Good morning friends, family and well wishers, it has been a full week since I have found time to post and I am sorry about that, so many things have happened and I would love to share them all with you. So lets see a place to start. so it has gone back into a cycle of rain, which is followed by more flooding and than high winds a few days of all most sun and than it starts again, the good news is it is becoming a regular cycle and at least it gives me a way to plan a bit better. The temp today is 70 degrees f with an over all high of 84 so we are going back to the couple of days of warm. With the eruption of many volcano's around the globe and the nuclear power plants in Japan still dumping radiation, I fear for a very long cold winter. We are putting up food now and feel everyone should do so. I remember reading about Napoleon and his attempt at concurring Russia; in that year there was also a serious of events of volcanic activity as well as a weird El nino cycle of current, making the summers unbearable and the winters unforgiving. In some places in the world this will undoughtable be the case, here where I live the winter will most likely turn out to be the worst on record history. I expect blizzard conditions for sure and plan to lay up enough food for us and the livestock for many weeks. Here we generally have very mild winters, a few inches of snow rarely a foot, there is no snow moving equipment to speak off so, any more than the normal amounts sends panic in the air. The people here do not know how to drive on snow either...lol, anyway it means making blue 100 percent operational before fall, which may also be early this year. Every girl should own a Jeep Wagoneer.
What I learned from some one else failing this week is that if I sell animals in the amount of $500.00 or more to one person or company, I must get a specail permit and let them go over my farm and inspect it, so this is not gonning to happen as the USDA fined one family here in the states $900,000. American dollars for 1st not having this permit that no one told them about and than for not having the cages that they(USDA) thought they should. There area for raising the animals was clean and the animals were all healthy. If they do not pay the $900,000. they will be fined up to 4 million dollars, now here is the really sad part, they only made about 400 bucks in reality and it was their kids money for doing fun things with their parents. It would seem the the USDA is having so many issues with small farms no matter what the sort that they have now started using snitches to tell them what small farms are doing...nothing like making hard working good people into crimanals, which of course is what happened here. Michael and I saw this sort of thing coming a few years ago and feel that if it continues we will beforced to bevome only a supstance farm and no longer sell to anyone, as it is because of how quickly the laws in MO have changed I am no longer comfortable doing the animal swaps there as in the back of mind mind I am always on watch for what could happen. It is just not worth the few meger dollars it might make us.
Repairs on the roof are going slow do to the weather and we are still pushing foward, living below tarped roofs. It is dry but I wish we could get it fixed. The fences are still going up and coming down, had the horses get out yesterday, they leapt the fence, which would be ever so lolvey if I were chasing foxes, which I hear is no longer legal in the the UK, sorry to hear that, it was a charming sport and highly enjoyable, but none of that here in the states either. Anyway, goats pasture is short over 50 feet of fence...ughhh, so I will have to save up for that (rolling my eyes). Another thing to save for, but at least the fence that has been taken down is fine for the gardens I think and we will start using it as earily as today. I will have to put old chicken wire over the top of it, but it should give us some protection from the grazing herds and athe birds that are running loose on purpose.
I started packing and moving nonesential items to the new kitchen area and feel good about seeing it moving from this building to that. Still waiting on the roof, which is of couse the hold up on putting in the floor and setting cabinets and such, but all in due time.
I have become over frustrated with the fact I can not find a counter to put the manual grain ginder on, tryed to rig it up , so to speak and it was a huge failure and I have a bruse on my hand to prove it, so I have 50 plus pounds or so of red winter wheat sitting and waiting for me to do some thing with it. I looked online thinking maybe I just need to buy an electric one, but oh my the prices. When I do get a new one, it will be the stone kind, but currently they are out of my range, selling for between $200.00 and $500.00, hmmm that is almost the price of a used car. Maybe I should run an add, will trade 1973, running Jeep Wagoneer for working Stone grinder and roofing supplies...lol Who knows it could work. Micahel says he will try to rig up my old grinder in the mean time, so I could be making flour as early as today...~smile~
On brighter notes made more tofu, looks nothing like the sort bought, which I find weird, so now I am wondering what the store bought has added to it or took away from it, that makes it such a pretty white...lol It taste fine, be requires draining off extra water before using.
The soy milk came out very nice and might need a straining or two more than I did, but it was all good and the kids seemed to enjoy it very nuch. I could see making chocolate, strawberry and a few other flavored syurups to add to the milk to make it extra special and never having a drop left over in the house...lol
The garden is coming along nicely and with the addtion of the some more plants should provide us enough vegtables to weather any storm...I may plant some more tomotoes though. Still picking about 2 cups of strawberries a day.
I plan to pickle and brine some more of the curly dock, which by the way makes a great pie. Today I picked spinich from the garden as well as peas and strawberries, got lots to still do....but did plant the dill for the butterflys...
