A Brief Reflection on Our 2012 Homestead

The year 2012 has absolutely flown by, it seems!  On this final day of 2012 I find myself reflecting about many things in my life concerning the past year.  However, for this post, I'm going to try to stick to mainly my thoughts concerning our "homesteading" aspects during 2012.  It is with some difficulty that I attempt this, as the entire year of 2012 seems like a blur to me.  I notice that I only blogged sporadically and missed writing about many daily homestead happenings throughout the year.

We were very successful raising 3 hogs from feeder pig to butcher hog during 2012.  Our new lot worked well, they grew fast and large, and did not present much trouble at all!  Simon took care of the feeding and watering chores most of the time.  These pigs reminded us that raising home-grown pork could still be done very efficiently and also be a rewarding experience.  We had two of them butchered in the summer and then processed the final one ourselves in November.  I regret that I did not find a boar to go with that 3rd hog as my original hope was.  I think she would have thrown excellent piglets as her genetics seemed to be of  a fast growing large hog!

We also had some bad experiences trying to raise some pigs from an outfit that sells "show pigs".  These were supposed to be superior genetic hogs, but ours did not want to grow and actually had trouble surviving!  We first bought three girls and they all got sick.  When the first one died the fellow gave us the boar I was wanting for free.  I wonder now if he was worth the price, because he has also had trouble growing!  A bit later another of the girls died.  It looks like the other girl along with the boar have at least survived as they are now 9 months and 7 months old, respectively.  We think they have bred so I have decided to keep them around to see if they will have piglets and then see if those piglets will grow better than their parents did.  I am afraid it will all turn out to be a disaster and we will have to start over again with new stock.  But, let's try to be optimistic and enjoy the adventure!

Our garden did well in several areas, although it seemed difficult for us to focus on it the way we should have.  Our artesian well did the job keeping everything watered during the drought.  Thanks to the drought, there was not much weeding that needed to be done early in the season.  This turned out to be bad for a family that was having trouble focusing on the garden anyway because sometime in there the drought was over and the weeds were ready to make up for lost time!  Since we never got in a good habit of working the garden earlier, it seemed like in no time those weeds completely took over!  We learned that tomato plants and pepper plants are very forgiving as they still provided abundantly for us, even when they could not be seen!  We had a modest harvest of most of the crops that Lisa planned, although the watermelons and pumpkins did not do anything.

Our honey bees did a fine job keeping everything pollinated.  2012 was the year of the swarm as they swarmed much more than we wanted!  Perhaps it was the mild winter, but whatever the reason, they swarmed and swarmed and swarmed!  Sometimes we had two and three swarms hanging in our trees at the same time!  We were able to capture 3 swarms and start new colonies, but one of them was a partial swarm and did not make it.  We did get 10 quarts of honey from the strongest hive, but since the other one swarmed so much they didn't produce as much honey and we decided that they would need what they had to survive the winter.  As we end 2012 we think we have four good stands of bees.  We just need to get into them and take out the queen cells so they won't swarm themselves to death in 2013.  If all goes well, they should make plenty of honey for us this next season!

We also attempted to re-stock our chicken flock in 2012.  Twenty-five white-rock chicks arrived on July 13th at our post office in town.  Due to the fact that we free range our chickens amongst a predator laden environment, we were expecting to lose some of them.  I thought we may even lose a third of them by the time they reach maturity.  I expected, however, to still have at least 17 or 18 at this time of the year.  I am sad to report that we only have 11 white-rock pullets as we close out the year!  We lost them gradually.  Some were taken off by hawks (I even witnessed it once), some were hit in the road, and some just disappeared.  But the 11 we have right now are all beautiful, big hens and should start laying eggs any time now.

The worst chicken news of 2012 happened one of the nights that I did not close up the cage where those chicks slept with their surrogate mother, One Feather.  One Feather was the beloved game hen we had had for 8 years who had raised clutches of chicks every year, sometimes 2 and even 3 times during some seasons!  She could always be counted on to go broody and she was always an excellent mother to any chicks we gave her.  She was one of the hens helping to raise some of the new white-rock chicks. They would free range during the day but One Feather always took them back to the safety of her cage at night which I would then close up for the night.  I had been lulled into a false sense of security as there had been no night-time evidence of any predators for quite a while. 

That night had not been the first night I neglected my duty, but it turned out to be the night that I severely let our beloved mama hen down.  We heard the squawking from the house after we had gone to bed, and got out there as quickly as we could.  She obviously fought the predator off as evidenced by the 50 foot trail of scattered feathers leading away from the cage down to the creek to where her body was left.  At least the predator did not have the satisfaction of having One Feather as a meal and, as best we could tell, all of the chicks under her care were also accounted for.  We found them scattered all over the yard, hiding in different places, but not harmed.  One Feather gave her life to save these chicks!  She will be greatly missed and I doubt that we will ever have another hen quite like One Feather.

