Thursday, March 31, 2011

Day 66 Night time edition...

Welcome back to the farm that never sleeps..So lets see whats new, low levels of radioactive rain falling from the sky for one...but it seems very fair.  4 baby kittens were born here today..I have not seen them yet so I have no idea.  No baby other animals and now I am wondering if Moo cow is ever gonna have a baby or was dring her out a big mistake...
Other than all this I went to school and turned little in, lol   but had a nice lunch with two very good friends.  We talked about our spring breaks...

I have a friend coming over sunday to help us around the farm for the day, I am so glad she is coming, I really need the help so I can get some of this other stuff done, I am like way behind on working on the milk comes from cows book and the other books I am working on. Plus I need to get glass done and packed up...grade the kids school work, work on Rachael's home school transcript and getting her diploma and such, we are getting three tassles..I want one to put away. 
One month left of school for me this term...have to get my classes together for the fall, hmmm what shall I take?
Found whole organic american soy flour today, tofu soon to follow and I will try to find a way to get the photos up.
Dinner was chicken, again and I have sleepy time bears and tv to watch..





Photo I took in Ill, see the lovley bee...

News From The Doghouse and being afraid of Americans....
 
 
got to sleep sort of late then hate Elijah tickle my feet to be my alarm clock...got the chores going, doing laundry, walked Lady up the hill and had morning coffee...collected some nice quail eggs, and @10 baby quails are doing fine along with a baby Curly, the 3 peeps in the brooder seem to be doing well...Dahveed and I rolled hay to the goats and Wiggle and still wheelbarrowing hay from a roll to Moo and the sheep...got out to the barn and started that chore and supplemented all the birds with oyster shell, pellets I guess, and trying to improve egg laying production...had to dig out the diatomacious earth and going to supplement that tomorrow....rather actually going to put it into pans like old used cookie sheets, pizza pans, and other assorted junk we picked up at yard sales, so the birds can roll in it and dust themselves in it, guess it gets rid of mites...The Boss says we have the diatomacious earth for sale on E-bay,think you can click on Mahanaimfarm and it takes you to the listings
 
Collected some cool looking eggs today...got a couple of guinea eggs and one looked like a Narn's spot pattern from Babylon 5 with a clear stripe in the middle hmmm the ducks have had a couple in the same stripe pattern as well....hope it is not the spinning of the earth and changed axis rotations already and
 
after all that stuff was done at the barn...I felt the necessity to spring clean the room where we keep the feed and tack, since it was all buried in debris from negligence...I found stuff that has been missing in action for years so I guess I made progress today, just did not get much of anything alse done but a few odds and ends chores, smashed cans for recycling and just did as much as possible trying to futile get organized hopefully I can get going on the fence and work on the roof on the trailer attachment soon, today and a day the other nice windy day would have been good weather as it was low humidity and nice temps not to get sweaty or overheated on
We love you all...be blessed dear ones and know G-d Loves you!
Shekhinah, Michael and all the kids and critters on Mahanaim Farm

Day 66, morning edtion...

Good morning friends, family and well wishers, as fear sets in upon us all here in America, with now "slightly" tainted milk and water in parts of our our great nation, the every present threat of the govenment closeing and a out of whack economy, I want you all to think about doing your part to make it right again.  It starts with all of us, with each little thing we do , or chose not to do.  Start to plant some of your own food, does not matter what it is, just something to off set your need on other people and to bring produce home.  Tomatoes are easy you could start there, or lettuce, it grows in just a few inches of soil.  Can't affourd the seed, send me a stamped return address envolpe and I will send yo some free, also let me know which type of seeds you would like.  Every seed you plant removes harmful Co2 from our air and releases Oxygen, it is a good trade off.  Think about a small community garden, you will be amazed at one foot of natural earth can produce.


As far as buying things, buy American made, buy German made, buy any ones except China and Japan (let them work out there own problems), try buying stuff localy made.  Maybe the whole gas problem is not such a problem, maybe it is just our poor buying habits. If you buy local the money stays local and improves the whole area.  Who does not want to live in a better place! 

How about opening up American factorys,I need a new pair of sneakers, charge me 35 bucks I don't care, aleast there will be one more job for some one...That is how we heal my dear ones, one person, one job at a time.

As for the country threating to shut down, let them...Lets all show the government and not notice if it shuts down...

Be Blessed Dear ones I am off to school, please try to take to heart the things I have said here as they are all true...I love you all!
Shekhinah

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Day 65 of 365 days of our life on our small family farm.

Today has been a long day filled with work, at home , at school and after school.

One of the girls I went to class with had her "new to her " care break down and I spent an hour trying to help her, before leaving her in more capaple hands and going to walmart and than the gym.  I had to go to walmart because some where either before the tip or after I lost my very expensive head phones...ughh, I bought like a 4 dollar pair, tottal crap, they hurt my right ear and the sound quality, if that is what one can call it, is questionable at best, dang made in china crap.  Any way after getting home Isaiah and I call a call from R, asking for a ride home.  I think Isaiah loaned her money..ewwww I so hope not , she is a good girl, but having really hard times.

The dog we adopted is doing much better and she is starting to act all puppy like.

Made fried chicken from our own chickens for dinner tonight, came out ok I guess, not enough fat on them really, they were all musle and the meat was a dark red, these guys were super healthy....


Put gas in the van, it is up to $3.88 here for gas with no ethonal in it.  Boycot ethonal and ethonal products like heat, your car and the earth will thank you.

