2016 Accomplishments

At the beginning of the year I sat out a list of things we were going to try to get done. You can find that here.

As I write this I recognize that I completely and utterly failed on getting gutters installed. Along with cisterns, ponds, and tree planting - though I did order in all the supplies and seeds, so we'll try that again in the spring. I was pretty pissed at what I didn't done until I sat down and wrote out what we did get finished. Overall we moved the ball forward quite a bit this year.

Here's a list of what we did get accomplished:

1. Moved Andrea and the Reds to Texas with possessions and Pug dog intact. A special thank you to Bill and Diane who were gracious enough to drive the Reds to a memorial service for their great grandparents in Michigan, and then on down to Texas.
2. Bill built two spa benches after arriving in Texas.
3. Built Andrea a Farm Table and bought the wood working tools to go with it as a Mother's Day/Birthday Present.
4. Built a kitchen island that turned out awesome.
5. Got a great deal on two top bar beehives and will try to add bees come spring.
6. Found a really good looking registerable, full blooded Belted Galloway Bull.
7. Went in halfsies on a shorthorn steer that will be in the freezer next fall.
8. Bought a Red Wattle barrow and a Red Wattle/Duroc cross barrow. Sold 2 halves and put the rest in the freezer.
9. Got 6 paddocks set up and working.
10. Figured out how to better ground the electric fence and had 0 breakouts this year.
11. 20+ broiler chickens put up.
12. 25+ laying hens raised and should start laying in March 2016
13. Bought and installed a pellet stove to keep the house Africa hot for Andrea during the winter.
14. Bought a large smoker.
15. Bought a tractor, shredder, disk, hay fork, blade, and plow.
16. Bought a cattle trailer.
17. Bought a car hauler to haul our vehicles as they age and inevitably break down. :-)
18. Bought a four wheeler.
19. Picked up a aerator, sprayer, and seed spreader from a generous co-worker.
20. Bought organically grown hay from two neighbors and put up 18 bales for winter.
21. Bought several new farms tools, pull ax, pitchfork, etc.
22. Andrea picked up a used washer and dryer.
23. Let a buddy use my Seqouia and got a small deep freeze in exchange.
24. Worm bin.
25. Put in a clothesline for Andrea.
26. Composted a ton of grass clippings.
27. Picked up a large deep freeze and filled it with meat we raised.
28. Added two additional garden beds for the 2017 garden.
29. Found a compost supplier locally and brought in and spread 8 inches of compost on all the beds.
30. Raised 2 hogs successfully and have greatly enjoyed reading them.

2017 Goals will go up soon.

60 Gallons of Gas as a Prep

This has proven to be one of the best investments I've made in the way of preps. It's a simple system that I first got turned onto by Jack Spirko.

Step one: Buy a good quality shelf system.

Each month moving forward on payday buy a 5 gallon gas can, fill it with gas, mark the month with letters and numbers on each can. After 12 months take the can filled up on payday the month you started, put it in your car, tractor, lawn mower, generator, molotov cocktails etc. Refill the can and repeat each month moving forward.

When you have a power outage, you won't be scrambling to keep your generator full and freezer cold.

If you want to see what you can do with that 60 gallons of gas take a look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8a7YDTTd28

Thoughts on Propane Tractors

So, I had the question posed tonight about my thoughts on Liquid Propane tractors from a "doomsday prepper" standpoint. For the record, I'm not much for the whole doomsday prepper movement. Self-reliance I'm all about, but trying to prepare for ever worst case scenario will leave you alienated, overwhelmed, and broke. I'm firmly in the modern survivalist camp that Jack Spirko has done much to define this way: doing things help you thrive if times get tough, or even if they don't. 

But I digress. For LP to make sense you already need to have one or more large LP tanks (500+ gallons) on your farm. You also have to be willing to not have all the horse power that you would get from the same model tractor in either gas or diesel. On the plus side LP is the cleanest burning fuel out there, and your engine will most likely last longer than the same gas or diesel model. 

Gas made the most sense to me, as I keep at least 60 gallons of gas on hand. My tractor doesn't see real frequent use, so gas makes more sense than diesel based on ease of starting after sitting for long stretches. LP is also easy starting due to how clean it is. Parts availability would be the next thing I'd think about for any tractor. Does the local NAPA carry all your parts or are you limited to 1-3 online retailers. 

In the event of mass disruptions of fuel to most of America, we'll have bigger things to worry about than how long you can get your tractor to run for. :-) As a wise man once said, after 3 days without food the thin veneer of civilization starts to peel off pretty quick.

