The saying, "When it rains, it pours" has a ring of truth to it when considering the current state of our homestead.
On the literal side, we got 3 1/2 inches of rain over the weekend, which caused flash flooding in our hollow. It made the rest of the dam break on through, so that it is now beyond repair with the tractor I have been hoping to get. I will not have a stocked fish pond this year, nor will I be able to use my ram pump with the supply lines from the pond.
The water again flooded our lower yard, part of the garden, and driveway, leaving debris all over the place once again.
Various places in our roads have been rutted out by the water, and we lost part of the road above the clearing that we had made last summer. I spent all morning yesterday digging trenches to divert the water, clearing out debris from the ditches on the roads, and opening up the culverts that had gotten stopped up.
Also our cellar is filled up with water almost to the top, completely submerging the kereosene heater I had stored down there. Another $100 loss?
Meanwhile, some critter got the goose eggs and ran Mother Goose off her nest, so no goslings this go around.
Also yesterday, we moved Nellie and Sally back to the barn again. Nellie is seemingly in heat and Rufus was not leaving her alone and we were afraid he was going to hurt her. This time Rufus, (the giant 900 plus pound boar) was not going to stand for it. He snapped the post (which was in concrete) that the gate was hung on, and proceeded to follow the sows to the barn. It was just a stick in the mud to him, it seems. It will take some work to repair it. We put the gate on the other lot and eventually moved Rufus and Nellie in there. We may need to sell Rufus sooner than expected. Sally is still in the barn. I don’t know if she is pregnant or not?
More rain is expected. The peach trees on the river bank are looking very good. I hope the water does not get over them as it is apt to do if the river floods out of it's banks.
But, when it rains, it pours.
Showing posts with label pond. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pond. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Discouragements and Setbacks at Pure Water Hollow
We are abundantly blessed here at Pure Water Hollow, but from time to time we have more than our share of disappointments and discouragements. We are currently in the midst of such a time. I am going to unload several complaints with this post, so if you want to be encouraged, you may want to read something else. But maybe it will be encouraging for some of you to discover that "homesteading" is not always a rose garden, and even those of us who have been successfully striving for self-reliance hit some road blocks at times. In the real world, I’m sure we have all had projects that have gone awry.
I think spring time has the potential to be the most depressing time of the year. Christmas time also. These are the times when expectations are high and excitement is in the air, but when life does not live up to the glorious expectations, it is easy to fall into a “down in the dumps’ type of feeling.
First of all, the geese are getting to us. You saw them down in the play field in my previous post. Well, we do not like them down around the house because they are so noisy and they leave nasty messes all over the yard where the children like to play. They also get close to the road and we are afraid they may get hit sometime. They used to be easy to scare back up to the barn, but lately they have not run back up the hill away from the house when we go out and wave our arms at them. So, we spent some time putting up a fence in front of the pond to block them from coming down to the house. This worked for just a few days and then they figured out a way around the fence (and we are not yet ready to enclose the entire pond area). So now, we have to deal with their annoying behavior everyday. (Mother Goose is still on the nest, thankfully.)
Speaking of annoying, our dogs are driving us crazy also. For some reason they have gotten into the habit of attacking our garbage cans and spreading garbage all over the yard. The dirty diapers are the worse part. Also, Luna has been sucking eggs with a passion and leaving the shells all over our driveway. She can’t get our eggs from the coop, but we don’t like her getting into the wild chicken nests either. Mammoo continues to go crazy and chase cars, and she has now taught Luna and Champ to join in. Champ can be incredibly annoying by wanting us to play ball with him all the time and “nosing us” whenever we are outside. We are considering finding new homes for Mammoo, Champ, and Luna. Chief is the only one who is a “good” dog, (although I think he joins in with the garbage raids).
The yard is getting us down as well. The ice storm left a lot of trees lying around that we have not had the chance to get all cleaned up. Now weeds are starting to grow all around them. We couldn’t get our lawn mowers working early on. Now we have a new riding mower, but we still have to clean up the trees before we can do much mowing!
We are getting down also because the garden is way behind schedule. A tree from the ice storm fell across the fence encircling the garden and the fence was getting in poor repair elsewhere, so I decided we needed a new fence around the garden. At first our tiller was not working, so I didn’t get the garden ready. Now the tiller is working, but we are waiting on the fence. If we don’t have a fence, the chickens and geese will eat all of the seeds we try to plant. We put plenty of composted hog manure on the garden and tilled it in a bit, but I need to get it all tilled much deeper.
Speaking of hog manure, we had moved Sally and Nellie into the barn stalls so they could give birth safely to their piglets. Last time they were expecting, I moved them to the barn one day and they had piglets the next! This time, I had it down that Sally would give birth on April 21st and Nellie on April 25th. Neither one of them has yet had their piglets, and now I am wondering if they are pregnant at all! This is very, very disappointing, especially since I have about 13 of them sold already, as soon as we get the piglets weaned. There has been much interest from folks wanting to buy this group of piglets. We moved Sally and Nellie back to their outside lots because a barn stall is so small. If we have no piglets to sell, I won’t have the $600 plus dollars I was counting on. We will keep watching them, but we really don’t know what is going on.
Meanwhile, the pond behind the barn was looking very good. The ducks and geese were enjoying it and I liked seeing how full it was. In a matter of moments it all changed. It sprang a leak through the dam and washed out a cavern underneath the dam. We can still walk on the dam, but it will likely cave in anytime. It caused a flash flood down by the house as thousands of gallons of pond water came rushing down the hollow. It spooked the chickens and flooded our driveway, leaving all sorts of debris lying around the sides of the creek and in the driveway. I already knew that I needed to get some digging machines to raise the dam up a bit since it had settled so much and slipped some. Now I need to do some major excavation to try to get it right. I would like to have a tractor with a back hoe, but I’ve not found any in my price range yet.
There is still a little water in the pond, but we could now see the mud that was once under water. In the mud, we saw dozens of duck eggs! We had found a few duck eggs weeks ago, so we knew they were laying, but we did not know where. Now we know that those sorry ducks had been dropping their eggs right into the pond! That was a discouraging fact to discover, but what was just as bad was when we saw the ducks going around and eating all of the exposed eggs laying around in the mud! We gathered what we could to just keep them away from the eggs. How do you keep ducks from eating their own eggs? Between the ducks bad habit and Luna’s, I doubt we have much of a chance for ducklings. At least I had not stocked the pond with fish yet…
Over in the goat barn, we had a mudslide behind it which has been causing water to back up in the barn from the hill. We have been dealing with that for some time, digging ditches to divert water, but it is still a discouraging mess! I had hoped to have stalls and other things built in there by now, but we are still trying to get it dried up. They have also pushed their fence down in several places and are getting out now, almost at will. We have to repair several places in the fence. Other than that, they have not yet been as frustrating as the pigs, ducks, and dogs.
Inside the house, Lisa has been wanting to remodel the bathroom for some time. She started tearing out the old dry-wall a couple of weeks ago and we purchased materials. Time has been our enemy and we have not been able to get much done on fixing it back up. It is frustrating for her because she knows what to do and how to do it, but each day has found so many more activities to fill it up and the bathroom has not gotten done.
