungle, but still I used only what I had on my person and on my back with roughly 1000 acres around ms. I ate wild berries, wild greens, drank from a stream, and ate squirrel and rabbit. Not many people knew what I did, simply because most would have thought I was insane, and my dad would have flipped at me shooting game out of season. I never took anyone with me, and no one ever knew when I was going. Usually I made something up about spending the night at someones house, or later spending a few days with the current girlfriend at the time. It was a bit different later in my 20's when I had to ditch my car somewhere that no one knew about, but I always managed to find a spot. With my car well hidden, and no one knowing where I was, it was all too easy to disappear without a trace.
I loved those times. I had a small one man tent that I would pitch and cover with limbs and brush somewhere it wouldn't be found. I used a sleeping bag inside, though most nights I didn't need it. Body heat and the thick cover kept the inside of the tent very warm. I'd spend the mornings enjoying the surroundings and watching nature. Sometimes I took a book to read, other times I took a notebook to write my thoughts, and sometimes I had both. I always managed to find berries for breakfast, and had TANG to drink with spring water, though later that of course turned to coffee, lol. I'd set off mid afternoon to find greens and game, and sometimes snatch an ear of sweet corn from one of the nearby cornfields. I always ate well. I had an abundance of grapes, blackberries, raspberries, greens, apples, and many other wild edibles to choose from. I never took anything but salt and pepper to spice my game with, but I knew early on to toss some apple or other leaves on the fire for a wonderful smoked flavor. Back then I used matches or a lighter for starting fires, though once or twice I used a magnifying glass. I always came back from these little outings feeling totally refreshed, and almost always regretting having to come back. I quit those trips when I was married the first time, somewhere around 1994. I missed those trips and still do. So that brings me back around to getting that ALICE pack.
I'm going to do one of these trips again later this spring. I have a little bit more extensive of a supply list than I did back then, which is pretty funny considering the minimal amount that I got by with before. Now with reading so many articles, websites, forums and books on survival, I tend to lean toward a more extensive list, and a few fancy little gadgets, which make me laugh considering I normally "shun" modern gadgets. More than likely, I'll take a gadget and and old alternative and test one versus the other, like a magnesium firestarter vs a magnifying glass or flint & steel. When I first started thinking about getting back into these little treks away from the world, I had no consideration of using the experience for anything other than for myself, but I plan to take plenty of notes and possibly pictures to use here and on the facebook group I started as a sister site to this blog.
I have most of the gear I want or need for this trip, but there are a few small things I will need to get. I don't have any date set yet of course, but it could be next weekend or it could be in August...who knows. Thinking about it has gotten me pretty excited, even more on the way home yesterday with the new pack. Sitting here putting gear in the pack at the same time I write this post gets me even more giddy to plan it out and set a date. I'll figure it out sooner or later as always.
I know that I have a majority of readers that will not understand at all why I would want to do this, afterall, most of you are gardeners or homestead types. Thats me too, but as I said in a post a while back, I am much more. I miss those little getaways I had years ago. I miss the serenity. I miss the peace. I miss nature. Spending a weekend or a week alone in the woods is so much more rewarding than an afternoon stroll, or even a weekend at a campground. It's heavenly to me. I want to see and experience that again, and of course, I want to be able to make sure I still have what it takes to survive with just the basics. If I could do it 16 years ago, why not now??????? I guess we'll all find out.
Since I'm writing this over the course of 3 days, I can say that the pack is nearly complete. I made a list a few months ago when I first planned on doing this little trip, and listed everything I thought I would need. It contains: a tarp, sleeping bag,flashlight with spare batteries, 2 good hunting knives, hatchet, compass, water filter and purification tablets, first aid kit, book, notebook & pen, raingear, spare wool socks, toiletry kit, folding shovel, simple cook & eating set, 2 canteens, 2 firestarters, pack of matches, tinder, rope, paracord, Gerber multi-tool, insect repellant, folding camp saw, handwarmers, trash bag, superglue, spare boot laces, jacket, binoculars, and a few small odds & ends that I can't think of. I need to get a smaller tent somewhere since my smallest one is a 4 man dome, and I need to get the sling installed on my Marlin 25 .22 rifle. I have a small list of non-necessities that I may or may not grab also: MRE's, small campstove, small perculator, a lantern, and a radio. I doubt I will grab any of those, but I listed them just in case. More than likely I won't take a radio, but I will have my cell phone for emergencies and just so anyone can reach me if need be. (with my parents and uncle being older, I don't want to lose that option) I'll probably take the HI Point .45 with me, just on the very very off chance I get coyotes wandering around camp at night. The .22 would work just fine, but the .45 would be easier in case I was inside the tent. Yea I know, coyotes aren't vicious lol but I'm taking it anyway.Maybe there's an Ohio Yetti that I have never seen before...hey ya never know, hahaha.
I'm considering bringing a friend along since he's taken an interest in the idea, but I'm not sure. On one hand I would like the company, but on the other it would be a great opportunity for me to head out and clear my head in nature for a few days by myself. I'm still kicking that around. Enough for now, this is far longer than I intended.

So You Want to Start a Garden

2010-03-30T19:16:00.002-04:00

This was intended to be my first audio presentation, but when I figured out that a PC capable digital voice recorder was well over $100, I put the idea on hold for a while. Rather than let this script sit in a file waiting, I'm just gonna use it for a blog post. Sometime down the road I'll get a recorder, but for now I'll just stick with writing. It's an unedited script I wrote on Wordpad, so I tried my best to write it like I was talking. Hopefully it comes out that way. It's intent was for people new to vegetable gardening from my viewpoint and our methods we use here.....enjoy. (i hope lol)

