I have decided that at the end of each month I would like to try to reflect on the happenings of the month in a summary form. I usually keep day-to-day happenings down on some calendars, but I thought this format might be more helpful in the future.
Chickens:
This January we have received a record number of 165 eggs from our hens!
The old record was 136 from last May. We do have more hens than last year, but they all are not yet laying. There are 21 hens in the coop and 9 hens/pullets that are currently free ranging.
We harvested three roosters in January for about 11 pounds of finished meat in the freezer. We still have 5 big ones to go and several cockerels that are still growing.
All these chickens need food to eat, especially in the winter. The expense for keeping all these chickens was a bag and a half of cracked corn, which is now $9.80 for a 100-pound bag. So we fed them about $15 worth of corn in January. Just a year ago the same bag of corn cost $7.60.
Sadly, we had 2 hens mysteriously die in January, one on the 12th and one on the 21st. The rest of the flock seems to be very healthy.
Pigs:
They have grown much in January. We have utilized the bigger feeding trough that we built in December and have continued to pick up old milk for free from the distributors and mix it with corn feed meal. We have usually mixed two gallons of milk with the corn meal to fill up a 5-gallon bucket to 2/3 full. They get 2 buckets of this at each feeding and we usually feed them twice each day. When we knew we would be able to get up there only once we usually took a little extra time and gave them three buckets full. We are also giving them some dry "pig chow" that is supposed to have all the nutrients they need built in. This was given to them on a hit or miss basis so we need to be more consistent. For most of January the four pigs have shared between 6 and 8 gallons of milk a day mixed with corn meal plus some pig chow.
I have bought 3 bags of corn meal in January, two for $8.50 and another for $8.75 a bag for a total of $25.75, and I bought a bag of pig chow for $14.00. Total feeding costs: $39.75.
We have put a total of 12 bales of straw in their pen to keep them warm this winter, with 3 of them being given in January. The bales of straw I am getting cost $4.75 a piece, so we have used $14.25 of straw for the pigs in January.
We noticed some bugs on the pigs so I put some Insectrin dust on them January 24th. We need to dust them every 10 days until they are all gone.
The bottle cost $7.37 but it is a big bottle that should last a long time, and we can use it on our chickens also.
During January we have still been giving them water in just a 5 gallon galvanized pan by carrying water in buckets from the pond. It has been difficult to keep them provided with clean water. We worked on a better watering system during the month. I actually have it all put together, just still trying to get it clean. I am going to try using a nipple waterer coming down from an old pick-up truck toolbox. The pipe and nipple are installed and do not leak. (Hurrah!) My problem is that the toolbox was so oily that the water still shows rainbows from it. We have scrubbed with soap, but it still looks oily. I don¹t know if traces of motor oil would hurt them but I certainly do not want to make my pigs sick! Lisa needs to work her magic on it. She can make anything clean! (I will try to post some current pictures of the pigs soon.)
Garden:
I tilled the garden on January 27th. It felt good and I was glad the tiller fired right up.
Lisa purchased various seeds this January, spending $21. They are:
1- 1 oz. package of Early Golden Bantam sweet corn
3 – 20g packages of Sugar Dots sweet corn
3 – 1.7 oz. packages of Blue Lake Bush 274 garden bean
3 – 2 oz packages of Tendergreen Improved garden bean
3 – 175 mg packages of Rutgers-Select tomato
2 – 200mg packages of Brandywine tomato
2 – 500mg packages of Jubilee tomato
1 – package of 20 Jelly Bean Hybrid tomato
1 – package of 20 Supersweet 100 VF. Hybrid tomato
2 – 600 mg packages of Sugar Baby watermelon
1 – 200 mg package of Black Beauty eggplant
1 – 2.4 g California Wonder pepper
1 – 9.6 g package of National Pickling cucumber
1 – 8.4 g Black Seeded Simpson lettuce
1 – 14g Tall Gold sunflower
1 bag of raw peanuts
We are looking forward to seeing all these grow!
Weather:
A very mild and warm January, except for today.
We have seen snow showers or flurries on 5 days, but no accumulation, except on the 25th when we got a dusting which stayed around until about 11:00am.
We also had some freezing drizzle on the 21st.
The lack of snow has been discouraging for us because we all enjoy snow.
Only the last couple of days have we had freezing temperatures most of the entire day. We had 12 days with temperatures in the 50s and 60s. The warmest days were Jan. 13th in the 60s, Jan. 14th reaching above 70 degrees and Jan. 27th in the 60s. For lows we have only had 7 early mornings in the 20s on Jan. 11th, 20th, 24th, 26th, 29th, 30th, and 31st. All of those days got into the 40s by afternoon except for the 29th, 30th, and 31st which have been our three coldest days of January. The other 12 days in January saw temperatures in the 30s to 40s. It seems that it is always warmer at Pure Water Hollow in the winter than what the computer says it should be on the weather forcasts.
Today it was 18 degrees this morning and only in the 20s right now. A storm is poised to possibly bring us a couple of inches of snow to start out February. We shall see…
My rain gauge registered about 2.6 inches of rain for the month. I have never kept track of rain before so I do not know if this is average or not for January.
Misc:
We put up a new, larger mailbox to start the month.
We were blessed with free mulch from the RECC that we hope to use in various ways this spring.
We also discorvered a great East Ridge Riverview and enjoyed one afternoon up there.
All in all, a fairly typical month at Pure Water Hollow, except for the lack of January snow!
We are blessed! Glory to God!
5 comments
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Debi on January 31, 2007 at 8:15 am
I need to do this.
I wondered if you would show your pig pen? We are looking at getting some feeder pigs.
You guys have been truly blessed, what a beautiful place God has given you to take care of.
Blessings,
Debi
Purewater replied:
Pictures of our pig lot can be seen by browsing through the category up on the right "Learning About Pigs".
Thanks, and God Bless!
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Anonymous on January 31, 2007 at 9:20 am
LOL! Nice to see a full update of your 'doings'. You're doing a wonderful job with what God has given.
Marcella
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Anonymous on February 2, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Hello!
What do you all do with all those eggs? Do you have any recipes that you could share?
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Purewater on February 2, 2007 at 10:19 pm
We eat them….
Actually we gave one dozen to the lady next door and then she asked to buy two dozen more. We are not trying to sell them yet, because we are able to consume many eggs when we have them.
One breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast for our family of 6 takes 2 dozen eggs if that is all we are eating, or 1 dozen if we have hot cereal or something else with it. Lisa also makes a delicious breakfast casserole for one meal that calls for a half dozen. (She said it is a common recipe you see everywhere. If you want it, she will type it up for you later.) And we all love omelets, too. So you see, even if we keep 11 dozen of the 14 dozen eggs, that only provides us with 5 to 10 breakfasts for our family during a whole month.
And then there are all the eggs that go into regular cooking of other meals for dinner and supper: deviled eggs, cakes, cookies,etc.
We could really use 14 dozen eggs every month. I hope we get that many again in February, but if these first 2 days are any indication we will be well below that number. A couple of hens have gone broody on us and are trying to set. When they do that, they stop laying until it gets out of their system, I guess.
Thanks for the comment, and may God bless you!
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Morning Sunshine on February 3, 2007 at 12:29 pm
I like this! thanks for posting how much feeding your livestock costs… it helps also to know what you are receiving for it. Maybe one day I will convince my husband to get chickens!
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Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Monday, January 29, 2007
Magnificent View From Our East Ridge
A very nice weekend was had at Pure Water Hollow. Saturday was 62 degrees and sunny so I tilled up our garden spot wearing no jacket! A bit early, I know, but it felt like spring and we had not taken proper care of our garden area last fall so it was a mess. Maybe we will have better success with our garden this year…
Friday was also sunny, but a bit cooler. It did make it almost into the 50s so we took advantage of the nice day to head for the East Ridge of Pure Water Hollow. The day before Matthew, Christina, and Simon had gone exploring and found a spot up there that they thought we would all enjoy. They were right!
It is hard to believe that we have been here 13 years and have gone hiking all over the property, but there are still areas we have not discovered. This was one of them. I had found a different overlook spot a year or two ago, but there are so many trees in the way that it was not very spectacular.
Friday, Matthew led us up to a much better overlook. It is the top of a sheer cliff, but the area is a wide 20×20 flat that overlooks the river in the distance. There are only a couple of trees that I would like to cut, but they are not really in the way too badly. The space was remarkably open and we could see for miles. The sun was in the wrong spot for the pictures to show up as good as they could be, but I decided to post some anyway. Maybe we will get back up there soon and get some better pictures. I love the hills in the background.
The open area in the top middle of the picture used to just be a hay field, but in recent years they have parceled it out and have begun to develop something like a subdivision. It is about a half mile from our house. This is the spot where the community used to have its own one room school years ago, before every thing consolidated.
Right now we are calling our overlook “Matthew's Magnificent East Ridge River View” since he was the one who discovered it.
The place to the left of this picture is the home across the river from us that we cannot see from our house. We did not know that there was a pond over there on the other side of the river! It is just across and a bit to the right of our river bank area.
Erica's words were, “This is amazing!”
This is looking the other direction. You can see the houses across the river, but not the river.
And let me put up one more. Pictures don't really pay the view justice. It's one of those things that you really have to be there!
God has created such a beautiful earth, and I think eastern Kentucky is among the most beautiful of all!
7 comments
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Renee on January 29, 2007 at 8:19 am
Wow!
I wish Matt would have found it earlier. We will have to come for a visit again soon and see it for ourselves. You are so Blessed!
Thank you for the wonderful pictures!!
My Love,
Renee
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MrsBurns on January 29, 2007 at 8:25 am
You are blessed to have those hills. That is some beautiful land. God sure did know what he was doing when He put the Appalachian Mtns. into place, didn't He?
