Where has the time gone?

I realize that it's been awhile since I've updated this blog.  No, no, no, I hadn't given up.  We have just been hard at work!

After months of renovation, our homestead officially listed last night.  Of course we have a week of odds and ends to finish, and then.... a much needed break.  At least for a week or two.

Plans are already underway to move myself, the animals and as much of our possessions during the second week of October, regardless of whether the house has sold yet or not.  The husband will remain here until the homestead is sold.  We of course, pray that it sells quickly and we can go together.

So, dear readers, be watching for lots of new posts starting next month as we begin our off grid journey!  We'll be building barns, coops, gardens and greenhouses, plus working on the mounting and installation of our solar system.

Peace be with you!

The Sad State of America's Children

Yesterday, we had one of our best friends come out to the house to help out.  We've been so busy working on finishing up the house to get it on the real estate market that a number of things have, unfortunately, gone by the wayside.  Chicken houses and the rabbit house are a few of these things.

So our friend B came out, bringing her 3 and 4 year old kids with her.  It was warm (92ish), but living in the south we are all pretty used to the warm weather.

What we weren't used to, and it was pretty apparent that their mom wasn't either, is just how soft her children, even at that age, really are.  And I don't mean that they are soft because they were hot.  No, they are soft in that within 15 minutes of looking at the animals they wanted to go inside and watch TV.  Yes, TV.  At 3 and at 4 years old.  Their mother was firm - they had come to work and help out.  I have never seen so many tears and heard so much bellyaching in my entire life!

Our friend was firm and kept them out there for over an hour (in the shaded and fanned rabbit house), working beside her until the first water break.  They came in telling me how hard they were working, but by the end of the break when mom announced it was time to get back to work, oh lord did the water works begin!

This scene played itself out at least once more before they finished the rabbit house and headed for home.  What struck me, and their mom, is just how lazy the kids are, even at that age.  They expect, already, to be catered to and to have their every demand waited on hand and foot. 

At one point, the four year old boy asked why they had to work.  Mom said it was because I needed help, and he missed not a beat and said "then why do I have to do it?".  Later, the same child was watching my husband staining the front deck and asked what his Uncle C was doing.  I told him that he was working.  "But it's hot" he said.  So I explained to him that when things need to be done you just need to do them, no matter how hot it is.  We really couldn't get him to understand, and he summed up his opinion of the whole thing for us pretty nicely.  "I don't like to work.  It's too hard."

Yes boy, sometimes work is hard.  But just who do you think is going to do it if you don't?

And I don't mention this to make my friend sound like a bad mother.  She isn't.  I think she does a fantastic job considering that she is the breadwinner of the household (as a teacher), and also tutors and helps run a program for disadvantaged youth.  Truly, she burns her candle at both ends for most of the year and I admire her all the more for it.

What I'm saddened by, is just how engrossed the kids are in the TV and with the entitlement attitude.  Her kids are not alone - I have four nephews that are no better.

The eldest stayed with us for an entire summer two years ago at the age of 12.  We spent the first couple weeks just getting him to understand that it was his job, not mine to put his dishes in the sink and pick up his clothes, and that in my house there are consequences for not doing chores.  He was also not allowed more than a couple of hours of TV per day (it was summer, and it WAS hot), and that video game time was not a separate entity but part of his daily TV allowance.  These were hard pills to swallow, but he got it, and soon he was not only participating around the farm, but doing most of the morning poultry chores and the weekly lawn mowing by himself.  He was also quick to get into the habit of the daily house chores and would bring out the vacuum on Friday afternoon without being asked.  By the time he left us he had pride in himself, some drive, and some color from this thing we've taught kids to fear called the sun.

(Of course, he went back at the end of the summer and quickly went back to old routines.  I mean, if your parents are going to do it for you, why not let them?)

The second child, who was 8 when we visited with them all at Thanksgiving, barely put his video games down to speak with any of us.  He had to be told several times to put it down even for dinner, and even then it was with great sulking and unhappy looks.  We visited for two days, and that was pretty much our entire interaction with him, except for the one fifteen minute conversation where he tried to explain to me the ins and outs of Pokémon.  By the end of our discussion I was even more confused and he returned to his game looking exasperated.  Apparently I am just not cool enough to converse with.  What can I say?

