Where is the wisdom of wisdom teeth?
It’s when you wait to have them pulled for a time when you can pay for it! Today was payday, once again, and it was also the day my wonderful wife, Lisa, chose to have one of her wisdom teeth pulled. It cost $85 for the dentist to do the job but she is figuring that we are pretty good on groceries since she just went out last week. The previous shopping trip did us fairly well for three weeks, so we should be OK spending only $115 instead of $200 for the next couple of weeks. Plus we are in good shape in the gas department since I’m off work for the next week and won’t be driving much.
I did fill up the van today; all 28 gallons! I have gotten 30 gallons in it before so we still had about 25 miles we could have driven without running out of gas! One interesting thing is that the van can only go 330 miles on its tank of gas, which is the same distance my car can go! The difference is that the van’s tank is twice as big as the car’s tank! And so, the van gets exactly half the miles per gallon that the car gets. To check, I always divide the miles driven by the gallons used. This time the van has gotten 11.8 miles per gallon. Sometimes it has been a bit lower. Usually around 11 mpg with the car usually getting around 22 mpg.
Now for the good news at this gas fill-up: The price at the pump was $2.11/gallon. Since we were spending $85 on the dentist I decided it was a good time to cash in some of my “Speedy Rewards” points. I had plenty to get the coupon for 50 cents off per gallon. Since I got 28 gallons, I saved $14! So instead of paying $2.11/gal. , I only paid $1.61/gallon! This is the third time I’ve been able to cash in points for cheaper gas since they started doing that last year. The other times I waited until I had enough points to get $1.00 off per gallon, but they have changed that now and 50 cents is the highest amount they do. I won’t need to make too many purchases before I will again be over the amount for the 50 cents off coupon!
I know it is a gimmick, but Speedway has the cheapest price in town and is where I usually get gas anyway and the savings are very real, if not very often. (The station that is usually cheaper by 2 cents is not on the way to work.) The card really came in handy last summer when we went out to Oklahoma. Speedway was usually the cheapest station at most stops and that was back when we were usually paying around $2.90/ gallon. The RV was only getting 10 miles per gallon so we purchased a lot of gas and therefore racked up a lot of points!
We are looking forward to staying home next week and hopefully getting some things done that we have been wanting to. The children will still keep up their studies but it is always a bit different when I am home. Lisa and I will be able to take turns a bit with the schooling and working times but we also like to work together as much as possible! I hope we will have good weather next week!
ADDED ON 10-16
(As it turned out we spent pretty much the whole time on painting the kitchen, which was a school project for the children in itself.)
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Castration of Five Pigs: An Eyewitness Report (parental discretion advised)
I don't know how many people really think about castrating pigs; I had not given it much thought in the past, being more of a city boy. Apparently it is common practice among hog farmers. We would like to raise hogs in Pure Water Hollow, someday, so I have been trying to learn all I can about the process. I did not grow up around hogs so I have much to learn. I did not even know that castration of pigs was a needful thing until last month!
I work at a public high school that has an excellent agriculture department. (Yes, there is a bit of irony that I believe strongly in home-schooling, and home-school our own children, yet make my living at a government school: future post perhaps?) One of the ag department's projects involve raising hogs. They have 9 males and one female pig that are all 20-40 pounds right now, all being raised for butchering.
I had watched one of our ag. teachers, Mr. Wetzel, castrate a pig last month and today I was going to be able to observe the other ag. teacher, Mr. Kirk, at work. He had to go out to K-Mart to get some more iodine, so I was in charge of the class until he got back. I was to walk with the class out to the farm and he was going to meet us there. Before we went out to the pigs I explained the three reasons I had been told last month why it is a needful thing to do:
1) It stops the sex drive so they won't mate with any of their litter-mates; 2) It will make them gentler and more docile and therefore they will gain more weight; and 3) If they were left in tact the testosterone will spoil the meat to the point that the smell makes it inedible. Most of the students seemed to already be aware of these things, but at least I set the stage for the procedure at the farm.
When we got to the hog trailer, it was surprising how clean it was and without much of a foul odor. Out of the 9 male pigs, 3 were already barrows now, which I have learned is the name for a castrated pig. One was done last month when I observed, and the other two were done in an earlier class today when I couldn't get away from my duties. The three that had had the procedure done looked just as healthy and happy as the other six, which were to become barrows at this moment. The only thing that gave a couple of them away was the dried iodine on their legs from earlier today.
One of the students got in the hog area and cornered one of the pigs and picked it up. The pig squealed wildly when this happened, but calmed down pretty soon. This was a larger one, close to 40 pounds, and Mr. Kirk commented that it would have been better for the pigs had they been castrated at just a couple of weeks old, but now would be fine also. The student was told to hold the pig up by its hind legs about chest level with the pig's belly facing out toward the teacher. The teacher felt the area where the testicles were and used a finger to get behind one of the testicles. He then took a scalpel and made an incision where he was pushing behind the testicle and also cut into the testicle to make it pop out of the incision. He then lightly scraped the vas deferens and tissue connecting to the testicle until it was severed and fell to the ground. (At this point one of the students, who happened to be a macho, athletic type, left the scene and lost his lunch, so to speak. He stayed around the corner, very pale, out of the sight of the pigs for the remainder of the castrating session. I was impressed that no one made fun of him.) Mr. Kirk then pushed from behind on the other testicle to the same hole made by the incision and then he gently sliced into the testicle to make it pop out like the first one did, and then he lightly scraped the vas tissue, and let that testicle fall to the ground. It is important to scrape instead of make a clean cut so the blood will coagulate better and not bleed as much. He then rinsed the incision with iodine to help sterilize it and also gave it a 2 cc injection of an antibiotic in the pig's hip. The pig was then released back into the lot with the rest and he seemed just fine! He walked around like nothing happened. Mr. Kirk said that the iodine rinse probably hurt the worst. The pig was so excited with such an adrenalin rush when he was caught that he does not feel much pain during the procedure if it is done quickly!
We watched Mr. Kirk castrate the next one, which was a bit smaller, and another one after that. Each time it was pretty much the same as described above. The only real difference was that the student holding the pig up by the legs got tired and other students had to take turns holding the pigs up. After seeing it done three times it was starting to look kind of easy. It seemed that this method was easier than the way Mr. Wetzel had done it last month. He had the pig held down low with the pigs front feet on the ground and the back feet being held up by a student with the pigs body being held firmly between the students legs. He made an incision on the right and got the testicle out and off much the same way Mr. Kirk did, but then he made a second incision on the left and repeated the procedure with that testicle. Mr. Kirk says that method is fine, but he prefers to make only one incision so to cut down on the chance of infection setting in.
It was time to catch pig number 4, and he was the lucky pig to get a student volunteer to perform his operation. The squeal the little guy made was rather unnerving in itself, but it did not seem to phase Samantha. This particular class was made up of about 5 girls and 8 boys and Samantha is a petite, pretty looking high school girl. She was the first to volunteer and stated that she is hoping to go into veterinary medicine and she needs to be able to do things like this. She took the scalpel and tried to find the spot to make the incision. She started to cut and she cut and she cut. It seemed she was a bit hesitant to apply much pressure, but it finally went through. Mr. Kirk got the testicle to pop out for her and she went ahead and scraped through the vas deferens and tissue and let it drop to the ground. She then pushed from the left and slit the other testicle to make it pop out herself and proceeded to sever that testicle. She then rinsed the area with iodine and gave it the shot of antibiotic by herself. She did an outstanding job, even though there was a bit more blood than when Mr. Kirk did it. I am in no way a women's libber or anything like that, but she did do better, and was more at ease, than the boy student who volunteered to do the next pig!
I was hoping that pig number 5 would be mine, because if no other student volunteered, Mr. Kirk was going to let me try. But it was only right for one of the students in the class to attempt it. With this last one there was much more blood, and Mr. Kirk said that it was because the pig had to hang there so long that he started to know what was going on, and was kind of panicking. The boy (I forgot his name) had more trouble getting the cuts to go through than Samantha did but he stayed at it and eventually got the job done. Even this fifth pig that had so much more trouble seemed to be fine when he was released back into the lot! (In case you are counting there was still a 6th pig. Mr. Kirk wanted to save that one for his next class, which I couldn't be a part of.)
I am very thankful that I was able to be a part of this class today. I think it was much more beneficial to me than the Algebra class I am usually in during that period! I am feeling much more comfortable with the idea that I could castrate our own pigs when we finally start raising them for ourselves. We would like to be able to do as much as possible on our own and not be forced to call on a vet for help. I've been told that a vet will castrate the pigs for us for about $100 a pig! We could easily have 6 or 8 boars in one litter that would need to be castrated; so going to a vet would be out of the question!
These barrows are slated for butchering and I think the ag. department is going to be butchering at least some of the pigs in house this spring. That is sure to be another wonderful learning experience that I hope I will be able to be a part of. The more I learn about the hog raising trade, the greater the benefit will be to my Pure Water Hollow Homestead!
[Added to post in December]
(We ended up getting pigs of our own. I took Porky in to school and let Mr. Kirk castrate him for us. That tale is told in another post if anyone is interested in seeing a couple of pictures of how he did it.)
