Homesteading

[Bullet:Mich.]

The reason I asked about Amish living near you is I have a lot of my family that are Old Order Amish, I am now New Order Mennonite, we still believe in a lot of our old ways but I can drive a car and use electric. It is still -7 temp where I live, a lot of wood gets burn up when it is this cold. Burning mostly oak and ash.

 

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[Bullet:Mich.]

Walk side ways to your cow and slid a halter on her with a lead strap, it won't matter if you are in a barn or outside, then tie the strap to something solid. Do not leave her, talk gently to her until she calms down, if you have some one to help you pull her tail up over her back hard and hold it, that stops her from kicking as long as you hold the tail in that position, next slid the calf in on the left side so she will start sucking, then you or some one else start milking her very gently on her right side, if she won't let her milk down for you place your head up against the cow just in front of her leg and bump her every so oven like the calf does,after you milk her 2 or 3 times like this she will calm down. Then untie her but leave the halter on her. Give her some hay or grind each time you do this. A store bought loaf of white bread will work for her grain if you don't have any grain. She needs grain to make milk. After the cow calms down you will have to quit milking her because the calf needs all her milk unless you take the calf off of her and start feeding the calf on a bottle using powdered milk.

 

[NHBandit]

Not sure where you're at but I was surprised last night at how different the weather is only an hour North of where I'm at in East TN. I went to Coeburn VA last night and it was snowing heavy, roads were covered, etc. Got close to home in the Kingsport TN area and nothing. No snow, dry roads, etc. Here's a tip for your garden if you don't want to mess with tilling and all of that. It works for my small needs. 55 gallon plastic barrels cut in half lengthwise. I get them from a guy who works at a Pepsi bottling plant. Be sure to use food grade barrels, not any that have had chemicals in them. Would be easy to build something to sit them in to raise them up off the ground as well.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Here's a tip for your garden

Cool! More ideas! I've actually been thinking about supplementing my beds with what you are essentially doing = container gardening.

Right now I'm kinda like playing checkers. I've laid my garden out in AutoCAD, have the beds (4'x4') Square Foot Gardening, and I'm doing the puzzle of placement = using companion planting. Actually, I have 16 of these squares, just to see what I can fit in there. Going best case where one plot serves to feed one person for a year. I'm figuring my Mom, Brother and his wife & son = that's 5. But then I also want a bed for greens, separate, melons, lot's of tomatoes and just about 4 of the one foot squares of each bed for some kinda beans. I picked up 4 packs of Pinto bean seeds. A staple, corn bread and pintos. You can fill your belly and stay healthy - provided you have all those other plants to fill all the other needs.

To be continued! When I get that figured out - I'm busy suffering the weather and wood stove right now - I'll post my final layout here, and if I have the time at the time, I'll explain the why of the layouts, from my study and perspective.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Just fed the stove again, certainly a good friend right now. After I looked at the weather this morning I decided it would be a very nice thing to cut more wood. I have The Weather Channel up at all times on my computer. At the moment it says it is 16 degrees here. The low is supposed to be 12. For safety sake, I'll take care of it at about midnight, and set the alarm for 0300 (again). The forecast for tomorrow right now is 3 - 5" of snow. It was 5" to 8" an hour ago, and probably will be again the next time I check. It has bounced back and forth all day = like yes I really do pay attention to the weather!

My driveway is a kilometer long. 5 years ago Mom was stranded up here for 3 months unable to get out the driveway. That's happened several times. So, tomorrow what I plan to do is feed the fire, drive my truck down to the highway and back, on 30 minute alternation. That keeps a path cleared in and out, and it keeps the fire hot, and it keeps me zombiefied!

I'm now a pioneer, you do those things you must do.

Isn't that a lesson in life?

 

[Bullet:Mich.]

I hope that you had a good nite. The more you run your wood stove the more you learn. You should be able to close your damper a little at nite and bank the wood you are putting it so the good fire would last longer, at least 5 hrs. Did you get a new handle for your splitting maul yet. Did you get your snow? How many acres are you living on?

