The State of the Homestead

As my long time readers know, every once in awhile I post a general whose who of characters in something I call The State of the Homestead. And include how we are doing financially. This time we will do things a bit differently as an unofficial meme is running amok through the homesteading blogs. And since I seem to have amassed more readers, an introduction to the participants is in order.

And welcome to my world!




There are 5 of us humans here on the Neophyte Homestead, me; Phelan, Husband, and three boys, Small (8), Medium (10) and Large (14).

Cattle; Long Legged Kerrie's and American Milking Short Horns
9 cows and 4 bulls 

Murrial 
Mama 
Urth's Umbra 
Winston
Winnie 
Xanadu
Xuxi

Yart
Yaya
Yoda
Yippie Skippy
Yogi
Zaphod

9 black belly Barbados sheep
Bobdole ( yes one word)
Ugly and lamb
Mini Ugly and lamb
Suzi and lamb
Burnt Marshmallow
Whitey 


26 hens and 1 rooster
7 turkeys

3 dogs
Buckets
Sprocket
Axel

5 cats
Olive
May maybe manard
wrath
Alex
Envy

5 adult rabbits 


Bees, no I am not going to count them

Poop ducks. They are wild, but a constant presence.

Plants, well let's just list trees. I use many weeds in our diet, flowers and then the 2400 sq ft garden.

1 peach tree
2 apple trees
3 crabapples
1 pear tree
2 hackberry trees
2 apricots trees
1 nectarine tree
3 plum trees
3 mulberry trees
2 cherry trees
2 paw paw trees
None are taller than Husband except one mulberry.

We have blue berry bushes, raspberry, blackberry, grapes, strawberries, hops, 

It seems like I am missing something on this list. Hhmmmm. . . Oh and yes, 1 pecan and 2 walnut trees.

The State of the Homestead right now is a bit stagnant. Hay prices have come down, and we are talking with a manufacture about a steel building. We are actually talking about a house. Currently we are in a 30 year old mobile home that is falling apart. The steel company we are talking to has a layaway plan that takes a year. This will be the only way we could purchase something to begin building. We are not broke, but still below poverty level. Thank goodness we raise our own food. It's been a bit rough buying groceries after the drought last year. At least I didn't have to purchase any meat products. But things are looking up with this year's weather. Insects are worrisome though. 

Boys are doing well. Medium was the only child in his school to score a perfect on his State Assessments. He has been wearing his medal for a couple days now. Large scored high enough to not have to take finals. Small won't take the State Assessment until next year. But he is doing wonderfully on his goals, has actually surpassed expectations. He will be in summer school though, just to keep it going. Medium is taking art and Large has to bring his GPA up so that he can go to school in Japan next year. 

Husband is tired. Can't go into a lot about it right now though. Soon though, very soon. 

Murrial and Yart have been separated from the rest of the herd. Due to their demeanor, they have been chosen to be the front yard cattle. Yart is so Eyore like, that she is easily handled. And a good calf for the boys to interact with. As I watch a couple walk their goat down the road, then another couple later walking their miniature pony, I have come to the conclusion that Yart and I should be taking strolls around the neighborhood. 

Rabbit mistake

Long story short

Took a doe to a buck

doe was larger than buck

doe killed buck

The Best of 2011

One of these things is not like the others

One of these things just doesn't belong. . .

Can you tell which thing is not like the others, before I finish my song?

The Dark (and slightly uncomfortable) side of Homesteading

A skunk managed to kill all my "teen" rabbits. However, Buckets, our Staffy, killed the skunk. We thought most of the smell was off of her. However with the 100F plus, 85F in the house and her unable to do extreme heat because of her black skin and fur, she was given a cooling bath. Then she decided to lay in front of a fan and fill the house with the smell of wet, skunked, dog. I thought Medium was going to puke, and Small was a bit green.

Last night I skinned a chicken for the first time. I usually pluck as it is a habit I am comfortable with. But most of the time chicken butchering is planned out in advance. Last night it wasn't.

Missy is a good, seemingly happy pig. She gets fed all kinds of pig worthy treats. But yesterday the free ranged fryers found their way to Missy. Missy was enjoying her food as I left her, but when I stepped back outside, I found a fryer running and jumping, flapping and flipping, and Larry (rooster) feeling frisky from the scene. Blood splattered the other white fryers as they went in to attack and eat the flopping chicken. Missy was making all kinds of happy noises, and dancing about it her pen. It's the same dance she does when we move her tractor to fresh greens. She crunched away noisily on the chickens head. It was a clean decapitation though. And even if it isn't my preferred method of butchering, it still worked. The chicken had stuck her head into Missy's pen to steal the food, Missy wasn't having it, or was jonesing for some chicken skull. Either way, it was done, it was a clean fresh kill. So once the death throes finally stopped, I hung the bird and skinned it out. Decent amount of meat even though the drought and heat had stunted their growth. I am canning the meat this morning.

