Thankful for the Wreck

Well, any crash you can walk away from is a crash you can learn from! I’m thankful for the lessons that we learned back on October 9th when Erica had a mishap down the road from our house while driving my car.

She and Matthew were helping our volunteer fire department deliver soup bean dinners that they had sold as a fund raiser. I was pleased that they were giving their time to contribute to a noble cause, not expecting anything unusual to happen.

Erica had the cell phone we had given her last Christmas and used it to call home. On the other end of the line Lisa heard that there had been an accident. Erica said that she and Matthew were both OK but the car was "in the ditch". We do have ditches alongside many eastern Kentucky roads, and then we have DITCHES! What Erica was talking about, however, stretched the limits of what even we hillbillies would consider a ditch!





In this next picture you can see the road and the tree. Erica was actually driving toward the tree, the opposite direction the nose of the car is now pointing. She was looking over her shoulder at a trailor she thought might be the one they were supposed to drop off a dinner to when the passenger tire fell off the side of the road. She over corrected and wound up spinning out of control and leaving the road tail-end first, narrowly missing that tree.



It’s difficult to tell how steep the incline is in these photos, but the back tire was actually off the ground with the car delicately balancing, feeling like it was about ready to over-tun onto it’s top. They safely climbed out the open window on the passagener’s side and made the phone call.



This particular "ditch" required assistance from a wrecker to get my car out:



Amazingly, the only thing that was really damaged was the muffler! That’s one tough Ford Taurus.



Why, you might ask, would I be thankful for a wreck? This week of Thanksgiving I am counting my blessings, and it is sobering to think that our soon-to-be Thanksgiving celebration could have been dramatically different from what it will be. One or both of my two oldest children could have been spending this holiday in eternity! What if the car had hit that tree, or rolled over further down the hill, or if another vehicle had been at the same spot on the road at that time? I believe that there was Divine intervention during that moment, and the grace of God allowed no one to be harmed! There have been several instances over the years when Guardian Angels were involved with the protection of my family, and this was certainly one of them! I’m sure there have been many more that we do not even know about, but when we do notice such a blessing, it is easy to be thankful.

I’m also thankful for the calmness and peace He allowed Erica and Matthew to have in the midst of this accident. I’m thankful that neither were injured at all, and I’m thankful that the repair bill to the car was so minor. I’m thankful that this incident did not create an undue fear in Erica or Matthew about driving in the future, and I’m thankful that they are both such good drivers. I’m thankful that they were wearing seatbelts. I’m thankful that we got to meet some neighbors that we had not known previously (from the trailor).

A bit more than a month later Erica had her 18th birthday. She had wanted a car all her own for some time, and if we did the wish thing while blowing out the birthday candles, she may have wished for a Pontiac Grand Am the last couple of years:



This year she did not have to make such a wish because a few days earlier, we found this for her to drive:



It’s a 1999 Pontiac Grand Am, pretty close to what she had been dreaming of.

I know what some of you may be accusing me of, but I assure you, buying this car for her is in no way related to any thought of keeping my Ford Taurus safe!

I actually just wanted to bless her with a nice gift, just like my Heavenly Father enjoys giving good gifts to me.

May each one of you reading this experience a humble and thankful heart toward Him this Thanksgiving, and always!


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3 comments
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blessedx4 on November 24, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Grace be to God for allowing them to not be injured. Yes, it seems their Angel was working over time. I know this will be on your mind this Thanksgiving. Teen drivers do wonders for your prayer life. LOL!! I'm glad your car escaped injury also. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Blessings,

Tiffany
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Schatzi on November 27, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Praising God with you…I can see from the photos that this could have been far worse…. "Thank you dear Lord for protecting these precious children. Thank you for keeping them safe and calm during this time … we thank you for all the other times that you watch over them and they didn't even know it but you do … we praise you for your mercy, grace and protection over this family … in Jesus name Amen!"

Have a blessed weekend.
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Call of the Land on January 18, 2010 at 11:52 am
I thank God that no one was injured!
Connie

Thankful For the Hunt

The day began just as most Sundays do around our house. I woke with the dawn to open up the chicken coop while everyone else slept in a bit longer. It was a cold November morning and there was a thin sheet of ice on the lid of the garbage can I use to hold the cracked corn we feed the chickens. I felt good this morning and I enjoyed watching our growing flock of 32 birds as they each aroused in turn and made their appearance from the coop. Some hens jumped out immediately and went for those golden specks of grain that they so enjoy, while the roosters chased them around and did everything in their power to make them temporarily forget about their breakfast.

When my fingers and toes began to feel numb from the cold I headed to the house. Sometimes I nod off back to sleep in my recliner at this point, but I am always more pleased when I spend some time in God’s Word. I was blessed with about an hour of quiet prayer and Bible reading before my growing family of blessings began to arouse from their warm beds. Things tend to begin moving pretty quickly on Sunday mornings after everyone gets going; breakfasts, showers, baths, find matching socks, “where’s my shoes”, get the diaper bag together and Timothy ready, move the car that is blocking the van, warm up the van, and off to church.

We had a nice worship service and a nice long visit afterwards with the folks who lingered. It was almost 2:00 by the time we got home so our Sunday dinner wasn’t finished until about 3:30. It was time to feed the pigs and it had become a pretty nice afternoon. Matthew and I had a thought about this being the last weekend for modern gun deer season. Maybe we would take our guns with us to the barn and then keep on going up the mountain after chores? Would there be any use to try one more time?

Personally, I did not grow up hunting and my only hunting knowledge comes from books and videos. The last few years the idea of deer hunting has really grown on me and I have tried unsuccessfully several times. I never had a “real” rifle before; just a muzzle-loader and a .410 shotgun shooting a rifled slug. I had seen deer, and even fired at them once, but to no avail.

I set out several months ago determining that this year was going to be different! For one thing, we now know how to dress a deer and fix it all up for the freezer. Previous years we would have had to call for help, but we successfully butchered a deer last month that we traded a feeder pig for. This year we would also have better tools to dispatch a deer with. I had traded some goats for a nice Marlin 30-30 rifle, which is a good deer rifle for our kind of terrain and brush. My other ace in the hole was that Matthew was now more interested in getting a deer and he knows how to shoot!

So we expected to get a deer the first morning of modern gun season last Saturday. And we expected it that evening. And again the next evening. As well as several more times through the week. I’m not sure how many times we went up in our hollow between the two of us. Sometimes I went by myself, and sometimes Matthew went by himself, and a few times we were both in the mountains at the same time, but at separate locations. With our expectations so high, each successive unfruitful outing felt like a sledge-hammer blow to our hopeful, but fragile, dream of shooting our first deer.

I saw two deer at the clearing one night, but it was too dark to see them except for their white tails bounding along the trail. I also startled a deer behind the school house one evening as I was heading to feed the chickens down in the ravine. Matthew saw three deer one evening and one was a nice sized buck, but he wasn’t able to get a shot off at them. One morning he did get a shot off at one and drew blood, but it ran up the mountain. Matt tracked it up the mountain all the way to the top of the ridge and from there he could see the deer going up and over the next ridge. We had started to wonder if that would be the closest thing to bagging our first deer either one of us would get this year.

Going up in the hollow to hunt one more time this particular ordinary Sunday afternoon was almost an after-thought. Our hopes had been all but shattered by this time. Still, it would be an enjoyable way to spend the last hours of daylight on this nice Sunday evening, I thought. One thing I’ve re-learned this week is that it is easy to feel close to God sitting in the peaceful woods, still and quiet, listening to a multitude of forest sounds as unseen birds and small woodland creatures scurry and scamper through the crisp, crunchy fallen leaves. The darkening scarlet sky and the setting sun which changes the colors and shadows of the forest hues points toward a Master artist! A cool gentle breeze in my face whispers to me that God is real; He is here. Experiencing God’s nature allows one to recognize the beauty and majesty of God’s creation. Not getting the hoped for deer was disappointing, but spending these hours in the woods this week have not been wasted.