So as we end 2012, our laying flock consists of 3 mature Buff Orpington mixed hens, 11 almost mature White-Rock hens and I think 4 black pullets from eggs we hatched that a friend gave us later in the summer.  By next summer we should have 14 to 18 hens laying for us, so we will be getting plenty of eggs!  We have already been getting one or two eggs a day these last few weeks of December which we have been happy with.  Our butchering flock currently consists of one Red-Star hen (who developed a habit of eating eggs and plucking feathers), as well as 6 black cockerels hatched from those eggs from a friend.

The summer of 2012 was also the summer of the horse as Christina and Simon took lessons with Gracie as we had her trained.  Gracie did very well and is now a good saddle horse.  The children had fun and I think it was a great experience for them.  After we finally got Gracie moved to Pure Water Pastures, the children did ride her some on their own, and I expect they will more as the weather gets better this spring.  I think we have a potentially nice place to make a horse trail along the river up there, but some fallen trees will need to be cleared.

Fall found us fulfilling a dream of having a family milk cow.  Violet, the 4 year old Jersey cow, was already in milk and had two bull calves with her.  Dandelion, the 2 year old Jersey cow, was expected to calve in December.  So our plan was that we could milk Violet now and dry her up around March or April in order to help her have a healthy calving in June.  About the time Violet was being dried up, we would be milking Dandelion pretty heavily.  A note about Dandelion calving:  today was the last day of December and she has still not calved!  She has been put up by herself in the barn since December 10th, and it has been driving me crazy wondering where her calf is.  She still seems healthy, and as far as I know, she is ready to calve any time (just like she was on the 10th.)  It looks like the New Year will find us learning much more about raising dairy cattle!

It was a great accomplishment to get a large section of our pasture fenced for Gracie and the cattle.  I was amazed at how quickly the field got eaten down, though.  It has really demonstrated the need to get some more areas fenced as soon as possible so we can rotate pastures in the spring.  It was also wonderful to see the shelter being erected for the cattle that Matthew, Christina, and Simon have been working on.  There are many, many other projects that still need to be done, however, both there at our pastures as well as here on the home front!

After re-reading the above paragraphs and thinking over the past year, I can't help but notice that our homestead in 2012 was only marginally successful.  At every turn there were challenges, setbacks, and unfulfilled plans.  I think the word I used about the garden sums up our entire year:  a lack of focus.  There were some serious distractions that we were dealing with throughout the year (which I have not written about), and I believe that they affected our overall family and homestead more than can be measured.  It is difficult to stay focused on anything while dealing with serious emotional disharmony and stress. 

These issues are still not completely resolved, but, for the sake of my family, we need to regain our focus in this coming year!  As we enter 2013, I want my life, my family, and Pure Water Hollow Homestead, to glorify God in every aspect of what we do!  We cannot do that without living purposefully and staying focused on the tasks at hand while also staying focused on God and His will!  To Him be the glory and we give Him thanks for all he allowed us to do in 2012 and for the lessons He taught us along the way!

Old Christmas Traditions Passed Down

On the 25th, we had a wonderful Christmas gathering with my mom, stepdad, brother and his family up in Cincinnati.  I am very thankful for my family and the Christmas gifts we were able to give and receive there.

But for this post, I want to show a part of our Christmas here at Pure Water Hollow.  My Aunt Nancy passed away October of last year and my Grandparents passed away in 2006.  This Christmas, we were blessed to be able to use some of their favorite Christmas things, which made for a special celebration.

This is a plate from a beautiful set of dishes that I remember Grandma using for many Christmas dinners.  It is the Johnson Brothers "Friendly Village" pattern.  There is a wide assortment of pieces from this pattern that we now have, and were able to use for the Christmas dinner we had at Pure Water Hollow this year.  The silverware is a Christmas set that also belonged to Grandma and Nancy.

We had all the trappings of a fine Christmas dinner, including roast duck from one of the ducks we raised here at the homestead.  I thought the various "Friendly Village" platters and bowels really added something special.

Grandma also had an incredible Christmas villiage that she used to set up, consisting of dozens of buildings and very many accessories.  We now have some of them and they added to the Christmas mood around our home this year.  Of course, as we set them up and enjoyed the village, we thought of Grandma, Grandpa, and Nancy.

