Homestead Update - August

Homesteading is a journey. Some months you accomplish your goals by leaps and bounds. Other months, you fall back a few steps.

The important part is to keep working hard to progress forward in your goals. It doesn't happen overnight. Many websites make it seem easy, but it isn't. It takes baby steps to get to the big projects. So, I'm starting this monthly homesteading update to share our progress and setbacks. I hope that you find them useful in your journey of homesteading. 

Highlights from October 2021 through July 2022:

- We moved into our new home.

- We started rotationally grazing our chickens and rabbits in our Chibbit (for more about our Chibbit, check out this article: Chibbit – PJ's Projects (pjsprojects.com) . It has been a great benefit to us. The cleanup is minimal, the animals love it and we have had very few issues with predation. 

- We added a greenhouse.

- We added pygmy goats.

- We added a Great Pyrenees/Lab mix. He started out small but quickly grew. 

- We added a barn, even though it was a lesson and struggle. Check out this article for details: Buyer Beware! – PJ's Projects (pjsprojects.com)

- We struggled through the winter months caring for the animals and providing water in cold temps because we didn't have all of the structures in place. 

- We planned to add pigs and meat chickens. Life happened and these plans were postponed. 

- We have not set up a system for our goats to clean up the fence rows, which was the goal in purchasing goats. In the meantime, they have become really fun pets. 

- We lost a goat and two rabbits. Two were our fault, the other was an act of nature. 

- We planned to have a large garden but with other issues, this activity was given (by his request) to our 11-year-old. He did a great job on his own with very little supervision. It's amazing what a child can do with a little dirt and some seeds!

August 2022:

- Our family started navigating life together with a newborn. 

- I did a little bit of canning.

   -- I bought large batch of peaches. We ate a lot of them, but I did manage to can a few in a spiced honey syrup. 

   -- I found some local tomatoes. I prepared and canned tomato sauce. It was an improvement from previous attempts. I only made a small batch in case the attempt was a dud as not to waste the produce. I may not have a lot of tomato sauce to use for the future, but I have improved my process.  

   -- I obtained more tomatoes and canned tomato juice. The process of juicing produces a lot of waste. I have heard that some people save the skins from this process to use in another form. They described the process of dehydrating the skins and grinding them into a powder. Some people describe adding the powder to food for flavor and others mix it with water to make tomato paste. I had hoped to try this method, but I was simply too tired at the time of canning to do anything other than finish the project that I started. The remaining tomato parts weren't trashed but were given to our rabbits and chickens for a nice treat. 

    

  -- I made and canned chicken broth. After cooking a whole chicken, the bones were placed into a crockpot with a splash of apple cider vinegar and water. The broth simmered on a low setting for roughly 24 hours. The broth was strained and placed in jars before pressure canning. 

- Our son received a black eye from the goat gate. It was really a silly mistake and not in any way the goat's fault. We turned it into a family joke that our son was beat up by the goat. He laughed it off like a good sport. 

- We adjusted the way that the goats are penned up at night. We originally purchased the goats without having the permanent housing structures in place for them. This is an obvious no-no in homesteading, and I'd like to say that we've learned our lesson, but it's still a very tempting rule to break.

We set up our pygmy goats an extra-large dog cage at night and let them out with our chickens and rabbits during the day. The entire outfit is surrounded by electrical netting fence. We used a waterproof tarp to cover the top and sides to provide protection from the elements and kept it in the fenced area during the warm weather. They seemed very happy with this arrangement, so we pushed our original plans for a permanent structure down a bit further on the to-do list.

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As the summer progressed, the tarps were repeatedly ripped apart by our weather conditions. We replaced them twice before learning our lesson and deciding that it wasn't worth the hassle anymore. We moved the dog pen into the protection of the barn. We may be novices with goats, but we aren't stupid enough to let two goats have free roaming range over the entire barn! A more permanent fixture is being prepared for them inside the barn. 

Moving the cage meant that the goats needed to be transported to and from the barn twice daily. This task mainly falls to my animal-loving son. It took a few days to get the routine down, but now they are pretty comfortable with their new arrangement. 

- We improved the dog's training in regard to the goats. One of our dogs is an Australian Shephard. He is super-smart and true to his breeding, loves to herd animals. He even attempts to herd us humans! When the goats were routinely kept in the fenced area, he simply ran laps around the fencing and felt that his job was complete. Once we started moving the goats back and forth from the barn, he became excited to play an active role and would nip at their legs. It made the process chaotic with us fussing at the dog, the dog barking and nipping at the goats' heels and the goats running random circles around us while attached to leashes. I'm sure that we gave any spectators a good laugh at our chaotic attempt to move just two small goats. We quickly decided that the dogs (mostly the Australian Shephard) had to be trained not to chase the goats or someone would get hurt.

We discovered that the hubby only needs to say one word and the dog will heel as the dog sees him as the alpha male. Unfortunately, he wasn't always as responsive to my commands. We dug out the training collar. It provides a shock at various strengths that is controlled by a remote. We used it sparingly and I am glad that our dog is so smart because it only took a couple of times for him to understand that he was NOT allowed to chase the goats while leashed. He has also relearned that I am a boss around the property and follows my commands. He really is a sweet dog!