3 comments
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GrandmaRosie on October 4, 2006 at 11:22 pm (edit)
Very interesting. I have never seen this done. We raised pigs for our table when I was a kid, but we always had females. I love your site. Keep up the good posting!
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Anonymous on October 5, 2006 at 9:10 am
Jake was in one of those classes. He thought it was interesting, and looked pretty easy. I told him I wanted some of the pork if they butcher one. LOL!!!
Marcella
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Mrs. Joseph Wood on October 5, 2006 at 5:43 pm
I loved reading your post, I think it will make a great homeschool project once we are ready for pigs. Pigs are something I am just now learning about as well. I will keep reading your posts to learn more as you share! Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier, it's great meeting others!
I work at a public high school that has an excellent agriculture department. (Yes, there is a bit of irony that I believe strongly in home-schooling, and home-school our own children, yet make my living at a government school: future post perhaps?) One of the ag department's projects involve raising hogs. They have 9 males and one female pig that are all 20-40 pounds right now, all being raised for butchering.
I had watched one of our ag. teachers, Mr. Wetzel, castrate a pig last month and today I was going to be able to observe the other ag. teacher, Mr. Kirk, at work. He had to go out to K-Mart to get some more iodine, so I was in charge of the class until he got back. I was to walk with the class out to the farm and he was going to meet us there. Before we went out to the pigs I explained the three reasons I had been told last month why it is a needful thing to do:
1) It stops the sex drive so they won't mate with any of their litter-mates; 2) It will make them gentler and more docile and therefore they will gain more weight; and 3) If they were left in tact the testosterone will spoil the meat to the point that the smell makes it inedible. Most of the students seemed to already be aware of these things, but at least I set the stage for the procedure at the farm.
When we got to the hog trailer, it was surprising how clean it was and without much of a foul odor. Out of the 9 male pigs, 3 were already barrows now, which I have learned is the name for a castrated pig. One was done last month when I observed, and the other two were done in an earlier class today when I couldn't get away from my duties. The three that had had the procedure done looked just as healthy and happy as the other six, which were to become barrows at this moment. The only thing that gave a couple of them away was the dried iodine on their legs from earlier today.
One of the students got in the hog area and cornered one of the pigs and picked it up. The pig squealed wildly when this happened, but calmed down pretty soon. This was a larger one, close to 40 pounds, and Mr. Kirk commented that it would have been better for the pigs had they been castrated at just a couple of weeks old, but now would be fine also. The student was told to hold the pig up by its hind legs about chest level with the pig's belly facing out toward the teacher. The teacher felt the area where the testicles were and used a finger to get behind one of the testicles. He then took a scalpel and made an incision where he was pushing behind the testicle and also cut into the testicle to make it pop out of the incision. He then lightly scraped the vas deferens and tissue connecting to the testicle until it was severed and fell to the ground. (At this point one of the students, who happened to be a macho, athletic type, left the scene and lost his lunch, so to speak. He stayed around the corner, very pale, out of the sight of the pigs for the remainder of the castrating session. I was impressed that no one made fun of him.) Mr. Kirk then pushed from behind on the other testicle to the same hole made by the incision and then he gently sliced into the testicle to make it pop out like the first one did, and then he lightly scraped the vas tissue, and let that testicle fall to the ground. It is important to scrape instead of make a clean cut so the blood will coagulate better and not bleed as much. He then rinsed the incision with iodine to help sterilize it and also gave it a 2 cc injection of an antibiotic in the pig's hip. The pig was then released back into the lot with the rest and he seemed just fine! He walked around like nothing happened. Mr. Kirk said that the iodine rinse probably hurt the worst. The pig was so excited with such an adrenalin rush when he was caught that he does not feel much pain during the procedure if it is done quickly!
We watched Mr. Kirk castrate the next one, which was a bit smaller, and another one after that. Each time it was pretty much the same as described above. The only real difference was that the student holding the pig up by the legs got tired and other students had to take turns holding the pigs up. After seeing it done three times it was starting to look kind of easy. It seemed that this method was easier than the way Mr. Wetzel had done it last month. He had the pig held down low with the pigs front feet on the ground and the back feet being held up by a student with the pigs body being held firmly between the students legs. He made an incision on the right and got the testicle out and off much the same way Mr. Kirk did, but then he made a second incision on the left and repeated the procedure with that testicle. Mr. Kirk says that method is fine, but he prefers to make only one incision so to cut down on the chance of infection setting in.
It was time to catch pig number 4, and he was the lucky pig to get a student volunteer to perform his operation. The squeal the little guy made was rather unnerving in itself, but it did not seem to phase Samantha. This particular class was made up of about 5 girls and 8 boys and Samantha is a petite, pretty looking high school girl. She was the first to volunteer and stated that she is hoping to go into veterinary medicine and she needs to be able to do things like this. She took the scalpel and tried to find the spot to make the incision. She started to cut and she cut and she cut. It seemed she was a bit hesitant to apply much pressure, but it finally went through. Mr. Kirk got the testicle to pop out for her and she went ahead and scraped through the vas deferens and tissue and let it drop to the ground. She then pushed from the left and slit the other testicle to make it pop out herself and proceeded to sever that testicle. She then rinsed the area with iodine and gave it the shot of antibiotic by herself. She did an outstanding job, even though there was a bit more blood than when Mr. Kirk did it. I am in no way a women's libber or anything like that, but she did do better, and was more at ease, than the boy student who volunteered to do the next pig!
I was hoping that pig number 5 would be mine, because if no other student volunteered, Mr. Kirk was going to let me try. But it was only right for one of the students in the class to attempt it. With this last one there was much more blood, and Mr. Kirk said that it was because the pig had to hang there so long that he started to know what was going on, and was kind of panicking. The boy (I forgot his name) had more trouble getting the cuts to go through than Samantha did but he stayed at it and eventually got the job done. Even this fifth pig that had so much more trouble seemed to be fine when he was released back into the lot! (In case you are counting there was still a 6th pig. Mr. Kirk wanted to save that one for his next class, which I couldn't be a part of.)
I am very thankful that I was able to be a part of this class today. I think it was much more beneficial to me than the Algebra class I am usually in during that period! I am feeling much more comfortable with the idea that I could castrate our own pigs when we finally start raising them for ourselves. We would like to be able to do as much as possible on our own and not be forced to call on a vet for help. I've been told that a vet will castrate the pigs for us for about $100 a pig! We could easily have 6 or 8 boars in one litter that would need to be castrated; so going to a vet would be out of the question!
These barrows are slated for butchering and I think the ag. department is going to be butchering at least some of the pigs in house this spring. That is sure to be another wonderful learning experience that I hope I will be able to be a part of. The more I learn about the hog raising trade, the greater the benefit will be to my Pure Water Hollow Homestead!
[Added to post in December]
(We ended up getting pigs of our own. I took Porky in to school and let Mr. Kirk castrate him for us. That tale is told in another post if anyone is interested in seeing a couple of pictures of how he did it.)
3 comments
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GrandmaRosie on October 4, 2006 at 11:22 pm (edit)
Very interesting. I have never seen this done. We raised pigs for our table when I was a kid, but we always had females. I love your site. Keep up the good posting!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anonymous on October 5, 2006 at 9:10 am
Jake was in one of those classes. He thought it was interesting, and looked pretty easy. I told him I wanted some of the pork if they butcher one. LOL!!!
Marcella
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Mrs. Joseph Wood on October 5, 2006 at 5:43 pm
I loved reading your post, I think it will make a great homeschool project once we are ready for pigs. Pigs are something I am just now learning about as well. I will keep reading your posts to learn more as you share! Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier, it's great meeting others!
Sunday, October 01, 2006
The Pure Water Hollow Snake Slayers
I do not relish my role as a Snake Slayer, but someone has to do it. My 13-year-old son, Matthew does not want to be a Snake Slayer, either, but he can do the job if he needs to. He was poised with spear in one hand, hoe in the other. I, with a smoking .22 caliber pistol in my hand, and the snake, he was looking at the bullet between his eyes!
We were once again on our way up in our mountain to enjoy our regular Sunday afternoon walk. The weather was magnificent today, with blue skies, a gentle breeze and a comfortable 70 degrees temperature. This was about as perfect weather as you can have, especially after the rain and dreariness we've been experiencing. (Everyone always says that if you don't like the weather in Kentucky, stick around and it will change!)
Like last Sunday, one of our goals was to check the walnut trees on our property. Like I've mentioned previously, walnuts are one of Lisa's favorites nuts. Last Sunday (after Simon's stings were feeling better) we gathered 5 or 6 walnuts from the trees near by; for some reason they have never borne many nuts. We found one good tree way out in the "back 40" last year. I'm afraid we might miss harvesting the walnuts because it is getting late in the year, and the tree that produced the most nuts is about as far up in the hollow as you can get. We do not get up there as often as we would like to, even though it is a beautiful part of our woods. It is within easy walking distance if you don't mind walking straight up a mountain for about a half-mile! We usually take the truck up to the head of the hollow and then walk from there.
