Time continues to fly by and autumn will be with us before we know it. We are finally out of the 100+ temperatures. It was 59* here last night! I don't think it will last, though, we are supposed to be back up into the low 90's by early next week, and that is fine. It is much more manageable than the 100+ stuff with high humidity. With the cool weather this morning, we were able to use our new double hung windows to fill the house with cool, fresh air. They work great.
We want to send our thoughts and prayers to those that are being affected by the wildfires around the country. We have friends in the northwest that have had to evacuate their home, and we haven't heard from them since yesterday. It must be very difficult to leave your home not knowing what you may return to. There are many different types of challenges we are all given, but many times on the other side of it, we are stronger for having been tested and refined.
We continue to pen up the youngest kids and accumulate milk for cheese making. The last batch of cheddar is ready to wax, but I ran out of steam before I got to it today. Two more wheels of cheddar are now in the cheese press and will be ready to remove and start the drying process tomorrow evening. Since I won't be able to wax these two wheels until Saturday, I put them in a plastic storage bag in the refrigerator. I will be having a sinus dilation procedure tomorrow morning, so I don't expect to get much of anything done for the rest of the day.
We continue to eat our cheddar at room temperature, but have found that it gets too oily if we leave out the whole wheel. This time we cut it in half covered the open end with plastic wrap and put it back in the cheese frig until we are ready for it.
We also filled up the fermentation crock with four heads of cabbage today. The last batch of sauerkraut stayed in the crock for a month and it was the best tasting we have had so far. We still have three quarts of it in the refrigerator that we are eating, and wanted the next batch to have plenty of time to ferment. It's interesting how quickly things like making sauerkraut becomes routine.
Today was also bread day. The sourdough was still doing it's thing and predigesting all those carbohydrates for us on top of the frig while I was writing this. We didn't get the dough mixed up until about 11:00 this morning, so I didn't bake the rolls until 8:30 this evening. I wanted to give it plenty of time to ferment and digest beforehand. They sure are good.
I've tried to make cottage cheese twice by leaving the milk on the counter. The first time it didn't really curdle, so I thought I hadn't left it long enough.
The second time I left it for about four days and it was definitely soured, but still didn't really make curds like it was supposed to. That's too bad, I was really hoping it would work. Now it will be back to the cheese book and making another stab at modifying the recipe so I can get good cottage cheese.
We still have roosters and wethers to butcher, and we hope next week after my sinuses clear up we can get a lot of butchering done. That and get some fall crops planted. My headaches and general feelings of sickness have put everything like that on hold for way too long. So I hope to have more to report in the butchering department very soon.
The pigs are doing much better in the behavior department. There are some folks at church that have raised pigs for years and Frank was quizzing them on 'normal' pig behavior last week. We are still learning, and they are still growing. It will be very interesting to see how they do in the long run. I'm also very interested to see how Lance and Liberty behave once we have butchered the barrows. I think the interaction will be different then. We pay a little more attention to them since they are our breeding pair and the barrows will end up on our dinner plates. I have a question for you. Does a pig's tail continue to grow longer and get more curly as they grow up?
The whey produced from making cheese goes to good use as pig food. They get upset with me if I take them a bucket of scraps without some kind of liquid in it. I can't help but laugh at them when they fuss at me. It's a funny little squeal.
By the time we got most of the day's activities completed, the kitchen was really a mess.
As the week has progressed we have watched more major fluctuations in the financial markets around the world. It is just another indicator of the instability of the underlying foundations of economies everywhere. We continue to discuss what tangible items we can invest in that we will be able to use in the future, come what may. An example of one of our acquisitions is a stainless steel water bath canner. We have two like the one pictured above that the whey is in. One of them, after three or four years of use, has chipped and has a place trying to rust on the inside of the bottom. Knowing they won't be durable for long term use, especially if we get to the point that we can't buy or trade for another one, we chose to invest in stainless steel. As you can tell, it's still in the box. We'll keep using the enameled version as long as we can.