If it were just one or two discouraging events, it would be "par for the course". We could deal with a few adversities smiling. But it seems that we have gotten more than our share of setbacks during the past couple of weeks, and it is difficult to have a cheerful outlook!
We will persevere, of course. We will look for the lessons the Lord is trying to teach us. We will pick up the broken pieces and re-build and re-do. We will continue to thank God in the midst of our discouragements. We are not going to give up, or give in, and we will rely on God’s leadership and help. In a few more weeks, things will be looking up for us again, and if not, we still will try our best for His glory!
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5 comments
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S on April 27, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Sounds like you need help.
Can you hire / barter with someone?
If you had a couple extra sets of hands to get you caught up, I don't think life would be so overwhelming!!
Maybe even a weekend with friends and family helping???
Laura
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amanda on April 27, 2009 at 2:10 pm
You sound the way my hubby feels right now as well. He is about to "throw in the towel" as far as the garden goes. Too many "critters" have been feasting on all of our hard work.
Not enough money to "fix" the problem. He even came home last week and put himself on the roof acting as a "sniper." A rabbit sniper that is. Wouldn't you know it though, as soon as he went on the roof for a better shot, the bunnies suddenly dissappreared. :- (
Always learning and ever praying. I pray that the end of this day sees you and your family feeling better. it's all on THE LORD'S hands :- )
We are all in this together as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Amanda <><
Matthew 6:33
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homesteadingwife on April 27, 2009 at 5:53 pm
When we start feeling this kind of discouragement, I tell my husband we need to step back, take a deep breath and do one job at a time. I know you already know this, but sometimes a little humble reminder helps. We are also behind on our garden, due to the fence being down, due to the ice storm. We also had some rabbit copes damaged and my husband has tenditis in his right shoulder, and can barely use his arm. We are slowly getting things back together, it will take time, but with the our help and God's strength we will manage, even if my larger garden has to wait until next year. I still have another little garden site, that can be used this year. I know that God will bless us for just trying to do our best and he will bless you for trying as well.
Just take one step at a time. Take a moment and make a list (lists help me) of what is important and major and check off what gets done. One job at a time really does wonder's when you see it on paper.
Saying a prayer for you and your family.
Lynn
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LittleHouse on April 28, 2009 at 10:55 am
Eric,
We are here for you all!! Would you like us to come an help? We would Love to!!!!!!
Marc and I have so many things we would like to get done… our list seems to grow daily. We also know that everything we do is God's timing.
To me it sounds like you all need to take a deep breath and to re-group. I would suggest to write out a small to-do list and pray over that list…asking God to show you what needs to be done now and what can be put off until you have a little more time.
Don't ever forget how much we Love you….and we think your homestead is great….I wish everyone here at homesteadblogger could come see it!!!!!!!
I will be praying for you:)
Much Love to all,
Renee
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Schatzi on April 29, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Wow…now that is incredible. I have no idea where you find the time to tend to everything you have just mentioned…and I'm sure there are hundreds of things you haven't mentioned. It's great to see you with such a great attitude about it all.
I sure hope your week goes well…greetings to all your family…and look forward to hearing about your wife's bathroom being finished LOL.
Blessings,
Connie
I think spring time has the potential to be the most depressing time of the year. Christmas time also. These are the times when expectations are high and excitement is in the air, but when life does not live up to the glorious expectations, it is easy to fall into a “down in the dumps’ type of feeling.
First of all, the geese are getting to us. You saw them down in the play field in my previous post. Well, we do not like them down around the house because they are so noisy and they leave nasty messes all over the yard where the children like to play. They also get close to the road and we are afraid they may get hit sometime. They used to be easy to scare back up to the barn, but lately they have not run back up the hill away from the house when we go out and wave our arms at them. So, we spent some time putting up a fence in front of the pond to block them from coming down to the house. This worked for just a few days and then they figured out a way around the fence (and we are not yet ready to enclose the entire pond area). So now, we have to deal with their annoying behavior everyday. (Mother Goose is still on the nest, thankfully.)
Speaking of annoying, our dogs are driving us crazy also. For some reason they have gotten into the habit of attacking our garbage cans and spreading garbage all over the yard. The dirty diapers are the worse part. Also, Luna has been sucking eggs with a passion and leaving the shells all over our driveway. She can’t get our eggs from the coop, but we don’t like her getting into the wild chicken nests either. Mammoo continues to go crazy and chase cars, and she has now taught Luna and Champ to join in. Champ can be incredibly annoying by wanting us to play ball with him all the time and “nosing us” whenever we are outside. We are considering finding new homes for Mammoo, Champ, and Luna. Chief is the only one who is a “good” dog, (although I think he joins in with the garbage raids).
The yard is getting us down as well. The ice storm left a lot of trees lying around that we have not had the chance to get all cleaned up. Now weeds are starting to grow all around them. We couldn’t get our lawn mowers working early on. Now we have a new riding mower, but we still have to clean up the trees before we can do much mowing!
We are getting down also because the garden is way behind schedule. A tree from the ice storm fell across the fence encircling the garden and the fence was getting in poor repair elsewhere, so I decided we needed a new fence around the garden. At first our tiller was not working, so I didn’t get the garden ready. Now the tiller is working, but we are waiting on the fence. If we don’t have a fence, the chickens and geese will eat all of the seeds we try to plant. We put plenty of composted hog manure on the garden and tilled it in a bit, but I need to get it all tilled much deeper.
Speaking of hog manure, we had moved Sally and Nellie into the barn stalls so they could give birth safely to their piglets. Last time they were expecting, I moved them to the barn one day and they had piglets the next! This time, I had it down that Sally would give birth on April 21st and Nellie on April 25th. Neither one of them has yet had their piglets, and now I am wondering if they are pregnant at all! This is very, very disappointing, especially since I have about 13 of them sold already, as soon as we get the piglets weaned. There has been much interest from folks wanting to buy this group of piglets. We moved Sally and Nellie back to their outside lots because a barn stall is so small. If we have no piglets to sell, I won’t have the $600 plus dollars I was counting on. We will keep watching them, but we really don’t know what is going on.
Meanwhile, the pond behind the barn was looking very good. The ducks and geese were enjoying it and I liked seeing how full it was. In a matter of moments it all changed. It sprang a leak through the dam and washed out a cavern underneath the dam. We can still walk on the dam, but it will likely cave in anytime. It caused a flash flood down by the house as thousands of gallons of pond water came rushing down the hollow. It spooked the chickens and flooded our driveway, leaving all sorts of debris lying around the sides of the creek and in the driveway. I already knew that I needed to get some digging machines to raise the dam up a bit since it had settled so much and slipped some. Now I need to do some major excavation to try to get it right. I would like to have a tractor with a back hoe, but I’ve not found any in my price range yet.