Still and quiet I sat under a half-fallen pine tree waiting and watching for the elusive deer to move into my view. I must admit that I had dozed off to sleep in this peaceful wonderland that I call home on this early Sunday evening. My ill-timed slumber was shattered with the crack of a gunshot not more than 150 yards further up the hollow where Matthew was staked out!

As I arrived past the clearing on the fern trail, this was the scene:



He had pulled off an expert shot from the hill above the clearing to the hill on the other side of the gully leading to the fern trail. The deer had stumbled down the hill and fallen near the creek. Since it was trying to get up Matthew decided to put one more bullet through the neck to be sure that it would not run off like the deer a week earlier had done.

We used his 4-wheeler and a rope to pull the carcass up to the level fern trail. We loaded it on the back of the 4-wheeler and then joyfully transported it down to the house to gut and hang.




We were primarily interested in the meat this animal would provide for our family, but the fact that it was a trophy buck was an extra blessing! It was a 9 point with the inside rack measuring 12 3/4 inches!



Hanging the carcass on the swingset and going through the gutting process was a memorable family experience:





Admiring his work:





The triumphant hunter, Mathew the Mighty, with our 9 point buck hanging to cool:




Needless to say, we are very proud of Matthew and of this accomplishment. I am pleased that he recorded our first deer kill at Pure Water Hollow. I’m sure there will be many more to come in the future.

Both Simon and Christina are waiting in the wings for the year when they will have a chance to bring in some venison for the family table, and one of these days I’m sure I will get one, too. We will give God the glory for providing both the wild game as well as the domestic animals for our sustinance and well-being. It all comes from Him, and I am thankful that He is allowing us to benefit from such abundant blessings!

Every day we are thankful for so many things at Pure Water Hollow Homestead, but this past week I was especially thankful for the hunt!

God bless, and may everyone have a blessed Thanksgiving Holiday this week!


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3 comments
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jrejhkids on November 24, 2009 at 11:09 am
I enjoyed reading your entry. I can picture some of the area now as I have been back to Kentucky. I took my son back to Berea for college in August.

He has also seen different areas of Kentucky and sent us pictures. He went to Stinking Creek for a field trip. The pictures he sent are beautiful.

It is wonderful how God provides more than we need. I love seeing the beauty of God's handiwork.

Have a great week with your family.

~jrejhkids
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Purewater on November 24, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Hey jrejhkids – Good hearing from you again.

If it was the Stinking Creek in Knox County, that was the country my father-in-law was born and raised.

Small world!
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Schatzi on November 24, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Wow, now that is excitement around your place…say congratulations to your son..and next time it WILL be you!!!

Have a blessed Thanksgiving.

Connie

All is well

This is just a quick note to say that all is well at Pure Water Hollow Homestead.

Fall is such a beautiful time of the year here, but there are also so many things to accomplish before the snow starts flying. We have been hard at work in many areas, and we have also been enjoying some quiet, peaceful moments as well.

I don’t have time right now to update all that has been going on, but you should know that the Lord has been taking care of us and blessing us everyday. Perhaps next month I will get a chance to do some deep, contemplative writings about some Pure Water Hollow happenings. I do so enjoy writing; I just wish I had the time to put into it what I would like to.

Until then, may God continue to bless!

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2 comments
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hopefulheart77 on October 28, 2009 at 7:29 pm
God bless you too!
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sassyfras on October 30, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Be looking for your updates. I always love reading about your homestead.

An Update – or – Some Random Thoughts On A Rainy Fall Day

The last two months of summer passed in a blur for me, and now I look around and fall is here! I do enjoy the fall weather, even though sometimes my allergies do not. Today is a very rainy day with a flash flood watch in effect, so there won’t be much happening around Pure Water Hollow outside today. I am amazed at how dark it is outside as I sit in front of this bright glow of the computer monitor! Every now and then I hear a deep rumble of thunder. Days like this always seem to put me into a reflective mood, and sometimes I feel like writing.

I did go out to open up the chicken coop this morning, getting rather damp in the process. I waited later than usual, giving the rain a chance to slack up a bit, which it did. When it is pouring out, there is no use in opening up the coop since they tend to stay put in the dry coop anyway. But they do prefer to get out of the coop if it is not raining too hard. The coop is up on cement block pillars, so when they exit they can still stay dry and scratch around in the dirt under the coop.

I threw some corn out in the yard and some under the coop. It is interesting to see which chickens prefer to eat out in the yard, and which ones want to stay dry. The Light Brahmas all stayed under the coop in the dry with King Arthur, but Abe Lincoln and the hens that follow him around didn’t seem to mind eating out in the drizzle. Some of the hens stayed in the coop and others came out, went back in, and came out again. I guess they couldn’t decide what was best. They liked the protection the dry coop afforded, but they also wanted those golden grains of corn that was without.

Sometimes I’m like those hens that can’t make up their minds as to what is the best course of action. I just passed through such a time, concerning buying some land down the road. It just about drove me crazy, going back and forth about the benefits of having the property compared to the sacrifices we would need to make to purchase it. Plus it was going to be auctioned off at the courthouse, so I went through days of waffling in my mind concerning how much my high bid would be, if indeed we wanted to bid on it.

The land was just a mile from our homestead and consisted of two tracts of land, one for 56 acres and one for 73 acres, more or less. Unlike our homestead, much of this land was flat enough that we would have been able to clear it and have some wonderful corn fields and hay fields. It would be some major work, but I could definitely see the wide open corn fields! This property also contained much saleable timber that could be logged and sold.

I wish I had counted up the hours we spent in researching the deeds and the possible liens against the property, hiking over the property, and talking to various county officials at the offices of the circuit clerk, PVA, and county attourney as well as to neighbors who knew more about the property in question, and to a couple of other attorneys who knew about the case.

The day of the auction, there were still some troubling aspects about one of the tracts of land that we could not resolve; we could not find anywhere in the records about three of the heirs, two who each owned a 1/10th share and the other who owned a 1/5th share of the land. If they have retained their interests in the land it would mean that this tract of land would only contain a 3/5th ownership at the sale.

After much prayer for wisdom and guidance, I came to the conclusion that the land would be a valuable asset, at the right price, even with the questions about the one tract of land. We went back and forth in our minds about the amount to bid, similar to the chickens going in and out of the coop. We came up with a figure that we could afford, but we hoped the price would not even go that high.

To make a long story a bit shorter, we did not get the property. We did not even place a bid. The bidding started out at $5,000 and there were several folks bidding against each other at those low bids. Most folks we had spoken to speculated that it might go for $20,000, but before too long the bidding had risen above $30,000 and before much longer the amount was more than we were willing to bid.

It was interesting to see the serious bidders gradually fall away as the amount continued to raise. It finally came down between two older gentlemen. One was a fellow who had already bought 10 years of the delinquent tax bills on the property. He stopped at $68,000 and the other fellow got it for $69,000.

After the auction, we spoke to the gentleman who was out bid. He had done much more research on the property than we had done, and he said that there is $200,000 worth of timber on that property, but if they can’t find who owns that 2/5th share of the ownership (that we had also discovered) they will never be able to log it. He also told us that the access road into the property is not a public road, and if they can’t make a deal with someone, the property is really landlocked. He seemed to think there would need to be more legal actions filed and thousands of more dollars spent, and still might not ever be completely figured out.