I am working on gettin gall my school work done now that spring break is over....the teachers really loaded us up.
The little kids have adopted a toad they found in the yard and the puppy thinks its her new toy...

No baby cow yet, no new baby lambs or goats,but we should have more peeps any time now.  I have geese hatching and ducks and a bunch more chickens.

Still need to make more soap and such, just never seem to have enough time to get it all done.

Listened to the prez of America today, reminded me alot of the best little whore house in texas, movie not play....lol
Hoping for sun shine tomorrow all this rain is so gloomy...


Well on the bosses post:
News From The Doghouse and the menagerie....
Got woke up by happy meany bears tickling my feet....and I was up earlier a few times putting on firewood....which reminds me, I was going to say last night on the blog: after all the work was finished outside I was thinking I wish I was going to Drury Inn to unwind
well today got outside and it was cold, I started late as well, I am still cold from yesterday...well before I got out, I was watching CNBC and Obama came on, and they cut him off in mid-sentence, and proceeded to tell the viewer what he had just said Not only was it rude, it was obnoxious....they never did go back to his speech at Georgetown...cut him off when he started talking about the leases of land of millions of acres that oil industry has in the US...very strange media control and censorship....went to Cspan1 and they had the US Reps doing 1 minute speeches and Cspan2 was Senate playing music, which reminded me of Nero playing as Rome burned and was sacked & looted & pilaged...
well back to the farm...collected eggs from the quail, fixed the hay ring before rolling it out to the horses and a new bale of hay, had to wheelbarrow everybody hay as well as they were all blubbering at me loudly....
Got to the barn chores and it was passe and fairly fast...guess it was because I had fed and watered all the creatures late yesterday..all the combatants had survived their isolation chambers overnight, the butcher date still looms, kind of like Bad Birds to the music on COPS
Collected a mille egg, couple of silkies, 3 americanas, and a handful of food eggs, & 3 cayugas of which one is a magnificent black and another one of those that looks like black tips and white stripe middle...
having some problems with the other birds laying, partly due to the inclement weather, partly to others behaviours around and near the birds
It was fairly cold this morning around 35F never got past 40F at 11AM suppose to get warmer but has yet to do so and the forecast keeps changing everytime I double check it...still hope to make it to the swap among other things around the farm to do as well...
got to yakking about some things here and thought as long as they stay on their side of the river (lots of rivers south of us here in Arkansas) implying to the idiots in charge pumping pressure into the sediment to pump up natural gas and oil, that it DOES affect and effectively discharge the bedrock, and it is just pure coincidence that we have more & more violent earthquakes de-de-dee
 Be Blessed dear one and know that there is always a plate at our table for you...
Shekhinah, Micahel and all the kids and critters on Mahanaim Farm
 
"My G-d, the soul which You have given me is pure; You created it, You formed it, You breathed it within me..." (Brachos 60b)

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Day 64 of 365 days of our life on our small family farm...

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Day 63, day trip tomorrow and getting ready for Passover

Hello dear friends, we are all still alive and well and hope you are the same.  Our gardens are still alive after the hail and sleet events of the past few days and I am happy to report our strawbeery crowns have made it through the winter adn are now taking over the place, so it is time to expand the garden area again.  Our aparagus is also back to life and many stalks are now poking their heards up through the soil, all that rain has done them well.  When we do not have rain we water twice a day using reclaimed rain water were ever we can as well as cooking water.  I still plan to get some carrots in the ground  and set up the tralice for tomotoes, Michael wants to plant cucumbers with them, I am fine with that, I will have some back up plants in differnt areas.  Not planting a ton of tomatoes this year...maybe 50 plants, that should give us plenty and some to sell , or trade for other things. 



I plan to do the swap this week end, G-d willing , I have a bunch of laying hens to sell, silkies, seriems and lots of others, bucnches of ducks, maybe a goat. Got some fencing to replace the stuff we bought....(rolling my eyes).  So new goat pens are starting up....

On other note we are trying to buy soybeans, from America and this seems for some unknown reason to be quite a task.  I still can not believe that people feed their livestock straight corn, wheen one the proce keeps climing and two it has like 7% protien campaires to say 37% protien min to soybeans...You would save money buying the soybeans and mixing it with any wdible filler like rice bran or even beet pulb and do better.
Honestly it is crazy.  If you want to buy them to eat, it is even worse you will pay almost 2 bucks a pound before shipping which will double the cost.  I want to make tofu and soy milk, but it is not looking good. I only have so much land, so growing them is out of the question.

Paided the taxes here and all good on that...still have to renew tags on the blue jeep and do a bit more fixing on her, but she should be road ready soon.  Isaiah has made hugh progress on his jeep and the paint job is awsome, he also learned to change his plugs and wires with the help of step dad Michael.  I know that makes them both happy.  His car is still down and I need to find some time to pull that radiator and get to thayer to be repaired so he can take his girl friend sto prom in it.

Going to West Plains tomorrow to get our plywood for the roof, I am so happy, I still have to get tar paper and shingles but , it is progress.  I hate walking in the new kitchen and seeing all the work that needs doen, but I know we are moving foward.
Now to the hubbies post....
News From The Doghouse and Collecting American Junk....
 
 
Did the chores and dumped the trash today, it started out nice, but just went downhill, no matter what I did...guess it could have been worse, as all catastrophes were for the most part avoided....Elijah helped some with laundry and later on he tried sneaking up on a deer in the pasture, it was so cute which I had the camera, it was a big white tailed deer...
 