There is still a little water in the pond, but we could now see the mud that was once under water. In the mud, we saw dozens of duck eggs! We had found a few duck eggs weeks ago, so we knew they were laying, but we did not know where. Now we know that those sorry ducks had been dropping their eggs right into the pond! That was a discouraging fact to discover, but what was just as bad was when we saw the ducks going around and eating all of the exposed eggs laying around in the mud! We gathered what we could to just keep them away from the eggs. How do you keep ducks from eating their own eggs? Between the ducks bad habit and Luna’s, I doubt we have much of a chance for ducklings. At least I had not stocked the pond with fish yet…
Over in the goat barn, we had a mudslide behind it which has been causing water to back up in the barn from the hill. We have been dealing with that for some time, digging ditches to divert water, but it is still a discouraging mess! I had hoped to have stalls and other things built in there by now, but we are still trying to get it dried up. They have also pushed their fence down in several places and are getting out now, almost at will. We have to repair several places in the fence. Other than that, they have not yet been as frustrating as the pigs, ducks, and dogs.
Inside the house, Lisa has been wanting to remodel the bathroom for some time. She started tearing out the old dry-wall a couple of weeks ago and we purchased materials. Time has been our enemy and we have not been able to get much done on fixing it back up. It is frustrating for her because she knows what to do and how to do it, but each day has found so many more activities to fill it up and the bathroom has not gotten done.
If it were just one or two discouraging events, it would be "par for the course". We could deal with a few adversities smiling. But it seems that we have gotten more than our share of setbacks during the past couple of weeks, and it is difficult to have a cheerful outlook!
We will persevere, of course. We will look for the lessons the Lord is trying to teach us. We will pick up the broken pieces and re-build and re-do. We will continue to thank God in the midst of our discouragements. We are not going to give up, or give in, and we will rely on God’s leadership and help. In a few more weeks, things will be looking up for us again, and if not, we still will try our best for His glory!
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5 comments
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
S on April 27, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Sounds like you need help.
Can you hire / barter with someone?
If you had a couple extra sets of hands to get you caught up, I don't think life would be so overwhelming!!
Maybe even a weekend with friends and family helping???
Laura
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
amanda on April 27, 2009 at 2:10 pm
You sound the way my hubby feels right now as well. He is about to "throw in the towel" as far as the garden goes. Too many "critters" have been feasting on all of our hard work.
Not enough money to "fix" the problem. He even came home last week and put himself on the roof acting as a "sniper." A rabbit sniper that is. Wouldn't you know it though, as soon as he went on the roof for a better shot, the bunnies suddenly dissappreared. :- (
Always learning and ever praying. I pray that the end of this day sees you and your family feeling better. it's all on THE LORD'S hands :- )
We are all in this together as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Amanda <><
Matthew 6:33
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homesteadingwife on April 27, 2009 at 5:53 pm
When we start feeling this kind of discouragement, I tell my husband we need to step back, take a deep breath and do one job at a time. I know you already know this, but sometimes a little humble reminder helps. We are also behind on our garden, due to the fence being down, due to the ice storm. We also had some rabbit copes damaged and my husband has tenditis in his right shoulder, and can barely use his arm. We are slowly getting things back together, it will take time, but with the our help and God's strength we will manage, even if my larger garden has to wait until next year. I still have another little garden site, that can be used this year. I know that God will bless us for just trying to do our best and he will bless you for trying as well.
Just take one step at a time. Take a moment and make a list (lists help me) of what is important and major and check off what gets done. One job at a time really does wonder's when you see it on paper.
Saying a prayer for you and your family.
Lynn
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LittleHouse on April 28, 2009 at 10:55 am
Eric,
We are here for you all!! Would you like us to come an help? We would Love to!!!!!!
Marc and I have so many things we would like to get done… our list seems to grow daily. We also know that everything we do is God's timing.
To me it sounds like you all need to take a deep breath and to re-group. I would suggest to write out a small to-do list and pray over that list…asking God to show you what needs to be done now and what can be put off until you have a little more time.
Don't ever forget how much we Love you….and we think your homestead is great….I wish everyone here at homesteadblogger could come see it!!!!!!!
I will be praying for you:)
Much Love to all,
Renee
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Schatzi on April 29, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Wow…now that is incredible. I have no idea where you find the time to tend to everything you have just mentioned…and I'm sure there are hundreds of things you haven't mentioned. It's great to see you with such a great attitude about it all.
I sure hope your week goes well…greetings to all your family…and look forward to hearing about your wife's bathroom being finished LOL.
Blessings,
Connie
Monday, April 20, 2009
A Virtual Tour of Pure Water Hollow Homestead
It is an honor being one of the “featured bloggers” on Homestead Blogger once again, and also a bit overwhelming. Part of me wonders why anyone would be interested in my little homestead here. But then I look around me and quickly realize that I have an absolutely wonderful life and I am getting to experience some awesome adventures that are made up of the types of things that homestead minded people dream about. My desire is always that our homestead will in some way point to our glorious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Everything we have or do is ultimitely because of Him!
I’m really writing this blog for my immediate family, extended family, and for posterity as well. I must confess that I also have a selfish motive. In many ways I am recording this adventure just to aid my own memory. Sadly, I have had to realize that I do not have a very good long term memory at all, and 20 years from now I do not want to hear about all kinds of wonderful things we shared as a family and not have a memory of them for myself!
I was not intending to get so contemplative on this post.
What I am striving for with this entry, is to just give sort of a virtual tour of what types of things we have had going on lately at Pure Water Hollow Homestead. We had a few beautiful days Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so I asked Christina, my 11 year old, to walk around and take pictures of our property and animals with her digital camera. She took some great pictures and I also borrowed her camera and took a few more.
The first animals you are likely to see are our dogs and cats. I don’t have any pictures of the cats right now, but here is our Pyr named Chief:
And this is Mammoo:
We also have Luna, a black mixed Pyr that didn’t make the cameras this time and a Lab named Champ that you will see in a minute.
Christina took several pictures I really liked from an angle that I have not seen much in picture form. I had the truck down in the play field to unload some hog manure over the garden spot. That is our Chocolate Lab named Champ with me(he is always with us even when we do not want him to be):
While we are down here I’ll show where we planted the new fruit trees and bushes this spring. You can see the milk crates behind me. This is where we planted 8 new blueberry bushes.
They are Blue Crop, Blue Ray, Earliblue, and Jersey from left to right and then the pattern is repeated in the next four. So far they are all living, but we never tested the soil there to see if it is a good place for blueberries. I hope they will grow and thrive there.
In front of the house I planted a new nectarine tree next to the peach trees:
We still haven’t gotten everything cleaned up from the ice storm, and these pictures do not show up very well. I’m putting them here mainly for us, but you can at least see the mess we have been facing. We went ahead and planted two plum trees and two new apple trees next to the old apple trees across the lane from the garden. Here are the new plum trees:
And here are the new apple trees:
Across from the apple trees is the garden spot and play field that you saw a minute ago. The geese had come down from the pond to visit. They are in the children’s playfield in the fore-ground. Those poles you see are a grape arbor and the cherry tree in bloom is to the right. You can see the outbuilding we call the tool shed, the side/back of our house, and our white van to the left. In the mid-ground is the children’s play-tree and swing-set:
Let me show you the grape arbor closer up. Once the leaves come out, this is a beautiful spot and we usually have plenty of grapes for jam. The Chery tree next to it always has an abundance of cherries:
This is a shot from further back. Here you can see the flower garden and you get the first glimpse of the creek that flows by the garden:
Come on back a little farther, up on the school house hill. From here you can see the chicken coop and lot, and in the distance the garden spot, the children’s play field, play-tree, the roof of our house and the tool shed:
Since we are here at the chicken coop, let me show you the other side of it. Those rectangles are the nest boxes for the hens. The nests are on the inside of the coop and we can gather the eggs from the outside:
And when Christina opened up the nests to check for eggs she found some hens in the process of depositing their rent money. Both of these are Buff Orpingtons, but they share the coop with Light Brahmas, Partridge Rocks, Black Giants, Australorps, and Dominiques. If you look close you can see the egg from the one on the right as she is getting up to leave:
We also have an area we call "the chicken duplex", because it is a two room compartment. Currently we have a game hen mama raising a brood of chicks in each section. Wingleg has 8 Buff Orpington chicks she hatched as well as 6 from TSC. On the other side is Onefeather who has 6 Black Giant mix chicks that she hatched as well as 6 Rhode Island Reds from TSC. The pictures didn’t come out the greatest through the fence, but you can get an idea.