 

The Church on the hill

 Ivy Glen Church

 Maylie Cottage

 The Old Curiosity Shop & Rare Books

 Timothy's favorite was the train.

 The Poulterer

The Beard Barber

 The Green Grocer

 And there you have some of the Christmas momentos from Grandma's that are now in our family.  I miss Grandma, Grandpa, and Nancy but I treasure the time I had with them.  I am thankful for all the great memories I have from the past, and I'm looking forward to the new ones to be made in the future as we go on.

Merry Christmas!

Snow On the First Day of Winter

Today is the winter solstice, the first official day of Winter.  I think it is very fitting that we are having a good snowy day on this day!  (Today is also the day that some people think the world will end based on an old Mayan calendar, but I'm not even going there.  Maybe Y2K had some very credible voices, but a Mayan apocalypse?)  We had snow the end of October, but the next 7 weeks were fairly uneventful, weather-wise.  About half the nights have seen temperatures at the freezing mark but the first week of December was Spring-like with highs in the 60s.  Overall, a pretty calm ending to Fall.

And that brings us back to our snowy day today, the first day of Winter!

Dandelion still has not yet calved!  Chirstina, Simon, Timothy and I just got back from checking on her.  We gave her fresh hay and also put fresh hay down in the shelter for Gracie, Violet, and the two bull calves.  During the past week, Matthew, Christina and Simon have worked on putting up the outside walls of the shelter they roofed last month.  They got the walls up just in time for this bitter cold snowy wind today!  The children also took a few moments to enjoy the snow over there at that farm.

This is what the shelter looks like now!  Quite an improvement for the winter.  Before Matthew put the wood up, we had tarps up but I don't think we got any pictures of that phase.

Simon helped a lot getting the hay today.  Christina did also, but  she moved so fast that I did not get a picture of her carrying a bale.

Here's Dandelion warm and dry in the barn.  I tried to get pictures that showed how hard it was snowing, but it didn't work too well.

 

And here are the other cows enjoying the hay within their newly errected walls.

All that's left for the outside is the partial wall at the top of the front.  We are going to leave the rest of this wall open.  Matthew also plans on putting in a loft to store hay in the back half of the structure.  It's coming along beautifully!


Of course we had to take some time out for snow play!  I think the house has a majestic aura looking up at it from the road.

I think Timothy still likes his bike better than the sleds.

But he did go down a few times in the sleds.

Matthew and Simon finished today off by taking care of the pigs.  We still have the boar and gilt that survived from K & T Showpigs.  They are both still a mystery, so we have decided to keep them around awhile and see if they produce piglets that are any good.  They mated on December 13 which means we should see some piglets around April 9th.  We'll see.

The tarp had come loose that covers their feeder because of the severe wind we've had today, and their feeder was low enough for them to knock it over and spill feed into the snow/mud, so they definitely needed attention!  Matthew loaded 3 100 pound sacks of hog feed on his shoulders and poured them into the feeder.  I suggested that he put one sack on each shoulder and balance the other on his head, but I don't think he took my advice. 

The pictures they took did not come out too well in the dusky, snowy dimness, but I wanted to put them up anyway.

No Calf This Week

I wanted to follow up on that post from Monday about Dandelion.  We've checked on her several times everyday this week, but there has not been any change that we could notice.  She seemed a bit more restless, tonight, but that could be from being penned up for a week now.  She has the run of a large stall and the barn breezeway, but it's not much space compared to the entire pasture field she did have.  She does show all the signs of being ready to calve any time.

Here is what Carla says in her excellent book that we frequently refer to:

"Because a cow's birthing instinct is to go hide in a woods and do it all by herself, it's wise to bring her into ... the barn where you're providing a warm stall with losts of clean bedding... Do that at least a couple days before her calving date so you can keep a close watch on her.  You'll know calving is getting near when her udder swells with a milk supply, her vulva swells, and the flesh seems to loosen around her tail bone and fall away.  After that point, check on her several times a day.  You have a big investment at stake here and will want to help or call the vet if she has calving trouble.  But ordinarily your cow will calve, and you'll find her standing there nuzzling her baby, and you won't have to do a thing except provide the usual necessities of food, water, and shelter..."

Here's Dandelion.  Maybe you can tell by her belly that baby calf is getting close!

On another farm note, the White Rock pullet that disappeared Sunday showed back up Tuesday, no worse for the wear!  Maybe she was around Monday, but I didn't notice her.  I guess she just chose to spend a couple nights out in a tree but then decided that she preferred the coop!  I'm very thankful that it was not a predator.  I am also very thankful that we got an egg in the coop nests both yesterday morning and this morning!  It has been rare for us to get any eggs in December in the past, and it especially seems strange to get 2 eggs the week before the winter solstice while the daylight hours continue to shorten.  I hope this egg trend will continue and some of the other hens and pullets will pick up on the idea!

