Soybeans New SS Journey

[Soybean]

I figured since there was such a huge gap between the last time I was here and now, I might as well make a new journal. I am slowly changing things to become more self sufficient. I took a look at where our money goes and we have come to the conclusion that our animals (which are basically our children) are a huge money black hole. We easily spend $160 a month on food for the snakes. Another $60 on food for the ferrets since they are on a raw diet. So I am taking steps to lower this. My first step was to begin breeding my own snake food. Once I get my colony up to the right size, I should be able to produce my own healthy feeder rats and mice for about $50 a month. A little more and I could put the ferrets on a whole prey diet and I would no longer have to buy meat from the store for them. I could be feeding the snakes and the ferrets for about $75 a month. So that is step #1. Step #2 is to start trying to grow plants. Small steps. This season I'm going to try cucumbers. That's it. If I can actually get these cucumbers to grow and produce, then I will plant more next season and make some homemade pickles.

Small steps. We are also looking to rent a house somewhere in Richmond, Va. Our dog needs a backyard to run and we will be watching a friend's rottweiler while she goes to China for a while. I also hope to begin learning new skills. First skill I want to learn is sewing so I can mend my own clothes.

 

[tortoise]

Hi there! Sewing is a valuable skill! I think the most valuable mending skill is darning. I've saved A LOT of socks that SO and I would have ordinarily throw away. I can't remember the last time I bought new socks! I gave up the first time I tried it because I was trying to make the darning too neat. Now I don't worry about it and it comes out just fine.

I've known how to sew for a long time, but I'm starting to make my own clothes. I was so frustrated with trying to get dressed in the morning. Nothing seems to fit me right. I have finally figured out that patterns just ARE NOT that complicated! I buy the cheap $3 patterns at WalMart and then change them (dramatically) to fit my body.

Why do you think it would be $70 per month for rat/mice colony? That seems really high. You can make cages pretty cheap. They can eat dog food and table scraps. I gave a try at a mouse colony when I had a cat. I never bought food or cages. If I did it again, I WOULD by water bottles. I had to wash out water bowls twice a day.

Baby steps! We'll get there. I planted my first veggie garden this year. I hope it is successful!

 

[Soybean]

In my experience, feeding dog food makes my rats and mice greasy and smell bad. They also tend to be thinner. I feed Mazuri 6F lab block as their staple diet and supplement with fresh foods (that I hope to one day begin producing myself). The 50lb bag costs me about $30. For bedding I use wood pellet bedding which is about $7 a bag. Cages I make out of plastic tubs and wire mesh. And yes, water bottles are much cleaner and the water lasts longer. I breed rats, mice, and gerbils right now. The mice are producing like crazy and its only really been a month or two since I've started. I would love to also begin breeding african soft furred rats and when I have a house, chickens, rabbits, and guinea pigs. That way my ferrets, cats, and dog will have at least 7 sources of food. The snakes will have rats or mice depending on their preference.

I have tons of t-shirts and jeans that could be mended and worn again if I knew how to sew, so a few of those shirts are going to be my test subjects. Mainly I just need to learn to sew up the armpit areas on shirts. For some reason those are the spots that get holes more often. And socks. Boy do we go through socks. My husband can wear a hole the size of China in a sock in no time at all.

 

[FarmerDenise]

Mending clothes is definitely a good skill to have.

They used to teach that in home economics. I guess that is one of those classes that fell by the wayside in our nation's zest for focusing on the basics and "improving" our educational programs :/
like so many other valuable common sense and often fun classes.

I thought my DD's friends how to sew. I thought DSS and his brother how to replace buttons and to fix seams that have come apart. DSS's older brother was pleased to have me show him how to do it.