 

[Bullet:Mich.]

I forgot to tell you another thing that makes your chain come off is the edge of the bar wearing and when this happens they also don't cut straight. Take the bar of off both of your saws and using a flat file run it along the edge of your bar until it is clean of all wear and burrs, then put the bar back on in reverse of you took it off. If you do this once in a while the bar and chain will last a lot longer. As far as I am concerned Your stihl is twice the saw your poulan is

 

[rockhound]

It is a good time for planning right now, but not a good time for doing, as the temperature here is in the 20's and snowing. They are predicting daytime temps in the 20's or below and night time temps from 10 to -5. I am planning on building a greenhouse on my garden spot this spring. I was going to start it last September but other things got in the way. This way I can grow vegetables and even fish year round. My garden spot is not all that large but it is enough to take care of and supplies many vegetables during the summer. Over the weekend the wind reeked havoc on my out building and that will have to be my first priority after it warms up. It nearly blew the roof off my building(metal), so a reroofing is an almost certainty, then inspecting the rest of the structure for damage. An article in todays local paper stated that corn farmers were expecting to lose money this year. If this happens this trend will not continue. They will either grow other crops or go out of business. Either way spells much higher prices for all things corn related. Corn is prevalent in many of our processed foods and snacks. Good Luck. rockhound

 

[joncutt87]

Wind did a number down here too.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

I hope that you had a good nite. The more you run your wood stove the more you learn. You should be able to close your damper a little at nite and bank the wood you are putting it so the good fire would last longer, at least 5 hrs. Did you get a new handle for your splitting maul yet. Did you get your snow? How many acres are you living on?

thanks for the input my friend.

My brother came up just before the snow started falling. I cut 5 trees, cut up about half of them and brought them into the basement, two new stacks. By the time they left we already had 3", and the forecast right now is 14" plus. It is a blessing they came up, me thinks now in the face of this, it was needed. I followed them out and the roads are white. It is going to be bad. I have no doubt it will be over the forecasted depth. I'll be going out again in about a half hour to keep the driveway open, and I've got to do that all night - supposed to stop by noon tomorrow, and it's almost a whiteout already.

The best I've gotten out of a burn yet is 3 hours. I'm still using every burnable piece of wood within my reach. Next year I'll have better wood stacked well in advance. I'm burning it hot, but I'm darned worried about creosote in the chimney. I'll deal with that, hopefully before I have a real problem there. Thinking, thinking, thinking...

Didn't get a new handle for the maul yet. Don't want to have to buy a new one, but maybe I should = a back-up, and fix the old one.

yee haw! The adventure has intensified...

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Take the bar of off both of your saws and using a flat file run it along the edge of your bar until it is clean of all wear and burrs, then put the bar back on in reverse of you took it off. If you do this once in a while the bar and chain will last a lot longer. As far as I am concerned Your stihl is twice the saw your poulan is

GREAT tip!!! Thanks Hadn't thought of that, and now I WILL think of that. I fixed the Stihl again, ran it out of gas and it was snowing like crazy. Pulled out the Poulan and ran it out of gas too.

Yep! That Stihl is like a lady in her monthly cycle = tempermental. But it cuts far better than the Poulan, and is the go to saw. With both of them it is constant disassembly and maintenance. But, I deal with that.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

I am planning on building a greenhouse on my garden spot this spring. ockhound

I haven't completely read through your post, but wanted to respond to this point right away.

Yep, gotta have a greenhouse!

But I saw a neat thing last weekend. My oldest friends next door neighbor has 3'x3' raised beds. He built himself a 3'x3' frame to fit over it. Took 1/2" PVC piping, clamped dimensionally located PVC Tees on opposite sides. And the took 8' lengths of PVC piping and bent it to each tee. No glue, everything on each side is clamped. Just bent to each tee, and attached clear plastic sheeting over them. Hinged it to one side so he could just rotate it up and lay it over while doing his maintenance. During very cold nights, he lays a bed sheet over the plants, inside the shelter. We had that streak here a couple of weeks back of lows near zero. All his children were healthy green.

