Meeting the cast of "Clash of the Ozarks"

Good afternoon from the Mountain....we went to the gun show to get some 22 ammo, which they did not have, and to see the cast for "Clash of the Ozarks".  We met Mark, and the Preacher as well as Crow Bar, I will share the photos below.  Warning some are on the goofy side, as we had camera issues at one point.

For those of you who have never watched "Clash of the Ozarks", it is a real life documentary about families and their daily struggles and wars here in the Ozarks.  Clan wars and such.  It is well done and the people are true to life and each one is a true character.  The Preacher was amazing in real life and true as any man could be, Mr. Mark was also a true flat lander, I am not sure if Crow Bar should trust him...Crow Bar and his wife were there as well and refused to tell us what if anything happened with there land so there will be no spoilers from my post.  I will say they were all interesting and I was greatly saddened to have Missed the Baroness, I was so eager to speak with her as her land in Camp joins mine.  Oh well maybe another time.  If you have not watched the show, you should, what are you waiting for...

http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/clash-of-the-ozarks/videos/a-lawless-place.htm

You can feel the tension as they are all on the stage...

Makes you wonder what the Preacher is thinking, it looks serious.

Crow Bar and all the people on the stage.

Not sure who was scarier, my husband Michael or Mr. Haney.

He is a phone of myself with the Preacher and Mark, that flat lander.

Here we are being goofy...lol

A little better photo, except for the guy behind my head...oh well.

We had a good day and by the way hardy is a wonderful town to visit, full of shops and plenty of charm.

As for the farm we killed the washer, yikes!  Spent the morning hunting another down, should be here at any time.  Aside from that we are busy planting, we were gifted some corn today, which is great and will go in the ground Wednesday along with our potatoes and some more onions and lots more greens.  

My new found desire to garden is in part of course to eat and have produce to sell, but also as a part of our goals towards being more self sufficient.  Since the earth-quake in California this week and the large earth quake in Yellowstone and the continued daily earth-quakes in Oklahoma, I know personally that we are sitting on the edge of a large and dangerous earth quake zone.  I also know that we are better prepared for such an event then most people, but we are always trying to refine what we are doing, we are not Preppers, we are just prepared people like the generations of people before us.  I want my family to be fed, have warm water and some other important things.  Because of the power company having there contractors poison our ground, has been a real eye opener, not only have we never been commentated for our damage,  but we have made a plan to rid our selves of the need of their future services.  We have many interesting plans for going off grid, that all start small and cheap, which is my favorite price.  In the mean time, we keep moving forward doing every thing we can to be ready for anything.  

I know the government tells people to keep 3 days worth of food and water, but since I lived in Florida during many hurricanes I can tell you that you need to do better.  You and your children may be miles away from an aid area and with gas stations shut down, you will no gas to get there any way.  You need to have 30 days, food water and other provisions set aside.  Think out side of the box when you put this stuff up, rice and beans may be cheap, but after a few days you are really not gonna want rice and beans.  Freeze dried food is nice if you are wealthy, but the rest of us can our food.  Canning food is a great way to preserve your harvest and your meat for a day when you might need it.  You should make a ways to keep water at your house encase the power goes out, you can either learn to purify it or buy gallons.  You will go through a gallon or better per person, trust me on that, so think ahead.  

Make sure you have dry goods to make breads with, even a simple fry bread will be a comfort when you have nothing else. Many flat breads are easy to make and whole grain will store nearly forever under the right conditions.  

Now for radios and such, you need to go Solar as soon as you can, or a wind up model, they are under $20.00 and may be an import source of news in any event.

The dark can be scary.  Cheap solar lights are a great stand by solution, I learned this lesson from a dear friend in Florida, solar garden lights on a stick, some even use double A batteries which is great as they double for a really cheap recharger.  You stick these guys out in the yard to charge all day and you have at least 8 hours of light to use latter.  I great bargain as they can be used over and over again for many years.   They even have lanterns that work this way.  

These are the three big things you need to worry about, food, water and light, the other things you can work on depending how long you will be cut off from the rest of the world.  

In the event of being cut off from the rest of us, know that I will miss you and look forward to your return.  If you want to know more ask me I am happy to share what I have learned with you.

Be Blessed 

Shekhinah

What kind of wheat do I need...

Good morning from the mountain, another fun day here on the farm, full of planting food and cleaning house.  Yesterday I got most of the painting for the book cover , did not get my biscuits done, I guess I will make them today to go with the chicken for dinner.

The temp out side is very pleasant and I think the duck house will be on the easier side to clean out and make ready for them...I wish I had another one of of bright tap Waters, I may just have to buy them, once the ducks start laying.  It seems to be working well with the self blue dutch old English game birds.  My goal is to get one for every pen, one at a time as money allows.  It is far cleaner to use and requires less filling, time is always money, but no matter how much money you have, you can never get back time once spent.

Michael and I plan to study the grasses now growing on the farm more closely so we know what types of wheat and barely will do best here.  What kind of wheat should we plant , what kind of barily?  Any ideas out there?


