Happy New Year!

We are experiencing our first "official" freezing temps this weekend.  The days have been beautiful, and allowed PH to split wood, something which we desperately needed to finish.  PD#2 is our little work horse.  She selflessly pitches in, and I depend on her a lot.  Ever since PD#1 graduated, her participation in Civil Air Patrol has increased, plus she now has a job that she works about 33 hours a week.  Add to that entering into a courtship, she is quite busy, and not helping, as much as, she used to...

PD#2 was very active yesterday stuffing hay into animal cages, covering them with a tarp and plugging in the heat lamp.  Our front porch is basically the barn.  Most of the animals use the porch during bad weather.  We had dogs, cats, chickens, a pet rat, goats, ducks and one guinea fowl huddled around the heat lamp last night.  No fussing, just sleeping and keeping each other warm.

Our Pyr, Bo, disappeared last week.  He was a constant roamer, despite our best efforts to keep him contained.  Anyone with a Pyr understands how hard this is, their nature is to roam and chase coyotes.  He was 7 years old.  I am assuming since it has been a week and he has not returned, he was either hit by a car or shot by a rancher.  Most ranchers around here know that Pyrs generally don't attack anything, but I really cannot explain why he has not come home.  He always has before.  PD#2 is sad, and keeps looking and calling for him.

PS#1 and #2 will have their birthdays here soon.  #1 will be 27 and #2 will be 7.  I will be 47 soon, and if it weren't for my "advanced maternal age" I'd be wondering where the next baby was.....

The bees have been "winterized".  I covered their hive with a blanket, reduced the entrance, and have been feeding them.  I need to go replenish their food tomorrow.

We have been cleaning up the land lately, and decluttering even more.  I have been taking stock of food and other preparations, making lists and adding to the stock.

We have had more people move into the area, and more break ins.  Praying for God's increased protection over our property.  We don't have anything valuable, so what little I do have, I would love to keep.

Molly

Thankfully, we have not been very ill.  So far, PD#1 is the only one who had a mild virus last week.  Not sure if it was allergies, a virus or a combination.  Cedar has been high around 30,000 ppm.  Even those who are not sensitive or having issues with the Cedar.  My face is itchy, and so are my eyes, but that is about it.

We have not had health insurance the past couple of years due to the high cost.  Have not been able to afford it at all.  This has increased my studies of herbal medicine, and increased our usage of herbs, essential oils and other home remedies.  I am enrolled in a Naturopath course (herbal/natural doctor type of thing).  It has been very beneficial to us.  We have not had to go to the doctor once in six years.  That is pretty good I think.

October Harvest Time

It has been a long time since I lasted posted.  We have been busy, and need to get busier.  Winter is upon us, and our wood is not even split.

PH started a new job over an hour away.  We will miss having him home so early every day.  It was very useful to be so close to home, and to have the perks of his last position.  We don't have that now, but thankfully his last employer provide an excellent severance package, plus gave him the company truck, trailer, storage shed, lots of scrap metal, lumber, an engine hoist (we plan to use this during butchering) and lots of other useful bits.

We received 150 bales of hay and are trying to find the time to get them into the barn.  We are expecting rain today, so we lost that battle for now.  We will have to use a tarp to cover the hay, though we are thankful for the rain.

We lost the meat chickens we were raising to "something".  It killed all except one chick.  Thankfully, we have had two hens laying consistently this summer, and have been able to add to our flock.

The current issue now is that we have a mountain lion in our neighborhood that is killing livestock.  So far in the past two weeks, four calves have been killed, a family dog, and two horses were attacked though escaped.  We are keeping a watch on the livestock, have guns handy, and are not going out after dark at the moment.

We will be canning this weekend, plus attending our favorite barter.  Can't wait.

Bees are doing great.  They have survived our hot summer.  I have had to feed them between honey flows.  Currently, the mesquite are doing great and the girls are loaded down with pollen.  I have had to replace the hive on it's uprights twice (stupid cow).  She keeps knocking it over.  We need to fence it in apart from her.  I thought it was in an isolated location, but Molly intentionally goes to the hive.  The first time I got stung three times.  I was fine at first, but the next day I was sick and was sick for a week.  Apparently, I am allergic (like my grandmother) and will be getting an Epi-pen, just in case.

The second time, I was smart enough to put my suit/veil on before picking up the hive.  The girls are usually very calm, but not when they get knocked over.

I have checked the hive and am discouraged to see that not all the frames are filled.  I thought after so long they would all be filled.  I am worried about them making through the winter.  I will continue to feed and watch them.  They are laying, I can see brood and the Queen is still energetic.  I'll try and remember to take pictures.  I have a way to take pictures and upload online now, so that is good.

