Farming and Homesteading Heritage Poultry

[Arielle]

Quote: I have always been a fairly good baker and can utilize most everything-- maybe it doesn't turn out well the first time but I don't let that stop my experimenting-- that is what dogs and now chickens are good for-- they get the flops. lol SO nothing wasted. I have learned to eat more of hte foods that are more nutritious-- they are often more sour, more bitter or less sweet. It has been a journey as taste buds change slowly. I have abused my body with a life time of eating SADS, and now I pay the price-- which I had learned earlier when at 20-- but I cannot change back the clock-- so I do what I can NOW.

Quote: I havent done any spinning since moving to the farm 20 years ago-- no time. I do knit occassionally and dream of making hooked rugs, tjhe old fashioned kind make of loopes in burlap.

I love cheeses and am willing to try all kinds. Maybe the push comes when too much raw milk is sitting around before it can be consumed . . . . there is a class offered at a farm in the SE on cheese making . . .

Quote: Looking forward to making the butter. Had promised the kids low carb chocolate mousse so made that today-- uses tofu and whipped cream. Kids eat it slowly as it is so rich. -- I dont mind my kids eat fats as I mentioned before. DH off to buy more whipping cream!!

Interesting observation on the jars of meat. I personally love fats . . . good to know yours have not gone rancid. WIll keep canning more . . .have about 8 turkeys to process. My cas enjoy the canned meat and the fats . . . better than dry cat food!!

Clarified butter is the french method I suspect; the ghee is the Indian . . . the removal of the milk solids which are water, sugars and proteins spoil, so the removal of those increases the shelf life.

I am seeing more extreme weather . . and the economies around the world are not thriving. . . .I do think we are only afew short steps from a disaster . . . so I too am working toward self sufficency. I do think I can use a refrig now, and if somthing happens we can eat all that up or feed it off, and depend on the canned goods soon after. I remember in Maine history class a lecture on the cutting of ice from the big rivers for the ice hosuses and the storage using sawdust to separate the layers of blocks. . . . not sure I would want to use the river water around here but if I could use m y well water. . . . have been trying to find a mechanical pump system. THe type used as merri-go-rounds apparently dont work well. ( think of the first scenes of one of the Harry POtter stories) I was upsat to hear my mother filled in the old well by the house. STUPID. At lease it could be dug out again as the walls were made of stone. I envied that she had a well that could be accessed by dropping a bucket in and haul up via rope-- which we had to do a few times as kids. SHe changed completely over to town water . . WTH???? I know she has fogotten aobut the well across the road at the old foundation . . . and I"m not going to remind her. That well is hidden by bushes-- at least it was when I was a kid and you had to know where it was to not fall into it. It was alway full to the top or nearly so . . . in a very wet area.

 

[Arielle]

Well my adult poultry ruined their organic healthy only diet today!!!! I was sitting in a chair watching the juvenile cockerels set the order in the grow up pen. I was eating a couple oatmeal/raisin cookies my neighbors Grand daughter had made and gave me after I let her collect the eggs....... well you can guess what happened.... a blur went past me and my cookie was gone!!!! I blinked and looked and when I yelled "hey" my oldest rock looked at me and slammed her foot down on my cookie with an I dare you to try and get it back look in her eye.

Juveniles stopped their tat and watched her break it up... they begged at the fencing for what she had instead of laying their claim to the feed I had just given them. When she finished she went over and talked to them and they went back to eating theirs! Other than my lost cookie it was funny.

ROFL

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Trading or buying from another source is a perfect solution-- sometimes we dont have time to do everything.

YOu have given me two things to do with my kids this summer-- take them to the old dairy a few twons away and see if they are still up and running, will be sad the day they close their doors; and try to make cobbler icecream!! I also just remembered seeing a milk truck , the old fashioned kind, and I wonder if the farm has a store front-- worth a trip of less than 3 miles round trip ( they live on a road I rarely travel.)

I still feel sad when I occassionaly travel a back road that was a big BIG grass field for the dairy cows-- it grew about 40 houses, and I alway feel a sickness in the pit of my stomach when I pass by. ND a grate ful thank you to God for the parcel we have to provide for us.