We finally have tomatoes growing. Throwing sheets over the plants just before the heat of the day seems to have worked. We only have a month left in the season, unless it turns out to be an Indian summer, so my fingers are crossed that the plants just explode with fruit.

Mulch mulch mulch MULCH!!!

And that's when you wake up screaming.

We have a lot of mulch. And more is constantly showing up. We met a tree service guy. We set up a deal, whenever he is cutting trees in the area, he can drop it here. Most of the time, tree service companies have to pay to dump the mulch. So it is a good idea to call the tree service companies in your area, and let them know that you have a free dumping ground.

This tree service lives and works almost an hour from here, but is contracted with our electric company, so he goes where their poles are. We offered a place to park, saving him gas and money. I think he is now taking advantage of us, 1 hill is 6 feet by 10 feet wide, and 50 feet long! I can mulch the entire neighborhood!

We don't mind. We have mulched in all the trees, and a quarter of our 6,500 square feet garden. The walk ways for now. Once that's done, we will sift through the mulch, pick out the stringies and stick, and mulch in the veggies. This will save our food from drought at least. And I won't have to weed as much!

After mulching we contorted one of our apple trees. All it's branches are growing straight up. And with the apples  forming, more sun will help.

Weird looking Christmas tree.

I will leave you with a bit o' cute

Hooter was over and was doing a Jack Nickleson impression for our Lamb, who looks like the Joker.

That got us rolling!



We have 6 kittens, all named after 1 of the 7 deadly sins. Together they make Pride.



We have named the bunny closest to the camera, What?.

How I Spent My Mother's Day

Medium gave me the love notes, and Small the hand print tulip.


Of course I arose before anyone else, no breakfast in bed for me. Husband gave me a kiss, mumbled something about Mother's day and we were off.

I got my strawberry patch fenced in. Between the dogs and the turkeys the new plants kept getting pulled up! Husband worked on the temporary chick pen. We will only have these chicks for another months or two before butchering, so nothing fancy or permanent like the condo.

I moved a box of the hundred birds out to the pen. As I was shooing them through the door, the freaking roosters that have been separated out from the laying flock (for butcher) decided they couldn't restrain themselves. Here comes one jumping over my shoulder! I had to save the chick from the affection of the rooster. As that was happening, one of the chicks got passed me into the open world. Another rooster took advantage of this and my preoccupation with the other amorous rooster to attempt to sow his own oats. I had to stand guard while 4 roosters circled me. The top of the chick yard wasn't put up yet, and they figured out they could jump over top to get a little nookie. The roosters and I went rounds, they did their sexy fan dance, and I threatened to take their heads off with a 2x4. It was the ballet of the Homestead. Small and I managed to trick them into a holding pen. Life suddenly became so much easier.



Our matriarch, Mama, has been keeping Murial from eating. So Saturday evening we put Murial, XuXi and Courage Into the paddock. I moved Courage as well because she has been very skittish and I was wanting to train her to the milk stanchion. But the black cows are cookie whores and it is difficult to get only one cow.

We did get the bales we so desperately needed. 80 bales of prairie and 20 of alfalfa. Every morning I throw 1 bale to the Kerries, and 1 bale to the Milking short horns, each get half a bale of alfalfa. In the evening I have to throw one more bale to the Kerries. (I am setting up the story)

Yesterday I threw a bale to the Kerries, while Husband took one to the Milking shorthorns. Suddenly I hear, over the ruckus that the black cows were making, "what do we have here?" When ever Husband says that, it is always interesting. I dropped what I was doing, to the distress of Winston (bull), and ran to the paddock.



Get your thinking caps on people, it is the year of the Y.

Courage had her calf! It's a little girl. A Mother's day calf. awww. . .

Mid afternoon I caught the men in my life taking a break



I am working my butt off and there they are.

Medium caught the first bullfrog of the season



That is always a thrill for them, and Sprocket (hound mix dog). She is constantly chasing the frogs.

The rabbits have become alfalfa junkies. I took them a bit last night and discovered that they will stand on their hind legs and you can almost get them to turn circles, like a dancing dog. I will have them jumping through rings of fire before the week in up.