We are satisfied that the Lord kept us out of a big mess we could have made for ourselves. Nonetheless, it was a fascinating learning experience, concerning not only the legal workings, but also in the spiritual realm. God allowed us to stay in His "coop" of protection and at the same time gave us enough sense to keep out of the rain. How easy it is to over-rule His best plans for us and go our own way, following our own wants and desires. Sometimes those golden grains of corn are not worth getting soaked over!

Now we can re-focus our attention back to the things that we need to do right here on our own property at Pure Water Hollow. There is much I would like to do before winter.

I could catch up on so many things that have gone on these past two months, but since I am not planning on spending all day here on the computer, I will limit my thoughts to just a bit about the hogs.

Our hog lots need to be adjusted some before winter. We already put down concrete in the pig sty in lot number two in an effort to give the pigs a dry place to sleep. The previous occupants of that lot had dug such a hole in the sty that it had become a constant pond of soupy mud. We need to put the self-feeder under a roof in that lot and also fix up a waterer. We also need to tighten everything on the feeder and make sure it is in sound condition. I then plan on moving the feeder pigs in that lot by themselves, so they can have access to all the feed they want as they grow to butchering size. Currently they are all in lot number one together with Nellie and Sally. Nellie and Sally tend to eat all the food and I’m concerned that our feeder pigs won’t be as big as they should be come December.

In the front lot will be our two future mama sows and the new boar. We don’t want them to get too big, too quickly, so we will have them in the lot where we can feed them rationed amounts. Right now the new girls are in the barn, but they will enjoy being in a lot with more dirt.

We purchased the two new girl pigs on August 12th for $50 a piece from a friend. They were born on April 8th, so they were already 4 months old when we got them. We have named them Crimson and Scarlett. The boar we are going to keep with them was born June 5th. I think the children have named him Boris, but I’m not sure if it will stick. We plan on letting them breed and see if they give us a couple new batches of piglets this spring.

We are keeping Sally and Nellie just until we are sure that Nellie is not bred. If she doesn’t have any sign of milk by the end of October, we will know that she was not bred.

There is much more to do before winter, and there is much more that I could catch up on that has happened these past two months since I last recorded anything here. But alas, my desire to reflect and write at this moment has begun to wane.

It is still raining outside, but there is much to do inside the house today and everyone else is now working on various chores. It is time for me to leave this computer and see what I can do to help.

Hopefully I will be back here to update again before another two months blur by me.

God bless,

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2 comments
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Schatzi on October 1, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Just checking in to see how everyone is doing at Pure Water Hallow Homestead? Hope you have all had a blessed summer.

Connie
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MRS C on October 28, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Ah yes, there is nothing like a rainy day to motivate us to slow down and ponder over things… I greatly enjoyed your blog entry and would like to encourage you to update us more. You have a talent for writing (second career??) and I loved reading about your homesteading efforts! A great motivator for those of us who are new to this… We hope to see you blogging more… Happy homesteading!

2009 Peach Harvest

We picked three 5-gallon bucketfuls of peaches today from the one Elberta Peach tree in our front yard, and have another bucket of recently fallen ones! Until today, we have just been picking a few to eat and collecting the fallen ones that were good. Lisa made a wonderful peach cobler earlier this week. I think it is my favorite dessert, especially when it is with our own peaches! (My favorite dessert is usually the one that is in front of me at the moment.)

Now we need to get working on the job of peeling, slicing and canning these peaches. Last year we had many more peaches because we had 2 trees that had bumper crops, but this is a good many in it’s own right.

We were able to can so many last year that Lisa was still making peach coblers in late spring, and we still have a few jars left now! The other tree in our front yard, closest to the road, had so many peaches that every limb on it broke by the time they were ripe! That tree had no peaches this year, of course.

Down on the riverbank we have 4 other peach trees that have produced peaches for several years now. This year the Mother’s Day flood ruined most of the peaches and the ones that survived got taken by the wild. We had ripe peaches on the tops of the trees (the parts that were not submerged in the flood), but the last time we checked on them they were all gone! All that were left were some gnawed on seeds beneath the trees!

We are thankful for the abundant crop of healthy peaches the Lord gave us on this one tree. It is really a wonderful blessing to have such sweet, delicious fruit from our own land!

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2 comments
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jlgoinggreen on July 25, 2009 at 7:53 am
I love peach cobbler! Bummer about your other trees, but like you stated, at least the Lord provided if only from one tree. I pray you are able to make these last at least till the winter this year.

God Bless,

JEN
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CedarCityMom on July 28, 2009 at 9:07 am
Hello, been awhile since I've stopped by…. looks as God is still sending emence blessings your way!

May God send many more!

Jessica~CedarCityMom~

Pure Water Hollow Chicken Operation Limping Along

I tell you, I am getting frustrated with our chicken losses! The coons are not bothering us as much now, after catching and taking 3 of them off, but we are still losing chickens from both feathered predators as well as metal ones! Most of our predator problem is now coming from the sky, but it really saddens me when we loose a hen by getting hit on the road. During the past 33 days we have lost 5 of our good McMurray laying hens, 3 to hawks most likely, and 2 to the road. A Partridge Rock hen and a beautiful Light Brahma hen have been hit on the road in front of our house! Two Black Giant hens and our largest, most beautiful Buff Orpington hen have turned up missing during the day, and we are constantly spotting hawks flying around. This morning a Blue Jay flew over the lot and all the chickens made the alert sound and disappeared under cover, so I think they know what is going on. Just yesterday (the 21st) was when I lost the last Black Giant and we lost the Buff Orpington on Sunday (the 19th). The other Black Giant hen was lost back in June, but I am furious to loose 2 good hens in just 3 days!

If the hen losses are sad, then our chick losses are downright chilling. I hate to even admit these numbers. In the past, we have had chicks hatch off and we let the mamas free range with them all day long and we close them up in a cage at night. They usually loose one or two chicks that way, but the vast majority survive. We have never before had crows that would come and steal the chicks away, but that is what is happening this summer! Unlike the hawks, they can go down to a lower branch and just drop right down and snatch a chick before the mama can do anything. Ok, here is the disgusting number: we have lost 14 chicks this summer during these past 33 days. And I’m afraid we will loose more! Right now we still have 17 chicks that we are trying to keep safe.

As a result of all this carnage, I am keeping most of the chicks caged (but they have a way of getting out somehow), and I am keeping the hens in their lot later into the evening now. I really like letting them all free range starting sometime in the afternoon, but between the road and the sky, it seems to be too dangerous. This means I will have to feed them a bit more.

One of the reasons to free range is how much it cuts down on the feed bill. (I also think they are happier and healthier and lay more eggs when they free range, but not if they don’t survive.)

Cost Analysis:
We have quite a few chickens, but I can make a 100 pound sack of cracked corn last for almost a month feeding just the 2 dozen or so coop chickens. The cost for that bag has been about $11.30 for the past year now. (I remember when it was just $7.30, as well as when it skyrocketed to $15). That comes down to about 38 cents a day to feed the coop chickens.

Unfortunately, our numbers of layers have gone down by 5 now, but we are still getting between 6 and 10 eggs a day, even with some of them in molt. We are down to just 12 mature laying hens in the coop now, with 2 others raising chicks. We also have the 7 pullets in the coop that are not yet laying and 2 roosters. So, for less than 40 cents a day we are getting enough eggs for a family of 7 with enough left over to sell or feed to the hogs. I figure it is coming out to about 4 cents per egg right now. or 48 cents a dozen, but in the spring we were getting many more eggs for the same feed money.

