Like Stepping On A Golf Ball

Road apples, horse buns, horse pucky, horse chips, horse hooey and horse apples.  

There are lots of names for horse manure. 

But I can tell you, stepping on a frozen road apple is just like stepping on a golf ball... and hurts just as much!

Some Days You Get The Worm And Some Days The Worm Gets You

As everyone knows, we are dealing with incredibly harsh weather today and tomorrow!  When I look at the weather for my area, I read that the temperature is 3-degrees and feels like -16-degrees!  Yesterday, our local schools canceled today's classes!

We've done all we can do to keep our animals warm and cozy.  Extra feed, extra bedding, blankets on the horses, giving them good shelter, etc.

This morning I looked out and I couldn't really see how much water was in the horse trough, but it looked like maybe it was a little low and I decided that my horses probably could use more water.  Surprisingly, they drink almost more water now than they do in the summertime!

We have an outside water hydrant spigot that is about 60 yards from the heated horse water trough.  In the wintertime, I put together a number of "Magic Hoses" to reach to water trough at the barn.  I can then put all the "Magic Hoses" in a five-gallon bucket and store them in the basement so that they don't freeze.  

When I was filling the horse water on the day before yesterday, one of the hoses developed a pretty significant hole and I forgot to pick up a new one while we were in town.  Ah!,  I thought, I have a spare "Magic Hose" hanging in the garage!  So I removed the broken hose and replaced it with the new hose.   

I then filled up my water buckets for the pigs and fowl (which I haul to them in a big log sled) and then attached my hoses, turned on the water and started dragging the running water end of the hose down to the barn.  It was then that remembered why I didn't use that hose from the garage.  It's about eight feet too short!  So I trudged back up to my broken hose and dragged it down to the other end to try to see if I could make it limp along enough to fill the horse trough. 

By the way, this was all being done in -16-degree whipping winds...AND when I got to the 100-gallon horse trough I found that it was about 3/4 full but I had started the horse watering process anyway!

Nope, the hose was far too damaged to work.  Water shot out everywhere at the connection.  

The horses had enough water to easily get them through until tomorrow so I trudged back up the hill to turn off the hydrant spigot so that I could let the hoses drain and put them back in their bucket when I go inside.   

I finished all of my animals chores - got everyone fed, watered - made sure they had adequate bedding, etc. - and trudged up the hill with my sled with its empty buckets. 

The hoses hadn't completely drained!  And the first hose was frozen to the spigot!  I thought that maybe if I ran some water through the spigot it would thaw the hose fitting.  It did not because the water that hadn't drained out of the hoses had frozen the spigot and now the water wouldn't turn on!  

I trudged into the garage, got a pair of pliers, and removed the hose.  Then I pulled the frozen hose together as well as I could and jammed it into the five-gallon bucket.  

I hauled the hose bucket and the pliers into the house and filled another bucket with warm water.   I hauled that out to the spigot and poured it over the spigot until it thawed and the water ran freely.  Thankfully the water started because I don't know what I would have done if it didn't! 

It's not always beautiful vegetables and cute and happy animals on the farm...

...Some Days You Get The Worm And Some Days The Worm Gets You!    

Happy New Year 2018!

I felt the need for a refreshing hiatus, but I'm back!

Garlic Success!

Last autumn, while at the Mother Earth News Fair, I picked up a bag of Inchelium Red Softneck Garlic from Southern Exposure Seed exchange.

I was a little leery about planting a softneck variety because I understood that they didn't do well in our harsh winters.  So I thought I would try planting them in the high tunnel and mulch them with a heavy bed of chopped leaves.  

Wow did I have success!  I ended up with softball sized garlic heads.  They have a wonderful mid-range garlic taste and are easy to peel!  Here's what Southern Exposure wrote:  

[Originally from the Colville Indian Reservation, Inchelium, WA.] Higher in soluble solids than other garlic varieties we offer, in 1991 it won first place among 20 varieties evaluated for flavor at the Rodale Food Center. Clove count averages 15 per bulb with a wide variation in clove count. Inchelium Red has out-produced Chet’s Italian Purple, formerly our most productive variety. Produces bulbs in excess of 3 in. in diameter under good conditions.

The largest heads will be broken apart and replanted in a couple of days.  In our zone, Columbus day is always my target date for planting garlic for next spring's harvest.  

Mother Earth News Fair, Seven Springs, PA: We Went!

What a great weekend!  We met 100s of people, talked about our craft, talked about their crafts, and sold honey and maple.  

I arrived at the Fair on Thursday and set up my tent.  

We had a great spot... right on the picnic court area.

And I had some great shows to watch while hanging out in my booth!

Going to the Mother Earth News Fair always increases my desire to do more, be more, on our little homestead.  I watched Joel Salatin (an American farmer, lecturer, and author whose books include Folks, This Ain't Normal; You Can Farm; and Salad Bar Beef) speak and the next thing I knew I was making plans to get into largish scale chicken raising and figuring out where I would put my chicken tractors and how I would feed my chickens with just grass and bugs.  It was a great dream!  

Thankfully, my cooler head prevailed and by the time I got back to my booth I remembered my commitment to doing better at what I'm already doing rather than doing more!  

Dig into this past year's Mother Earth News Fair's Schedule of Events.  Your mind will be blown with the diversity and range of topics covered!  

Sometimes we find ourselves getting worn out and the Mother Earth News Fair is a great way to freshen your desire to pursue the homesteading/natural living/clean eating lifestyle. 

Mother Earth News Fair Schedule: We're Going!

We're very busy packaging honey and maple syrup for our booth at the Mother Earth News Fair in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania on September 15 -17.  

You'll find us at booth number 8805 - straight ahead as you go through the tunnel.  Right near the PASA Sustainable Agriculture Stage.  Come visit us!  

Here is a link to the Fair.  You won't believe the number of outstanding events and classes there are... and at a very reasonable ticket price!  Last year I went to check out the Fair and it completely blew me away and renewed my commitment to an as organic as possible lifestyle.  Take a look at this link to the magazine of Fair events here: 

Mother Earth News Fair Schedule

I hope to see you there!

Coming Soon!

Hi Folks!

Sorry I've been pretty incognito the past month +.  All the responsibilities and work around the homestead have really caught up with me!

We are now preparing to be a part of the Mother Earth News Fair in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania on September 15, 16, and 17th.  I'll be posting more about this in a few days, but preparations are filling my time!

There's lots to tell you and I'll be posting again veeeery soon!