I'm going with 4' beds. Bought all the material to cover 2 beds, around $10 a bed.

I was impressed

 

[DeepseekerADS]

My friends, it is time to run down the driveway again. We are getting pounded right now, my brain fears two feet of snow, and I can not be isolated here till it melts.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Just did the run of the driveway again. I've a 4WD F150, but not the right kind of tires. Right now I'm doing okay. My fear is that I'll get stuck somewhere. Tried to run it hard to plow up the snow, about 6" now. I did do some wigglies. My next trip will be slower I believe. I should have cleared my windows better, will do on the next run

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Another run, didn't measure but I figure we've 8". Ran down the driveway slower this time, not looking for trouble.

It's only a little after 7:30, and we're supposed to get this till noon tomorrow. TWC said 14" plus, and we have 17 hours to go....

My next trip down & back will be slower.

 

[releventchair]

(Drag behind truck)
I made one from two worn scraper blades off tractor buckets. Hinged the front and added a cross piece to center.
Used it to grade road and scrapped it eventually. Weight added to it helped it bite better.
A former brother in law used to bolt plywood to the front of a truck. Beware overheating.
Be sure if the wind picks up that your grill is not facing into it when parked.
If truck bed and suspension tolerate it a few hundred pounds over rear axle helps. If not secure it will slide forward when brakes are hit.
A cross piece of lumber behind wheel wells can help secure weight between it and tailgate and still have weight be rearward.
Sand bag can be used to toss sand for traction if stuck after shoveling. Kitty litter too. Wood ashes might as well.
Park to face leaving direction when wind or windbreak allows and within reach of a battery charger when cold. Watch trees in case of heavy snow or ice,they break over parked vehicles first it seems.
A difference between switching some 4wd systems with a switch vs manually locking in hubs depending on system. Mine is more like limited slip till I manually engage hubs. Have not this year but have in the past it is when stuck. Dig through snow to expose hubs and usually dirty so a jaws open large adjustable wrench goes over part to be turned for greater leverage.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

(Drag behind truck)

That looks like something I'll do for next year! Great idea

 

[Mad Machinist]

I figured out what is happening to my chainsaws....

ME!

I do too much cutting with the top of the bar & chain, and that puts the shavings into the sprocket rather than throwing the shavings out on the bottom.

My methods change from this point on. Duh........

I cut off the top of the bar quite often without problems. Get in the habit of breaking the saw down and cleaning it after EVERY use. Rotate the bar after every use. They last ALOT longer that way. Try to find a regular saw shop for your bars, they tend to sell a better grade bar with the grease holes for the front sprocket. The ones at the box stores are not made for heavy use. Cleaning the bar and greasing the sprocket after every use forces the shavings out of the bar and sprocket.

That Stihl sounds like it may have the jets plugged up from some bad gas. The crap they sell today will last at best three months before varnish globules start forming and they play hell on the jets. If you can put some Pri-G fuel stabilizer in the mix gas for the saws.

Stihl saw are very good saws and will last basically forever with good care. I prefer Husqvarna saws, but either one will run circles around a Poulan. It gets even better if you saw has the power to pull a full skip tooth production chain. You be able to cut a lot more wood before you get tired from the saw vibration. They to tend to kick back a lot more if you bind the saw up though.

 

[Mad Machinist]

I forgot to add that if you see a lot of real fine saw dust during your cut, sharpen your chain.

And a good set of tire chains might not be a bad idea up your way.

I talked to my little brother last night and now remember why I left the NE. Minus 8 degrees before the wind chill? HELL NO!!!

 

[Bullet:Mich.]

The wind is giving problems every where right now, making big snow drifts. What is causing problems with all 2 cycle engines carb is the oil co mixing the alcohol to high. I put a drop of what is called Sea Foam in every third tank of saw gas and don't have carb problems. All good bars have a oil hole in the front of them. You can tell when your saw starts running low on gas because it starts loosing power.