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sheryl on January 29, 2007 at 8:47 am
How pretty. Great minds must think alike. I was thinking last night how I would like to go back on the hill and take some pics of the farm and post them. But as cold as it is today, don`t think it will be anytime soon. Thank you for sharing you pics, they were really nice to see and what a wonderful views. sheryl
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Chris on January 29, 2007 at 9:33 am
Can't argue with your assessment of God's Kentucky creation when you post magificent photos like these. What a great back yard you have! Thanks for sharing – Chris
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Crooked Creek Farm on January 29, 2007 at 11:15 am
Eastern KY is the most beautiful of all!
We, too, didn't take care of our gardens last fall. Makes for a LOT of work this spring. sigh….
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sheryl on January 29, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Sorry but I had to stop by and look at those pics again. I bet it is beautiful to look at in the fall. All those hills with the trees. You are so blessed with a view like that. I am going to show the kids. sheryl
Friday was also sunny, but a bit cooler. It did make it almost into the 50s so we took advantage of the nice day to head for the East Ridge of Pure Water Hollow. The day before Matthew, Christina, and Simon had gone exploring and found a spot up there that they thought we would all enjoy. They were right!
It is hard to believe that we have been here 13 years and have gone hiking all over the property, but there are still areas we have not discovered. This was one of them. I had found a different overlook spot a year or two ago, but there are so many trees in the way that it was not very spectacular.
Friday, Matthew led us up to a much better overlook. It is the top of a sheer cliff, but the area is a wide 20×20 flat that overlooks the river in the distance. There are only a couple of trees that I would like to cut, but they are not really in the way too badly. The space was remarkably open and we could see for miles. The sun was in the wrong spot for the pictures to show up as good as they could be, but I decided to post some anyway. Maybe we will get back up there soon and get some better pictures. I love the hills in the background.
The open area in the top middle of the picture used to just be a hay field, but in recent years they have parceled it out and have begun to develop something like a subdivision. It is about a half mile from our house. This is the spot where the community used to have its own one room school years ago, before every thing consolidated.
Right now we are calling our overlook “Matthew's Magnificent East Ridge River View” since he was the one who discovered it.
The place to the left of this picture is the home across the river from us that we cannot see from our house. We did not know that there was a pond over there on the other side of the river! It is just across and a bit to the right of our river bank area.
Erica's words were, “This is amazing!”
This is looking the other direction. You can see the houses across the river, but not the river.
And let me put up one more. Pictures don't really pay the view justice. It's one of those things that you really have to be there!
God has created such a beautiful earth, and I think eastern Kentucky is among the most beautiful of all!
7 comments
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Renee on January 29, 2007 at 8:19 am
Wow!
I wish Matt would have found it earlier. We will have to come for a visit again soon and see it for ourselves. You are so Blessed!
Thank you for the wonderful pictures!!
My Love,
Renee
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MrsBurns on January 29, 2007 at 8:25 am
You are blessed to have those hills. That is some beautiful land. God sure did know what he was doing when He put the Appalachian Mtns. into place, didn't He?
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sheryl on January 29, 2007 at 8:47 am
How pretty. Great minds must think alike. I was thinking last night how I would like to go back on the hill and take some pics of the farm and post them. But as cold as it is today, don`t think it will be anytime soon. Thank you for sharing you pics, they were really nice to see and what a wonderful views. sheryl
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Chris on January 29, 2007 at 9:33 am
Can't argue with your assessment of God's Kentucky creation when you post magificent photos like these. What a great back yard you have! Thanks for sharing – Chris
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Crooked Creek Farm on January 29, 2007 at 11:15 am
Eastern KY is the most beautiful of all!
We, too, didn't take care of our gardens last fall. Makes for a LOT of work this spring. sigh….
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sheryl on January 29, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Sorry but I had to stop by and look at those pics again. I bet it is beautiful to look at in the fall. All those hills with the trees. You are so blessed with a view like that. I am going to show the kids. sheryl
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
The State of the Homestead Address
My fellow family members, laborers at Pure Water Hollow, and distinguished friends:
We are in the midst of somewhat of a homesteading revival at Pure Water Hollow! We have been learning more about how to live off the land by growing our own food as well as how to take advantage of what God has growing all around us naturally. Our chicken flock has prospered this past year giving us eggs and meat, and we have jumped into the adventure of raising our own pork. Many things are going well at our Pure Water Hollow Homestead. For these successes we give our thanks to God and pray that He has received the glory for all that we have done!
However, there are many things that need much improvement, and with His help, we shall improve. Our barn that is currently housing our pig operation is in dire need of repair. We definitely need to put a new roof on half of the barn, but I propose that we go ahead and replace the entire roof. There are some structural problems that may need to be addressed as well, and the replacement of some lumber. This will be an expensive and labor intensive venture, but we must act now if we wish to save our barn from ruin. This barn is not only functional, but it also deserves to be saved because of its intrinsic and historical value. It will be easier and less expensive to repair this piece of history, than to build a new barn from scratch.
We have a road that leads up to the barn. This road is also inadequate for our current needs. Due to some landslides and poorly placed culverts, the road is not draining properly and thereby creating a terrible mess of mud. This needs to be fixed, so we can access the barn with fewer problems. The road will need to be repaired before we start to bring in all the materials and equipment to fix the barn.
We also have a pond behind the barn that is not being utilized to it's proper potential. The pond needs to be turned into a steady supply of food for our homestead in the way of fish production! The years have watched it fill up with much sediment until it is now just a puddle of its former glory. I can see a day in the near future when the fish will multiply and provide our homestead with much nourishment!
I propose that we hire the proper equipment during this coming year to repair the road and the pond, as well as the barn. There are several culverts that will need to be purchased and installed and the dam shall be raised to get the pond back to its proper level. After the pond is repaired we will be able to stock it for future fishing. These will be expensive goals, but if we work together in cutting back on needless expenditures, we can and shall see these goals accomplished! In time, the food supply that will become available in the form of homegrown fish will help pay for the cost of the repairs. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Give a man a good-sized pond full of fish and you feed a homesteading family for a lifetime!
Another dire problem that must be faced at Pure Water Hollow is the dreadful menace of the Kudzu vine that continues to encroach upon our good land. It has no regard or respect for the boundaries of our land nor for our wishes to see our trees live without the fear that they will become covered and smothered by this insidious vine! When the Kudzu was high up on the ridge, we paid it little mind. We turned our collective heads and pretended that it was not there. Through the years our apathy and appeasement have only emboldened the Kudzu, until now it is threatening the very pond and barn that I have already mentioned!
I propose that drastic actions are required, and I have come up with a three-phase plan. When we have the road and pond repaired we will let the bulldozers do what ever they can against the Kudzu. The steepness of the hill will severely limit the bulldozers' impact, but they may be able to interrupt it some. For phase two, we must enlist the help of our local volunteer fire department, to see if our Kudzu hill would be a candidate for a controlled burn. If so, then God help those firefighters! Whatever part of the Kudzu that can be destroyed by fire, we must try it! The third phase of this plan is labor intensive on the part of our family. We need to fence the Kudzu-infected area and begin a goat herd on it, in an effort of containment. Whatever Kudzu remains must not be allowed to spread any farther, and perhaps a herd of goats will keep it at bay! Fencing this whole area will be difficult work, but we can no longer stand idly by and hope that the problem will go away. It will not.
Those productive goals are centered on our "back 40" if you will. I now wish to address the issues on our homefront. We have experienced some success and growth: We have successfully reestablished a good, hardy looking patch of strawberry plants; our four peach trees on the river bank have begun to bear several peaches each; we have successfully grown many peach trees from seed to use as root stock; we harvested a record number of cherries from our cherry tree; and we grew a corn patch in a new spot behind the school house for the first time which yielded many delicious ears of sweet corn. Again, to God be the glory for these blessings!
These accomplishments, however, were dimmed by many more disappointments. The crop from our two mature peach trees was ravaged by what seemed to be the brown rot fungus. Also, our four mature American Plum trees faced the same culprit. Our grapevines did not produce as many grapes as previous years, we missed most of the blackberry harvest, our apple trees did not yield the apples that it should have, and our garden faced a continuous onslaught by deer and raccoon. We missed the bulk of the pear tree harvest, the walnut trees did not produce at all, and our lone apricot tree was once again bare. Our effort at growing corn and pumpkins on the riverbank also failed.
Much must be addressed in these areas and we thank the Lord for the lessons learned! In the coming weeks we must give diligence to learning the proper pruning techniques for grape vines, apple trees, and peach trees. And then we must put the pruning techniques into aggressive practice! We have four "apple towers" that are overgrown but have never produced which we need to prune back drastically and give them one more chance before they are cut down and thrown into the fire. We must purchase the proper treatments to prevent brown rot and apply it to the peach and plum trees. Some tall sycamore trees that must come down grossly shade the mature apple trees. A couple were cut last year, but it was not enough and we must take out the rest of these shade giants.
Shade was also a factor on the riverbank, and we (with the help of the RECC) have cleared much of that shade away already. We must plant earlier if we are to have any crops at all down there and we also will need to be more aggressive in the hoeing of this spot that is so far away from the house.
Our garden near the house will need to be cared for tenderly and diligently. We must stay closer to home this summer and tend to the garden every evening to keep the deer away. We have also come to understand that deer are repelled by morning glories, so we should allow them to grow instead of clearing them out the way we did last year. We will purchase more animal traps and put them in the garden and corn patches to catch the thieving coons. Yes, there is much work to be done to produce a successful harvest, and we all must work together if we are going to have a surplus to can and store up.
There are some proactive projects that we should initiate this coming year as well. We shall transplant our cherry tree grown from seed, and pray for its success. We shall build a trellis for the stand of raspberries that are near the schoolhouse and we will christen that part of the road as "Raspberry Lane". We shall try to graft good producing peach limbs onto some of the root stock peach trees that have been growing for a couple of years, and I propose we leave a couple of those baby peach trees to grow as they are and see what kind of a peach tree they will become. We shall explore the possibility of clearing new land for corn production in an attempt to counter the growing costs of feed corn. We will also purchase some new items to grow. We shall add blueberries for the first time to our repertoire of berry plants and we will add a pecan tree to our variety of nut trees.
