Homestead Pantry

I'm glad to be back here.  It's been awhile since I posted due to having been in the 'loving arms' of the medical community for a couple of months.  After many rounds of tests and doctor's visits...big insurance dollars, (did I need to mention?)...turned out it was nothing after all.  Hum.  Sweet system, wonder if my CSA could utilize something similar? 

So we are still alive here and expect to stay that way for some time to come.  To update you on our CSA current events I will just mention that we are now taking orders for ground rabbit sausage and will post new items as they become available though winter's grip has tightened with some cruel cold temperatures that remain low throughout the day and night.  

We started a tanning vat a couple of weeks ago, before we heard the temperatures were forecast to drop so low.  The furs look so beautiful on the animals that it's a shame to waste them for lack of time or skills.  I had spoken with the tannery nearby but they said they could not guarantee that the rabbit furs would not disintegrate in the vats, and they required payment up front.  The charge for the cowhides was $950.  When asked how that could possibly be affordable, I was assured that I could sell them on ebay.  She said she had seen one selling for $750 the previous week!  Wow.  So we decided to check out DIY tanning articles and try out a few of those recipes.  More info on this once the temps warm enough for us to see what we have out there! Let me know if you want to learn how to do this.

 Fiberarts and garden planning are the top activities of the week around this Homestead.  Two activities that can be done near a warm fire with a hot cuppa!  Contact me for details about when and where we can meet up to sit and spin, knit or just plan for spring.  I for one am planning for a much shorter winter and an earlier spring than last year.

Until next time, be well, eat as fresh as you can for the season.

What a week!  We have been picking green beans, then hauling and pushing green beans at area markets.  It's about the end of it all now, until they dry and then we will see about shelled beans!  

 We have started a remodel of a rabbitry, to meet increased market demands. Lighting needs improving for winter so we will be looking for information as to the optimum light level in order to avoid wasting electricity by using a higher level of light than necessary.  Poultry need 14 hours of light a day to lay well, and rabbits as well as goats breed better depending on the length of the daylight in any given season.  We are looking into providing the electricity with a solar panel array as we consider going off-grid. As I informed the school district board member complaining about the money he says public cyber charter schools cost the school district, it's all about customer satisfaction.  If you don't provide it as part of your service, you can expect to see your customers flocking away.  I could tell that the public school systems' board meetings had never before discussed such a radical concept as customer satisfaction. Well, we feel that the electric company is getting too greedy so we are preparing to meet our needs as well as those of our customers that want more rabbit.  Since we help two rabbitries market their rabbit meat we find ourselves busy helping them develop better facilities for their rabbits as well as develop systems that save them money while better meeting the needs of the animals.

We finished stage one of the new Chicken Run and have materials laid out for stage two.  They chickens are already 'running' in stage one.  The garden is much safer now.  So nowadays my porch *is* painted, but this time it is actually paint, as the DH ran over my bucket of hive body paint, and the dog tracked it all over the porch.  At least it's not cowpile green!

We have begun bringing in and collecting the new mudroom/workroom project materials, but it is on the same priority as the greenhouse and hotbeds!  I was really hoping to be able to begin wool processing and fiber arts lessons in the workshop by now, so yes, we are a bit behind  schedule.

School is really full bore now so lots less help around the homestead these days.  We could really use one or two good homesteadin' apprentices.  Luckily the hive removal last week was one that could be done after dark so I had help with that job.  Most of the work is just routine nailing and a little post driving, with stage two of the Chicken Run, stage three will require a few post holes be hand dug.

Speaking of digging, I just remembered that the Jerusalem artichokes are probably about ready to dig, and there are a couple of beds of potatoes up there that need digging up as well.  Oddly enough, I first thought of it last week when I was at a friend's homestead.  His Jerusalem artichokes were just now in bloom!  He said that livestock enjoy eating them, too, so I will see about that as I have a lot of them out there this year.

 Until next time, eat fresh, eat well, be well.