SO YOU WANT TO START A GARDEN

When we moved here 11 years ago this coming May, we decided that we both wanted a small backyard garden. Both of us had watched our parents and others garden over the years, learned from their sucess's and mistakes, and decided that this one would be done our way. My dad always plowed a plot, disced it, and then planted. The grass that was turned under by the plow eventually worked it's way back to the top over the season, and weeding turned into a daily chore. Even years later when my parents got a rototiller, they did the same thing, and we still had the same weed problem. I decided to take a different approach. I marked off the origional 10x10 area with stakes and a string, and pulled the sod by hand with a shovel. At the time I had a small front tine tiller, and I used it to turn the soil for planting. The sod pulled from the area was used to fill low spots in the yard simply by shoveling it out of the trailer or wheelbarrow, and running over it with the lawn tractor. After a few good rains and mowings, the low spots were gone. In later years I made a screen from 1/2 x 1/2 inch wire fencing that mounted on the garden trailer. I simply screened out the soil from the grass, and the grass leftover went to either our compost pile, or to our chickens. Two years ago I just piled the sod in a sunny spot behind the garage, letting it sit for a year. The top grew into a big hump of grass while the heat and mass caused all the grass inside to die. Last spring when I made the first of the 8x8 beds for greens, I pulled the top layer of sod from the pile, and used the soil underneath to fill the bed. It doesn't get much easier than that. With our garden being lower than the rest of the yard, it gets more water and less runoff. Water runs toward our garden naturally now, so we don't have to rely on watering unless it's very hot and dry. With the top layer of grass and weeds completely gone, weeding our garden was very minimal. Now with mulching and the same sod removal, weeds are nearly non existant.
After the first garden area was tilled, we used stakes and string to mark out the rows and also the paths. I always take the size of the plant into consideration when marking new rows. Rather than just figure a two foot spacing between plants, I look at how wide each plant will be when fully grown. Sure, leaf lettuce in a single row may only grow 6-8 inches wide, but tomatos can go to nearly 3 feet wide, and green beans to 2 feet. I start with a 12" minimum space from the yard at the beginning, mark it, then mark the 2nd side of the row, then again mark a path. So....if I start at 12 inches, make a 24 inch row for green beans, I make a 24" path before the next row, giving plenty of room for walking and kneeling along with plant growth. At the time of the first spring planting, our garden appears to have 300 yards of bright yellow masons twine ran through it from end to end, but it works great for us. When plants are all above ground and recognisable, I remove the string and stakes. If you are going in straight rows, plant things together that will grow wider or more narrow in the same rows to save or utilize more space.
That first year we weren't sure what we could grow in our soil. It appeared to be rich, but you can never tell for sure. With that small 10x10 area, we grew tomatos, green beans, squash, and some simple leaf lettuce. We knew the soil was fertile, so we planned on bigger the next year. I am not a beliver in soil testing. . Well taken care of soil with compost added will produce food for you year after year. I have yet to have any tests made, and more than likely never will. We experiment with plants from time to time and see if certain things will grow here or not. For instance, we had horrible luck with brussel sprouts, but year after year get bumper crops of green beans. Our answer to the brussel sprouts dilemma is simple-we don't grow them. We continue to try different plants here, and the sucesses have far outweighted the failures. I refuse to amend my soil to grow one thing, when something else will grow just fine in it's place. The entire garden gets compost and grass clippings all season long. In the fall, the entire area is covered in leaves from the yard that not only continue to break down and feed the soil, but mulch over the entire area to prevent any weed growth after we are finished harvesting. I rake our leaves and get some from next door. I'm sure any neighbor would be more than happy to get rid of that pile of leaves in their yard or at the curb.
Each year since that first garden, it has grown. That first 10x10 garden now sits at 45x65 feet and is getting a 4 foot extension this year, We use the same methods I have already mentioned and have bumper crops of nearly everything we plant each year. Sure, some things may not do as well as they did the previous year, but that's gardening. It simply doesn't always work. We have to plan on crop failures and disease, just as you will. It's frustrating, it's disappointing, but that's just the way it is. Vegetable gardening is a learning experience from year to year. We're still learning after 11 years, and will continue to learn.
Now I know, someone out there is listening and thinking "but this book said to do that", and "that guy at the garden center said to do this" Well.....most modern books I see concentrate more on soil amendments and science than simply producing food. And that guy at the graden center? It's his job to say you need fertilizer X and spray Z, afterall, he sells them, just like the guy at the car dealership says you need that extra option on your new vehicle. He may have your best interest at heart, but he is still selling product, and most of them as with the authors I mentioned, are more prone to turn to modern methods of chemicals to fix your problems, which we avoid at all costs.
My parents grew a succesful, though weedy, garden every year as did my grandparents. They never had their soil tested or added fertilizers or soil additives. A hundred years ago, everyone had a garden of some kind, and they had no idea what pH was. Native Americans grew some of their own food with sucess for hundreds of years, and they never had to run to the local hardware store for herbicides.Neither did our early settlers. Keep it simple folks. Don't over think your garden. Don't over plan it. Don't add this and that if your soil appears to be fertile. If it's too much clay, add some sand and compost. If it's too thin, add some clay or mulch and compost INTO the soil. And one thing to always remember with compost. Add it to your rows or beds only! I have seen far too many people add compost to their entire garden area, adding nutrients to the areas they walk on. You aren't feeding the soil for your shoes, you're feeding the soil for your plants.
For the first 10 years, our garden had no hard border. It was simply a square hole dug 4" in the backyard. My concentration was on production, not aesthetics. Our garden grew HUGE amounts of food, so I didn't really care if it had the pretty border or the painted white picket fence around it. This is where I see way too many people making the same choices. They are so concentrated on how their garden will look, they will spend $400 on picket fence and posts to grow $125 worth of vegetables. I'm not saying to not care at all what it looks like, but don't worry as much about looks as you do what it can yield. In my opinion,even the smallest 10x10 plot in the ground full of vegetables looks more beautiful than a manicured lawn and bed of worthless flowers. Our garden now has a border at ground level made from untreated landscape timbers simply because I had a free supply of them. Otherwise, it still wouldn't. If parts of the yard happened to roll over into the garden, I got out that fancy grass removal tool from the garage that hangs on an area marked SHOVEL and removed it. It was really no hassle.Mission accomplished. I have other areas that are enclosed, and all are done totally with free materials. Our greens beds are bordered with 20+ year old railroad ties that I am confident are long dried of creosote. Lisa's small herb bed is surrounded by concrete parking bumpers from a jobsite. Fancy edging and borders are unnecessary, try your best to avoid using them. Find suitable materials for free or for far less, and use the savings on garden tools, or other seeds and plants.
How much you want to grow depends on the space you have available to set aside for your garden. In our case, we didn't have small kids and had no use for the big open backyard of grass. We have slowly utilized the entire area for growing food, with the lone exception of one area for our clothelines. Within any given space, how much to plant in it is soley up to you. Take into consideration how much you or your family eat in fresh vegetables, and if you plan to somehow preserve produce from your garden. If you have that big open area you can turn totally into a garden, learn to can, freeze,dehydrate, or otherwise store your harvest and use as much as possible. If your family loves green beans, plant plenty and can some every week or two. If you like salsa or pasta sauces, learn to make and can them yourself. Even if you just grow a typical summer garden, preserving can let you enjoy the same beans, corn, and tomato's in the other seasons while saving money on buying the same thing at the grocery store. None of the preservation methods are extremely hard to learn, and they're well worth the effort to do so.
Before I end this, I feel I have to go in one other direction. I have talked to many people over the years about growing their own food. Some get it, some don't. Some try, and some don't. The most frequent answer I hear is "I don't have the time". I know that some people have busy work schedules, and I know some families have both parents jobs and kids to juggle, but here is my point. Anyone making the decision to grow their own food should make it a priority. Not necessarily top priority like we do, but still a priority. If you have taken the time to make a garden area, take the time to take care of it. Don't let those weeds go, or let ripe vegetables sit on the plant while you watch something on tv or go to the mall. Spend some time outside. Look at your plants. Pick and enjoy the harvest. Feel the freedom you have given yourself from the grocery store, even if it's just those 6 tomato's or bowl of fresh lettuce. You don't have to go buy it, you grew it yourself. Growing your own food is rewarding in many ways. Enjoy it, embrace it, and reap the rewards.

Rainy days ahead

2010-03-22T10:23:00.002-04:00

Last week and the weekend was a beautiful break from our typical spring weather. Temps were in the upper 60's and sunny. I spent as much time outside as I could, preparing things for spring planting. I've yet to do anything with the main garden, but most everything else is either been cleaned or prepped for planting. I got rid of seven hens to save on feed...we REALLY didn't need 19. I'm happy with a flock of 12 now, just enough. I'm gathering material to rebuild the first half of the run that I made 2 years ago with the top from the carport frame. It will be 4 foot tall chain link with a gate, same as the second half I made when the neighbor told me I could have his hens last fall. I would like to have it taller so my big ogre a$$ could actually walk inside, but I don't want it taller than the dogs fence and draw more attention to the place more than we already are. Four feet isn't too bad, do I can deal with that. I'd like to sometime down the road cover the outside with four foot privacy fence, but that's not a big concern right now.
I have to visit my folks Wednsday morning to help get a couch out so dads new daybed can be delivered. I'll be counting the good RR ties and concrete bumpers that I need to haul off, so I can plot them here for the new greens beds. I'm hoping to have enough for one more 8x8 bed, which I don't think will be a problem. I like the idea of having salad greens closer to the house in them rather than in the main garden. Granted it's not a 1/2 mile hike to the garden, but 10 feet outside the gate makes it a lot more convenient. I'll be doing away with the idea of rows in these and going to square foot gardening, probably just dividing the 8x8 into four 2x2 area for lettuce varieties, spinach, and trying celery for the first time here.
When this weather decides to break again, I'll stake out the two new strawberry beds I want and get them started. I just need to pull the sod as I always do and give it just one good tilling before I transplant starts from the overgrown existing bed. Like I've said many times before, there is no such thing as too many strawberries!! We both love to eat them fresh, so even though we added the larger bed 3 years ago, we rarely end up with enough to make into jam. I'm hoping that tripling the large area will do away with that problem. I'm also going to transplant some starts from the blackberries and increase their area another 8-10 feet, and also get some more wild ones from my folks place to add out front. Blackberries for me are as bad as strawberries, I can just stand there and eat off the plant, so...more is always better.
Along with the other projects, I have to finish the 30 foot round bed I made out front just for herbs. I'll be adding a small four foot garden pond to that area that I am getting from a friend, and filling it with whatever Lisa decides she wants. My vote is for tons of lavender, but she says I'll just go lay out there and sleep, lol. I like the idea of having all the fresh herbs for cooking and medicinal use, and as always, eliminating more worthless grass. I'd love to find a few area to plant some mint and lemon balm just to let them fill it and enjoy the scent, but thats just a thought right now too. I'll do just about anything to get rid of more grass.
I drew up a sketch of the whole place to plot some areas and get new ideas about what we can plant where. Keep in mind I am no artist by any means, and the scale is way off,but it still gives me a good idea of open space versus what is already filled. There are 3 pines in the front that I'd like to take down, one I can do myself but the other 2 are near or in the power lines and I won't attempt it without a boom lift or something to make sure I don't drop anything on them. All 3 are dying, so there are dead limbs almost halfway up. I'll need to borrow a chainsaw larger than my 18" before I even think about getting started on any of them.
The three small green circles that are unlabeled in the drawing are the areas I made in the post a few days ago. As of right now, Lisa wants them for gourds. I'd prefer something edible, but she likes to paint gourds and they always overtake the garden. I considered cherry tomato's, but since I don't care for them myself, it would be a waste to let one climb a 6 foot trellis and produce more than Lisa can eat. Two of the strawberry beds will be the new ones, you can see the line in the blackberries where I will add another section, and the yellow area marked corn will be new. The small area above that is where I have HOPEFULLY contained the horseradish, though there are no guarantees with that stuff. It's more invasive than mint.
Today is a total bust on getting anything done outside. It's in the 30's and raining. I'll use the day to catch up on cleaning and things around here I have been meaning to get to. I just hope the forecast is wrong and this weather doesn't last a week!

