A Fond Farewell

This will be my last post on HC. As of this week, we have accepted on offer to sell our house and property.

Chickens, in a faint dusting of snow, gobbling grain earlier this week.

We're staying in the area, but moving to a bigger house on more land with a real barn.We move approximately 2 months from now. With all the hustle and bustle of selling and preparing to move, I will simply not have time to continue blogging.

That, coupled with the fact that in the short time I've been opining, I have certainly come a lot closer to fulfilling my mission.



Our goal has been to "turn our rocky, overgrown 5.4 acres into a flourishing, self-sustaining farm, and become just a wee bit holier while we do it." With all of the improvements I've made to the pastures, and in implementing "the system," I've certainly taken great strides toward achieving the first part of that. My spiritual life has developed well during that time, too. I can honestly say that, even though I'm not continuing my mission here at this property, I have nevertheless achieved my goals - at least as much as possible in the short time I've been writing.

 So, for this final post, I'll give one last Homestead Update, and add some closing thoughts after that.

More on Latte the Calf

I was able to get Latte the newborn Jersey calf to stand still for a few seconds.

Strike a pose, Latte!

Latte is a sweet, energetic, rambunctious lil' gal.

Brand New Calf!

Bridget had her baby this past weekend!!!!!

It was a healthy baby girl. We named her Latte.

Latte the Jersey calf, a mere 4 minutes old and yet unable to stand.
The chickens looked on in bewilderment.

The delivery was fast and smooth. She went from first presenting (in the front yard) to birth (in the barn) in under 2 hours. Thing #2 got to witness the whole thing. I caught most of it, as we were preparing for company later that evening.

Piglets!!

This weekend, we had piglets!!

They are so small and so cute and so pink-ish.

 Mama Piggie (aka, Poomba) gave birth to two healthy, happy, squeaky little pig babies. They are just about the cutest thing ever. Well, definitely top 2.

Mama and babies are doing great.

Guinea Fowl: Take 2

This week, i got 4 free guineas:

buck-WHEAT! buck-WHEAT! 

A friend of ours got them in the spring, and they're getting into his neighbor's flowers and causing a good deal of hi-jinks, or something like that. I have them in with the pullets, where they'll stay until December. By then, I hope they're trained to stay and roost behind the shed.

HC Stats

This is my 240th post.

To date, 15,381 people who are not myself have viewed my blog. Last month, 1,043 people viewed a page. The most viewed page I have is the first installment of my chicken coop on wheels project. It has been accessed 931 times. Besides the other chicken coop post, my homage to homestead donkeys is the only page that's topped 200 views.

All the stats that's fit to print.

Today's been a big day - 77 views. That's tops for the last few weeks. I had 63 in September one day. I think it's because of the metal roof post, which sits in 6th place. In my tag cloud, the words "Catholic," "chicken," "garden," and "food" dominate (and are intentionally not tagged in this introspective). And good ol' US of A Google searches are by far my biggest pipeline of visitors.

So what does this all mean?

Well, I've (potentially) touched over 15,000 people. I have 240 distinct, written thoughts to leave for the entire created world. Most of my thinking, at least as evidence by my posting trends, has been around ,my mission of achieving holiness through the transformation on my land into a giving source of food. And at least somebody's seen it beyond Wife and David.

I haven't hit 10 posts a month. But that's OK - this blog is serving its purpose. And also, 26.

God bless,

Recap of Chicken Butchering Weekend

On Sept. 20th of this year, we took 23 meat chickens from coop to freezer. By "we," I mean myself, the wife and kids, Wife's 7 siblings, and some of the siblings' significant others.

The experience exceeded our wildest expectations.

Two chickens, mid-pluck, proudly displayed by six volunteers and led by Thing #1 (lower right).

It was a beautiful day, everyone was excited, and we accomplished our goals.

WARNING: Very graphic depictions of chicken evisceration to follow.

Catching Up: Bees

Not much to report on the bees, other than they're still thriving and being fed a dissolved sugar water syrup.

The bees with their feeder.

Greeks vs Persians: LEGO Water Battle!

I love homeschooling. For Thing #2's recent history project on the Greek empire, he did a water battle between Greece and Persia. He modeled the boats and dress after depictions in several books he read.

The Persians, left, are no match for the mighty Greek long boats!

The ships are very detailed for 3rd grade work. It even has a galley.

Nest Box Upgrades

Due in part to our apparent egg eating epidemic, and just to upgrade in general, I decided to add some extra padding and such to the nest boxes.

Right: Nest box with 2 layers of green astro-turf base.
Left: Wood shavings on top of the the turf, with dummy wooden eggs inside.

Previously, I'd been using hay on top of the wood. I upgraded this week to astro-turf under wood shavings.

Trade and the Myth of Self-Sufficiency

I remember dreaming, three years ago, how cool it would be to be self-sufficient - to close our little 5.4 acres off from the would and live in a complete cycle according to nature, giving back to the land and being given everything from it in turn. To draw my water, my power, my food, my herbal remedies, my fibers, and my joys from the earth.

In other words, I dreamt of being completely self-sufficient.

I'm glad I woke up.

Yeah, I don't ever want to feel like this guy.

In reality, self-sufficiency is a myth. We humans are simply too needy.

