Homesteading

[Hitndahed]

I've been keeping myself busy with firewood. Set up palllets 16'x 12', logs cut, split & stacked with two tarps over them to stay dry. I figure I have at least 5 cords there, and tomorrow I'll go up the holler to carry back the logs staged over there last March. There's an easy cord over there, not good wood but it'll burn.

I've started out this year getting long burns every time. Set it up and went to bed at 10:00 last night. Got up at 4:00 this morning and had a nice bed of hot coals awaiting me, had the fire going hot in just a half hour. Must have finally learned something last Winter.

Of course I have to work on the bridge once again. Just put in a few rocks for a lane through running 4wd. Fed Ex refused to cross day before yesterday - I don't blame him.

I gotta turn all these negatives into positives if this homesteading is to continue. Was planning to hit the coast for the Excal next weekend, but received another jolt from the tax fiasco. Money is tight for sure, but I survived the last one, I'll survive this one. I've been extremely generous to the Feds last couple of months - unexpected burdens always come along. It will be into next year before I can find a normal.

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Hey amigo,,
Do you need a hand at all in the next week or so? Sure sounds like it.
PM me and let me know if you would like a hand down there for a day or three.
I have 8 days off beginning on Nov 23rd and only have a couple essential things planned.
I'm close enough to give a brother a helping hand.

Hit

 

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[DeepseekerADS]

Hey amigo, Do you need a hand at all in the next week or so? Hit

Hit, thank you so much for the offer, I really appreciate it. I'm the kinda guy who would rather pitch in and help out versus asking for help myself. I will solve this - it is best that way.

Besides, it would be too long a drive for you.

However, if you really felt like a drive down, then let's plan a treasure hunt! You could meet Indian Steve as well.

 

[Hitndahed]

Hit, thank you so much for the offer, I really appreciate it. I'm the kinda guy who would rather pitch in and help out versus asking for help myself. I will solve this - it is best that way.

Besides, it would be too long a drive for you.

However, if you really felt like a drive down, then let's plan a treasure hunt! You could meet Indian Steve as well.

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Shoot me some details and I will see what can be done.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Over the last week I've been pounding on the firewood. I'm not going to stop, but I may have enough firewood already to last through the Winter. I spent half a day yesterday splitting it. Cousin Bill offered me his hydraulic splitter, but I'd actually rather beat it into submission with a maul. I've blisters to prove it. I've filled up my burn pallets, and this morning I'm going to stack two big piles onto my storage pallet. I still have a lot more to split, and some cut lengths up on the ridge to fetch down (about two truck loads). If it works out as planned, I won't touch the storage pallet this year except for stacking new stuff.

Last time I went on the hunt with Indian Steve I was being pestered by a cat, a very friendly and loving one. Turns out the cat's owner had passed away, and then the lady who continued care for the cat passed away as well. Steve e-mailed me yesterday afternoon and said he'd talked to people nearby and he's going to get the cat for me today. I'll run over to his house and get it - and I'd say that's about as cool as can be! I need to run into town today to get kitty litter (I always use Feline Pine = biodegradable).

Mom's going to love it, and I ain't telling her till I walk in the door with the cat. No telling how old the cat is, but it doesn't matter.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Firewood continues and will continue.

The cat I mentioned, still no word. But I'm picking up two kittens I adopted - had to pass a "security clearance" = interviewed by 3 people, two by phone yesterday, but I'm heading out to pick them up at 0900 this morning. Got tipped off yesterday (I have friends in pet places) that there was now a new older kitten up for adoption. Maybe they'll let me have that one too

My kids are grown and gone. I'll have some feline kids again. Dogs are okay but I'm not a dog guy.

 

[Indian Steve]

Good Luck Roger. I still haven't got an answer from the church ladies that have been feeding her. Hope to get together soon.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

I picked up all three kittens. Mom was pretty sick, refused to go to the doctor - ain't going in no hospital ever again she says.

And the kittens are all over her. She recovered, still weak, but I really do believe those kittens saved her life and extended her life.

Tis Christmas week coming up. I'm heading to Detroit on Thursday to spend Christmas with my kids

 

[fowledup]

Hi Deep, don't know how I missed your thread, but have spent a nice cold snowy day catching up on it, thank you for the read, great thread. I'd say welcome to boonie living but it's kinda old hat for ya now. Hang in there, it can be frustrating and demoralizing at times getting your program going but it does get easier. Fact is I think you'd find you wouldn't be near as satisfied going back to a more urban style life. When our kids were home we did big gardens but as they moved away so did the gardening. We are blessed with several great farmers markets down the mountain in town 3 times a week, so other than personal satisfaction of growing your own the price vs time ain't all that bad. However we have decided to get back into the gardening to help out our kids and their young families.