We plan to plant wheat and barely this year, but we hope to use older varieties in the near future.  Much like the corn, many plants are quickly becoming GMO or producers are spraying crops to "dry" them before harvest and I for one want no part of it.  At this moment we are not set up to grow all our own grain and plain to buy up as much organic grain as we can this year, putting it up in Mylar till we are able to be self producing.

This summer may vex us, as so much has to change for us and we have to work so much harder then we have before to change things over once again.  I know we can do it and now is the time, latter might be two late.  By fall I know we will have many of the larger trees cleared and new ones planted and it should open up new areas to produce food in.  If all goes well I hope to have the back porch, kitchen and green house down this year, but I place this in G-d's hands.  The last few years have been rough, but this year we are pushing towards success.

So much to do and day light burning so I will get off here and get back to work...


Be Blessed
Shekhinah


P.S. If you want to help our farm we have our these items for sale on ebay today.  We also have a website:  www.mahanaimfarm.com 

Mahanaim Farm12 America chicken hatching eggsblue and green eggs http://r.ebay.com/7ejhCv

Mahanaim Farm12 Toulouse goose crossed with African gray http://r.ebay.com/R7vrEa


Mahanaim Farm12 Self blue dutch Old English game bird batam hatching eggs http://r.ebay.com/kFS1Ty

Mahanaim Farm12 silkie chicken hatching eggssilky hatching eggs http://r.ebay.com/JzqC3O

Touch of smoke mustard seed pendant http://r.ebay.com/SeoWrq

Mini tree ornament hand made in Arkansas http://r.ebay.com/QCvmfu

Dreary day...

Good afternoon from the mountain, it is a dreary day, perfect for the little seeds who lay sleeping in the ground.  Just the few things that have come to life have given us such joy.  With each little sprout the past failures melt away leaving room for success. We are do to have bad thunderstorms here to day, that always puts me on edge as we are surrounded by really lovely hundred year old trees or older and well oak trees when they are big and lovely can kill or destroy very quickly and with out much warning as the front of my van can attest.  We are ordering the new trees today, three for each one we are planing to remove.  It makes me very sad to lose them, but they are dangerous and we have our own ground rules set as to when and if they shall be taken.

First they can not be a nesting tree to the woodpeckers or other birds, I will not remove their safe home to make me feel better.  Now bear must be making a home there.  In a case where the birds have hold of the tree it will be trimmed back as far a possible.  In the case of a bear, we will let nature run her course.

Second the wood if at all possible must be used to build things, furniture, homes, decor etc, the unusable wood will keep us warm, there will be no waste, none of my trees shall make railroad ties, as railroads are one of the causes of many animals and people being displaced from their land.

Third, it must be done in a way that does not hurt the land.  This land is scared to me, all land should be, the land is giving us the gift of these trees and gratitude is very important.

Michael got his new chain saw, a manufactured one, we paid less than half the retail value for it and it seems it will make him very happy.  I am sure the nice man who is cutting and milling our trees will be very happy for some help.  He will need it, some of the trees are more than 3 feet around; the burled oak is at least that.  I can not wait to have my kitchen table and many other things made from it.  Anyway, our other chain saw is with my sister, which is funny cause hers is here.  Here husband loaned us one, so we were able to get some wood cut.  So we will have at least two working chain saws, three if we dump the gas out of Dah' veed that he left here.  He had bad gas, we would not have know, but we ran low on gas in the cans and used some of his, and it gummed up our chain saw.  We should have took gas out of the holding tanks, lesson learned.

To change the subject, so far this morning, I have done some dishes, milked the goat( first round), made farmers cheese, and have spent a few hours painting the cover for "Abigail".  I have changed out the mouse cage and put fresh food and bedding in.  I have checked the gardens and the new peas which as doing well.

My hope for today, that the cheese turns out ok, as I have cooked with the last two failed batches.
To make buttermilk biscuits to go with supper.
To finish the painting for the cover of the book.
To get stuff ready to go to the flea market booth.
To consider removing Direct TV, though I think for know I will scale it down.

So much to do, so little time...so I will leave you all now and get to work.  I will let you know how much we get done if weather permits.  When bad storms ripe though here we unplug everything that is not essential.  having surge protectors is just not enough.

Be blessed
Shekhinah

Evening from the mountain...

Good evening from the mountain...Cooking up a batch of fried red potatoes and red onions, with some lamb ham, and mini t-bones cooked in pear Gorgonzola sauce.  Michael did the last of bury the cow, and the skin is slated drying and will be tanned soon.  I am way behind on tanning as well.  I have six hides to do, but at least i can make my own fleshing tools. I do not have a large enough piece of obsidian but I have lots of agate , so agate it is.  We are making a more modern set of knapping tools, so the kids will each have a set of their own and Michael and I will have a set.

Aside from late, I plan to watch TV and relax with the hubbie.  I also wanted to say thank you to all my friends for their birthday wishes, some by phone, some by im, some by facebook, some by twitter, Myspace etc...I love you all.

Time to milk the goat...