These kids aren't alone.  My husband teaches jiu jitsu, and has several children that have absolutely no work ethic.  These are kids that are 4, 6, 10, 12 years old.  They complain about warm ups.  They whine about drills.  They screw around and don't listen.  And the parents?  Well, they are often times no where to be found because they've dropped them off and run away for an hour to themselves.  I mean, who wants to listen to that complaining all the time.

I don't know how this has happened, but I see it everywhere.  Kids that can't put down the phone or the video games.  I have three dozen kids in my neighborhood and you never see any of them, even out here in the country.  Go into Wal-mart and look around.  How many of you had tans when you were a kid - just the usual product of riding bikes and playing outside.  These kids are pasty and, oftentimes, fat.  I guarantee you can't make it all the way through the store without hearing at least one "I want" or a full on tantrum. 

It's sad and it's absurd.  Lazy, pale, fat, and at least a bit anti-social.  Is this who we are now, cause it's certainly where we are heading with our next generations. 

Something To Ponder - Circles and Squares

I'm infatuated with all things pioneer - have been since I was young.  I've had my phases in life as anyone has, but in the back of my mind has always been a deep desire to live my life "Little House on the Prairie" style.  I loved Laura Ingalls Wilder's books when I was a girl, and in all honesty, I've read them a number of times.  I still love them, and I carry those stories with me every day of my life.

So it may come as no surprise that when I'm watching TV some of my favorites are Alaska: The Last Frontier, Ultimate Survival Alaska, and Mountain Men.  I also enjoy the bravery of the folks on Swamp People and the humor of the members of Duck Dynasty.

If you've never heard of these shows, I think you are really missing out.  But I digress...

The point of this post is to share something I have been pondering for a few days, from the book "The Last American Man" by Elizabeth Gilbert, the charismatic author of "Eat, Pray, Love".  American Man came out in 2002, and is the story of the life of Eustace Conway, a mountain man and one of those featured on History's Mountain Men.  

I won't go into the details of Eustace's life - I'll leave that to Elizabeth Gilbert and strongly urge anyone who is of the pioneer/homesteading spirit to look it up and give it a read.  What I do want to share is a passage from the book that has been on my mind for days, and once I shared it with my own husband, has given him days of pondering as well. 

This excerpt is from a talk Eustace was given teenagers at a nature center.

"I live", Eustace said, "in nature, where everything is connected, circular.  The seasons are circular.  The planet is circular, and so is it's passage around the sun.  The course of water over the earth is circular, coming down from the sky and circulating through the world to spread life and then evaporating up again.  I live in a circular teepee and I build my fire in a circle, and when my loved ones visit me, we sit in a circle and talk.  The life cycles of plants and animals are circular.  I live outside where I can see this.  The ancient people understood that our world is a circle, but we modern people have lost sight of that.  I don't live insides buildings, because buildings are dead places where nothing grows, where water doesn't flow, and where life stops.  I don't want to live in a dead place.  People say that I don't live in the real world, but it's modern Americans who live in a fake world, because they've stepped outside the natural circle of life.

"I saw the circle of life most clearly when I was riding my horse across America and I came across the body of a coyote that had recently died.  The animal was mummified from the desert heat, but all around it, in a lush circle, was a small band of fresh green grass.  The earth was borrowing the nutrients from the animal and regenerating itself.  This wasn't about death, I realized; this was about eternal life.  I took the teeth from the coyote and made myself this necklace right here, which always circle my neck, so I'd never forget that lesson.

"Do people live in circle today?  No.  They live in boxes.  They wake up every morning in the box of their bedroom because a box next to them started making beeping noises to tell them it was time to get up.  They eat their breakfast out of a box and then they throw that box away into another box.  Then they leave the box where they live and get into a box with wheels and drive to work, which is just another big box broken up into lots of little cubicle boxes where a bunch of people spend their days sitting and staring at the computer boxes in front of them.  When the day is over, everyone gets into the box with wheels again and goes home to their house boxes and spends the evening staring at the television boxes for entertainment.  They get their music from a box, they get their food from a box, they keep their clothing in a box, they live their lives in a box!  Does that sound like anybody you know?"

By now the kids were laughing and applauding.

"Break out of the box!" Eustace said. "You don't have to live like this because people tell you it's the only way.  You're not handcuffed to your culture! This is not the way humanity lived for thousands and thousands of years, and it is not the only way you can live today!"

I think he sums it up pretty nicely.  