We stopped the truck at what we call our "clearing" about half way up. This is a nice level area carved out of the mountain and would be a good house seat. Right now it is where some very good and plentiful blackberries grow in the summer and also where we have our annual Christmas fireworks.
We stopped here because from this point there is a trail that we named the "Paw Paw Trail" a few weeks ago because of all of the paw paws that were growing all around. (Some years we have been blessed with an abundance of paw paws but other years there don't seem to be any.) It looks like this year there will be a good harvest if we can get them at the right time, so we wanted to check on them before we got up to the walnut tree.
There is also a woodpile up there that we use for our fire at Christmas. The tarp had come partly off, so Matthew decided to cover the wood better. He lifted the old, blue tarp up a bit, and then dropped it again with a breathless gasp and got off the wood pile in a hurry!
"It's a snake! There's a snake under the tarp!" Matthew said this with a bit of urgency but not panic. We asked him what it looked like and he described a light and dark brown pattern with dots in between the dark spots. We have one common poisonous snake in eastern Kentucky and Matthew had just described it: a copperhead! (We also are supposed to have rattlesnakes around, but thankfully, we have never seen one.)
This was one of those afternoons that we had not thought to bring the pistol with us and we did not even bring any hoe or shovel with us. I went up to the wood pile and began to carefully look around and I saw the one Matthew saw and as I uncovered a couple of pieces of wood with my walking stick, I found some more of the same marked snakes! I couldn't be sure how many but I was sure this was actually a den of copperheads!
We sent Matthew back down to the house with the truck to get the .22 pistol, a hoe, a shovel, and our Peterson Field Guide of Reptiles and Amphibians. He is only 13 years old, but he handles that big old '79 Ford truck like he has had his license for years. I gave him his own key to that truck even before he turned 12 because he was doing so much work with it and had shown how responsible he was with it. (He of course does not drive it on the road; only around on our own property. Erica, our soon to be 15 year old, can also drive the truck with no problem. I would have no reservations at all allowing her out on the road if she could have a driver's license now. It will be a big help to us when she can drive legally!) Anyway, Matthew returned soon, and it was time for the Snake Slayers to go into action!
Peterson confirmed that we were definitely dealing with copperheads. We also read that they sometimes den up with other species of snakes as well. I want to kill copperheads, since they are poisonous, but I don't really want to kill snakes just to be killing them.
Matthew and I began carefully digging through the wood blocks with the hoe. There was a big pile of these sawmill blocks and slabs of wood so it was pretty difficult moving them around. We were disappointed at first because we were not finding the snakes and were getting pretty tired, and nervous. After all, we were standing on what may be a huge den of snakes and we could not see them!
Finally we uncovered a couple of snakes, but they were getting out of the way quickly. I tried to chop, but could not get a good strike at them because of the wood. I decided to shoot. Even though I could not see the head, the body was exposed, and I figured it would slow it down anyway. BANG! A direct hit through the body, but it did not seem to slow down any at all. It wound this way and that, and we were frantically overturning the wood to try to follow him. There was another snake near, too, and I awkwardly hit at it with the hoe and tried a shot at it but it seemed to get away! We were finally able to uncover the first one's head and I got a shot off that hit right behind it's ears! (Do snakes have ears?) I fished this big snake out so I could see the other one better. Lisa thought that this other snake that seemingly got away was bigger than the one I shot! I had hit it a couple of times with the hoe, so maybe it was wounded, and a bullet maybe grazed it, so I thought we would be able to find the thing. Surely it was just resting someplace near by. We overturned block after block and dug through the whole pile, but we never found that one.
We did overturn one block and found another copperhead! Actually it was Matthew again that found it! (Could this be a gift of his?) This one did not send us on a wild chase; it just stayed curled up there and looked at us! It was an adult, but not as big as the one we already got. They can strike, so I did not want to waste too much time. I just took aim and ... BANG! This bullet went right through it's head and also hit it in the body because of how it was curled up.
We searched through the pile for another 20 minutes or so but by this time it was starting to get too dark to see if a snake did jump out at us. I am sure there was at least one other snake that we were fighting. It either found an escape or else we just did not overturn the wood it was hiding under at the right time. I plan on making time to go up there again during the day sometime soon and remove the entire woodpile. I will be on guard, for sure, and hopefully I will be able to eliminate any remaining snakes, as well as clean up our woodpile.
One thing I don't want in Pure Water Hollow is a poisonous snake! There are now at least two fewer that we have to worry about. By the way, one of the snakes measured 35 inches long and the other one was 24 inches long! Peterson says that copperheads range from 24 to 36 inches long with a record one being 53 inches long! Who knows how long the one that got away is! My role as Snake Slayer will not be over until I am confident that they have all been eliminated!
We did take some pictures of them, even though it was now dark.
I wish to end this post with a prayer of thanksgiving.
"Dear Lord, thank you for keeping that snake from striking at Matthew when he uncovered the first one. He was right there on top of the pile and he could have been bitten, perhaps by several snakes. Thank you for putting your hand of protection over him. Thank you also for keeping me safe, and for allowing the outcome to be a positive one. Help us to clean up the woodpile and get rid of any other snakes that may endanger us in the future. Thank you most of all for your son Jesus, who is the real Snake slayer! In Jesus name, amen."
3 comments
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Morning Sunshine on October 2, 2006 at 9:39 am
now, walnuts are something I DO know about: my mom has a huge black walnut tree, and we are annually cleaning that up!
first, ours do not ripen and fall until Thanksgiving. Dad says there has to be a frost before they will turn black. we get our first frost long before then, and they hang onto the tree, all shriveled and black, but they do not fall in bulk until after thanksgiving.
also, it took 20 -odd years before the tree actually started to produce fruit. I don't know how old your trees are – I would imagine a lot older than that, but…
that is our experience with walnuts.
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Jessica on October 2, 2006 at 5:01 pm
Uncle Eric, you are kind of scaring me with all the say of yellow jackets and copperheads! I hope we have a wonderful time when we come to your house! I am so glad you and Matt are safe! I am praying for you, and tell the kids hi for me! Have a great day!
Love,
Jessica
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Purewater on October 4, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Hello Jessica! Thanks for visiting the blog. We sort of live in the wild but it is a good, safe place, overall. Nothing to worry about, much. There are black bears and bobcats occasionally reported to be around, but we have never seen any animals like that! And we hadn't seen a copperhead in about 10 years before last Sunday, so hopefully they are not very plentiful. We are looking forward to you all visiting next week if you are able to! Tell everyone "hi" for us.
We were once again on our way up in our mountain to enjoy our regular Sunday afternoon walk. The weather was magnificent today, with blue skies, a gentle breeze and a comfortable 70 degrees temperature. This was about as perfect weather as you can have, especially after the rain and dreariness we've been experiencing. (Everyone always says that if you don't like the weather in Kentucky, stick around and it will change!)
Like last Sunday, one of our goals was to check the walnut trees on our property. Like I've mentioned previously, walnuts are one of Lisa's favorites nuts. Last Sunday (after Simon's stings were feeling better) we gathered 5 or 6 walnuts from the trees near by; for some reason they have never borne many nuts. We found one good tree way out in the "back 40" last year. I'm afraid we might miss harvesting the walnuts because it is getting late in the year, and the tree that produced the most nuts is about as far up in the hollow as you can get. We do not get up there as often as we would like to, even though it is a beautiful part of our woods. It is within easy walking distance if you don't mind walking straight up a mountain for about a half-mile! We usually take the truck up to the head of the hollow and then walk from there.
We stopped the truck at what we call our "clearing" about half way up. This is a nice level area carved out of the mountain and would be a good house seat. Right now it is where some very good and plentiful blackberries grow in the summer and also where we have our annual Christmas fireworks.
We stopped here because from this point there is a trail that we named the "Paw Paw Trail" a few weeks ago because of all of the paw paws that were growing all around. (Some years we have been blessed with an abundance of paw paws but other years there don't seem to be any.) It looks like this year there will be a good harvest if we can get them at the right time, so we wanted to check on them before we got up to the walnut tree.
There is also a woodpile up there that we use for our fire at Christmas. The tarp had come partly off, so Matthew decided to cover the wood better. He lifted the old, blue tarp up a bit, and then dropped it again with a breathless gasp and got off the wood pile in a hurry!
"It's a snake! There's a snake under the tarp!" Matthew said this with a bit of urgency but not panic. We asked him what it looked like and he described a light and dark brown pattern with dots in between the dark spots. We have one common poisonous snake in eastern Kentucky and Matthew had just described it: a copperhead! (We also are supposed to have rattlesnakes around, but thankfully, we have never seen one.)
This was one of those afternoons that we had not thought to bring the pistol with us and we did not even bring any hoe or shovel with us. I went up to the wood pile and began to carefully look around and I saw the one Matthew saw and as I uncovered a couple of pieces of wood with my walking stick, I found some more of the same marked snakes! I couldn't be sure how many but I was sure this was actually a den of copperheads!