I have a dream of our Pure Water Hollow Homestead becoming self-sufficient one day! Along with perfecting our food production in the way of nut and fruit trees, grapevines and gardens, wild and cultivated berries, chickens and pigs, we also can move toward more independence in our heating source for next year. We have the wood and the chimney, so I propose we strive to purchase and install a fireplace insert to supplement our current heat. We should be able to heat with wood and decrease our dependence on the foreign heating source of propane! This is the responsible thing to do! There are many other initiatives we will explore in the future concerning alternative forms of energy, but in the immediate we can at least make this small move toward wood heat.
Yes, I have a dream of a self-sufficient Pure Water Hollow Homestead. All of the proposals and plans I have outlined tonight will take much blood, sweat, tears, and financial backing! We can achieve our goals only with the good Lord's help and if we work together. We can make great strides in this coming year, and then the future will be ours to reach for.
Thank you, and may God continue to bless our homestead!
6 comments
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Purewater on January 23, 2007 at 7:34 am
What a way to celebrate my 50th post on Homesteadblogger! Today is also my 4 month anniversary of blogging on Homesteadblogger!
President Bush is in our prayers as he delivers the State of the Union Address tonight. He has an incredibly difficult job and I believe that it is my duty as a Christian to pray for him. May God grant him the wisdom and strength that he needs.
Eric
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MrsBurns on January 23, 2007 at 7:51 am
Clever idea, and you seem to have given much thought and prayer into how you'd steward your land. I'm just glad you didn't ask me for my "investment" in your goals! Self-sufficiency is a beautiful thing! DeniseB
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Anonymous on January 23, 2007 at 8:29 am
Hello!
Great speech!
I pray that God gives you the finances to be able to do all that you dream about. I am sure that as you work hard and you are faithful he will fill your cup to over flowing!!
God Bless you!!
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HandsNHearts on January 23, 2007 at 9:19 am
I am never disappointed by a visit here! Such encouragement!!
Ok, confession time — I just stole your State of The Homestead post. Yes, I just copied it and pasted it to the word processor and printed it off. I most definitely need its inspiration to spur along our own State of the Homestead speech here.
Thank you so much for your sharings, and may the Lord continue to bless your family and its visions for Pure Water Hollow richly!
Deanna
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Livin'theMontanaDream on January 23, 2007 at 9:39 am
Thank you for the inspiration this morning. May this new year bring you much much success in your homesteading goals!
Darcy
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sheryl on January 23, 2007 at 11:37 am
I wish you great luck and success with the homestead plans. We to are faced with the challenges of repairing an old barn. I think dh is going to cut some timber and have his dad cut what we need as far as lumber, which will help us a lot saving money. I will keep you and your homestead in our prays. Yes, you are right, President Bush does need our prays and so does our country. I really hate to see the 2008 elections get here.
We are in the midst of somewhat of a homesteading revival at Pure Water Hollow! We have been learning more about how to live off the land by growing our own food as well as how to take advantage of what God has growing all around us naturally. Our chicken flock has prospered this past year giving us eggs and meat, and we have jumped into the adventure of raising our own pork. Many things are going well at our Pure Water Hollow Homestead. For these successes we give our thanks to God and pray that He has received the glory for all that we have done!
However, there are many things that need much improvement, and with His help, we shall improve. Our barn that is currently housing our pig operation is in dire need of repair. We definitely need to put a new roof on half of the barn, but I propose that we go ahead and replace the entire roof. There are some structural problems that may need to be addressed as well, and the replacement of some lumber. This will be an expensive and labor intensive venture, but we must act now if we wish to save our barn from ruin. This barn is not only functional, but it also deserves to be saved because of its intrinsic and historical value. It will be easier and less expensive to repair this piece of history, than to build a new barn from scratch.
We have a road that leads up to the barn. This road is also inadequate for our current needs. Due to some landslides and poorly placed culverts, the road is not draining properly and thereby creating a terrible mess of mud. This needs to be fixed, so we can access the barn with fewer problems. The road will need to be repaired before we start to bring in all the materials and equipment to fix the barn.
We also have a pond behind the barn that is not being utilized to it's proper potential. The pond needs to be turned into a steady supply of food for our homestead in the way of fish production! The years have watched it fill up with much sediment until it is now just a puddle of its former glory. I can see a day in the near future when the fish will multiply and provide our homestead with much nourishment!
I propose that we hire the proper equipment during this coming year to repair the road and the pond, as well as the barn. There are several culverts that will need to be purchased and installed and the dam shall be raised to get the pond back to its proper level. After the pond is repaired we will be able to stock it for future fishing. These will be expensive goals, but if we work together in cutting back on needless expenditures, we can and shall see these goals accomplished! In time, the food supply that will become available in the form of homegrown fish will help pay for the cost of the repairs. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Give a man a good-sized pond full of fish and you feed a homesteading family for a lifetime!
Another dire problem that must be faced at Pure Water Hollow is the dreadful menace of the Kudzu vine that continues to encroach upon our good land. It has no regard or respect for the boundaries of our land nor for our wishes to see our trees live without the fear that they will become covered and smothered by this insidious vine! When the Kudzu was high up on the ridge, we paid it little mind. We turned our collective heads and pretended that it was not there. Through the years our apathy and appeasement have only emboldened the Kudzu, until now it is threatening the very pond and barn that I have already mentioned!
I propose that drastic actions are required, and I have come up with a three-phase plan. When we have the road and pond repaired we will let the bulldozers do what ever they can against the Kudzu. The steepness of the hill will severely limit the bulldozers' impact, but they may be able to interrupt it some. For phase two, we must enlist the help of our local volunteer fire department, to see if our Kudzu hill would be a candidate for a controlled burn. If so, then God help those firefighters! Whatever part of the Kudzu that can be destroyed by fire, we must try it! The third phase of this plan is labor intensive on the part of our family. We need to fence the Kudzu-infected area and begin a goat herd on it, in an effort of containment. Whatever Kudzu remains must not be allowed to spread any farther, and perhaps a herd of goats will keep it at bay! Fencing this whole area will be difficult work, but we can no longer stand idly by and hope that the problem will go away. It will not.
Those productive goals are centered on our "back 40" if you will. I now wish to address the issues on our homefront. We have experienced some success and growth: We have successfully reestablished a good, hardy looking patch of strawberry plants; our four peach trees on the river bank have begun to bear several peaches each; we have successfully grown many peach trees from seed to use as root stock; we harvested a record number of cherries from our cherry tree; and we grew a corn patch in a new spot behind the school house for the first time which yielded many delicious ears of sweet corn. Again, to God be the glory for these blessings!
These accomplishments, however, were dimmed by many more disappointments. The crop from our two mature peach trees was ravaged by what seemed to be the brown rot fungus. Also, our four mature American Plum trees faced the same culprit. Our grapevines did not produce as many grapes as previous years, we missed most of the blackberry harvest, our apple trees did not yield the apples that it should have, and our garden faced a continuous onslaught by deer and raccoon. We missed the bulk of the pear tree harvest, the walnut trees did not produce at all, and our lone apricot tree was once again bare. Our effort at growing corn and pumpkins on the riverbank also failed.
Much must be addressed in these areas and we thank the Lord for the lessons learned! In the coming weeks we must give diligence to learning the proper pruning techniques for grape vines, apple trees, and peach trees. And then we must put the pruning techniques into aggressive practice! We have four "apple towers" that are overgrown but have never produced which we need to prune back drastically and give them one more chance before they are cut down and thrown into the fire. We must purchase the proper treatments to prevent brown rot and apply it to the peach and plum trees. Some tall sycamore trees that must come down grossly shade the mature apple trees. A couple were cut last year, but it was not enough and we must take out the rest of these shade giants.
Shade was also a factor on the riverbank, and we (with the help of the RECC) have cleared much of that shade away already. We must plant earlier if we are to have any crops at all down there and we also will need to be more aggressive in the hoeing of this spot that is so far away from the house.
Our garden near the house will need to be cared for tenderly and diligently. We must stay closer to home this summer and tend to the garden every evening to keep the deer away. We have also come to understand that deer are repelled by morning glories, so we should allow them to grow instead of clearing them out the way we did last year. We will purchase more animal traps and put them in the garden and corn patches to catch the thieving coons. Yes, there is much work to be done to produce a successful harvest, and we all must work together if we are going to have a surplus to can and store up.
There are some proactive projects that we should initiate this coming year as well. We shall transplant our cherry tree grown from seed, and pray for its success. We shall build a trellis for the stand of raspberries that are near the schoolhouse and we will christen that part of the road as "Raspberry Lane". We shall try to graft good producing peach limbs onto some of the root stock peach trees that have been growing for a couple of years, and I propose we leave a couple of those baby peach trees to grow as they are and see what kind of a peach tree they will become. We shall explore the possibility of clearing new land for corn production in an attempt to counter the growing costs of feed corn. We will also purchase some new items to grow. We shall add blueberries for the first time to our repertoire of berry plants and we will add a pecan tree to our variety of nut trees.
I have a dream of our Pure Water Hollow Homestead becoming self-sufficient one day! Along with perfecting our food production in the way of nut and fruit trees, grapevines and gardens, wild and cultivated berries, chickens and pigs, we also can move toward more independence in our heating source for next year. We have the wood and the chimney, so I propose we strive to purchase and install a fireplace insert to supplement our current heat. We should be able to heat with wood and decrease our dependence on the foreign heating source of propane! This is the responsible thing to do! There are many other initiatives we will explore in the future concerning alternative forms of energy, but in the immediate we can at least make this small move toward wood heat.
Yes, I have a dream of a self-sufficient Pure Water Hollow Homestead. All of the proposals and plans I have outlined tonight will take much blood, sweat, tears, and financial backing! We can achieve our goals only with the good Lord's help and if we work together. We can make great strides in this coming year, and then the future will be ours to reach for.
