Homesteader

I am trying to rotate my frozen meats and decided to can a precooked, spiral ham. Very tasty indeed. DH pretty much stayed out of the kitchen yesterday whilst the carving knife was in my hand.  

I got 8 pints of ham, and all of them sealed.  One more ham to go.     I need more pint jars. With mom gone, I'm back to stretching our meat between multiple meals out of a pint jar. She used to say, "Where's the BEEF?" She has never had to live in another country and receive the last chicken a family owned so that we could eat with them. 

Woot! Woot! Happy birthday, friend. I remember bringing down cans of silly string for the kids to pummel you with. They enjoyed standing by my suitcase when I arrived in Miami to see what I brought for fun for the upcoming week. 

Praying you have a great day, full of wonderful memories of becoming an ancient one like the rest of us.  

The State Vet who is overseeing the destruction of one commercial operation was mentioning all the spring birds using the chicken feathers of the dead birds to build nests. 

Spring is a great time to watch birds find nesting material. When we combed our long-haired dog outside, the birds would come from everywhere. I remember as a child my grandmother cutting lengths of string and hanging them on a fence. The birds would come and use the string as sewing material in their nests.

9 hours ago, Mt_Rider said:

It's a big deal in the midwest {or just that side of my family?}  to always keep graves cleared of debris and put real flowers out frequently. 

In Des Moines, I think my family used to call it decoration day. They went out and decorated all the graves for the summer. When we lived in Indiana next to a cemetery, they did the same thing. Was wonderful to walk through and see all the people remembered by their children.

Layer feed was $13 bag. I gagged. I can still get pastured eggs from the pantry that I work at most weeks. I treat them like the golden eggs.  . We used to eat very little overseas. My memory is coming back very quickly though. I am starting to like rice again. 3x a day for years gets very old. Just give me a pile of mashed potatoes any day, smothered in butter and sour cream/chives. 😋 

12 hours ago, Ambergris said:

The 56-year-old man's symptoms began on Mar 31, and he was hospitalized on Apr 4 where he is remains in serious condition. An investigation found that he had been exposed to live domestic poultry before he got sick.

I keep telling people not to kiss their chickens on the lips. They've turned them into children. 

The farm near us is into another phase of having to destroy their 3 million birds. I guess they're now trying to dispose of the eggs ... 400 TONS of them ... but the landfill doesn't want them until after THREE DAYS of cooking them. 

Great article. Thanks!

Thanks for all the updates. We've been thinking about a sawmill since all the oaks are slowly dying from Oak Wilt. A retired forest ranger told us to just sell them or cut them down and mill them before they die. It seems there is no cure for Oak Wilt and it will eventually kill almost all the oaks in our country. 

Stopped by an older bachelor's place after church to chat, wish him a blessed Easter, and pick up some frozen rabbits from him. He said he was blood type A positive and swore off all kinds of foods because of it. We are the recipients of his butchered and frozen rabbits. He also offered me all kinds of perennials .... bee-balm, lovage, anise, garlic, nettles, and others that I can't remember. He's like a Eules Gibbons.    I need to get back over there with my shovel and bring home some perennials. He said that he loves honey, so I'll take a quart over to him. Nice guy and terrific with the youth in the church. 

A few years ago, I created a monthly calendar that highlighted an ancient family member each month. There was a photo and paragraph or two on their life. My family has been bugging me to do it again. Now that I have countless totes of my deceased mom's photos and slides, I may just take up the challenge once again. Too bad genealogy sucks up months of my time. 

I like to mix my own seed-starting mixtures that include vermiculite/perlite/peat/compost. I have found that vermiculite is as rare as hens teeth this year. I don't like buying it in small bags but I may have to this year. The garden manager at Menards said that the vermiculite order for 2022 has been CANCELLED by its supplier. That's all he would reveal.

It has difficult to find it online without paying extremely high prices, especially for vermiculite. Just a FYI.   

Little Bro has been dealing with two Scottish Highlanders that have escaped his rifle scope for over a year now. Every time the butcher-on-wheels arrived, the cattle went back up into the pine forest. Bro baited them with food and they finally started coming at regular times during the winter. He had friends come in early morning and late afternoon with their rifles. The cattle seemed to sense what was happening and would wonder off to the surrounding neighbors. He finally got desperate and found a former military guy with special equipment. It was now or never as the grass is starting to grow and the cows would head out onto the back forty for another season.

Bro's new friend arrived after dark the other night with his equipment and told Bro to get his tractor ready. Bro laughed. He still did as his new friend ordered and headed to the barn. A few minutes later he went to open the big doors and was startled to see the former military guy standing in the service door with a ear-to-ear grin and shining his pearly whites. Bro said he had never been so startled in his life, and he's the adventurous type. 

The shooter had special heat sensing gear and a silencer. What took almost a year of terrible frustration and constant anxiety ended in less than 14 minutes.    Come to find out, this special hunter was friends with my deceased brother. For the next hour, they laugh and told stories of their early days. After gutting and hanging the cattle in the barn, the hunter went home with a truckload of meat from previous butchering events and was tickled pink. Bro said that he's buying pastured beef from his Amish neighbors in the future.

9 hours ago, Annarchy said:

A stint & more tests to see if they can get the other blockage. 

I almost lost DH about 30 years ago. He has stints and has been purring along ever since. It was a real eye-opener for both of us even though he was in terrific shape from construction career. God will see both of you through. When it's too much for you to carry, He will carry you through. It's a promise.   