Be Blessed
Shekhinah


Mahanaim Farm3 Self blue dutch Old English game bird batam hatching eggs http://r.ebay.com/HWjlIg

Afternoon from the Mountain

Afternoon from the Mountain, my little milk goat is doing better, maybe she will be alright, still gonna keep a close eye on her.  We have started thinking more about getting a new doe to go with her in milk.

To cold to work much outside for me, but I have so much to do, so for the moment I am doing house stuff.  I think I will make a bone choker and paint the cover for the book.  I tried to use my draw pad, but need to learn more about how it works.  I know I can do it, even if it is just one hour at a time.  You can do anything one hour at a time.

Back to work for me...

Be Blessed
Shekhinah

Planted food...

Evening from the mountain, we have had a productive day even with all the stress of the outside world.  We planted, globe artichokes, boc choy, and cotton today.  Tomorrow we hope to get the peas in, more onions and some radishes and replant the carrots.  We will pant the radishes with the carrots to use the space wisely, that radishes will grow first and make the soil loose for the carrots.  Neat little trick.  I still have to get more cabbage in and broccoli.

 I have discovered to have the tomatoes I need to can for this year I will need to plant a Minimum of 25 plants. /that means I will need at least five additional plants to have tomatoes to trade with or sell.  I will also need to have about ten or more pepper plants.

I will plant a bunch of greens too...it is almost time to harvest the first curly dock of the season...mmmm curly dock pie....yum.

Anyone can plant greens, just take a plastic cake pan, you know one that is clear on one side and has a black tray.  After you eat the yummy cake, wash it.  Now turn the clear side up like a bowl.  Place a inch of organic soil, now sprinkle a pack of your favorite organic greens seed, lettuce or what ever greens you like.  Water lightly and cover the clear part with the black tray place near a window and wait, in just a few days you will see your seeds sprouting and with in a few weeks you will be able to harvest.  Anyone can do this.

Be Blessed
Shekhinah

Mahanaim Farm12 America chicken hatching eggsblue and green eggs http://r.ebay.com/TOKKIy

Goats after they have birthed

I call a nice lady who has be raising goats for longer then I have breathed air into my lungs.  As many of you know my goat lost her two babies.  Well the first thing you do is look to make sure she is clean, no after birth hanging out.  Next you will need a gallon of warm iodized salt water, just a few spoonfuls of salt per the gallon.  Offer it to her, let her drink what she wants and then take the rest away.  Limit grain for the first few days after this or regular birth to prevent the doe from scouring.

It is also helpful to offer your goat black strap molasses, about a spoonful a day for a few days.  It is really just a waiting game to see if they do better or not. Mine at the moment is a little lethargic, so we are giving her the salt water to see if it will get better.

I will keep you all posted...

Be Blessed
Shekhinah

March morning from the mountain...

Good morning from the mountain,
Mama goat, though with out babies is still hanging on, she seems so sad and continues to look for her little ones. I hope as the days pass, with some good food and lots of love she will get better.  I am now on the lookout for another milk goat in milk or near to it and the money to cover it.

As far as losing our young cow, I am devastated, but it is what it is and we are going to at some point look for another proven milk cow bred or freshly calved, but small.  I can not even afford to look right now, so I will focus on making money to buy one, maybe in the fall.

After considering all of the things going on I am going to keep moving forward and try to focus on the garden and new kitchen.  We have tons of planting to get done.

Today is yesterdays tomorrow, so off I go to get some stuff done.

Be Blessed

Shekhinah

Garden

Evening from the mountain,
worked out side for a short time, looked to see what was coming back to life and say the lettuce starting to grow, the some beets, and some radishes, some kale and onions.  I was presently surprised to see that one of our ten sage plants was still alive, but just barely.  I know how a good idea of what needs to be replanted.  I will need a rosemary plant for each door of each building, so about 10 or so. I need equal in number sage plants.  All other herbs will need to find new homes as we were unable to keep many of them alive.

I plan to plant many rows of greens of all sorts, more peas, and root vegetables.  I have not seen one carrot seed come up from the hundreds I set in the ground,so they will need to be replanted again.  It is nice to see the trees unfurling their leaves and coming back to life, the grass re-greening and live returning to the world of the mountain.

Michael and I have decided to set up a little booth at an indoor flea market here in Camp.  I have to gather stuff to take up their, the cost is fair at $20.00 per month. It may help us to make some much needed income and at the same time let more people know about how our local electric company NAEC has not compensated us for it yet, but mostly to prevent and guide others to keeping their land safe and free of products like Round-Up which kill bees and the land.

Sometimes I get so sad over it all, like no other person on the planet understands what is going on.  My very soul cries out against the void of understanding, and I feel as though there will never be another shinning moment in all of time.  I feel that everyone has a purpose in this world and no ones purpose should be to destroy it.  Maybe if it were more palatable to save instead of destroy it would be an easier world for me to dwell in.  I recently studied in American history class that in America there were people who wanted to conserve the land and those that wanted to protect it.  Both are very different, those who wanted to conserve the land wanted to take want they wanted and then put some thing back.  Destroy thousand year old trees and replant them with other fast growing trees, terrific for many, no so much for the planet.  Don't get me wrong I believe in replanting forest, just not raping the old world forest.  Back to what I was saying the other people wanted the land preserved as is, in a glorious way, beautiful and free.  Their is little glory left out there, even the land that was set aside for all of time, is now being used  for cattle.  It is a sad fate we have designed our selves too.