Thank you, and may God continue to bless our homestead!
6 comments
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Purewater on January 23, 2007 at 7:34 am
What a way to celebrate my 50th post on Homesteadblogger! Today is also my 4 month anniversary of blogging on Homesteadblogger!
President Bush is in our prayers as he delivers the State of the Union Address tonight. He has an incredibly difficult job and I believe that it is my duty as a Christian to pray for him. May God grant him the wisdom and strength that he needs.
Eric
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MrsBurns on January 23, 2007 at 7:51 am
Clever idea, and you seem to have given much thought and prayer into how you'd steward your land. I'm just glad you didn't ask me for my "investment" in your goals! Self-sufficiency is a beautiful thing! DeniseB
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Anonymous on January 23, 2007 at 8:29 am
Hello!
Great speech!
I pray that God gives you the finances to be able to do all that you dream about. I am sure that as you work hard and you are faithful he will fill your cup to over flowing!!
God Bless you!!
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HandsNHearts on January 23, 2007 at 9:19 am
I am never disappointed by a visit here! Such encouragement!!
Ok, confession time — I just stole your State of The Homestead post. Yes, I just copied it and pasted it to the word processor and printed it off. I most definitely need its inspiration to spur along our own State of the Homestead speech here.
Thank you so much for your sharings, and may the Lord continue to bless your family and its visions for Pure Water Hollow richly!
Deanna
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Livin'theMontanaDream on January 23, 2007 at 9:39 am
Thank you for the inspiration this morning. May this new year bring you much much success in your homesteading goals!
Darcy
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sheryl on January 23, 2007 at 11:37 am
I wish you great luck and success with the homestead plans. We to are faced with the challenges of repairing an old barn. I think dh is going to cut some timber and have his dad cut what we need as far as lumber, which will help us a lot saving money. I will keep you and your homestead in our prays. Yes, you are right, President Bush does need our prays and so does our country. I really hate to see the 2008 elections get here.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Butchering Some Roosters
A couple of days ago we decided to “do up” a couple of our roosters. The temperatures have finally fallen below freezing and it just seemed to be a good day for some butchering.
Lisa butchered several of our own roosters last year and put them in the freezer, and they served us well. We have been meaning to do some more for quite a while now, so we decided to begin with two of the biggest ones. We let them get to be full-grown roosters, so they were pretty large.
Last year Lisa did them while I was at work, so I wanted to have a part in doing the butchering this time. I had never done anything like this before, so it was a learning experience for me. I fixed up a chopping stump and had a sharp hatchet:
The milk jug was an interesting tip that Lisa just learned about at the last homeschool support group meeting. Someone suggested that it made it easier to use a milk jug with the bottom cut out and the mouth cut a bit wider, to hold the chicken still. I nailed the handle of the jug to the stump and it worked perfectly!
We decided to do only two, even though we have three more the same size, plus several more smaller ones. Lisa found last year that it was too time consuming to do more than just a couple at one time.
We dipped the birds into boiling water to help the feathers come off easily and I helped pluck them. We then used fire to singe off the remaining “fuzz”. Then the birds were ready to “gut”.
During the gutting procedure, Lisa taught us all a very good anatomy lesson. She went through all the organs and told the children what they did and how it all worked. It was a better learning experience than most public school children get by dissecting a frog in high school! Christina and Simon were especially fascinated by it and I tried to learn all I could. It did not sicken me at all, the way I remember those frogs doing back in high school. One big difference, I think, was that there was an obvious and practical purpose for doing this. (Why cut up frogs?)
I decided that most people would not want to see pictures of the anatomy lesson, but here is the finished product, all ready for the freezer:
One weighed 3.5 pounds and the other weighed 4.5 pounds, all gutted and ready to fix for dinner. So we have 8 pounds of meat for just the cost of some feed corn and a couple of hours of work.
It was a very rewarding experience for me, and we haven't even had them yet for supper!
7 comments
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Lisa on January 18, 2007 at 12:11 pm
I always find your blog so interesting. I had to laugh though when you mentioned frogs. As a little girl I remember going frogging with my "pappy" and he would catch the frogs and my "Mammy" would fix a batch of fried frogs legs.. YUM they were so good to me. Now I am not so sure. Keep up the intersting blog, it is wonderful
Lisa
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blessed mom on January 18, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I enjoyed reading about your adventures in butchering! I hope to follow suit soon! We just moved to our homestead and we hope to have boiler chickens! I have never butchered…. so it should be interesting!
Gloria
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Ashley on January 18, 2007 at 12:47 pm
My parents have always butchered chickens … and we've learned alot through trial and error!
For a long time, we used an upright piece of wood with two nails close together to hold the chicken's heads for the hatchet. Then, some fellow farmers buit what we call the "cones". They are pieces of galvanized tin in a cone shape, attached to a piece of wood. This piece of wood is attached to two trees, and the six cones hand downward – rather like an upside down milk carton would.
Anyways, with this method, you put the chicken in, the head hangs downward, and you cut the head off with a very sharp knife. Being upside down aids draining….very sorry if this is too much info.
Ashley
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Mrs. Joseph Wood on January 18, 2007 at 6:45 pm
We butchered 17 chickens before Winter but used a "killing cone" it was nice because there was no mess and the blood was able to just drain into a 5 gal bucket. I will try and take some photos for you so that you can see another way of doing it. It is nice to always be gleaning ideas from others and taking what works for you personally. We are always learning!
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Jessica on January 18, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Hello Uncle Eric and Family! Those were really neat pictures of how you prepared your soon to be dinner! I am sure they will taste great! Looking forword to seeing what is new at Purewater Hollow!
Love,
Jessica
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Chris on January 18, 2007 at 9:11 pm
I just read a blog about someone hoping to sell some laying hens, was that yours? You have certainly been busy with your flock! I've never done anything like this. Thanks for sharing… -Chris
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Lynn on January 23, 2007 at 1:27 am
Thank you for the tip on the milk jug, I hadn't thought of that. We kill lots of chicken throughout the year. My kids always love for me to tell them all about those inners. My son says the next time we butcher chickens and rabbits he wants to measure how long and wide everything is. Nice Science project, don't you think? LOL It's so nice to have country kids who aren't afraid of all that. I was raised on a farm so I have always been around it.
Thanks for sharing about the milk jug, I will differently try it.
Blessings,
Lynn
Lisa butchered several of our own roosters last year and put them in the freezer, and they served us well. We have been meaning to do some more for quite a while now, so we decided to begin with two of the biggest ones. We let them get to be full-grown roosters, so they were pretty large.
Last year Lisa did them while I was at work, so I wanted to have a part in doing the butchering this time. I had never done anything like this before, so it was a learning experience for me. I fixed up a chopping stump and had a sharp hatchet:
The milk jug was an interesting tip that Lisa just learned about at the last homeschool support group meeting. Someone suggested that it made it easier to use a milk jug with the bottom cut out and the mouth cut a bit wider, to hold the chicken still. I nailed the handle of the jug to the stump and it worked perfectly!
We decided to do only two, even though we have three more the same size, plus several more smaller ones. Lisa found last year that it was too time consuming to do more than just a couple at one time.
We dipped the birds into boiling water to help the feathers come off easily and I helped pluck them. We then used fire to singe off the remaining “fuzz”. Then the birds were ready to “gut”.
During the gutting procedure, Lisa taught us all a very good anatomy lesson. She went through all the organs and told the children what they did and how it all worked. It was a better learning experience than most public school children get by dissecting a frog in high school! Christina and Simon were especially fascinated by it and I tried to learn all I could. It did not sicken me at all, the way I remember those frogs doing back in high school. One big difference, I think, was that there was an obvious and practical purpose for doing this. (Why cut up frogs?)
I decided that most people would not want to see pictures of the anatomy lesson, but here is the finished product, all ready for the freezer:
One weighed 3.5 pounds and the other weighed 4.5 pounds, all gutted and ready to fix for dinner. So we have 8 pounds of meat for just the cost of some feed corn and a couple of hours of work.
It was a very rewarding experience for me, and we haven't even had them yet for supper!
7 comments
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Lisa on January 18, 2007 at 12:11 pm
I always find your blog so interesting. I had to laugh though when you mentioned frogs. As a little girl I remember going frogging with my "pappy" and he would catch the frogs and my "Mammy" would fix a batch of fried frogs legs.. YUM they were so good to me. Now I am not so sure. Keep up the intersting blog, it is wonderful
Lisa
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blessed mom on January 18, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I enjoyed reading about your adventures in butchering! I hope to follow suit soon! We just moved to our homestead and we hope to have boiler chickens! I have never butchered…. so it should be interesting!
Gloria
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ashley on January 18, 2007 at 12:47 pm
My parents have always butchered chickens … and we've learned alot through trial and error!
For a long time, we used an upright piece of wood with two nails close together to hold the chicken's heads for the hatchet. Then, some fellow farmers buit what we call the "cones". They are pieces of galvanized tin in a cone shape, attached to a piece of wood. This piece of wood is attached to two trees, and the six cones hand downward – rather like an upside down milk carton would.
Anyways, with this method, you put the chicken in, the head hangs downward, and you cut the head off with a very sharp knife. Being upside down aids draining….very sorry if this is too much info.
Ashley
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mrs. Joseph Wood on January 18, 2007 at 6:45 pm
We butchered 17 chickens before Winter but used a "killing cone" it was nice because there was no mess and the blood was able to just drain into a 5 gal bucket. I will try and take some photos for you so that you can see another way of doing it. It is nice to always be gleaning ideas from others and taking what works for you personally. We are always learning!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jessica on January 18, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Hello Uncle Eric and Family! Those were really neat pictures of how you prepared your soon to be dinner! I am sure they will taste great! Looking forword to seeing what is new at Purewater Hollow!