This first one is of Onefeather and her brood. She is 5 years old and the only one left of our original group of hens and pullets from 2004. She has proven to be a good mama hen many times now:
In this picture you can see the duplex better on Wingleg’s side with Wingleg and her group. Wingleg is from the 2005 generation of pullets, so she is pretty old too. She may have been in one of Onefeather’s early groups of hatchlings.
Let’s go up that dirt road that swings around to the right in the above picture and then down to the left to the ravine lot:
Here is the ravine lot closer up. It is totally enclosed with wire to keep predators out. I originally designed it to keep our pet raccoons in, so we made it pretty tight. This is where we have been separating various hens and roosters in order to get specific eggs. The most recent group to have called it home was the Black Giants, which are the chickens you see in these pictures:
Now we will walk up the hillside via the steep dirt road to the barn areas. In the below picture the path to the ravine lot is in the middle on the left. It goes downward and this other road goes up to the pigs, goats and pond. Behind us is the chicken coop and lot:
Here we approach the old barn. Believe it or not, it is standing up much straighter now than it was a month ago. The pigs had played a number on it the past couple of years, eating out the main poles so that the barn had begun to lean quite a bit. We just had new posts put in and the walls pulled up straight as well as some new roofing where it was leaking very badly. I hired the work out, but I did get to help a few hours one day. The two guys were here a good part of 6 days working on it and only charged $600! I feel that it was well worth it because I think the barn will be able to stand for many more decades now. The alternative was tearing it down and building new. We still have work to do on it to make it a real nice barn, but it is very usable right now:
I like this view that Christina took from a distance. In so many of these pictures you can tell what a rugged terrain our homestead is located in:
Here is part of the new roof. We used remnant pieces of metal that was much cheaper to purchase. To get it cheap, we couldn’t choose the colors we would get. This picture won’t mean anything to you, but I like it, and now we can store things in a dry loft:
Inside the barn, we have moved our two sows. They should be giving birth to piglets very soon. We have now raised several litters of our own piglets born here. We sell most of them and keep some to raise to butchering size. This year we actually butchered and cut up our own pork right here on our property! We hope to keep a couple from these new litters and butcher them before Christmas this winter.
Here is a recent picture of Sally:
I will try to come back later to show you our other sow, Nellie and our boar Rufus. I can’t seem to find the pictures we took of them last weekend.
This past fall we had a new barn built for our goats on the other side of the ravine. It is a 40 x 12 foot building with a 3/4th loft. We still have work we want to do on it, but I am pleased with it overall:
Here is a nice picture of it from a distance, on the upper road to the clearing. You can see the pond in this shot also:
Here are some of the goats inside the new barn:
We have two does that are expecting next month. Here is the one we call Mama Belle. She sure looks pregnant doesn’t she? The smaller one is one of her previous kids, Tiny Tim:
Little Lulu is also expecting, but she doesn’t show as much. This will be her first time kidding. The little face bottom right is the buck we have on loan that provided these pregnancies:
And here are the other wethers, Little Joe and Big Jim:
Here comes the ducks walking by. They like to stay around the goat barn sometimes. We have decided that the dark ducks are Rouens and the whites are Pekins:
There they go off into the water. They spend most of their time in the pond:
The ducks share the pond with our geese. You already saw them visiting us down at the play field by the house, but here they are where they are supposed to be. The gray ones are Toulouse and the white ones ore Chinese. This white one I call Goosy Lucy and the gander I’m calling Sid:
Here is the other gander, Marty:
We have one of the Chinese setting on a nest of goose eggs, so maybe we will get to see some goslings swimming around next month. (I am looking forward to having goose meat for supper some day.) This picture does not show up very good, but that is the nest we made for her and she is spread out in there over 8 or 10 eggs. I’m naming her Mother Goose:
Let me end with some pretty pictures that Christina found as she walked around our homestead this weekend:
We still did not visit the clearing, the maple grove, or the ridge trails, but maybe some time in the future.
I hope you have enjoyed this virtual tour and I also hope you have seen the hand of God here. We feel His presence eveywhere we turn around. He has been so great to all of us!
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8 comments
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HSB Front Porch on April 20, 2009 at 11:04 am
I LOVE the virtual tour! What a great idea. You have an amazing place. Wonderful job you and your family have done…
Thank you so much for sharing with us.
Blessings,
Chasity L. Burrell
Senior Editor Homesteadblogger
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sarah (Your Cousin) on April 20, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Hello! How are you? I have been doing great! I just wanted to tell Christina she did a wonderful job with the picture's! I Love your ducks! I hope we can come to your house and see them and all of you soon! We Love you all and Please know that we are thinking of you! I hope you have a blessed week! Talk to you really Soon!
~With Lots of Love,
~Sarah~
Ps. The Flower Picture's are really pretty!
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SimpleFolk on April 20, 2009 at 7:39 pm
I just stopped by to congratulate you on being featured, but thank you so much for the amazing tour! You have a beautiful place.
Amy
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Judy on April 22, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Hey KY neighbor, love the photos of everything. Your place is really coming along nicely. The tour was great, makes you feel like your really there. The animals all look happy to be there to. I enjoy your blogs keep up the good work…See ya'll soon. Judy
congrads on being this weeks blogger…!!!!!!!
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Sharon on April 22, 2009 at 10:36 pm
What great pic's! I enjoyed the "tour"!
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karen in MS on April 23, 2009 at 11:28 pm
You are very blessed to have such a wonderful homestead!!
Thanks so much for the pictures. I enjoyed them very much!
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Manna Milling Moms on April 24, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Congratulations on being the Featured Blogger!
You have a beautiful homestead. Blessings and Provisions from the Lord is our sustainability.
In Him, Jill (the big sister)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Schatzi on April 26, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Congratulations on being featured…what a beautiful place you have. The virtual tour was great. You are truly blessed. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Blessings,
Connie
I’m really writing this blog for my immediate family, extended family, and for posterity as well. I must confess that I also have a selfish motive. In many ways I am recording this adventure just to aid my own memory. Sadly, I have had to realize that I do not have a very good long term memory at all, and 20 years from now I do not want to hear about all kinds of wonderful things we shared as a family and not have a memory of them for myself!
I was not intending to get so contemplative on this post.