Where we are probably not making much money sense is feeding our "meat flock". We need to have several more serious butchering days like we did earlier in the summer when we butchered those 7 roosters. We have a flock of 11 birds still in the ravine lot, 8 waiting to be butchered, and we are still raising 9 roosters in the duplex lot for meat, as well as 2 Light Brahma roosters that are ready. Those in the duplex are not yet full grown, but they will be to a good butchering size by fall. Those in the ravine lot are just costing us money in corn. The meat will be valuable, but I don’t know if it will be much of a bargin if we keep feeding them! So between them and the chicks, I go through another 100 pound sack of cracked corn pretty easily.

Keeping all the chickens shut up most of the day, I will probably need at least 3 sacks of corn in a month, feeding them twice.

Current Count:
So even after our recent losses of those 5 hens and all those chicks, here is the tally of the birds God has entrusted us to care for. I already mentioned the 19 birds for meat, and the 17 chicks that are still alive. In the hen department, we still have 4 Light Brahma hens, 3 Black Giant hens, 3 Partridge Rock hens, 2 Buff Orpington hens, 1 Black Australorp hen and 1 Game hen, for a total of 14 hens. Our pullets are 3 Rhode Island Reds (still not sure if these might be cockerals), 2 Buff Orpingtons, 1 Black Giant, and one Buff Orpington/Black for the total of 7 pullets. In the rooster department I am still keeping 2 Buff Orpingtons, 1 Black Giant, and 1 Light Brahma, a total of 4 roosters. So if I add all that up right, we still have 25 chickens that we are caring for as well as 17 chicks. We also still have 3 geese and 2 ducks (having lost 1 goose and 2 ducks earlier).

In conclusion, I know I need to keep better watch on our poultry. We also need to get the butchering done so we can save on feed and also open up some more cages to keep the chicks better. We are thinking about putting a scarecrow by the chickens to fool the hawks and crows and I am planning on sitting back there with a shotgun to see how many crows I can kill. I am thankful for the poultry we still have and want to take good care of them!


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2 comments
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Glory Farm on July 22, 2009 at 9:18 am
Crows took out all 24 of my friend's ducklings. I didn't realize they were so nasty.

Rhonda
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jlgoinggreen on July 22, 2009 at 10:38 am
Thanks for posting all this (very useful to a newbie) information. These are things that the books I've read do not mention. "Real" life on a farm. Things I really need to prepare for. My dh (after a lot of explaining) has finally convinced me to allow my son to get an air rifle. After reading this, everything he told me makes sense. I guess my son will be making good use of his air rifle.

I will be praying for your family and your chickens safety.

God Bless you and yours,

JEN

PS- Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving your very helpful thoughts.

Farewell, Rufus

We finally decided to sell our big boar, Rufus. He has been with us since he was just a wee little feeder pig back in the fall of 2006. Today, he weighed in at 925 pounds and he was just as gentle as when he was 30 pounds! It was difficult to part with him, as he had become sort of a pet.

He did not want to leave us, either, which made it even harder emotionally. He volunteered to walk up into the hog trailor on his own, since we had fed him in there several times. When I started down the hill with him, however, I did not think I would make it to the house! He had reared up on his hind legs and had his front feet and head over the back tail-gate/ramp, trying to get out. This gate is a good 4 feet and I would not have thought such a massive short-legged animal could raise up that high! We fortified the back of the trailor with some cattle fence and headed on down the road for the hour and fifteen minute drive. Rufus remained standing for almost the entire trip, making the trailor sway back and forth and from side to side as we drove down the highway. He also did a number on the rails of the trailor, but we finally made it to our destination, more or less in one piece.

I didn’t realize we would be parting with him before he even turned 3 years old. I thought I had read that they are productive breeders for 6 or 8 years! That may be true, as Rufus was still very willing this morning to get at Sally. As it turns out, it just makes good business sense to get rid of him now instead of later. Even though our sows are also huge, it seems that his weight in addition to their own, has gotten to be too hard on their back legs.

We will have to sell off his two sows, Sally and Nellie before too long, also. This last time Nellie did not get pregnant at all and Sally only had 6 piglets. 6 is a drastic drop from the 14 she had last time. Sally and Nellie have just gotten too large as they are each 700 – 800 pounds. The last time they farrowed we lost several of the piglets to getting squashed by the big mama sows. Thankfully, all 6 of this last group from Sally have survived with no problems, but we have decided it would be all around better to start with new stock.

It is a tough choice, but we must look at it somewhat from a business perspective. With decreased or non-existant litters, the expense/benefit ratio begins to outweigh heavily to the expense side in keeping 3 very large hogs. It sounds cold, but every animal we keep here must have a positive contribution to our homestead that at least equals the expense of keeping them. If not, we are being poor stewards of the resources God has entrusted us with. Lately, Rufus, Nellie, and Sally have not been carrying their weight around here. (pun intended)

Right now, Sally is still allowing those 6 piglets to nurse from time to time, and I have decided to just let them nurse for as long as Sally will let them. I figure that is free food and nourishment and will allow these piglets to grow faster and healthier. Come December at least 3 of them are going in our freezer, 1 is going to a friend, and 1 will be the replacement for Rufus. (I’m not sure what we are going to do with the sixth one yet.) We also plan on soon getting two new girl feeder pigs that are of a different bloodline from ours to eventually replace Sally and Nellie.

We are planning on keeping Nellie until we are reasonably sure that she is not bred. She has been with Rufus continually and we have seen them breeding, but the earlier times this year have not taken. Maybe she is pregnant now? The gestation period is about 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days, so if she is not showing any signs of being pregnant by the first of November, we will take her off to the stock sales. We are thinking about keeping Sally that long also, just to keep Nellie company. They will be 3 years old in September and have literally been together their entire lives, being litter mates. I would hate to sell Sally and then have Nellie go into a depression.

The Pure Water Hollow pig operation will continue. We will just be in a transition period for a bit of time. If we were a ball team we could say this will be a "rebuilding" year for us. I guess it is actually just routine homestead life!

We continually thank God for the lessons He is allowing us to learn about hogs and about life. We have learned much, and continue to learn that we need to learn much more!

On a side note:
We saw our first black bear in our county on the return trip home! It was a medium sized bear and it was running in the grass along the roadside! It stopped, looked around, walked a bit, turned around and ran some more. It was looking for a way to get into the forest but a fence was in it’s way.

We had time to pull off onto the shoulder along with a couple of other vehicles to watch the bear. It was just like in the Smokies! The bear finally got to a break in the fence and disappeared into the woods.

We had heard about black bear sightings ever since we moved here in 1993, but this was the first one we have seen ourselves. This one was about 10 miles from our home, but there have been folks tell us they have seen black bears as near as the hollow next to ours!

It was really neat to see a bear, and I sort of like the idea of them being around. They are fascinating animals. But when I think with my common-sense business brain I realize that they are not a healthy addition to a homestead raising chickens, geese, ducks, goats, and pigs. I guess until they open a hunting season for black bear, that expense/benefit ratio doesn’t figure too well for black bears. I’ve read that bear meat is very good!


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1 comment
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sassyfras on July 21, 2009 at 2:57 am
Was reading your post this morning, took me back to when My hubby and I had our first group of pigs. It was hard to part with them, because they were our start on the farm. He was a big pig !!!! LOL anyway thanks for taking me back to a time and feeling that I had forgotten. Oh, and as for the bear, we just got back from the smokies and saw one. I don't thank I would want one even 10 miles away…..LOL

First Home Piglet Castration

Our most recent batch of piglets are 6 weeks old today. Sally only had 6 this time around and 5 of them were males! Since we are raising most of these piglets for meat, castrating the males is a common practice.