Ok grazed the cow and the sheep and the horses, trying to save and get them fat on natural grass. I have enough lambs for the orders placed, if they do not fall threw, we should still have at least one to eat. Still watching one goat real close as she should have had that baby by now. Still no baby from our cow, I swear I will never dry her out that way again, what a waste...Gettting around a gallon and a half of goats milk a day and it barly cuts it. We do have our canned milk from last year and plan to start using it, still going to buy another milk cow, but not till the fences are up and in working order.
Life on the farm is very and we do alot in between the storms and such, one headed here now, so I better get out and get the dock picked...
By the way bever did reach 80...lol back to turning off the air, putting wood on the fire.
Be Blessed Dear ones and now that if the world ends you are getting no real warning...
Shekhinah, Michael and all the kids and critters on Mahanaim Farm
What I learned from some one else failing this week is that if I sell animals in the amount of $500.00 or more to one person or company, I must get a specail permit and let them go over my farm and inspect it, so this is not gonning to happen as the USDA fined one family here in the states $900,000. American dollars for 1st not having this permit that no one told them about and than for not having the cages that they(USDA) thought they should. There area for raising the animals was clean and the animals were all healthy. If they do not pay the $900,000. they will be fined up to 4 million dollars, now here is the really sad part, they only made about 400 bucks in reality and it was their kids money for doing fun things with their parents. It would seem the the USDA is having so many issues with small farms no matter what the sort that they have now started using snitches to tell them what small farms are doing...nothing like making hard working good people into crimanals, which of course is what happened here. Michael and I saw this sort of thing coming a few years ago and feel that if it continues we will beforced to bevome only a supstance farm and no longer sell to anyone, as it is because of how quickly the laws in MO have changed I am no longer comfortable doing the animal swaps there as in the back of mind mind I am always on watch for what could happen. It is just not worth the few meger dollars it might make us.
Repairs on the roof are going slow do to the weather and we are still pushing foward, living below tarped roofs. It is dry but I wish we could get it fixed. The fences are still going up and coming down, had the horses get out yesterday, they leapt the fence, which would be ever so lolvey if I were chasing foxes, which I hear is no longer legal in the the UK, sorry to hear that, it was a charming sport and highly enjoyable, but none of that here in the states either. Anyway, goats pasture is short over 50 feet of fence...ughhh, so I will have to save up for that (rolling my eyes). Another thing to save for, but at least the fence that has been taken down is fine for the gardens I think and we will start using it as earily as today. I will have to put old chicken wire over the top of it, but it should give us some protection from the grazing herds and athe birds that are running loose on purpose.
I started packing and moving nonesential items to the new kitchen area and feel good about seeing it moving from this building to that. Still waiting on the roof, which is of couse the hold up on putting in the floor and setting cabinets and such, but all in due time.
I have become over frustrated with the fact I can not find a counter to put the manual grain ginder on, tryed to rig it up , so to speak and it was a huge failure and I have a bruse on my hand to prove it, so I have 50 plus pounds or so of red winter wheat sitting and waiting for me to do some thing with it. I looked online thinking maybe I just need to buy an electric one, but oh my the prices. When I do get a new one, it will be the stone kind, but currently they are out of my range, selling for between $200.00 and $500.00, hmmm that is almost the price of a used car. Maybe I should run an add, will trade 1973, running Jeep Wagoneer for working Stone grinder and roofing supplies...lol Who knows it could work. Micahel says he will try to rig up my old grinder in the mean time, so I could be making flour as early as today...~smile~
On brighter notes made more tofu, looks nothing like the sort bought, which I find weird, so now I am wondering what the store bought has added to it or took away from it, that makes it such a pretty white...lol It taste fine, be requires draining off extra water before using.
The soy milk came out very nice and might need a straining or two more than I did, but it was all good and the kids seemed to enjoy it very nuch. I could see making chocolate, strawberry and a few other flavored syurups to add to the milk to make it extra special and never having a drop left over in the house...lol
The garden is coming along nicely and with the addtion of the some more plants should provide us enough vegtables to weather any storm...I may plant some more tomotoes though. Still picking about 2 cups of strawberries a day.
I plan to pickle and brine some more of the curly dock, which by the way makes a great pie. Today I picked spinich from the garden as well as peas and strawberries, got lots to still do....but did plant the dill for the butterflys...
Ok grazed the cow and the sheep and the horses, trying to save and get them fat on natural grass. I have enough lambs for the orders placed, if they do not fall threw, we should still have at least one to eat. Still watching one goat real close as she should have had that baby by now. Still no baby from our cow, I swear I will never dry her out that way again, what a waste...Gettting around a gallon and a half of goats milk a day and it barly cuts it. We do have our canned milk from last year and plan to start using it, still going to buy another milk cow, but not till the fences are up and in working order.
Life on the farm is very and we do alot in between the storms and such, one headed here now, so I better get out and get the dock picked...
By the way bever did reach 80...lol back to turning off the air, putting wood on the fire.
Be Blessed Dear ones and now that if the world ends you are getting no real warning...
Shekhinah, Michael and all the kids and critters on Mahanaim Farm
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