The Bears and I went for a walk with Lady our big doggie, trying to wear them down to take a nap, but only Elisha clunked out, and only for an hour and a half...so Elijah helped out on some of the odds and ends chores and with some peeper patrol in the barn, but he mostly played with the baby goats...later he got into the pen with the calf and goats and was chasing Wiggle all around, it was funny to see as well...
 
It was brisk this morning and I let the fire die down, so I could clean out the soot build up, and then restarted a fire and cut up some brush, nothing like getting 2 chores somewhat done together....we lost a do-do to apparent natural causes, too big and heart gave out I am guessing, we get eggs out of them as well, although they are not really suppose to, they are hybrids bred to eat, supposedly impossible to pass egg stage of life, but our 1st do-do she bred and layed eggs, turkens...still have some large do-do turkens running around as well free ranging, all white birds
 
Got the new fence tore down and rolled up and returned to the store, suppose to be 100 feet, and 50 will not do, especially when you pay for a 100...oy hillbilly math...if I had a dollar for every time I have encountered the irrational speciosity logic of these people, I could end the national debt, buy a few more countries, and maybe a planet or two...
 
Hope we can go to the swap, mostly to cut back on birds, but to actually get away again. I feel buried alive again with everything, but on the other hand I have made remarkable progress, so who knows....depends how overcome I feel at a given moment, just seems more and more drudgery than enjoyment....
 
When I was rolling up the fence yesterday, it reminded me of deja vu, but was actually something I did many years ago, and reminded me of music I listened to then that I have not thought of in years, so I looked it up and found most of it on youtube....surreal creepy or spooky or something....guess that makes me happy for now, and the immeasurable enjoyment the boys give me, just being themselves
 
 
this is where I am at according to the personality test I took on Facebook:
 
 
and how my life goes LOL
 
 
Be Blessed Dear ones...Know you are loved....



Shekhinah, Michael and all the kids and critters at Mahanaim Farm

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Day 61 and 62, it's my birthday...

Day 61 and I am trying very hard to be a bum today...Happy Birthday to me...!
I cooked the meal I wanted, crowder peas, beef, black tree fungus, onoins, lots of garic, with swiss chesse on top, yummy , yummy.  the wer from peas that we got from my amish friend's farm last seasn and I and the bears shelled them, ok rachael helped too.  We still have plenty to plant in april .

The weather has been dreadful, rain, hail and thunder...emmm.

Thinking about selling one of my young does, she comes from good lines and will be a good milker.  but honeslty how many does so I really need.  

Moo cow has still not had the baby and I am thinking a myabe another week or so, if not after that, I will get he vet out here and have an ultra sound done and find out whats going on.

Had quail hatch, about 15 so far...not a great hatch, but not great eggs either, when we go to the swap I will buy some more to add to our lines and beef the little fellas back up.  Winter hatches on the quail are always hit or miss as you are dealing with timing, if the eggs get to cold they die,to die, they die, ect.  Fragle little buggers in the winter months, but I guess we suffer there a little because we let them winter out side.  hey they are from Korea, they can handle it.
Duscks every where, Rachael and the boys put the wrong ducks in a pen so now I have to move ducks again, I can not believe that she did it...but we will just have to fix it and go on.  Tomorrow I hope to get the kids to butcher chickens tomorrow.  
My spring break ends tomorow, and I am a little sad to have it end, but it's all good and life moves on.

My garden survied the hail, thank goodness and we should start to harvest radishes in two weeks, than peas in 4 or 5, if the weather holds, planting carrots tomorrow night with the little kids and laying out the addition to the garden.  
Got the worng fencing, not my fault is was on ly 50 feet and I payed for 100 foot rolls, bummed me out compleatly as we are just getting further behind with events like this, but I try just to keep moving foward.  Michael is expanding the goats pen first and putting up the new wire as soon as it arrives.  I am using the money for the wire I am taking back to buy more feed as this time of month money always seem a bit tight.  I will be glad when all the new fences are up,and than I can get the beefalos, fresh meat for next season.  We have used up all the hamburger we had made already and the not growing calf is looking like more burger meat so I may have to set that up and get it done.  Other than all this, my good friend Glenda gifted me some books for my birthday, the one I have always wanted, it is a cooking book with a tofu recipe of how to make it, I lost this recipe many years after moving here and never found one I liked, i was so happy to see it in there.  Making tofu very soon.   Ok enoguh of my endless banter and on to the hubbies post.
 
 
 
News From The Doghouse and the continuing search and destroy for Punxtawney Phil...
 
Just recieved a tip that the elusive Phil was being held in Philadelphia pending extradition proceedings, perhaps he will met with a perfect accident, like accidently being fed to the lions, er, I mean left to long in the yard and was shanked by the penguins or bruins....
 
It rained and was very cold here again, miserable blowing in from the east, with wind chills and everything else, then it hail pelted us @ the size of peas or at least ball bearings which would probably have felt as bad
 
It was not so bad really, just froze my hands a few times, got a good roaring fire heating away and everything was alright....you know it is storming bad when the horses decide to go into the barn, so I had to work around them, out of order from the usual routine, since we have a section in the barn set up for them to get in, in case of inclement weather....usually they like to stay out in the rain, it was just driving so hard I guess...thought they would stay out because they are shedding their winter coats, but maybe the booming thunder and lots of lightning but even then they stay out, so I don't know...
 