Love,
Jessica
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris on January 18, 2007 at 9:11 pm
I just read a blog about someone hoping to sell some laying hens, was that yours? You have certainly been busy with your flock! I've never done anything like this. Thanks for sharing… -Chris
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lynn on January 23, 2007 at 1:27 am
Thank you for the tip on the milk jug, I hadn't thought of that. We kill lots of chicken throughout the year. My kids always love for me to tell them all about those inners. My son says the next time we butcher chickens and rabbits he wants to measure how long and wide everything is. Nice Science project, don't you think? LOL It's so nice to have country kids who aren't afraid of all that. I was raised on a farm so I have always been around it.
Thanks for sharing about the milk jug, I will differently try it.
Blessings,
Lynn
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Great Pyrenees
(The following was a message reply to another homesteadblogger.)
Hello Debi,
We really love our Great Pyrenees dog. We had two of them but one was killed on the road. They are great guard dogs and wonderful with children. I’ve never known any that turned mean.
They were bred to be guardians and shepherds for sheep or goat herds and they keep all predators run off, including other dogs (unless they like them). I know many folks still keep them for protecting their herds, but we just like them because of their disposition. They are so gentle, ours eat out of the same bowl with 6 cats! The cats even sleep on him sometimes! If we ever get goats or sheep, he should be good for them, too. I’ve not heard of any bothering chickens and they are very loyal to friends but intimitdating to strangers.
On the negative side, they are very large, a lot of slobber, and are more nocturnal in nature. Sometimes they will bark for most of the night, roaming all around on their patrol, so close neighbors may not appreciate them. (We don’t mind because we know he is watching over our home and property. Then he naps and lays around to be petted most of the day.) Also when he was still in the puppy stage he chewed up many shoes and hoses, etc.
I don’t know much about labs. If they don’t chase chickens I would definitely keep them! Pyrenees do get along well with other family dogs when they know they are part of the family. That was why ours allowed the mutt that killed our chickens to stay around; because we adopted it into the family. The Pyrs I grew up with as a child loved our Beagle and Dachand and St. Bernard that we also had, so they would probably do well with labs, too.
You should probably talk to the owner of the dog that roughed up your hen and see if they can keep him contained. That would at least prepare them for the future if he needs to be disposed of. I could not kill ours, so I took him to the pound. He would have made a good dog for someone who did not have chickens running around. I’ve always heard that once a dog gets the taste of chicken, they will always be a chicken killer, but I did not want to believe it back then. I should have gotten rid of him at the first sign of interest in chickens…
Our chickens are laying eggs again! We are getting close to 10 a day now in the nests in our coop! It has been a welcome return.
Have fun growing your flock. Just watch out for the dogs!
God bless!
Eric
Hello Debi,
We really love our Great Pyrenees dog. We had two of them but one was killed on the road. They are great guard dogs and wonderful with children. I’ve never known any that turned mean.
They were bred to be guardians and shepherds for sheep or goat herds and they keep all predators run off, including other dogs (unless they like them). I know many folks still keep them for protecting their herds, but we just like them because of their disposition. They are so gentle, ours eat out of the same bowl with 6 cats! The cats even sleep on him sometimes! If we ever get goats or sheep, he should be good for them, too. I’ve not heard of any bothering chickens and they are very loyal to friends but intimitdating to strangers.
On the negative side, they are very large, a lot of slobber, and are more nocturnal in nature. Sometimes they will bark for most of the night, roaming all around on their patrol, so close neighbors may not appreciate them. (We don’t mind because we know he is watching over our home and property. Then he naps and lays around to be petted most of the day.) Also when he was still in the puppy stage he chewed up many shoes and hoses, etc.
I don’t know much about labs. If they don’t chase chickens I would definitely keep them! Pyrenees do get along well with other family dogs when they know they are part of the family. That was why ours allowed the mutt that killed our chickens to stay around; because we adopted it into the family. The Pyrs I grew up with as a child loved our Beagle and Dachand and St. Bernard that we also had, so they would probably do well with labs, too.
You should probably talk to the owner of the dog that roughed up your hen and see if they can keep him contained. That would at least prepare them for the future if he needs to be disposed of. I could not kill ours, so I took him to the pound. He would have made a good dog for someone who did not have chickens running around. I’ve always heard that once a dog gets the taste of chicken, they will always be a chicken killer, but I did not want to believe it back then. I should have gotten rid of him at the first sign of interest in chickens…
Our chickens are laying eggs again! We are getting close to 10 a day now in the nests in our coop! It has been a welcome return.
Have fun growing your flock. Just watch out for the dogs!
God bless!
Eric
How Much Should I Sell Good Laying Hens For?
I know most people are ordering chicks right now, but does anyone have an idea of how much good year-old laying hens should sell for? I had not thought about selling any of our hens, but a guy stopped yesterday and asked if I would sell some. They are all just a mixed breed, but he wanted the barred ones that look like Dominiques. He did not want to start with chicks, but wanted mature hens that were already laying.
He said all he can find to buy in our area are from the cockfighters who have game hens, but he is not interested in those. I turned him down, because ours have just started laying pretty good again and we are enjoying the eggs we have been getting this month (95 so far in January!). But he did give me a thought that perhaps we should hatch more then want this year just to sell in the future. Maybe there is a market? Would it be worth it? What do you all think?
ADDED ON 1-19-07
I was looking at farmgal35's blog and saw that she asked a similar question a week earlier. I don't know how I missed it originally. She got several good comments so I hope no one minds that I decided to copy the comments from her blog to here, for my own reference as well as for anyone else who may be interested. If you want to, you can go to her post directly, but I also wanted to copy and paste here.
Part of her origianal post asked:
“…What would be a good price for them? His cousin said he would take $20 ea for the hens and just give us the rooster, he didn`t say what his mom would want for hers. Is that a good price or is it expensive…”
And then these are the informative comments she recieved:
Posted by maa
We sell our one yr old hens for five dollars each. Most people around here only charge five to seven dollars for a one yr old hen. Be careful, if those hens are over three yrs old they might not be good layers or they might not be laying at all. I would just order new chicks or offer them five dollars for the hens.They usually start laying at about six months of age. You will know you have healthy chickens and the age of them if you order new. It is a lot of fun to watch those baby chicks too. Your girls would probably be more excited about the chickens if they can raise them from babies and find that very first egg.If You can get some hens for five dollars each then it would be worth taking a chance because you can eat them if they don't lay.
I hope this helps. maa's mom.
Posted by Kitty
You can order a whole bunch of chicks for the price of those two. lol. Im not sure how prices run from area to area but I think that is really high. We pay like $5 a pc. for hens. This is just my opion tho.
Kitty
Posted by farmgal35
Thanks for the advice. I think I will just order the baby chicks. I know his aunt told us that they were selling some breed of adult chickens for $45 ea at the Lucasville flea market over in Ohio. I could not believe someone would pay that much for a hen. But you always pay twice a much for stuff like that over at that flea market; that is why we never go. I am so glad I posted because not knowing anything about prices and things, I am so glad to have friends on here that I can ask. Thanks sheryl
Posted by HuberHof
Hi, I just came across your chicken post and I wanted to add that if you could find year old laying hens for around $5 -7 (that's usually the going rate) then I would suggest buying them. It's a lot cheaper than raising them from babies I find. Usually by the time we order chicks, pay for the hydro to run the heat lamps and feed them for about 8 months until they start to lay steadily it costs the same or more than just buying the ready to lay hens and it saves on the work to. But then if you love to raise the babies and you have younger children that would enjoy it then there are the benefits to going that way as well : )
Good luck on you chicky venture!
Blessings, HuberHof
1 comment
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Debi on January 17, 2007 at 10:30 pm
sell them for 9.98, the shipping they have is crazy. 45.85 for ONE bird. Found my catalog. Oh and these are redstar started pullets, 17 weeks old. If that helps you on pricing. I would think that you should be able to get at least the 10-20 bucks for a good layer.
I don't know. I was blessed with the grown birds we have. Not sure that I have seen anyone around here that sells any thing but gaming birds.
Blessings,
Debi
Edited by countrydreamn on Thursday, January 18, 2007 at 9:53 AM
He said all he can find to buy in our area are from the cockfighters who have game hens, but he is not interested in those. I turned him down, because ours have just started laying pretty good again and we are enjoying the eggs we have been getting this month (95 so far in January!). But he did give me a thought that perhaps we should hatch more then want this year just to sell in the future. Maybe there is a market? Would it be worth it? What do you all think?
ADDED ON 1-19-07
I was looking at farmgal35's blog and saw that she asked a similar question a week earlier. I don't know how I missed it originally. She got several good comments so I hope no one minds that I decided to copy the comments from her blog to here, for my own reference as well as for anyone else who may be interested. If you want to, you can go to her post directly, but I also wanted to copy and paste here.
Part of her origianal post asked:
“…What would be a good price for them? His cousin said he would take $20 ea for the hens and just give us the rooster, he didn`t say what his mom would want for hers. Is that a good price or is it expensive…”
And then these are the informative comments she recieved:
Posted by maa
We sell our one yr old hens for five dollars each. Most people around here only charge five to seven dollars for a one yr old hen. Be careful, if those hens are over three yrs old they might not be good layers or they might not be laying at all. I would just order new chicks or offer them five dollars for the hens.They usually start laying at about six months of age. You will know you have healthy chickens and the age of them if you order new. It is a lot of fun to watch those baby chicks too. Your girls would probably be more excited about the chickens if they can raise them from babies and find that very first egg.If You can get some hens for five dollars each then it would be worth taking a chance because you can eat them if they don't lay.
I hope this helps. maa's mom.
Posted by Kitty
You can order a whole bunch of chicks for the price of those two. lol. Im not sure how prices run from area to area but I think that is really high. We pay like $5 a pc. for hens. This is just my opion tho.
