TanksHill
Super Self-Sufficient
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- Thread starter PamsPride
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- #1,622
We have been working on the making applesauce, just a little everyday. A little means 100# a day! LOL! We have almost 50 quarts done and I have a big pot of applesauce in my outside fridge waiting to be canned up. We got to tired last night to finish it. So I want to get it canned up before we start processing the next 2 bags of apples.
I was supposed to go see my counselor today but he had to reschedule for tomorrow.
I have not been getting as much work as I was hoping but I am thinking that after the holidays it should pick up a lot more.
I am not ready for winter to set in yet! I would like another month or two of sunshine!
I am chugging along with my Life Change plans but it just seems so slow going! With not getting as much work as I wanted and we only get paid every two weeks and money is so tight that it is really hard to get stuff stocked or stocked away.
I have been able to save some seeds this year. I picked some big pumpkins up for the kids to carve so I saved the seeds out of them, about a cereal bowl size of those seeds! I was able to save a small baggy full of pea seeds. I have a bunch of pole bean seeds drying now. I went out and picked all the peppers I had left in the garden yesterday so I should have a bunch of jalapeno, anahiem, and banana pepper seeds once I get them all done!
I am hoping to get some garlic planted in the next week or so! We love garlic and I would love to make it one of those things that we produce enough for a whole year of!
My goal is to produce enough food to feed my family for a year even if it is only 4 or 5 things but enough that we would not starve! I am working on eggs, milk, potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, meat, pears, and apples...now adding garlic. I am hoping to really expand my garden again next year! I would like to grow enough cucumbers to make all of our own pickles and relish for an entire year too. I read (way to much) online about the urban gardens and how much people can produce on tiny little lots and it seems that with my 1.65 acres I should be able to produce enough food for my family for an entire year if I REALLY put the effort into it! I have been reading about vertical gardening and I would love to try that for the cucumbers! I would also like to get some taller cages for my tomatoes. My pole beans did awesome this year! I am going to be downsizing my chicken flock so that they are easier to feed.
I live out in the country and it is so tempting to rip the WHOLE yard up and make it garden space but that is a lot of work...and I want to move in a couple of years. My mom says it is a lot easier to turn it back to lawn...just rip up the garden stuff, till it up, and reseed it! Sigh....so many things just swirl around in my head non stop! LOL!
I need to get busy and sew the two girls some new underwear out of old t-shirts. We seem to have no lack of t-shirts the boys are not going to wear but underwear for the girls are in short supply around here! Potty training seems to be doing that! LOL! I just plain need to get busy sewing again!
I was supposed to go see my counselor today but he had to reschedule for tomorrow.
I have not been getting as much work as I was hoping but I am thinking that after the holidays it should pick up a lot more.
I am not ready for winter to set in yet! I would like another month or two of sunshine!
I am chugging along with my Life Change plans but it just seems so slow going! With not getting as much work as I wanted and we only get paid every two weeks and money is so tight that it is really hard to get stuff stocked or stocked away.
I have been able to save some seeds this year. I picked some big pumpkins up for the kids to carve so I saved the seeds out of them, about a cereal bowl size of those seeds! I was able to save a small baggy full of pea seeds. I have a bunch of pole bean seeds drying now. I went out and picked all the peppers I had left in the garden yesterday so I should have a bunch of jalapeno, anahiem, and banana pepper seeds once I get them all done!
I am hoping to get some garlic planted in the next week or so! We love garlic and I would love to make it one of those things that we produce enough for a whole year of!
My goal is to produce enough food to feed my family for a year even if it is only 4 or 5 things but enough that we would not starve! I am working on eggs, milk, potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, meat, pears, and apples...now adding garlic. I am hoping to really expand my garden again next year! I would like to grow enough cucumbers to make all of our own pickles and relish for an entire year too. I read (way to much) online about the urban gardens and how much people can produce on tiny little lots and it seems that with my 1.65 acres I should be able to produce enough food for my family for an entire year if I REALLY put the effort into it! I have been reading about vertical gardening and I would love to try that for the cucumbers! I would also like to get some taller cages for my tomatoes. My pole beans did awesome this year! I am going to be downsizing my chicken flock so that they are easier to feed.
I live out in the country and it is so tempting to rip the WHOLE yard up and make it garden space but that is a lot of work...and I want to move in a couple of years. My mom says it is a lot easier to turn it back to lawn...just rip up the garden stuff, till it up, and reseed it! Sigh....so many things just swirl around in my head non stop! LOL!
I need to get busy and sew the two girls some new underwear out of old t-shirts. We seem to have no lack of t-shirts the boys are not going to wear but underwear for the girls are in short supply around here! Potty training seems to be doing that! LOL! I just plain need to get busy sewing again!