We continue to pick peppers, tomatoes, cowpeas and carrots from the garden. I really hope to write another garden article before long with the things we have been able to plant for fall.
Thank you for all of the great comments. It's neat to be able to share. Frank and I have learned a great deal from other folks experiences. Please keep sharing.
Prepare for the fall of the year and the fall of the world. They will both be arriving soon.
Until next time - Fern
It seems lately our homestead has been a flurry of activity. I will see if I can give you a glimpse of our life on the homestead.
We told you about the new windows we had installed almost two weeks ago. Well, we have made a little progress on trimming them out, but they aren't finished yet. Frank had a great idea of making the top board longer and angled. I think they look great. But since we aren't finished with that project, the porches are still in disarray. It really doesn't bother me much, life goes on with our daily routines even if things aren't in their customary places.
You may be wondering why two weeks later, the windows still aren't trimmed. Well, a day or so after the windows were installed, we began a large project on the barn, which is only about half complete at this stage. This project involves building lean-to shed roofs on the east and west sides of the barn, the full length of the building. After much planning and consulting with the two man crew we have hired to do the building, then acquiring the needed supplies, this project got under way.
The day after the barn supplies arrived the local electric cooperative came and set a new pole for us. We have long wanted power to the barn, but it is quite expensive. Well, this is the year. The pole is about 120 feet from the barn so we will still need to run the wire underground to connect there.
We
expected to have a meter and power once the pole was set, but then we discovered that we needed to install a breaker box on the pole and connect it to the meter box. Enter Frank and his many abilities to fix and build things. While the work crew began their tasks using a generator, Frank worked on installing the breaker box and connections. In a couple of days, the cooperative was back out with the meter and we were in business. Then Frank got busy installing an outlet on the pole with a 20 amp fuse, so the guys could have power via heavy duty extension cords. This provided stronger, more consistent power for their tools which was great. It is truly a blessing to have a husband that can do or fix just about anything.
As we began the barn project one of the first things that we had to do was dismantle the pig pen. We had already allowed the pigs out into the larger pen that contained their small, initial pen. But the first day of construction, the pens were dismantled and the pigs were allowed out into their two acre pasture for the first time. Needless to say it was a little confusing to them. That was the day I became a pig herder, spending a lot of time with them showing them around the pasture.
Because of the floor leveling and window installation and rain, we hadn't had the chance to brush hog the pigs entire pasture, so Frank made some wide trails for them to use. They lead to the one, lone tree in that pasture, down to the pond and provide three 'lanes' to the barn area. At first, I coaxed the pigs to the tree with food and water. I knew they needed shade, water and mud. So that day and for several days after, I carried many a bucket of water to the tree. After about two days, the pigs would go to the pond on their own, enjoying the mud for a wallow and whatever they found that was tasty at the pond's edge. Now they comfortably wander around on their own and we don't have the concern of lack of water or wallow to keep them cool.
So, how are the pigs? They are doing great. I have to say, I am really enjoying them. We can pet them and scratch their backs almost any time we go into the pasture. We even scratch their heads while they are anxiously awaiting the contents of the feed bucket in our hands. Every so often one will bump the backs of our legs
when we are walking to the feed pan. This is when I remind them not to
bite me. But
really, I don't think they would, it's just a 'Hey! Feed me!" kind of bump. They are really funny, and I'm getting used to their grunting and squealing sounds. We are planning a trip later this week to bring home another gilt. She will be much smaller than these guys we have now, but I hope she will work out well.
The pig side of the barn should be complete tomorrow, if we're not rained out. Then we will reconstruct a pen and place their house under the shed roof. This will provide more shade and a place to pen them if need be. But for now, they have free range of their pasture. I will give you a more specific pig update in a few weeks.
The west side of the barn is next on the barn project docket. It includes our rain catchment system which we are very excited about. I will do an in-depth article with the whys and hows of that project as we get closer to completion.