Kitty
Posted by farmgal35
Thanks for the advice. I think I will just order the baby chicks. I know his aunt told us that they were selling some breed of adult chickens for $45 ea at the Lucasville flea market over in Ohio. I could not believe someone would pay that much for a hen. But you always pay twice a much for stuff like that over at that flea market; that is why we never go. I am so glad I posted because not knowing anything about prices and things, I am so glad to have friends on here that I can ask. Thanks sheryl
Posted by HuberHof
Hi, I just came across your chicken post and I wanted to add that if you could find year old laying hens for around $5 -7 (that's usually the going rate) then I would suggest buying them. It's a lot cheaper than raising them from babies I find. Usually by the time we order chicks, pay for the hydro to run the heat lamps and feed them for about 8 months until they start to lay steadily it costs the same or more than just buying the ready to lay hens and it saves on the work to. But then if you love to raise the babies and you have younger children that would enjoy it then there are the benefits to going that way as well : )
Good luck on you chicky venture!
Blessings, HuberHof
1 comment
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Debi on January 17, 2007 at 10:30 pm
sell them for 9.98, the shipping they have is crazy. 45.85 for ONE bird. Found my catalog. Oh and these are redstar started pullets, 17 weeks old. If that helps you on pricing. I would think that you should be able to get at least the 10-20 bucks for a good layer.
I don't know. I was blessed with the grown birds we have. Not sure that I have seen anyone around here that sells any thing but gaming birds.
Blessings,
Debi
Edited by countrydreamn on Thursday, January 18, 2007 at 9:53 AM
Our RECC “Chips” In To Benefit Our Homestead
We have found so many very nice people around here and I am beginning to think that most people enjoy helping others when they can. Our RECC has been cutting trees and limbs that may be in the way of their wires. We used to hate to see them coming because they usually cut trees on our property that we do not want cut! This year our impression of them has changed considerably.
You may have seen them with those giant chipper trucks that chop up the branches instead of leaving them to clutter up people's yards. This year we asked some of the workers what they did with all those wood chips they get from the branches they have to clean up. They usually take them different places, to get rid of them, but they were willing to let us have some if we wanted!
We jumped at the chance to get some free mulch! We figured that we would be able to find many uses for wood chips around our homestead. The guys working for our RECC are very nice and under appreciated. It seemed that when they found out how pleased we were with what they were doing, they started to go out of their way to deliver chips to us!
I took some pictures of our RECC “chipping” in to help us:
And here they are riding off into the sunset. Who was that masked man? I barely got a chance to thank him.
The children enjoyed seeing the big truck in action, but they enjoyed playing on our mountains of mulch also! They stopped long enough to pose for some pictures:
They brought another small load after these were taken, and I hope they bring more.
We plan to use the chips to mulch in the garden, around the fruit trees, and to put down on some of our favorite trails through the woods. They also will be a help to our driveway. We are putting some of them down to take care of our abundant mud. We need new gravel, but we don't want to gravel the entire parking lot, and I think the wood chips base will help the gravel later on.
You can see some of our driveway mud puddles in the pictures above. We decided that should be the first place we use the chips:
Here is what I hope will be a “before” shot of our muddiest area. This spot has never been graveled, but we have not had any problem with mud in previous years when we were not driving the truck up to the barn often like we are doing now.
If they bring another load we plan on letting them dump it right there in that huge mud hole, and then we will spread it out from there.
A hugh “thank you” is in order to those hard working fellows from our RECC. I plan to make a special trip to buy some Coke-a-colas to put in our refrigerator just so we can have some to give to the guys the next time they come. It would be a small thing, but I think they would appreciate it, and I would like them to know how much we appreciate them. (I know they like Coke because we have found a couple of cans in the mulch!)
We also thank the Lord for another one of His unexpected blessings!
You may have seen them with those giant chipper trucks that chop up the branches instead of leaving them to clutter up people's yards. This year we asked some of the workers what they did with all those wood chips they get from the branches they have to clean up. They usually take them different places, to get rid of them, but they were willing to let us have some if we wanted!
We jumped at the chance to get some free mulch! We figured that we would be able to find many uses for wood chips around our homestead. The guys working for our RECC are very nice and under appreciated. It seemed that when they found out how pleased we were with what they were doing, they started to go out of their way to deliver chips to us!
I took some pictures of our RECC “chipping” in to help us:
And here they are riding off into the sunset. Who was that masked man? I barely got a chance to thank him.
The children enjoyed seeing the big truck in action, but they enjoyed playing on our mountains of mulch also! They stopped long enough to pose for some pictures:
They brought another small load after these were taken, and I hope they bring more.
We plan to use the chips to mulch in the garden, around the fruit trees, and to put down on some of our favorite trails through the woods. They also will be a help to our driveway. We are putting some of them down to take care of our abundant mud. We need new gravel, but we don't want to gravel the entire parking lot, and I think the wood chips base will help the gravel later on.
You can see some of our driveway mud puddles in the pictures above. We decided that should be the first place we use the chips:
Here is what I hope will be a “before” shot of our muddiest area. This spot has never been graveled, but we have not had any problem with mud in previous years when we were not driving the truck up to the barn often like we are doing now.
If they bring another load we plan on letting them dump it right there in that huge mud hole, and then we will spread it out from there.
A hugh “thank you” is in order to those hard working fellows from our RECC. I plan to make a special trip to buy some Coke-a-colas to put in our refrigerator just so we can have some to give to the guys the next time they come. It would be a small thing, but I think they would appreciate it, and I would like them to know how much we appreciate them. (I know they like Coke because we have found a couple of cans in the mulch!)
We also thank the Lord for another one of His unexpected blessings!
Thursday, January 11, 2007
What Did Snow Look Like?
I am beginning to get discouraged about the lack of snow here. We had one day in December when we saw some snow flurries and we had a couple of snow showers Tuesday, but nothing has stuck on the ground. We have had temperatures in the 50s and 60s more commonly this month, and only a few nights below freezing. I like snow and I am missing it. We all are.
So, to cheer myself up, I found some pictures that Erica took last winter. We did not have much snow last year, but we had a little.
Here were some of our trees:
And here is our dirt road up the mountain:
I love to see the snow stick to every twig:
Here is another pretty one. I would title it “Snow Flower”:
I am glad that Erica has a good eye for photography. It helps me to look at her snow pictures on these 60 degree January days.
I'm dreaming of a white…..day (any day)
Just like the ones I used to know.
Maybe we will have some new snow soon? (The weather man is not cooperating, but I can still dream.)
1 comment
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Morning Sunshine on January 11, 2007 at 8:58 am
lol – I saw your title and thought… him too? Man, it is depressing to be in January and not have enough snow to even see unless you are looking in the crevices where the sun never reaches!
But before I had a chance to actually READ your post, I noticed, IT IS SNOWING this morning here!!! :):) good luck on your end!
So, to cheer myself up, I found some pictures that Erica took last winter. We did not have much snow last year, but we had a little.
Here were some of our trees:
And here is our dirt road up the mountain:
I love to see the snow stick to every twig:
Here is another pretty one. I would title it “Snow Flower”:
I am glad that Erica has a good eye for photography. It helps me to look at her snow pictures on these 60 degree January days.
I'm dreaming of a white…..day (any day)
Just like the ones I used to know.
Maybe we will have some new snow soon? (The weather man is not cooperating, but I can still dream.)
1 comment
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Morning Sunshine on January 11, 2007 at 8:58 am
lol – I saw your title and thought… him too? Man, it is depressing to be in January and not have enough snow to even see unless you are looking in the crevices where the sun never reaches!
But before I had a chance to actually READ your post, I noticed, IT IS SNOWING this morning here!!! :):) good luck on your end!
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Out With the Old (Mailbox) In With the New
We have started this New Year out with a new mailbox! This is more than just a story of putting up a new mailbox, however. It is a story more about teaching a lesson in the grand hillbilly style, and why our old mailbox has looked like this for years:
You just might be a redneck...
When we moved in to our new home at Pure Water Hollow in 1993 we did not like the mailbox that was there because it was old and dented and rusty. You might say it was a "redneck" mailbox. We purchased a brand new mailbox and we were proud to put our name and address on it with the nice stick-on black and gold letters.
It was not long, however, when the Malevolent Mailbox Maniacs struck, who are dedicated to the downfall of eastern Kentucky mailboxes. They have no respect for the United States Postal Service!
We awoke one morning in 1995 to a smashed in dent on one side of our beautiful mailbox! I straightened the dent the best I could, but then it happened again the next weekend! I began to notice that almost all of the mailboxes for miles up and down the road had been bashed in. Some had actually been decapitated from the shoulders of their posts and were completely absent!
The pattern continued during subsequent weekends. Each time our mailbox was struck, I smoothed out the dents the best I could and added as many reinforcing nails that the post could hold.
Something clearly needed to be done, but I had no idea that I would be the one to do it...
It was on a Friday night, if I recall correctly. Since it was about 2:00 a.m., I guess it was actually Saturday morning. It was more common for us to stay up late back then and we happened to still be awake this early morning. We had just turned off the lights but had not yet gone to bed when we heard a motor slow down followed by the BLAM of our mailbox being hit by a club or something. We could tell the vehicle was traveling south from the sound of the engine.
Our house is about 150 feet away from the road and our 500-watt floodlight reaches out to the end of the driveway and lights it up like it was day. We turned the floodlight on and in just a few more seconds we saw a pick-up truck with people in the back slow down at our mailbox and clubbed it again! They had turned around just down the road and come back to hit our mailbox on the other side! I could not believe that they did that with our house lights on and the floodlight shining out to the road on them!
Their boldness concerned me.
I loaded my double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun, and my wife and I decided to go out to the mailbox to examine the damage. The shotgun was just for some security and peace of mind since it was so late and I wasn't sure what was going on exactly. When we heard a vehicle coming from the direction the pickup had just gone, we stepped behind the branches of a maple tree that was near the mailbox. Back then the tree was small enough that it acted as a light screen from the road. We could not believe that the vehicle was slowing way down as it approached our mailbox! What audacity, to turn around and come back a third time all within 10 minutes!
Sure enough, it was a pick-up truck with about four guys riding in the back of it with sticks and baseball bats, and believe it or not, they slowed to almost a stop and let our mailbox have it again!