Got everything else done and thought I would have to work around the horses and they took off and went outside, this was after I had to trench the developing lake by the barn...this time the channel drainage was blocked by an overabundance of horse chips floating and clogging everything....what a flood when I hoed it
 
So everything else went well I guess, we had peepers hatch in the incubator, mostly quail replacements I hope...collected a few eggs from everybody, guess the storm scared them a bit, although the silkies and the guineas did their usual with some extra from the newest coop of guineas.
 
Had a thought on the solar panel, which got picked up and blown over the other day by the way, today I put the thermometer in it to check the heat coming out from/with the ice from the hail/sleet...it started at @35F 2C and was up to 40F @3C fairly quickly, the outside temp was 40F with windchill like 28F, the framework is off the ground and was getting direct passage of wind under the panel, so....I am guessing it worked, if it was mounted to a roof and protected enclosure maybe it would work better, not sure, but will try it somewhere, soon as I get time from fencing and working on all the other projects going on here at the farm
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
News From The Doghouse and Sheriff Cy Borg hunts Punxtawney Phil...
 
 
8-P ---> 8-) ----> :-)  ---> :-P ----> ;-P ----> 8-P
 
Well was up at 2:20AM tossing wood on the fire, and it seemed fairly warm outside, guess I got use to the cold windchill 8-P then again at 6:30AM and some more wood and coffee, then back to bed so Elijah could tickle my feet and be happy  "Dad, get up!"....oy
 
Last night I tried to toss a hearth log on but it got stuck in the door, so I had to take it outside and whack it or split it....nobody said anything, guess my unusual antics or methods to my insanity doesn't phase anybody anymore....who knows who cares
 
 Well did the chores, somewhat late, as Elijah let me sleep until 9....I am so shocked...maybe he is getting ready to ask me for an allowance or something...have to re-do some fence work, after it dries up a little bit and warms up as well....got out to the barn and had an avalanche or a domino attack of problems, one thing after another....had hay delivered this afternoon...usual stuff...seen lots of deer this morning outback...some songbirds and a woodpecker...they all seemed oblivious to the cold drop in temps...so it must be a temporary thing, hopefully....


Be Blessed Dear ones and be safe, know that we love you all
Shekhinah, Michael and all the kids and critters on Mahanaim Farm.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Day 60 of 365 days on our life and how to preserve eggs with no electric

Day started a bit late today, kids grabbed oatmeal for breakfast while I answered a few hundred emails and got ready to take our pound pup to the vet and get her check out.  I worked on the website as well. 
I ordered hay today and got wood delivered, forgot we had wood already down stairs, oh well…
Back from the vet and 80 bucks latter, she is heart worm neg, and full of other worms, so I had to pay for a special wormer, poor pound puppy…I am glad she is ours and loves us. 
We had steak for supper, yummy, with mash potatoes and corn.

Dreaming of my garden and getting older all the time…I am 43 in the morning…lol
With all the eggs coming in I wanted to share this page of my online book with you all, please know that it is a work in progress and be kind. 

For the most part eggs are very hard to store.  Fresh eggs from your very own chickens will keep for up to six months with little to no care what so ever.  When I save eggs this way the thing I have to watch out for is humidity which in reality is the killer of all eggs.  I long term store my eggs in the own fridge set at 50 degrees and place a pan of clean water on the bottom shelf which is changed out with fresh water once a week.  This helps to keep the eggs from drying out.  Another thing I do is to not wash the eggs; the eggs have their very own natural protection from most germs and bacteria. When store eggs for eating or hatching always store with the pointy end down and make sure your cartons are very clean.
Other method we are using for the first time this year is brining eggs, now this is great if you are living off grid or cannot spare fridge space, but has its own sets of draw backs as the eggs are very salted and are best if used in baking other cooking. 
So here is what you will need to brine eggs.

Some clean wide mouth jars, I use half gallon mason jars, but you could use quarts if you wanted too, just make sure they are the wide mouth kind so you can get the eggs back out.
Pickling salt, you could use any none iodized salt that you wanted to including Utah salt and Dead Sea salt to name a few.   You will need 1/8 pound of salt by weight, not volume; this is very import and should be done using exact measurements.
A dozen egg really fresh eggs, still warm from the chicken are the best but no older than one day. 
A non reactive pot that holds at least a gallon.
A quart of non chlorinated water...if you have well water great!
Now that you have everything, let get started with the pot and heat up the quart of water, now if you are using pickling salt or Dead Sea salt you will not have to heat up the water and you can just mix it in and skip this step. 
While the brine mix is cooling down you can get the jars ready with the eggs. 
Before I put the eggs in the jars I check them for any tiny crack which could mess the whole batch up.  I do this using a strong flashlight in a cardboard box and then candle one more time using a camera with a sepia or negative photo setting.  On a negative or even in sepia one can see if an egg is fertile, see tiny cracks or imperfection that would make it unusable.
Now I place the eggs in the glass care with great care, now is not the time to be chasing kids or talking on the phone.  Stack eggs to just under the top, the amount of eggs in the jar of course depends on the size of the egg.
Ok we are ready to add the cooled off brine to the eggs by pouring in over the top of the eggs and making sure that all eggs are covered and that the brine goes up to the brim of the glass jar.  Next place the clean lid on the top and tighten as normal.  With that done you are ready to store your eggs.  They should be placed in a cool place and you need to wait three weeks before you can use them, this gives the salt proper time to preserve the eggs.  These eggs should last at least 6 months.

Now to the hubbies post:
News From The Doghouse and arrest warrant issued for Punxtawney Phil....

