Latest homesteading accomplishment

[HilltopDaisy]

I would love to hear of your latest homesteading accomplishment/s, and how it's working out for you.

I jumped in with both feet 6 years ago. Some things were great, some not so good. I am "living the dream" and couldn't be happier, but I love hearing about other folks' projects.

The bees are working out, always have plenty of customers who want honey. Farm fresh eggs are a good thing, for me and my customers. I am having a very hard time selling goats as I get too attached, but I love the fresh milk and cheeses. Heritage turkeys and purebred chickens sell very well.

I'm not necessarily looking for $$ ideas, more so interested in new projects that you might have tried.

[Ravenlost]

I'm not sure if this is something anyone else would want to do, but it's 3:34 a.m. and I am canning peaches.

[marvella]

hmm, well i got electricity down to the barn and can now have the fence box there instead of in the rental trailer. got 50 BO chicks, haven't lost a one and will be sending roos to freezer camp soon (i think that phrase is hilarious.) we won't talk about the garden as it is the 2nd year of drought. but my son has 2 old timey apple tress that are just loaded this year. i don't need it at the moment but we will be turning them into applessauce and apple butter soon.

forward movement, it's all forward movement.

[jill.costello]

Well, due to a mis-communication, the farmer sprayed all 10 acres that I was *going* to use as horse pasture...

Not his fault; the landlord didn't inform him we were renting the farm until the deed was done.

He sprayed weed killer and a pre-emergent, thinking he would be planting soybeans.

So, my beautiful, natural prairie grass/ orchard grass field became a dirt lot in early spring of this year.

Well, about July 1st, the pre-emergent finally wore off and the grass started to grow back!! Lots of weeds, too, but about 30% real grass!

So for weeks, I've been staring out at 30% grass, 40% weeds, 30% bare dirt. In order to give the grass a better chance of re-establishing itself, I decided to mow it.......

With a riding mower!:

I got 3 acres done on Monday, and 3 acres done yesterday, and will hit the last 4 hard on Friday.

Amazing how much good grass was hiding under the canopy of those weeds!! Now, with sunshine able to get at it, I am hoping for a better ratio and a chance to get my poor horses out of their "temporary, emergency ONE acre" that we had to settle for when the whole spraying fiasco happened...

[Rick]

Originally Posted by Ravenlost

I'm not sure if this is something anyone else would want to do, but it's 3:34 a.m. and I am canning peaches.

Hi Ravenlost- First off I would have had to have been up an hour earlier than you

Did the yellow jackets get up to bang at your screen window. This could be a valuable incentive if the dumb suckers slept in like normal.

Rick

[Rick]

HilltopDaisy

Thanks for starting this thread! It was exactly what I was going to do this morning! I have been extremely busy lately with non- homestead affairs, and wanted to talk about gardens and critters.......

We have all 18 melting mammoth sugar pea plants (territorial seeds) above ground now, that Ann and I planted in a huge hill with sunflowers and corn 8 or 9 days ago (we know - the corn seeds were old so we threw them in the hill for the peas to climb).


I am waiting for my little double wide experimental row of Ferry Morse snow peas to flourish- so far 20 of about 135 seeds are poking their heads out. I did an experiment with the almanac and the Ferry-morse sugar snap peas. Background: we (Ann- I was always working 60 hour weeks) always planted according to almanac tips found on local calendars, back in Maryland. We did not have one this year (last year either). When we planted the Ferry-Morse seeds Spring 2008- we soaked, inoculated with new inoculant. Nothing happened so we soaked and treated a second batch. Out of 60 or more seeds we got six plants. Turns out we had planted during the worst possible time, according to the signs.

Ann was going to throw the seeds away, and I was determined to duplicate the circumstances (can't take away this heat tho), and plant by the signs. I soaked all remaining seeds, and on the last day of the planting time period before the full moon I hastily plowed a 12 foot row, mantis-tilled the clods of dirt, sprinkled in some pro-mix peat-moss and planted. I am hoping a lot more than 20 will join the party, but considering the soil was nothing like I would have liked, I am happy.