We sent Matthew back down to the house with the truck to get the .22 pistol, a hoe, a shovel, and our Peterson Field Guide of Reptiles and Amphibians. He is only 13 years old, but he handles that big old '79 Ford truck like he has had his license for years. I gave him his own key to that truck even before he turned 12 because he was doing so much work with it and had shown how responsible he was with it. (He of course does not drive it on the road; only around on our own property. Erica, our soon to be 15 year old, can also drive the truck with no problem. I would have no reservations at all allowing her out on the road if she could have a driver's license now. It will be a big help to us when she can drive legally!) Anyway, Matthew returned soon, and it was time for the Snake Slayers to go into action!
Peterson confirmed that we were definitely dealing with copperheads. We also read that they sometimes den up with other species of snakes as well. I want to kill copperheads, since they are poisonous, but I don't really want to kill snakes just to be killing them.
Matthew and I began carefully digging through the wood blocks with the hoe. There was a big pile of these sawmill blocks and slabs of wood so it was pretty difficult moving them around. We were disappointed at first because we were not finding the snakes and were getting pretty tired, and nervous. After all, we were standing on what may be a huge den of snakes and we could not see them!
Finally we uncovered a couple of snakes, but they were getting out of the way quickly. I tried to chop, but could not get a good strike at them because of the wood. I decided to shoot. Even though I could not see the head, the body was exposed, and I figured it would slow it down anyway. BANG! A direct hit through the body, but it did not seem to slow down any at all. It wound this way and that, and we were frantically overturning the wood to try to follow him. There was another snake near, too, and I awkwardly hit at it with the hoe and tried a shot at it but it seemed to get away! We were finally able to uncover the first one's head and I got a shot off that hit right behind it's ears! (Do snakes have ears?) I fished this big snake out so I could see the other one better. Lisa thought that this other snake that seemingly got away was bigger than the one I shot! I had hit it a couple of times with the hoe, so maybe it was wounded, and a bullet maybe grazed it, so I thought we would be able to find the thing. Surely it was just resting someplace near by. We overturned block after block and dug through the whole pile, but we never found that one.
We did overturn one block and found another copperhead! Actually it was Matthew again that found it! (Could this be a gift of his?) This one did not send us on a wild chase; it just stayed curled up there and looked at us! It was an adult, but not as big as the one we already got. They can strike, so I did not want to waste too much time. I just took aim and ... BANG! This bullet went right through it's head and also hit it in the body because of how it was curled up.
We searched through the pile for another 20 minutes or so but by this time it was starting to get too dark to see if a snake did jump out at us. I am sure there was at least one other snake that we were fighting. It either found an escape or else we just did not overturn the wood it was hiding under at the right time. I plan on making time to go up there again during the day sometime soon and remove the entire woodpile. I will be on guard, for sure, and hopefully I will be able to eliminate any remaining snakes, as well as clean up our woodpile.
One thing I don't want in Pure Water Hollow is a poisonous snake! There are now at least two fewer that we have to worry about. By the way, one of the snakes measured 35 inches long and the other one was 24 inches long! Peterson says that copperheads range from 24 to 36 inches long with a record one being 53 inches long! Who knows how long the one that got away is! My role as Snake Slayer will not be over until I am confident that they have all been eliminated!
We did take some pictures of them, even though it was now dark.
I wish to end this post with a prayer of thanksgiving.
"Dear Lord, thank you for keeping that snake from striking at Matthew when he uncovered the first one. He was right there on top of the pile and he could have been bitten, perhaps by several snakes. Thank you for putting your hand of protection over him. Thank you also for keeping me safe, and for allowing the outcome to be a positive one. Help us to clean up the woodpile and get rid of any other snakes that may endanger us in the future. Thank you most of all for your son Jesus, who is the real Snake slayer! In Jesus name, amen."
3 comments
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Morning Sunshine on October 2, 2006 at 9:39 am
now, walnuts are something I DO know about: my mom has a huge black walnut tree, and we are annually cleaning that up!
first, ours do not ripen and fall until Thanksgiving. Dad says there has to be a frost before they will turn black. we get our first frost long before then, and they hang onto the tree, all shriveled and black, but they do not fall in bulk until after thanksgiving.
also, it took 20 -odd years before the tree actually started to produce fruit. I don't know how old your trees are – I would imagine a lot older than that, but…
that is our experience with walnuts.
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Jessica on October 2, 2006 at 5:01 pm
Uncle Eric, you are kind of scaring me with all the say of yellow jackets and copperheads! I hope we have a wonderful time when we come to your house! I am so glad you and Matt are safe! I am praying for you, and tell the kids hi for me! Have a great day!
Love,
Jessica
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Purewater on October 4, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Hello Jessica! Thanks for visiting the blog. We sort of live in the wild but it is a good, safe place, overall. Nothing to worry about, much. There are black bears and bobcats occasionally reported to be around, but we have never seen any animals like that! And we hadn't seen a copperhead in about 10 years before last Sunday, so hopefully they are not very plentiful. We are looking forward to you all visiting next week if you are able to! Tell everyone "hi" for us.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
The Reign ~ Rain of the Chestnuts Continues
We began the chestnut harvest last Saturday so today was the 8th day of gathering chestnuts. We cannot see many more nuts up in the three trees so surely it is almost over? We have now harvested 7-gallon size storage bags full of them. Some are fuller than others so I don't know exactly how many we have, but we have bagged each day and written the date on the bag so we can keep up with which ones are the oldest. I think we have gotten the most this evening and have not yet put them into a bag. Looking at them now I think we may have to split them into two bagfuls!
Simon and Matthew gathered several nuts today and Christina and Simon have been helping me wash them and put them in bags. We had gotten behind and had three days worth of nuts waiting to go into the refrigerator. Our procedure has become that of collecting them in bowls out in the yard and then submerging them in a large bowl of water at the dining room table. Carla's book says that the bad ones will float and we have been having five or six to float out of each batch. We put those in the throwaway pile and also cull out any we find that have cracks or holes or look too black instead of the shiny brown. We then put the nice clean chestnuts into the gallon plastic bags with a twist tie and then we poke holes all over the bag to let air in, and I think to let moisture out? We don't know exactly what we are doing, but at least we are trying something more this year than we have before.
This has been the first year we have been diligent about gathering them every day. In the past we have let many lay too long and then we try to harvest them and find that most have gotten little worms in them while they waited around to be taken care of. We have discovered that the only way to avoid this is to harvest them as soon as they hit the ground, or as soon after as possible. We are doing it this way now because last year we gathered most of the chestnuts that fell, but became a little chicken when we saw all those worms.
Our Chickens Might Be Nuts - But They Don't Eat Them!
Speaking of chickens, last year I had two of those 20 lb birdseed buckets full of chestnuts but did not bring them in the house and do anything with them for many, many days. I don't really remember how long it was but I found that the buckets were full of those tiny worms and they were attracting many gnats as well. I then had a great idea!
Chickens like eating worms and corn, and chestnuts are called "tree corn", so it seemed to me that our chickens would enjoy scratching at the nuts, eating the worms as well as picking out the meat that was still good! So I dumped the whole thing in their lot... and I don't think a single chicken touched them. It made the lot look even trashier than normal and I was very sorry I threw them out to the chickens. I guess the chickens didn't mind too much, but they looked like they were uncomfortable walking on all those nuts! It has only been recently this year that I could not see any more traces of a stray chestnut still left.
Our current crop is in much better shape this year and I am excited about the possibilities. (Lisa wishes they were black walnuts instead because she really likes to eat them just plain. We do have several walnut trees back on the property but they have never born many nuts, plus we have to go on a trip to get to them.) We are still wondering about making chestnut flour. Lisa is thinking that we need to let the chestnuts dry out before we make flour, but if that were true, how in the world would you keep worms and bugs from getting into them (other than building a two-story smoke house)? If anyone reads this and has an idea, let us know.
Thanks.
Simon and Matthew gathered several nuts today and Christina and Simon have been helping me wash them and put them in bags. We had gotten behind and had three days worth of nuts waiting to go into the refrigerator. Our procedure has become that of collecting them in bowls out in the yard and then submerging them in a large bowl of water at the dining room table. Carla's book says that the bad ones will float and we have been having five or six to float out of each batch. We put those in the throwaway pile and also cull out any we find that have cracks or holes or look too black instead of the shiny brown. We then put the nice clean chestnuts into the gallon plastic bags with a twist tie and then we poke holes all over the bag to let air in, and I think to let moisture out? We don't know exactly what we are doing, but at least we are trying something more this year than we have before.
This has been the first year we have been diligent about gathering them every day. In the past we have let many lay too long and then we try to harvest them and find that most have gotten little worms in them while they waited around to be taken care of. We have discovered that the only way to avoid this is to harvest them as soon as they hit the ground, or as soon after as possible. We are doing it this way now because last year we gathered most of the chestnuts that fell, but became a little chicken when we saw all those worms.
Our Chickens Might Be Nuts - But They Don't Eat Them!
Speaking of chickens, last year I had two of those 20 lb birdseed buckets full of chestnuts but did not bring them in the house and do anything with them for many, many days. I don't really remember how long it was but I found that the buckets were full of those tiny worms and they were attracting many gnats as well. I then had a great idea!