Getting worried about the economy and the State of our Country even more.  It's irritating my kids that I am so protective, but I really would feel better about them staying out of crowded areas until my 18 yo PD#1 is able to get her CHL.  She is a knife girl, but I'll feel a little better when she has a handgun on her 24/7.

Well, off to get the homestead buckled down before the storm hits..

PD#1 cupcakes from her 18th birthday

Preparation in little steps

Wow! I was shocked to see it had been six months since I had posted anything.  Life sure flies by!

We have been busy cleaning up the property after the 20 inches of rain we have received this Spring.  This is the first year in 8 years we have been here that the creek bed has flooded out of it's banks.  Our entire yard was one big pond.  I am thankful my husband built the house on 4 foot tall pier and beams.  Kept the house out of the water for sure.

I purchased more Freedom Ranger chicks in April, only to have 25 of them wiped out by a possum last week (June 10).  Very upsetting.  That is my food.  This is the first time we have had this happen, and I am stumped as to how it go inside a locked building.  No holes or openings anywhere.

Pond is full, praying it will last the summer.  Sold most of our goat herd to purchase bees/hive.  They are in place and doing great so far.  Can't wait to learn more.  Thankfully, I have a good mentor to help me out.

We kept three remaining does.  So we ended up with four new babies.  One of the mamas (Bluebonnet, Age 9yrs) passed away last week.  No idea why.  She looked fine, but it could have been age.  Her little guy "Blu" is fending for himself (he's almost 3 months) now in the field.  His mama was a loner and kept to herself, so he is following her lead and staying away from everyone else.  Except at night, he comes and sleeps in front of our front door on the porch.  Who knew our front porch would turn into a barn?  We have chickens, a rat, a guinea pig, rabbits, cats, dogs and now goats living/sleeping on the porch.  I am scared to ask what next?

Our POA paint horse Samson has hurt his rear leg again.  Last year he broke it, and it appears broken again.  He kicked the dog for chasing him (left a good hoof shaped cut on his head too), but broke the same leg.  It has been swollen for about 3 months, nothing to do for him.  He still gets around the field, eats, drinks, etc., but it doesn't seem to be healing as fast as it should.  Since he is still eating, I don't want to put him down.  What a Quandry.....

PH job is finally at a close.  He is packing up the building and inventorying the equipment for the company.  He will be the last one out, and then we will have to worry about a job.  Very scary feeling in a way.I did manage to find another part time job with the USDA doing farm surveys.  It is a pretty good job, and I wish I could do it full time.  Maybe in the future. So, we aren't destitute.  Thankfully, we are debt free, and raise a lot of our own food.  We just need money for luxuries like electricity, fuel, books and travel.

PD#1 graduated from our homeschool high school.  She was also (finally) promoted to 2Lt in Civil Air Patrol in May.  A huge milestone for her.

Cadet 2nd Lieutenant

PD#1 (left) with her BFF

Graduating together from HomeSchool

*We planted a small garden this year, primarily herbs to sell at the local Farmer's Market.  I have been drying the basil, as we have an abundance of basil.  Next will be the mint.  I've also been wild-crafting several medicinal herbs (nettle, spotted bee balm, algerita).

We use herbal remedies primarily, though I do have one or two homeopathic remedies, and we use essential oils, along with the rest, to treat illness.  Thankfully, no doctor visits this year, as we do not have health insurance.  Maybe PH next job will have affordable health insurance.  His last company we paid $350 a month, then it went up to $600 a month and we had to cancel because we couldn't afford the additional cost.  

The Demise of the Countryside

Today we attended the Basic Training Graduation for a friend of PD#1.  He has been in Civil Air Patrol with her the past two years, and they have attended several encampments/activities together. So we joined his family and girlfriend at the base to celebrate this great milestone in his young life.

On the way back home, we drove a different route through the countryside.  The number of derelict and abandoned homes were astonishing.  I counted 12 along a 5 mile stretch!  I was shocked.  This has all happened in the past year, because people were living in these houses last year.  It concerns me. I began wondering if it was economic issues or if the county officials somehow had a hand it.  These were all smaller homes lived in by lower income, predominantly Hispanic families in the past.  Has there been some ordinance passed about the square footage of a house? The number of people living in one house?  Historically, in the counties here people have been more free than living in the city, but all these abandoned homes have me worried.  I am going to keep my eyes open, to see if there is an increase in my area.