Rick

[shagerman]

lets see now uumm yep got the driveway rocked all the way past the pig pens. yahoo and it only took 3 years to get it done. nice though. and gonna be very nice this winter no more sink holes, no more mud flying. got alot of hay put away and doing canning now. did spaghetti sauce today and dill pickles yesterday and dilly beans the day before. tomorrow i have to load 4 calves to go to their new home and Saturday the 5th goes to his new home. and next week i get my new chicks to hatch out of the incubator. and i have a new building going up soon. just for the incubators and just for the new chicks born, i am getting some where,

[Rowdy]

Really nothing new going on right now, just continuing everything else:

Ten more production red pullets in the coop (well, right now they are scratching in the leaf litter around all the oak trees)

Got all the kids sold but two little bucklings that are not quite old enough. One may go to freezer camp.

Getting ready to plant wheat in two of the paddocks so the goats have something to eat this winter. (in fact, as soon as I finish lunch I'll be tilling for that project, sowing this evening. I feel a bit rushed, since we are leaving for Yellowstone in ten days. Getting everything squared away before then has been hectic.

Winter is fence building season here in Texas, so as soon as I get back from Wyoming, I'll start gathering some more posts for the next leg of my fence.

Still slowly clearning brush in the paddocks. Here are some photos that Neecy took yesterday:

raking out from around the trees that will stay






The goats are helping clear paddock #2 for me:




Anyway, I've got piles of brush alight, and tilling to do...

[Ravenlost]

Originally Posted by Rick

Hi Ravenlost- First off I would have had to have been up an hour earlier than you

Did the yellow jackets get up to bang at your screen window. This could be a valuable incentive if the dumb suckers slept in like normal.

Rick

Been up an hour earlier? I'd never been down...didn't go to bed until 7 a.m. but I got all the peaches canned and we had enough left over for breakfast.

I would take a nap this afternoon, but I've still got pickles, jelly and applesauce to make today.

[Gercarson]

This is where I find the "location" the most valuable - it makes a huge difference (to me) when I see where everybody is "located" because it puts a real perspective on what is happening and is going on. Different areas do things a little differently - yet, the same. Thanks.

[heather]

I have been busy splitting & stacking firewood.
I am so tired, but I keep going, thinking about how little of a heating bill we had last winter & how little I'll pay in the coming winter!
Some of my acquaintances think I'm nuts to spend these summer days fiddling with firewood, but if I don't get it done now, I'll be hustling too close!

[farmergirl]

Well, lets see. This spring I decided to expand my vegetable garden so we broke ground in the newly fenced 1/5 acre area that we expected to use as a garden. Turns out that it's not the best place for things like cukes and squash, as it is in FULL sun all day, no shade from the east or west at all. So....after harvesting quite a few canteloupes and watermelons, I have opened it up for the cattle to graze in Later this year/ early next year we will be converting this fenced area into our future fruit orchard!
I *think* both of the cows are bred, one the full jersey we bought last year and the other a young angus that I bought as a scrawny little thing at auction at the end of 2006. The angus has turned into a real beauty! A true diamond in the rough We borrowed a friend's angus bull in Feb this year and both cows are starting to look bred. We gave up on ranching sheep and sold them all at auction last winter. Still going strong with the hogs, though we did scale back to just 2 sows and the boar for breeding. We're now selling the pork through a local retail outlet and that is going well. I planted 2 peach trees at the end of winter; one is growing like a weed and the other is still alive but growing very slowly. Have lots of firewood stacked and ready for use this winter. Picked gallons upon gallons of muscadine grapes last month, but am waiting to make grape jelly until the weather cools a bit. Finally had a few inches of rain this week after drought this spring. Still working on expanding the horse barn, put an extension and windblock on the north side opening and now just need to finish the southside roof extension. There's more, but that gives you an idea of what I've been up to

[Minelson]

I finished the big job of cleaning up after my husband in the barn. He has a problem with putting things back and keeping things organized in his "area" so it was starting to grow into my "area". hmf. So once again I got fed up and gave into his dysfunction...yes, I am an enabler.