Firewood- I've never had anything but a woodstove for heat pretty much my entire life. We start ours in October sometimes as early as late September and it doesn't get shut down until end of April sometimes early May. Reed gave some excellent advice, if you don't mind I'll add some more. First, and this is probably the last thing you want to hear after cutting and splitting as much as you recently have. But your only half done, what you have now is what you should have at the end of winter. Always cut a year in advance (two years max), you will not believe the difference in heat output of the wood and the wood will last longer allowing you to use less. A reminder from Reeds post keep that bed of ash/coals. Mix your hard and soft woods, run the bigger green woods at night and the smaller hotter soft woods early in the morning. Keep an eye on that spark arrestor when it starts to stalagtite like you were talking about in one of your posts its time to clean as your draft is no longer pulling correctly. Look up a deal called a magic heat, with as hot as you run your stove your gonna have some great "stack" temps, take advantage of it.
http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Heat-Reclaimer-Wood-Heaters/dp/B0000AXEXE

One more tool that will help you buck up that wood without having to stress your back lifting it up and putting the lengths into the sawbucks is a Timber Jack, great tool that prevents bar pinch and keeps the tip out of the dirt.
Amazon.com: timberjack: Tools & Home Improvement
Lastly don't be afraid to use that big saw with a long bar for all your cutting, it to is easier on your back and less fatiguing. It allows you to stand up straight taking the stress of the lower back, and use the weight of the saw "lock" the saw into your hip and use the bar tip to do the heavy work. Allows you to cut all day without wearing ya out.

Ticks- We have Lymes out here bad. I have had several ticks test positive for lymes but as of yet have tested negative for the disease myself. Watch for that bullseye forming where the bite was. When at all possible save the tick, if needed they can test it and get you on some antibiotics, which is what has saved my bacon. I have two friends with it and it's no joke. A very debilitating disease that ended both of their careers way too soon.

Best of luck and hope you get your homesteading mojo back, we are a dying breed! Take care. Oh, how'd your harvest end up and what types of preservation did you end up doing?

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Oh, how'd your harvest end up and what types of preservation did you end up doing?

My harvest.... Well, I didn't have to worry about preservation

That kinda captures it..... But, we did get food out of it. Got way too darned many tomatoes. Got great beans, but I should have listened to experienced others - the guru who gave me great advice told me to buy beans, not grow them. He was right - whole lot of work involved in beans, buying them is cheaper.

I liked the idea of the Timber Jack, hadn't heard of that before. And I looked at the Magic Heat - great idea, would need to figure how to incorporate that into the stove pipe and send the heat upstairs with ducting.

I'd been to the doctor several years ago about deer tick bites, simple antibiotics work for it if caught early. I closed the year out at 19 bites, caught them all pretty early on. The best balm I found was "Country Comfort Herbal Savvy Golden Seal - Myrrh" which took the burn, itch, pain away so I didn't scratch it all day long.

 

[Indian Steve]

Are you back home? I've been busy moving friends and holiday stuff. We need to get out soon.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Yep, I'm up the holler

Safer here!

This rain...... Haven't been able to get up the bottom to cut more dead trees. I'm running out of hot burners, got plenty long burners, but I did have to pick out some hot burners from my storage pallets late yesterday - hate that, didn't want to touch those stacks. I'd guess I've about 7 or 8 cords of wood there in storage - not enough yet.

The Weather Channel shows a solid week of sunshine in front of us - finally! I can go get wood, maybe tomorrow, really needs to dry out more. And we can certainly go out and look for treasure.

 

[Mtnfairy]

Too bad you have a stable, but no maure! That stuff would come in handy now that you're lacking mulch, etc. 😀

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Well, it's been two months since I updated. Life gets pretty tough on you sometimes.

I had plenty wood up, cut a lot for the year. When the big snow came I went through quite a bit of wood, even into my storage pallets. Still got quite a bit out on the pallets right now, but then the chimney failed, cracked between the kitchen & living room walls. Mom & I are very lucky we didn't burn to death. I can't call it a bummer, because we're still kicking.

So, then I had to get some kerosene heaters to keep us warm. Not the most pleasant thing, but at least we'll stay warm.

And then Sunday, January 31st, I fell and broke a rib. Went 4 days before seeing a doctor, was just hoping it wasn't so bad. Then my lungs started filling up with fluids, developed early pneumonia. Off to the hospital I went, they didn't keep me. Meds got me past the lung thing. And the meds keep the pain at bay.

All is well, and I'm still here. I figure at least a month more healing. At least I won't be chasing firewood... See how bad things tend to work out beneficially?

Homesteading? Still got to do a lot of thinking about that.

 

[fowledup]

Don't be too hard on yourself if that rib is still bugging you after a month, I've seen em go a couple months before getting any real relief. What kind of chimney? Is it brick or stone? Maybe you can sleeve it with pipe? I hear ya on the firewood, I put away the same amount as I normally do, but this year weve had no breaks in the weather, it's remained consistently cold since early November. We still have a good two months of burning left and there is no way were gonna make it with what we got left. More than likely I will have to buy a cord to get us thru, unfortunately the two years worth of wood I used to keep in reserve got used up when I got hurt. Oh well like ya said- that's homesteading
Although we did finally get a warm spell this week with no rain, got out and turned the garden and buried it in compost, wood shavings, and straw. Hopefully we got a few good snows and lots of rain comiing to break it all down.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

The chimney is block, with a sleeve. My tiny little brain has been, shall we say, processing what to do next. There's no point in repairs this Winter - at least that's the way I feel right now. I can't keep heating with kerosene. But there are the warm months ahead to think through and make some kind of decision well before next Winter.