I have always made it a priority to notice abandoned homes, primarily for usable resources (ie., windmills, fruit trees, water, wells) and a back up location to head to in an emergency.  But this is entirely different. These homes are out in the country, but have really close neighbors and none of them have tried to be self sufficient in anyway, no gardening or livestock.  It still bothers me, as I sit here typing this post.

I miss the America of my youth. Was I blind? Did I not see or not yet understand what was coming? I remember the gas lines of the 1970s, but I don't remember the problems with the government being so bad, the nation on the verge of economic collapse.  Am I wrong? Did it exist even then?

I am also concerned over the possible consequences these families have faced? Where did they go?

End of an Era

After much thought, we have decided to get rid of a large portion of our goat herd.  Due to over grazing, the drought, cost of feed, and not enough money to cross fence properly it was time.  We managed to sell about 20 of our goats for almost $2,000.  We have taken some of this money and purchased our first bee hive and 3lbs of bees and a queen.  I will be taking beekeeping classes before our hive arrives, and attending local meetings.  We believe that this will help our land heal, while providing a few necessary resources we were lacking on the property.  We have maintained a couple of goats to provide meat this year, plus a milking doe. We can keep these three in a pen, which will allow us to finally plant a large garden, and make the most use of our property.

My FIL will be over soon with his tractor to disc up a couple of acres for our garden and wheat field. Cannot wait!

The weather so far this year has been cold, and February has not hit us yet.  Waiting for it to arrive this weekend, though not very cold.  We need it colder to butcher the hogs, and the chickens.  Plus, I need to purchase more broiler chicks. PH has split a lot of wood, and the stack is growing high!  Very happy to see this, and feel truly blessed by the gift of all these downed trees.

The coyotes are out in abundance lately.  Drives the dogs crazy!

I passed the test and am now a Ham Radio Operator! Yeah me!  I had purchased a handheld ham radio last year, and have been studying.  Praise God I passed!  It was way easier than I thought.  We also recently purchased a Uniden CB Radio to round out our communication desk.  It has a better range than I thought.

Many people in our homesteading group are getting better prepared, though honestly I feel it is a total waste of money to try and re-create grid electricity.  I tend to prepare for a total off grid, minimal electrical needs.  I have kerosene lamps, battery operated lamps (recharged while driving the car), propane cookstove, wood stove, wood grill, smoker and fire pit.  I have been working on the process for years, trying to refine it.  Still have the wood heated water heater on PH's list.  He is truly stoked about that one! LOL

We continue to harvest the wild edibles around us.  PH and the kids recently filled the pick up truck bed with wild melons for the pigs.  They love them.  We also harvested mustang grapes, prickly pear fruit, nopales, abandoned orange trees on abandoned homesteads.  There are many around here, which is kind of sad, but I do love abandoned houses for some reason.

Goals for 2015:

to obtain ham license - done
to purchase bee hive - done
to purchase Bison Pump for well
to can 1000 quarts of food by end of year
to purchase 100 gallons of fuel for storage
to purchase 55 gallons of kerosene
to attend 5 more births towards my midwife training
to continue herbal medical training
to plant and harvest wheat

That is about all I can think of right now.  Everyone keep up the prepping, time is short, keep up the fight.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I pray everyone had a Merry Christmas!  We hosted our annual Christmas Eve family gathering this year.  It was a great time with family, especially all the food :) We had our traditional food of Lasagna, Salad, Bread, Cookies and Chocolate Cream Pie.  Christmas Day was just us (PS#1 did join us too!) at home.

We continue to scale back our gift giving, with the intention to focus on why we celebrate Christmas.  Each child received one gift from us (plus a few from family).  PS#2 asked for a camo tarp and tent stakes.  Pretty strange gift (I thought) for a 5 year old boy, but he is happy with it.  He has made himself a camp site in the trees, complete with fire ring (we have used it twice to roast marshmallows), log stools, camp kitchen area, and a small, wood pile.  He spends a lot of time in the tent, and has been upset that I won't sleep outside in the tent with him.  I'd need a cot for that...I would hate to wake up with a rattle snake snuggled in the sleeping bag with me.

Gifts we received (not a totally prepper Christmas) were:  Chromebook, Nintendo 3DS, gift cards to Home Depot and Olive Garden, ammunition, 2 cast iron pots, a knife, fire starter, knife sharpener, machete, a digital/wireless thermometer/weather station (part is outside, and the other sits inside), camo shirts and jacket for PD#1, sewing supplies, and crochet supplies. Hopefully, next year we can concentrate and focus on only useful items.  That is the goal for next year.  I did give two useful gifts 1) a gun cleaning kit and 2) a knife set.