Chickens like eating worms and corn, and chestnuts are called "tree corn", so it seemed to me that our chickens would enjoy scratching at the nuts, eating the worms as well as picking out the meat that was still good! So I dumped the whole thing in their lot... and I don't think a single chicken touched them. It made the lot look even trashier than normal and I was very sorry I threw them out to the chickens. I guess the chickens didn't mind too much, but they looked like they were uncomfortable walking on all those nuts! It has only been recently this year that I could not see any more traces of a stray chestnut still left.
Our current crop is in much better shape this year and I am excited about the possibilities. (Lisa wishes they were black walnuts instead because she really likes to eat them just plain. We do have several walnut trees back on the property but they have never born many nuts, plus we have to go on a trip to get to them.) We are still wondering about making chestnut flour. Lisa is thinking that we need to let the chestnuts dry out before we make flour, but if that were true, how in the world would you keep worms and bugs from getting into them (other than building a two-story smoke house)? If anyone reads this and has an idea, let us know.
Thanks.
Find A Penny, Pick It Up
I typed a nice big post last night but the computer crashed while I was publishing it so it seems that it got all wiped out. I won’t be able to write exactly what I did last night, but I was mainly writing about my wife’s shopping trip yesterday.
Along with the $200 from my paycheck, she took some curtains back to the store and got $25 for them and she also found $20 in an envelope from the summer! So she had a total of $245 in cash for this shopping trip. Looking at the receipt she got mostly grocery items but also things like anti-perspirant, shampoo, light bulbs, soap, and fabric softener so it was a general house hold needs shopping trip. She also bought a lot of things for the youth conference our church hosted last night. All she had was the cash and that was all she spent. (And I do mean all) When adding up the receipts I was amazed at the final total. Can you believe that it came to $244.99!?! I was not amazed that it cost that much, (since it has been 3 weeks since she last went shopping), but that my wife was able to budget our money out to within 1 penny! She is amazing.
We had a good youth conference last night. There were 86 people in attendance with 46 of them being youths and children. That is a lot of people for our small church and we had to put out chairs just to make it a bit more comfortable. Our children sang with the church youth choir and then everyone answered Bible trivia questions. The speaker did a good job and the business meeting went smoothly. Afterwards there were hot dogs and cookies for everyone. I was more enthusiastic in my writing about it last night, but oh well.
Now, let’s see if we can get this to post today.
Along with the $200 from my paycheck, she took some curtains back to the store and got $25 for them and she also found $20 in an envelope from the summer! So she had a total of $245 in cash for this shopping trip. Looking at the receipt she got mostly grocery items but also things like anti-perspirant, shampoo, light bulbs, soap, and fabric softener so it was a general house hold needs shopping trip. She also bought a lot of things for the youth conference our church hosted last night. All she had was the cash and that was all she spent. (And I do mean all) When adding up the receipts I was amazed at the final total. Can you believe that it came to $244.99!?! I was not amazed that it cost that much, (since it has been 3 weeks since she last went shopping), but that my wife was able to budget our money out to within 1 penny! She is amazing.
We had a good youth conference last night. There were 86 people in attendance with 46 of them being youths and children. That is a lot of people for our small church and we had to put out chairs just to make it a bit more comfortable. Our children sang with the church youth choir and then everyone answered Bible trivia questions. The speaker did a good job and the business meeting went smoothly. Afterwards there were hot dogs and cookies for everyone. I was more enthusiastic in my writing about it last night, but oh well.
Now, let’s see if we can get this to post today.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Rainy Day Detail
Today was another wet, rainy day so my wife decided to postpone her shopping trip until tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will be nicer.
We got up later than we should have this morning and I did not eat any breakfast, which means that I was a bit hungry at lunch. I went ahead and bought another $3 lunch at work today. I usually do not eat at work and avoid that expense. $3 every day for lunch really adds up if I get in that habit!
Our pastor brought over his work car today for my oldest son, Matthew, to clean and detail (a '95 Ford Taurus). Our pastor is going out of town for the weekend so my son has all weekend to do it. He is a very industrious boy, and saves his money well. This will be the 3rd car he has detailed and he always tithes on what he makes and puts most of the rest in his savings account. His mom helped him on the first car, but now that he knows what to do he does a good job by himself.
Not much to write about today. We are looking forward to the weekend!
We got up later than we should have this morning and I did not eat any breakfast, which means that I was a bit hungry at lunch. I went ahead and bought another $3 lunch at work today. I usually do not eat at work and avoid that expense. $3 every day for lunch really adds up if I get in that habit!
Our pastor brought over his work car today for my oldest son, Matthew, to clean and detail (a '95 Ford Taurus). Our pastor is going out of town for the weekend so my son has all weekend to do it. He is a very industrious boy, and saves his money well. This will be the 3rd car he has detailed and he always tithes on what he makes and puts most of the rest in his savings account. His mom helped him on the first car, but now that he knows what to do he does a good job by himself.
Not much to write about today. We are looking forward to the weekend!
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Spending Money: Some Considerations
Tonight we took the car to church instead of the van because the car needed gas the worst. It matters because the cheapest gas station around here is on the way to church, kind of in the country. It is always a couple of cents cheaper than the stations in town, which I find to be strange, because there is so much competition in town. There are at least 6 stations all within a mile or two of each other in town, and you would think that they would compete against each other and lower prices would be the result. But the cheapest is this little truck stop station that is 10 or 15 miles from any town and many miles away from the next gas station! (it does not even show up on either my KY gas prices link or the msn gas price page) You would think it would be a higher price since there is less competition! Who can figure gas stations out? I have also noticed on my Kentucky gas price do-hinky at the side of my blog that the lowest price in Kentucky is now down to $1.88/gallon! (at Mt. Sterling again) I am pleased with our $2.11/gal though because many of the highest price areas in Kentucky are towns all around us, here in eastern Kentucky. We are in a good gas price spot compared to those immediately around us!
Anyway, the car had gone its maximum 330 miles on the tank of gas and the needle was below the red "E". It took a full 16 gallons, which means it got a disappointing 20.8 miles per gallon. It had always gotten at least 22 miles per gallon in the past. (Of course the oil change on Friday may have already helped that.) The good news was that it only cost $34 to fill it all the way up. At the last price I filled the car up for ($2.45/gal) it would have been $39. I’ll take a $5 savings every time I fill up! I am also glad that it had dropped from that $2.19 price on Friday. By waiting a few days I saved 8 cents a gallon for $1.28 all together! You might say, “big deal, $1.28 is not much” but I say that it’s $1.28 more that I have in my pocket, and it can really add up after a short time. Now when we fill the van up, it will really be noticeable because it has a 30-gallon tank!
Speaking of the van, I will not have enough to fill it up this week because I’ve been spending money. The big purchases were the $30 oil change to start it off and then I bought another shotgun for $75. (too nice of a gun at too nice of a price to pass up) Tonight's fill up of $34 totals my spending at $139. That only left $83 out of my $222. I’ve also purchased several small things like a $3 lunch, a couple of $1 cokes, a $4 flashlight, $14 in ammunition for my new gun, and some other misc. items leaves me only $50 in my wallet now. If I were to get 30 gallons for the van it will cost over $63 even at $2.11/gal. I will probably only get $20 or $30 in the van and wait until we see how the groceries will run. My wife is planning another grocery trip probably tomorrow. She says we are low on many things but she still has all of her $200 from this pay period. The last shopping day was back on September 8th and she did not spend all of the $200 from that pay period, so maybe there will be some left for more gas? Or perhaps I’ll just wait until the next payday and then maybe we will have $1.88/gal gas like Mt. Sterling!
I am also looking at an S-10 pickup truck that runs good and looks nice for $1,300. My car’s days are numbered, I’m afraid. It needs breaks right now and the transmission has been slipping since last spring and the loud exhaust makes it sound more like a junker than it is. When the transmission goes I don’t think it will be worth fixing. I really like this little red 4-wheel drive truck! It seems to be well worth the price. It also gets the same gas mileage as my car and the air conditioner works! (my car’s does not) If I knew exactly when my car will die it would really help. The problem would be, however, that it only can have two passengers, whereas my car hauls 6. (the bucket seats in the truck are in good condition!) The other problem is that we would need to take most of the $1300 out of the credit union account, which is earmarked for keeping us warm this winter. We could maybe swing it, though, but we would then have very little for Christmas shopping.
Speaking of keeping warm, we will probably order the first fill-ups pretty soon. We still have some propane left from last year in the tank (we have already used it a couple of nights) and I want to wait as long as possible to order it, but before it gets so cold that we are in an emergency. I like to wait because that money in the credit union is earning interest, and the longer it sits in there, the more interest it earns. Even if it is only a couple of dollars, that’s a couple of dollars saved!
This post has gotten rather long to be just about money. It seems that it has been one continuous ramble, but I think it has helped me to remember where my money has gone from the last paycheck and to reflect on some of our future money decisions.