Our little farm is like a shelter, we allow free to be free, we farm with the land and not against it.  We dream that some day more people will feel moved to our cause and less to the other.  If we start now to protect the world, to grow more of our own food and be more responsible with what we have.

No matter how hard it is to farm, it beats not doing 1000 times over.  We will live in the world of healthy food and do our best to help others to do so as well.

Be Blessed
Shekhinah

Just a day...

Morning from the mountain, you will notice I did not use the word good.  We lost of 2 year old dairy cow out of the blue, no idea why she died, Michael just went out and she was bloated and stiff on the ground.  She was not wormy, her weight was goo and she was fine the day before.  If this was not enough of a horrible was to start the day, my milk goat had her two little girls, neither lived, they looked right in every way other then not breathing.

Wood came, a huge thanks to my dear friend who had her son cut it for us. It is good to know that we will not freeze as we have yet to hear from Sears over the chain saw, I assure you it will be the last one I buy from them.  We have two hours of use on the chain saw, used none ethanol gas in her and followed all the rules.  What a piece of junk...by the way the last sears we took the saw to, lost it for over a month and even after I got it back, they still called the house twice a day for months.  I hate when a company has sure poor standards.  So I do not need anything else Sears.  The chain saw is over an hour from my front door so I will have to blow more gas to pick it up as soon as they have done something with it.  I think I will just go to Walmart and buy a cheap chain saw ans get on with life.  I should have just scraped the other one and took a loss.  It is hard to know what to do anymore as everything is made to break.

On to more pleasant matters, we went over the plans for the new kitchen and I need to figure out where I want the sink.  It is a hard choice to place things in an open space.  I think both stoves on the same side of the room and the sink on the other.  I like the idea of a long counter near the stoves.  I have the island for the center, just need to change out the wheels and put locking ones on. That should be fun. Michael has some of the walls down and it is interesting to see what goes into a house trailer.  It is also sad as it is not very much of anything.  you have the wall insulation and the sheet metal.  Michael and I talked about the ceiling and I am wanting to replace the fake beams with real wood and we plan to so do the ceiling like space, so I foresee me getting black paint painting it, then taking the air brush our and creating the universe.  It will look really neat with the beamed wood I think.  The lights we put up will be come part of it too.  I was going to buy a mural, but they wanted over $500.00 bucks, I just don't see it, so I will do it myself.  I will have two doors in the rear of the kitchen one to the main house and one the Tardis that will some day lead to the basement, it will be a tiny closet for now I guess.  I pick up the sliding glass doors latter this week.  One for each side, so I will have lots of light and air movement.  I picked a spot for two of the other windows as well and a place for an A.C. if needed. It is all coming together.

I need to log off for now, eggs to ship, plants to plant and stuff to do....

Be Blessed
Shekhinah

Lumber and the new Kitchen

News from the mountain, our locally sourced and milled lumber arrived today.  I am so happy, lovely white pine, from trees that were I think he said, 30 inches around.  the boards are 15  inches wide and our going to look amazing on the walls of the new kitchen.

The cabinets that I bought our white pine reclaimed from a fire and bought locally, and they were made in the USA.

I have a week off of school and I am looking forward to getting starting on all this.  Just today I found two sliding glass doors for $200.00 so I have that as well and all the windows for the kitchen as well. New wiring going in soon and the new fuse panel as well.  Now I still have to make or save enough money to get the water heater that heats water as you use it, this should save us a bunch of money.

In other projects I am ordering the solar panel that will will use to power our washing machine.  I will have to come up with a few car batterys, but I know where the scrap yard is and I feel I could acquire them cheap.  It should be fun to see how it works out.  If it does we will take and start taking more off grid, including the barn.

We are still down sizing animals till we find a fit that works for us.  I am selling another goat off, I am sure that she will be someones blessing.  I have to make the farm more manageable and cheaper to run.

Getting more seeds into the ground today, while it is lovely and sunny.

Be Blessed dear ones....
Shekhinah

Good morning from the mountain, yesterday was a nice day, we took the two boys to a napping event at the state park in Mammoth.  It was interesting, not a lot of people showed up, but we did learn about all the modern style tools we need to do napping.  There was a trip to the local lumberyard to get the pieces we needed, all available there. So we will be making some cool tools and some cool stuff.  Everyone had a great time.

Watched some movies with friends, took care of the farm and that is about it, cold cuts and salad was for dinner.

Today I have a bee event to attend, sort of looking forward to it and I have to take the chain saw back to Sears, I think I am done buying there stuff, this chain saw has been down more then yup and it has cost us a lot money to by wood that we could have had free if we had the chain saw.  Life is like that.

So that is about it from the mountain for now, I still have a quiz and a test to take in history class and then spring break for a whole week...

Be Blessed
Shekhinah

Progress for the kitchen...