Front yard trellis project

2010-03-20T22:06:00.010-04:00

Since we are nearly out of backyard, we have decided to move some things to the front. I already have a 30ft round herb bed plotted out and ready for planting, and we have the 2 drarf apples and 1 blueberry we put in last year. After spending some time with my friend Tammie playing cameraman for her blog and watching Rick Pratt make a garden oblesque/trellis, I've decided to make my own and incorperate them in the front yard to plant Lisa's gourds on, along with cucumbers and possibly cherry tomato's.

Anytime I make a new area or bed, I always edge it with something for weed control, usually stones, timbers, or plastic edging. This time, since the area didn't need to be very big, I chose something I had on hand to use. I used a plastic 55 gallon drum.

First I marked the drum (top already cut off) into 6 inch rings and used a sawzall with a wood blade to cut them. A metal blade tends to hang up more with plastic.

Then I used my grinder to take the burrs off the edges of the cuts, which you can see on the left side of the grinder. (clean on the right)

I set the rings where I wanted them, cut the edges with the shovel and removed the ring.

I took out the soil, putting the sod on the compost pile,and mixed the soil with fresh compost.

After mixing the soil and compost, I filled the holes and covered them with 8" or so of leaves as a mulch until we can put in seed or plants.

This is the one I watched Rick Pratt make last weekend from all willow. I haven't found a source for willow yet, but I'll be making some from birch and doing the winding part with grape vines. Tammie and I went on a search for willow earlier this week, and though we didn't have any luck finding any, we found an area being logged that was laying full of birch branches and grapevines as far as the eye can see. We gathered enough for her to start some of her own, so I'll have to make another trek to get some for myself. I'm hoping to start them this week so they're out of the way, but the weather is supposed to get cold and rain again...ugh. Ah well, plenty of time since we won't be frost-free until mid-end May. I'll probably make some for the tomatos and cucumbers in the main garden too. Hopefully this isn't a really boring post, but I'm going to start posting more things I do as a sort-of tutorial/picture log step by step. If I'm happy with the way these turn out, I'm going to make a few extra's and put them in the yard with a for sale sign and give it a shot. I'm hoping with us being on a busy road and a popular garden center less than 1/4 mile away, they'll get some attention. What the heck, it's worth a shot, and I can get all the materials I want for free. I have an idea to make one with large vines in a circle at the top and hang a small windchime from it.....can't wait to see how it turns out!!
If you are interested in these, go to my friend Tammie's blog and watch the video of the one in the picture being made...and admire my FINE camera work, LOL. She had to make it a 2 parter, so she should get the second half up soon. http://unusuallyunusualfarmchick.blogspot.com/2010/03/our-first-video-segment.html
To see what Rick REALLY makes, visit him at www.aroundthebendwillowfurniture.com His work is amazing....Lisa really really wants me to make the stars & moons bed...guess I better find that source for willow!!!

Someone's been a busy girl....

2010-03-16T14:21:00.003-04:00

Ladies and Gentleman, meet EGGZILLA!!! LOL I found this one yesterday along with the other 15. Yea....umm......16 eggs a day, time to scale back a bit on the hens.

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FINALLY!!!

2010-03-15T08:17:00.002-04:00

Finally...........after over 4 months of reminding people and waiting, I have ONE picture of me from Halloween. YODARR the Barbarian lives!!!!!!
I loved the platform boots that I made. You can easily tell how big the things made me by realizing that Mike (on my left) is 6 feet tall. hahaha I stood over 6'8" with those things added to my normal 6'3". Hopefully I'll get more since they just now got around to uploading these on their computer. Mike's costume was awesome. That's not a mask, it's latex applied (glued) to his face! He won the best costume prize of a bottle of Vampire wine.
Enjoy...and laugh a bit.

Looking back

2010-03-09T18:28:00.000-05:00

Today while looking through my blog, I realized that I have written 204 posts. When I started it, I never thought I would write that many or end up having 112 followers. It started as just something to do on the now gone Yahoo 360, but I brought it here when I realized that no one ever read it but a handfull of Yahoo friends. I transferred some here and started writing regularly. Sometimes I would post 3-4 a week, and sometimes I would miss a few weeks alltogether. I like looking back and seeing the accomplishments here at home, and reading the comments from all of you followers. It's been a lot of fun, and I am looking forward to writing more this year.
My subject matter tends to jump around quite a bit. I started off sticking with the garden/homestead idea, but that's not all what I am about. I want to write and share all the things I enjoy, read about, or am passionate about, which leaves some entries with 12 comments and some with none. I've considered going back to just the gardening and homesteading for this blog, but I have decided not to. It's not all I do, so it won't be all I write about. The only place I can write freely about all of my interests is here. I frequent several online forums, but never quite fit in. The typical "suburban homesteader" sites are all about being pretty, and I am not. The hunting places are all about that trophy deer, and I'm about putting food in the freezer. The eco-green places want to talk about small trendy things they do that they saw on tv, where I want to go off grid and live like it was 1884. I'm too homestead for the survival folks, and too survival for the homestead folks. My only outlet of openly talking and sharing my life is here, and here it will stay.

Today I'll start with something I have never really talked about in just one post, and thats why we garden. I've talked about gardening hundreds of times, how we do what we do, and what we do with the produce, but I have never really said WHY. Well, there are several reasons. The first and foremost is not having to go buy something I can simply grow myself. I dispise the thought of going to the store and buying cans of green beans when I can spend a little time planting seeds and have the ability, like last year, to can 60 quarts of them at home. I can't imagine not looking out this window at all that we have planted and at the vegetable garden space and remember what it was like to go have to buy everything, I just can't. The work isn't all that hard, and the end results are amazing. I will never not have a garden simply for this one reason.

Reason number two is I know what is in my plants or what has been sprayed on them. NOTHING. We use no fertilizers other than compost. We use no pesticides or herbicides. I know that my tomato's came from my own backyard and not from Mexico where they are sprayed with chemicals that are banned in the US. Most produce you see at the stores is picked and shipped unripened, and sprayed to make them ripen in transit. This why you see big red apples and tomatos that taste like nothing, they aren't ripe. In the past, I have bought tasteless tomotos, dyed apples, and green onions with a slimy god knows what in the center of the stalk. I don't want to eat that, or anything else I have listed.

Another reason is to simply live simpler and save money. With a few dollars in seeds, and my time (which i DON'T put a price on), I can grow and harvest for myself a large amount of food that I would normally have to buy. Someday I would love to add up everything we harvested last year and compare it to what it would cost at the grocery store. Besides the cost of the food itself, we are saving money on gasoline and wear & tear on the vehicles. I find it insane to spend $3 in gas to get $10 worth of groceries. I have no need to go to the store for potato's, I just walk out back and dig some up...just like everything else.

Along with our goals of living simpler, the garden helps us towards our goal of being as self sufficient as we possibly can. By not relying on the stores to buy fruit or vegetables, we're one step closer. We grow what we eat, and we can, freeze, dehydrate, and store everything we grow. Trips to the store are usually less frequent, and normally just for basic items. Each new thing we raise or plant in the ground is one less thing we are reliant on the grocer for. That alone is worth the effort we put into our garden and plants.

My last reason I wrote a bit about in a post a few days ago. With everything I grow and eat myself, I am sending a message to the big boys. I'm telling the grocery stores I don't need them. I'm telling big agriculture the same. And I am telling the chemical companies we won't buy their product or anything treated with it. With the population exploding, we rely on the grocer more and more since there are only a handfull of people who produce their own compared to the total population. This pushes the grocer to need more, which pushes the farmer to produce more, which pushes the chemical companies to make and market products which help the other two. Being out of this loop gives you freedom. It gives you independance, and it tells them we are not all going to fall into their trap. My garden is a big " * you" to all of them.