Anyway, the car had gone its maximum 330 miles on the tank of gas and the needle was below the red "E". It took a full 16 gallons, which means it got a disappointing 20.8 miles per gallon. It had always gotten at least 22 miles per gallon in the past. (Of course the oil change on Friday may have already helped that.) The good news was that it only cost $34 to fill it all the way up. At the last price I filled the car up for ($2.45/gal) it would have been $39. I’ll take a $5 savings every time I fill up! I am also glad that it had dropped from that $2.19 price on Friday. By waiting a few days I saved 8 cents a gallon for $1.28 all together! You might say, “big deal, $1.28 is not much” but I say that it’s $1.28 more that I have in my pocket, and it can really add up after a short time. Now when we fill the van up, it will really be noticeable because it has a 30-gallon tank!
Speaking of the van, I will not have enough to fill it up this week because I’ve been spending money. The big purchases were the $30 oil change to start it off and then I bought another shotgun for $75. (too nice of a gun at too nice of a price to pass up) Tonight's fill up of $34 totals my spending at $139. That only left $83 out of my $222. I’ve also purchased several small things like a $3 lunch, a couple of $1 cokes, a $4 flashlight, $14 in ammunition for my new gun, and some other misc. items leaves me only $50 in my wallet now. If I were to get 30 gallons for the van it will cost over $63 even at $2.11/gal. I will probably only get $20 or $30 in the van and wait until we see how the groceries will run. My wife is planning another grocery trip probably tomorrow. She says we are low on many things but she still has all of her $200 from this pay period. The last shopping day was back on September 8th and she did not spend all of the $200 from that pay period, so maybe there will be some left for more gas? Or perhaps I’ll just wait until the next payday and then maybe we will have $1.88/gal gas like Mt. Sterling!
I am also looking at an S-10 pickup truck that runs good and looks nice for $1,300. My car’s days are numbered, I’m afraid. It needs breaks right now and the transmission has been slipping since last spring and the loud exhaust makes it sound more like a junker than it is. When the transmission goes I don’t think it will be worth fixing. I really like this little red 4-wheel drive truck! It seems to be well worth the price. It also gets the same gas mileage as my car and the air conditioner works! (my car’s does not) If I knew exactly when my car will die it would really help. The problem would be, however, that it only can have two passengers, whereas my car hauls 6. (the bucket seats in the truck are in good condition!) The other problem is that we would need to take most of the $1300 out of the credit union account, which is earmarked for keeping us warm this winter. We could maybe swing it, though, but we would then have very little for Christmas shopping.
Speaking of keeping warm, we will probably order the first fill-ups pretty soon. We still have some propane left from last year in the tank (we have already used it a couple of nights) and I want to wait as long as possible to order it, but before it gets so cold that we are in an emergency. I like to wait because that money in the credit union is earning interest, and the longer it sits in there, the more interest it earns. Even if it is only a couple of dollars, that’s a couple of dollars saved!
This post has gotten rather long to be just about money. It seems that it has been one continuous ramble, but I think it has helped me to remember where my money has gone from the last paycheck and to reflect on some of our future money decisions.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
The Sky Is Falling
Rat-a-tat-tat-bing-ping-bing "Watch out, cover your heads!"
No, we were not under enemy fire from some hillbilly feud; it was just the sky falling!
Actually it is our chestnuts raining down from above! The three chestnut trees are right next to our house and on the other side of the trees there is an out building with a metal roof and when these chestnuts fall they make all kind of racket! Everyday there has been 5 to 10 chestnuts on the sidewalk leading to our front porch and we have even had chestnuts shoot up off a bounce and land on our porch before!
Do you know how heavy these chestnuts are falling? Why, a person could say that these chestnuts are falling at such a heavy rate, all you have to do is set a dozen or so empty bowls down under the trees and leave them there. Come back in 5 or 10 minutes and the bowls would be overflowing with nuts! But that would be exaggerating some... I could continue the tall tale by saying that these nuts are sooo big and heavy that they put dents all over the car that might get parked underneath the trees! And a person needs to be under a strong umbrella when they are collecting the bowlfuls or else they are liable to get knocked unconscious! But those statements would be exaggerating some too...
Actually it has been fairly hard work collecting the chestnuts because of all the stooping over to pick them up, and those sharp prickly hulls always hurt somehow, even wearing gloves! Also it takes quite a bit of searching through the grass and under leaves to find the chestnuts. They are all over but you still have to search them out. You also have to pry the hulls away from some of them to get the 2 or 3 nuts out. If I am collecting them by myself it takes about an hour to get the equivalent of a gallon bag full. I am trying to only keep the best ones and dispose of those that are already getting a bit moldy or if they have any crack or hole in it. I am also filling up large buckets (old 20 lb birdseed buckets) with the hulls to clear the yard so we can see when new ones have fallen. So far I have dumped 6 bucketfuls of the hulls across the road. (It just crossed my mind that they might be good in a compost pile? We have never done composting but it seems like it would be a great idea). We have been putting about a gallon bag of good looking, clean chestnuts in the refrigerator every day and we have 4 or 5 bags full now. (We still need to clean today and yesterday's harvest and put them in bags.) We read in The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery that you can keep them for several months in the refrigerator in bags with holes in them for air, and even longer in the freezer! We will see.
Tonight Lisa is trying a Chestnut Puree recipe from the Emery book to go with our supper. I am traditionally not a big nut eater but I really like the idea of eating good food that God is literally allowing to grow on trees for us and all we have to do is pick them up! Some sources call chestnuts "Tree Corn" because of all the excellent nutrition they contain and so many possible uses for it!
Eight-year-old Christina has had the most fun with the chestnut hunting and has been the biggest helper collecting them. She has not likened it to what I am about to mention, and Lisa thought I shouldn't point it out to her, either, because of our feeling toward it. What I am talking about is that searching through the grass for the nuts and being excited when you find some, reminds me of an annual spring event that my family does not partake of; an Easter Egg hunt.
It looks like this is a good time for me to chase a rabbit trail. Call me strange if you want, but eggs and bunnies really have nothing to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ and I think it is a tragedy that the "church" allows its children to get so excited about Easter Bunnies and Easter eggs and Easter candy. When they get older and can no longer participate in the egg hunts, just celebrating the resurrection of Jesus is boring for them and not very much "fun". At our home we try to keep the focus at Easter on celebrating Christ and do not want our children distracted with the nonsense of the world. The one or two egg hunts we did participate in left a bad taste with us, especially when the church does the hunt immediately following the Easter morning worship service! The children are generally not interested in the worship, only when it will be over so they can have fun. At least the church we are attending now does their egg hunt on Saturday and tries to use it as an outreach to the community. There are many children around who do not come to church except for things like that and it is possible that they will hear the gospel explained, but is seems difficult to me, and we did not participate. I did not mean to editorialize so much here. Maybe I will share more on our thoughts about Easter in the spring? This post is about our chestnuts! Anyway, my whole point is that it has been kind of fun searching for and finding the chestnuts. Children can have fun without all the worldly mechanisms in motion.
We would still like to hear from anyone that may have some experiences with benefiting from chestnuts and could suggest anything that may be helpful for us. There are still very many nuts on the trees so it looks like we should have several more days of collecting them. Other years we have collected the nuts, only to let most of them ruin. We are going to try hard not to let that happen this year!
1 comment
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mc2rwe on September 28, 2006 at 7:24 pm
Well I have no comments on the chestnuts but I applaud you on your lack of "bunny belief". We never allowed our children to participate in egg hunts or halloween celebrations. Much to the horror of most of our family… About a year ago my second son asked if he could have his share of the money that we saved on not buying all of that stuff when they were little… we just laughed.
Kathy
No, we were not under enemy fire from some hillbilly feud; it was just the sky falling!
Actually it is our chestnuts raining down from above! The three chestnut trees are right next to our house and on the other side of the trees there is an out building with a metal roof and when these chestnuts fall they make all kind of racket! Everyday there has been 5 to 10 chestnuts on the sidewalk leading to our front porch and we have even had chestnuts shoot up off a bounce and land on our porch before!
Do you know how heavy these chestnuts are falling? Why, a person could say that these chestnuts are falling at such a heavy rate, all you have to do is set a dozen or so empty bowls down under the trees and leave them there. Come back in 5 or 10 minutes and the bowls would be overflowing with nuts! But that would be exaggerating some... I could continue the tall tale by saying that these nuts are sooo big and heavy that they put dents all over the car that might get parked underneath the trees! And a person needs to be under a strong umbrella when they are collecting the bowlfuls or else they are liable to get knocked unconscious! But those statements would be exaggerating some too...
Actually it has been fairly hard work collecting the chestnuts because of all the stooping over to pick them up, and those sharp prickly hulls always hurt somehow, even wearing gloves! Also it takes quite a bit of searching through the grass and under leaves to find the chestnuts. They are all over but you still have to search them out. You also have to pry the hulls away from some of them to get the 2 or 3 nuts out. If I am collecting them by myself it takes about an hour to get the equivalent of a gallon bag full. I am trying to only keep the best ones and dispose of those that are already getting a bit moldy or if they have any crack or hole in it. I am also filling up large buckets (old 20 lb birdseed buckets) with the hulls to clear the yard so we can see when new ones have fallen. So far I have dumped 6 bucketfuls of the hulls across the road. (It just crossed my mind that they might be good in a compost pile? We have never done composting but it seems like it would be a great idea). We have been putting about a gallon bag of good looking, clean chestnuts in the refrigerator every day and we have 4 or 5 bags full now. (We still need to clean today and yesterday's harvest and put them in bags.) We read in The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery that you can keep them for several months in the refrigerator in bags with holes in them for air, and even longer in the freezer! We will see.
