Surprise Winter

So, after we were visited by an arctic storm the weatherman actually said on television, “Folks it looks like that will be it for the winter weather. We’re going to have a very mild rest of the season with warm temperatures expected through to spring.” Winter having just begun, i thought their statement might have …

“Why?”

Upon learning that i wake up four hours before i need to leave the homestead in order to get myself and all the plants and animals ready for my departure to my day job at 4 am most people laugh at me and call me ridiculous. They think it’s overkill and i must be there …

Cackling Coyotes

It was Sunday evening. I was trying to get a bit of work done on each of my projects before i started a new work week at 1 am. Thus is the schedule of a healthcare practitioner/homesteader. One must be awake at all times to fit in all the things that must be done. Strewn …

An Egg Appears

This year was unseasonably hot and dry. It was so dry that i only had to mow the grass once all year because back in April it died. It was so hot we didn’t have a hard freeze until mid December. This seems to have confused the chickens greatly. Thinking they somehow missed winter and …

The Feed Store is Closing

The feed store in our little town is closing. Not only do they have their own amazing blends of animal feed that keep horses and chickens shiny and healthy and beautiful…we are losing The customer service that is a leftover of generations gone before us. I drove around for 2.5 hours sampling the feed selection …

Poultry Lice

There are no pictures of this debacle as i was a bit too tied up with the events at hand to set up a camera to document the whole thing. I discovered lice crawling on my chickens one day when i parted their feathers while petting them and noticed these long, slender beige bugs just …

Evidence of Danger

A pretty big snake was at some point inside the chicken pen long enough to shed its skin on some rocks near the water dispenser. The good news is that it was probably after the field mice that eat the discarded chicken feed on the ground after i put the chickens to bed. the bad …

Why There is No “Success” in Farming, Ranching, or Homesteading

If you are thinking of moving to the country, reading a bunch of books, and doing everything right you are going to be mighty frustrated. The measure of a good farmer, rancher, or homesteader is not in whether his/her ventures pan out, but whether he or she is willing and able to get back up …