Good evening from the mountain, sorry about making this post so late, it has been a long day.  Went to school of course, took me for ever to take the test, I am sure a normal person could have done it in half the time.  But I did the best I could and feel ok about it.  I also cleared a new section, so that is wonderful.  Spring break starts Sunday for me and I have a long list of stuff to do.  Gardens are going to needs tons of work, hides need scraped and made ready to be tanned and glass needs made, among other things.

Good news is in the works, as Sunday we will have the wood we have needed to do the kitchen, it was locally sourced and each board was crafted with love and joy from a local mill.  I bless the man who is selling us this wood with wealth and long life, as it is a blessing to us.  I am so happy!  :)  I have enough egg money to pay him.  My kitchen will soon have walls, however I now need to come up with insulation.  Nothing is ever easy...lol

Still no baby goat or sheep, looking everyday, milking icecube every day and I am happy to have fresh milk and butter.  We put the first Goose eggs in the incubator.

As far as the chain saw, it is going to Sears in West Plains.  They do in house, so I do not have to worry about it getting lost again, I will not have to wait months to get it back and I am sure they will not ring my phone a hundred times or more as we have had that talk.

I am down sizing Direct TV tomorrow, and look forward to using the Roku more.  The Roku is a neat little toy, I really like it and the children do as well, so I will save 40 bucks a month and lose very little. It has been a challenge to use though, when you first use it many channels need to be registered using a computer.  It can be a bit tricky, but I do think the Roku 3 is top notch as far as value is concerned.

Tomorrow I hope to find a new obsidian scraper to work the now dried hides and get them ready to tan, I am crossing my fingers on this one as I need it, and well mine might as well be gone forever.  I thought I could make one from a piece of obsidian that I had here at the farm, but it is from Ascension Island and if it did not want to be made it will shatter, after all it is glass and I would be sick, since it is the only piece I have left. I tried that fancy metal scraper, I don't know, it is not very relaxing or peaceful using it.  I need what makes me happy and lets me work happy.  When I glean a hide it is almost like a meditation, I just love doing it.  Silly I guess...

I am going to take one hour next week and get the cover done for Abigail and get her up on Amazon and Nook for sale and a few other places.  I had no idea it was going to drag out like this, I should have made the cover first I guess.  I do promise it will get done.

In other news the boys are doing great with their studies and are looking forward to summer and all it brings, they have all ready had Michael out there shocking the pool and getting it ready.  Everyday I hear is it warm enough yet?, No, a day latter, is it warm enough now, No...and on and on...stop laughing, it's not funny having to here it ever day since the ice melted off.

Have to log off now dear ones as I must get dinner ready, cold cuts and fresh veggies...and fresh bread and wheel of fortune time.

Be Blessed

Shekhinah

Good afternoon from the mountain.  I have been a busy person to day, setting up the new printer, answering the phones and getting stuff ready to ship.  I can say that this new printer though time consuming to install and slow to print is leaps and bounds above the old one.  It is an Epson XP-310 wireless printer.  The color is nice and if you buy the ink on Amazon it is super cheap.  I paid $17.00 with free shipping for enough cartridges to replace each one four times.  Beats the heck out of 40 or 50 bucks to replace from the company.  Every time you save money you are earning money, so it is well worth the little be of time spent on researching a printer or any device that you need.

Now that I have the printer up and running I am trying to print the backs of the cards that I send with mustard seed pendants, and of course I print a ton up at once.  However the last time I printed them was before this computer so I lost the patter and now how to remake them.  this just adds hours of work to my day, but that is just the way it is.  I mean if HP does not think a laptop should last for more than five years, bla....this one I am typing on might very well be the last laptop or even computer I ever buy from them.  If they can't be bothered to take care of their customers than in the same right, I can not be bothered to use them as a source for my computers anymore.  I am not fond of Dell, but have thought about one, I have looked into Toshiba which seems to have the best deal at the moment. I have tried to explain to HP when you buy a computer it should not be disposable, it is an investment, after all they do call it an investment in their commercials.  Much like TV and commercials that are both not real, so is the line about HP standing behind their products.  It is sad really as they once were a mighty empire that inspired me to buy any product with their name attached and now I am sitting on a phone line explaining to them what an investment is.  To me an investment is something that you plan to use for a long time, and thus you do not mind putting out a little extra ,because you  know in the end , you will get that money back.  My printer is disposable, my laptop is not.

On to  farm news we just put together our first new watering system, it is made by a company called Bright Tap, it was a bit pricey, but I think it will safe us time and stress and that is truly worth a little extra money.  This cool little unit attaches to a water cooler, mine is 2 and a half gallons, once installed you are ready to go.  You set this up on a milk crate or cinder blocks, etc, just so long as it is high enough for the chickens or other birds to reach each.  Because our birds have there flighty moments, our will be secured to the wire cage as well.  this should make it safe and stable.  The birds tap these little nibbles and fresh clean cool water is there for them. sounds really great, but we will see and keep you posted.