Heating the House; Two is One - One is None

Providence protects children and idiots. I know because I've been both. -Mark Twain-

My wife enjoys being warm in the winter. Make that Africa hot, she's happiest when the house is above 75 and pushing 80. She's easy on the thermostat during the summer, so the least I can do is make her happy during our brief winter here in Texas.

The selection of pellet stoves in Texas is not what you have up North, to say the least. So after much research I found a model that worked for us from Tractor Supply, it was delivered to the front door back in September and sat collecting dust waiting for a free weekend to be installed.

As luck would have it FreezePocalypse 2016 found the daytime high on the Snow Compound at 77 followed by a nighttime high of 24. 53 degree drop in a matter of hours. The house came with a heater in the master bath and a very small propane fireplace that is great for knocking the chill off of 45 degree nights, but can't keep up when it's in the teens or 20's outside.

As with most of my projects this one was motivated by sheer panic. To quote Twain again, "If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would ever get done." Fueled by the impending Freezemageddon, I started measuring once and cutting twice. Through sheer luck of the height of the pallet and floor protector, the hole for the 3 inch pipe ended up in the only section of the wall that it could have gone through, again it's better to be lucky than good.

It's going to be in the teens tonight, and the pellet stove, while rated to heat 2200 square feet is doing a fair job of keeping the house relatively toasty. There's no way the propane stove would have the main living area at 76 degrees.

The project was pretty straight forward, order the insulated pipe, high temperature silicone, and for the first time in my life I had every tool needed in my possession and didn't have to go into town. I finally feel like an adult.

Growing Soil With Every Bale of Hay

One of the unexpected benefits I saw last year from feeding hay was that after each bale was more or less eaten by the cattle the remnants of hay left behind ending up being a great spot of pasture this year. As growing soil is a big part of our mission it's a big plus. In the photo above you can see where I drug another bale of hay through the bale from last week, and the soil that's already forming under it. To the right you can see a big green patch of green to the top right, that's where a bale was placed last year. 

Now each bale is placed in an area that isn't growing grass very well, or more simply, on my really crappy areas. It's astounding to watch in the spring as the remnants of that hay end up being a big green patch of pasture. Is it cost effective to add bales of hay simply as a soil amendment? No, but
there's no reason not to place the hay in areas where I'd like to see the soil improved.

I figure somewhere in the next decade I could really improve the worst areas quite a bit with nothing more than being cognizant of where I drop off my winter hay. Not a bad deal.

https://www.instagram.com/snow.farms.tx/

The Case for Small Government

My friends on the left have spent the last eight years basking in charisma of President Obama, oblivious to the folks on the right who came to view him with fear and loathing. My friends on the right did much the same thing during the Presidency of George Bush, not able to understand the disdain the Americans on the left felt for Bush. It's interesting to watch the same feelings of doom and abhorrence fill the left again with the impending inauguration of President Trump.

Here's the libertarian argument for making government smaller, in an effective Republic the ability of any person that occupies the Oval Office to affect the average American should be almost impossible. The smaller government is, the less reach it has into American homes, wallets, and psyches, the safer everyone feels. The arguments that folks on the left made about Bush being a warmonger, and spendthrift were quickly forgotten once President Obama came into office. 8 years later, we're still dropping warheads on foreheads in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, added Syria, along with a hundred other little wars that no one that lives in a city of significance cares about, because their kids aren't there. Name the last anti-war protest you saw against President Obama, the man won a Nobel Peace Prize for heck's sake.

The national debt doubled again, and while the right spent the last 8 years moaning about the out of control spending, Republicans are currently putting together spending plans that would make FDR blush. In my humble opinion either common sense will win out or we'll continue to play screw your neighbor into bankruptcy (best case) or civil war (worst case). Only time will tell, but the joy of my little compound is doing our utmost to become self reliant and remove ourselves as best we can from the pendulum swings of national politics.

Testosterone is a Heckuva Drug

In the pictures above and below are all the earthly remains of my two Ideal 236 roosters. Testosterone will allow you to grow big and strong. Testosterone will give you the hubris to fight the established cock of the walk and challenge him for mates. Testosterone will give you the confidence to explore, face danger, and expand your empire. It will also make you feel bullet proof, which outside of Luke Cage, none of us are. 

I was hoping that one of the two roosters would survive into adulthood to help meet our goal of a self sustaining flock. Alas, 'tis not to be. They survived almost 4 months free ranging in Texas, that in itself is no easy feat. If only they'd believed me when I told them everything in Texas is trying to kill you. 