As I was proof reading this entry, I had another reason and wasn't going to add it, but decided that I will. I know it's far fetched for a lot of people, and sometimes even for me, but I'm going to include it anyway. While reading some of the preparadness and survival wesites I frequent, I see a lot of people talking about learning gardening for those big SHTF scenerio's they are all so fond of talking about. Many of them plan to have gardens after some giant disaster, and there are actually companies that sell garden seeds for long term storage, marketing them as basically a "survival garden in a bucket". While I don't think much about giant disasters or such things, I do know that I have the skills, the means, and the know how to have my own garden if one of their scenerio's would ever come true. Now I don't see anything like that happening, but in case it ever does, I'll trade ya some potatos and onions for that case of .223 ammo, LOL.

Staring out the window...

2010-03-08T11:40:00.003-05:00

Today is the first whole day I get to spend at home in over a month. The side work and odd jobs have kept me fairly busy, and our weekends have been spent visiting family and buying the sale items to restock the pantry. I've already done the dishes, cleaned the kitchen, put away laundry and sat to take a break before I take some tools back out to the garage and run the sweeper in the living room.
It's a warm day again, maybe in the mid to upper 40's. I'm sitting at the kitchen table looking out over the backyard and the FINALLY receeding snow. We had a record snowfall this year for February, totalling 31.7 inches. Counting other accumulation and drifts, we had spots close to 4 feet deep by the garage, chickenhouse and the woodpile. I do love winter to a point. Watching a nice slow snowfall is beautiful and a wonder of nature, but I really have to say I'm sick of it. We haven't had this much snow in a long long time, and we haven't had this much snow on the ground consistantly in more years than I can remember. Yea...all fine and dandy, but I'm done. I'm sitting here looking at the garden area, and the snow is melted just enough that I can see the contours of the raised beds, when a week ago it was a flat area covered in 3 feet of snow. I want this snow GONE! lol I want to get outside, get my hands dirty, and start the garden for the year. Of course, I can't do very much since we aren't even close to being out of danger of frosts, and with all this snow melting and the impending spring rains, it's going to be a mudhole. But I don't care right now. I'll pop on the rubber boots and get something accomplished at the first sign of open soil warming in the sun.
We have lots of plans for the garden this year. We'll be adding things we don't normally grow and adding more of things we grow little of. We'll be cutting back on a few others, while doubling or tripling 1 or 2 basics. I plan to find more older railroad ties and make more seperate beds just for greens. I plan to make another one just for carrots and celery. We'll double the onions and potatos, and cut back on my hot peppers. We'll be taking another shot at growing brussel sprouts since we have been eating so many lately, and I want to grow larger amounts of spinach and other like greens to process and can or freeze. This year will be all about producing to store, whether that would be canning, freezing, dehydrating, or basement storage of root crops; but also about growing more healty vegetables to eat during the growing season.
I'm also taking another look at growing wild edibles like dandelions, lambs quarters, and some other greens that people normally see as greens. These I want to plant around some trees and other area's in the front yard. They may look like ornamental plantings, but they are actually something edible. I've grown far past the point of caring about growing flowers and such just because they look pretty. Pretty has no use to me unless it is edible, just the same as grass in the yard. I see no point in wasting space just to plant things that are attractive to the eye and not the stomach. There are hundreds of edible plants and flowers out there that look just as good, if not better, than things we all normally stick in the flowerbeds with no concern other than how they look. I'll be doing a lot of research between now and "official" spring, and planting things accordingly. Of course Lisa will have her few small areas for some flowers that she loves, but I want to slowly do away with a lot, replacing them with edibles and herbs.
Since I mentioned herbs, the plans for the 30 foot circular herb bed out front are still on. We'll plant edible herbs, herbs for using as spice, and some medicinal herbs in that area. I'll be adding a small (4 foot) pond to the center of the area, hoping to attract frogs and toads to take care of the insect problem for me. I want this area to be something special. It won't only be for growing and cultivating herbs, but an area that stands out as a beautiful example of how something useful can be planted rather than a flower that just sits there and looks pretty. The pond can attract frogs and toads, and the herbs themselves can attract honey bees and hummindbirds. I want to start another area to grow a fairly large quantity of stevia since we have been using it as a sweetener more and more, but I have to find the right spot and make a bed for them. Being the same as everything else; when the snow melts off I will walk around the yard and pick out the perfect spot. Arrghhhhhh melt already!!!!!
So once again, our little homestead will be growing in production. I love looking back over the past nearly 11 years at this place and seeing how we have grown from a small 20x20 vegetable garden to where we are now and what the new plans are. I love knowing that each year we rid ourselves of more useless grass and palnt another area for things that are edible. With everything we add, we have the need to buy less, we eat better, and we're sending that message to the grocery stores and big agriculture. We don't need you, we don't want you. We can do for ourselves!

Well...enough for now folks. I'm off to get these tools to the garage, so another egg check, run the sweeper and plan dinner. I sure hope I can find something in the freezer to make LOL.

My viewpoint on herbicides, pesticides, and what you can do. Please think about this one.

2010-03-06T12:58:00.003-05:00

Today while reading yet another news story about the affects of pesticides and herbicides on our envoirnment and us, I started thinking about why such things are produced. As much as I want to follow the crowd and point my finger at the chemical companies and large scale farmers who use these products, I can't without thinking WHY these chemicals exist and are used. Yes I know, chemicals are evil, and yes I know, there are alternative ways to farming, but for now, I am going to look at the big picture.

As I have written in many previous posts, there was a time when EVERYONE produced some, if not all, of their own food. This could have been on a farm, on the prarie, or the man in the mountains eating elk and wild berries. Everyone was responsible for themselves. But as the population grew, towns grew into cities, and people moved away to have "jobs", they needed to buy their food rather than produce it. Imagine in todays standards, comparing the need for food outsourcing in 1810 as compared to today in 2010.

I did a little research, actually very little, to find the population of the US in 1810 compared to today.The figures I used were from the first website that popped up showing all 3 dates that I wanted, so they may be rough estimates and not totally correct, but no matter what, the numbers are still staggering in comparison. The US population in 1810 was 7,240,000. In 1910, it was 92,228,000, and now in 2010, it is a whopping 299,867,000 people.

I couldn't find any figures as to percentage of people growing their own food in 1810 as compared today, but I'll assume the ratio then was a LOT higher than it is today. If I was to even figure that 10% of our population now grows their own food, the number is still higher than the total population in 1810. Even as I sit here and type this, these figures still amaze me.

So what do all these figures have to do with chemicals like herbicides and pesticides? You have to figure how much food has to be produced to feed this gigantic number of people today, and factor in how many actual farms are left in the US. These farmers have to produce X amount of food to send out due to demand, but they also have to produce that same amount to even turn a profit. With the use of thse chemicals, their work load is reduced, cutting them down on labor costs and overhead. Imagine, really sit and think, about how much food it takes to feed nearly 300 MILLION people in comparison to the 7 million people 200 years ago. That's a LOT of food.
Don't think I am sitting here agreeing with the use of such chemicals with no thoughts of long term affects on our enviornment or ourselves. I care just as much as anyone else who is reading this. I will never agree with spraying fields with pesticides, or growing corn that is genetically modified to contain its own herbicide within itself. I disagree with ALL of these practices. But....I do understand WHY those things are used. We simply could not afford to produce food for 300 million people using all natural and organic methods, making them affordable, reliable, and capable of turning a profit for the farmer.
Now...with all this being said, it's time to take a stand. I don't mean send letters to the chemical companies, or refuse to buy a certain brand of canned corn, I mean produce your own. At this point in time folks, growing your own food is a revolution. With just one small tomato plant you stick in the ground yourself, you're not buying this one thing from the store, and you're raising that middle finger to the chemical companies. With a garden, you're doing even more, you're starting a battle with them. You're raising BOTH fingers, and telling them that you don't need them. With everything you produce for yourself, you're less reliant on the machine, eating one less chemical laden food, and telling the big guys you don't need them.
I'm not going to write on and on this time, I've done that enough in the past with previous posts. I just want each of you to think about a few things. If everyone with the means to do so grew just SOME of their own food, how would this hurt these companies? If 10% of us grew a garden, thats 10% of everyone with some kind of property, how would THAT affect them? It's time to take back our food folks. Time to take it back to ourselves. Time to make it safe. Time to put it back in our own hands instead of the chemical companies and commercial farms. Think about it.

And just to refer you all to the article I was referring to, go read this:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/03/02/common-weedkiller-chemically-castrates-frogs-turns-males-into-females/ It's some REALLY scary stuff to know that a hericide we are all ingesting has altered the sex in frogs. Just one more reason to think........

