Monday, September 9, 2013

Homestead News

I'm just getting over my first ever case of Salmonella poisoning. It's been a painful week but I'm finally on the mend, just not 100%. In the midst of being sick I planned and hosted my daughters 8th birthday party. I was worried I didn't invite enough people or have everything together but I did and it was a great party!

I'm still milking Miss Lady twice a day. I was getting a full gallon every day but now I get about 3/4 gallon. My neighbor purchases a gallon/week which is great since we have so much. I would like to just give it to her but she insists on paying me. I've made my second batch of chevre. Everyone in the house loves it, my new favorite seasoning on it is French onion, it tastes like dip, yummy. The rest of the family likes garlic and dill.
I plan on breeding my girl again either in November or December. We usually have a pretty good snow storm in March so I don't want her to kid until April at the earliest. I hope she has a girl this time ☺

My garden was doing fantastic but we haven't had a good rain in awhile and now it's a dried up dreary mess. I'm still harvesting tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and cantaloupe. This weekend I harvested the last of the green beans. I am late putting in my fall garden but I think it's a good thing. The heat we have had would've killed anything I planted. I'm going to plant it this week.

this was one of my gardens in all it's glory
 I finally got meat rabbits!!!! One buck Peanut Butter and three does. I am excited about this project. The lady I got my buck from has workshops on how to butcher rabbits, she even tans the hides. I plan on attending her next one.
Peanut Butter


 
I've got turkeys now!!! Meet Tom and Tilley. They came from Rocky Oak Homestead, we did a little critter swappin' the other weekend. That's where I also got two of my female meat rabbits ☺ I really like Tom the best for some reason he is friendlier than Tilley. I need to learn how to clip wings, they are flying over fences and having their way with my gardens. Mrs. Puff my black Silkie is broody. I gave her some eggs to sit on, they should hatch this weekend. I'm so excited, I ♥ baby chicks! I sold five more chickens last week. My chicken count is 33 as of today ;)
Tom and Tilley

I totaled up how much I have spent so far this year on feed and hay. Whew! It's a lot! It's time to get serious about making some money off these animals and making them self sufficient. I figure if I could make $100/month. That would be enough to take care of the feed bill. Now I just need to figure out what to sell to make this money.

10 comments:

  1. Good to see you back, it's been a while. You've been very busy. Are the kids enjoying going back to school?

    Salmonella takes a while before your 100 percent back to feeling yourself. I'm glad your starting to feel better. How on earth did you get Salmonella?

    It's expensive to keep having to buy seed, is there anyone in the area who will barter seed for something you have?

    With the economy changing, I'm expecting all kinds of items increasing in price.

    Feel better, and have a great day.

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    1. Hello Sandy, yes the kids are glad to be back in school. We stay pretty busy with three of them and their sports :/

      I think I got it from handling my chickens and cages. I forgot to wash my hands and I when I think I chew on my thumb. Weird and gross, I know but I realized instantly what I was doing and grabbed an antibacterial wipe but it was too late :/

      I noticed today bacon went up in price....I need to raise pigs now.

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  2. Salmonella is Spanish for counting bathroom tiles.
    We have cut way back on chickens as the price of feed is too high compared to the price of eggs. I saw where the US has told China that they can sell chicken in the US so it may be time to start some meat birds. I eat with the guys who hunt rabbits here and they are some of the best meat that I have eaten, not as greasy as chicken.
    Hope you get to feeling better, just take some scissors and cut those long feathers on the end of one of the wings off. When they try to fly they go sideways and crash.

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    1. Ha! I love it!!! I lived in the bathroom for five days straight, it wasn't fun :p

      I've been selling off my little bantam chickens. I love them but it's silly to have tons of them. They do hatch me out a lot of babies, but their eggs are small.

      I need to get some more meat birds. We haven't raised any in awhile and I can't stand buying chicken from the store. I can't wait until we have rabbit in the freezer ☺

      I can't wait to try rabbit ☺

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  3. Well Hello Stranger! Glad to see you back. Salmonella? ick! Happy though you got over it and feeling better.

    Rabbits is also on our list of meat animals to keep. Like Sunny said..its about time to start thinking about it.

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    1. Hello, I've been keeping up with everyone I just haven't sat down and posted LOL! Salmonella is nasty. I still feel icky and this is day nine :p

      I know, why the hell are we going to get chicken from China? Somebody has lost their mind!

      I've never ate rabbit, but I can't wait! I hear it tastes like chicken just a little drier.

      I got "cute" brown eyed meat rabbits. The hubs thinks it's silly since you can't taste cute. I just don't like the white ones with the red eyes, they are creepy!!! And my little one will want to play with the buns so they might as well be cute, right ☺

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  4. Wow, You have been busy with all of your endeavors. Don't forget to subtract the meat that you harvest in the self sufficient column. It was also nice to see your blog in the new posts area...welcome back and hope you get to feeling better.

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    1. Thanks K! I took an unintentional blog vacation. The simple life isn't really that simple and it takes a lot of time LOL! I can't wait for it all to just flow easily but until then I still have so much I want to do and so much that needs to be done. Tis' the season I guess and Winter is coming so I need to prepare for that now :/

      I didn't add in the milk that I haven't bought since she kidded and that would take away almost $4/day, even though I would never buy a gallon of milk per day, but I do make cheese with it which is a delicious snack ☺

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  5. Welcome back!!! It's tough to sell things when the government regulates half of what you produce- milk, cheese, wine, etc. Good luck!

    I can't make money on eggs. Do well with meat birds, but it's a lot of work. Extra veggies sell well but this year was a washout.

    I'm glad you're feeling better. Keep me posted how the rabbits do!

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  6. So glad you like your Turkeys...I really hope they are a "Tom and Tilly" its so hard to tell right now...but we are very hopeful that's what you got! If not let me know when they get older and we can work something out!

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