Husband and I took the bike out. The irises were in full bloom along the roadways. The smell was intoxicating. So much like spring even if our weather is more like August (100F here today) than May.

We BBQued for dinner. Was too hot to cook indoors.

We had a good day.

Hope your Mama's day was just as good!

Making your own small scale silage

Now is a good time to start making and storing your own silage. It is rather easy on small scale.

The simplest is for those that mow their grass. Simply mow, allow to wilt, bag in a large zip type plastic baggy, or trash bag, and press out as much air as possible. If mold grows on it, the silage is ruined and should never be fed to your animals.

Depending on the animals that you are making silage for, you will need different plant materials. Crops suitable for silage are non-leguminous fodder crops rich in soluble carbohydrates, such as maize, oats, sorghum, pearl millet, and cultivated grasses are most suitable for ensiling. Materials can be grasses, legumes, fodder crops (sorghum, maize), crop residues or by-products. These items need to be harvested in the young age, before flowering, to help ensure that you have enough sugars for proper fermentation.

And don't forget your tree and shrub fodder. Just restrict the amount of tannins. And be cautious of the type of plants you are harvesting for your animals. Tannins has been shown to help with worm problems in sheep and goats, still restrict the amounts though.

If you are growing legumes, harvest leaves before your dry season, allow them to dry in the shade, then mix in with your silage.

If you wish to do it on a slightly larger scale, a pit works good for storage as well (cover with black plastic and weight it down with tires), as does a buried deep freezer. Place your silage in it in layers, then walk on it, pressing the silage down removing as much air as possible. Keep it cool and dry (plastic and weights work here as well).

Come winter, you can feed a nice nutritional "fresh" meal to all your lovely critters.

Rabbit Kin (or list of meat rabbit breeds)

Yes, I am enjoying the hickness of talking about meat rabbits. That's one thing I have run into, many city friends look at you in disgust when they find out you raise rabbits for meat.

There are several different types of meat rabbits out there. I raise mutts. Though I have discovered what they are.

Californias and Cinnamons.

Cinnamons were cross bred into creation. They are considered a commercial breed, weighing 8-11 lbs. They are a rich russet color

California are white with black on their ears and nose and have pink (mine are red) eyes. Weighing 8-10 1/2 lbs.

American Chinchilla are considered a desirable meat, with a deep loin and broad shoulder. Weighting 9-12 lbs. They also enjoyed for their thick, soft fur. It is listed as critically endangered heritage animal.

Creme D'Argents are considered a difficult breed to raise, as the are temperamental, and don't put on weight as well as other breed.Weighing 8-11 lbs.

Blanc d'Hotot is considered a dual purpose breed (pet and meat) weighing 8 -11 lbs.

New Zealand are one of the healthier breeds. It has a good snuggle bunny temperament making them easy to handle and work with. Weighing 9-12 lbs.

Palomino are considered a commercial breed though take long to grow out then others. Weighing 8-11 lbs. Have a good temperament.

Rex are another commercial breed weighing 8-9 lbs. They are raised primarily for their fur.

Sables weigh 8-10 lbs and are the Siamese cat of rabbits.

Satins are raised primarily for their fur, but do well as a commercial meat breed, weighing 9-10 lbs.

Silver fox are a fanciers breed as their numbers are low. However they make an excellent dual purpose animal (meat, fur, pet) weighing 9-12 lbs. They have a great temperament and high dress out percentage.

There are other rabbit breeds out there, many considered pet quality rather than meat.

When it comes to choosing the breed to raise it basically comes down to fur coloring. What appeals to you.

If you have a specific breed in mind, ask and I will add it to the List:

French Angora Rabbits make a good dual purpose rabbit. weighing 7-10 lbs. When looking for French angora's you want their body to be oval in shape. A good indication for a meat purpose.

For those of you that don't read comments (and I know many of you don't):

Michelle says; Keep in mind the gorgeous American Blue and White rabbits! They're a recovering-from-almost-disappearing breed developed in the US in the 1920s, and they're a friendly, cuddly, prolific meat breed.

Lynda says; The Florida Whites were a small meaty breed...the Tans were just fancy and mean! If I were raising just for meat I'd cross the NZ with the Cali's very nice for dressing out.
I would stay away from Flemish Giants (the BUBBA of the rabbit world)...I love the Flemish, they are so gentle...but they're more bone than meat and they will eat you out of house and home.

