The small herd at the ranch has grown by eight.  Calving season is a great time of year; we always pray and anticipate the best.  This year several of the heifers are experiencing their first delivery.  Most have been successful with strong healthy calves.  We have however lost one mama and baby.  She got in trouble and before help was available she labored in distress too long.  When they were found the calf was dead , mama could not be saved.  Losing an animal never gets easy and more so when they have been named and become an overgrown pet.  The whole herd is that way, Dad is just another member and they follow him around knowing where their special treats come from. 

This morning another of the heifers had run into some trouble.  This time a close eye was kept and the vet called.  While going to feed and checking the rest of the herd she delivered.  Worn out she made her way up off the ground and began her new duties as mama cow. 

I can’t help but be reminded of our Creator in the midst of this season.








You can read more @ Ranch Work

Buford, the proud papa.

I wish someone had given Jesus a dog    As loyal and loving as mine
To sleep by his manger and gaze in His eyes
    And adore Him for being divine.

As our Lord grew to manhood His faithful dog
    Would have followed Him all through the day
While He preached to the crowds and made the sick well
    And knelt in the garden to pray.

It is sad to remember that Christ went away
    To face death alone and apart
With no tender dog following close behind
    To comfort it’s Master’s heart.

And when Jesus rose on that Easter morn
    How happy He would have been
As His dog kissed His hands and barked its delight
    For the One who died for all men.

Well, the Lord has a new dog now, I just sent Him mine
    The old pal so dear to me
And I smile through my tears on this first day alone
    Knowing they’re in eternity.

Day after day, the whole day through
    Wherever my road inclined
Four feet said, “I am coming with you!”       And trotted along behind

         Rudyard Kipling







         

It is almost magical to see, sort of like Christmas time in the nest box.  It is that special day about 21 days after the hen began squawking and pecking at all comers.  When a hen becomes broody she will not get off of that nest for any reason or anyone; you can pull eggs out from under her (and I have) and she will find a nest with eggs in it and defend that one.  I have tried to fool them with plastic eggs or golf balls but it never seems to work, they always find the real thing.

As neat as it is to hatch out your own broods and see the genetic line of your flock too continue on.  This is great in theory, just allowing your hens to do what your hens do naturally, but the problem with this is the percentage of roosters that come out of a "straight run".  It would stand to reason that the hatch rate of roosters to hens would be 50/50 but this has not been my experience.  I am not sure what the cause of this may be is but there always seems to be more roosters showing up than hens.  Another problem with all of this is that we can not tell the young cockerels from the young hens.  That rooster will just eat and eat for about four months until he crows for the first time.  Sure, you frequently can tell who will be who a little sooner but it is pretty hard.  After I can figure out who is what I take the roosters down to the feed store in order trade them in for a bag of feed (they'll end up as someone's Sunday chicken dinner).  All in all I really do not even break even on the roosters and so I had to come up with something else.

I am going to raise to pullets (day old baby hens) up from a couple days old to about five months old.  I pay about a dollar for a baby chick and then turn around and trade some of them for feed.  I also improve my flock in this manner.  It works basically like this, I moved a small chicken house at the far end of the chicken enclosure so that the broody hens can have their own quiet little place to do their thing.  I mark on the calender when the girls finally settled down for the duration of their job.  I wait for about 19 days and order my chicks and when the baby chicks finally arrive I creep out to the little chicken house and slide the chicks under the hens.

  If I had left any eggs out for the girls to sit on then I would remove them.  99% of the time the hens take them right in without any problems.  Multiple hens frequently become broody at the same time and they frequently fight for the best nesting boxes.  This way everyone wins, the chicks, the hens, and the flock.  You will not be making any serious money but this would be a great way to improve your flock and feed your girls.

Please read more on how to tend to our chicken house @ Hygiene tips for the coop.

 

He was depressed.  Anyone standing on the opposite side of the bars of his little jail cell could see that.  When the kids and I whistled and called to him he did not even lift his red brown colored head off of the cold dank cement slab.  It could be that he did not even hear us with all of the barking, growling, and howling going on around him, or maybe he just did not care.  He probably was just resigned to the fact that soon (like some many other lost, no longer convenient, or recently out of fashion pets) he was going to be forgotten about and destroyed.

