Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[wingstone]

It's 60 degrees, 5:30 am, and I'm awake. Not sure how this new shift is going to go, my body is so accustomed to night time.

As a night shifter I can say.....OH NOOooooooooo
Who will I talk to at midnight

 

[hendricks115]

I need advice. We want to move in the future, and want to know where is the best place to move that allows livestock and tax wise. Right now where we live, we pay a ton in taxes. We are on 1 acre and have a small house and pay $4000 a year in taxes. (and the heat in the school doesn't work and they don't have money to fix it BS) If you could give me examples like where you are and how much land and how much you pay in taxes it will help us narrow down where we want to go. It's getting too crowded here and we want to raise livestock, like raise a pig or 2 and maybe some cattle.

Speaking of cattle, anyone raise miniature cattle? How loud are they? (Hubby wants to know lol)

We were in the car together for ages driving down to pick up some fresh pork today. Made hubby really want to move so we can do our own.

I can tell you that we are paying around $6000 a year on taxes for 13 acres (it's just a tad over but not quite 14). Most of our taxes come from the 5 1/2 that the house is sitting on. We bought a little over 7 1/2 acres two years ago that joins our property and is just wooded and field so the taxes are very low. We are going to refinance and roll all the property together which will then drop our taxes but we have to wait until the recently purchased property it close to the 5 year maturity on it's loan. We will then also qualify for the Clean and Green program which will also help drop the taxes more. (I've been told we could apply now since it's a continuous acreage split by a private driveway on two separate deeds, but I'm still researching that information)

Now that being said, most counties base your taxes on the purchase price of the home, so when looking, you can't always use the current taxes. You always have to figure higher because most homes are sold for more than the previous price listed at the Recorder of Deed office. They will undoubtedly go up. Also I know for us, the wooded/field acreage is accessed with a $10,000 building/home value so that taxes can be collected on that as well. This is why once we refinance and roll all the property together the taxes will drop, that accessed value will go away.

We live in a beautiful area. Great neighbors and a good school. My husband drives about 40 minutes to work when he goes to the office. When I was working outside the home I drove about 20. We have chickens, turkeys, and ducks on our property but a drive around Ringtown and you can find just about every kind of animal on one of the farms. We just found someone raising the most beautiful Highland Cattle a few miles from our house. (I want one!)

There is also different land classifications and depending on what you raise, how much, etc., there is the Homestead/Farmstead classifications. There are different tax breaks for this as well. I'm still trying to get a complete understanding of this and have been talking spending time with our local tax collector picking his brain.

 

[dheltzel]

Someone here posted back in early September about Amazon having a deal on the heated water bowls. I bought 6 (under 2 accounts) and it looks like the price is now more than $20 higher (35 vs 14). I forget who posted that - but thank you! You saved me over $125 dollars! I guess it really pays to watch for deals on out of season items.

I wonder if anyone will have any on sale on Black Friday?

 

[happyappy]

Does anyone have any buff silkie hens they want to sell in the Gettysburg-York area?

 

[barbiegirl]

Someone here posted back in early September about Amazon having a deal on the heated water bowls. I bought 6 (under 2 accounts) and it looks like the price is now more than $20 higher (35 vs 14). I forget who posted that - but thank you! You saved me over $125 dollars! I guess it really pays to watch for deals on out of season items.

I wonder if anyone will have any on sale on Black Friday?

That was me. I was watching them. Had them in my basket at $40 and was hoping they would drop down in price and when they did I had to share with everyone!

Thanks to everyone with the tax info. We have a small house and to pay $4000 for 1000 square feet house is horrible. We moved from Nj because of the high taxes.

 

[dheltzel]

That was me. I was watching them. Had them in my basket at $40 and was hoping they would drop down in price and when they did I had to share with everyone!

Well thank you for that. They are really useful now and having to fork out over $200 for heated waterers would be painful.

 

[barbiegirl]

You are very welcome! I had to replace one of my heated bowls from last year. My other 2 are still working but I have 2 in backup. It was like buy one and get 2 free with normal prices

They are really a godsend for me. I guess I was a heated water bowl enabler lmao

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

It's 60 degrees, 5:30 am, and I'm awake. Not sure how this new shift is going to go, my body is so accustomed to night time.

Blah..swing-shift is the worst...

...hope you acclimate well!

Haha! Hubby wouldn't like me going away again, but good to know.

. How do you live without bacon?
It took a little over an hour @ 350, not too bad, but it was a small bird. Just click the video link I posted a few posts back. Very good explanation of deboning.
It is so weird! It is so warm I'm not quite sure what to do today!

you really don't "live" without bacon..you just sort-of exist...

...

It is very hard to type and reply with a parrot trying to make a nest on your head and rip your glasses off. This actually happens a lot.

In chicken news, my possible Roo Silkie was making what sounded like an egg song this morning. Fingers crossed! It could have been the predator warning though, not sure. It sounds very similar.

yeah, I hate it when THAT happens..

..hahaha....I used to have a cockatiel..'Fred'..he was silly, thought he was a dog..taught him to whistle the theme for "the good, the bad, and the ugly" movie..
fingers crossed for you too on the "egg song"....i wish someone would put a good word in for me with these birds...I am wondering why I keep talking DH out-of having pot-pie...would be nice to have at least one of them laying right now..

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

Wow, what an awesome day!!.

..where can you live that it is like this in the winter all the time?....
Started the applesauce today, this is the first time I have ever made it... Only used about 1/3 rd of the garden cart, just trying to do one batch at a time so I don't get too overwhelmed.
It turned out awesome!! SOOO GOOD!!

...12 pounds of apples & only added 3/4c of organic raw sugar to the entire batch!
This really helped get me into getting the rest of this finished!..Going to be doing more tomorrow, with the help of G-baby, should be real fun!

Have all the jars & such ready to go, so all there will be to do is prep the apples! That up-side down jar did seal, just needed a talking to.
It never ceases to amaze me how you start out with so much product and end up with only a few jars.

 

[sharron]

Wow, what an awesome day!!.

..where can you live that it is like this in the winter all the time?....
Started the applesauce today, this is the first time I have ever made it... Only used about 1/3 rd of the garden cart, just trying to do one batch at a time so I don't get too overwhelmed.
It turned out awesome!! SOOO GOOD!!

...12 pounds of apples & only added 3/4c of organic raw sugar to the entire batch!
This really helped get me into getting the rest of this finished!..Going to be doing more tomorrow, with the help of G-baby, should be real fun!

Have all the jars & such ready to go, so all there will be to do is prep the apples! That up-side down jar did seal, just needed a talking to.
It never ceases to amaze me how you start out with so much product and end up with only a few jars.

hey danielle, did you see where with new jar lids that you're not suppose to put them in boiling water? just suppose to wash them in warm soapy water, lay them out on the counter room temp. and use them that way, something to do with no more bpa in them, if you put them in boiling water, you'll get "false" sealing, read it today in maryjanes farm magazine, i will have to try to remember this for next year when all my lids are gone ( i usually buy a couple boxes whenever i go to the store, that way they don't hit me all at once)