I'm rounding off the corners of my life.  It may not be a circle yet, but I'm getting closer every day.

How about you? 

Kinder Goats: Another All-Purpose Goat

Back last year you may have read my post on the pygmy goat, and how it is an all purpose goat breed, giving not only meat but milk.

In continuing my goat research, there seems to be another fine choice amongst goat breeds for the homestead or self-sufficient minded:  the Kinder Goat.

The Kinders are a medium breed goat, averaging 100-125 lbs, so larger than the pygmy but smaller than a number of the other breeds, and are a mix of Nubian and African Pygmy.

What you get is a truly fantastic crossbreed that:

• Produces milk that is often sweeter and higher in butterfat than other goats.
• Dresses out at 60% when used for meat.
• Has one of the highest feed conversion rates of any goat species.
• Is large enough to be useful but small enough to easily handle.
• Does not have the birthing troubles often attributed to the smaller breeds.
• Is like able and friendly.

Kinders are amazingly prolific as well, usually have twins to sextuplets!  

This is truly a cross that is worth looking into for any small homestead, as the Kinder seems to have got absolutely the best of both worlds with the strong milking ability of the Nubian, and the muscle/meat of the Pygmy.  There also seems to be some claim to the same disease and parasite resistance that is often seen in true African Pygmies.  Coloration in these goats seems to be as wild and as varied as seen in the Nubian breed.

For more information or to find a local breeder, I recommend you visit www.kindergoatbreeders.com.

A New Farm Addition - Freya the LGD

If you've read some of my other posts, no doubt that you've figured out I'm an advocate of using LGDs - Livestock Guardian Dogs - to protect poultry and livestock.

We've had our Great Pyrenees, Goliath, for just over a year now, and since his arrival we have not lost a critter to predation.

As we are moving into breeding goats we've made the decision to add an LGD.  Goliath is a big dog and unfortunately plays too aggressively with goat kids (we knew this when we bought him as it was the reason he was being sold), though he does just fine with adult goats.

 So, with that in mind, we decided that Goliath would continue to be raised with and protect our bucks and poultry, while a new LGD would live with our does and eventually, our goat kids.

Naturally I decided that a puppy would be our best bet - one that was born and raised with goats was the ideal.

I found several in our local ad, the first being a litter of Great Pyrenees puppies.  The ad said the parents were experienced livestock guards and were used for sheep.  Perfect!  So I contacted the owner, and after talking to him via email for awhile, found out that though the adults were used with sheep, the pups themselves were raised in the barn away from the flock because the mother was overly protective and had bitten a sheep while raising a previous litter. 

Umm... no.  No thanks.

Next we had a litter of Anatolian/Great Pyrenees pups.  These were all male and I really wanted a female, but I contacted them anyway.  After a few discussions I learned that it was pretty much the same story - momma is too aggressive when she has pups to be in with the stock.  

Finally, I saw an ad for Komondor/Great Pyrenees puppies.  I had to do quite a bit of reading about the Komondor since I knew very little about them.  They are fairly rare dogs, and are actually classified as a sheepdog.  Pure Komondors have hair that will cord and are fascinating looking dogs.

So I called the man from the ad and spoke with him at length.  He had two pups currently available, and a litter of 10 that would be available the next week.  He assured me that all the pups were raised with goats and that he would save me the female that was currently available.

Saturday we made the hour and a half journey to his farm.  When we reached the opening for the goat field, our truck was suddenly surrounded by eight tall, lanky, curly white dogs.  They hadn't barked even once, but were surrounding us and just watching.  The man drove into the field and we followed, parking close behind before getting out.  Each of the adult dogs approached to within a few feet and eyed us warily but didn't bark.  Once we had shaken hands with their master, they slipped back amongst the trees, shrub, trailers and such to watch over their large herd of goats.  

I was enthralled.  Their was no doubt that these were working dogs.  In fact, a goat kid came up to check us out, and before we knew it there was a dog right there.  It never threatened, just watched, and when the kid had fulfilled its curiosity and ambled back to its herd mates, the dog did as well.

It took some looking to find the puppy we'd come for, but she was finally located asleep in a hollowed out tree on the edge of the goat field.

We brought her home and have named her Freya.  She is leery of humans but is warming up to us.  She enjoys chasing the goats - not chasing per se, but more like running to catch up with them while they are running away from her!  When they stop running she lays down, and its clear she just wants to be out there with them.