2010-03-02T21:59:00.003-05:00

Today I stopped to visit my folks for a bit, and mom surprised me with copies of pictures. They were pictures of my grandma's old house, which my grandfather built in the early 30's, and after he passed away, grandma raised 3 kids in by herself. I have a lot of fond memories of this place. The hand pump in the kitchen, evenings of watching late night tv with grandma and having massinve amounts of hot chocolate covered in marshmallow whip, and many Christmas's.

The place was wide open, with just a half wall seperating the kitchen from the living room. The room on the side was a bedroom that my dad, uncle, and aunt all shared while grandma slept on a rollaway bed she kept behind the couch. That bedroom (that sits lower than the main house) was origionally a chicken coop. The house was heated with a woodburner, though later it was converted to a radiant oil burner.

When my uncle built her the new house that I posted pictures of 2 weeks ago, she stayed next door at my aunts. She watched the dozer push over that house and cried all day. She started her life with my grandfather there. He built the house with his own two hands. She raised 3 kids there by herself. That tiny house was her life. My uncle just wanted better for her and had the means to do so, but my dad has never forgiven him for tearing it down and making his mother cry. She didn't like the new bigger house at first, but after getting used to quilting by a woodburner in a sewing room the size of the old house, she got used to it and got more comfortable.

While I could live with ease in something like this by myself, I cannot imagine raising 3 children in it. While I like to shun modern conviences and gadgets, I think of this house and can only imagine how hard it was. All of us have memories of that tiny house, and now I have pictures to look at and bring back more.

Sorry about the picture quality. My scanner is down, so these are pictures of a picture.

This view is of the right (east) side of the house. That door was rarely used, and was boarded and sided over not far after these were taken. It's hard to tell on these pictures, but the house was not on the ground. It was on wooden stilts and cement blocks.

This is the back of the house. That room to the left is the bedroom made from a chicken coop. The place never had shingles, only tarpaper. That door opened into the kitchen, and the living room started roughly 8 feet to the left. The sink with hand water pump was right under that back window.

This is the other side by the driveway. Note the size of the car in comparison to the house. Yea, it was tiny. That mirror on the right of the picture was on an old GMC stakebody truck that belonged to my uncle. The back was enclosed with wood, and it was always our "fort" when we played at grandma's. That driveway was lined with tiny rubber cutouts about the size of a penny from molds where grandma worked her second job. (she was a school custodain in the day and worked in a rubber shop in the evenings) She brought them home in buckets and poured them onto the drive since she could never afford gravel. I wish I still had one as a momento, but I don't.

Food storage shopping (yes it's that again)

2010-02-23T17:42:00.003-05:00

There is really nothing exciting going on here at all. We've been dealing with the snow, then yesterday it decided to warm up and rain, THEN today it gets cold again...oh joy, ice. Even though a lot has melted, there is still around 10" or more. I'm really getting the itch to start garden plans, but looking out the window at snow reminds me that we have plenty of time until we can plant. I love winter, but hate this part when I just want it to go away so I can get outside.

I've been getting a fair amount of side work and odd jobs, so we've done a fair amount of shopping to restock the pantries and freezer while we can. We've gotten so much in fact, that this weekend I'll be cleaning out a closet in one of the spare bedrooms and converting it to pantry #4. I'll need to build some good strong shelves as we've decided to start buying more canned goods than we origionally considered. In the odd chance we have a bad crop of green beans or tomato's, we'll still have some on hand. I know we generally do really well with the garden, but there is always that chance. And besided, canned goods can last 5-10 years. We'll have plenty on hand for that "just in case", and we'll have plenty so the kids can come here to shop as they do quite often, and not cut us short at all.

We stock all the store bought items by ONLY shopping sales. We get the ads in the mail, go through them, and make a list of who has what we want, and how much we will be saving over regular prices. We watch for general sale prices, and always watch the buy one/get one sales. Some of these aren't that great, but some are. For instance, Saturday we bought buy1/get1's on kielbasa, smoked sausage,and roasts. The savings were pretty substantial, so we got 2 each of the kielbasa and sausage (getting 2 each free) and one roast (getting 1 free). We found boxed cereal at 5/$10, (regular 2.89 each) so we saved $4.45, plus the ad was buy 10 and get 3 free gallons of milk. We gave the kids 5 boxes of cereal and a gallon of milk, put the rest of the cereal away, and put the other 2 gallons of milk in the freezer. With milk going for 2.29, we saved $6.87 on it, plus the $4.45, making a total savings of $11.32. The second store had an unadvertised "one day sale" on peanut butter, normally 2.89 each, for 1.88. We bought the limit of 6, even though we had just purchased peanut butter at the first store for a sale price of 5/$10. (you can never have too much peanut butter lol) Between both stores, we saved a total of around $90.

Nothing we bought was anything we were out of or needed right away, but we took advantage of sales and got it anyway. Buy buying at sale prices and stocking up, we're saving even more in the long run. The regular price could rise, as would the sale price,and we'd have to burn gas to get to the store to get whatever we were out of. If I don't get back to work full time anytime soon, we'll already have food like we did before, which saved us a LOT of money over the past year. We have no intentions on slowing down on food storage, even if I was to go back to work full time tomorrow. It didn't take long to realize how much money we had saved, and how much having food on hand saved us from going hungry, or having to choose between the electric bill and groceries. Nope, we won't slow down at all. In fact, when I do get back to work, (which may be the end of this month or early march), we'll step up the storage. This economy is unstable, and so is the availibility of construction work. If something would happen and I would end up layed off again, even in a year, I don't want to have to worry about food at all.

We've started do store other things here as well, mainly pertaining to the bathroom and medicine cabinet. Storing these things makes as much sense to us as storing food; it's better to have it than not. We started with the usual things-TP, soap, toothpaste, razor blades, shaving soap, shampoo, etc. Now we're taking it into medicines and first aid. When we realized a month ago that we were out of ANY kind of aspirin/excedrine and Lisa had a headache, we started getting things a little at a time. Now we have everything for headaches to sunburn, from an upset stomach to poison ivy. Once again, I'd rather have it here, and don't want to make that unnecessary trip to the drug store for drawing salve or pepto. When I get a full list completed and stocked, I'll post it here.

I know I have posted a lot lately on preparadness, and I know that some of my regular readers don't do it themselves, or understand why. But, this is something that we are growing in as much as our homesteading or living simple. It's just another aspect of our lives that I choose to share with everyone. We aren't just about growing vegetables, or raising chickens, or making our own household cleaners and soaps, any more that we're just about being prepared. We live different than many people do, some say simple, and some say complicated. There are many sides to us, all of which we are very passionate about, and I share all of those sides with all of you. I just write these entries with whatever happens to be in my head that day....and today it was again about preparadness and food storage. Tomorrow could be chickens, lol. I never know where my head will be.

My sick uncle, and an ode to Grandma's "stuff"

2010-02-14T14:13:00.002-05:00

On Friday evening, I got a strange call from my uncle. He asked me if I would take care of his dog (Duke) if he had to go into the hospital. It was a very odd and shocking question, so of course I had to ask why. It turns out that he had shoveled his driveway, then a path 100 yards to the woodpile, and was on his second wheelbarrow load of firewood when he got a tight chest, hot, and a bit dizzy. (keep in mind he's 74) I told him to call my mom since she's 5 minutes away and go to the ER, but of course he said no since he was feeling better. We talked for a few minutes, but after I got off the phone and talked to Lisa, I decided to pack an overnight bag and head over there to be with him in case something happened or it was worse than he made it sound.
He seemed ok that night other than a mild headace, so I slept on the couch. He told me in the morning he was fine, and after an hour or so of talking I headed home. On the way I called my mom to ask her to go see him, which she did. When she got there, he said he was having pains in his arm and leg, so mom took him straight to the hospital. They admitted him, and he is staying there tilll at least Tuesday morning so they can watch him and run tests. I'm staying there with Duke and watching the house while he's gone, but came home for our usual Sunday dinner with friends, and to gather work clothes and lunch food for tomorrow. Some Valentines weekend, huh? *sigh*
While at the house early yesterday, Lisa and I decided the place needed cleaning and started at it. It wasn't messy by any means, it just needed dusted and swept. While I was helping, I kept noticing things around the house. This little knick-knack on the mantle, that ceramic something-or-another on the buffet, little things all over. Everything I saw reminded me of Grandma, and made me miss her more than I usually do. Afterall, I was in HER house, still full of her stuff even though she has been gone for almost 14 years. My uncle still hasn't changed a thing, other than putting away all of her sewing stuff. Every little nook and cranny in the house had something of grandma's, whether it was some sort of decorative item, or something she made, or her cookware and more plates and bowls than anyone would need to feed a family of 40. Even her bedroom remains unchanged, other than her clothes are now gone. Walking around and seeing all of her stuff made me happy and sad at the same time. I'm happy to see things that remind me of her, but I'm sad to remember that she's gone. But...with all of her stuff still around, and all of the memories in my head, she'll never be gone.
I stood at the back door this morning with a cup of coffee, staring out over the 8 acres behind the house and trying to picture it in my head how my dad and uncle said it was when they were kids. I tried to picture the chicken coop, the pigpen, the dairy cow, and the fruits and gardens grandma had all over. At the same time, I pictured how I would return it to the way it was when the time comes that I inherit the place, and wonder if grandma would be proud. I can only hope that she would be. I watched some birds eat from one of the feeders, and saw 5 deer walk through the very back of the property near the creek. I smiled the whole time, remembering grandma, enjoying the view, and thinking how someday I will make this yet again a working homestead as it was when my grandparents moved there in 1930.
I love you grandma. I miss you. And I will take very good care of your property, and your stuff.