The Case for Paddocks

Winter in Texas is so much easier than what I had grown used to in Idaho. That said, things do slow down here with the lack of sunlight and cooler days. Last year I went through 10 round bales of hay with 5 head of cattle, this year we've doubled the herd to 10, but since 4 of them are calves I only bought 18 rounds to try and make it through the winter.

In the interim I'll run the cattle through each paddock for 1-2 days, versus the week or so they cattle get to spend there during the growing months. It's not a real supplement, since the grass is only 6-8 inches tall, but based on their reaction they enjoy the change of pace from hay, and I'm sure there are nutrients available in fresh grass lacking in the baled hay.

Depending on how hard the next two months of winter are I might be able to cycle the cattle through twice. My focus is on taking care of the soil in the paddocks and the main pasture. The main pasture will get turned in to paddocks soon, if the time affords itself.

Everyday Skills - Polishing Shoes

 

I think it's easy to get lost in all the high speed low drag things that are out there and forget that some of the simplest skills can make our lives much better.

How does polishing boots make your life better? Well your boots last longer, thus prolonging the time those two Benjamins you'll have to spend on a new pair of boots can stay in your wallet. You don't look like a homeless guy when you're wearing well polished boots. Your wife will appreciate you not being mistaken for the homeless when you're in public, that's another plus.

Don't be intimidated if you didn't have an angry Marine teach you how to properly polish boots (or dress shoes for that matter). You'll need some polish that's close to the color of your shoes, it doesn't have to be perfect, believe it or not it'll work itself out just fine. Get yourself a horsehair polish applicator brush, run in a circle clockwise and counter clockwise in your polish. Apply that polish to your shoes lightly, evenly in circles if you desire. Take your horsehair shine brush and brush it back and forth, up and down until it's shiny. Repeat polish application if all your leather isn't covered.

You can keep any pair of shoes looking respectable for decades.

Another Year Around the Sun

Not a bad view on my birthday.

It seems that each year brings more complexities, more uncertainty, and more things to be thankful for. Raising the Reds is terrifying. It seems I find something new to worry about each day, yet life goes on. To be honest life has never been better. I'm blessed with a wife who not only humors my pursuit of self reliance, she is a tremendous partner as we continue to add additional projects to the homestead.

It's been a good year, we've had failure and wonderful success, more than anything else we look to 2017 as the first year we will be together completely since we got married. I have a list of accomplishments that'll will go up on the 31st of December, and in early January I'll throw up the list of projects I'm hoping to get done in 2017.

Life is good, my heart is full. To the 6 people who read my tripe on a regular basis, thank you for your support and sharing the journey with us!

Sour Cream Lemon Pie

Christmas at its core is about family and family traditions. This recipe came from the Reds' paternal grandmother, and is one of their favorite desserts. As a blended family it's fun to find our own traditions. This lemon pie is definitely going to be one moving forward. It's easy to make, pretty to look at, unique, and unbelievably tasty.




1 cup sugar 1/4 cup lemon juice
Mix sugar & cornstarch together in a saucepan.

Add egg yolks, milk, butter, lemon juice, and peel.


Cook over medium heat until thick, stirring constantly to avoid scorching.

Cool in refrigerator for about a half hour.
When cooled stir in sour cream and pour into baked pie shell.

Chill at least 2 hours. Serve with whipped cream.






1/4 c. Cornstarch. 1 T. Grated lemon peel

3 egg yolks. 1 cup sour cream1 cup milk. 1 9inch baked pie shell1/4 cup butter. 1 cup whipping cream, whipped

If I use a 10' pie plate I  one and a half times the recipe....  Using 5 egg yolks.

Crushed Egg Shells

With my latest garden was a mixed bag. The onions grew great. Lots of cucumbers before it got hot, the okra did well, but then I remembered why I didn't like okra (the taste), and the peppers did really well-so well in fact that I just gave another twenty away the first week of December. That said it was another atrocious year of failure for tomatoes in the garden. The watermelons yielded a single misshapen melon that found it's way to the hogs. I had a Celebrity tomato plant that did pretty well in a pot. So during the calm of winter it's time to get serious about next years garden.

We eat a ton of eggs, and I've been saving egg shells since last late summer. If you want a new way to annoy your wife, trying having all your broken eggshells just chilling in your fridge for months. I promise, it'll work. Anyway, I finally got around to processing them in the food processor. What you see above is roughly 100 egg shells, about 4 cups worth that will be part of the amendments in next year's tomato transplants. I think we'll probably be able to add another 100 or so egg shells to the cause by March planting time.