I'll update the blog as we go and as she grows, but so far we are very pleased with our little gal.

A Man (or Woman) Is Only As Good As Their Word

I want to talk about honesty, your word, and your reputation.

When I was growing up, I was taught that a man was only as good as his word, meaning that if a man made promises/deals/commitments and kept to them, that man could be trusted.  A man that didn't keep to his word was a man not to be dealt with and was a liar.

Somewhere along the way people have obviously forgotten this.

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've had people call, text or email about something I've had for sale and then not show up.  I guess that's become the norm.  Personally, if you do that to me, I keep your name and your number, and you don't get another chance to buy from me.  Ever.  Because to me, you've failed at your word and are not to be trusted.

The other thing I get a lot of, is low ballers.  I understand that times are tough, but every time I list something I count on at least three offers of half or less of my asking price.  Every time.  Without fail.  Now, I'm not saying that you should never offer less for something, but be sincere in your offer.  What bothers me is that these people are honestly just trying to take advantage of other people.  Think I'm wrong?  Let me share this with you:

Last year I had some mixed breed chicks for sale.  $2 each.  Reasonable in my mind since purebred chicks in our area are $3 or better.  A man calls me, offers me fifty cents a chick, and when I said no thank you he berates me and tries to brow beat me into giving them to him at what he wants to pay.  Meanwhile, he's on a poultry board that I'm a part of too, offering MY CHICKS at $3 each.  How do I know they were mine?  Because when I refuse to sell them to him at that price he posted that the deal to acquire them had fallen through.  (And, they were a pretty specific mix).

Needless to say, I have not and will not ever sell to this man.  Period.  He's called me many times and always offers 25% of the asking price.  I know he's a reseller, and that would be fine if he didn't always talk to me like my prices are crazy high and lie to me about what he's planning to do with them.  To me, honesty is everything.

Misrepresenting what you're selling is another thing that drives me crazy and will get you on my "no business" list.  What do you thing of this scenario:

I was over buying some rabbits from a young gal and we got talking about chickens.  She asked me if I would take a look at her flock and chicken house to see if there was something she was doing wrong since her flock of twelve were beating each other up and she only was getting 1-2 eggs each week.  It took only a minute to see that her flock of twelve hens were really two girls and 10 roosters!  She'd bought them from a guy just two weeks before that that had raised chickens for thirty years.  The poor thing had paid $10 each for those birds!  Distressed, she asked me to look over her pullet chicks and we went over to the pens.  They were supposed to be pure barred rocks.  Not only were they not barred rocks, most were roosters!  

It's obvious that some people will take advantage of those who don't know any better.  Other people will flat out lie to you, and when caught in their lie will try to make you sound crazy:

I've been after a stock trailer for awhile.  There'd been one in our local Craigslist for the last month at $3200, which based on the photos and age was kinda high.  I called and offered $2500, which I thought was more reasonable.  The gal I talked to told me she just couldn't come down any lower because she had just put brand new tires on it and was into it $3200.  Another month went by and I had some more cash saved up.  It was still posted, so I called her again.  When the lady went on to tell me all about how she had $3800 into it and it was a steal at $3200 I froze.  I told her that I had called her last month and had offered her $2500 but she had said she couldn't because she had $3200 into it.  She paused a moment.  Then said, well, yeah, that's true, but then I put brand new tires on it.  When I pointed out that that was the same story she'd given me to justify the $3200, she said I must be crazy and must have the wrong trailer.  Needless to say perhaps, but I didn't go look at that trailer.  

If you can't be honest about what you are selling, I'm not going to buy from you. 

Anymore it seems like no big deal to agree to something then change your mind and back out; to miss an appointment, get something for nothing or engage in other questionable behavior.  People do it because other people do it and its no longer any big deal because around every corner is another deal and its just not a matter of life or death.

Yet.

Consider this though - what happens if society falls apart and suddenly you are in the position where you have to buy, sell or barter to stay alive?  The first time you back out or try to take advantage of someone may just be your last time.  

Or maybe society doesn't fall apart, but the economy doesn't get any better (and gets worse).  Bartering is already growing in popularity in many areas.

If you can't be trusted to honor your word you are going to be in for a world of hurt, never mind the moral implications that lying is just plain wrong.

I know that I have a reputation in our area for fair and honest dealing - the repeat business and referrals I get tell me so.

What does your reputation say about you?