I have seen many castrations done with our previous litters at our local high school via the ag department. It is a relatively simple operation and the ag teacher has even let some of his animal science high school students take a try at it. Several of them have performed the procedure with no problems.

It is one thing to watch, but a whole ‘nother thing to do it yourself! We have recognized for some time the benefit it would be to have the knowledge to perform this operation "in house". If we are going to continue in the hog operation business for the long haul, it will not always be practical to have to rely on someone else. We are all about learning, here at our homestead, and the best way of learning is by doing. Yesterday, the ag teachers came over to Pure Water Hollow to help us out with the castrations. (They perform various services like this to the community all the time, usually bringing students with them.) What makes this a red letter day for our homestead, is that I "cut" a piglet for the first time. Since he is still living today, I want to say that I have performed my first successful pig castration!

Of the 5 male piglets, we decided to keep one in tact to replace Rufus as our daddy boar. (Rufus has just gotten too big, and the piglet production has greatly decreased, so we are going to go with new, younger pigs for future breeding.) So that left 4 piglets to cut. At 6 weeks old, they are getting a bit large, but they are still small enough to castrate easily. (The big pig operations usually do this before they are two weeks old, sometimes even at just one day old! I think that I prefer to wait until they are closer to being weaned, between 3 and 6 weeks old.)

Simon and Matthew caught the piglets for us, and Matthew and I took turns holding the piglets up by the hind legs while the castrations were being performed. We watched and listened as Mr. K, the ag teacher, did the first three. They were fighting us and squealing more than previous litters. I think it was because we have not spent as much time with these piglets petting them and playing with them, so they were not as comfortable with people as some of the other litters have been. The piglets were drawing their testicles up close to their stomach, which made it more dificult. Mr. K said another reason it is easier to do this when they are younger is that those muscles are not as strong so they can’t pull them in as much.

After observing the first three, it was my turn to try. The hardest part was finding the testicle, since this one was drawing his in, too. You have to press your thumb and finger in his groin area pretty hard and feel around and get behind the testicle. I wasn’t pressing hard enough for fear of hurting him. (I don’t know what I was thinking. This was a castration!) Mr. K found it, got his finger behind it, and this was the place to make the incision. The scalple easily sliced through the outer skin and the first testicle was exposed. Next, I sliced right into the testicle which makes it expand and "pop" out. Then you can grab hold of it and gently pull it out until the cords and tissues attached to it are exposed. These get scraped with the scalple until they break and the testicle is loose. If you make a clean cut here, they can bleed too much and end up dying. Using the same initial incision, I tried to push the other testicle up to the slit. Again, Mr. K had to press on the piglet to manuever the testicle in position. With it in place, I cut into this one and repeated the procedure just like the first. I then washed the incision with a betadine solution, and gave it a shot of 3cc of an antibiotic Mr. K brought. I thought I had depressed the syringe plunger all the way, but Mr. K saw that there was still some medicine in it. The plunger had stopped, and I’m not sure why I could not press it in anymore. Mr. K got the rest of the medicine to go in, and I guess I could have done it if I hadn’t been scared of breaking it.

The 4 patients just laid in the stall for a while at first. Later that night, they were up and walking around, and today they seemed to be as normal as before their operation! We let them out of their stall and they ran arround in circles and wrestled with each other and played! They seem to be as good as new, and they can now enjoy their next 4 1/2 months of life, eating to their heart’s content and growing to be over 200 pounds of pork flesh. I guess that sounds sort of cold, but it is their purpose in life. We will give them as happy and healthy of a life as possible and then we will thank them, and the Lord, for providing meat for our family. We plan on butchering them the first or second week in December, when they are 6 months old.

There really is not much to cutting a piglet, and it is no big deal to many folks. For us, however, it was a significant step toward becoming more self-sufficient, which is a goal of ours here at Pure Water Hollow. I am thankful to God (and to my ag teachers) for the experience.

Goodbye Champ; Farewell Mammoo

Well, we finally did it. Our homestead now has two fewer dogs.

After asking around for quite a while trying to find someone who might give Champ or Mammoo a new home, we finally decided that the animal shelter would be our best option. We hauled them off this afternoon to the holding facility in our county for dogs and cats. They will be taken to a shelter up the river a few counties away on Friday. Perhaps they will be able to find a new home for the dogs.

They were both good dogs in their own ways, but they each had some problems that we were no longer willing to live with. The aggrevations had finally become more than we could bare, and none of us were enjoying them as pets anymore, either.

Champ, the chocolate lab, eats more than all of our other dogs and he never has been a guardian dog. His insistance to "play" with anyone who went outside 100% of the time drove us crazy! He would never give us break, always dropping a ball or stick in front of our feet for us to trip over. He also had serious odor problems. How he could always smell so badly was a mystery. And also he was a prime suspect in both a duck and a goat kid murder. He used to go crazy when the ducks were splashing in the pond and we actually caught him with a wing of one of the Rouens in his mouth! If he killed the kid, I think he was just playing with it and killed it by accident. The final mark against him was that he was showing some aggressive signs toward some people. He has never bared his teeth and growled toward us, but several times he has toward our visitors with no reason; even after we had told him they were ok. I have been afraid several times that he was going to attack. He is a purebred chocolate lab, so maybe someone will take him.

Mamoo was one of our Great Pyrenees. She was a good guardian dog when she was not obsessed with the cars in front of our house. But most of the time, she was not concerned with anything going on in our hollow. She just wanted to chase nearly every car that passed by our home and she was constantly in the road! It has gotten so bad that we think some people are purposely speeding up or honking their horns before they get to our driveway to lure her out, just trying to hit her! We don’t want to cause a wreck, but we don’t like our other animals being in danger from angry drivers either.

We have tried everything we know to break her of this, even using a shock collar for several weeks until she had burn sores on her neck! We tried tying her up each evening, but she would bark all night and chase the cars as soon as she got off. She used to mainly have this problem at night, but for the past many months it hasn’t mattered what time of the day it was. If she wasn’t sleeping, she was likely in the road jumping up at and chasing the cars. It is sad that she had made herself such a nuisance. She is such a beautiful dog that maybe someone will take her.

I think the family will be able to enjoy our other two dogs a bit more, now. We still have our other Pyr, Chief, and also Luna, which was the surviving puppy of Mammoo. Mammoo taught Luna to chase cars, also, but she isn’t as bad. I don’t know if she will chase any cars at all if Mammoo is not around. They are both good dogs and they do pay attention to our hollow. They earn their keep by patrolling the hills at night and keeping the deer out of our gardens, as well as guarding our house.

We do love dogs, but sometimes too many dogs can be a problem. When they start causing trouble and getting on everyone’s nerves, action must be taken for the good of all. I just hate making those tough decisions!

Chicken Moving Day/ Chicken Update

Yesterday was a chicken moving day at Pure Water Hollow.

First we moved 7 cockerels. They moved from their lot to the pot, you could say. We had never butchered so many all at once before, but it went pretty well. Matthew did most of the slaughtering and we all helped with the plucking. Matthew also did one of the eviscerations all by himself, with Lisa’s guidance. He also de-boned and fixed three of them for dinner with stuffing and potatoes. (That is one boy who is never going to starve with the skills he is learning!) It was a delicious meal! The other four are for the freezer.