Tonight Lisa is trying a Chestnut Puree recipe from the Emery book to go with our supper. I am traditionally not a big nut eater but I really like the idea of eating good food that God is literally allowing to grow on trees for us and all we have to do is pick them up! Some sources call chestnuts "Tree Corn" because of all the excellent nutrition they contain and so many possible uses for it!
Eight-year-old Christina has had the most fun with the chestnut hunting and has been the biggest helper collecting them. She has not likened it to what I am about to mention, and Lisa thought I shouldn't point it out to her, either, because of our feeling toward it. What I am talking about is that searching through the grass for the nuts and being excited when you find some, reminds me of an annual spring event that my family does not partake of; an Easter Egg hunt.
It looks like this is a good time for me to chase a rabbit trail. Call me strange if you want, but eggs and bunnies really have nothing to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ and I think it is a tragedy that the "church" allows its children to get so excited about Easter Bunnies and Easter eggs and Easter candy. When they get older and can no longer participate in the egg hunts, just celebrating the resurrection of Jesus is boring for them and not very much "fun". At our home we try to keep the focus at Easter on celebrating Christ and do not want our children distracted with the nonsense of the world. The one or two egg hunts we did participate in left a bad taste with us, especially when the church does the hunt immediately following the Easter morning worship service! The children are generally not interested in the worship, only when it will be over so they can have fun. At least the church we are attending now does their egg hunt on Saturday and tries to use it as an outreach to the community. There are many children around who do not come to church except for things like that and it is possible that they will hear the gospel explained, but is seems difficult to me, and we did not participate. I did not mean to editorialize so much here. Maybe I will share more on our thoughts about Easter in the spring? This post is about our chestnuts! Anyway, my whole point is that it has been kind of fun searching for and finding the chestnuts. Children can have fun without all the worldly mechanisms in motion.
We would still like to hear from anyone that may have some experiences with benefiting from chestnuts and could suggest anything that may be helpful for us. There are still very many nuts on the trees so it looks like we should have several more days of collecting them. Other years we have collected the nuts, only to let most of them ruin. We are going to try hard not to let that happen this year!
1 comment
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mc2rwe on September 28, 2006 at 7:24 pm
Well I have no comments on the chestnuts but I applaud you on your lack of "bunny belief". We never allowed our children to participate in egg hunts or halloween celebrations. Much to the horror of most of our family… About a year ago my second son asked if he could have his share of the money that we saved on not buying all of that stuff when they were little… we just laughed.
Kathy
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Question about chickens not laying eggs
My previous post about our chickens contained more info than you may have wanted to know, but I was thinking about them because they have puzzled me during the month of September. The last eggs we have seen were on September 4th! Not one of the hens have laid an egg now for over 3 weeks and I am starting to get concerned. Since we are still fairly new to chicken raising we have never experienced a dry spell like this.
I have read about molting and figured that was what was going on at first. But should it be lasting this long? I am also puzzled that it has affected the flock as a whole. We have 9 good layers, but would they all molt and stop laying at the same exact time? Surely it shouldn't last this long, should it? Could there be another problem?
We have kept them in the lot for several days just to make sure they hadn't decided to start laying somewhere in the woods, and still no eggs. I have let them out for several consecutive days earlier than normal in case they needed some more bugs or something, and still no eggs. I have even switched their food from corn to Purina laying pellets and they have eaten about 40 pounds of it now, but still no eggs.
They seem to be healthy and content and not any different then when they were giving us 7 or 8 eggs a day. Introducing the 11 pullets was a little stressful but that was back in the summer and they all seem to be accepted now.
If anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate hearing them. I miss my eggs and the children miss collecting them! That was one of the chores that my 6 year old (Simon) and 8 year old (Christina) could handle pretty well and had fun doing.
Thanks.
4 comments
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------BuzyMumof3sons on September 26, 2006 at 3:07 pm
I just wanted to welcome your familly to homestead blogger! I'm looking forward to getting to know your family better.
I have heard that chickens can stop laying for awhile but hope that someone else is of more help as where we live in the city we are not allowed to have any outside animals! So I'm not really sure!
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mc2rwe on September 28, 2006 at 2:23 pm
Chickens can be a fickle bunch. Have you changed up their routine in any way? Have you started feeding them different food? They are like many humans (me included) that thrive with a set schedule. I have had my chickens (all of them) not lay for up to a month. In fact, they are in such a state right now. I also know that certain breeds will not lay in the winter months when it gets colder.
Hope this helps..
Kathy
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Purewater on September 28, 2006 at 7:22 pm
Thank you for that thought. When I looked back at the calendar I noticed that we tore out their old roosts and put new ones in on Aug. 26 and also cleaned the coop out real good. They stopped laying 9 days later. Maybe that contributed to it? I was happy but suprised to get 1 egg today! Perhaps they will be OK. Thanks again.
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Marcella on September 30, 2006 at 8:28 pm
Eric,
Yes, they'll all stop laying around the same time. Molt and the shortening daylight hours usually lead to the end of the laying season. None of our hens are laying (that I know of).
Hope this helps
I have read about molting and figured that was what was going on at first. But should it be lasting this long? I am also puzzled that it has affected the flock as a whole. We have 9 good layers, but would they all molt and stop laying at the same exact time? Surely it shouldn't last this long, should it? Could there be another problem?
We have kept them in the lot for several days just to make sure they hadn't decided to start laying somewhere in the woods, and still no eggs. I have let them out for several consecutive days earlier than normal in case they needed some more bugs or something, and still no eggs. I have even switched their food from corn to Purina laying pellets and they have eaten about 40 pounds of it now, but still no eggs.
They seem to be healthy and content and not any different then when they were giving us 7 or 8 eggs a day. Introducing the 11 pullets was a little stressful but that was back in the summer and they all seem to be accepted now.
If anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate hearing them. I miss my eggs and the children miss collecting them! That was one of the chores that my 6 year old (Simon) and 8 year old (Christina) could handle pretty well and had fun doing.
Thanks.
4 comments
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------BuzyMumof3sons on September 26, 2006 at 3:07 pm
I just wanted to welcome your familly to homestead blogger! I'm looking forward to getting to know your family better.
I have heard that chickens can stop laying for awhile but hope that someone else is of more help as where we live in the city we are not allowed to have any outside animals! So I'm not really sure!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mc2rwe on September 28, 2006 at 2:23 pm
Chickens can be a fickle bunch. Have you changed up their routine in any way? Have you started feeding them different food? They are like many humans (me included) that thrive with a set schedule. I have had my chickens (all of them) not lay for up to a month. In fact, they are in such a state right now. I also know that certain breeds will not lay in the winter months when it gets colder.
Hope this helps..
Kathy
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Purewater on September 28, 2006 at 7:22 pm
Thank you for that thought. When I looked back at the calendar I noticed that we tore out their old roosts and put new ones in on Aug. 26 and also cleaned the coop out real good. They stopped laying 9 days later. Maybe that contributed to it? I was happy but suprised to get 1 egg today! Perhaps they will be OK. Thanks again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marcella on September 30, 2006 at 8:28 pm
Eric,
Yes, they'll all stop laying around the same time. Molt and the shortening daylight hours usually lead to the end of the laying season. None of our hens are laying (that I know of).
Hope this helps
The Story of the Pure Water Hollow Chickens -OR- The Legend of Big Daddy Dommer
The Pure Water Hollow flock was practically decimated and the remainder was unruly and undisciplined and seemingly only good for coon fodder. The grand chicken experiment had been declared a total failure!
But then, from out of the west, came a bold hero, a champion! The flock’s savior had arrived! Who was that masked man, I mean barred rooster? He became known as Big Daddy Dommer!
Our current chicken story began on a sunny day in May when a friend from down the road brought us six game hens and one game rooster. (This was from a particular line that had produced losses at the chicken fights. We do not appreciate chicken fights but they are very popular around here, and we were happy to get the chickens.) We were not interested in the fights but figured that they should be able to give us nice farm fresh eggs. And they did at first! They laid 75 eggs between May 24 and June 19 and they stayed in the coop pretty good! Since we were having such good success, we decided to take another hen and 13 more pullets from those same friends. We did not know at the time that it would be a big mistake!
So, the Pure Water Hollow flock started out with 21 head that fateful summer of 2004. Unfortunately, the new pullets and hen never got along with the first six. They turned crazy and they all decided to fly the coop! Literally! Not even the original six were staying in the lot anymore. The rooster fought with the pullets and they fought with each other and the hens started fighting each other and the pullets. Things were not happy on this chicken farm and we had no idea what to do. We went out night after night to try to get the chickens out of the trees and put them in the coop. We could usually get some but not all.
Throughout July and August and September the flock gradually dwindled down as the wild animals picked them off one by one. The silly rooster was one of the first to disappear. We got some eggs during this time but nothing regular and they sure did not want to lay in the nests we provided. We had to hunt for their nests, which was not fun. These game hens were so crazy that we actually found an egg once in a tree wedged between two branches! What kind of chickens lay eggs up in trees? We had gotten tired of fooling with them and decided that we would start again sometime in the future with a more tame breed.
