. I will eventually get it all read! I wondered if anybody would mind taking a look at what Im doing and plan to do and offer any advice on areas we could do better. This may get long, sorry!
That happens all the time sadly, usually they have nowhere to go. Bless you for taking him in.Ive read about 20 pages of this thread. I will eventually get it all read! I wondered if anybody would mind taking a look at what Im doing and plan to do and offer any advice on areas we could do better. This may get long, sorry!
First of all, hubby and I have 7 children between us. All 7 live with us, neither of us receive any child support from the other parents. We raise our kids as if we had them together, theres not a lot of involvement from the other parents either, so it works for us. The kids range from 6 to 17 years old. About a month ago oldest DD's boyfriend called hubby. In the middle of the night. He and his stepdad had gotten into a fight that turned physical, boy got beaten up pretty badly, mom and stepdad kicked him out. He has been living here since. He is 17 nearly 18 and still in high school. That makes 10 people living in our house.
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Quote: A few thoughts...
17 and 18 year olds can get jobs... just a minimum amount of work... Not allowed to work more than 40 hours a week... including school work.... but After all school is more important. So maybe sixteen hours per week? They can contribute some to the house hold and use the rest for their needs... I am not into making kids pay rent... but a few dollars will help.
There are a couple of threads about Fermented Feed. check them out. I havent been able to implement this because I dont have poultry right now.... but I am hearing other people talk about it cutting their feed costs by a good third if not more. Its a simple process... Clean bucket and what ever feed you use... mix water in till its the consistency of peanut butter .... then add more till its about like wal paper paste... and let it sit for 48 hours. It will begin to bubble a little... The fermenting process... Feed it instead of any other feed. What happens is the bacteria in the ferment are an additional food source as weill as breaking down the feed into more digestible product. The chickens eat less to get full the food is converted more efficiently. The reports are healtier chickens less feed better eggsies and when butchered a leaner carcass. Meaning no big wads of fat.
AND when Meaties are raised on it they are less stinky and less frankensteiny.... LOL. But you can feed them fermented feed instead of the special grower they suggest for meaties. Just a thought. There is a thread on feeding meaties fermented feed.
With regard to the Meat eaters in the family.... it takes a while to raise them but Muscovy ducks are a red meat.... My plan is to raise them for myself and my Carnivore needs....They can eat fermented feed too. The meat can be turned into pastrami and Proscheuto as well as corned in corned beef. One duck carcass can run up to 7.5 pounds
Duck meat is lean very lean.... the fat is on the outside and can be easily trimmed away if its objectionable... But rendering down the duck fat and using it as a cooking fat is a gourmets dream. Rendered down it has an incredible shelf life.
this family is in love with beef.... but at 16 dollars for a rib-eye steak not going there any time soon. But if you can get to costco or an equivalent store.... you can buy primals. meaning you have to break it down yourself and package it. The price per pound is very much less and possibly provide you and your family beef for a long time.... I have seen a primal that weighed 45 pounds. and yep a big chunk of change to buy... but once broken down the equivalent in steaks and chops and roasts would easily triple that.... those primals at Costco are boneless.
Also go to the local food pantry. I used to use something called a Share.... If you do some community service you qualify for a share... Usually through a church Just a couple of hours a week will allow for a share wich is two bags of groceries... usually canned goods and some veggies. I met a man there who was the CFO of a small corporation. He was a regular at the Share project... he had fifteen children...So they dont base it on income... just need.
I am in California so projects to help families out may be different in your area. For the unemployed or people on Social Security or welfare there is a program called Commodities... once you proove your status you can collect commodity food once a month.... The bag will include canned goods rice and beans and sometimes cereal.... if you have small children they will include formula and diapers.
Buying in bulk is also a way to cut costs... as long as you know how to store it.