What I am striving for with this entry, is to just give sort of a virtual tour of what types of things we have had going on lately at Pure Water Hollow Homestead. We had a few beautiful days Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so I asked Christina, my 11 year old, to walk around and take pictures of our property and animals with her digital camera. She took some great pictures and I also borrowed her camera and took a few more.
The first animals you are likely to see are our dogs and cats. I don’t have any pictures of the cats right now, but here is our Pyr named Chief:
And this is Mammoo:
We also have Luna, a black mixed Pyr that didn’t make the cameras this time and a Lab named Champ that you will see in a minute.
Christina took several pictures I really liked from an angle that I have not seen much in picture form. I had the truck down in the play field to unload some hog manure over the garden spot. That is our Chocolate Lab named Champ with me(he is always with us even when we do not want him to be):
While we are down here I’ll show where we planted the new fruit trees and bushes this spring. You can see the milk crates behind me. This is where we planted 8 new blueberry bushes.
They are Blue Crop, Blue Ray, Earliblue, and Jersey from left to right and then the pattern is repeated in the next four. So far they are all living, but we never tested the soil there to see if it is a good place for blueberries. I hope they will grow and thrive there.
In front of the house I planted a new nectarine tree next to the peach trees:
We still haven’t gotten everything cleaned up from the ice storm, and these pictures do not show up very well. I’m putting them here mainly for us, but you can at least see the mess we have been facing. We went ahead and planted two plum trees and two new apple trees next to the old apple trees across the lane from the garden. Here are the new plum trees:
And here are the new apple trees:
Across from the apple trees is the garden spot and play field that you saw a minute ago. The geese had come down from the pond to visit. They are in the children’s playfield in the fore-ground. Those poles you see are a grape arbor and the cherry tree in bloom is to the right. You can see the outbuilding we call the tool shed, the side/back of our house, and our white van to the left. In the mid-ground is the children’s play-tree and swing-set:
Let me show you the grape arbor closer up. Once the leaves come out, this is a beautiful spot and we usually have plenty of grapes for jam. The Chery tree next to it always has an abundance of cherries:
This is a shot from further back. Here you can see the flower garden and you get the first glimpse of the creek that flows by the garden:
Come on back a little farther, up on the school house hill. From here you can see the chicken coop and lot, and in the distance the garden spot, the children’s play field, play-tree, the roof of our house and the tool shed:
Since we are here at the chicken coop, let me show you the other side of it. Those rectangles are the nest boxes for the hens. The nests are on the inside of the coop and we can gather the eggs from the outside:
And when Christina opened up the nests to check for eggs she found some hens in the process of depositing their rent money. Both of these are Buff Orpingtons, but they share the coop with Light Brahmas, Partridge Rocks, Black Giants, Australorps, and Dominiques. If you look close you can see the egg from the one on the right as she is getting up to leave:
We also have an area we call "the chicken duplex", because it is a two room compartment. Currently we have a game hen mama raising a brood of chicks in each section. Wingleg has 8 Buff Orpington chicks she hatched as well as 6 from TSC. On the other side is Onefeather who has 6 Black Giant mix chicks that she hatched as well as 6 Rhode Island Reds from TSC. The pictures didn’t come out the greatest through the fence, but you can get an idea.
This first one is of Onefeather and her brood. She is 5 years old and the only one left of our original group of hens and pullets from 2004. She has proven to be a good mama hen many times now:
In this picture you can see the duplex better on Wingleg’s side with Wingleg and her group. Wingleg is from the 2005 generation of pullets, so she is pretty old too. She may have been in one of Onefeather’s early groups of hatchlings.
Let’s go up that dirt road that swings around to the right in the above picture and then down to the left to the ravine lot:
Here is the ravine lot closer up. It is totally enclosed with wire to keep predators out. I originally designed it to keep our pet raccoons in, so we made it pretty tight. This is where we have been separating various hens and roosters in order to get specific eggs. The most recent group to have called it home was the Black Giants, which are the chickens you see in these pictures:
Now we will walk up the hillside via the steep dirt road to the barn areas. In the below picture the path to the ravine lot is in the middle on the left. It goes downward and this other road goes up to the pigs, goats and pond. Behind us is the chicken coop and lot:
Here we approach the old barn. Believe it or not, it is standing up much straighter now than it was a month ago. The pigs had played a number on it the past couple of years, eating out the main poles so that the barn had begun to lean quite a bit. We just had new posts put in and the walls pulled up straight as well as some new roofing where it was leaking very badly. I hired the work out, but I did get to help a few hours one day. The two guys were here a good part of 6 days working on it and only charged $600! I feel that it was well worth it because I think the barn will be able to stand for many more decades now. The alternative was tearing it down and building new. We still have work to do on it to make it a real nice barn, but it is very usable right now:
I like this view that Christina took from a distance. In so many of these pictures you can tell what a rugged terrain our homestead is located in:
Here is part of the new roof. We used remnant pieces of metal that was much cheaper to purchase. To get it cheap, we couldn’t choose the colors we would get. This picture won’t mean anything to you, but I like it, and now we can store things in a dry loft:
Inside the barn, we have moved our two sows. They should be giving birth to piglets very soon. We have now raised several litters of our own piglets born here. We sell most of them and keep some to raise to butchering size. This year we actually butchered and cut up our own pork right here on our property! We hope to keep a couple from these new litters and butcher them before Christmas this winter.
Here is a recent picture of Sally:
I will try to come back later to show you our other sow, Nellie and our boar Rufus. I can’t seem to find the pictures we took of them last weekend.
This past fall we had a new barn built for our goats on the other side of the ravine. It is a 40 x 12 foot building with a 3/4th loft. We still have work we want to do on it, but I am pleased with it overall:
Here is a nice picture of it from a distance, on the upper road to the clearing. You can see the pond in this shot also:
Here are some of the goats inside the new barn:
We have two does that are expecting next month. Here is the one we call Mama Belle. She sure looks pregnant doesn’t she? The smaller one is one of her previous kids, Tiny Tim:
Little Lulu is also expecting, but she doesn’t show as much. This will be her first time kidding. The little face bottom right is the buck we have on loan that provided these pregnancies:
And here are the other wethers, Little Joe and Big Jim:
Here comes the ducks walking by. They like to stay around the goat barn sometimes. We have decided that the dark ducks are Rouens and the whites are Pekins:
There they go off into the water. They spend most of their time in the pond:
The ducks share the pond with our geese. You already saw them visiting us down at the play field by the house, but here they are where they are supposed to be. The gray ones are Toulouse and the white ones ore Chinese. This white one I call Goosy Lucy and the gander I’m calling Sid:
Here is the other gander, Marty:
We have one of the Chinese setting on a nest of goose eggs, so maybe we will get to see some goslings swimming around next month. (I am looking forward to having goose meat for supper some day.) This picture does not show up very good, but that is the nest we made for her and she is spread out in there over 8 or 10 eggs. I’m naming her Mother Goose:
Let me end with some pretty pictures that Christina found as she walked around our homestead this weekend:
We still did not visit the clearing, the maple grove, or the ridge trails, but maybe some time in the future.
I hope you have enjoyed this virtual tour and I also hope you have seen the hand of God here. We feel His presence eveywhere we turn around. He has been so great to all of us!