The Stafford House

The county extension office specifically asked Christina if she would help them again at the historic Stafford House in Paintsville. They were having a special day today showcasing old fashion textiles and wanted Christina to be there to demonstrate spinning and/or weaving.

The Stafford House is a historic house that should be saved, but the city is not committed to keeping it and it looks doubtful that enough money will be raised.  We have donated money and Christina and Lisa both worked all day during the Apple Festival in October giving tours to help raise money, and today Christina did what she could.

Here are some facts about the house:

The Francis M. Stafford House was added to the National Register of Historic Places not only for its architecture, but for its family's importance in the founding and development of Paintsville. In 1843, John Stafford, the original owner of the house, helped establish the city of Paintsville. Then in the 1930s, the Stafford family sold most of their 1,000 acres (400 ha) farm to the city, doubling it in size.

The rear part of the home was built circa 1843, while the front part was built circa 1888, making it the oldest house in Johnson County. Although the home was originally built for John Stafford, it was named for his son who accumulated his father's property after he died in 1869. Francis Stafford also built the main part of the house.

At one time, the Stafford farm included several other buildings, among which were a smokehouse, a store house, a coal house, several barns, a corn crib and a grist mill, which was located below the home on Paint Creek.

It was an overcast day today, but I thought the pictures of the house turned out ok.

I love it's history, and I also like how much it reminds me of the house we bought last year at Pure Water Pastures.  Our house was built during the same era (in the late 1890s), and although it is smaller, it is quite similar in structure and feel to the Stafford House.

Christina enjoyed talking to the other ladies who were there helping, and they really enjoyed her company as well!

No calf tonight

Just a quick update on our Jersey cow, Dandelion.  We decided to separate her from the rest of the herd last night because I noticed that she was dialated some and her tail was lifted up in an odd way.  We're not really sure what to expect since we've never had cows before, but we have read up on the process, and as far as we can tell, it should be very soon now.  I was really expecting her to calve today, so we've been keeping a close check on her in the barn.  Matthew noticed a bit of discharge earlier today, and her vulva is definitely swollen and looks ready for a birth! 

But, the calf will not be born on December 10th after all, because the day is now just about over.  I had been watching her for the past hour or so and finally gave up at 11:25pm.  I was really hoping to witness the birth, but the sound of Dandelion's rythmic chewing, the cool night air, a quiet dark barn, and a lack of sleep the past two nights, all combined to create a scene of me nodding into dream-land and almost falling off the inverted bucket I was using as a seat!  When that happened, I knew it was time to head back to the house.  Now I'm ready for bed and looking forward to re-visiting dream land!

But before I go, I'll throw in another bit of farm update in the disappointment category.  Somehow we loss one of our White Rock pullets yesterday.  All 11 were there when I let them out of the coop in the morning, and everything seemed fine when I let them out to free range at 3:00 that afternoon.  But when I took the count last night, there were only 10 White Rocks.  We hadn't lost any chickens for many months, so loosing one now, just weeks before they should start laying, is a real bummer.  I hope whatever got her will not come back for a repeat meal!  Right now we have one rooster, the 10 grown White Rock pullets ready to lay, 3 mature Buff Orpington mixed hens ready to start laying again, 1 Red Star hen ready to lay again, and 10 11-week-old chicks that seem to be a majority of cocks.  I hope we get to the spring with all 14 hens and maybe a couple of those chicks will be pullets as well.

Now it's off to bed for me, before I fall off this chair I'm sitting in right now!

Enjoying the Ship

It seems that there is much more that could be said about our vacation cruise, but I am just about out of words for now.  I think I'll just let the pictures pretty much speak for themselves. 

Of course, looking at our photos now, I realize that we only captured a fraction of our on-board experiences.!  I wish we would have gotten some good shots of the enormous all you can eat buffets that were set up for every meal, and of Sorentos pizza that I enjoyed so much, and of the cool glass elevators and the 3 story Christmas tree. 

But, I guess we captured a good representation of our overall experience.  The following pictures were all taken between 11/26/12 and 11/30/12 and are not in any sort of order. 

These are good memories!

 

     

And I'll end this post with a shot of  the world travelers, back at Port Canaveral, at the conclusion of a wonderful vacation!

We enjoyed Coco Cay.  We enjoyed Nassau. 

We enjoyed the Monarch of the Seas.

And we enjoyed traveling back to Pure Water Hollow!

The next posts will likely get back to reports about home sweet home!!