2010-02-07T15:19:00.002-05:00

Saturday morning we woke up to our share of the winter storm we had been warned about. Sure, it's a bit of a pain, but look how beautiful it is!
I had to shovel a path from the stairs to the gate to even get it open,then from the gate to the car, and to the garage and chicken coop. Behind that blue tarp is the front of the chicken's run. and from there down the whole 45 feet to the coop,it had drifted to well over 2 feet deep. I got the hens fed and watered, gathered eggs, then started digging out the car. In some areas in the drive, it was between 1 and 2 feet deep, but at the top,thanks to snowplows, it was over 3 feet. I shoveled most of it,and a good spot to turn around, but left the areas that weren't as bad. That little Pontiac is awd and goes through the snow like a champ.
We took off about an hour after I was done, to visit Lisa's mother and do some shopping. The roads were still a bit snow covered and slow rolling, but we made it just fine. She asked us to stop and get her some nutrition drinks on the way, and while we were there, I stocked up on 2 packs of safety razor blades, 88 cent sale dish liquid, 3/$4 pain relivers & aspirin. We went to her moms place for a few hours, had a great visit, and headed out for more shopping.
One large grocery chain had a lot of 10/$10, 5/$5, and buy1/get1 sales on things we normaly eat and store, so we filled the cart with those and headed to the next one. There we picked up more good sale items to use and store, but were dissapointed that they quit carrying washing soda. They had everything else we use to make our laundry detergent, but not the soda. We got the Fels Naptha,Borax,and Castile soap, but now we have to find someone else who carries the soda. When we find it,we'll just get4-6 and not have to worry about it for about a year.
After we left there, we had to stop at the drug store for Lisa's prescription,and pick up a few small sale items we needed there too. While Lisa looked through the sale makeup, I went to the area that has bandages and first aid to price check a few things we were low on. I noticed a lot of clearance signs, and picked up a bunch of bandages,iodine, lighted pointed tweezers,and small 81 piece first aid kits at 75% off! The tweezers rang up at $1.25, the kits at $1.50, and the bandages at $1.00. I restocked and added to our first aid supplies for under $10 total. They also had batteries 40% off, so I got two 8 packs each AA and AAA. First aid and batteries are some of the things I *really* hate being low on, so I was happy to spend a few extra dollars at sale and clearance prices to restock my cabinets. We had one last trip to the pet store for dog food, where we decided that when I get paid for some side work this week, we'll buy 2 more, and keep a constant rotation of 3 going at all times. One open in the bin, and 2 behind it in full bags. With money being so tight the past year, some weeks buying dog food was hard at $30 a bag. Now that I have a little extra cash coming in, we'll set up the 3 bag rotation so if things get tight again, we'll at least have the other 2 to fall back on. We store and rotate everything for us, so why not dog food. It makes perfect sense. We got the food, came home, put it all away,and relaxed for the rest of the evening. We got to see Lisa's mom, and restock a lot of things we needed and/or were low on,so it was a good day. I checked back today to see if there were any more of those first aid kits,but they only had one...ahh well. I picked it up and will give it to the kids since I doubt they have anything at all at home.

We've been talking a lot about the diet change, and both of us are on board and doing fine with it. We talked about saving to join a local gym, and someone at Lisa's work offered her a treadmill for free. We picked it up Friday after she got off work, and I wanted to stop at goodwill just to look around. In the back sporting goods area, there was a $10 exercise bike,(cheap because it was missing a bolt in the seat), and a $15 rowing machine. Lisa had enough of their little stamps to give us a 30% discount, so we ended up getting both for $17.50. We flew home, unloaded the treadmill,and went back for the other 2. We ended up rearranging the living room to set it all up in since the basement ceiling is too low for me to use the tradmill. The ceiling is only 6'9. I'm 6'3 and the treadmill adds another 3". That only left me with 3" of headspace, so anything over a walk would be out of the question. It all fit just fine in one end of the living room, and we've been using all 3 this weekend. I'll keep watching goodwill for weights since I see them there once in a while,and we will be all set on our own home gym. We can both now exercise together in the comfort of our own house, save the money required for a 2 year membership, and be able to use it anytime we want. I'm gonna like this. Diet change and exercise together all the way. Lisa is already feeling great, and as of last Thursday hit the mark of losing 50 lbs!!!! She's done such an amazing job that she has inspired me to do the same. I'm not really overweight, but I am out of shape a bit thanks to being off work so long. So with changing our diets and exercising together, it will be another fun journey here at the W house....amd we do love our journey's.

Shopping and inventory

2010-02-02T14:51:00.002-05:00

On Saturday, we spent the day together going to a few new stores too look around and eventually hit the local Sams Club since I got paid for some side work. We visited a natural foods co-op, where I found stevia and got a small box of 50 packets. I've been using it since in my iced tea and am getting very used to the taste. At first, I noticed a bit of an aftertaste, but now after a few days, I don't notice it at all. It takes a LOT less stevia to get the same sweetness that you do from sugar. Articles I have read state that stevia is between 10-20x as sweet as sugar in it's refined and powdered form. It can be used just like sugar or any artificial sweetener, and is calorie free, and perfectly safe versus the manmade artificials. We plan to switch to it and honey as much as possible, which will mean finding it in reasonably priced bulk bags rather than tiny packets.

The trip to Sams almost completely restocked the bulk items in the pantry. We got 50lbs of flour, bread flour, sugar, and 25lbs of brown sugar. We were hoping to find whole wheat flour and brown rice, but they don't carry either. We'll just find another source. Other than a case of TP, everything else was just plain groceries. Later this week when I get some more cash, we'll hit the local grocery stores for the items we have circled in the ad flyers. There are quite a few buy1/get one, 10/$10 and 5/$5 sales that we will take advantage of and continue to restock the pantries. We also need to restock the shelves of cleaning supplies, and supplies to make our laundry detergent. I plan on getting (minimum) 2 each of Fels Naptha, Zoat, washing soda, and Borax, which are the four ingredients for the laundry detergent.

Beyond food and cleaning supplies, we got a good look at the medicine cabinet and bathroom cupboard on Sunday. There are things that we are low on or out of that we shouldn't be. Some things should ALWAYS be here, but somehow right now they just aren't.The kitchen items will be mainly spices and additives, though some will be things that we can't or don't grow for ourselves. Lisa had our usual Sunday dinner guests stop and get her Advil because we were out, and that made us go take a long overdue inventory. We'll be getting a minimum of 2 each of pain relievers, cough medicine, antihystamines, decongestants,feminine products, shampoo, and first aid type of supplies like peroxide, iodine, and more bandages. I hate the fact that we are low or out of these things, and despise the thought that if our friends weren't coming over, I would have driven to the store just to get one item. That's one of our main motivations for storing/prepping. It's not so much for emergencies and such as it is convienence. I'd rather have everything we need here at home than have to worry about going to the store for something as simple as Advil. This Saturday we will be taking an inventory of everything in the house, comparing it to the inventory sheets we have neglected, and make out a shopping list.