He woke up a little when the animal control officer pulled him out of the miniature cell and walked him towards the enclosure where my kids and I could see him up close.  Now he saw us and ran right up wagging that stump of a tail he has (I never could figure out what had happened to that tail as it was not cropped right).  He seemed really excited to see us, and then he turned rapidly to the right and stopped to smell a nearby pile of poo.  Anyway, he eventually began to focus his attention on us once again as he came running up to us and appeared to take some interest in the ball we had.  I threw it, he chased it, and just left it there where it landed while standing over it wagging that silly stump of a tail.  That did it, I decided that we were going to be the other members of his pack.

We headed back home to get a car carrier for him and then we stopped off quickly to get him a new house and some food (as well as a couple of toys).  We headed for home without delay taking the newest member of our family with us.  We were really excited to get him home with us here in the countryside were we live.  My children, my folks, and I all went out to dinner that night foolishly forgetting that we just got a new dog.  We remembered this when we came up the driveway riding up the hill if he would still be there.  Thank God that he was, he acted as if he was thinking that he had already been on doggie death row and that he was not leaving the spot where I foolishly left him.  He hasn't left yet!

  He runs the entire property and then onto the neighbor's and back, running like a fool hound dog until his tongue hung down to the ground.  He permanently rides shotgun whenever the truck starts up being the first one in and the last one out.  He is ever vigilant for any ground squirrel, bunny, coyote, or bobcat who dares to invade his fiefdom.  He can climb straight up the hill in a millisecond and descend it just under the speed of sound.  He helps us gather up the chickens when they need to be corralled.  He greets me with smiles and laughs (they say dogs do both) when I walk up to him.  He is always a pleasure to be around, except for when he has just been skunked!

 

Copyright 2010 by Dan Courtois

I am sure that it is the dream of most homesteaders to be able to make a decent living on their own little piece of heaven.  Reality is that I (like most people) have to commute about 30 miles each day to my job in close small city.  I am really grateful to have this job but the dream is still there to live off of the land, my family’s land.  But just because you can not make all of your living off of your place does not mean that you can’t make something off of it to pay the property taxes (the government always has to get their pound of flesh), or to pay the property mortgage, or to acquire another piece of farm equipment.  There are many ways to try to make some extra cash and here are a few of them.If you are fortunate enough to have a farm pond then you have an opportunity to produce several different products.  Many folks will plant their farm ponds with catfish to sell to restaurants, private parties, and as fishing opportunities while earning a fair return on their investment.  Other pond owners may allow people to come in and fish from their ponds for a little fee.  Often pond owners will stock them with trout or bass for their guests.  I know that many fathers have been able to take their sons and daughters to these sorts of places to get their first taste of fishing while creating life long memories in the process.  Fresh water shrimp or crayfish may be raised sell to local markets, restaurants, specialty, and bait shops.  These two forms of pond critters are easy to acquire, grow, and maintain a self sustainable size population crawdads and shrimp can also be raised along with some other pond residents.
As far as land based income goes, you can raise chickens for eggs and also for meat.  But your options for your chicken income do not end with eggs and meat you can also buy day old pullet chicks and raise them (maybe with the help of a broody hen or two); it is simple in that you buy day old pullets for about one dollar a piece and raise them to four months of age and then sell them for about eight dollars a piece.  Rabbits should also be considered as a means to raise some cash.  Rabbits can be raised for pets, meat, and fur.  Rabbits are very easy to raise and they are very prolific.  You might consider also raising goats, sheep, pigs, or steers and have several people split the cost of buying and raising the animal.  Something that many people do not consider doing is raising goats and sheep for sale around ethnic holidays, but take it one step further and provide a place for a country butcher to come out and slaughter the animal right there on your property (for an additional fee of course).  Of course you will have to check with department of health and agriculture to see what sort of health regulations you will have to comply with so that you do not run into trouble.There is always opportunity to make money growing crops or agricultural products in both the usual and the not so frequently thought of options.  Not only is it a good idea to have an organic garden for your family’s produce needs, why not sell subscriptions to your garden.  People can buy a bag of groceries which you can pick for them on a weekly basis (you could even include some eggs in that bag).  Another option is to run a “pick your own” style operation where your subscribers can come out and pick some produce.  This system might really work out for you as it would allow you to set the times that you are open for operation.  Something that you might consider is growing for potentially greater profits is seed stock.  Here you would grow plants not so much for their fruit but for their seeds.  I would find a couple of rare forms of plant seeds and grow some more for sale to seed companies and seed banks.
There are several ways to make some cash from your piece of the family homestead, some of which were listed above.  Others which may be considered as well are firewood sales, wild nut harvesting, wild berry picking, wild mushroom hunting (know what you are doing and be careful), and hunting opportunities.  Just take a little time, study your situation,  and see what will work out for you.  Don’t overlook the small possibilities which could pay off for you in a big way!