Hopefully between the horse compost, the chicken compost, rabbit manure, and the soil amendments I'll get more than a handful of tomatoes in return.

Training a Mad Dog

I'm hard headed. If you don't believe me, ask my wife. When we first picked up Mattis, who we're calling Mad Dog more and more, we hadn't been planning on getting a dog. We saw the listing on FaceBook for a German Shepherd and Great Pyrenees cross, and we just jumped on it and brought him home. Failure to plan is planning to fail, and we achieved a pretty high failure rate that first week.

Katniss was a dream dog to train. I was alone in the house with her, she was a born pleaser, and we spent every minute together. As with my gardening skills, and the old Bel Biv Devoe song, I Thought It Was Me. Reality is a cold hearted mistress.

He would lose his mind in the crate, would only sleep for an hour or so, leaving Andrea and I to be zombies all day. I knew I needed help, and as fate would have it I came across a story mentioning Susan Garrett had been on Tim Ferriss' podcast and was worth listening to. It was amazing how much I learned while I was running. I had not been introduced to the Dog's Choice school of thought. It WORKS, and quickly. It has even worked with the other giant puppy that we have, the Pyrenees Anatolian cross who's a year old, even working on both at the same time.

In a day of handfeeding Mad Dog stopped fighting being in the crate. After another night of "Crate Games" he fell asleep for the first time in the crate at bedtime. He wanted to be on the bed with Andrea and I after his first wake up, but it was progress! This system isn't about dominance, it's about creating an environment to allow your dog to know how much they want to please you and let them take advantage of that desire to want to work for you.

Within a week Mad Dog slept through the night in his kennel for the first time. Using the "ItsYerChoice" method I have a dog that follows me around quietly, sits at my feet wherever I'm at because I've built value. He's learned to sit and lay down easily, and started sitting at the door as we get ready to go outside.

Don't be like me. Before you get a puppy, puppy proof your house. Get a crate, make it your puppy's favorite place. Buy chew toys, the Kong is great, chew rings are great as well. I'm against plush animals as chew toys if you have kids, because their plush toys will also become chew toys.

Mad Dog is quickly becoming a part of our family. I still miss Katniss everyday, but I'm a dog guy, and it's nice to have a buddy again. I'm hoping for a fun time ahead with him.

Homestead Tools - Kitchen Aid Food Processor

I'm over 40, so in my mind I'm officially old. If I've learned anything during my short time on this planet it's that quality is worth paying for. I would never tell you to buy the most expensive version of anything. Rather do your research and try to make a lifetime purchase, especially if it's going to be something that makes your life easier and allows you to get more done.

I'd never owned a food processor prior to buying the behemoth pictured above. Heck, to be honest, I didn't even know what they did. I was dating a girl who cooked, and taught me to enjoy cooking in the process. She walked me through all the things this Kitchen Aid could do and after buying it I couldn't go back.

I make a paleo meatloaf that consists of 6 eggs, 1 pound of ground beef, one pound of spicy italian sausage, a cup of parmesan cheese, a little minced garlic, a minced jalapeno, salt, pepper, and seasoned salt. All of that goes into the food processor at one time and it turns the ingredients into a really smooth, evenly mixed loaf in no time.

I use it to grind up eggshells into a fine consistency, make our laundry detergent for pennies on the dollar, make butter, grind up graham crackers for pie crusts (or Oreos), make butter, peanut butter, almond butter, humus, pesto, mayo, the list goes on and on.

Update on the New Farm Pup

Imagine for a second a black, puffy, puppy with a small vertical white stripe on his chest running as if possessed by the girl above. It is the most tragic, hilarious, heart warming thing ever. Mad Dog Mattis is coming into his own.

Mattis is a ninja pee master. It's amazing. It just appears.

Mad Dog has me trained to jump out of bed and take him outside roughly every two hours. All while waking the wife by leading her to believe the Mexican Cartel is coming for her head.

He dominates the 120 pound Great Pyrenees cross. Often by latching onto his junk and refusing to let let go. If you want tragedy and comedy I have it in spades everyday. Mad Dog Mattis is relentless in wanting to play, even when Bear begs for mercy.

Mad Dog loves the Christmas tree. He believes it was erected to give him a new chew toy each day.

It's good to have a dog again. Katniss is still very missed.

