Necie

Wasn't my idea. Seemed to be a *need*.

(This is an old post and the names are not correct for the posters.) I think there are probably alot of people feeling this way with the state of things nowadays. I know when it happens to me, it is quite the rollercoaster ride. Things will seem to be going ok..then..BOOM! something *bad* to deal with. I think to myself: Why did I let myself get so comfortable....I started taking things for granted and now look what happened.... Yanno...the whole *Blame Game*. Then there's the whole self-pity thing. I think we all do it when things get rough. Why ME?? Then I get MAD ....at myself: How DARE I feel sorry for myself? Don't you know there are people out there with much bigger problems? You should be THANKFUL for what you do have! (all said to myself). So I *toughen up* and *go busy* ...thinking that if I do all the *right* things, then things ought to go *right* FOR me. Then they don't. I finally adjust and deal with whatever problems need dealt with (with a bit of Help) and things seem to go well again. .......for awhile. How about you? Anyone else seem to be going through this more than normal? and

Yogurt--I started with a starter yogurt from the store (must be live culture yogurt). Now I just keep my own in the freezer. I either make a quart or a half gallon at a time. I just put my milk (goat) and starter in the jar and set it on a candle warmer with the lid on loose. Cream Cheese--put raw milk in a gallon jar and let sit in a warm place. Should separate in 24 hrs. Drain cheese into cheesecloth and put into *press* and put in fridge. I check and dump whey daily and add weight if needed until cheese is firm. Sour Cream--I let cheese above ^^^^ set for 48 hrs or more until it has the sourness that I desire, then drain in cheesecloth til consistancy that I want. No need to press. Whey-- ---Ricotta Cheese--heat whey on stove to 180* in double boiler (I just use two stock pots nested together). Add 1/2 cup vinegar per gallon of whey. Let cool a bit and drain in cheesecloth.

Left-over Vege Soup. DH made it the yesterday. Jar of green beans Jar of small whole potatoes Jar of tomatoes Jar of chowder base (has corn, celery, carrots, bacon) Jar of beef broth Out of crackers but I made Amish Friendship bread yesterday and instead of using flavored pudding to make it different, I tried using a different flavoring extract instead of vanilla. Black Walnut! It is YUMMY!

www.columbusfoods.com It's under their 'Soapers Choice'. Where it says 'Click here to order any product from the list'. oooooh....I just looked--it went up a litle--it's $1.17/lb, was $1.00/lb. I haven't ordered it from there in awhile. Local Amish store started carrying alot of oils/butters for soapers, so I've been buying it there for $49.95, plus saving shipping.

I'm surprised about everyone using it for moisturizing. ?? I make soap and everything I've read says that coconut oil can be very drying. ??? I use it in my soap for it's wonderful lathering quality, but not for moisturizing/conditioning. hmmmmm I may try using it more in cooking/eating since I buy it in 50# buckets anyhow. I have a girlfriend who swears there's something wrong with my thyroid. Don't know about that, but I can always use more energy.

Sorry, haven't read the whole thread (will when I have time ). Thought ya'll might be interested in this. Real life wagon traveler. www.wagonteamster.com One of the regular customers at the restaurant where I work met this guy. He stopped and helped him bale hay and spent the night at his place. He brought me in a newspaper with a story about him in it. Really cool. He has a blog on his site about his travels.

"She started to head for the park again and I said nooooooooooooooooooooooooo...the duck will come back if you do that. She then consulted with CL#3 in spanish and I was too upset to try to hear what they said and the next thing I knew, they took a pillowcase, threw said duck inside, and into their truck. They informed me as I stood there sobbing that they were gonna take the duck far, far away and that I would never be terriorized again. I walked into the house, tended my cuts and realized where I had made my first mistake. I shoulda shot the duck to begin with, a week ago. ROFL I'm serious, this is a TRUE story. I just got off the phone with CL#2, who was calling to see if I was ok. I asked her where she had taken the duck, and she told me about a mile away." I don't suppose the cleaning lady lived *about a mile away*? Yup...if you'd of shot him to begin with then *YOU* could've had roast duck for dinner. Bet he was good!!

"Mine!" "MINE, MINE, MINE!!!!" Ooooh--KAY! You can have it for now...but it's MINE...and as soon as you're done with it, *I* get it back!