Catching Up: Gardens

Oh, the gardens. My Achilles Heel this year.

Watermelons, cantaloupes, green beans, tomatoes, okra, and cucumbers.

The pigs and chickens have done a great job tilling and rotating through. We've had lots of sunflowers and melons grow, and our tomato plants have done fairly well.

But, there's a long way to go yet.

How to Start Homesteading When You Don't Have a Clue

Three and a half years ago, a 20-something father of two, with an expectant wife, answered a phone call. It was HR, following up: he was offered a job out of state.

He was raised in a fast-paced metropolitan suburb, and went to a blue collar college town where he experienced dorm and apartment living, even after having graduated. Having bounced around from house to house for years, and even back to his home state for a time, he never set down roots, never planted a garden, never owned a dog. Heck, he only had a lawnmower for about 8 months before moving back into a apartment.

But that phone call changed everything.

I received a job offer by phone on my birthday in 2011.
I started a new job, moved 10 hours away, bought our homestead,
and we had Thing #3 that year.

This was the time. This was the chance to start over. This was the chance for he and his wife to realize their longtime, yet seemingly crazy, dream: to live in the country.

With no experience. No family nearby for support. No knowledge. No tools. All he had was a new job and a dream.

Fast forward three and half years, and he's built an orchard and a half-acre garden zone, rescued and re-homed a donkey, learned to mow hay by hand, tended sheep, butchered chickens, designed and built a movable chicken coop, milked a cow in a homemade stanchion (and learned what the diddly a stanchion was in the first place), befriended some pigs, and become a beekeeper.

With no experience, yet a dream to produce all of my family's food on our land, I have come very far in three and a half short years. The majority of this has happened in the last two years.

How did I get this far? Simple: plan and research.

Bliss Through Farming?

On LinkedIn this week, I saw this little graphic:

The happy intersection of passion, mission, vocation, and profession?

It's a nice cross-section and compartmentalization of different types of work. The point, of course, was to encourage people to find a career that satisfies the little blue star in the middle. Then, we would all achieve supreme happiness, live debt-free, rescue puppies, and live happily ever after.

Except, that just isn't reality.

Catching Up: Rabbits

The rabbits have been beyond disappointing thus far. Since acquiring the original buck and two does five months ago, we have yet to produce a single litter.

I've tried every trick in the book. I tried breeding at different times of day. I swapped the buck and doe cages so them could smell each other first (in fact, I did this every day for a week with no success). I took her to his cage, and him to her cage. I took them to a neutral, unused cage. I changed their feed. I restrained the does. I did everything but crack a bottle of wine and turn on some Barry White by the fireplace.

No kits. Zero. Nada. Niet.

I really wanted to be enjoying some rabbit dinners by now. So, yesterday, I bought a new buck. Meet Cap'n Jack Sparrow:

Cap'n Jack Sparrow is our new New Zealand white buck.
He's 2 years old, proven, and has only one eye.

I also bought two extra does in an apparent rabbit close-out special.

Last Milk

Well, until November, anywhoozles.

Bridget chows down her last bucket of oats before I milk her out for the last time
until after she calves.

It was kinda sad, but I'm also ready for a break.

Catching Up: Sheep

Not much to report on them. They stay in the electro-net, eat grass and bushes and stuff, and baa at me every morning when I bring them water. We interact for about 4 minutes a day. They are, BY FAR, the easiest keepers on the homestead.

Pot Pie, right, Meatloaf, middle, and Meatball, left saying "hi" this morning.
We baa back and forth each morning.

The biggest challenge and time investment I have is when i switch the netting.

Catching Up: Pigs

The pigs have been quietly rooting their pen, working in manure, and making bacon.

Well, quietly, that is, unless they're hungry. Then they oink til Kingdom (or food) comes.

They have a happy little life, basking in shade, wallowing in their pits, visiting the chickens next door, getting excited over buckets of food, and digging and tilling up their land for me.  :)

I turned loose the water for them on one particularly hot day.
They wallowed for hours. It was funny.

There's really not much to report on them, so here's some pictures.

Chicken Problems (and Potential Solutions)

Chicken problems. We've had 'em all. Let's start with the older chickens and work down, shall we?

Problems #1 and #2: Food Ran Out and New Pecking Order...At the Same Time

About a month ago, I had a small 4-day interruption in layer pellet availability at the same time I introduced the 8 new Araucanas to the flock. The 23 laying-age chickens had been laying between 14 and 18 eggs pretty regularly for the previous month, but then sharply went down to around 8-10. The food interruption and the new pecking order disruption were blamed for the egg drop.

The flock flocked for fresh feed.

Turns out, those factors were not entirely to blame.

Catching Up: Cows

Part 2 in my catching up series is on the cows.

First, in case you missed it, Bridget is pregnant and due the first of November. Her belly swells daily, and I felt the calf move last week. It was a small rolling motion, and very awesome.

I have cut back to once-a-day milking since August. I will stop altogether and dry her off by Labor Day weekend. Hard to believe that my milking will come to an end. It's been a daily thing since February.

Cow selfie. Because, why not? Even with the oats all over her nose.....

I will miss milking toward mid-October, I'm sure, but I'm ready for a break.