SSDreamin
Almost Self-Reliant
Have you read The Backyard Homestead? Your library may have it or be able to get it.
I enjoyed it. We have more property than it works with, but I found lots of great space saving ideas and ways to lay things out.
I have seen articles on making underwear from old t-shirts but around here everybody either wears them until they are paper thin (DH has one he gets 'comments' on at work - so embarrassing!) or full of holes, or both!
Barely usable as rags!
That is a LOT of applesauce! My guys are so picky, they won't touch mine because I added red hots to it. This year, all my apples were dehydrated. Gives me time to decide what I should do with them
I enjoyed it. We have more property than it works with, but I found lots of great space saving ideas and ways to lay things out.
I have seen articles on making underwear from old t-shirts but around here everybody either wears them until they are paper thin (DH has one he gets 'comments' on at work - so embarrassing!) or full of holes, or both!
Barely usable as rags!That is a LOT of applesauce! My guys are so picky, they won't touch mine because I added red hots to it. This year, all my apples were dehydrated. Gives me time to decide what I should do with them
TanksHill
Super Self-Sufficient
Sorry to hear work is not as busy as you thought. I think this runs true for everyone right now. My dh comes home all the time saying "its just gotta pick up". I'm not going to hold my breath.
I have pretty much started doing kinda the same thing with my garden. I am basically growing the things that produce well and as much as I can. Green beans, carrots, butternut did well this year. I do my cucumbers vertically. I just use the 3 ft high wire fence and made two circles. Stacked them on top of each other and secured with zip ties. Then I spend some time each day securing the vines with that green garden tape. At the end of the season I pull the vines and leave the tape. Then use it again the next year. I only had two stacks this year. One was pickling cuc's and the other those long English. I made enough pickles and relish to last us the year. Well for relish that would only be about 12 pints. I did dill chips as well. I even used some of the long English for relish. They worked fine. I could have canned a bunch more but a couple times the cuc's got away from me. One day they were small and the next only fit for the chickens.
I can believe how much apple sauce you've canned. great job.
How is the dairy department doing at your place??
g
I have pretty much started doing kinda the same thing with my garden. I am basically growing the things that produce well and as much as I can. Green beans, carrots, butternut did well this year. I do my cucumbers vertically. I just use the 3 ft high wire fence and made two circles. Stacked them on top of each other and secured with zip ties. Then I spend some time each day securing the vines with that green garden tape. At the end of the season I pull the vines and leave the tape. Then use it again the next year. I only had two stacks this year. One was pickling cuc's and the other those long English. I made enough pickles and relish to last us the year. Well for relish that would only be about 12 pints. I did dill chips as well. I even used some of the long English for relish. They worked fine. I could have canned a bunch more but a couple times the cuc's got away from me. One day they were small and the next only fit for the chickens.
I can believe how much apple sauce you've canned. great job.
How is the dairy department doing at your place??
g
- Thread starter
- #1,625
The diary department...aka goats.... 
Spoiler, our last little buckling died Sunday morning at 6am practically in my 12 yo's arms. He stopped eating his feed a couple weeks ago, we treated him with some stuff and he started eating again...for about a week, then we went out Saturday morning his head was down, he would not eat and would not even walk around. So, we brought him into the house and we were giving him vitamins and electrolytes but it did not work. 
It was very hard on all of us.
We have 4 does and I am hoping to get them bred within the next 6 weeks. I am trying to find my own Nubian buck right now so I do not have to take them all out to be serviced.
Rabbits...we are on baby watch and we are hoping that they were bred. I did not keep track of the days so I am not sure when we put the buck in with each of them so I don't know when they should be here. They have been separated from the buck so if they did not get bred the first time then there is no chance of them getting bred. But they are RABBITS and I am hoping they start multiplying like rabbits!! :bun
Chickens...Pfft!! We got 26 creepy meats about 2 months ago...Yeah well they are not even creepy looking! They look just like the rest of my chickens! A friend ordered 50 and I got 25 (26) and her's are just like mine! She has had several die. I have lost 8!!! So I am down to 18!! UGH!! They are not even close to being put in the freezer!! I have never had creepy meats that were like this!!
I am glad that all of society has not collapsed and I have to depend on my animals to feed us!
Spoiler, our last little buckling died Sunday morning at 6am practically in my 12 yo's arms. He stopped eating his feed a couple weeks ago, we treated him with some stuff and he started eating again...for about a week, then we went out Saturday morning his head was down, he would not eat and would not even walk around. So, we brought him into the house and we were giving him vitamins and electrolytes but it did not work. It was very hard on all of us. We have 4 does and I am hoping to get them bred within the next 6 weeks. I am trying to find my own Nubian buck right now so I do not have to take them all out to be serviced.