Woke up to thunder and lightning early this morning, and went out to toss wood into the woodburner because Elijah was cold, it was 68F in the bedroom, even colder in the rest of the house, and there was ice all over the roof and on the ground....so it must have sleet and or freezing rain, was very surprised and hope it did not kill the blossoms on the apple tree or the pear tree, not to mention the other stuff recently planted in the garden...got that bit of a chore taken care of it and decided to turn on the propane gas heater for the kids room, got plenty in the storage tank 8-P

Did the chores and was freezing again, so I did the pace it out approach, and got a lot of odds and ends done as well...this afternoon after I got all the barnyard chores done, I put the 4 wheels with brand new tires on the horse trailer, and after that picked up some debris from the strong winds we have been having for the last few days...

The Boss got another load of wood delivered, just in case it stays cold for a bit longer than it was NOT suppose to, it was getting to be such nice spring like season weather too...http://mail.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/tsmileys2/31.gif

Turned out the baby duck loose in the barn coop, she was getting too big for the cage on the back porch....we were planning on going to West Plains to the animal swap meet, but now it is going to be too cold, when before it was going to be fairly nice...oh well, probably will be better next weekend anyways, end of the month is usually slow, beginning of the month everybody has money too....http://mail.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/tsmileys2/37.gif







Be Blessed Dear ones and have a peaceful Saturday…
Shekhinah, Michael and all the kids and critters at Mahanaim Farm

 Books on my new must buy list...
                                                                                                               

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Day 59 live starts to become normal again and planning on getting bees

Ok now that I have returned from the great land of Illinous and have done the interveiw about our farm on weft live is starting to return to normaly, I do miss the one hotel though.  We stayed at a Druy in Popular Bluff, MO, gosh what an awsome place.  Dinner and breakfast free and three drinks, a heated indoor pool.  Big screen tv, mini fridge and micowave...


Worked some in the garden...planted spinch and peas and some Lilly of the Valley...Still have to get the blue berries in and such...plus the trees and the trees I still need to pick up in Ash Flat.

Bought trailer tires today, gosh that was a lot of money.  I needed specail tires of course(rolling my eyes)  $119.00 each...ughhh  but now we can do shows and such if we want to.


 Planning on making more soap tomorrow I hope, sold out already...oh well!


Puppy is doing better, her stool is still a bit loose, I have made an appoinment with the vet, but it will need to be changed as I have to take kids back to the doctor tomorrow for a follow up.  Need need to make dentle appoints for three of the kids and school starts again on monday, that linits the days I can do things of couse.  Tommorow will be another lond day I guess.

About the bees, our new little loves will be here next month, we are looking foward to their help with the plants and trees and they will be a great blessing to us.  We are gettin gthe whole hive deal from a lady in Thayer who usally just sells nucks.  Bee keeping is a lot of work and no work , just dempends on how complecated you make it I guess.  I am happy we get a chance to share the farm with the bees, it has really been a long time coming and I have studied about them for over two years now so I am a little ready for them.
All the bees in the hive are gilrs by the way the boys only go off with a young queen once and than die...hmmm   Anyway the first year they will not make much honey, but that's ok, we want them happy and can buy honey from the person we are getting them from.  Honey in it's raw for is one of the most amazing gifts that bees share with us.  It is anti biotic in fashion killing bacteria, aids in breathing disorders and is used to treat many othe disorders incluing arthritus.  Ewww the lovley fruot and veg will will have this year, plus I just love watching the bees and such.

On to the hubbies post.


News From The Doghouse and various other locales.....
 
Started the day very early with meany Elijah Bear tickling my feet and telling me to get up, it was not even 7 AM yet 8-P So we watched some educational show called The Most while I woke up with my morning java....
 
Got out and did chores, it was 40F outside so started a fire to warm up the house as well, got all of that done and bagged all the trash piled up in the garbage scowl, after I dug out the large trash bags for the road side service...and we had seen a butterfly yesterday as well, it was so nice and warm, in the 80sF....
 
Whacked in some more t posts for the fence for the goats and got a 50 ft. section installed as well...before all that this afternoon, I finished the birds on the back porch and watered everybody, the Boss needs the wheels from the horse trailer and has to be at the post office by noon....oy....its 11:03 so out I go again, and have all 4 off and loaded in the van by 11:30! Didn't work up a sweat or anything, just sailed through it....but when I was working on the fence I did sweat and got hot, it was only 50F out there, that's @ 10C I think....
 
Well ran into some frustrations with the fence installing, so I stopped at it and went and worked on the drainage pipe to the duck pond, that was damaged by the contractor who pulled up the trailer last year, I had dug a ditch to channel the water flow there until I could really get around to fixing it.....still do not have all the pipe I need but the trench work was a piece of cake because of all the moisture it has had for a very long long time....
 
JUst been chucking the wood on the fire off and on today as well, and will have to get up in the middle of the night again to toss some more on....just when I got use to sleeping again all night 8-P and the new dog will want out with me as well probably....
 
 
Be Blessed Dear ones...
Shekhinah, Michael and all the kids and critters at Mahanaim Farm.  

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Day 58 , back from our trip and our puppy is home.