How We Built Our Hog Pen

We went as barebones and cheap as we could with our pig pen. We bought the hog panels at Tractor Supply for $21 each, we had 4 T Posts on hand that I placed in the center of the 4 panels (on the outside of the panels). I connected the panels to the posts with a roll of heavy gauge wire that had been left behind by the previous owner, by simply tying solid square knots in three places, low, center, and high. The panels themselves were connected with both the wire, in the same three places, and then I also bought some cheap securable carabiners from Amazon that gave me the ability to securely join the panels on the ends, and allow me one corner to not use wire and be able to get in and out easily.

I made the mistake of using a half of a boiler as a feeder. It was heavy enough that for the first several months they couldn't move it, but looking back we were lucky that they didn't cut themselves on it. Next time we'll use a half of a 55 gallon plastic barrel. The water dish was the heavy flexible type and worked well.

Our next foray into hogs will be with grazing hogs, either kunekune or Guinea Hogs that graze. We have a ton of extra grass, might as well make it into bacon. I've got to do more research into the kunekune, what little I read today said they can be run in orchards as they won't gnaw on trees. We'll see.

Garden Beds Ready for Spring

The picture above does not do justice to all the laying out of cardboard, shoveling, and raking it took to get ready for next spring. I'm hoping to put another two beds down this winter to quadruple the size of the garden and perhaps actually get more than a dozen cucumbers and ten thousand jalapenos. I'll be adding red wriggler worms to the piles as they outgrow the vermicompost bin to get the horse compost jump started with worms.

I'm still torn between bringing in a tiller for a one time jump-start and digging in each of the transplants with a post hole digger and backfilling the hole with compost, egg shell, epson salt, etc. Don't be surprised if I do a bit of both to see what works best. I'm also going to mulch with paper like I did on everything in Idaho to keep the weeds down. Another project just waiting for spring.

I left a path between the two beds, we'll have to see if the we can keep it bare. 

I also have a hundred yearling fruit trees coming for the Missouri Extension Service that are going to go into 4 gallon pots, somehow we're going to work that into the garden to maximize water usage.

Don't Tell Me Your Plans, Show Me Your Results

When I was coaching men I heard all the things they were going to do. Rarely did their visions of grandeur match up to the reality. It seemed the ones who told you least about what they were going to do were the ones who accomplished the most.

In my old age I've come to realize that I can't affect much outside of my family and maybe 20 friends. That's it. That's all I can try to help, save, change, influence, call it what you want. All I can do is take care of my family and do my best to plan for them to be taken care of them.

I have friends that span the gamut politically, as I'm sure everyone does. I find the wailing and gnashing of teeth about the only person elected to nationwide office just as useless this time as the last two time the current President was elected. The day to day effect of the Obama administration on my life was almost negligible, as I'm sure President's Trump will be. Do I feel less threatened by the upcoming Trump administration? Yes, but government, at it's core, is political power exercised at the end of a gun.

The F-You vote that was Trump will be fun to watch, that I can't dispute, but how much it's going to change my life I just don't know. It looks to be a reprieve, a few years to continue to finish getting out of debt, pay off the house, install solar, the ponds dug, a well put in, and the food production ramped up enough to feed us and have a bit to sell and give away.

I hope your family is striving each day to be more independent, more self reliant, and more loving to one another.

Graduation Day

No plan survives first contact with the enemy. All of our Thanksgiving leftovers were placed in a feeder, along with their normal ration of feed. Bacon jumped right into the trailer, Chorizo on the other hand wasn't having any of it. As we tried to coax him into the trailer, he figured out that the hog panels were no longer secured to the posts, and made his way under the panels in short order. Chorizo apparently is much more of a salad connoisseur than a lover of stuffing and cranberry sauce.

Much swearing ensued. I was a jerk to my sweet wife, honestly at times I don't know what she sees in me, but I digress. The 4 wheeler once again proved invaluable, that and Chorizo's lack of focus on cardio. I was worried I was going to have to shoot him if he made it out of the pasture. Disaster was averted as we got him back into his old pen. After a few more minutes of swearing and trying to coax Chorizo into the trailer, he finally made his way in. There was much rejoicing. And much apologizing to Andrea.

I picked up the Red Wattle hogs back on August 13th when they were about 10 weeks old. So the 28th of November puts them just shy of 6 months old. They've proven easy to raise. Happy in both the heat of summer, pouring rain, and coolness of early fall.