Scylla says: Standard Rex generally have a good temperament if handled regularly, but Mini Rex (weighing 2-5 pounds) are generally right little turds (i.e. not the best pets, bad on meat, worse on pelt).

Green Griffin says: Scylla that gave me a laugh about Mini Rexs. I raise them for meat. Go ahead and laugh, but they are the perfect size to feed one of my Australian Shepherds a meal. Since I feed my dogs raw, raising rabbits are a good economic choice. ( good idea Green Griffin, I myself have raised rats for feeders (not for dogs), and can some of my own dog food)

Findin' Eaten' Rabbits (or where to find meat rabbits)

2 people commented the other day about wanting to know how to go about getting their own meat rabbits.

We got ours in an unusual and not so recommended way. My Husband makes contact with a wide range of people in his business. And shop talk never stays on shop talk. Various things are mentioned, and eventually Husband will know that customers entire life story. See, when you love your motorcycle, you get picky about a mechanic. And since your life is in the hands of your mechanic, you tend to trust him or her, and feel a kinship. Husband is one of the more popular wrenches because he makes time for his customers. We get a lot o free stuff because of this.

One of Husband's customer discovered that we were interested in rabbits. Turns out that he had a population explosion and instead of butchering them out, they escaped or were released (I am not too sure of the story). He caught 7 of them for us, with a promise of more. We were lucky, they were all young and healthy as well as docile for "wild" rabbits.

My first suggestion to finding meat rabbits, is to talk to people you know.

Next look into 4H. Many of those kids have rabbits for sell for around $20.

Look in your local paper, including those free papers.

check bulletin boards at any store that has them (I've seen rabbit listings at laundromats in the past.)

Check for local breeders through ARBA

Pay attention to handmade roadside signs. We have several in our area offering rabbits for sale.

Farm markets can sometimes lead you to a find. (we have barn sales here)

And weekend livestock auctions or markets.

When you do find a dealer, make sure you are able to contact them later if you have any questions or problems regarding your new rabbits.

One of those days when everything dies

In the grand scheme of things, my problems are piddly. I have friends in Japan looking at far worse problems then what I had to deal with yesterday. But it is hard to keep preceptive when your day is full of difficult and woeful things happening right in front of you. When your livelihood and emotions are wrapped up in living things, death comes hard and personal.

My princess, my dear Eddie died in calving. It was sleeting the night she died, we didn't know she went into labor. We found her dead in the morning The calf never saw light.

While we were outside dealing with Eddie, I saw that one of our sheep had lambed. Trying to keep myself in better spirits, as Eddie's death is crushing, I went to see on the new lamb. As I checked him out I happened to look over at the old refrigerator that we use as feed storage. It is only 3" of the ground, yet there was a black lamb's head sticking out from under it. I yelled for Husband and he came jogging. He lifted the fridge and I pulled her out. She didn't look well, but I set her down and stepped back to allow the mother to go to her. She was rejected.

I scooped the lamb up and brought her into the house. As the sheep are wild because the previous owner had little to do with them, I had to run into town and pick up some lamb formula. Everything else was put on hold, while Husband tried to get some sugar water down her. She was dehydrated. She wasn't sucking. We had to force feed her. After 3 hours, she had energy again. She was able to stand on her own and was curious.

She was starting to suckle on her own. She was urinating and attempting to poop. (for those looking for info, your newborn lamb will shiver. This is good! Shivering shows that her temp is increasing. Don't put her under a heat lamp, as this could lead to pneumonia. Also a little molasses on her tongue will help give her some added energy, aiding in her temp regulation and help getting her to suck. She needs to eat to continue to warm up) We were ecstatic!

Several hours later she was limp and lifeless. She was unable to shiver to bring her own temperatures back up. I laid on the couch with her on my chest, and a towel covering us. I held her as she went through her death throes. Talking and touching her. I have no idea if this brought her any comfort, but it helped me. I held her while she stopped breathing, and continued to hold her after her heart stopped. This was about midnight. We spent 12 hours trying to save her.

I was so hoping to bring good news this morning about the lamb, rather then you having to read an entire post on death.

I started crying as I held the lamb. My dear sweet Eddie is gone, along with her calf, the lamb that we worked so hard to save is dead. I couldn't contain it and teared up.

This is life on a homestead, plain and simple. But just because life and death happens here, doesn't mean I will not or should not mourn. And I do. We celebrate both life and productive death. But all this. . .

On a positive, only 2 chicks died during shipment





And the bunnies are coming out of hiding. We have confirmed 5 little ones so far.