We also moved 6 Australorp hens and 5 Dominique hens from the main coop out to the ravine lot. They have started some feather picking again. De-beaking them seemed to solve the problem before, but I think their beaks are starting to grow back out now. We are either going to sell them or butcher them, but for the time being we will keep them down in the ravine lot. By the way, I caught a mama and baby raccoon on Father’s Day morning down at the ravine lot. I think they have been part of the predator problem. They are now out of the way but I decided to reinforce the ravine lot anyway. The coons were reaching through the 2 x 4 welded wire fence and killing chickens so I have put chicken wire around the bottom three feet of the lot.

By moving the Australorps and Dominiques out of the main coop, that made room for our surviving pullets. We moved 8 pullets from their small duplex to the coop after the sun went down. They are all around 11 weeks old, so I hope they are big enough to be with the mature chickens. They seemed to be doing fine this morning. Two of them are full-blooded Buff Orpington pullets. It is sad that only 2 out of 9 chicks survived, but I am thankful for these 2 anyway. Another two are from Black Giant hens. One appears to be a full Black Giant and the other is clearly half Black Giant and half Buff Orpington. The other four are Rhode Island Reds. One or two of them may be cockerels. I’m still not sure yet. 8 other of the chicks are definitely cockerels, so I have kept them in the duplex to await their sale or their butchering day.

Today is the one-year anniversary of getting our chicks from Murray McMurray hatchery. We have enjoyed switching out our old game mixed chickens with chickens of definite breeds. We still have 5 Light Brahma hens, 4 Black Giant hens, 3 Buff Orpington hens, and 3 Partridge Rock hens. Currently 2 of the Black Giant hens have chicks and one of the Partridge Rock hens has chicks. On June 21st we set eggs under another broody Partridge Rock hen and also under good old One Feather. She hatched and raised the Black Giant chicks and raised the Rhode Island Red chicks that we just put in the coop, but she was ready to try and hatch out another clutch. She is the only game hen we still have. We have set the timer for the new chicks to hatch on July 13th.

So, you can see, our chickens have been a big part of our summer activities so far, and it looks like a trend that will continue. We still have several more that we will be butchering before too long, and there is more work to do on the chicken lot, etc. I believe that they are worth the time and effort we put into them, however. Chickens are fun to raise and we enjoy the eggs and meat they provide!

Please Pray For Our Town

Believe it or not, there are still places where the evils of alcohol sales are not present. Pure Water Hollow is placed amidst one of those rare locations.

We are thankful for the tri-county area of Lawrence, Martin, and Johnson counties where you will not see any type of alcohol in any store or restuarant anywhere! We have no liquor stores or bars and beer cannot be gotten in any of our gas stations or convenience stores. You can not sit down in any restuarant in any of the surrounding towns and see or smell the alcholic drink from the table next to you.

Please pray today, 6-9-09, for the future of one Eastern Kentucky town. The small town of Paintsville, Kentucky, is voting today about whether or not to allow alcohol sales. The town and county has been "dry" since 1944, but the pro-alcohol forces have been going strong. Every 5 or 6 years the issue has come up and it has been voted down each time. The last time it was up for a vote was very close, however, with the "dry" side winning by only 70 votes. The paper said that there are about 1600 eligible voters in the city limits.

We often do business in Paintsville, and do not want to see the alcohol displays in Wal-Mart and would hate to see liquor stores or bars there. We don’t want the children of the community, or our own children, to have that in their faces to tempt them. If alcohol is allowed, the message to the young people would be that there is no harm in drinking, when that just is not the case.

The polls are open until 6:00 tonight and I would appreciate folks praying for this small community.

Here is a brief article about it if you would like to check it out:

http://www.dailyindependent.com/local/local_story_158234230.html

Thanks, and God bless.

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6 comments
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Purewater on June 9, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Thank you to all who prayed today, but I just heard the disappointing news that more voters in Paintsville favored alcohol by a 650 to 594 margin.

I don't know if there will be a re-count or if those numbers are final. It seems like some fishy business went on, and maybe there will be more to this story in the future.

It is hard to believe that so many voted "wet" because there were no locals doing any active campaigning for alcohol. Somehow groups of folks from Lexington were in town to canvas the area door to door, but I did not hear of any local group activly supporting it.

We are saddened by this news here at Pure Water Hollow, but God is still on the throne. I believe He is saddened as well, but He can work even in this.

We will keep praying, and I would ask any of you who know the word of prayer to continue praying for Paintsville.
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Schatzi on June 15, 2009 at 8:15 pm
I will be praying. Here in Canada you are not permitted to sell any kind of alcohol/liquor unless it's from a licenced liquor store. I cannot believe you can buy liquor in Wal-mart or a ocnvenience store…that just blows me away.

God will still have victory.
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canadaroxieg9 on June 17, 2009 at 8:42 am
That is too sad that the "WET" side won. I enjoyed reading your postings~~I too am from Canada and cannot believe you can buy beer at the gas station!!?? Do they not have a big thing about drinking and driving down there? I would think that would be the last place there would be alcohol. Craziness

But it was fun to read the things on the farm. God Bless Roxanne
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jrejhkids on June 17, 2009 at 9:41 am
I was interested in your comment. My son is going to Berea College this fall. They advertised that that is a dry county. Is it still a dry county?

I have enjoyed reading your blog.

~jrejhkids
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Purewater on June 17, 2009 at 4:44 pm
This is in response to the above comment by jrejhkids.

It is interesting that you mentioned Berea because we used to live there way back in 1988/89. We did not go to college there, but lived just a half mile from campus. It was a very nice community and I believe that it still is.

Berea is located in Madison County, which is a dry county. The county seat, Richmond, is a wet city however, the same way Paintsville just went wet. In Richmond there are numerous bars and liquor stores which gave it a "dirty" feel in my opinion. We are much removed from the situation there now, but I have no reason to believe that Richmond has gotten any better.

Berea is about 15 minutes from the bars in Richmond. The drinking atmosphere was a hugh temptation for the students at Eastern Ky University in Richmond because the bars are just a few minutes walk away. At least at Berea the students have to drive, and I believe that most of the students that go to Berea are not as tempted to drink.

I did hear of Berea college students going to Richmond to "party" from time to time, however. I guess that is a temptation at most colleges no matter how conservative. If your son knows anyone at EKU it will be very likely that he will get invited to a party where alchohol is involved.

It is good to know about these types of things ahead of time in order to be prepared. In conclusion about Berea College, if one of my children feel led to attend there in the future, I would not hesitate to send them. It is not exactly an overtly "Christian" atmosphere, but it is not an altogether ungodly place, either. (Neighboring EKU, on the other hand, would be another story. I would have to pray long and hard about sending one of my children there.)

Continue to pray for Paintsville. I doubt if many bars would be able to make a go of it here the way they have in Richmond. Perhaps there will not be too many stores that decide to sell alcohol, even though it is legal now. I'm praying that many store owners will view it as a bad business decision to sell alcohol, instead of a get rich scheme.

God Bless,

Eric
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jrejhkids on June 17, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Thank you for your comments. That gives me a better idea of what it is like back there. We are out west and have not visited the area yet. My sister lives 1 1/2 hours north, and my parents 3 hours south. They have sent us pictures, and giving us a little idea what it is like. I did not know there were "dry" and "wet" counties.

Thank you again for your information. It was very helpful to me as a mother sending my oldest off into the world to college.

~jrejhkids

Pure Water Hollow Chick Days

On June 3rd, 4th and 5th we had 15 new chicks hatch, and they are adorable!

We had two hens go broody about the same time, and I was curious to see if these hatchery hens would be good setters and good mama hens, so we put some eggs under them.