Wow what an awesome week… Michael, I and the little bears went to Illinois. Which is a super long drive from here (at least for me) well over 9 hours from our door.  Illinois itself is a strange relatively flat piece of earth that appears to all be in various states of decay.  The roads are horrific at best in most places and large sections of road are heavily pitted by potholes and sections where there is huge sections broke away.  Where you do see homes they are clustered together so close one wonderers, if the person in the next home says bless you when you sneeze.  There are so many of them built this way it was amazing and in many area they were still building.  Some of the houses where at least a million plus dollars, I would guess and still right on top of the house next to it.  I call these cookie cutter houses and believe it or not they were still building.  It was so odd to see the flat plains of farm land everywhere and in the middle of nowhere these clusters of hundreds of houses.  
We were interviewed on a radio show, about the farm, that was great fun, look foward to doing that again some day.  Here is a link Weft  http://weft.org/ 

They have great programing and you listen on the web for free.
Bought supplys, silly things like 50 pounds of popcorn for 20 bucks,a french fri maker whis is very cool and useful. Lots of stuff we were out out thread noodles, dried fish, rice flour and many other things.  Nothing beats good shoping.
Picked up the puppy for the nice shelter people , she is a lovley girl and we named her Lady.  She is fitting in very well and loves all of us and we love her.  It was very sad that some one did not want her , but we are glad to have her and she is a good fit. 

I will tell you all more tomorow, I am so tired.
On to the hubbies post...

News From The Doghouse and the travelling nomads...
 
Well, its been a while since last posted because we went to illinois for various reasons, seen my mom and took the Bears to a Purim party @ chabad in Champaign, we also went to a early American museum in Mahomet and went to Allerton Park and seen some of the art work there, ate at a nice Chinese restaurant, and had the usual various adventures in travels...the best place we stayed at was in Popular Bluff, Mo., only because we were tired and it was late, although it is not so far from home, just safety concerns, but the Drury Inn was awesome for us, and the best place we stayed at by far.
 
Got home and we also got our new dog for the farm, more about her in later posts I reckon 8-P Did the usual farm chores on Wednesday, collected bunches of eggs, all sizes and colors with @ 30 for food eggs, including a goose egg that was too dirty for even us to hatch....so that will be a prize for someone's plate 8-P Started whacking in steel T posts for the new upgrades on the fence for the livestock....I putted around kind of slow today doing everything at once it seemed, got loads of laundry done, moved a big stepping stone for the barn water spigot spot, and other odds and ends as well....so much to do everywhere
 
We left the chores at the farm in the big kids hands, and they seemed to do a fairly decent job, a few glitches, but no real complaints as of yet, and I thought they would post their views from having to pull all the workload, maybe that would be presumptious and too extreme to expect on my part. Hopefully we will get some pictures posted or links to them from the home website as we are experience difficulties with the blogspot posting pictures process :-(
 
Dinner Supper tonight seems a bit unusual but delicious as it is from our garden, our fields, and our livestock. 8-P

Be Blessed Dear ones and thank you fro sharing our lives with us..
Shekhinah, Michael and all the kids and critters on Mahnaim Farm

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Day 52-morning post

Wow poor Japan, I realize in times like this, life can seem very scary, but we must all move forward and try to make the best lives we can, of course our prayers go with the Japanese and the Chinese in this time of trouble.  It is now time to turn inward and to contemplate how this event will change our lives and what we can do to pre-pair. they are many tasks that lie ahead of us, for us and for these dear people, our task of helping them monetarily will help them to put their lives back on task and help to give us a sense of peace as we can not all go in person.

Those of us in other country's must consider what we can do to protect are animals and our self's from any "small" amounts of radiation that may occure from this horrible tragedy. First you need to beaware of what we are up agaist.  PU 239 when mixed with U325 is a deadly, unstable mess.

It is nice to believe in others, but with out educationg our selfs to the facts of life, we are sheep standing on the edge of the abyss with no hope, me I like hope and lots of it...lol

Brief description: plutonium was the second transuranium element of the actinide series to be discovered. By far of greatest importance is the isotope 239Pu, which has a half-life of more than 20000 years. One kilogram is equivalent to about 22 million kilowatt hours of heat energy. The complete detonation of a kilogram of plutonium produces an explosion equal to about 20000 tons of chemical explosive. The various nuclear applications of plutonium are well known. The isotope 233Pu was used in the American Apollo lunar missions to power seismic and other equipment on the lunar surface. Plutonium contamination is an emotive environmental problem.
http://www.webelements.com/plutonium/

ENYIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT OF PII-238 DIOXIDE
It has been suggested that if one pound of plutonium were uniformly distributed so that a few specks would lodge in the lungs of each person on Earth, everyone on the planet would get a fatal case of lung cancer. However, the path that plutonium takes from the point it is released into the environment to the human lung is so inefficient that, following the same argument, 100,000,000 pounds of the substance would have to be evenly spread throughout theenvironment to result in one pound of material penetrating the lungs of all the people on Earth.
Betwecn 1945 and 1976, about 26,000 curies (5 pounds of human-made 238Pu) were released into the atmosphere: 9820 curies from the atmospheric testing of plutonium bombs, and 17,000 curies from the satellite that burned up as it reentered the atmosphere in 1964. Of the total, based on samplings throughout the world, only 0.00055 pounds has been inhaled or ingested by all human beings.
The reason for this low level of dispersal lies in how plutonium moves through the environment Plutonium in
the atmosphere eventually makes its way onto the ground or into the water. Because 238Pu dioxide is so insoluble, its movement through the environment depends on physical, not chemical, processes. As it falls onto the soil, it eventually weathers into the ground at a depth of a few centimeters. Any 238Pu dioxide that settles on the ground remains there for hundreds of years. At this point, some of it may be slowly taken up by the roots of crops. (It is this slow movement into soil and crops that prompted the World Health Organization to determine that the ratio of 238Pu taken in by inhalation versus ingestion was 1000 to 3.)
In the water, studies at Bikini and Enewetak Atolls, sites of testing of atomic bombs, in which plutonium was
accidentally released, show that when plutonium is released from' an accident occurring near the shore it rapidly drops to the seabed. Here it moves again as a result of physical processes: further down into the sea bed, to the shore from wave action, or into the water column by sediment resuspension, where it can be ingested by marine life. It has also been shown that pellets of 238Pu dioxide on the sea floor rapidly become encrusted with mineral deposits and release less radioactive material with the passage of time.
Of more importance in how plutonium moves through the environment is that, once it falls on land, it can be
resuspended into the air whenever the ground is disturbed by wind or human activities such as tilling or construction.