By October the flock was down to only 4 wild, crazy hens.
That was when a mysterious stranger from over the mountain rode into town. He was big and stocky, with a muscular build, making two of our old game rooster. He called for the hens and they gladly followed their new leader. He was black and white barred and we thought he looked a lot like the pictures of the Dominique breed of chickens. He does not have the rose shaped comb but he sure looks like the pictures besides that. I guess he is just a common farm chicken but the children named him “Dommer” after "Dominique" anyway. We didn’t know at the time that he would stay around and become our miracle rooster. We just let him roost in the trees with those wild game hens at first.
One of the hens got hit in the road but the other three survived the winter and Dommer stayed with them the whole time. We just let them be wild chickens and did not even try to keep them in the coop. I don’t know for sure if Dommer was actually keeping the wild animals away but it seemed like it.
Then in the spring of 2005 we noticed baby chicks running all around with the game hens! (Everyone calls them bitties around here.) We got to counting them and found that each of the three hens hatched 10 or 11 for a total of 31 bitties! Sadly, we were not in the best position to care for them and I guess they were too many for Big Daddy Dommer to keep up with. Only 18 of them survived, 10 pullets and 8 cockerels, and every one of them are barred and look like Dommer!
On May 28, 2005 we built a better more secure lot to keep them in and this time it worked! It seemed that Dommer liked the coop and promptly ordered his flock to their new roosts. The chickens all go into the coop voluntarily now, following Dommer’s lead, and they stay in the lot if we keep it closed!
Most every afternoon we let them out to pick through the grass and find dust baths and then they all go to the coop when they are ready to roost. By winter, the 10 pullets had turned into fine layers and the 3 game hens began laying again too. (Before the fall was over the 8 cockerels provided good food for the table and freezer!)
Throughout 2006 we had good success with our egg production. I started to copy the totals for each month here in this post, but decided that it would have made some boring reading so I’ll just give you the grand total: 874 eggs from January 1st to August 31st! We thought that was pretty good considering that not all of them were laying at the beginning of the year and the most hens we had was 13. Plus, through the spring, many of them went to setting and quit laying eggs. Sadly it was a rough summer with the wild animals and a dog and we lost 4 hens and many more new bitties. (one small dog can kill a mama and 15 bitties in just a couple of minutes)
We now have 9 mature hens and 11 new pullets (all look like Big Daddy) that have not started laying yet. And we still have Big Daddy Dommer looking after them all. We are thankful for what the Lord has provided for us and I now enjoy taking care of the Pure Water Hollow flock of chickens.
Now you know the story of how a mysterious rooster named Big Daddy Dommer saved the Pure Water Hollow chicken flock! It is the stuff legends are made of that I’m sure we will remember long after Big Daddy has moved on…
This has gotten rather long so I will save the question that I had on my mind for a later post...
3 comments
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Crooked Creek Farm on September 26, 2006 at 7:44 am
that's a lotta eggs! We're still waiting for the 30 new hens we got this spring, as chicks, to start laying. Our older hens are slacking, too.
That's pretty cool, that a rooster would just show up and start taking care of your hens!
Thanks for your comment,
I'll have some new posts up soon!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Renee on September 26, 2006 at 4:57 pm
Hello!
I thought we knew you all so well and now I am getting to know the other-side of you. I feel guilty that I didn't know about your chicken's and your rooster. We need to talk more! We need time together without holiday's and such. It' s sad to have to learn about your new found hobbies and your name for your land from a blog…. We Love you all!! Please keep writing so we get to know you all a little bit better:)
Renee
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Unlikely Homesteader on May 9, 2007 at 10:20 am
You need to post a comment on the chicken contest and enter. I just love reading everyone's chicken stories!
~Nancy
But then, from out of the west, came a bold hero, a champion! The flock’s savior had arrived! Who was that masked man, I mean barred rooster? He became known as Big Daddy Dommer!
Here is Dommer's handsome profile.
Our current chicken story began on a sunny day in May when a friend from down the road brought us six game hens and one game rooster. (This was from a particular line that had produced losses at the chicken fights. We do not appreciate chicken fights but they are very popular around here, and we were happy to get the chickens.) We were not interested in the fights but figured that they should be able to give us nice farm fresh eggs. And they did at first! They laid 75 eggs between May 24 and June 19 and they stayed in the coop pretty good! Since we were having such good success, we decided to take another hen and 13 more pullets from those same friends. We did not know at the time that it would be a big mistake!
So, the Pure Water Hollow flock started out with 21 head that fateful summer of 2004. Unfortunately, the new pullets and hen never got along with the first six. They turned crazy and they all decided to fly the coop! Literally! Not even the original six were staying in the lot anymore. The rooster fought with the pullets and they fought with each other and the hens started fighting each other and the pullets. Things were not happy on this chicken farm and we had no idea what to do. We went out night after night to try to get the chickens out of the trees and put them in the coop. We could usually get some but not all.
Throughout July and August and September the flock gradually dwindled down as the wild animals picked them off one by one. The silly rooster was one of the first to disappear. We got some eggs during this time but nothing regular and they sure did not want to lay in the nests we provided. We had to hunt for their nests, which was not fun. These game hens were so crazy that we actually found an egg once in a tree wedged between two branches! What kind of chickens lay eggs up in trees? We had gotten tired of fooling with them and decided that we would start again sometime in the future with a more tame breed.
By October the flock was down to only 4 wild, crazy hens.
That was when a mysterious stranger from over the mountain rode into town. He was big and stocky, with a muscular build, making two of our old game rooster. He called for the hens and they gladly followed their new leader. He was black and white barred and we thought he looked a lot like the pictures of the Dominique breed of chickens. He does not have the rose shaped comb but he sure looks like the pictures besides that. I guess he is just a common farm chicken but the children named him “Dommer” after "Dominique" anyway. We didn’t know at the time that he would stay around and become our miracle rooster. We just let him roost in the trees with those wild game hens at first.
One of the hens got hit in the road but the other three survived the winter and Dommer stayed with them the whole time. We just let them be wild chickens and did not even try to keep them in the coop. I don’t know for sure if Dommer was actually keeping the wild animals away but it seemed like it.
Then in the spring of 2005 we noticed baby chicks running all around with the game hens! (Everyone calls them bitties around here.) We got to counting them and found that each of the three hens hatched 10 or 11 for a total of 31 bitties! Sadly, we were not in the best position to care for them and I guess they were too many for Big Daddy Dommer to keep up with. Only 18 of them survived, 10 pullets and 8 cockerels, and every one of them are barred and look like Dommer!
On May 28, 2005 we built a better more secure lot to keep them in and this time it worked! It seemed that Dommer liked the coop and promptly ordered his flock to their new roosts. The chickens all go into the coop voluntarily now, following Dommer’s lead, and they stay in the lot if we keep it closed!
Most every afternoon we let them out to pick through the grass and find dust baths and then they all go to the coop when they are ready to roost. By winter, the 10 pullets had turned into fine layers and the 3 game hens began laying again too. (Before the fall was over the 8 cockerels provided good food for the table and freezer!)
Throughout 2006 we had good success with our egg production. I started to copy the totals for each month here in this post, but decided that it would have made some boring reading so I’ll just give you the grand total: 874 eggs from January 1st to August 31st! We thought that was pretty good considering that not all of them were laying at the beginning of the year and the most hens we had was 13. Plus, through the spring, many of them went to setting and quit laying eggs. Sadly it was a rough summer with the wild animals and a dog and we lost 4 hens and many more new bitties. (one small dog can kill a mama and 15 bitties in just a couple of minutes)
We now have 9 mature hens and 11 new pullets (all look like Big Daddy) that have not started laying yet. And we still have Big Daddy Dommer looking after them all. We are thankful for what the Lord has provided for us and I now enjoy taking care of the Pure Water Hollow flock of chickens.
Now you know the story of how a mysterious rooster named Big Daddy Dommer saved the Pure Water Hollow chicken flock! It is the stuff legends are made of that I’m sure we will remember long after Big Daddy has moved on…
This has gotten rather long so I will save the question that I had on my mind for a later post...
3 comments
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crooked Creek Farm on September 26, 2006 at 7:44 am
that's a lotta eggs! We're still waiting for the 30 new hens we got this spring, as chicks, to start laying. Our older hens are slacking, too.
That's pretty cool, that a rooster would just show up and start taking care of your hens!
Thanks for your comment,
I'll have some new posts up soon!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Renee on September 26, 2006 at 4:57 pm
Hello!
I thought we knew you all so well and now I am getting to know the other-side of you. I feel guilty that I didn't know about your chicken's and your rooster. We need to talk more! We need time together without holiday's and such. It' s sad to have to learn about your new found hobbies and your name for your land from a blog…. We Love you all!! Please keep writing so we get to know you all a little bit better:)
Renee
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Unlikely Homesteader on May 9, 2007 at 10:20 am
You need to post a comment on the chicken contest and enter. I just love reading everyone's chicken stories!
~Nancy
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