I am looking into new feeders as well, I have found one called,"Grand Pa's feeders" or some thing like that and the way it works is that you fill the box side of it with feed and then the birds have to walk on the metal platform, it then opens and they can eat their fill.  Once they step down it closes, this means no more wasted feed on the ground, no more water in the feed.  The ad shows that they hold a good amount of feed, I would guess about 5 pounds or more, so that will make it easier for us to keep up with all the chores that  are in need of being done.

People have no idea the amount of work even a small farm entails and perhaps because we are not Mono choppers it is very complicated at times to explain the things we do here. Believe me we are never done, there is just a list that get rolled over and we keep working.  I am not saying it is not worth it, it is.

 Everything we grow is quality, healthy and free of the chemicals that many would have us believe are safe.  With every egg, with every grain of wheat, every tomato, every potato, every green bean,  with every pea, every good thing we reap from this farm it is a blessing.  It is done with the respect the earth herself, it is done with respect the animals

. I think a lot about what buying store bought food means; for me it is a great failure, for others a means to an end, and still others a blessing.  Every store bought item I buy disrespects the very earth beneath my feet, even the organic foods make me feel this way, as I know that they were more often then not soaked in chemicals, if not a GMO and not grown with love.  To grow this food the land is raped, the soil scorched and the food it's self in many cases altered into a new form.  Makes me a little sick to think about it really.  I dream of a world where people each take a share in not only the earths life that she is giving for us, but that each person tries in some small way to plant a healthy seed, or more into the earth and grown from it food that feeds, with out killing. If most people planted even a simple pot of lettuce with out the use of chemicals it would be a grand start.  All of us have to learn to be responsible for our food and our world before it is too late.

I also believe people should hunt for more of the meat they eat, hunting done right is sustainable and cost effective. For many generations hunting and gathering have played a huge role in the lives of the people of this planet and then like throwing away a baby with the bath water, people just stopped.  It is high time we all went back to learning how to live a little more like the people of the past, so that we may preserve a future for those who come after us.  Have we all become so selfish that we will not plant a tree for other to eat from in the future.  I myself do not want to believe that people are so selfish, in fact I share my knowledge with anyone willing to listen, because teaching someone to hunt, fish or forage is like giving them wealth that can never be taken away, you many lose gold, your house, your car, your job, but knowledge will feed you.

As to other things going on with the farm we are still not the new parents of more baby goats of sheep, but are hopeful that anytime we will be.  We are still mending fences, and planting seed into the earth.  Nothing is more exiting than those first little spouts who poke their heads above the earth.

So back to work for me...

Be blessed
Shekhinah

News from the dog house to follow latter...lol

Greeting from the mountain, welcome to my cousin and his lovely wife a new little angel, the most beautiful child born in France.

My sweet husband cleaned my kitchen and bathroom for me.  I can home to a group of nice people who came to get bees wax.  Had a lovely visit with them.

 So here I am typing to you all.

Still no baby goat, but mama goat is doing well and we are hopeful that she will kid at some point.  Lots to do here so busy...I had some one from California ring me as I missed an online class, ewwww, darn me...some times I just can not win, so I will listen to the audio and try to catch up before the next class.  I told my teacher it was Purim, she said that was yesterday...lol...oh well. Guess I will have to get one task.

Aside from all these things, my eldest son found a great job and I am so happy for him, it has 401k and everything. I told him it is a keeper.

So a good day over all...I still have home work to do and listen to my class, as well as make glass, so I need to log off of here and get this stuff done.  I am making pizza for dinner and hope to get to bed at a goodly hour tonight so I can get up early milk the goat, and then work on the gardens and get seeds into the good earth.


Be Blessed
Shekhinah

News from the mountain, it is cold and icy this morning.  I am experiencing the worst Purim ever...  :(
So what has got me bummed other than the weather.  Well I am stuck on the farm for Purim, we had wanted to go up north and join in the celebration, or even down south, or well Rogers would have also been nice, no time and no money to spare.  Next I have been unable to get plants in the ground, I am so frustrated.  We did start some seeds, but I want to plant all the peas and onions and potatoes, turnips, beets and other good yummys.  It's no longer just about our food, but the people who buy fresh veggies from us and I sure do not want to disappoint them.

In other news we are getting a new hive, it should be her in April some time, we had a enough money from last seasons honey sales to get another one, so we will have three hives and lots of honey in the future.  It is lovely to have ones own honey and wax from your own hive and to be able to share it with others just makes the blessing even larger.

We did get some new Muscovy ducks to replace the ones that that wolves ate, I wanted to say thank you to my friend and her husband who helped us.  I am not going to say their names, but I am going to say how they baled us out of a really tight jam and how I am very grateful.

I am grateful for the large group of supporters that our little farm has, because times have been very hard for us and our continuing to try my patents to my wits end on some days. yesterday was one of those days. Some times you are so busy trying to do the right thing or the proper thing that you forget to take the time to do the good thing.  That is to do the thing your heart yells at you to do.  For us here on the farm that has meant no new cows and the early butcher of the largest cow in our small herd.  It is heart breaking to me to have had to make this choice, but I only have so much money to work with at any given time.  What this means for the remaining herd is Ruth our two year old, Jersey cross with have to be AI 'ed, My adopted sister is going to hook me up with the nice man that does this and she will be breed using Scottish Highland seamen. .I hope to get a baby out of her by next year.  The little bull this spring will go into the freezer this fall.  That will leave us Ruth and the soon to be calf in her belly.  Not a great plan, but it is the best I have.