In keeping with our wanting to preserve food, and our desire to now eat healthier, we have decided to save for a semi-expensive purchase. We've talked long and hard about it, and after some reading, watching videos, and listening to a TSP podcase, we are going to buy an Excalibur dehydrator. We already have 2 of the smaller ones, one with a fan and one without, but neither have the size or the options that the Excalibur does. They have a temperature setting, timer, and have the fan in the back rather than in the bottom like one of our round ones. (the fan in the bottom pushes/pulls the water through several layers to the top, where the Excalibur pushed it straight out the front) We dehydrated a lot over the last year, and planned on doing more. It's just more feesable with an Excalibur. We did mushrooms, onions, apples, bananas, and a few peppers. This year we want to do more for several reasons. Dehydrating retains more nutrients in food over freezing or canning, storing in bags takes up less space than canning jars, and we can dehydrate fruits and vegetables for snacks rather than buy something out of the box from the store. Though I'm not keen on the idea of using more plastic bags to store things in after they've been dehydrated, we'll use ziplock style bags that can be washed and re-used. They're around $250, but have a great waranty, and will be something we use enough to pay for itself rather quickly.

Now with the new bigger dehydrator and diet change in mind, garden plans will change yet again. We won't only be growing more to eat fresh, but we'll be growing more to store, and more to dehydrate. This will mean MORE potato's, more onions, more peppers, and adding other vetetables to the list for the dehydrator for basic food ingredients. Some fruits we want to dehydrate we simply can't grow here, but we will watch for those things on sale at the store or at local markets. We'll of course add more and save plenty to can, but we're taking everything into condsideration and planning from there. So, once again, the garden grows as we take another step in our journey to a better life. Something new always seems to happen every year, just like every year we seem to umnplug ourselves from something unnecessary. We are constantly growing here, whether it be personally or in our homesteading goals. Each new step gives us new experiences, new knowledge, and less reliance on the machine. I love our adventures, I wouldn't trade this life together for anything.

Victim of Changes (old Judas Priest song, but the title kinda fits!)

2010-01-29T06:13:00.002-05:00

The past 2 weeks I have managed to do a bit of side work and earn a little extra cash. It couldn't have come at a better time since things were starting to get so tight that it hurt. Tonight we'll take some of the money and restock the pantry since the flour and sugar are getting low. We've also decided to stock whole grain flour and make more with it, so we'll be looking for that in bulk as well.
The idea behind the whole wheat is another diet change for both of us. As some readers may know, Lisa has changed her entire diet, taken up bellydancing, and has lost 47 pounds over the last 6-7 months.(how awesome is that?!) With her change of diet, the grocery shopping has changed, and I have decided to change with it/her. We don't eat hardly anything people would consider junk food, but still we are both going to work towards a more healthy diet. We'll slowly work away from white flour and use whole grain. We'll eat more fruits and nuts, and will turn down the sugar machine. Lisa already uses more honey for sweetener for herself, but since I don't care for it in iced tea, I plan to start using stevia. I have no plans on watching and measuring everything I eat like she has been doing, but I will be cutting down my portion sizes. I've always been a big eater, but it's time to slow things down a bit...I really don't need 2 sandwiches in my lunch or eat 3 turkey burgers at dinner. I'll just slow down.
Now with the plans on diet change will come changes to the garden as well. We'll be planing more greens this year, and a better variety of green vegetables. (brussel sprouts, asparagus,etc.)With that will come a slight garden expansion, probably just another 5 feet, taking it to 45x95. We also want to plant more things for making soup, like carrots and celery, so the expansion will definitly be necessary since we are going to double what we planted last year in onions and potatos.
We also want to plant more fruits, mainly blueberries and strawberries. Since my motto is "less to mow-more to eat", I have no problem with this at all. I think maybe rather than make 2 new strawberry beds in the spring, I'll go ahead and make 4. We'll look around for good prices on blueberry bushes too, since as of now we only have one. I'll also go ahead and thin out the blackberries and extend them another 10-12 feet to the property line. With more production, we'll have more to eat fresh, and more for jams and jellies. It's a win-win situation. I'm going to prune 1 or 2 of the old trees next door too, just to see if they'll produce better fruit. Again, more food.
I'd love to be able to grow more meat birds this year, but we're just plain out of room. With the run for the layers now reaching 50 feet long, there is just nowhere to put them. My uncle had always said we could put some at his place, but that means buying materials for a coop and run, and I have no idea if that money will be there. And I can't rely on getting freebies like I did last year, I think that was just pure luck. I will be getting more rabbits to breed, but for now the idea of meat birds is up in the air.
So again yet more changes here at home, but all are good ones. We'll both be eating better and will be exercising more often. We've even talked about getting a couple inexpensive bicycles and doing some trail riding on weekends. It will be hard working, doing all the garden work, exercising, and making time for bike riding, but we'll make it happen. Again, without the idiot box as a distraction, we have more free time in the evenings to do these things, plus work on more food storage.
Some people thought we were nuts for storing food, but after seeing how we are able to eat even during this layoff, they are beginning to understand. Of course it doesn't mean our friends will do their own storage program, but at least they get it now. With having so much on hand and doing careful shopping, the past year has been fairly easy on the checkbook in the food department. We have friends over every Sunday for dinner now, and since neither of them are working, they can't understand how we can eat so well. We tell them about food storage, but we always get that goofy look. I may have mentioned it in a previous entry, but all we hear from them was that her mother was one of those "Y2K crazies", and that it took them forever to get rid of what she had stored. I told them if they'd used and rotated what she had stored, they would possibly still have food on hand, but they want no part of it. They'd rather go once a week and get canned soup, mac n' cheese, and ramen noodled....no thanks. They don't get it at all, but other people we know have, and maybe a few of you readers will see that storing food isn't just for the typical SHTF scnerio that so many "prep" for. It's saved us a lot of money, and a lot of grief. Think about it folks. This can happen to anyone.
For now I'll leave on a bit of humor as I wander outside to warm the car and feed the chickens-
Some people are like Slinky's. They aren't good for anything, but they are fun to watch if you push them down the stairs.
(and I know a LOT of Slinky's!!!)

100 followers!

2010-01-20T18:06:00.001-05:00

I really don't have anything special to add today, wish I did. I just came on to check for new comments and saw that I now have 100 followers!!!!!! Thanks everyone for finding my random babble interesting!!!!!!! (off to get a cake now lol)

2010-01-16T08:18:00.002-05:00

Sometimes while reading online forums, emails, blogs, comments here, or even talking to Lisa and friends, I get reminded that I am not the "normal" husband or guy. At times it makes me laugh, and at others makes me wonder what other men really do at home.

A *huge* amount of comments I get are about sports. I've never watched a game of anything in my life, it's simply never interested me. This always gets reactions, especially from guys. It's either that dog head cocked sideways look, or comments like "what kind of man are you". I've tried watching football, and frankly, never got the game or the big interest in it. You wanna throw me a ball and then knock me on my ass to get it back? Here, I'll save ya the trouble...handing back. It's been the same with baseball. YOU hit a ball with a stick as hard as you can and expect ME to go chase it? I don't think so. Golf by far, to me, is the worst of the worst. You take a little crooked stick, hit a tiny ball as hard as you can, then walk after it?? Ummm....we have a name for that, it's called FETCH. You find your little ball! yay! You win! Ok wait..what? You're going to hit it again? WTH!?! I'll never get it.

I know I've made quite a few posts in the last year about things I have done around the house since I have been layed off, but I've always done things around here. Sure, it was never this much since, of course, I was working 40 hours a week, but I've always helped. There is just no reason NOT to. Even with just the two of us now, dishes and laundry can pile up, things still need dusted and the sweeper still needs ran. Sharing the housework leaves more leisure time for both of us, and now with me being home and Lisa working, I do as much as possible so she can come home and relax. She did the same thing when I was working and she was able to stay home, so there's no reason that I can't return the favor. I like helping, and I like keeping busy. Now that it's winter and I am stuck inside, I still do my best to keep busy.

For a very short time, in my early 20's, I was more of the "typical guy" as most see it, but it didn't last and it wasn't me. I went out drinking or to the strip clubs with friends, but that got repetive and boring fast. I realized that the time and money could be spent on better things. Rather than spend that $50 at the bar, I could put it towards a new rifle scope. Rather than get in at 3am and sleep till noon. I could go to bed early and be on the lake with dad at 5am. Guys I knew would take their vacation at beaches, or at races, or at a resort somewhere, while I spent a week at a friends cabin on 300 acres 9 miles from the nearest town, spending my time walking around or shooting the .22's all day. They came home with sunburns,hangovers, and empty pockets while I came home with lifelong memories of seeing black bears, paper targets I could show off, and a great sense of relaxation that I couldn't get anywhere else.

With me being so different than most men, its not surprising that I have very few guy friends. Sure, some are work buddies, some are old hunting buddies, and some are music oriented friends, but NONE of them share my interest in homesteading, gardening, self sufficiency, or cooking...not a one. The only friend I have who shares most of my interests is Tammie, who I met through the local homesteading group she runs. Yea...a woman and not a guy. While guys wanna talk about the latest football game, Tammie is more than happy to spend 2 hours talking about heirloom vegetables or being self sufficient.