 

I previously wrote on your need to work toward some measure of water self sufficiency at your home or small rural homestead.  You may have an opportunity or two to passively recover some water, and you can read the previous article here @ Working Towards Self Sufficiency-Water (part one)

But there are times when this is not going to be an option and this is where water must be obtained through active means such as with pumps.  Well pumps are used to pull water up from underground or from a place on the surface some distance away from where you may need it.  Some agricultural wells, with the right pump, can process several thousand gallons of water in a short amount of time to irrigate row crops, orchards, or sprinklers for large fields of alfalfa.  A self sufficient individual may have to pump some of their water so here are some choices that you might consider.

Many readers are fortunate enough to have a little land which they will have to provide water for and so some of the larger pump systems will be what they need.  Our own well pumps about 1,000 gallons per minute allowing us to fill our 30,000 gallon cistern in about 30 minutes.  It is important that we are able to fill our cistern as we do not have city water and we must provide for our household needs and our fruit trees.  The well itself sits about one mile away from our front door (and I believe that it is only about 100 feet deep) and has to use a "booster" pump to get up enough pressure to raise the water up about 450 feet to run into our cistern.  At this point our submersible pump, in the cistern, pumps the water into the pressure tank which then pressurizes the water to about 60psi to get it up the hill (about 150 feet up) to where it will deliver about 40 psi to the main system.  You have to keep a pressure tank in any system which is not pressurized by hydrostatic pressure or else you will burn out your submersible pump as it will have to constantly run just to keep your system pressure up.  This fact was demonstrated by the previous owners of this property; when we first moved in here we found about six burnt out pumps buried under weeds around the cistern.

There are other situations that you may find yourself in such as having a fair amount of relatively clean surface water which will be used mostly for ag water and livestock.  This would involve floating a strainer under water and slowly pumping it uphill to a tank where it can pressurize your water system by hydrostatic pressure.  This is a can be a low cost and low tech way to solve a big problem.  Of course there are now low pressure solar powered pumps which can be sunk down into a well shaft and then pumping drinking water (get it tested first!) at low pressure up to a water storage tank.

Do not forget about the old style windmills, many of which still dot the landscape here in the West, which raises water up for livestock tanks and ponds.

  The squeak and whine that accompany the operation of these old units always makes me think of the men who came here before me.  Those men who, while squinting through dust and sweat, cut their hands on barbed wire to contain their stock.  I am reminded of those young men that raised blisters on their hands digging wells to water their families, crops, and stock.  I stand there looking at the old windmill and feel self sufficient.

You can read more on Self Sufficiency @

Working Towards Self Sufficiency-Food

I knelt to pray but not for long,

I had too much to do.

I had to hurry and to work

for bill would soon be due.

So I knelt and said a hurried prayer,

and jumped up off my knees.

My Christian duty was now done

my soul could rest at ease...

All day long I had no time

to spread a word of cheer

No time to speak of Christ to friends,

They'd laugh at me I'd fear.

No time, no time, too much to do,

That was my constant cry,

No time to give to souls in need

But at last the time, the time to die.

I went before the Lord,

I came, I stood with downcast eyes.

For in His hands God!  held a book;

It was the book of life.

God looked into his book and said

"Your name I cannot find

I once was going to write it down...

But never found the time."

Reprinted for Spirit of Praise Gospel Publishing House, Springfield, MO

A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning.  The wife said, "you should do it because you get up first, and then we don't have to have wait as long to get our coffee."  The husband said, "You are in charge of the cooking around here and you should do it, because that is your job, and I just can't wait for my coffee."  The wife replies, "No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee."  Husband replies, "I can't believe that, show me."  So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says 'HEBREWS'.

Found in the church bulletin 022810.  Printed by Spirit of Praise Gospel Publishing House, Springfield, MO

Liquid water is the most important necessity for the human body, other than oxygen, and humans have to take in a fair amount of it each day or it will become dehydrated (in the worse cases, kidney failure, and even death will result).  You have to always have a safe, potable, and steady supply of water in order to survive as well as irrigate crops and water livestock.  The folks who live in towns and cities usually have to rely on a municipality or other government agency to get water, and then only in the amounts that the bureaucrats tell you that you may use.