On Tuesday, Richard said: 'Ya ought to do something with that chicken in the basement fridge. What day did we butcher them?' Me: Uh, I don't know. Tuesday? (my day off) Him: A week ago? Me: Nooo! (hmmm) What day is it? Him: Tuesday! Me: Oh....No, it wasn't a week ago, but I thought we did them on my day off. We butchered chickens and THEN I went to work? Musta been Friday or Saturday. <shrug> Then I remembered that a lady had shown up to buy some pullets while we were butchering. I HAD written that down in my little record book- '5 pullets--$25--March 27'. FRIDAY! SHEESH! So, I figure if I start writing things in here a bit about what I've done for the day, then this can be one more place to go when I think: 'Now, where did I write that down at?' Today...(actually yesterday since it's after mid-night): Jason (DS1-23) and I went to the elevator and got 100# goat feed, 100# rabbit feed, 100# layer mash, 50# barley and a bag of pine shavings. Chicks started hatching last night so it's time to rotate chickens. There's only 4 chicks (14-18 wks old) left in the little coop, so I shut them out in their run and cleaned the coop. Put down some wood pellets and pine shavings and put waterers and a new feeder that Richard made me today IN the coop (usually the food and water are out in the run). Then had to catch the 4 little buggers and put them in, (cuz I guess they were afraid of the new bedding ), and shut them in there. Then Jason and I crated the 23 chicks (7-11 wks old) that were in the large brooder in the barn and put them in the small coop with the other 4 chicks. They will stay shut in there until Saturday, then hopefully when I let them out Saturday morning they will have enough sense to go back in Saturday night. Made some chicken and noodles out of the butchered roosters for dinner for Richard and Jason, then I went to work. Pretty boring day, huh?

Soaping and Goat's Milk Soap (pinned at top of Homemade Memories forum) http://mrssurvival.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2592 Lots and lots of hidden jewels in this one.

Hi. I'm Denise, but my friends call me Necie. I grew up and lived in SW Michigan for 35 years, but now live in NE Indiana. Big move, huh? I love the Mid-West and guess you could call me a country gal. Was raised farming and have my own little mini farm started. I'm divorced. Was married for 15 yrs and have 3 wonderful kids: Jason (23), Tony (22) and Leah (20). Tony has a girlfriend-Jessie (20) whom I also totally adore (she wants to learn to garden and can and all that fun stuff). I've been in a serious relationship for over 8 yrs..Richard is my bestest friend. We put up with each others nonsense like no one else would. He's a total motor head. Used to drive semi--mostly hauled grain, has a '74 Shovelhead Harley (would LOOOVE to have a Cushman (sp?) motor scooter thangy). Is into chainsaws, lawnmowers, GEESH--anything with an engine and NASCAR (and any other type of racing-I pick on him and say 'If they could figure out a way to put engines on a cow, you'd watch them race.' LOL). I'm a bartender. Pretty boring. Well, til they make me wait tables. When I'm waitressing, they ought to sell tickets and charge admission--real COMEDY show. I'm a bartender. hehe My little farm: Well, it started out with a couple chickens. That's grown. I have somewhere between 50-70. And 44 chicks and 41 eggs in the 'bator. Then I got 4 rabbits. We just butchered 3, but I have 2 juniors and 3 babies, so I guess I have 9. Then I got 2 little doeling goats-Nubians. Bred them to kid in late May or June this year. I just bought my first little buckling, and my goat mentor and I are working on purchasing and co-owning another buckling and I will raise him with this one. Then there's Gracie! The spoiled little pampered princess pooch Rottweiler. She's 18 months old and at this time acting very much the teen-ager. GRRRRRR I just keep telling myself-"PATIENCE". At least she'll grow out of it faster than the human kids. LOL Kagan! I am getting one of Darlene's pups! I am working on the name. Part of it will be Kagan. I want it to mean "King's Gift" or "Gift of the King" or "Gift from the King". Kagan=King. I like Ikram, too. Ikram=gift. Kagan Ikram? Ikram Kagan? I think it is going to be a challenge and very rewarding to raise and train an Anatolian. He is going to be a working dog-guardian of my farm. I have alot of other little hobbies, too. Fishing, gardening, crocheting, wine-making, cooking....oooooooh, all SORTS of stuff. So, I hope my first entry in my blog has kinda painted the background of the picture-my life. Future entries will hopefully paint in more detail. It is a picture that will never be completed-it's a work in progress.

Hypocalcemia http://dairygoatinfo.com/index.php/topic,21.0.html (copy and paste into address line)

18 Doin' better....but... Ok-prolly gonna ramble here. This time, I tried doing this: http://paraguinparadise.netfirms.com/Dry%20Incubation.htm The first round my chicks died before developing or stuck...I think I opened the 'bator too much at the end (shoulda never had that staggered hatch). I helped one out of the shell and it died. The second round my chicks developed, just didn't pip and hatch like they should have. I think I had my humidity too HIGH. When I cracked the unhatched eggs, they were very *wet*. Chicks prolly drowned. I helped two out of the shell and they both lived. Third Round: I did this 'dry hatch' and everything seemed to be going well. Never opened the 'bator til day 18 to candle and take the eggs off the turner. I'll tell ya...on a positive note...my candling skills are SUPERB! ROFL I took 15 eggs out that candled as unfertile. When I cracked them-YUP-every one had zero (or near zero) development. That left 26 eggs. 18 hatched and out of the 8 that didn't hatch, all were fully developed. Six hadn't sucked up the yold completely and two had, but didn't pip. Today is day 24 and I had the last two hatch today--I think I need to bump my temps up. Helped three out of the shell (including the two today)...so far they are still alive. Anyone up for Round Four??