Our cheese stash continues to slowly grow. We now have 24 wheels of cheddar aging. Well, make that 23. I have been wanting to see how it was doing for a while, so I have opened the first wheel. It is drier than I like, which means I pressed it too hard. It also has a bunch of small holes in it, which it is not supposed to have. Frank read an article recently about why swiss cheese has holes and it was because of the bacteria on hay dust that got into the milk before the cheese was made. This was back in the days before milking machines prevented any air contact with the milk. This made me wonder if something similar caused the holes in our cheddar. It doesn't appear to affect the taste. This wheel has a very, very mild cheddar flavor since it was only allowed to age for two months. It's good, though, and we are enjoying it.
We have begun to eat yellow squash from the garden. There is nothing like that first squash of the season. I hope to begin canning some before long.
We have also discovered that we like a dish of turnip greens, collards and beet greens. Not only is it tasty, but very nutritious. Since the turnip patch is almost overrun with crab grass, we plan to harvest the patch and see if there is enough to blanch and freeze the greens. We've already done this once and they taste just fine. Not quite as good as fresh, but most things aren't. Now I need to learn to can them. That will come with the fall crop.
This is the first time we have grown collards and we are very pleased with it's performance here. The chickens, pigs, goats and humans all like them. They appear to be very hardy and productive. I will be curious to see how they perform in our hot summer weather. The patch is very small, and I pick from it each morning for the animals, but it continues to grow very well. I think I will plant another patch [which I did today] and see how it does this time of year. Just to learn a little more about the plant.
The wild and tame blackberries are ripening now, but the tame berries are not sweet at all. I don't know if the extended rainy period we had in April and May caused this or not. I do know that these berries need sunshine to sweeten up, but we've had a couple of weeks of sunny weather lately. I was hoping that would make a difference in the flavor, but it has not. I ate a few ripe wild berries this afternoon and they were much sweeter, so I hope to pick some in the next few weeks to help decrease our dependence on store bought berries.
The baby chicks and their adoptive mom are still doing very well. Before long they will be moved to the pen next door to make room for the next batch of chicks that will be hatching. Our chicken house will be getting very full of little cheepers, but that also means that in a few months our freezer and canning jars will be filling up as well, and that is good.
The kids we put in the 'boys' pasture to wean continue to nurse through the fence at times. We had to do some rearranging when the barn project started, and for now the does are in a pasture adjacent to the weaning kids. It has cut down on our take of the milk, but that's okay. It just means we only make cheese about one to two days a week, and with the building project and the garden needing attention, that has worked out rather well. We will be breeding two of the does in July for December babies. This is something we tried last summer, but it didn't work out. Our plan is to breed two in July and the other four in November. This will provide us with milk through the winter and a larger supply in the spring for next year's cheese supply. We'll see how it works out this time.
The beneficial insect class I took taught me to identify a few more bees and a few more plants, but didn't really cover insects specific to gardening. I learned some new information, but it hasn't really affected my gardening techniques. I did learn that 90% of bees are loners that nest in the ground. I thought that was interesting.
We continue to prepare for Frank's survival radio class which will be starting in a few weeks. There has been quite a bit of interest from our small communities, which is exciting. The possibility of creating a communication network in our area is very important to us. It could make all the difference in the world should a natural or man made disaster, emergency or collapse occur. We will let you know how it goes.
Life on the homestead is good. Very good. Busier than usual with projects underway, new animals, a different gardening season this year, and just normal daily chores and routines that come with living a life of producing all we can for ourselves. I know some of you have been wondering if we have made soap. Not yet. We have everything we need, and have talked about it a number of times, but it hasn't happened yet. One day we will surprise you, and us, with that post. It is almost time to make another batch of lotion. I am really glad we make our own now. It's quick, easy and not full of chemicals.