7 hours ago, Jeepers said:

On the way over, I had a flat tire. Brand new tires bought in November, but I ran over something in the road.

We had more flat tires in Indiana than all other places, combined. It was explained to us that the RV industry is one of the culprits. RV Capital of the World, they say. Anyway, it seems that all those nails and screws that fall through the framework during construction come bouncing out when the completed rig is heading down the Interstates and onto their new owners. Sounds good to us because Elkhart was the worst on newer tires. 

6 hours ago, Mother said:

Let’s see, there was also Countryside, Backwoods Home, Backhome, and,,,,and,,,

I resemble that remark. You forgot 'everything Rodale Press'.   

12 hours ago, Annarchy said:

now you have me wanting a grain mill and wheat berries and/or cracked wheat

Years ago (prob about 25), hubby found me a grain grinder that works with my Kitchen Aid. It's a great attachment on the front and has a dial that adjusts the grinder wheelie thingies.   I haven't had to adjust the grind coarseness in 15 years. It's also great for oats, barley, buckwheat, rye, etc. I haven't tried beans though. I think they would be too hard. I do want to get a hand-grinder but haven't researched them since Mother Earth News days.  

On 3/29/2022 at 6:53 PM, UKGuy said:

Hi SusanAnn, you'll guess where I'm from by my handle. Close to Leeds.

I used to attend a radio training school in Leeds.    I traveled down from Scotland and spent several weeks there each time. It was a great place. I remember the locals talking about Sherwood Forest and Robin Hood. Your cities are older than our entire country.  

Did you know that a great deal of our beef comes from other countries? It arrives as a carcass and is then processed in the USA. Because of this, the USDA allows U.S. sellers to mark it as "Product of the USA". The USDA does not have inspectors in those other countries but gives them the regulations and assumes those other countries are abiding by USDA regulations. That includes the testing of the cattle for Mad Cow Disease ... it's all on the honor system.  

Just listened to a Youtube video produced by McMurray Hatchery out of Iowa. They are a huge producer of poultry to US buyers. They found a bird that tested positive for bird flu. They have the Iowa authorities helping them sort, separate, and preserve many of the varieties that are not found anywhere else. They said that they want to fulfill the invoices of the bulk buyers, but mentioned that chicks should be available again NEXT YEAR for the average consumer.

I just checked their website and no chicks were available through May. Lots of others like ducks and geese. No wonder I can't find chicks at our local feed mill or implement dealers lately. Not that I want to get back into the business of raising chickens anymore. There aren't enough mouths to feed around here these days. 

3 hours ago, Darlene said:

Our stories have never matched. lol

 

But then again, I do have video of the infamous bungee jump. 

I would like to see the video. Please????  

Don't worry, Dee. Once you let out all the hot air, she becomes much more manageable and lots of fun to be around.  

3 hours ago, Darlene said:

that poor boy until he finally called out “Uncle”, and took his beloved boyhood penknife and began to carve out each page of that historical book to create Theodore’s final tomb.

Actually, he sold his beloved boyhood penknife and bought some parts for his race car. I can still hear him laughing in his machine shop when he quickly carved Theo's final tomb with a bandsaw.

Funny how distorted your stories become the older you get. 

24 minutes ago, Darlene said:

Poor Ed. If he only knew what a brat you truly are.

Just remember. He's the one who hollowed out the book that sent Theo the toad back to you.  

3 hours ago, Darlene said:

And, if I try to extend the shelf life of those beloved crackers too long, they'll start to get rancid or taste off and all of that money, all of that energy and emotion I dumped into that stupid box of crackers will end up being thrown over the gate to the chickens, who really will enjoy the crackers but they will never appreciate all I put into that stupid box.

I tried that once. The chickens threw them back at me so I fed them to Ed. He loved them.   

I am so hungry now that I'm going to eat my way through Iowa, on my way to Georgia.  

One of my KitchenAid pasta makers was given to me by Dar during a visit in Miami. My hips prove there's nothing more tasty than homemade noodles. 

A friend of ours is a govt inspector and a veterinarian. They have had to kill millions of chickens and eggs this past month on a commercial farm. By the time the inspectors are called, the disease has ravaged the flock. All birds/eggs are disposed of in large pits and then covered. They think, because it's a seasonal flu that follows sporadically with migrating birds and not spread from farm to farm, that the feathers from the migrating birds may be a big culprit. I'm not sure about the droppings. 

I've listened to many You-Tubers say that the government is coming in and doing PCR tests on the birds and just destroying them. They point to the faulty PCR tests as the catalysts for destroying healthy birds. In actuality, by the time the inspector is called, there are thousands of dead and dying birds everywhere. They don't need a test to see that the flu has already hit the flock.   I hate fear-mongering from those who have NO IDEA how the medical system works on farm animals.  (Sorry, Ice Age Farmer is at the top of my list on this one). I also hate click-bait.  

All birds are destroyed even though many have no symptoms. Our inspector friend agrees that more testing should be done to isolate variations in immune systems among the birds. The govt is afraid that removing birds from infected farms might spread the disease as many birds may only be carriers, similar to what we were told regarding Covid-19. Everybody get the shot and the virus will go away. My concern is that future chicks may be vaccinated without us knowing what is going into their bodies. What a great way to compromise them and us. 

Rant over.