I dont know your climate.... so this may or may not be helpful. I am in the desert and do not use air conditioning. I use something called an evaporative cooler.... or swamp cooler. They cost about the same as a couple of 100 watt lightbulb. They have a big blower and run water down pads for evaporation. It brings the temps down enough for sleeping at night. But they only work well in a low humidity environments. The Key to keeping your house from being damp is to have a window open in the rooms that need cooling.... I love this because I am a fresh air freak.
deb
I used to live in West Texas...Permian Basin.A few thoughts... 17 and 18 year olds can get jobs... just a minimum amount of work... Not allowed to work more than 40 hours a week... including school work.... but After all school is more important. So maybe sixteen hours per week? They can contribute some to the house hold and use the rest for their needs... I am not into making kids pay rent... but a few dollars will help. There are a couple of threads about Fermented Feed. check them out. I havent been able to implement this because I dont have poultry right now.... but I am hearing other people talk about it cutting their feed costs by a good third if not more. Its a simple process... Clean bucket and what ever feed you use... mix water in till its the consistency of peanut butter .... then add more till its about like wal paper paste... and let it sit for 48 hours. It will begin to bubble a little... The fermenting process... Feed it instead of any other feed. What happens is the bacteria in the ferment are an additional food source as weill as breaking down the feed into more digestible product. The chickens eat less to get full the food is converted more efficiently. The reports are healtier chickens less feed better eggsies and when butchered a leaner carcass. Meaning no big wads of fat. AND when Meaties are raised on it they are less stinky and less frankensteiny.... LOL. But you can feed them fermented feed instead of the special grower they suggest for meaties. Just a thought. There is a thread on feeding meaties fermented feed. With regard to the Meat eaters in the family.... it takes a while to raise them but Muscovy ducks are a red meat.... My plan is to raise them for myself and my Carnivore needs....They can eat fermented feed too. The meat can be turned into pastrami and Proscheuto as well as corned in corned beef. One duck carcass can run up to 7.5 pounds
Duck meat is lean very lean.... the fat is on the outside and can be easily trimmed away if its objectionable... But rendering down the duck fat and using it as a cooking fat is a gourmets dream. Rendered down it has an incredible shelf life. this family is in love with beef.... but at 16 dollars for a rib-eye steak not going there any time soon. But if you can get to costco or an equivalent store.... you can buy primals. meaning you have to break it down yourself and package it. The price per pound is very much less and possibly provide you and your family beef for a long time.... I have seen a primal that weighed 45 pounds. and yep a big chunk of change to buy... but once broken down the equivalent in steaks and chops and roasts would easily triple that.... those primals at Costco are boneless. Also go to the local food pantry. I used to use something called a Share.... If you do some community service you qualify for a share... Usually through a church Just a couple of hours a week will allow for a share wich is two bags of groceries... usually canned goods and some veggies. I met a man there who was the CFO of a small corporation. He was a regular at the Share project... he had fifteen children...
So they dont base it on income... just need. I am in California so projects to help families out may be different in your area. For the unemployed or people on Social Security or welfare there is a program called Commodities... once you proove your status you can collect commodity food once a month.... The bag will include canned goods rice and beans and sometimes cereal.... if you have small children they will include formula and diapers. Buying in bulk is also a way to cut costs... as long as you know how to store it. I dont know your climate.... so this may or may not be helpful. I am in the desert and do not use air conditioning. I use something called an evaporative cooler.... or swamp cooler. They cost about the same as a couple of 100 watt lightbulb. They have a big blower and run water down pads for evaporation. It brings the temps down enough for sleeping at night. But they only work well in a low humidity environments. The Key to keeping your house from being damp is to have a window open in the rooms that need cooling.... I love this because I am a fresh air freak. deb
. We used swamp coolers there too. Southern Indiana is very very humid, especially this year. We've had rain nearly every day. Its not been a good summer. We've talked about the teens getting a job...the thing stopping them is neither has their license or a car. No public transportation here. I have a medical condition that makes it dangerous for me to drive. I do if I absolutely have too but not often. I will look into your other suggestions, thanks so much! Hubby wants ducks, that may be doable hehe. At least a few anyhow. He likes turkey too, I just dont know enough to raise them yet.
. I will check out zazzle, thanks!. I have more jars than I will ever manage to fill, and am planning my fall planting already. If we have a week where I just cant absolutely go grocery shopping, we would survive. But I would love to cut us down to only buying flour, sugar, salt and milk . 