We still have our aches and pains, and our bodies won't keep up with our minds anymore, but with the exclusion of many chemicals and processed foods, we are healthier than we have been in a long time, maybe ever. That will be important in the coming days, weeks and months. Keep your head up and pay attention. More and more people are saying there is something out there, something in the wind that is unsettling, dark and ominous. Be prepared in all things, but especially in your heart and mind, for without them all of the 'stuff' you have will come to naught.
Until next time - Fern
Well, not really a wreck, but in a great deal of disarray compared to a normal day. Today we accomplished a long, long term goal. We had the windows in our house replaced. This house was built around 1983 and the windows were in pretty sad shape. Many of them had moisture between the two panes that limits visibility. When we moved in there was this yucky brown ick growing on the inside of most of them. Needless to say, replacing them has been on our project list for a while.
To prepare for this event we needed to move everything away from the inside and outside of the windows to allow the installers access. That was yesterday. We finally finished all of that at about 9:30 last night. Frank also had to remove all of the blinds, which he finished this morning when he took down the ones in the bedroom.
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| Old window |
The installers from Window World arrived right on time, were professional, courteous and hard workers. They had our old windows removed and the new windows installed in three hours. There were nine windows in all. I found it rather disconcerting to have strangers walking in and out of the house, going into every room, tearing out the old windows, and making a big mess in the process. But these men were very efficient and did excellent work. They put down tarps below every window outside and drop cloths on the inside. This minimized the mess and made their clean up quick and easy.
We never had any question about what kind of windows we
were going to have installed. Double hung. Why? Ventilation. We have
porches down the length of our house on the east and west sides. This is
the same format of the house Frank and I built, not had built, but
built ourselves, back in the 1990's at our first homestead. With the
porches on both sides of the house, and double hung windows, we can
create a cross ventilation that will greatly enhance cooling the house
when we no longer have electricity and air conditioning.
Yes, these windows are part of our preparation for the coming collapse. They are tangible investments in our comfort in the future. If it is raining, no problem, we can still ventilate the house under the porches. If it is a hot summer evening, we can draw in the cooler air from the east porch. Having double hung windows is a great addition to our home that we are very excited about.
For now, we are tired. We have the minimal required window shades and curtains up for the evening. Tomorrow we need to clean all of the windows, which will be easy to do since they tilt in. Then we will need to reinstall more shades and think about how we are going to trim out the exterior. Fortunately, there isn't any rain forecast until next Tuesday. That will give us a little time to get that chore completed. We're thinking 1 x 6 cedar with an oil stain. That would look nice and should last a long while.
With all of the moving around of furniture and things on the porch, it has provided us with many opportunities to clean and dust things that don't get moved very often. We're also thinking to rearrange some of the shelving in the pantry to better accommodate our jars of canned goods from the garden.
Speaking of the garden. There are tomatoes, green beans and three kinds of squash blooming. We should be able to have our first meal of fresh yellow squash in a few days. While the men were tearing up the house this morning, I escaped out to the garden and gave many plants a good dose of diatomaceous earth. I hope it helps make a dent in the slugs and cabbage worms. There are a number of cabbages trying to make heads, despite the worms and slugs. I also found some damage from some squash vine borers. I am tempted to reorder more beneficial insects since I think most of ours either drowned or got washed away in the last deluge we had. But the class I am attending about beneficial insects is Saturday, so I think I will wait and see what I can learn there.
Life is busy, very, very busy. There are so many indicators pointing toward some sort of tremendous downturn, outright collapse or shutdown, that we feel it is very important to accomplish some of the things on our list of projects that are geared toward our survival. We have several more things in the wings that we'll show you before long. Investing in learning and tangibles that will increase our ability to make it on our own is more important than ever. We could leave what little money we have in the bank in the hope that it will still be there when the economy collapses, or we can invest it in our minds and in our homestead. Which one makes more sense? Which one will help us survive? Some folks have a problem with spending what they have, just in case. I find great security and comfort knowing we are investing in ourselves, our lives, and our ability to perform those tasks that are needed everyday to live. That's what we're about, and that's what we want to do. Live. And this is how we do it.
Until next time - Fern