Raising them really couldn't have gone better, the pen was cheap to build, and they didn't escape until their last day on the Snow Compound. The last thing we have to do is load them and take them to the butcher. I'll let you know how much they end up weighing.

Remembering the Alamo

So this Thanksgiving weekend we did took a day trip down to San Antonio to visit the Alamo. On the way down we stopped at Buc-ee's Gas Station just outside of Temple, Texas. To say it's a Texas sized gas station is still not describing how big it really is. If you get to Texas, make sure to stop in.

After an hour inside, I finally convinced the girls to get back inside the SUV and get back on the road. Pro-tip, if you're traveling from the DFW area, to San Antonio, pay the toll and avoid driving through Austin. Ask. Me. How. I. Know.

180 years later people are still remembering the Alamo. I hope the men who gave their lives there in the cause of Texas independence know their sacrifice has become a beacon to the world I heard a half dozen languages being spoken, and from the looks of the folks I saw, another half dozen more were touring the grounds of fallen heroes. The Ideal that is Texas has always been one of the most powerful ideas to inspire Liberty, outside of the Revolution by the Founding Fathers. Being at the epicenter of it was humbling.

I tell my kids all the time that death is not to be feared, as we all die, what matters is how we lived. Treading that hallowed ground made that more real to me.

If you get a chance, go visit. The Riverwalk is a few short blocks away, and really is one of the most awesome downtowns you'll ever see.

Obligatory Thanksgiving Post

Flash Fried Beltie

If there is another job that makes you realize how little control you have, try homesteading. Outside of being donated to the Army in the middle of a war, it'll make you Thankful like few other occupations.

I'm Thankful for my Wife. I couldn't get half of what I get done without her. She's an amazing woman. She's kind. She understands me. She's beautiful. She loves being a teacher and works her booty off at it. She's a wonderful mom. I won the lottery when she chose me.

 I'm Thankful for rain after it's been dry. I'm Thankful after the thunderstorm has passed that I don't find Belted Galloways that have rode the lightning. I Thankful that all my cows' calves lived and seem to be thriving this year.

I'm Thankful that there wasn't a late frost this year and that we got to have a really good second year harvest.

I'm Thankful for a freezer full of FrankenChickens that turned out better than I could have ever have asked for.

I'm Thankful for the hogs that have been healthy and easy to raise.

I'm Thankful for wonderful eggs from the 2 chicken survivors of the roving gang of feral dogs

As I told my players every year, I'm Thankful for flush toilets. I'm Thankful for ice. I'm Thankful no one is trying to kill me on a daily basis.

I'm Thankful for this outlet, and the half dozen people in the world that actually read my tripe on a semi-regular basis. Thank you.

So You're Getting a New Puppy?

Mad Dog Mattis

My wonderful wife, brought home a beautiful puppy for me last week. You would think that after raising Katniss just a couple of years ago that I would have remembered what a pain in the keaster a puppy could be.

As always here are my lessons re-learned the hard way.

Find out what kind of dog food he's been eating. Even if it's the $50 a bag, organic, vegan, non-GMO, free ranged, dolphin free whatever it's worth continuing that feed as you transition to your preferred brand. Better that than swapping whole cloth and the projectile diarrhea that can go with it. Ask me how I know. (We have pictures. Looks like Jason Pollack decided to pain with only browns on a tile floor.)

We were able to get him pooping solid again with a simple 1/3 chicken broth, 2/3 dog food for a couple meals.

Kennel training should never commence on a work night. If you don't want to kill yourself and a small family of 8 illegal Hondurans on their way to pick strawberries. You won't sleep a wink. Your wife will hate you. Again. Ask. Me. How. I. Know.

Get to know quickly the difference between the whine that means I miss you, and the whine that means I'm about to go Jason Pollack on your comforter. It's an important distinction. Ask Andrea how we know...

Know that the week you get the puppy, the partner not responsible for the puppy will have an illness that makes them snore that sounds the best components of Darth Vader and a Kazoo. You will not sleep a wink.

Chew toys and kid proofing the house are essential.

Don't buy cheap dog toys for big dogs unless you enjoy finding decapitated toys all over for years.

Make sure the expensive toy doesn't squeak, or it will be the only thing that keeps him happy in the kennel...

Everyday Carry - Kershaw Westin 3460

I've been looking for a replacement for my Benchmade Infidel that I lost when I rolled my Civic, after hitting a horse. All things considered, I still came out ahead in that deal. 

Aside from stabbing ISIS in the face, quickly, easily, and repeatedly, the Infidel wasn't much for practicality. Cool? Absolutely. Practical? Not so much.