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8 comments
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HSB Front Porch on April 20, 2009 at 11:04 am
I LOVE the virtual tour! What a great idea. You have an amazing place. Wonderful job you and your family have done…
Thank you so much for sharing with us.
Blessings,
Chasity L. Burrell
Senior Editor Homesteadblogger
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sarah (Your Cousin) on April 20, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Hello! How are you? I have been doing great! I just wanted to tell Christina she did a wonderful job with the picture's! I Love your ducks! I hope we can come to your house and see them and all of you soon! We Love you all and Please know that we are thinking of you! I hope you have a blessed week! Talk to you really Soon!
~With Lots of Love,
~Sarah~
Ps. The Flower Picture's are really pretty!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SimpleFolk on April 20, 2009 at 7:39 pm
I just stopped by to congratulate you on being featured, but thank you so much for the amazing tour! You have a beautiful place.
Amy
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Judy on April 22, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Hey KY neighbor, love the photos of everything. Your place is really coming along nicely. The tour was great, makes you feel like your really there. The animals all look happy to be there to. I enjoy your blogs keep up the good work…See ya'll soon. Judy
congrads on being this weeks blogger…!!!!!!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sharon on April 22, 2009 at 10:36 pm
What great pic's! I enjoyed the "tour"!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
karen in MS on April 23, 2009 at 11:28 pm
You are very blessed to have such a wonderful homestead!!
Thanks so much for the pictures. I enjoyed them very much!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manna Milling Moms on April 24, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Congratulations on being the Featured Blogger!
You have a beautiful homestead. Blessings and Provisions from the Lord is our sustainability.
In Him, Jill (the big sister)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Schatzi on April 26, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Congratulations on being featured…what a beautiful place you have. The virtual tour was great. You are truly blessed. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Blessings,
Connie
Sunday, August 17, 2008
An August Saturday Afternoon
I haven’t been taking much computer time lately, but yesterday I found myself typing an email to my brother’s family. As I was typing, It started to feel like a blog entry. Since it has been so long since I have written anything on this blog, I decided to take an easy way out, and just copy most of the email. It gives a little snapshot of the things that have been going on here. (I have taken out the names to protect the innocent)
Dear ________,
It was good hearing from you. We have been very busy here, too, with the pond construction, getting the produce in and trying to start a new schedule with school.
We are trying to be productive today. Erica is peeling the last of our peaches, Matthew is gathering multitudes of ripe tomatoes, Christina and Simon are snapping green beans, we are hoping to get most of our apples in, and Lisa is canning or freezing everything as we get them to her. She just gave Timothy some cereal and a bottle and he is now taking a nap.
The fellow that you met when you were down here finished the excavating job last Friday. He spent three days on the roads, with fixing about 1/4 mile of our ditches, putting in three tiles for drainage, and making the steep road on the other side of the pond. (It is very steep, but the 4-wheel drive truck and Matthew’s four-wheeler can make it fine.) Then he spent the last four days building our dam up the way we wanted, taking the side off of that hill next to the goat lot. He estimated that he moved 300 to 400 tons of dirt and rock to build the dam! Now we have a nice site to build a large goat shed and/or barn over there. The dam is steeper than I wanted and more narrow on top than I pictured, but we would have needed twice as much dirt to make it as wide as I would have liked. We can now drive over it, but I would have liked to have several more feet on each side of the truck than we have. It will be perfect as it is, as long as none of it slides away during this winter. He actually did a tremendous job with everything and we couldn’t have been happier with his work.
And he underbid everyone else by over half! The 56 hour total came to $3,640. The other firm bid that another fellow gave me was for $8,000 and the first outfit I was talking with would have been $8,400 if they would have taken the same amount of time. They never would commit to how long it would take them, but he was guessing around 5 days which would have come to about $6,000 with their prices. I don’t think they would have come close to what our guy did. For once, I think a hired out project has actually worked the way we hoped it would. We have been burned too many times in the past.
I still have work to do with the pond, like getting the animals fenced out, putting up some screens around the drains, putting in some shut off valves for the lower pipes and supply lines, and extending the supply lines out to be used for watering the pigs and goats. I’m looking forward to seeing if that ram pump will work for us or not. I think we have plenty of time to get it all done because I don’t expect much water to collect until the Fall. Hopefully by Christmas the pond will have filled up and everything will be in place. And then we will be able to stock it with fish this spring!
That was probably more than you wanted to hear about the pond. Anyway, we are all doing well. Timothy seems to be teething but no tooth yet. He just drools a lot and is cranky when his gums are hurting. He is much bigger, though! The other children have been devouring their new school books. They have been enjoying reading them on their own and sometimes we have to tell them to put the books down and get to work!
Speaking of work, everyone else is working and I am just sitting here typing. I need to get off the computer and get to helping them. We also need to feed the pigs for today. I was waiting to get a good collection of peelings and such to take up to them. By the way, we have sold 4 of the piglets so far and we had the 8 boys cut last Wednesday at school. They will be well enough to sell this week probably, so it is time to get the word out. I really don’t like being a salesman, but I do like the money in my wallet!
Have a great weekend! We love you all! Lisa and the children all say "hi" and send their love!
Eric
Dear ________,
It was good hearing from you. We have been very busy here, too, with the pond construction, getting the produce in and trying to start a new schedule with school.
We are trying to be productive today. Erica is peeling the last of our peaches, Matthew is gathering multitudes of ripe tomatoes, Christina and Simon are snapping green beans, we are hoping to get most of our apples in, and Lisa is canning or freezing everything as we get them to her. She just gave Timothy some cereal and a bottle and he is now taking a nap.
The fellow that you met when you were down here finished the excavating job last Friday. He spent three days on the roads, with fixing about 1/4 mile of our ditches, putting in three tiles for drainage, and making the steep road on the other side of the pond. (It is very steep, but the 4-wheel drive truck and Matthew’s four-wheeler can make it fine.) Then he spent the last four days building our dam up the way we wanted, taking the side off of that hill next to the goat lot. He estimated that he moved 300 to 400 tons of dirt and rock to build the dam! Now we have a nice site to build a large goat shed and/or barn over there. The dam is steeper than I wanted and more narrow on top than I pictured, but we would have needed twice as much dirt to make it as wide as I would have liked. We can now drive over it, but I would have liked to have several more feet on each side of the truck than we have. It will be perfect as it is, as long as none of it slides away during this winter. He actually did a tremendous job with everything and we couldn’t have been happier with his work.
And he underbid everyone else by over half! The 56 hour total came to $3,640. The other firm bid that another fellow gave me was for $8,000 and the first outfit I was talking with would have been $8,400 if they would have taken the same amount of time. They never would commit to how long it would take them, but he was guessing around 5 days which would have come to about $6,000 with their prices. I don’t think they would have come close to what our guy did. For once, I think a hired out project has actually worked the way we hoped it would. We have been burned too many times in the past.
I still have work to do with the pond, like getting the animals fenced out, putting up some screens around the drains, putting in some shut off valves for the lower pipes and supply lines, and extending the supply lines out to be used for watering the pigs and goats. I’m looking forward to seeing if that ram pump will work for us or not. I think we have plenty of time to get it all done because I don’t expect much water to collect until the Fall. Hopefully by Christmas the pond will have filled up and everything will be in place. And then we will be able to stock it with fish this spring!