Originally Posted By: lunamother yes- we need cute chickie pictures- are they -chicks? Of course!! Are there any other kind?!? First pic-chicks hatching in incubator. Second pic-chicks in the brooder (love the lighting in this pic). Third pic-see the little gray chick with the white face in the middle? I broke my rule (as usual ) and helped two chicks hatch-both are doing good-she is one of them and her name is Luna. Fourth pic-the little black chick with the white spot on his head on the left--he's the other one I helped hatch and is a roo. Grrrr. 1501-chicks12-08018.jpg 1502-chicks12-08035.jpg 1503-chicks12-08046.jpg 1504-chicks12-08047.jpg

Ok-so out of 18 that should and 9 that might (total 27)...14 hatched. 11 were fully developed and died--didn't hatch. 2 weren't fertile. So, while my candling skills are good, obviously my incubation skills leave something to be desired. Honestly, I was hoping to do better this time and I'm a bit frustrated. I'll get some pix of the chicks posted in the next couple of days.

So...day 18: Took the eggs off the turner and candled. Had 14 that were not fertile or had died during development that I took out. Still not sure about the 4 Ameraucana eggs, so left them in. Had 5 others that I wasn't sure about, so left them in, too. So out of 41 eggs, I have 18 that should hatch and 9 that might hatch. First pic is the bottom of the incubator with the towels under the screen as I spoke of in my first post. Second pic is how I had to check the air pocket in the developed eggs. This is with the flash on. Third pic is same as second pic with the flash off. All you can see is the air pocket. Fourth pic is an egg that is not fertile. The whole egg 'lights up'. Fifth pic is a developed egg. Flashlight is on bottom of egg and the whole egg appears dark. Can't see a thing. Sixth pic is a fertile egg that died during development. Bottom of the egg lights up, but the top is dark where the embryo started developing and then for whatever reason died. 1481-g'pax-mas12-08018.jpg 1482-g'pax-mas12-08019.jpg 1483-g'pax-mas12-08020.jpg 1484-g'pax-mas12-08021.jpg 1485-g'pax-mas12-08022.jpg 1486-g'pax-mas12-08023.jpg

Bloat http://www.mrssurvival.com/forums/ubbthrea...9805#Post269805

Luna--all I used was a little Mini-Mag type flashlight. Uses 2 AA batteries.

Forgot--counted 31 fertile for sure. Couldn't see through the green eggs at all, so didn't count them--possible 4 more.

Day 8--Candled eggs. First pic-not fertilized. Second pic-fertile. You can even see two spots on the right that are the developing embryo. Third pic-another fertile. Fourth pic-fertile. In this one you can see the veins that run around the inside of the shell. It shows up as the line around the top--about 1/3 of the way from the top. The other pix didn't pick this up. 1467-eggs-buns-goats12-08019.jpg 1468-eggs-buns-goats12-08021.jpg 1469-eggs-buns-goats12-08023.jpg 1470-eggs-buns-goats12-08026.jpg

Luna--my humidity was a real problem. With the exterior temp being only about 50-55*, I couldn't get it over 25%. Took me two weeks to figure out how to do it. What a mess. Taking eggs out, putting them back. But I think the real problem was the staggered hatch. Had 28 eggs hatching and 13 hatching 3 days later. I was opening the thing so much in the last week that none of the 13 hatched. (I did help one stuck chick and it lived for only two days.) So ALL eggs get set at the same time now. The brooder boxes-I don't know why I don't separate them from the get-go. The boxes are big-4'x4' and there's plenty of room for the first week. Just easier, I guess, dealing with only one box starting out. With 100 chicks I start the first box with 2 waterers and 2 feeders. Then, after a week, they are just starting to get crowded and I put 2 waterers and 2 feeders in the second box. By then, I can tell who's getting along and who's not, and I separate them that way. This last spring, the lighter colored ones were getting picked on, so I put them in the second box with a red light. Ok--so the incubator now is upstairs in the kitchen, insead of in the basement. Exterior temp is 65*ish, after readjusting the first morning my digital is reading 99-100*, the regular thermometer is reading a degree higher. Both are within range, so I'm not messing with it. Humidity is only down to 45%. When it hits 40, then I'll add some more water. I'm figuring the less I mess with it, the better. I'll get a few more pics when I have to open it to add water.