 In defense of many governmental entities, sometimes water conservation is needed in order to keep everyone able to have some running water.  Some governmental bodies take the interests of a small number of special interest people to severely and unreasonably stop any water use; A prime example of this is the delta smelt battle in the State of California. Here some clowns have convinced some judge that a little fish, who is not even native to the area, should be protected and the pumping systems should be shut down in order to protect them.  Needless to say, an out of control over reaching and power hungry governmental body exercising this kind of water control can ruin many people’s lives (at least 50,000 jobs were lost and family farms were destroyed here in California).  The point that I am trying to get at is that you have to once again look out for your family and yourself. 

Everyone can produce at least some of their own water for use in the garden or to water a small flock of chickens.  Rain water collection is easier than you may think as you basically only need a clean drum (like a food grade 55 gallon drum) and a roof.  The basic theory is simple, rain water lands on the roof and sheets down into the rain gutters.  Next, the rain gutters will direct the rain water towards the ground through the downspout and into the barrel which then is saved for another day.  The downspout modifications you need to make, in order to direct the water into your barrels, are not very difficult to do and can be done by almost anyone. First, clean out your rain gutters really well and then cover the drain hole with some hardware cloth, in order to keep the leaves from clogging up the pipe, Then just run the pipe into the barrel.  Have a small overflow hole on top of the barrel to allow extra water to flow out so that water will not back up the down spout.  This does not sound like a whole lot of water, but we are talking about over 200 gallons that can be used for your garden micro drip system (which may last you the better part of a summer).

This system can be used on a much larger scale as well.  I know of a man who intends to build a cistern under his front lawn to channel his roof rain run off into this cistern.  He figured that he would be able to gather about 33,000 gallons a year just from the sparse Southern California rains which landed on the roof of a single family, suburban home.  In any desert like area, this incredible amount of water saved for future use instead just wasted by running down a storm drain.  Before you start to use the gathered water for drinking, please have it tested to make sure that it will be safe for you too.  This system would of course be great for your irrigation needs.  This passive gathering means is a great way to "bank" this liquid gold.  In order to figure out how much water you can catch with any given surface of roof you can find that sort of data on the internet.

Ponds are another form of collecting rain run off from the surrounding landscape.  Ponds can be either natural or man made or maybe  little of both.  People sometimes dig depressions in the ground and possibly line the bottom with a clay lining.  A small stream or a spring may be diverted to flow into the pond (check local regulations to make sure that you can do this) slowly filling.  If you intend to build a pond then please consult an engineer to design it. If your pond does not have a clay bottom then it will sink down through the soil and rock to replenish the water table.  Again there are resources out there on the internet to figure out how much land run off it would take in order for you to gain an acre foot of pond water.  Ponds might not be the premier source of potable water as it is highly susceptible to outside parasites and contamination so you would probably would want to treat it before you drink it.  Pond water is ideal for crop irrigation and livestock watering (it is probably best not to let the cattle wander directly into your pond as the will contaminate the water and break down the banks).  In fact, it is a good idea to keep your large stock out of streams and springs as well to kept things flowing well.  Ponds are a great way to catch and store some "free" water for later use.

Springs and artesian wells are water sources that rise up because of under ground rock formations interacting with water forces.  Some springs run all year long and these are a real find when it comes to filling your water needs.  If you notice that your spring dries up in the summer then you probably do not want to totally rely on it.  Just because you do not have surface water year round does not mean that you do not have an under ground stream or river flowing year round.  Down in the canyon next to our house we have small stream which flows slowly (sometimes only a trickle) on the surface.  I have dug down just about one foot and saw that there was more water flowing.  This sort of water source offers some real opportunities to collect this water into a pond or cistern.  You could trench in the little stream bed and place a "trench drain" into the bed (again check out your regulations-or not) which would make it easier to move more water faster towards a collection point of your choice.  Little streams and springs can also be directed via pipe to a place that suits your needs (such as a spring house).

Water you can obtain through passive means is hard to beat to provide all or even part of your needs.  If you look around passive water collection is easier that you may think to obtain.  In part two of this article I will write on more active means of obtaining a water supply.