I've rotated through a really big Gerber Tanto blade, it was too big. I went back an older, shorter and smaller Kershaw, but it was just too small. I was living with the big Gerber, but I watched a few minutes of a Nutnfancy review and took a flier on the Westin. It came sharp as all get out, though the one side being textured black plastic and the other side metal is odd.

It showed up in the mail about a week ago, and for me it's the most "right" knife I've owned. It feels right in the hand, the blade size is right for me, and the length, both opened and closed is exactly right for me. I really like how it opens with just a bit of pressure on the back of the knife. If you're looking for a good size knife, ruggedly built, take a long look at this knife.

A New Pup for the Homestead

I'll be honest, my wife is pretty amazing. What she sees in me, I don't know, but everyday I'm thankful she chose to fall in love with me. I've told her, more than few times, how much I miss Katniss, and she was listening. I think my wife may know me better than myself.

Sophia's dog Bear, has been awesome to work with. He's kind, patient, and a really a big cuddler. In short order he's learned to sit, shake, lay down, roll over, and wait to be released outside. Yet, as well as he and I get along, he's Sophia's dog. His temperament has really impressed me though and I've said as much to my wife several times.

I sent her a link on a German Shepherd and Great Pyrenees puppy that popped up on my local Facebook feed. Little did I know that she had already contacted the family and made arrangements to pick up the puppy prior to me sending the link. I come home to an empty home last night, assuming she stayed late at school or stopped by the store on the way home, only to be surprised with a new pup. He's around 9 weeks old, black as midnight, minus a tiny white streak on his chest, and like all puppies cute as a cow's ear.

In less than 24 hours he's already taken a shine to Bear, and vice versa. Benji on the other hand does not seem to appreciate a puppy bigger than himself. Right now I'm basically serving as a shuttle service to try to get him outside before he relieves himself on the tile, but when he plays with myself or Bear he is quite cute. I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more posts about him here in the future.

Wildflowers on the Homestead

If you're read this blog, and I know at least 3 of you personally, you've probably seen more pictures of wildflowers than any sane person would post... Why? We're growing soil here, and to do that successfully we need bees to pollinate everything. That means that we let the wildflowers grow everywhere we find them. 

It was 84 degrees on the 16th of November here on the homestead, so the flowers are still blooming and the bees are still hungry. All the wild sunflowers are still covered in bees and butterflies, as are the basil plants, and peppers that are still producing heavily the week before Thanksgiving. 

I hope we've done our part to feed the bees, and trust they've put enough honey away to have a comfortable winter here in Texas.

Prepping the Spring Garden Beds

You thought your job was crappy....

Part of homesteading for me has been simply returning to natural rhythms. The farm revolves around the seasons, not arbitrary dates on the calendar. I put down grass seed after a rain, not on a certain day. There's a lot of work, there's always 10 projects that I'd like to have done, but the beauty of the farm is things can also wait. 

On Veteran's Day I had to work in the morning, but took the afternoon to go pick-up a load of compost. The joy of finally finding a compost supplier is beyond words! Compost, loads of really high quality compost, are what have really been missing the last two years in the garden. Due to the recent rains, I only brought home about half of what I could have, I didn't want to get stuck! A full trailer will grace the trees next February, if not sooner.

Saturday we spent down in Waco watching the Baylor Women's Volleyball team dominate West Virginia, followed by dinner with some great friends at Catfish Plantation over in Waxahachie. It was amazing, if you ever get close, you have to eat there. Split a cajun plate with someone you love.

This also meant that the compost didn't get touched. Strangely enough it was still waiting for me.

Sunday morning I finished cleaning out the grass clippings that I'd used as deep litter bedding in the chicken coops. I put it on top of cardboard (the theory being that it'll help kill the grass underneath, yet break down by next spring). I spent the rest of Sunday, with the trusty scoop shovel pictured above, putting down about six inches of horse manure on top of the 3 inches or so of chicken manure composted with grass clippings and nitrogen rich feathers. 

We're going to double the size of the garden space for next year, and I'm hoping that the addition of the compost will help increase our yields. I'm also really excited for the asparagus beds. Next year marks the third year they've been in, and will also mark our first harvest.

It was well after dark before I finished, but I'm sure I'll post the final product along with my vermiculture experiment soon. 