This means it is available to be inhaled by humans, which is the most harmful path. Most of the studies on
resuspension were conducted in arid environments, leading to question wbether resuspension of small particles would
be less in more humid or wet areas. There is no solid evidence to support this idea, since measurements taken
throughout the United States actually showed that the lowest concentration of particles per cubic meter of air were in White Pine County, Nevada -- a very arid area -- and that the highest were in the more humid Midwest, where soil erosion and tilling produce major resuspension. Other experiments in South Carolina, Enewetak, and Bikini also show that resuspension of soil was essentially the same as in arid environments. More research is needed to completely answer this question.

HOW HUMAN BEINGS ARE AFFECTED BY RADIATION
It has been reported, incorrectly, that 238Pu is the most toxic substance in the universe; however, chemical toxins such as certain snake venoms, botulism, anthrax spores, and mercury vapors (such as in high intensity lamps), are more toxic, as are the polonium and californium isotopes 21Opo, 242cf, and 244Cf. Plutonium decays by the emission of alpha particles, packages each consisting of two neutrons and two protons, with energy propelling each through matter. As the alpha particle moves, it tears away electrons from surrounding atoms_ Each electron pulled away moves through the molecules around it until it interacts with another atom. On a molecular scale, this is like a microscopic hot poker passing through cells. If an alpha particle plunges through a tissue cell's nucleus, the cell will be killed. But if the alpha particle plows through the cytoplasm that surrounds each cell nucleus, the cell can repair itself. At the same time, the alpha particle can plow through that part of the cytoplasm near the cell nucleus and disrupt DNA molecules in the nucleus. This sets off the mysterious reaction that alters the cell's ability to replicate itself in a slow, orderly manner, resulting in the runaway reaction characteristic of cancer. Each disintegration of an alpha particle from plutonium has about five million electron volts of energy, which mcans it can smash through about five or six cells. Hence, 238Pu only causes damage when it is close to living cells. It is the sum of the alpha particles and their activity within a volume of tissue that constitutes the alpha radiation dose. More accurately, dose is the amount of energy deposited in the tissue. Doses are measured in "radiation-absorbed dose" or "rad". Or they are measured in rem -- rad (or Roentgen) ~uivalent in man. Newer tenninology substitutes Gray (Gy) or Sievert (Sv), which are 100 times rad or rem. Ingestion of 238Pu is not particularly hazardous because its insoluble fonn does not make its way across the wall of the intestine very easily, and almost all leaves the body in the feces. The little that does penetrate ends up in the liver and skeleton. Skin contact with 238pu is also not a significant health concern. In fact, if 238Pu is deposited on the skin, the alpha particles cannot penetrate the nonnal layer of dead skin cells, and the radioisotope can be washed off without hanD. However, if plutonium is inhaled, some will stay in the lungs and some will dissolve in body fluids to be absorbed by the blood and deposited in the liver and skeleton. (plutonium does not readily move into the reproductive tissues and therefore does not affect offspring.) In these organs, alpha particles willl:ill or alter cells. At low doses of radiation, however, it is not the killing of cells that worries scientists; dead cells do not alter living cells. Scientists are concerned about cancer, the runaway division of cells that eventually fonns tumors, caused when alpha particles alter the self-replication function of the cell. This happens in a way that scientists do not yet understand. Radiation is all around us and in us. Humans receive radiation from cosmic rays that come from outer space, from the natural radioactivity that is in us all, and from radiation in the Earth. The natural radioactivity in US comes from
the natural decay of uranium that is everywhere in the world; its decay products include radon and other isotopes that emit the same kind of alpha particles that come from 238pu. In fact, we each get an annual alpha particle dose (almost the same particle energy as from plutonium) of about 0.2 rem, about half of our annual natural background radiation dose. In addition, one out of every 2000 atoms of potassium, a critical part of human makeup, is naturally radioactive. From all this background radiation, each human being receives, and apparently has adjusted to, about one-third of a rem each year. More radiation, however, can lead to cancer. The way in which radiation causes cancer isn't well understood. We do know that ripping electrons from atoms can disrupt DNA molecules that make up the chromosomes of the cell nucleus. If the cell isn't killed or doesn't repair itself, it may mutate and set off an uncontrolled replication. But these mutations must be going on all the time from background radiation, from chemicals in the environment or from simple metabolic accidents, and they are almost all recognized by the body's defense system, which destroys them. Because this repair mechanism exists, when radiation doses are absorbed slowly, the cells and tissues can keep
up with the repair. Thus, very low dose-rate radiation is generally less carcinogenic than the same dose delivered at a higher rate. Rarely, in these billions of cell divisions that occur within a human body over a lifetime, does a mutated cell escape detection and destruction to continue to divide and cause cancer. But it does happen, as a result of a number of causes -- perhaps sometimes acting alone or sometimes together -- that include smoking, genetics, too much sun, mysterious accidents along molecular pathways, diet, and exposure to toxins or radioactivity. To determine the probability that a dose of radiation will cause cancer, we can say that if each of a million persons received one rem of radiation dose, that there would be a probability or expectation that up to about 300 to 400 additional cancer fatalities might be seen in the life history of those one million people. These figures have been arrived at as a result of years of study on survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, on people who have had excessive doses of medical radiation when radioactive dyes were commonly used to study the function of organs, and on uranium miners and on women who used to paint radium dials on wa!Ches. They all received tens, hundreds, and even thousands of rems of radiation, and without certainty we assume that their high-dose risks can be
scaled down to estimate low-dose risks. That step introduces uncertainty because there is no way to directly test the risks of a I-rem dose to a population. The risks may actually be grossly overstated using this approach, but that is how it is done. Remember: these hypothetical 300 to 400 additional 'probabilistic' deaths might be added to the more than 200,000 fatal cancers nonnal in a popUlation of a million people because we know 20% of the population dies from cancer without the additional radiation insult but we don't know which 300 to 400 people of the one million might develop the cancer because of the additional radiation dose -- it's just how scientists describe cancer risks. These are probabilities or expectations, and not certainties! On an individual basis, we could say that each person's lifetime share of the potential risk would be 300 divided by one million, or a three-in-ten thousand probability -- 0.03% of cancer risk per rem.