That was probably more than you wanted to hear about the pond. Anyway, we are all doing well. Timothy seems to be teething but no tooth yet. He just drools a lot and is cranky when his gums are hurting. He is much bigger, though! The other children have been devouring their new school books. They have been enjoying reading them on their own and sometimes we have to tell them to put the books down and get to work!
Speaking of work, everyone else is working and I am just sitting here typing. I need to get off the computer and get to helping them. We also need to feed the pigs for today. I was waiting to get a good collection of peelings and such to take up to them. By the way, we have sold 4 of the piglets so far and we had the 8 boys cut last Wednesday at school. They will be well enough to sell this week probably, so it is time to get the word out. I really don’t like being a salesman, but I do like the money in my wallet!
Have a great weekend! We love you all! Lisa and the children all say "hi" and send their love!
Eric
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Another Short Generic Update From Pure Water Hollow
We are enjoying some fruit of our labor:
Lisa made a wonderful cherry cobbler back the first of June and we have enjoyed strawberries and many raspberries. It looks like we will have an abundance of grapes, peaches, and apples. Blackberries are waiting to be picked, but they did not do as well as other years.
Vegetable update:
We have been blessed with fresh green beans, broccoli, kohlrabi, onions, cauliflower, peppers and new potatoes. The corn has tassled in the upper garden and is still growing on the river bank. We have an abundance of tomatoes ripening and many potato plants still growing, although some have died.
“Pure Water Hollow Chicken Flock: The Next Generation” began on June 24th.
That was when our new breeds of day old chicks arrived at the post office. We have tired of the game/mixed hens that have been so good to us for the past several years. We have been getting plenty of eggs from them (we have been selling some), and we have taken advantage of the free meat, but we decided that in the future we want bigger eggs and bigger and better meat. We have 28 chicks of four heavy breeds: Buff Orpingtons, Light Brahmas, Black Giants, and Partridge Rocks. We’re talking future hens of 10 pounds and roosters of 13 pounds! Our current chickens are only 3 to 5 pounds, I guess.
2 Litters of Piglets: Take 3!
Our new batch of piglets came sooner than expected this time, but since we just have our boar and two sows together all the time, we didn’t really know when the sows were bred. Sally gave birth to 13 piglets on July 1st and 10 of them have survived. Nellie gave birth to 10 piglets today, July 6th, and so far they all look good. This is the 3rd batch of piglets for us, and this is the first time that Sally and Nellie did not deliver on exactly the same day.
Our two sows were born in September 2006, and they had piglets July 13th, 2007, February 9th 2008, and now July 1st & 6th 2008. We raised or sold 15 piglets the first time, 19 piglets the second, and it looks like we have 20 healthy ones this time. One guy called today and has already asked to buy 3, and some other fellows were over today looking to buy some. It appears as though they will again be able to sell easily.
Genesis Colony of Honey Bees:
Our honey bees have been working hard and we need to rob them again right now! Don’t know when we will get around to it, but it’s time. We have another hive body set up and are hoping to start a second colony. We will see.
Goats:
They are doing well and clearing the hill side of the kudzu just like they are supposed to.
Pond Project:
Maybe we will get to do the pond before summer is over. Wish I had it done already. The people I am hiring think they can do it the end of July, but I will believe it when I see it.
Misc:
Much more has been going on it seems (like all the Christian camps the children went to: they had great times but I am glad things can now get back to normal), but I just wanted to get some sort of an update in. I would have liked to do separate posts on each topic with pictures and all, but this is the best I can do for now. At least these things are now recorded for the memory book, even if I did not polish the writings up like I usually enjoy doing.
God is continually blessing us every day. By the way, Timothy is doing great, starting to sleep through the night and is growing almost too fast. He will be 4 months old next week! Where does the time go?
We are trying to sit back and enjoy these blessings and not allow everything to happen so quickly that we miss out on what’s really going on. We do desire a simple life of hard work and quiet reflection. The quiet reflection is often left out but it is so important. Without some quiet reflection the hard work can turn into just aggravating busyness that is less than the goodness God wants for us! We desire God's best!
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3 comments
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sheryl on July 12, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Sounds like you all very busy. I just wanted to stop by and say hi. I have been wondering what you all have been up to. I can`t believe the baby is almost 4 mos. old. We got a new baby here on the farm. Not us, my cousin. She delivered him early and he just got to come home two days ago. He was nine weeks early. I just hope she lets me help spoil him. Take care and happy homesteading, Sheryl
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Schatzi on July 25, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Just stopping by to see how everyone is doing…can't believe your son is 4 months already…how exciting. Also sounds like you are busy harvesting all the goodness and blessings from the Lord.
Well, I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Connie
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HandsNHearts on July 29, 2008 at 10:19 am
I have passed along an award for you blog…stop by and collect it when you have time!
Deanna
Lisa made a wonderful cherry cobbler back the first of June and we have enjoyed strawberries and many raspberries. It looks like we will have an abundance of grapes, peaches, and apples. Blackberries are waiting to be picked, but they did not do as well as other years.
Vegetable update:
We have been blessed with fresh green beans, broccoli, kohlrabi, onions, cauliflower, peppers and new potatoes. The corn has tassled in the upper garden and is still growing on the river bank. We have an abundance of tomatoes ripening and many potato plants still growing, although some have died.
“Pure Water Hollow Chicken Flock: The Next Generation” began on June 24th.
That was when our new breeds of day old chicks arrived at the post office. We have tired of the game/mixed hens that have been so good to us for the past several years. We have been getting plenty of eggs from them (we have been selling some), and we have taken advantage of the free meat, but we decided that in the future we want bigger eggs and bigger and better meat. We have 28 chicks of four heavy breeds: Buff Orpingtons, Light Brahmas, Black Giants, and Partridge Rocks. We’re talking future hens of 10 pounds and roosters of 13 pounds! Our current chickens are only 3 to 5 pounds, I guess.
2 Litters of Piglets: Take 3!
Our new batch of piglets came sooner than expected this time, but since we just have our boar and two sows together all the time, we didn’t really know when the sows were bred. Sally gave birth to 13 piglets on July 1st and 10 of them have survived. Nellie gave birth to 10 piglets today, July 6th, and so far they all look good. This is the 3rd batch of piglets for us, and this is the first time that Sally and Nellie did not deliver on exactly the same day.
Our two sows were born in September 2006, and they had piglets July 13th, 2007, February 9th 2008, and now July 1st & 6th 2008. We raised or sold 15 piglets the first time, 19 piglets the second, and it looks like we have 20 healthy ones this time. One guy called today and has already asked to buy 3, and some other fellows were over today looking to buy some. It appears as though they will again be able to sell easily.
Genesis Colony of Honey Bees:
Our honey bees have been working hard and we need to rob them again right now! Don’t know when we will get around to it, but it’s time. We have another hive body set up and are hoping to start a second colony. We will see.
Goats:
They are doing well and clearing the hill side of the kudzu just like they are supposed to.
Pond Project:
Maybe we will get to do the pond before summer is over. Wish I had it done already. The people I am hiring think they can do it the end of July, but I will believe it when I see it.