[Wags]

This summer we finally got the pasture fenced, and I am making progress on taming the two yearling heifers I got a couple of months ago. Tomorrow I hope to get started on the milking stanchion I am making for them.

[Kelly]

Hmm, let's see if I can remember everything from just this week....

Husband built a new worm bin to fit in our shed (much larger and easier to get to from our last two)

Husband rigged up an automatic chicken door opener. The first night he set it to close too early and the poor chickens were all hanging around the coop instead of our ranging the field as usual. I think he finally got it timed just right to open in the morning and shut in the evening.

We are officially Bee Keepers! Bought two hives this week. Can't wait for some honey!

Hubby fixed my unicycle after I had stored it over 30 years. Unfortunately, when I got on to see if I could still ride, it flew out from under me and tore my inner thigh. (and wouldn't you know, for the first time this year we are going to the ocean and I will be in a suit with a large bruise and scrap). Anyway, the unicycle works great now

Canned applesauce this week. Making dried apples round the clock on the dehydrator.

Canned tomatoes this week. Brought in tons to share with co-workers. One lady told me I should put a sign by my basket "help yourself". I told her it wasn't necessary in my department. All the apples and tomatoes were gone before that lady had a chance to unload her lunch tray!

Made fig jam and peach tomato salsa.

Awake half the night watching my neighbor's house burn down (in the rain). Then managed to make it to work and had the busiest day of the year with emergencies/problems. I'm ready for my w/e getaway!

[Old Vet]

I've been splitting fire wood most of the day. The rest of the time I was cutting roads in the woodlot so I can get to big trees.

[Sheripoms]

Put up 46 quarts of pears today. Ravenlost I sympathize with ya! It is hard and hot work. I had my mom and dad peeling and I was doing all the rest. I used applejuice with half and then just sugar syrup with the others.

[Wisconsin Ann]

We've started harvesting the Marans cockerals. I suppose I should call them roosters since they've started to be manly er...roosterly? Anyway. They're running about 4lbs dressed weight with huge amounts of that being leg/thigh. I really need to can some of the meat so it's there for quick use.

FINALLY started to clear the fenceline again. Last year it looked halfway decent, but this year it's just been overlooked..and boy....is it a tangled mess! Between the wild roses, wild grapes, wild raspberries, it's 5ft deep to the fence. The chickens love it tho. Nice place to hide from the heat and the hawks.

Pulling down branches/trees that have been snapped by the storms we had a bit ago. Planning on cutting into firewood next weekend, I think.

Still working on the house/shed. Slow going, but it will be worth it this Fall when I move out there full time.

Haven't canned a THING this year. my bad. Have to get crackin'!

[Mare Owner]

I harvested my first potatoes this year, will plant more next year I think. DH mowed all the pastures to keep the weeds from re-seeding (didn't get done last year, so really needed to be done now). We had a couple fences replaced so we can turn cattle out in the pasture by the road again when/if we want.

Preparing myself to show one of our weanling horses next month. The horse market is down so much, any show $, points, or titles is good advertising for us.

We're waiting on our gilt to farrow and we'll have our first piglets to raise for our own pork. I'm very excited!

[plowjockey]

Got tired of looking at and wary, of the 100 year old abandoned water well in my front yard, especially since they are illegal.

Spent several days this rewarding project. Pumped the water out of the pit, sawed and hammered for hours, to remove the 200 lb pump and bust holes on the concrete floor. Built my own derick to pull the 75ft of WOODEN pump shaft out.

Sealed the well pipe with bentonite, in accordance to state regulations. Bashed in the top 2 ft of concrete around the pit, to fill with clean fill dirt.

Excellent physical workout!

Now on to the cistern !!! (next year)