Kids were asking about a spool of leather "thread" --- one more thing that people have lost: leather making and working with leather . . .not sure I am ready to chew on doe skin . . yet. lol

 

[Lacy Blues]

I have always been a fairly good baker and can utilize most everything-- maybe it doesn't turn out well the first time but I don't let that stop my experimenting-- that is what dogs and now chickens are good for-- they get the flops. lol SO nothing wasted. I have learned to eat more of hte foods that are more nutritious-- they are often more sour, more bitter or less sweet. It has been a journey as taste buds change slowly. I have abused my body with a life time of eating SADS, and now I pay the price-- which I had learned earlier when at 20-- but I cannot change back the clock-- so I do what I can NOW.

I havent done any spinning since moving to the farm 20 years ago-- no time. I do knit occassionally and dream of making hooked rugs, tjhe old fashioned kind make of loopes in burlap.

I love cheeses and am willing to try all kinds. Maybe the push comes when too much raw milk is sitting around before it can be consumed . . . . there is a class offered at a farm in the SE on cheese making . . .



Looking forward to making the butter. Had promised the kids low carb chocolate mousse so made that today-- uses tofu and whipped cream. Kids eat it slowly as it is so rich. -- I dont mind my kids eat fats as I mentioned before. DH off to buy more whipping cream!!

Interesting observation on the jars of meat. I personally love fats . . . good to know yours have not gone rancid. WIll keep canning more . . .have about 8 turkeys to process. My cas enjoy the canned meat and the fats . . . better than dry cat food!!

Clarified butter is the french method I suspect; the ghee is the Indian . . . the removal of the milk solids which are water, sugars and proteins spoil, so the removal of those increases the shelf life.

I am seeing more extreme weather . . and the economies around the world are not thriving. . . .I do think we are only afew short steps from a disaster . . . so I too am working toward self sufficency. I do think I can use a refrig now, and if somthing happens we can eat all that up or feed it off, and depend on the canned goods soon after. I remember in Maine history class a lecture on the cutting of ice from the big rivers for the ice hosuses and the storage using sawdust to separate the layers of blocks. . . . not sure I would want to use the river water around here but if I could use m y well water. . . . have been trying to find a mechanical pump system. THe type used as merri-go-rounds apparently dont work well. ( think of the first scenes of one of the Harry POtter stories) I was upsat to hear my mother filled in the old well by the house. STUPID. At lease it could be dug out again as the walls were made of stone. I envied that she had a well that could be accessed by dropping a bucket in and haul up via rope-- which we had to do a few times as kids. SHe changed completely over to town water . . WTH???? I know she has fogotten aobut the well across the road at the old foundation . . . and I"m not going to remind her. That well is hidden by bushes-- at least it was when I was a kid and you had to know where it was to not fall into it. It was alway full to the top or nearly so . . . in a very wet area.

Make sure she doesn't sell it out from under you.

 

[bnjrob]

I havent done any spinning since moving to the farm 20 years ago-- no time. I do knit occassionally and dream of making hooked rugs, tjhe old fashioned kind make of loopes in burlap.

I love cheeses and am willing to try all kinds. Maybe the push comes when too much raw milk is sitting around before it can be consumed . . . . there is a class offered at a farm in the SE on cheese making . . .



Looking forward to making the butter. Had promised the kids low carb chocolate mousse so made that today-- uses tofu and whipped cream. Kids eat it slowly as it is so rich. -- I dont mind my kids eat fats as I mentioned before. DH off to buy more whipping cream!!

Interesting observation on the jars of meat. I personally love fats . . . good to know yours have not gone rancid. WIll keep canning more . . .have about 8 turkeys to process. My cas enjoy the canned meat and the fats . . . better than dry cat food!!

Clarified butter is the french method I suspect; the ghee is the Indian . . . the removal of the milk solids which are water, sugars and proteins spoil, so the removal of those increases the shelf life.

