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QA If you have fabric (quilt squares, etc)to rehome, the ladies at the Algonquin Mill take donations of fabric for quilts and woven rag rugs. The money they make from selling these at the annual Algonquin Mill Fall Festival help support the Carroll County Historical Society and the upkeep of...

Good ideas. Just remember to label jams and jellies with ingredients, weights and the term "home produced". In some areas you must have your kitchen inspected and licensed for home produced products. We checked several years ago so we could sell baked goods at the farmer's market but at that...

The bee inspector was at our place yesterday and said the hives look good except that one may be thinking about swarming. I have a super on it with plenty of blank comb so hope they will think again! Am going to get another hive set up just in case they swarm and we are home and we notice and...

Another issue to consider when looking at steep, hilly, etc. access roads is if you are going to have animals you will need to haul them and if they don't fit in the back of a pickup that means a horse/stock trailer. Pulling one means more horsepower in your tow vehicle to start with and steep...

I agree with Dace. I think you have to go step by step and be as self suffieicnt as you can at this time, in this place, with resources you have. My goal is to raise some of our food, buy food from others that is as sustainable raised as possible and ocassionaly splurge on goodies that don't...

I think the cold weather got the one hive as it was still full of bees but the other one was (I think) a late season swarm and the bees that were left didn't have enough mass to keep themselves going. That one was probably due to my inexperience. I took the bees that were in the hive (less than...

I was a new beek last year and lost both of my hives this winter. Have installed new packages and they are doing well. Really need to get into them this week and see if they need another super but it's been so rainy.:he I've gotten lots of help and good advice from the local county bee club. I...

Quail, I thought about you last night. I was at Rogers Auction and someone had brought in 25 hatchery boxes of chicks!!!Two were ducks and the rest were chicks. Each box had 85-120 chicks so there were over 2000 chicks. They started out at around 80 cents a chick and you took the whole box...

Check on local laws. We have a nearby community that has a law against rabbits in houses. :barnie Can you imagine being the bunny buster and checking house for "illegal" bunnies!!! :th

Call your state extension service or nearest agricultural college. They will know for your location. What you need in Ohio is going to be different than Arizona, Alaska or Florida!

If you want weird looks tell people you are a Locovore and eat as in season as much as possible. When you mention you process your excessive veggies in season so you will have them out of season and that you search out local producers even tho it costs more than the Big W they just don't get...

I've had the same type of question...people think we kill the sheep to get the wool we spin!!!:barnie

To repel ants indoors use cinnamon. Just sprinkle it in cabinets or on counter tops. They leave! It's a little messy but safe. Have never used it outside but it should work there too.

If you card "in the grease" you will transfer lanolin to the carder teeth. So... if you want to use those same carders for washed wool you will get a transfer from the carder to the clean wool. Should have dedicated carders for each type of wool. If you wash wool with a light amount of soap you...

Some feed stores will reuse if you get custom grain or have them grind and mix for you. I see bunches of these sold at our local livestock auction.

We have an older center pole with arms type with 4 lines. It's been up at least 15 years and all we have had to do is replace the lines because we leave it up year round. In the winter we dry on several folding drying racks in the house. When the wood burner is running the racks are in the same...

If you want beeswax, try a local beekeeper. Support your locals by calling your local Extension Office and asking for the names of bee keepers.

Make sure that taller sides don't shade the growing area. Shade will slow the rate that the soil warms and shorten the day length for the plants. I'm in east central Ohio and have raised beds that have 12-14 inches sides. They are along the south facing wall of our barn. The one closest to the...

We used two strands of electric on step-in fence posts to rotational graze our dairy goats years ago and found that when we moved it, they would watch very carefully and the lead goat would walk up and down the old fence line and not until she stepped across would the others come near the old...

There are ways of having urban bees without disturbing the neighbors. Your hive should be set so that the flight path (front of the hive) is not aimed at walks, drives or the neighbor's door. Put a small fence, windbreak, etc. about 4-5 feet in front of the hive so that the bees fly up and are...