 - We celebrated our daughter's birthday with friends and family. This may not seem like it should be listed under homesteading activities, but it is an important one. Having a strong community of people that will work together is not easily developed or maintained. It is easy to let the distractions of today's rush-rush lifestyle get in the way of taking time to enjoy time with others. We took the opportunity to open our home to celebrate a 7-year-old's birthday and catch up with those that we love. Homesteading can also include time for play! 

- We learned a valuable lesson when making hot pepper powder. Our young gardener grew a variety of slim hot peppers. We decided to dehydrate them and grind them into powder. The dehydration process worked well. We discovered that when trying to hand grind the peppers with a mortar and pestle that aromas are released and can cause skin and eye irritation. I'm sure that I should have considered the possibility of eye and skin irritation before we tried this method. Instead, we suffered the uncomfortable consequences, and it is a lesson solidly learned. 

- We harvested and enjoyed vegetables and flowers from our son's garden. He did an amazing job with the garden and the entire family has been able to reap the benefits. 

- We planted potatoes. Some of you have never experienced the appearance of extensive eyes on potatoes stored in your pantry. If not, congratulations on good pantry management! I discovered some red potatoes and two sweet potatoes that had been hiding for a while and decided to take a chance in spreading out in my pantry. I captured these escapees and placed them in the ground in the greenhouse. We will see if they will continue to grow and produce for us. 

- We hatched chicks. We had two broody hens that were VERY insistent in their wishes to stay plopped upon a pile of eggs, so we gave in. One hen apparently loved to be defiant and decided that after we left her alone that it was no longer a fun endeavor. The other hen was a trooper. She hoarded as many eggs as she could sit her little behind upon and didn't give up until two chicks hatched.

We have always purchased our chicks in the past, but I am loving the ease of the momma hen doing all of the work in caring for her babies. We didn't have any issues with pasty-butt, providing heat (it was summer after all) or introducing them to the existing flock. Mama hen did all of this for us! We will have to further explore this avenue of flock expansion in the future.  

- We replaced our greenhouse doors. Our greenhouse is made of thick plastic that can withstand the weather of our windy hilltop. The doors were covered with a cheaper plastic in an attempt to save time and money during the build. This worked for a while, but the weather eventually won and shredded the doors. 

We have plans to repurpose some clear roofing material for a sturdier door but haven't yet replaced the roof where this material will be sourced. In the meantime, we have used tarp. It is ugly but it works. 

- We planted comfrey roots. I have been learning a lot about the amazing properties of the comfrey plant and wanted some of my very own. It is said that comfrey plants are advantageous when planted around the base of fruit trees. I hope to plant fruit trees soon, so I ordered the comfrey roots. It turned out that my comfrey roots arrived before my ability to obtain and plant the fruit trees. I had to do something. Comfrey is known to spread and take over an area if you are not careful where you plant it (like mint can do), so I didn't want to plant them just anywhere. I still want them planted in the area of my future fruit trees, so I planted them in pots with plans to transplant them at a later time. I have one that is growing well and I'm hopeful the others will grow into a healing plant like the one below. 

- Bugs escaped and was found by Duke. One of our rabbit litters produced a male bunny that still resides with us. He has since been named Bugs. We don't want to breed him with our current females due to closeness in genetics but haven't made the executive decision to send him to a different home either. So, he currently hangs out in his own cage in our Chibbit.

We give all of our rabbits plenty of time in the fenced area by alternating their time outside of their cages. Somehow, Bugs escaped the fenced area (I think the electric connection was temporarily off) and ran into a tree lined area to hide. The hunt was on. Our Great Pyrenees/Lab mix was the first to find Bugs and alert us to his whereabouts. The dog cornered the rabbit and appeared to want to play. He is still a puppy, after all! Bugs was rescued and returned to his cage without any damage done. Silly rabbit! 

- I was gifted some rose of sharon cuttings from a kind friend. I know very little about this plant. My first goal is to keep the cuttings alive. Then, I'll need to study a bit before deciding where to plant this one. Shared plant cuttings are always a welcome gift here, even if I don't know what to do with them! 

- We restocked our beef supply. Our extended family joins together to share a beef when needed. My parents do all of the work of choosing the cow/steer, setting up the processing date, picking it up from the processor's, dividing it and delivering it to our house. I'm tempted to believe that the delivery is simply their way of acknowledging the time-sensitive issue of frozen meat mixed with my inability to closely observe a clock. Either way, I appreciate it. 

- We planted seeds for a fall garden. We are short on topsoil in our greenhouse because we used an excavator to level the land for the greenhouse and barn build. We brought in some topsoil in the spring, but I don't think it was enough. The seeds planted directly in the ground in early August haven't grown well. I'm trying them again in seed trays while we make plans to adjust the design and function of the greenhouse for late fall and winter months. We will see if this is more successful. 

None of the things described above are amazing feats or disasters. They are simply a list of activities performed on our little homestead over a period of time. With these baby steps, we hope to build an amazing place to live while expanding our skills and knowledge through hands-on experience. Oh, and make a few memories in the process!