As far as the eggs that are being laid by our flock goes, I like the largest ones I can get, and also the ones that are dark brown in color. The eggs we get tend to range from small to large and also from off-white to pink to light brown to dark brown.

These eggs could have been fertilized by either a Buff Orpington Rooster, a Black Giant Rooster, or a Light Brahma rooster. The eggs also have a variety of possible hen breeds. They could have been laid by Buff Orpington, Black Giant, or Light Brahma hens, or by Partridge Rock, Dominique, or Black Australorp hens. So there are quite a few differerent possible combinations.

I first chose the 8 darkest brown eggs we got over a couple day period, regardless of it’s size, to set under the broody Black Giant hen. 7 of the 8 hatched and she now has 4 dark chicks, 2 buff chicks, and 1 white chick. Black Giants, Black Australorps, Dominique, Light Brahmas, and Partridge Rock breeds all have dark chicks. The two buff ones look just like the Buff Orpingtons are supposed to, but I have no idea about the white chick. It is not yellow, like the buffs, but completely white. We have no breed that should give us a white chick, unless one of the wild game roosters somehow fertilized that particular egg, which is unlikely since they don’t hang out together much. Perhaps there was some White Rock back in one of our birds lineage?

I also collected the 10 biggest eggs we got over a couple day period, without regard to color, to put under the broody Partridge Rock hen. One of them hatched prematurely and I removed a dead chick almost a week before they were supposed to hatch. Of the remaining 9 eggs, 8 hatched out fine. She now has 6 buff chicks and 2 dark ones! The buff ones look like pure Buff Orpington, but who knows about the dark ones?

I don’t know if I can really tell anything about large eggs or brown eggs by this experiment, since I didn’t keep all the variables the same. It would appear that the large eggs are more likely to hatch out looking like Buff Orpington. I wonder if the 2 buffs from the dark brown nest were also larger eggs? I wonder if the two dark chicks from the large egg nest came from brown eggs? (I have been surprised that the Buff Orpington hens have laid eggs of all different sizes and colors, so I can’t tell by that.) Oh well, I like all the chicks anyway!

So far, both hens seem like they will be great mamas and I am pleased how they stayed with the setting job, even though they sat on plastic eggs for 3 or 4 days before we let them have the real eggs. (I also had an Australorp hen go broody at the same time as these and we gave her some eggs to sit on. She, on the other hand, broke her eggs and destroyed her nest. We know not to keep her for breeding, and we are planning on getting rid of her altogether.)

I have 5 eggs from Buff Orpington hens set to hatch under another Black Giant hen in 9 more days, so "Chick Days" at Pure Water Hollow should continue all summer long!

God is good!

(PS: We haven’t lost any more birds to our predator for the past week, but I’ve kept the pullets and cockerals penned up for most of the time.)

Sally Has Finally Delivered After Unusual Pregnancy

This labor and delivery has been very unusual compared to Sally’s previous pregnancies. I am pleased to report that she gave birth to her 5th litter of piglets this evening!

We knew things were going to be different a week or so after April 21st, which was the date I was expecting the sows to deliver. We put Sally and Nellie in the stalls to await the piglets back then, but it soon became apparent that they were not, in fact, pregnant! Back to their pig lot they went.

Last Sunday, we noticed that Sally had filled up with milk and there were actually drops of milk when you squeezed her teats! I thought it would be within a day or two of that sign, but I must note now that milk in teats mean that the sow will deliver within 5 days, instead of 2. Finally, 5 days later, the piglets are here!

The past 5 days, Sally has been acting strangely. Sometimes she seemed that she was in labor, but at other times she wanted to wreck her stall, acted like she was starving, and was all around wild acting! This morning I found that she busted through the stall wall last night and gotten into the junk that I had stored in the other stall. She was carrying everything she could into her nest! The empty feed sacks I could understand, but all the old bailing wires I could not understand.

At 5:20 this evening she delivered the first piglet! Matthew, Erica, Christina, and Simon were there to see it happen, and Lisa, Timothy and I got up there in time for the 3rd piglet to be born. A big suprise was that she only gave birth to 6 piglets this time!

6 is very much fewer than the 14 she gave us last December, the 13 she birthed last July, and the 11 she had last February! Her first pregnancy she gave birth to 8 piglets when she was just 10 months old, which is closer to today’s number, but it was still more. The number of piglets was just another strange factor in this unusual pregnancy.

Another unusual thing this time was that Sally is the only sow with piglets. Each of the four other times, her sister Nellie gave birth on the same day or within 5 days as Sally. This time, I don’t think Nellie is pregnant at all, even though she looked it back in April!

I am thankful for the 6 God has given her. My concern now is that they will survive. This will likely be the last litter we try with Sally or Nellie because they have gotten to be so huge. They are so large that they may not be able to help but crush some of their piglets laying down! We lost too many that way when Sally had those 14 and Nellie had her 13 back in December. My plan is to sell Nellie, Sally, and Rufus and continue raising hogs with new stock. We will keep some from this 6 to start over with. I would like to keep 2 females and get a new boar from another farm somewhere, but Christina thinks that 5 of these 6 are male! I may keep one as our new boar and get a couple of gilts from somewhere else.

Whatever the case, I will give God the thanks for all He provides!

(I will try to post the pictures taken this evening some day in the future. It may be a while. My computer situation is now such that I cannot put up pictures. I will likely be able to dress up anything I post sometime toward the end of summer, but for the next couple of months, my posts won’t have any pictures. I do intend to keep on journaling, however, and taking pictures to add later.)

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1 comment
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Call of the Land on January 18, 2010 at 11:53 am
how exciting!
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Some More Conversation

(The following is some more private conversation had between myself and another homesteadblogger concerning spiritual matters.)
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Original message from janaeel:

Hi Eric,

Just wanting to let you know I appreciated the message you sent. What I got most from it was I need to lead by example with hope others will see how it is working for me and want to follow along. I fear this will be a long process not only with others but with myself because i've many bad habits to improve on. It is hard to take advice from someone who wont follow there own. My dad is an alcoholic and a heavy smoker. Us kids grew up with him telling us not to drink or smoke or there would be trouble. His words fell on deaf ears.
I am so looking forward to being at peace rather than self inflicted turmoil. I want you to know your words were not skimmed over but read and reread.

Hope you sabbath was wonderful,

Bill

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Original message from Purewater:

I had a blessed Lord's Day, even though it started out in distress.

Our 900 pound boar chose to visit our house just a half hour before church time, so I had to change back into work clothes and try to herd him back up the hill to his lot. There is not much man-handling an animal of that size. Whe he wants to move, he moves, and when he wants to lay down in the creek next to our house, he is staying there until he wants to get up! I knew the gate was broken, but as long as he stayed up there everything was fine. But we can't have him rooting up our front yard or getting out into the road!

Long story short, Simon (9 year old) and I was able to lead him up the hill, get him in his lot, fix the gate, get washed up, and was able to get to church to participate in the last half hour of the service! God is great!

About "bad habits" you need to improve on. If you were already "perfect" you likely would not see much need of God. Jesus wants us just as we are, and then He works out the miracles of improving us and taking away our destructive habits. He doesn't ask us to change on our own. You know, he picked 12 men with terrible bad habits to be his apostles! He worked in their lives and used them despite their imperfections. He didn't tell them they had to improve before they could come to Him, he just said, "Follow me." It doesn't have to be a long process.

God bless, you, my friend.

Eric
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Original message from janaeel:

Hi Eric,

Wow 900 lbs!! What can you do with a hog that size, Is he still able to breed? Are your sows large? I dont envy you in the task of moving him around as i have moved hogs myself but they were not quite that large. I'm glad you still had a great Sunday. Your 9 yr old must be quite the trooper to work around that big ole hog. Once again thank you for your words. They keep me thinking and have me ever so slightly leaning in a better direction.