I guess I'll never fit in with most guys, and I'm fine with that. I don't want to waste 3 hours of my day yelling at guys on tv throwing around a ball. I'd rather spend my time learning something, or taking on new challenges. I guess in 10 years when some other guy can spew off figures from super bowl 2010, I can talk about how I taught myself to tan hides and can chicken soup. lol

Confessions of a house-hubby

2010-01-13T22:22:00.002-05:00

While the past 11 months have been hard financially, I have to admit I've become a bit used to being home and taking care of things. Sure, like anyone else, I get a lazy day here and there and don't do anything, but I try my best to stay productive and busy.

I did a lot of canning last summer and fall, more than I ever have before. I've gotten used to doing dishes, running the sweeper, doing laundry, and all the other things that need done. i've made (and canned) soup and chili this year, and learned to cook beyond the few simple things I knew a year ago. With it being winter now, and being stuck inside for the most part, I've decided to take on some new ventures in my house-hubby duties and skills. I made cereal!

Thats right, I made cereal, lol. Monday morning I wanted some cereal, and low and behold, we didn't have any. I remembered Lisa making a few different kinds a few years ago, and figured that I would go ahead and give it a try. I found a recipe online, and modified it a bit to suit my (our) taste. The one I decided to try called for wheat bran and oat germ something or another, so I eliminated a few thing, and added a few things. Lisa and I have both eaten some, and Lisa has taken to eating it crumbled in yogurt.

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup veg. oil
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, and mix in 7 cups of quick oats till all the oats are soaked in the mixture. Preheat oven to 275. Pour on large cookie sheet, and bake for 60 minutes, stirring every 15. The recipe online said 45 minutes, but I kept it going until it was dryer, so I imagine oven time will vary.
After it cooled, I added sunflower seeds and raisins without measuring, just for added flavor and goodies. (lol no stars, moons or clovers were handy) You don't have to add those, or you could add anything you'd like-nuts, etc. I dehydrated a bunch of apple slices coated in cinnamon-sugar to add, but Lisa decided these were better as snacks rather than add them to the cereal....maybe next time.

Lisa and my friend Tammie have been having quite the time with me and my house-hubby adventures, along with my mom. They laugh at me, kicking around apron jokes and saying that Tammie and I's weekly coffee meet is a chance to vent about our husbands and our "monthly's". Yea, yea, laugh away girls, I don't mind. For now I'm just gonna grab the cat, get some chocolate and tea, and go finish my newest Harlequin novel.

Continuing on my thoughts...

2010-01-10T09:26:00.001-05:00

The other day, I made a post about now the need/want for money took people away from the farms and homes to the factories. Today I'm going to ramble a bit about how this has affected generations of people afterwards. I do love getting on my rants, lol.

The earliest of factory workers came straight from farms for the most part. They left farming for an earned wage to buy their goods, rather than grow, raise, or otherwise provide things for themselves or their families. I'm sure that some of them saw it as an opportunnity to make a better living, just as some saw it as a way to avoid the possible 12 hours of hard labor involved in farming, but no matter the reason, they left. Some chose to live in an apartment or worker homes, and others continuted to live on the family land yet not doing much with it. The steady job provided them with a steady income, and the income provided them with their needs to survive. By doing the same chore over and over at a job, they had the means to provide for themselves. Some worked up to 12 hours a day, stamping out some metal part or assembling something or another, to earn that pay.

At the time, with the man of the house being gone at a job, the things around the farm, house, or homestead that entailed hard labor were left to the women and children, or usually just byassed. This in turn left the need to buy even more things for them. The father and/or husband wasn't home to repair the clotheslines, or plow the gardens, or feed the horses. It wasn't many years before this turned into drying racks (later dryers), buying canned vegetables, and trading the horses for a motor vehicle, which for a price, could be "fed" gasoline by your local station attendant. Slowly the need for more money grew and grew, while the knowledge and desire to do for themselves was lost.

Now jump forward to present time and see how this switch of lifestyle has affected us today. People can go to the grocery store and buy anything they want without the need to grow it or raise it for themselves. The choices at the store are endless. You can buy basic bread, and all the way to fully prepared and frozen meals in a box. Frozen, microwavable, instant, dried, prepackaged anything you can imagine, and make it with the touch of a button. We have to look far beyond what we are used to in todays world to realize what these things have done to us. People always say that these things are "convienent" and "easy", but it's far more than that. We have lost the most basic of skills to provide for ourselves when we rely on the grocery store and the packages and boxes.

I'm not necessarily talking about raising your own chickens or growing a garden, I'm talking about skills. Many people try the frozen meatballs or canned soup and say "this sure isn't like grandma used to make", all the while continuing to buy the same soup or meatballs over and over rather than try grandmas recipe that is collecting dust in a closet somewhere. It's easier to buy them, and a huge majority simply CAN'T make them, and that is the reason for this post.

So many people now can't make even the simplest of foods. I personally know people who can't make soup even if I was to lay all the ingredients out in front of them and the recipe tattooed on their arm. I know some that have tried to make various things, and have given up after one failed attempt. My mother is one of them. She has tried to make bread many, many times, but never kneads it enough. It's a simple fix, but she chooses to go to the store and buy bread like most americans do. My grandmother used to make the most amazing pastries-kifli, struedel, and baklava, all rolled so thin and perfect you could almost see through it. She baked liked that until she passed away at 82, simply because she loved doing it, and because she refused to buy a factory produced poor substitute for home made. Grandma W passed away with no one to carry on her traditiions or baking skills. Everyone else chose the easy way out via the grocery store.

It's not just cooking skills I am talking about, its day to day skills that our ancestors lived by. I don't expect everyone to have the ability to make a log cabin or house, or hand make furniture and make all the quilts for the beds made from timbers and feathers. It's the most basic of things that we have lost. I know grown men who cannot read a tape measure or hang a picture on the wall.( I was once given an apprentice that I had to teach how to read a tape. Don't they teach people how to use a ruler anymore? Afterall, it is just a 25 foot ruler!! ) I know people who can't cook without a microwave and a box. I know people who have no idea how to check the oil or air pressure in their own car or truck. I know people who will throw away a perfectly good shirt just because they can't replace a simple button.

Maybe I was just born in the wrong century, I dunno, but I can't help but sometimes look around at people and wonder what happened. The early settlers built their homes by hand 100%, and today people pay someone to replace a simple light switch. Has the desire for a paycheck and buying what we need made us all lazy and somewhat uneducated? Sure, Mr so-and-so may have a bachelors degree in physics, but he can't start his own lawnmower or replace a toilet seat. It's far easier to buy it or pay someone to do it for you than learn to do it for yourself. People can write a computer program, yet can't do the simplest of things in their own homes. We've taken the education for skills and shifted it from skills to survive to skills to earn more money. Every generation loses more and more basic skills, making them more and more dependant on the machine. We all live in a giant hampster wheel, and very few choose to learn how to jump off, or for that matter, are taught how to jump off.
.

To me, the worst of those two, are the ones who don't WANT to learn. They're so used to the instant gratification just buy it society that we live in, that they can't comprehend actually doing something for themselves. The idea of making bread, raising a simple tomato plant, or fixing your own sink are just silly, afterall, you can just buy that stuff or hire a plumber. Slowly but surely, generation after generation, skills and knowledge have been lost. From the earliest settlers ability to build a cabin and survive bitter cold new england winters to my grandmothers baking, the skills, crafts, and trades of our ancestors are slowly being lost and forgotten. Imagine what will be lost when our grandchilren or great grandchildren are our age. Everything they will need will be given to them with the touch of a button or the swipe of a credit card, without ever having to lift a finger.

Over and over in my blog posts I tend to touch on modern civilization, whether it was one of my early ones about men getting lazy, or about frozen foods, or about modern "conviences" and gadgets. I tend to always get the same thoughts in my head, and they always end up here as an entry. Some make sense to those of you who choose to read it, and obviously, by the lack of comments to some, don't. I just tend to go off on our things at home sometimes to just put out my views and opinions on the modern world we live in, and as is well obvious by most of my comments, I simply don't like it. Like I said earlier in this post, perhaps I was just born in the wrong time or century, I despise many things that we all live with today and talk about them a lot. I hate our reliance on electricity, I hate our reliance on the dollar, I hate the fact that so many sit around with nothing but won't lift a finger to fend for themselves, and at times I'm scared to death of where we are heading.

For now I'll stop running off at the mouth and work on another post, this time actually revolving around things happening at home...maybe lol.