CrabGrassAcres

Sarah, I have a rain catch cistern, so have to be very careful with the water. Also have 38 acres to fence and it is 1/2 mile from the front to the back! I did use the hose in Texas to set posts though. Soil was sandy.

I think most families share a bucket.

Possum grapes grow wild here, but aside from goat fodder, aren't worth bothering with. Usually high up in a tree and tiny. It is too cold for scuppernoggs though.

Rabbit eyes will grow here, yes. Zone 6-9 for those. I'd love to have some pallets, but that sort of thing is hard come by when you have no vehicle. Bus driver won't let me put them on the bus. He's kind of funny about such things. LOL

Trouble is, I can't get tposts to pound in. Too many rocks. I've been fastening cattle panels to trees to make my fences, LOL.

Thanks, hon. I'll try to keep y'all posted. I did manage to get some uva ursi seed and planted that. It is what I use for kidney problems but the berries are edible too.

So I have 38 acres that I am buying on the installment plan. I want to fence off about 10 for livestock and divide it into several paddocks for intensive grazing. House and outbuildings take up about an acre or so with the driveway and parking area. On the rest I want a decent size garden, a big orchard (I can sell excess fruit) and a FOOD FOREST. I want elderberries, American hazelnut, black walnuts (have way too much hickory) have blackberries, sumac and wild cherries, not sure what else to look for that will naturalize and I can get cheap or free. I intend to stick a bunch of apple, peach and etc seeds in various spots from grocery store or fruit stand purchases. I've been promised the trimmings from some concord grapes too. zone 6 here in the southern mo area.

Make yogurt and after everyone has eaten their fill, turn it into cheese.

Excellent lines, MR! The ladies are putting up with him. Waiting for them to start cycling, now they smell buck perfume. LOL

Noah is the white buck. The software posted in the opposite order I uploaded

My new buck, Alcmene Wild Ride (barn name, Noah) He is one yr old, abou 150 #, has kids on the ground at previous farm, looking real good. The brown buck is his sire and the udder is his dam's.

LOL

Ticks will climb up on bushes and get on you if you brush up against the bush. I don't think the fall on you though.

It doesn't seem to affect non-ruminants. Cows can be affected, but uncommonly, horses can be, but also not commonly. Doesn' seem to affect dogs or cats, but that may be because they don't eat the snails and slugs. Snails and slugs can migrate from adjacent pastures so you want to keep the ducks out all the time. Number of ducks would depend on whether the snails were present in heavy numbers, but I plan to start over with a dozen Welsh Harlequins and a dozen Runners. They will need to be penned at night or attracted close to the house or barn with a nightlight and protected by a LGD. I kept several dozen at a time in Texas as well as chickens and guineas. Never saw a chicken or guinea eat a snail, but ducks love them. Never saw any slugs on my place but that might be that they got eaten too quickly. There were certainly lots of snails when I first moved there. My dogs always kept the deer away in Texas. I'm down to one dog, but she does her best. I don't have much fence up yet and the place is heavily wooded. Ticks can cause paralysis in dogs as well as goats, and humans, assuming in cats too.

Snails and slugs can migrate from infected areas into previously clean areas and a wet season will encourage them to reproduce in larger numbers. This worm does NOT cause anemia. Most responsible goat people only worm if the goat is anemic to prevent worms getting resistant. Previously many wormed routinely and didn't see the deer worm problem.

No, the ducks don't seem to be affected. Mine were not in Texas and I can't find any info that says it can cause them problems.

If you live where there are white tail deer you need to be aware that this parasite could be present in your pasture. Also, if you purchase hay from any area that has white tails, you could have the snails or slugs in the hay from that area. The parasite does not usually cause significant disease in the deer. The larvae migrate to the deer brain where they mature then move thru the bloodstream to the lungs, get coughed up and excreted in the mucous around the pellets. The snails and slugs eat the mucous and become infected. The deer, cattle, goats, sheep or llamas eat the snails while looking for acorns or ingest tiny slugs or snails on grass or in hay. The larvae cannot mature in the non-specific host and so cause significant damage and can kill the animal. The larvae CAN cross the placenta into unborn livestock. Prevention is to run ducks in your pastures before allowing the livestock onto the grass, and to prevent any deer from accessing your pasture. Otherwise you may need to worm the livestock on a routine basis which will allow the 'normal' parasites to build up resistance to the wormer. Treatment is Panacur (Safeguard) at 10 times normal dose for 5 consecutive days. Symptoms are unthriftiness, patches of hair loss that seem to itch (you may or may not see the patches and you may or may not see the animal scratching), and in advanced cases, staggering, blindness, uncoordination, personality change, weakness of hindquarters, may be present. You may not realize the animal is sick till it goes down and cannot rise. If the animal is to recover after treatment it will take up to 4 weeks. If they are still down completely after 2 weeks, be kind and shoot the animal. Appetite is maintained thru the illness.

Might as well schedule me for a slot on that show! LOL

I got a good big dose of Scot's Thrift from Grandpa Willie. We were dirt poor when I was young. (According to the gov, I'm still dirt poor, LOL). Didn't seem to affect my sisters or one of my brothers, the other brother is as thrifty as I am. (Except when it comes to goats and poultry and then I seem to get rather carried away. LOL)

Yes, that is the one. Computer was taking 5-6 seconds per key stroke yesterday! She has directions on plucking and cleaning poultry, taking care of chickens, skinning and cleaning rabbits, how to tell age of wild rabbits, how to make a smoker and recipes that never require opening a package of prepared food. She even has a chapter on foraging. You'll enjoy reading the extra material about her life in Ireland too.

"Forgotten Skills of Cooking - time honored ways are the best" by Darina Allen. Look for it used. Take basic foods and shows how to really cook from scratch. (Computer won't let me do in detail review.)

I live with 19 goats who are ALWAYS up to no goodness. I don't find it possible to ignore ANYTHING.

Definitely a worthy goal and a needed skill.

Six gal buckets are taller and easier to stand up from. A standard toilet seat can be adapted by unscrewing the blocks under the seat and turning them sideways so they fit the rim. Don't use those plastic Walmart bags they put your stuff in at checkout. They will burst at the worst possible moment. Tall kitchen can bags are cheap and sturdy enough for an emergency toilet. If it is going to be longer than a few days, get sawdust and ditch the plastic bag. That is not a good place for the toilet paper. Kitty litter is heavy. Pine shavings work well to control the odor and are lighter. We presently use a bedside commode chair over a bucket. Doesn't tip and is comfortable. I plan to build a toilet on this order: www.milkwood.net/2011/04/18/compost-toilet-specifics-the-bins/

I'll be glad to get out of this mobile home. Found a big pile of snake scat in the bathroom. Didn't see the culprit and hope it is not still hangin round.