This was when we jumped out from behind the tree, me with the shotgun leveled at the four heads in the back of the truck, and my wife with the blood curdling war whoop of, "WE'VE GOT YOU NOW!!!" as only she is capable of screaming!
We were about 10 feet away from them! I let off one of the barrels of the shotgun with a deafening roar, aimed just barely above their heads. I'm not sure what they screamed, but the truck almost ran off the road as the driver floored the gas pedal. I then shot the other barrel above the truck just for good measure as it sped away. The boys in the back were on their bellies in the bed of the truck!
I do not advocate violence (usually). But a message needed to be sent to those vandals that smashing people's mailboxes was not the healthiest form of recreation. It just so happened that we were in the right place, at the right time, with the right shotgun, to deliver that message.
Perhaps we scared some sense into them, hillbilly style!
To the best of my knowledge, no one on our road had another mailbox smashed after that night. I never did find out who those malevolent mailbox maniacs were, but I would like to hope that they all settled down and are now upstanding, respectable members of our community!
The sad thing is, I never replaced that beat up mailbox. I guess I was half-afraid that as soon as I bought a new one, someone would come along and smash it. (Or maybe I'm just a redneck at heart.)
We eventually got used to having a decrepit mailbox and back a few years ago when the country was experiencing those bombs in the mail we were ahead of the game. The U. S. Post Service recommended that patrons remove the door of their mailbox because the trigger for the bombs was when the air rushed in when you opened the mailbox. Shucks, the door to our mailbox had fallen off years earlier, so we were not worried!
My wife and I had both grown up with a giant mailbox at our homes, and we always thought that the next mailbox we got should be a large one. No more packages rubber-banded to the outside of the box and no more damaged, folded magazines crammed into the mailbox.
My aunt had given us some Lowe's gift cards for Christmas (thanks) and Lowe's had just the mailbox we wanted. Simon and Christina are often the ones who go out to get the mail for us and they seemed to be the most excited about getting a new one. Simon was my helper for this project. Here he is with the new mailbox next to our old one. I think you can tell that it is larger than the one we used to have!
Here we have Simon working on getting the old one off, while keeping an eye out for on-coming traffic. We have had so many pets hit out on this road that we are a bit nervous when we are out on it for very long.
Simon was a good worker on this project!
It was late by the time we finished, but the new mailbox was up, and it looks good. It is no longer a “redneck” mailbox, but it is more functional.
We are hoping that there is not a new band of Malevolent Mailbox Maniacs patrolling our part of eastern Kentucky, looking for nice, new, functional mailboxes like ours. I really don't want to have to teach the “do not bash mailboxes” lesson to a new generation of vandals.
The way things are going now-a-days in our society, they would come back the next day… Not with baseball bats, but with lawyers!
1 comment
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Marcella on January 13, 2007 at 8:31 am
I love the mailbox story! And the new box looks very nice.
You just might be a redneck...
When we moved in to our new home at Pure Water Hollow in 1993 we did not like the mailbox that was there because it was old and dented and rusty. You might say it was a "redneck" mailbox. We purchased a brand new mailbox and we were proud to put our name and address on it with the nice stick-on black and gold letters.
It was not long, however, when the Malevolent Mailbox Maniacs struck, who are dedicated to the downfall of eastern Kentucky mailboxes. They have no respect for the United States Postal Service!
We awoke one morning in 1995 to a smashed in dent on one side of our beautiful mailbox! I straightened the dent the best I could, but then it happened again the next weekend! I began to notice that almost all of the mailboxes for miles up and down the road had been bashed in. Some had actually been decapitated from the shoulders of their posts and were completely absent!
The pattern continued during subsequent weekends. Each time our mailbox was struck, I smoothed out the dents the best I could and added as many reinforcing nails that the post could hold.
Something clearly needed to be done, but I had no idea that I would be the one to do it...
It was on a Friday night, if I recall correctly. Since it was about 2:00 a.m., I guess it was actually Saturday morning. It was more common for us to stay up late back then and we happened to still be awake this early morning. We had just turned off the lights but had not yet gone to bed when we heard a motor slow down followed by the BLAM of our mailbox being hit by a club or something. We could tell the vehicle was traveling south from the sound of the engine.
Our house is about 150 feet away from the road and our 500-watt floodlight reaches out to the end of the driveway and lights it up like it was day. We turned the floodlight on and in just a few more seconds we saw a pick-up truck with people in the back slow down at our mailbox and clubbed it again! They had turned around just down the road and come back to hit our mailbox on the other side! I could not believe that they did that with our house lights on and the floodlight shining out to the road on them!
Their boldness concerned me.
I loaded my double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun, and my wife and I decided to go out to the mailbox to examine the damage. The shotgun was just for some security and peace of mind since it was so late and I wasn't sure what was going on exactly. When we heard a vehicle coming from the direction the pickup had just gone, we stepped behind the branches of a maple tree that was near the mailbox. Back then the tree was small enough that it acted as a light screen from the road. We could not believe that the vehicle was slowing way down as it approached our mailbox! What audacity, to turn around and come back a third time all within 10 minutes!
Sure enough, it was a pick-up truck with about four guys riding in the back of it with sticks and baseball bats, and believe it or not, they slowed to almost a stop and let our mailbox have it again!
This was when we jumped out from behind the tree, me with the shotgun leveled at the four heads in the back of the truck, and my wife with the blood curdling war whoop of, "WE'VE GOT YOU NOW!!!" as only she is capable of screaming!
We were about 10 feet away from them! I let off one of the barrels of the shotgun with a deafening roar, aimed just barely above their heads. I'm not sure what they screamed, but the truck almost ran off the road as the driver floored the gas pedal. I then shot the other barrel above the truck just for good measure as it sped away. The boys in the back were on their bellies in the bed of the truck!
I do not advocate violence (usually). But a message needed to be sent to those vandals that smashing people's mailboxes was not the healthiest form of recreation. It just so happened that we were in the right place, at the right time, with the right shotgun, to deliver that message.
Perhaps we scared some sense into them, hillbilly style!
To the best of my knowledge, no one on our road had another mailbox smashed after that night. I never did find out who those malevolent mailbox maniacs were, but I would like to hope that they all settled down and are now upstanding, respectable members of our community!
The sad thing is, I never replaced that beat up mailbox. I guess I was half-afraid that as soon as I bought a new one, someone would come along and smash it. (Or maybe I'm just a redneck at heart.)
We eventually got used to having a decrepit mailbox and back a few years ago when the country was experiencing those bombs in the mail we were ahead of the game. The U. S. Post Service recommended that patrons remove the door of their mailbox because the trigger for the bombs was when the air rushed in when you opened the mailbox. Shucks, the door to our mailbox had fallen off years earlier, so we were not worried!
My wife and I had both grown up with a giant mailbox at our homes, and we always thought that the next mailbox we got should be a large one. No more packages rubber-banded to the outside of the box and no more damaged, folded magazines crammed into the mailbox.
My aunt had given us some Lowe's gift cards for Christmas (thanks) and Lowe's had just the mailbox we wanted. Simon and Christina are often the ones who go out to get the mail for us and they seemed to be the most excited about getting a new one. Simon was my helper for this project. Here he is with the new mailbox next to our old one. I think you can tell that it is larger than the one we used to have!
Here we have Simon working on getting the old one off, while keeping an eye out for on-coming traffic. We have had so many pets hit out on this road that we are a bit nervous when we are out on it for very long.
Simon was a good worker on this project!
It was late by the time we finished, but the new mailbox was up, and it looks good. It is no longer a “redneck” mailbox, but it is more functional.
We are hoping that there is not a new band of Malevolent Mailbox Maniacs patrolling our part of eastern Kentucky, looking for nice, new, functional mailboxes like ours. I really don't want to have to teach the “do not bash mailboxes” lesson to a new generation of vandals.
The way things are going now-a-days in our society, they would come back the next day… Not with baseball bats, but with lawyers!
1 comment
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marcella on January 13, 2007 at 8:31 am
I love the mailbox story! And the new box looks very nice.
Friday, January 05, 2007
Christmas Traditions
Christmas 2006 has now come and gone and we are charging ahead into the year of 2007! As usual, we made many wonderful memories visiting with family and friends over the holidays, and partaking in some of our holiday traditions.
I thought I would take a few minutes to record some of the traditions that we again enjoyed this year. Some are common, but I think some are a bit unique. They are all special to us.
We always enjoy visiting our family in the Cincinnati area around Christmas time. My uncle and aunt and my brother and his family met us at my mom and step-dad's house. We had a very nice time and a superb dinner. Here is a picture of my children and nieces with my mom:
Thanks, Mom, for the wonderful visit, food, and gifts!
We also had a great visit at my Dad's with him, my step-mom, and my aunt. Somehow, we forgot to get the camera out, though. Thanks to you all, also, for the wonderful visit, food and gifts! It was a special time that we will treasure. My aunt brought the peppermint ice-cream, which has become somewhat of a tradition at Christmas. This was the first Christmas without Grandma and Grandpa and they always enjoyed peppermint ice-cream for Christmas. We all missed them but are thankful for all the memories we created with them throughout the years!
We have a common tradition of putting up a Christmas tree, but we also put up a “Happy Birthday” banner near the tree every year on Christmas Eve and we usually do not put up the star until Christmas Eve. We traditionally bring out the children's presents from us on Christmas Eve after the children have gone to bed.
Here was our 2006 tree:
We use many ornaments that were passed down from my childhood, which makes it more special to me, as well as newer ones, too. The “Happy Birthday” banner is above the tree. We have always tried hard to remember that Christmas is really a celebration of Christ's birthday.
One of the things we have done for many years is celebrating the birthday of Jesus with a giant chocolate chip cookie decorated. Since we use cakes for everyone else in the family, we decided long ago to do something special and different for Jesus. Here was the 2006 cookie:
By the way, the candle in the picture is the candle I received for being a blogger of the week. It is a soy wax candle with Christmas Tree scent from Homestead Originals in a half-pint Mason jar. It is a neat candle. At the time of this picture I had burned it for about 9 hours already. I like how the wax disappears as it burns. Perhaps I will post more about the candle later, and let you know how it did, after I have used more of it up.