Rabbits...we are on baby watch and we are hoping that they were bred. I did not keep track of the days so I am not sure when we put the buck in with each of them so I don't know when they should be here. They have been separated from the buck so if they did not get bred the first time then there is no chance of them getting bred. But they are RABBITS and I am hoping they start multiplying like rabbits!! :bun
Chickens...Pfft!! We got 26 creepy meats about 2 months ago...Yeah well they are not even creepy looking! They look just like the rest of my chickens! A friend ordered 50 and I got 25 (26) and her's are just like mine! She has had several die. I have lost 8!!! So I am down to 18!! UGH!! They are not even close to being put in the freezer!! I have never had creepy meats that were like this!!
I am glad that all of society has not collapsed and I have to depend on my animals to feed us!
TanksHill
Super Self-Sufficient
You will be fine. Sorry to hear about the little goat. Such a sad loss.
I tried those Cornish X birds for my first experience in meats. They were icky. So this last time I ordered Freedom Ranges. They were soooo much better. They did eat like pigs and a couple times when I fed the big roos bit my toes. I learned to throw some over the fence first after that. But I butchered those birds at 11, 13 and 14 weeks. They were great. Not huge but healthy and happy. Very strong legs, mobile and not gross at all. Definitely doing those again next spring.
g
I tried those Cornish X birds for my first experience in meats. They were icky. So this last time I ordered Freedom Ranges. They were soooo much better. They did eat like pigs and a couple times when I fed the big roos bit my toes. I learned to throw some over the fence first after that.
But I butchered those birds at 11, 13 and 14 weeks. They were great. Not huge but healthy and happy. Very strong legs, mobile and not gross at all. Definitely doing those again next spring. g
- Thread starter
- #1,627
WOOT!! A guy that I met at the auction got me a Nubian Buck!! I go to pick him up tomorrow! I have 4 ladies that need a man! I am sure they will be very excited!! He is supposed to be chocolate with white on him! All of my does are red (light brown) so hopefully I will get some mahogany colored babies!
He was OF COURSE at the top of my price range! LOL! But when you tell a buyer and seller (this is what he does for a living) what your limit is you know he is going to charge you the max amount! LOL! 
But I figure he has 4 ladies to breed and then I can resell him and I will hopefully get my money back out of him. And it sure does beat the hassle of having to deal with another crazy goat breeder like I did last year! He is going to cost $125 and he is almost a year old.
He was OF COURSE at the top of my price range! LOL! But when you tell a buyer and seller (this is what he does for a living) what your limit is you know he is going to charge you the max amount! LOL! But I figure he has 4 ladies to breed and then I can resell him and I will hopefully get my money back out of him. And it sure does beat the hassle of having to deal with another crazy goat breeder like I did last year! He is going to cost $125 and he is almost a year old.
TanksHill
Super Self-Sufficient
I can't wait to see him!!!
great job!!!
g
- Thread starter
- #1,629
I got the buck last night. I am kind of disappointed. He is a lot smaller than I thought he would be. He is about 10 months old so maybe we can fatten him up a little. He has horns...although small. He has a runny nose! So we have given him LA-200 and some children's Dimetapp so I am hoping he should clear up quickly. It is clear snot and he does not have a cough or anything. From what I have been reading online that is probably caused from the stress of going to the auction barn and being in a cage (somewhat covered) outside all night the day before we got him. We are keeping him separated and locked in an empty chicken house so he does not get any of our other animals sick. If I can get about 20 or more pounds put on him I think he will be a good looking guy.
So we have given him LA-200 and some children's Dimetapp so I am hoping he should clear up quickly. It is clear snot and he does not have a cough or anything. From what I have been reading online that is probably caused from the stress of going to the auction barn and being in a cage (somewhat covered) outside all night the day before we got him. We are keeping him separated and locked in an empty chicken house so he does not get any of our other animals sick. If I can get about 20 or more pounds put on him I think he will be a good looking guy.- Thread starter
- #1,630
Ok, we have now had the buck for two days and my Lily KNOWS there is a man on the premises!!! She is BAWLING something terrible! She has even been zapped by the fence! I think she is in heat but I want to make sure he is not sick before letting them near each other!
His runny nose has cleared up but he still seems kind of weak. Like he is not used to being out of the barn, and he acts like he has only ever had hay...no green grass or grain!!
His runny nose has cleared up but he still seems kind of weak. Like he is not used to being out of the barn, and he acts like he has only ever had hay...no green grass or grain!!