Misc:
Much more has been going on it seems (like all the Christian camps the children went to: they had great times but I am glad things can now get back to normal), but I just wanted to get some sort of an update in. I would have liked to do separate posts on each topic with pictures and all, but this is the best I can do for now. At least these things are now recorded for the memory book, even if I did not polish the writings up like I usually enjoy doing.
God is continually blessing us every day. By the way, Timothy is doing great, starting to sleep through the night and is growing almost too fast. He will be 4 months old next week! Where does the time go?
We are trying to sit back and enjoy these blessings and not allow everything to happen so quickly that we miss out on what’s really going on. We do desire a simple life of hard work and quiet reflection. The quiet reflection is often left out but it is so important. Without some quiet reflection the hard work can turn into just aggravating busyness that is less than the goodness God wants for us! We desire God's best!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 comments
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sheryl on July 12, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Sounds like you all very busy. I just wanted to stop by and say hi. I have been wondering what you all have been up to. I can`t believe the baby is almost 4 mos. old. We got a new baby here on the farm. Not us, my cousin. She delivered him early and he just got to come home two days ago. He was nine weeks early. I just hope she lets me help spoil him. Take care and happy homesteading, Sheryl
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Schatzi on July 25, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Just stopping by to see how everyone is doing…can't believe your son is 4 months already…how exciting. Also sounds like you are busy harvesting all the goodness and blessings from the Lord.
Well, I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Connie
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HandsNHearts on July 29, 2008 at 10:19 am
I have passed along an award for you blog…stop by and collect it when you have time!
Deanna
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Ride A Raft With Ol Huck Finn (sort of)
We have had nice mild weather for the end of 2007. We had a green Christmas this year and each day has been in the 50s for the past week.
We often enjoy some snow this time of year, but instead, the warm temperatures have allowed Simon to enjoy playing on the raft that Matthew made for him for Christmas.
Matthew spent many hours building a Simon size raft out of poplar trees. He cut several trees down with his axe and chopped them up into the size logs he wanted. He did every bit of it all by himself and was almost finished before I even knew that he was working on it!
Simon loved it! These pictures were taken on December 26th, but Simon has gotten out on his raft every day he has gone up to the barn with us to help feed the animals.
Simon also enjoys piloting his raft sitting on a milk crate seat.
And here is the captain of the raft (Simon) alongside the designer and engineer of the raft (Matthew).
I thought it was a wonderful present and I was very proud of Matthew for having the initiative and love needed to come up with such a project for his little brother!
We often enjoy some snow this time of year, but instead, the warm temperatures have allowed Simon to enjoy playing on the raft that Matthew made for him for Christmas.
Matthew spent many hours building a Simon size raft out of poplar trees. He cut several trees down with his axe and chopped them up into the size logs he wanted. He did every bit of it all by himself and was almost finished before I even knew that he was working on it!
Simon loved it! These pictures were taken on December 26th, but Simon has gotten out on his raft every day he has gone up to the barn with us to help feed the animals.
Simon also enjoys piloting his raft sitting on a milk crate seat.
And here is the captain of the raft (Simon) alongside the designer and engineer of the raft (Matthew).
I thought it was a wonderful present and I was very proud of Matthew for having the initiative and love needed to come up with such a project for his little brother!
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Small Pond Problem Fixed By God
It poured here yesterday and rained all through the night. Our creek (drainage ditch actually) is overflowing its' banks and I'm sure that some of the childrens' toys have gotten washed on down to the river!
One good thing about all this rain is that my small well-overflow pond in the front yard is filled up the way it is supposed to be right now! You see, I had recently dug it out much deeper to supposedly "improve" it. The small pond used to be so pretty, but over the years it had gradually gotten filled in and become more shallow than I wanted. As I dug it all down a couple of feet deeper, I went through the topsoil and uncovered a massive amount of slate and shale rocks. The previous owner had told us that back in the 70s he had filled the entire front yard area in with dump truck load after dump truck load of fill to make it level, so I should have expected something like this. I should have stopped when I hit the first rocks but I wanted to make it all even. It seems that I sprung many leaks by doing that because it has never filled up on its own since then. I went back and spread a layer of mud all over the bottom and it has held a few inches of water but then it leaks out from the sides! I have tried to put mud everywhere it looks like it might be leaking, but so far the only way I could get it filled up is with the water hose and then it goes back down very soon.
Yesterday and today God has filled my little pond up with all the rain! And it looks like it will stay filled up.
Hopefully time will fix the leaks better then I could. I want it to be able to hold the one fish we have up in our farm pond. The pond up in the hollow needs repair also, but we will need to hire a backhoe to do that job. Before we do that, however, I want to be able to move our little pet goldfish who lives up there. Actually it was little when we put it in. It was one of those 20 cent gold fish you can get at Wal-Mart but it has had a good life up in that old pond and is now about a foot long! It is very pretty and we would like to save it before we drain that pond. (We then hope to stock that pond and make it into a good source of food for us) I will let you know in the future how it goes and if I can get our digital camera to work with this computer I would love to add pictures!
Since it is such a wet morning it has given me a chance to ramble a bit on this new weblog. I would have liked to been outside doing something, but perhaps this is God's way to let other homesteaders get to know us a little bit quicker. I am looking forward to hearing the pooled wisdom that is out there. We have already been enjoying and learning from many of your blogs and I am glad to be part of the community now!
One good thing about all this rain is that my small well-overflow pond in the front yard is filled up the way it is supposed to be right now! You see, I had recently dug it out much deeper to supposedly "improve" it. The small pond used to be so pretty, but over the years it had gradually gotten filled in and become more shallow than I wanted. As I dug it all down a couple of feet deeper, I went through the topsoil and uncovered a massive amount of slate and shale rocks. The previous owner had told us that back in the 70s he had filled the entire front yard area in with dump truck load after dump truck load of fill to make it level, so I should have expected something like this. I should have stopped when I hit the first rocks but I wanted to make it all even. It seems that I sprung many leaks by doing that because it has never filled up on its own since then. I went back and spread a layer of mud all over the bottom and it has held a few inches of water but then it leaks out from the sides! I have tried to put mud everywhere it looks like it might be leaking, but so far the only way I could get it filled up is with the water hose and then it goes back down very soon.
Yesterday and today God has filled my little pond up with all the rain! And it looks like it will stay filled up.
Hopefully time will fix the leaks better then I could. I want it to be able to hold the one fish we have up in our farm pond. The pond up in the hollow needs repair also, but we will need to hire a backhoe to do that job. Before we do that, however, I want to be able to move our little pet goldfish who lives up there. Actually it was little when we put it in. It was one of those 20 cent gold fish you can get at Wal-Mart but it has had a good life up in that old pond and is now about a foot long! It is very pretty and we would like to save it before we drain that pond. (We then hope to stock that pond and make it into a good source of food for us) I will let you know in the future how it goes and if I can get our digital camera to work with this computer I would love to add pictures!
Since it is such a wet morning it has given me a chance to ramble a bit on this new weblog. I would have liked to been outside doing something, but perhaps this is God's way to let other homesteaders get to know us a little bit quicker. I am looking forward to hearing the pooled wisdom that is out there. We have already been enjoying and learning from many of your blogs and I am glad to be part of the community now!
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