PROBABILITY AND UNCERTAINTY IN PROJECTING HEALTH RISKS
If you are uncomfortable about probabilities, rather than certainties, you are in good company. Some scientists
don't like it either, but we're stuck with it. With individual events, such as a cue ball hitting an eight ball on a pool table, scientists can describe and predict the ou!Come perfectly. There's no doubt what will happen, given the respective direction, masses, and velocities of the two balls. But as soon as the event under scrutiny becomes more complicated, say, using the analogy of the flip of a coin, certainty must give way to probability. Because initial forces on the aforesaid coin may vary ever so slightly and because the coin can be hit by ever so many different air molecules in its flight, we cannot predict its resultant landing. The wonderful news, however, is that we can predict with almost certainty, the result of many coin flips. They will come out 50% heads and 50% tails. Of course, the emphasis is on the key word "many: Which flip comes out heads or tails we don't know, but the ou!Come of many flips is certain. At this point, the concept of "person-rem" needs to be explained. Scientists have developed a method to help estimate the total potential impact of what happens to a large popUlation when it receives, for example, a dose of radiation from a cloud plume or is exposed to chemical carcinogens in water. Use of this method is based on the assumption that radiation risk to populations or to individuals is proportional to radiation dose. Here's how it works: if each of one million people receive 1 rem of dose, the collective risk in that population would be expressed by an increase of about 300 to 400 additional cancerS. Note that I rem times 1 million people is 1 million person-rem, and that is the same number when 10 is multiplied by 100,000, or 1,000,000 person-rem. If one mega-person-rem (that is, 1,000,000 person-rem) causes an added risk potential of,let's say, up to 400 extra cancers,
then it is also reasonable to say that I rem incurs a risk expectation of 400 divided by 1 million, or four
ten-thousandths -- 0.04% -- of added risk. This also says that the risk to a population can be estimated by knowing the total collective person-rem in the population, and that this is independent of the size of the population. For widespread radiation risk evaluation, especially when dealing with mega-popUlations and micro-doses, this kind of calculation helps put the potential risk into perspective. As an extreme example of this risk evaluation, imagine that the entire world's population wore shoes that were one inch thicker in height -- that everyone stood an extra inch taller for just one year. We know that some of our annual background radiation comes from cosmic rays -- about 0.026 rem per year at sea level. Also, we know that as the shielding of the atmosphere lessens with increasing altitude, that the dose rate doubles for every 2000 meters
in altitude, and therefore that the collective cosmic ray dose for the world's population would increase by about 1500 person-rem per inch annually. Using the lifetime cancer risk estimator of up to 400 hypothetical cancers per million person-rem, an extra 30 fatal cancers from radiation could occur if everyone on Earth stood an inch higher for just one year! Of course, this same popolation would normally be expected to experience a total of some one billion fatal cancers from all sources, and 30 divided by one billion is an increment in fatal cancer risk probability of less than one in 10 million. In the risk analyses for release of plutonium, these are the same sizes and magnitudes of the risk probabilities that are calculated. They can be calculated, but they are insignificant. So it is, apparently, with all living organisms. Made up of billions and billions of molecules with all their possible normal and abnormal interactions -- which we do not understand in general, nor which we can compate in any way specifically to, for example, the interactions of billiard balls -- we have no choice but to describe the results in terms of probabilities. However unsatisfying that might be, only probabilities are predictive.


http://www.fas.org/nuke/space/pu-ulysses.pdf

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/safety/appendc.pdf

Anyway I hope this helps.  We have a supply of boric acid on hand to wash things that could become contaminated by rain mostly and we have beed feeding adn estting kelp for a long time.  It has been shown that daily intact of kelp can produce a huge health benifit and maybe even proctect agaist some of the harm from radiation.  Doesing for health is a teaspoon full aday for humans ans small to human sized animals, does should be doubled in cows and horses, alnog with other big animals.  It has no side effects to my knowledge.  We add ours to our food, I am sure one could encaplseate if one wanted too.

Have to go out now and work on a horse and pick up the last of the kelp in the area.

Be Blessed Dear ones and know that knowledge is a powerful tool and were it lives no fear can dwell...

Shekhinah, Michael and all the kids and critters on Mahanaim Farm...