I am seeing more extreme weather . . and the economies around the world are not thriving. . . .I do think we are only afew short steps from a disaster . . . so I too am working toward self sufficency. I do think I can use a refrig now, and if somthing happens we can eat all that up or feed it off, and depend on the canned goods soon after. I remember in Maine history class a lecture on the cutting of ice from the big rivers for the ice hosuses and the storage using sawdust to separate the layers of blocks. . . . not sure I would want to use the river water around here but if I could use m y well water. . . . have been trying to find a mechanical pump system. THe type used as merri-go-rounds apparently dont work well. ( think of the first scenes of one of the Harry POtter stories) I was upsat to hear my mother filled in the old well by the house. STUPID. At lease it could be dug out again as the walls were made of stone. I envied that she had a well that could be accessed by dropping a bucket in and haul up via rope-- which we had to do a few times as kids. SHe changed completely over to town water . . WTH???? I know she has fogotten aobut the well across the road at the old foundation . . . and I"m not going to remind her. That well is hidden by bushes-- at least it was when I was a kid and you had to know where it was to not fall into it. It was alway full to the top or nearly so . . . in a very wet area.

We learned to spin about 6 years ago. I don't do it as much as I'd like, but I still enjoy it. And with wanting to try to grow/raise more things for ourselves and then manufacture what we need from what animals/plants we've grown & raised, I will have to do more spinning at some point.

It is not unusual to go to the store here and find empty shelves that stay empty for weeks and sometimes months for certain items - including things like vinegar, fresh produce. Serious tornados/flooding/fires/hurricanes can disrupt the retail grocery supply chain so easily and since I have had the empty shelf issue for the past couple of years when there WASN'T a disaster, and the employees telling me "we ordered it but don't know when it will get here" - I really am motivated to continue to increase our self sufficiency.

I feel for you on that filled-in well! With the drought here in TX, pretty much the entire area has been on water rationing for more than a year. Wish we were able to dig a well here but can't - yet another impetus to get our fixer-upper fixed up and look for a place with more acreage and the ability to dig a well for our water supply and have a food cellar and storm cellar.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I can't control what my mother does with her property; so I have my own to work with.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: The rains come regularly here, and would like a way to manage the rain water. Only in the spring is the land so saturated that it literally runs in streams and the ducks have a feld day and we live with wet feet a lot. Still hte problem of collecting and storeage plagues me. What good is all the water if we cannot use it later. I can only envision a series of drums, conntect to each other.Maybe worth a trip to the local car wash to ask about the drums for washing fluid. .

 

[bnjrob]

The rains come regularly here, and would like a way to manage the rain water. Only in the spring is the land so saturated that it literally runs in streams and the ducks have a feld day and we live with wet feet a lot. Still hte problem of collecting and storeage plagues me. What good is all the water if we cannot use it later. I can only envision a series of drums, conntect to each other.Maybe worth a trip to the local car wash to ask about the drums for washing fluid. .

Down here people collect, clean, and sell food safe" plastic barrels as well as these large square containers that usually hold around 300 gallons. Have to check around for price - some people ask way too much for them - but they work for water storage. We have some barrels for runoff from the roof and are looking at the feasibility of getting larger containers for extra storage that we would have to connect in series with hoses/pipes. Even in a place that seems to have plenty of water, I don't think you can ever have "too much" water. Just in case.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: My first introduction to water storage wa at DH grandmother's in upper state NY on the river-- no running water as I know it. ONLY collected rain water for everything except drinking. At least at my mothers we had a well that lasted most of the time, only in the worst droughts of a summer did it dry up.

At least I know to use vinegar at 1T per gallon to keep it safe fro drinking; dont think the plastics will hold upto using chlorination to preserve the water.

Yaaa, I agree, cant have "too much" water stored. Water is my number one worry.

 

[RedRidge]

We collect rain water. We store enough to gravity water a dozen head of cattle, 100 head of sheep, rabbits and 100+ chickens, plus several gardens totaling about an acre. So yes, or tanks are large. It's amazing how much rain just one metal roof can collect with only an inch of rain.
We don't ever add anything to our tanks. Instead, the ones that ever have any sun hit them have large gold fish in them. This keeps the algae down no problem.
The largest tank which gravity feeds the house has well water instead of rain water, so it's a dark tank that light does not penetrate.