The weather has been pretty chilly lately.  Tonight it is 40, supposed to be in the mid 30's in the a.m.  Rained early this a.m. until about noon. It was nice this p.m., sunny but a high of 48.

We have been focusing on cleaning, decluttering, organizing more, working on housing projects (sheet rock and paint), and keeping the land picked up.  PH has been splitting lots of wood (we received six live oak trees from FIL).

I recently completed a one day herbal medicine class on Cold/Flu.  Very interesting and informative.  I am continuing my herbal medicine studies.  I am going into my 9th year of study.  I don't think I will ever be done learning about herbal remedies.  In addition, I am still studying and looking for births to observe as part of my midwife training.

We will be working on the garden in the a.m., to get it cleaned up to plant in early February (at the latest).  I am very thankful that PD#2 is an avid gardener.  She knows my love for plants, and brought me back several plant pieces (chocolate mint, garlic stalk, beautyberries) from a botanical walk in the gardens in town today.  Very cool that she thought of me!

PH and I are still working towards our plans of getting bees this Spring.  Hoping he gets the hive built soon, I need to place my bee order.

Hope everyone has a great, safe New Year celebration!

Stoking up the Stove!

Happy Autumn!  It has been a busy time for us, and this past weekend was even busier.  First, we went out to my sister's house about an hour North of here to cut up and haul home a large Red Oak tree.  The tree had fallen during a recent rain storm (5 inches of rain!).  It won't be good for this year's wood, but next Winter we have a jump on our supply.

In addition, we have 200 bales of hale on the place for the livestock's Winter feed.  So thankful to receive!  This will be our last year to receive free hay.  We are still in the process of downsizing our herds (goats primarily), so hopefully next year we won't need quite so much hay.  Building the bee hives is next on PH list, as we "plan" to order bees in the Spring.  I've even joined a local Bee Keeping group!

The weather this week is COLD!  It was 33 degrees this morning, and overcast (looks like snow to me).  The high today was 44.  My feet never warmed up.  Tomorrow I will wear socks to work FOR SURE!
The forecast for the rest of the week is cold as well, with small light showers.  The low will be 28 on Friday! Yikes!  I have all the blankets washed, Winter curtains on most of the windows.  Next, we will have to get the animals fixed up for colder weather. 

We are in the process of painting the kitchen, and installing the stone/tile behind the wood stove. 
We will be having a lot of company this holiday season so want to at least have the mini Great Room complete as possible.  The front room is all living room/kitchen and the first thing you see when you walk into the house.  We will be hosting our home school Cookie Exchange, my family's Christmas Eve dinner, and PD#1 is currently in a courtship and her young man will be visiting with us for a week during December.

PD#1 had applied to the U.S. Air Force Academy, and was invited to come to a week of activities in October.  So, we spent a week in Colorado learning about all the Academy has to offer.  PD#1 has decided the USAFA is NOT for her.  I can't say that I am upset about that, but I am glad she found out about it now.  We are crossing things off the "list" left and right.  So far, she has completed the ground school for being a Pilot, but decided she preferred to be a passenger in the plane, and not the pilot.  Now, she is finishing up competing with CyberPatriot, but has decided cyber security is not for her.  She is back to her original plan of going to farrier school when she graduates next year.  I am getting dizzy with all these plan changes.

She also was able to staff a recent Civil Air Patrol - Airman Leadership School where she served as First Sergeant.  In addition, she attended SNCOA (Senior Non Commissioned Officer) training, and is working on studying to take her officer examination.  She is hoping to be promoted to 2Lt in January.   So, along with her regular schoolwork, CAP training and staffing, promotion studying she will be taking the SAT in December.  Very busy times!

 PD#2 is excelling quite nicely in her piano lessons.  She looks so little sitting at the piano, but she is a wonderful pianist.  I am very proud of her progress. She is currently learning Pachelbel's Canon in D, and so far so good!  Below is a picture taken at a recent home school field trip to Washington-on-the-Brazos.  Pretty cool place.  I recommend that everyone go, at least once.  :) **FYI the PF stands for Prairie Friend.

PF#1, PD#1, PD#2, PF#1

PS#1 now has a full time job that he loves (going on 3 months now), and was recently promoted.  We are very proud of him as well, and excited in his new found financial independence.

 PS#2 plugging away at his kindergarten work and is a feisty little guy.  Loves rocks, paper airplanes and knives.  Definitely ALL boy.

Off to make dinner, bring in the fire wood, and plan our chicken/pig butchering - scheduled for Saturday.

Good night and stay warm!