Have a great week Eric

Bill

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Hey Bill,

I just noticed that I had not replied to your last message yet.

The 900 pounds is just an estimate by measuring his heart girth and length and putting it into a formula we got from a book. It works very well getting the weight of market hogs of 200 -250 pounds, but I'm not sure how accurate it is with giant hogs. One of our sows measured to be about 800 pounds and the other a bit over 700 pounds.

I'm glad to hear that you feel like you are leaning in a better direction, even if it is ever so slightly! I was wondering what kinds of experiences have you had with local churches, if any? I'm just curious.

Hope you are doing well.

God bless,

Eric

Our Chicken Predator Is Still Loose / Current Chicken Count

I have not updated about our chicken tragedies lately, but this morning’s sad incident losing the new kid has gotten me thinking about our other losses.

I have already posted about the Black Giant hen disappearing on May 15th and of Wingleg, 5 Buff Orpington chicks, and 2 White Rock chicks turning up gone on May 20th.

On May 24th I decided to put our 4 Buff Orpington hens along with Sir Lancelot back into the enclosed lot in the ravine in order to get some more pure Buff Orpington eggs. On May 28th, Matthew saw a raccoon next to the lot at 9:00 in the morning. This was the middle of the day, so maybe this coon is the one that got the Black Giant and Wingleg and the chicks. The Black Giant hen was fond of going to the ravine and Wingleg’s feathers were at the top of the ravine road. That evening, of the 28th, the dogs caught a raccoon after dark in front of our house. The dogs gave it up when we went out and I thought it was pretty much dead, even though it was still breathing. I went in to get the shotgun to put the coon down, but when I returned it had disappeared! It apparently wasn’t hurt as badly as we thought!

Well, on May 30th I found a half eaten carcass of one ot the Buff Orpington hens in the ravine lot! This lot is made with fence that has 2×4 inch rectangles, so a coon could easily reach it’s paw in. The body of the chicken was still in the lot, next to the fence, with the feet resting on the other side of the fence, still attached. Sir Lancelot and the other 3 Buff Orpington hens were still in the lot and everything looked normal. They were just wanting to be fed like nothing had happened.

I decided to move the Buff Orpingtons back to the main coop, and we set 5 of their eggs under a broody Black Giant hen. Meanwhile, One Feather decided to roost in the tree with all of the chicks. On the 31st we were missing one of the remaining Buff Orpington chicks and also one of the Rhode Island Red Chicks!

I have put One Feather in the coop, now and am keeping the chicks in the duplex full time, for their own safety. Currently we have 4 White Rock cockerals that are about 9 weeks old, 2 Buff Orpington chicks 8 weeks old, 5 Rhode Island Red chicks 7 weeks old, 3 Black Giant chicks 7 weeks old, and 3 Black Giant/Buff Orpington mixed chicks that are 7 weeks old. For time reference, those Black Giant and Buff Giant chicks all hatched over Easter weekend this year and the Buff Orpingtons hatched a week before Easter. I pray we can keep the remaining chicks safe.

I have 8 mixed eggs under a Black Giant hen that should hatch this Thursday, June 4th and 10 mixed eggs under a Partridge Rock hen that should hatch on Friday the 5th. They are in small cages, so I will probably have to risk letting them out a big part of the day once they start growing. The 5 Buff Orpington eggs I put under the other Black Giant hen are due on June 17th, but they may be Buff Orpington mix depending on which rooster fertilized the eggs.

While I’m counting chicks and eggs, I guess I should record the rest of the chicken numbers as they stand on June 2nd. I have 7 Black Australorp hens (one is going to the freezer due to her destroying eggs), 5 pretty Light Brahma hens, 5 Dominique hens, 4 Black Giant hens (2 are currently setting), 3 Partidge Rock hens (1 is currently setting) and 3 Buff Orpington hens, and 1 game hen, (One Feather). In the rooster department we have 2 Buff Orpingtons, 1 Black Giant, and 3 Light Brahmas (2 of them are for the freezer). So that’s 29 grown birds that roost in the coop, 3 in nesting cages, and 3 in fattening up cages, along with the 17 growing chicks in the duplex. (I almost forgot about those 7 game cocks that we still have not butchered in another lot. Their time is short.)

We have more chickens than we need right now, but I still hate to loose any of them for no reason. I would rather thin down the flock by selling some for a profit and butchering some for the freezer. I am not raising them as food for coons, foxes, or hawks. We will have to stay diligent and do the best we can to keep them all safe.

Amazing Pictures of Brand New Blue Jays

While looking around at the pictures on Erica’s card, I came across some really amazing pictures. I knew she had found a bird’s nest in the play tree that she was keeping an eye on, but I had no idea that she was getting such awesome pictures!

Perhaps she will write some of her thoughts about this experience some time for the blog. She has already written all about it in her personal journal. All I want to do with this post is share a miracle of God with everyone, through Erica’s photography.

I like how this first one shows the nest as we approach the miracle:



Here is the scene the first day after one of the eggs had hatched, on April 27:




A bit closer up:



Erica came back to record their progress periodically. This is what the nest looked like the very next day:



Wow! They all have hatched! Amazing!



Here they are on day 3, still no feathers visable:




We had over a week of rain and dreary weather, so there were not many good picture oppourtunities. But 10 days later, what do you think they looked like?



They are feathered and even opening their eyes!



Here the adorable creatures are two days later:




Lets see one even closer:



The next day was the 16th day since the first one hatched:



By the 19th day you can see the colors God is painting on them:




And at 3 weeks they are ready to try flying on their own. Erica had to help one of them back to the nest:




They sure are beautiful little creations of our Lord!



This little nature exercise really demonstrated another difference between home school and public school. For one, public school students don’t get many learning opportunities like this. For another, most don’t want to learn about things like this! When I found these pictures I was so excited and I showed them to numerous public school girls, about the same age as Erica. The overwhelming response was a scrunched up nose and, "Eewwww. That’s gross!"

How dissappointing and sad, to not be in awe of all the little miracles our Lord and Savior performs everyday! But our government does not want students to think about that!

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6 comments
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Ginger on June 2, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Absolutely beautiful! I'll be showing my kids these photos!!!
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Amy Jo on June 2, 2009 at 3:18 pm (edit)
I was public schooled and all the videos, school books, nature movies, etc. I have ever seen didn't get such great pictures!!! I loved looking at these and seeing how they developed into feathery little creatures!!! What a wonderful blessing!!!

Tell your daughter I loved her photography and think she is very tatlented!

God's Blessings,

Amy Jo
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Becky on June 2, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Amazing!!!!!!! Your daughter is very talented – what a wonderful opportunity that was presented to her, and such a blessing to be able to share in it.

Thanks for sharing these pictures with us. ˚Ü˚
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sassyfras on June 3, 2009 at 3:47 am
I don't think I have ever ran across a bluejay nest. How wonderful to watch them grow. She done a wonderful job taking the pictures..
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The Kings on June 4, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Thanks for your kind words on my blog Covenant Family Farm. I took a moment to review some of your post and I was encouraged. I will be adding you to my list of friends and keeping up with you as well. I look forward to getting to know you! Also, the vs. you have posted today (3 John 4) is our family verse.

God's Blessings – Tony
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Schatzi on June 5, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Beautiful pictures…I have never seen anything quite like it. We have birds nests all over the property but have never been able to get that close.

Have a great weekend.

Connie