Another tradition of ours is to not bring the baby Jesus out for our Nativity Scene until Christmas Eve. We traditionally do various different things with our wise men also, although this year we put them all together with the shepherds. We have two Nativity Scene sets; one that I grew up with and also the one that belonged to Lisa's mom. This year we used the one Lisa grew up with. Here it is:
You can't make out all the figures very well in this picture because of the garland that I used for the straw, but it is a very nice set. The figures are large, (Joseph is about 7 inches tall), even though they look small in this picture. I guess part of the reason they look small is because you can not tell how huge the book is on top. The book on the top part of the table is a giant family Bible that belonged to my grandmother's, mother. I think it is the thickest book I have ever seen. I feel very blessed that she wanted me to have it.
The final tradition I would like to share about is our “Christmas on the Mountain” celebration we try to do every year. It started out just with my family on Christmas Eve, but we were having such a good time that we started to invite others to come. This year we did not get to do it until a few days after Christmas, which actually worked out better for some of the people who wanted to come. Members of three other families joined with us this year, so with my six there were 15 of us all together.
We hike up into the holler carrying lanterns for light, making stops along the way to read parts of the Christmas story and light fireworks and sing carols to accentuate certain parts of the story. Whenever an angel appears in the story, I have a firework go off to coincide with the angel's appearing.
We stop and reflect on Mary's part and have a firework go off when Gabriel appears to her. This year Lisa and Erica sang part of “Mary Did You Know” at this stop.
Then we walk a bit further and stop to reflect about the angel coming to Joseph in a dream, with a firework. We then read about the taxation and go along with Mary and Joseph on the long road to Bethlehem, and sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem”. The road was a bit muddy this year…
My favorite stop is with the shepherds. They always get more than one firework because a heavenly host of angels appeared to them! We generally sing “Hark the Herald, Angels Sing” there.
We move along with the shepherds to see the thing that was told them and stop at our barn, where we find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger, and of course sing “Away In A Manger”. This was the first year we had some authentic barn smells to go along with the story! (Even though they would not have had pigs there.)
We had a special surprise this year in the barn. Some of our party had slipped out ahead of us and assumed the rolls of Mary and Joseph:
(By the way, the baby is lying in our first feed trough we were using for our pigs. We have made a much larger one now. Perhaps I will show it in a future post.)
The shepherds then leave the manger rejoicing to tell abroad what they had seen and heard. This is when we always sing “Go Tell It On the Mountain” and then proceed to further climb up the mountain with the good news.
We usually stop a bit further and demonstrate the star the wise men followed with a firework, read their part of the story and sing “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” and “We Three Kings”.
Pictures of fireworks do not usually turn out very well for us, but here are a couple of examples:
When we finally reach the clearing, we have two big and hot fires going (that we started earlier in the day), one to sit around and roast marshmallows with and the other to have hot chocolate on. We usually have other snacks there, too, sing more Christmas carols, and light off many more fire works and sparklers.
Looking at the pictures, I see that none of them turned out very well, but maybe you can still get a feeling for it. Here we are at the clearing:
We had a blessed time, even if it was after most people had stopped thinking about the Christmas story. The truths of Christmas are really things we should keep with us all year, anyway, and not just on the 25th of December.
I think it is important to have some traditions that we can look forward to together as a family. We actually have several more things that we traditionally do as a family this time of year, but I have shared what I wanted to for this post. If I include much else, then I will not get this entry up for many more days, and I don't want to wait any longer! I have missed blogging these past few weeks and I have several more things I would like to record soon. Hopefully time will start to become more available to me, but lately I have been kept pretty busy!
God Bless, everyone, and have a Happy and Godly New Year!
1 comment
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Jessica on January 7, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Hello Uncle Eric and Family! It looks like you all had a Wonderful Christmas! I love all the traditions you do! (Plus the Great pictures you added!) Thank you for sharing how you celebrate Christ's birth! I hope you all have a great year in 2007!
Love,
Jessica
I thought I would take a few minutes to record some of the traditions that we again enjoyed this year. Some are common, but I think some are a bit unique. They are all special to us.
We always enjoy visiting our family in the Cincinnati area around Christmas time. My uncle and aunt and my brother and his family met us at my mom and step-dad's house. We had a very nice time and a superb dinner. Here is a picture of my children and nieces with my mom:
Thanks, Mom, for the wonderful visit, food, and gifts!
We also had a great visit at my Dad's with him, my step-mom, and my aunt. Somehow, we forgot to get the camera out, though. Thanks to you all, also, for the wonderful visit, food and gifts! It was a special time that we will treasure. My aunt brought the peppermint ice-cream, which has become somewhat of a tradition at Christmas. This was the first Christmas without Grandma and Grandpa and they always enjoyed peppermint ice-cream for Christmas. We all missed them but are thankful for all the memories we created with them throughout the years!
We have a common tradition of putting up a Christmas tree, but we also put up a “Happy Birthday” banner near the tree every year on Christmas Eve and we usually do not put up the star until Christmas Eve. We traditionally bring out the children's presents from us on Christmas Eve after the children have gone to bed.
Here was our 2006 tree:
We use many ornaments that were passed down from my childhood, which makes it more special to me, as well as newer ones, too. The “Happy Birthday” banner is above the tree. We have always tried hard to remember that Christmas is really a celebration of Christ's birthday.
One of the things we have done for many years is celebrating the birthday of Jesus with a giant chocolate chip cookie decorated. Since we use cakes for everyone else in the family, we decided long ago to do something special and different for Jesus. Here was the 2006 cookie:
By the way, the candle in the picture is the candle I received for being a blogger of the week. It is a soy wax candle with Christmas Tree scent from Homestead Originals in a half-pint Mason jar. It is a neat candle. At the time of this picture I had burned it for about 9 hours already. I like how the wax disappears as it burns. Perhaps I will post more about the candle later, and let you know how it did, after I have used more of it up.
Another tradition of ours is to not bring the baby Jesus out for our Nativity Scene until Christmas Eve. We traditionally do various different things with our wise men also, although this year we put them all together with the shepherds. We have two Nativity Scene sets; one that I grew up with and also the one that belonged to Lisa's mom. This year we used the one Lisa grew up with. Here it is:
You can't make out all the figures very well in this picture because of the garland that I used for the straw, but it is a very nice set. The figures are large, (Joseph is about 7 inches tall), even though they look small in this picture. I guess part of the reason they look small is because you can not tell how huge the book is on top. The book on the top part of the table is a giant family Bible that belonged to my grandmother's, mother. I think it is the thickest book I have ever seen. I feel very blessed that she wanted me to have it.
The final tradition I would like to share about is our “Christmas on the Mountain” celebration we try to do every year. It started out just with my family on Christmas Eve, but we were having such a good time that we started to invite others to come. This year we did not get to do it until a few days after Christmas, which actually worked out better for some of the people who wanted to come. Members of three other families joined with us this year, so with my six there were 15 of us all together.
We hike up into the holler carrying lanterns for light, making stops along the way to read parts of the Christmas story and light fireworks and sing carols to accentuate certain parts of the story. Whenever an angel appears in the story, I have a firework go off to coincide with the angel's appearing.
We stop and reflect on Mary's part and have a firework go off when Gabriel appears to her. This year Lisa and Erica sang part of “Mary Did You Know” at this stop.
Then we walk a bit further and stop to reflect about the angel coming to Joseph in a dream, with a firework. We then read about the taxation and go along with Mary and Joseph on the long road to Bethlehem, and sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem”. The road was a bit muddy this year…
My favorite stop is with the shepherds. They always get more than one firework because a heavenly host of angels appeared to them! We generally sing “Hark the Herald, Angels Sing” there.
We move along with the shepherds to see the thing that was told them and stop at our barn, where we find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger, and of course sing “Away In A Manger”. This was the first year we had some authentic barn smells to go along with the story! (Even though they would not have had pigs there.)
We had a special surprise this year in the barn. Some of our party had slipped out ahead of us and assumed the rolls of Mary and Joseph:
(By the way, the baby is lying in our first feed trough we were using for our pigs. We have made a much larger one now. Perhaps I will show it in a future post.)
The shepherds then leave the manger rejoicing to tell abroad what they had seen and heard. This is when we always sing “Go Tell It On the Mountain” and then proceed to further climb up the mountain with the good news.
We usually stop a bit further and demonstrate the star the wise men followed with a firework, read their part of the story and sing “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” and “We Three Kings”.
Pictures of fireworks do not usually turn out very well for us, but here are a couple of examples:
When we finally reach the clearing, we have two big and hot fires going (that we started earlier in the day), one to sit around and roast marshmallows with and the other to have hot chocolate on. We usually have other snacks there, too, sing more Christmas carols, and light off many more fire works and sparklers.
Looking at the pictures, I see that none of them turned out very well, but maybe you can still get a feeling for it. Here we are at the clearing:
We had a blessed time, even if it was after most people had stopped thinking about the Christmas story. The truths of Christmas are really things we should keep with us all year, anyway, and not just on the 25th of December.
I think it is important to have some traditions that we can look forward to together as a family. We actually have several more things that we traditionally do as a family this time of year, but I have shared what I wanted to for this post. If I include much else, then I will not get this entry up for many more days, and I don't want to wait any longer! I have missed blogging these past few weeks and I have several more things I would like to record soon. Hopefully time will start to become more available to me, but lately I have been kept pretty busy!
God Bless, everyone, and have a Happy and Godly New Year!
1 comment
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Jessica on January 7, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Hello Uncle Eric and Family! It looks like you all had a Wonderful Christmas! I love all the traditions you do! (Plus the Great pictures you added!) Thank you for sharing how you celebrate Christ's birth! I hope you all have a great year in 2007!
Love,
Jessica
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