Mom will be 90 in April. I can get along with no heat, but she can't. I'll figure something. Another month and it's garden time again.

 

[fowledup]

Going in Monday to get the knee replacement replaced, so I've been busting my butt getting the garden all dialed in and ready to go. Enlarged the garden by another third, added a new soil bin, and a couple of compost bins. One of which is my vermicompost experiment. I like compost teas, but with their recent popularity out here the prices for the concentrate has gone thru the roof. So I set up a large composting worm bin with drains to make my own. The greenhouse is full, all the seedlings are little baby plants now. Should be ready to plant about the time I can walk again.

 

[FreedomUIC]

Deep, thank you so much for the archival of your triumphs and struggles. I can honestly say that you are living the
dream and my wife and I have been talking about. We already have a farm in MI but have been living in Florida since
1999. I have 7 years before retirement and she has 10 years but her retirement will be based on six more years than
me. She was here before I was.

Some of the things I have read about in your journal are things I was taught as a child. We grew up on a farm but
the farm land itself was basically rented out to crop farmers. We had a five acre garden that just about killed us as
kids, seriously, as kids we hated what dad had us doing. As I look back at that 35 years ago, I now realize what dad
was teaching us. One year we planted enough popcorn to get a yield of 15, five gallon buckets full of product. We
spent weeks husking it in the basement and then days chafing it outside. We to burned with wood, most summers
were spent cutting wood on the weekends with dad. Ours was more a furnace then a stove. It had a squirrel cage
on it that blew into the duct work in the house, it was vented through our chimney.

Keep the faith, you are living the dream Deep.

 

[kcm]

Running a tad behind on data allotment so jumped to the end after page 1. Will have to come back next month and see how many other posts say these same things.

My wife and I have been living that dream for some years now, only we no longer heat with wood. Had an outdoor boiler at the last place - it was awesome! BUT, it was also very hungry! We went through a lot of wood....slab wood, mostly. Like you started, I cut up everything on the ground - lots of it was still quite wet from ground moisture. Then cut the standing dead timber - GREAT fire wood!! But alas, the sawmill's slab wood finally won out. Just before we moved here (to no-man's land....LITERALLY!), the slab wood prices almost tripled in price!

Another source of invaluable information that I'd like to offer is in the form of books - you know, those paper things that nobody seems to read anymore. There are two in particular that we have that are very good. The first is:

The Encyclopedia of Country Living, 40th Anniversary Edition: The Original Manual of Living Off the Land & Doing It Yourself Paperback – October 30, 2012
Amazon.com - $18.28 (free shipping with over $25 in books)

The other is...and let's see if I can remember it as my wife is always changing things around(!!):
Country Wisdom & Know-How Paperback – September 1, 2004
Amazon.com - $13.83 (free shipping with over $25 in books)

We also have a TON of gardening books, but have not yet had a chance to really get set up there. Heat is 100% electric, which is surprisingly reliable way out here now. Sure wasn't when we moved here!! The old farmhouse had sat empty for about 20 years; maybe a little more. Still had good bones, but needed lots of work. Still a work-in-progress, as our bodies need work faster than the house does!!

Get a good canner. I'm not talking a water bath canner, although that is good as well, but get a really good pressure canner - preferably one that has all the knobs around the top instead of the silicone ring. If anything happens to the ring, the canner is useless. On a good note, they're also cheap, so STOCK UP!!

Learn to use cast iron cookware. But as a primer to this, learn how to care for cast iron first! Cast iron is very much non-stick if seasoned correctly, and unlike this new-fangled crap, it can easily be re-seasoned. Buy quality cookware - NOT ALL CAST IRON IS MADE THE SAME!

Want milk? Consider a goat. Want a new lawn mower? Consider another goat! Want a wireless alarm system? Get guineas! Geese work well, also.

And on and on and on....

Lastly, we happened on an old boxwood stove one time very cheap. It looked awful!! Carol couldn't understand why in the world I'd be interested in it. Then I explained I wanted to make a sauna. The boxwood stove would SHATTER if it were flaming up when water gets thrown on it, so simply build a steel structure around it that holds rocks above the stove - metamorphic rock, like granite. Then make the sauna small - the smaller the better. Make several levels of benches. That is your heat regulator. Want it hotter? Move up a row or two. Need it cooler? Go down. Use clear lumber from cedar or redwood (NO knots - they'll burn you!) and fasten from the underside of the board.

 

[mikedurant]

I would like to suggest you to Figure how many cords you'll need for the winter and then cut twice as much.

 

[bill from lachine]

Folks,

Quite the video on turning arid land into a productive garden.