Just some food for thought.

Are YOU Ready For A Grid Down Event?

Imagine that you wake up and turn on the coffee pot.  Nothing happens.  So you turn on the television.  Nothing.  Check your cell phone.  No signal.  What you don't know is that the entire grid has collapsed due to an EMP.  Are you ready for this?

Of course, grid down events don't have to be as long term or as dramatic as this.  Think hurricanes, tornadoes, or just severe storms.  In any of these cases your electricity might be out hours, days, weeks or in extreme cases, months.

I'm sure lots of you read this with the "who cares, I'm ready" mentality.  Are you really ready?  Got your water, food, shelter, medicines and a way to protect yourself?

Wait... I said... are YOU ready?

I'm always surprised when I see really "preppers" that are physically in poor shape.  When you have to depend on your body to survive, will it be able to handle the stress?  (And I think there is a difference between being overweight and in poor shape.  Myself, I am carrying probably 30 more pounds than I need.  But I'm active, great blood pressure, normal cholesterol and the doc says that I'm perfectly healthy despite a little too much padding.)

I'm not going to tell you how to get in shape, there are a thousand of blogs and websites out there that talk about that.  I will tell you that you need to start now; not tomorrow and not next week.  Acquiring a decent fitness level takes time.

The other thing that surprises me is "preppers" who aren't acclimated to their area.  If you keep your house at an even 70 degrees year around, are you in for a surprise!  Life outside your four walls fluctuates, and, depending on where you live, fluctuates A LOT.

For us here in the deep south, that means dealing with hot and humid summers and cool damp winters. 

During the winter we try to heat our house entirely with wood, so it tends somewhere around 68 degrees on the main floor and in the mid 50's upstairs in our room (we have a two story house with only one fireplace on the ground floor).  Sure, it's brisk when you get out of bed or jump out of the shower, but it keeps our electricity bills low and if we hit a power outage it's not the end of the world for us.  Most people think we are absolutely nuts and would never dream of their house being that cold.

Summers are challenging, but not bad.  On the ground floor of the house we do run the a/c, set to 80 degrees.  I realize this is way hot for some people, but we've gotten used to it.  We don't use the a/c upstairs at all, and instead we rely on open patio doors and simple box fans.  Of course, we spend a great deal of time outside, and seem to take the 80's and 90's better than most people we know.  In the event that we lost the grid for any length of time, we can handle it.  It's far easier to adapt to a 10 degree shift in temperature than 20 or 30!

The last thing I'll talk about here, is mental toughness.  You would not believe the number of people I saw on the web complaining about having no a/c in 85 degree weather after a recent thunderstorm rolled through.  These weren't just people either, these were prepper people.  WTH?

I'll tell you how things went down for us, and I realize that our power came back on earlier than most. 

In anticipation of the storm, my husband had set the alarm clock on his cell phone and had already showered.  We had flashlights next to the bed and our NOAA radio with batteries charged.

On Sunday night we lost power at about 11pm.  (The worst part for me was that the rain came blowing in and I had to shut our patio doors so the room stayed at 80 until enough of the storm had moved through that I could open the doors back up.)  

By Monday morning our power was still out, but thanks to his cell the husband got up on time, got dressed, and had some cereal for breakfast (by headlamp).  

When I got up later the power was still out, and my biggest concern was my incubators full of turkey, duck and chicken eggs, which I had wrapped in towels when the power initially went out to help hold in the heat.  A check showed the temperature had dropped slightly but was still doing okay.

After that, I opened the doors to cool the house a bit more, then had some cereal.  Once the house had cooled a bit, I closed up all the doors and window coverings, and went outside to check for damage and to make sure the animals were all okay.

Afterwards, I came inside and caught up on some light reading and crocheting, since it was too sloppy for much outside.

By the time the power came on at noon it was nearly 80 in the house and 85 outside.  

My biggest source of stress during the whole event simply came down to whether or not my incubators would lose the 100+ eggs I had in there.  Otherwise, we didn't complain, we just carried on with our days and our lives.  Most people we know whined, went out to get coffee, or even called out of work because they couldn't shower.  

I mean... REALLY?

There's no way to know what may happen in the event that our grid every truly goes down, but if you keep a steady frame of mind, are in fairly good shape and are acclimated to where you live, you should do fine.  (If you can't acclimate to your area, NOW is a good time to look at living somewhere that you can survive.)