We are officially down to just a handful of goats, Rebecca who is retired, Icecube ( best darn milk goat a girl could have) and of our my hubbies pet a mini alpine named puggie, or and the Nubian who once she has her her babies her fate is to go to the freezer.  No baby goats yet, Icecube is caring one for sure, I am hoping for two, but will be thrilled with just a healthy baby.

As far as sheep, I have kept one breed ewe.  She is do to kid anytime and I am praying for a healthy baby.  I have hopes to some day rebuild the herd, but today is not that day.

We have scaled down all the livestock, and still have some more to deal with.  I am planning on sizing down the pigeons, I may put a bunch in the freezer and try to sell some as well.  I just think three pens is two to many...and feed is becoming harder and harder to come by.  So changes will have to be made.

As to other things we are doing, such as Abigail I am delayed in publishing due to not having a cover.  I have been working on this problem and feel I have come up with a fix for that, so I hope to share it with you all soon.

Now to other things that need getting done, such as repairing computers and setting up the printer...so many broken things and so little time.  I still need to ship eggs today and pendants so, plus I need to deliver eggs.  I am going to have a busy day.  So other than working with the kids, that is what I will be doing...

Be Blessed
Shekhinah

Good morning from the mountain, it is a chilly 60 degrees here so I am passing on planting for the day.  I have new asparagus to get into the ground, potatoes, onions, peas, violas and more. I guess it will keep.  Thank goodness I have this never ending list of other stuff to get done.

 Well at least I got some stuff done before it rained...made butter from the goats milk, milked the goat, did some dishes and got boxes ready to go out.  Still need to clean the fans, vacuum the house, get the dishes finished, take photos of the birds for the web, do math, and history, make glass, gather seeds for peoples boxes and so much more...plus work on the cover for Abigail which is holding up everything...when you have a farm you learn to be flexible.

Yesterday we laid the ground work for another book in the slave series, it is still up in the air, plus I have another book I have to get done for school, never enough time to get it all done...lol

Looks like one last snow is headed our way, yuck...I am so sick of snow.  I need to get my plants growing so we can raise  enough to eat and sell, come on weather, help me out here.

I best get back to work...

Be Blessed
Shekhinah

News From The Doghouse and happy as the only rooster in the hen house....

The jonquils bloomed today and worked on farm chores with lower back pain from the milk cow knocking me through gate boards in the barn the other day, broke one board in 3-4 pieces....fixed the wheel barrow changing out the inner tube in a spare wheel and replacing the axle from the old one into the new tube spare one and now in business, not fighting and grinding metal and gritting my teeth....Yesterday was like 80-82 F and today its half that, also yesterday worked on the swimming pool, got the filter going and chlorine tablet cleaning the pool water....Elijah wanted to jump in and go swimming and I figured the water was like 40-50 degrees, it was covered over with ice just a few days ago, and ice is still on the ground in shady areas....but he jumped in like a polar bear (^*^) Got a fire going again in the wood burner and turned on the gas heater in the boys room again....found a goose nest w/ goose laying egg, so got some for the incubator and some
for sale soon....no baby goat yet, hopefully soon and healthy delivery too...


Michael...from the top of the mountain

Sorting seeds and my book about the life of Abigail is done...

Since Abigail the book is done, I can breath a little, it is now in the process of being made into a eBook for kindle and other devices and should be available to purchase some time this week.

As far as the farm goes, I and the boys have spent the days going through seeds, so far I have around 20 pounds of pea seeds in at least five different types.  We have many at least 20 types of flower seeds.  We have many types of vegetables seeds as well...so many I am hoping I can do this all in one day.

Once we are done and have pulled our seeds for the season, the rest will be offered up either by donation or by promise to save seeds from your plants this year to give to another next year.  You have to cover any shipping as I just can not afford to do it.

We plan on planting a fields of peas, turnips, beets, and corn this year.  All of these plants can be grown for our feed and animal feed. I am trying very hard not to continue my dependence on the feed stores.  GMO's are every where and it grows harder to not use them. We still plan on sprouting wheat to use for animal feed as well. Just have to make the time to do it.

So for now I am going to soak our peas and some other seeds and try to get them in the ground over the next few days.  We are also setting up our seedling on the table in the kitchen for now, as I am unsure as to if the cold has truly left us or not.

Other neat things we are doing is felting animals from our own wool, as well as from purchased wool.  I am also beading chickens for earrings and pendants.  I am never with out things to do, plus have to start on the next book and maybe finishing one or to of the others I have been working on.  I have to say that finishing Abigail was one of the greatest moment of my life.  It is strange as it is by far not my first published piece, but feels so new and right.  I am so happy that she has a voice, no matter how small.

My blessings to you all..feel free to email me at raziel133@yahoo.com if you are looking to get with us about seeds or other things...

Good morning from the mountain, the snow is just starting to melt and in places I can see patches of ground.  I see hope for planting in the very near future.  as to other things going on or not so...the Fed-ex has said, heck no we won't deliver up to your mountain in this weather, or so it seemed, he wanted me to meet him, not gonna happen I said, so Monday seems to be the new delivery date.

Other than shipment issues we are all doing just fine.

Be Blessed

morning from the mountain, fresh food, and war looms on the horizon

Good morning from the mountain, yes we are still stuck on the mountain and I guess this is all starting to read like a castaways journal.  Sort of like, day forty five, have not seen another living person..lol  there really is about four inches of snow still up here and it is making me want to see it all end.  I am so ready for spring and planting.  You know I really do not want to complain ,but even Fed-ex and the the Ups guy have not made it up here.

All said, we are really fine, have lots of food and the animals have lots of food to, which is a good thing.  I bought animal feed for the month due to the skirmish going on in the Ukrainian.  Most people do not know that they grow the second largest amount of corn and wheat, just under what America grows.  So this will in the long run effect the prices of food and plastic.

I found out that our animals are ready to be picked up at the butchers, my total came to $288.00 which is so reasonable, since it was, a goat, two sheep and half a pig ( I just want it know that I do not eat pig, nor condone anyone else eating them).  One sheep became sausage, I had Italian sausage made in sheep casings, and German sausage....we are so excited, I can not wait to grill them. The goat got chopped up for goat stew, so yummy...so it is all good.  I look forward to bring the cow in to get her done, then the freezers will be full again. It is nice to have food security in a insecure world.  Sort of like having money in the bank.

The Children are still learning about the presidents, I have enjoyed sharing with them the era of McKinley and Roosevelt.  I think they have learned at great deal.  Yesterday we watched a show on History together that showed how the giants of the era came into being, it was very interesting, both to them and for me. I think of the fact that McKinley had agreed to war eight months before the war, while saying the whole time we needed to be neutral, perhaps he just did not know what the world neutral meant.

History seems to in some form repeating its self right now.  We are on the edge of war with another country and it seems unlikely that in some form it was not planed.  Perhaps President Obama is unsure of the word neutral either.  Most wars are sought by those who have the most to gain financially by them, makes you wonder who who make money off of this potential war.  My self I am sick of the blood and fighting, I am sick of war and threats of thermal nuclear inhalation.  All the wars we have been though have not made us better people, it has just left our society to clean up mess after mess and forced us in to a rut of never ending battles. It seems with all that we have learned, there is still so much left to learn.

Now that I have had my rant I should get back to working on the book about Abigail, need to get it done...and the dishes need done too.

May you all be blessed

Good morning from the mountain...

Good morning from the mountain, I have just gotten off the phone with Hersh feed.  Due to inclement weather, the fact the Ukraine is second in the world in the production of wheat and corn, just under the United States, I have ordered a month’s worth of feed.  The cost of feed has already climbed and it is for sure not going to drop anytime soon, so it is like putting money in the bank. 

As many people know we have been battling to drop our bills; one of the bills I have had the hardest time with is Direct TV who much like HP and Netflix is a bit too big for their own good.  They have no idea of loyalty which is the same problem I have had with HP who did business with me for almost 20 years, I did not have that long in with Netflix, but I was there customer long enough to know that they do not honor their own words.  In dealing with Direct TV I have learned that Disney owns ESPN and forces this programming to be locked together, I find their form of business interesting.  While I am saddened by the fact that two cents once stood between having the Weather channel or the poorly done and lacking in facts Weather Nation, I am sick over the abuse of pricing packages.  I really think they charge about double of what they should…makes me a bit ill to think when money is so tight for so many people , and while I understand free enterprise, I fear that I must find a better way to get my TV fix. 

I have ordered a Roku box, which uses your WiFi signal to give you access to tons of free programming, some of it , just like what we are watching now, and some is even better than what I am watching.  Unfortunately it is delayed in shipping, due to poor weather.  It may get here today or it may not.  I bought this item through Amazon prime, as a refurbished unit, free shipping and they even gave me a $20.00 credit for it being late, which of course was outside of their control.  Amazon in my opinion is a good company to deal with, they are down to earth and they get customer service, when I call them I get an American, they listen and understand.

As far as the farm its self, I am a stand still till the weather gets better, we are selling hatching eggs, and southwestern art, but that is about it.

I cannot wait to get more seeds in the ground….

In big news my book should be on kindle on time…so Abigail becomes live in just a few days and should change the minds of what many people think about slavery in the south.  Abigail will be one is a serious of books we do not only about American history but Slavery.  The tentative title to the series is called, “The Americans you never Knew existed”, with the under caption being “America Slaves”.  Abigail’s story is just one that we will feature; there are others in the works, one will deal with Native American slaves, Slaves owned by Free Blacks and more…  The next book will not be part of the slave series per say, it will be about the life of a coal miner in West Virginia , during the time of the Blair mountain revolt , there I go again, spoilers…oh well best get back to work all this stuff is not going to do itself.

From all of us here on the Mountain Be Blessed