Putting Your Free Range Chickens to Work

Cow Patty

So the basis of Permaculture is minimizing inputs, and maximizing outputs, while improving the earth, and giving a reasonable . Joel Salatin routinely says that his egg laying tractors and broiler chicken tractors following his cattle grazing are there to spread cattle manure, add chicken manure, and lightly turn the soil, the eggs and meat are just a bonus.

Chickens at Work on a Patty

It's just been the last couple of weeks that the Ideal 236 layers have really started to go to work on the cow patties, but it's been a revelation. The cow patties within a couple hundred feet of the barn have all been reduced to the photo below.

Fertilizer and Soil Amendments 

It seems that each day the range of the layers increases a bit. We're doing our best to minimize predator pressure, and though I'm sure we'll lose some to hawks and feral dogs, I think that we've finally got things figured out to be sustainable moving forward. Right now the 27 chickens we hve on site are being fed roughly 3 pounds a feed per week, in a mix of cracked grain/corn at night to encourage them all to come to the coop daily, and a bit of the feed that I had left over from the FrankenChickens.

All in all I'm really excited about the layers coming online in early February for the eggs, but I'm also trying to find a couple of broody bantams to raise replacement chickens moving forward. The tractored chickens next spring will continue to help spread the manure and improve the soil on the homestead.

Why Are You Going With Oreos?

I had one of my former players, who grew up in a ranching family and community ask me this question. I went back through my posts and found I really hadn't put forward a detailed answer. So here it is.

First, much like my friends labeled Deplorables, Libertarians, Constitutionalists, libertarians, anarchists, survivalists, homesteaders, hippies, and everyone else who tries to limit the amount of money that Uncle Sugar picks their pocket for, they serve as a tax hedge here in Texas. You need 4 horses or 4 head of cattle as a minimum to qualify for, and keep, an Ag Exemption on our place. This limits our tax bill and increases money kept in our pocket, which allows that capital to go to work in other places.

Our piece of land is black clay, which to start with is a poor growing medium. Irrigation is too cost prohibitive to make sense here, so we were also looking for drought tolerant cattle that could survive on poor range/pasture/hay. The place had also been over grazed a bit with horses so there wasn't much growing on it for the cattle to "make a living" off of to begin with.

The Galloways are generally thought to be only second to the Texas Longhorn in their ability to not only survive on poor pasture land, but gain weight and thrive on poor range. That proved really true with my two heifers that I purchased at 4 and 6 months old respectively. They received no supplemental feed other than a salt block and a bucket of grain to follow as we take them from paddock to paddock. Those heifers are now cows and are thick and meaty. I trust the three young steers will follow that pattern.

This is a very part time job for me until I retire, but I'm trying to build something that is scalable for after my retirement. The Belted Galloways have to make a profit for the farm with little time or capital input. The Belties are easy on fences, other than my bull who has figured out that he can walk through barb wire strands alone, but won't get close to hotwire. They are easy to manage in paddock shifts, so that's a big plus for us. Land carrying capacity here is around 1 animal unit per acre (I'm at in North Texas) the Oreos are somewhere between .5 and .75 animal units, so the hope is to carry a few more total head than I could with conventional cattle that spreads my risk.

If I carry full size cattle I could probably get away with a bull and 3 cow calf pairs. If I sell at 2 years, we'd be carrying 10 animal units +/-. If I lose a calf, I lose 33% of my potential profit. If, with the smaller Belties I carry a bull, 5 cows, still selling at 2 years I'm carrying 8 - 12 animal units. If I lose a Beltie calf, I've only lost 20% of my profit potential.

Risk management on the homestead is different than on a working ranch and I'm the first to admit that. Just weight-wise 3 two year old large framed cattle, grass fed and finished should have a dressed weight of around 1200 pounds each for around 3,600 pounds total. Where 5 two year old Belties should dress at about 675 pounds each that's only 3,375 pounds, but losing one of each puts the full size net beef at 2,400 pounds where losing one Beltie still nets 2,700 pounds of beef. It's less meat overall, that's true, but it also allows me to put aside an area to graze, not overgrazing during drought years, and focus on our primary mission of growing soil.

Belties are half to three quarters the size of conventional cattle and I'm not nearly as nervous working them by myself as I would be with full size cattle. They're easy birthers, great mothers, and each cow will birth up to 18 calves in a lifetime. They have a compact productive frame, meaning they have a carcass yield of meat usually over 62% for steers, and that equates to cash in the pocket for us.

The last thing is as the slow food movement grows more folks are looking for grass fed, grass finished beef. I live within an hour of more than 7 million people, I only need to find a dozen or so folks that I can sell premium products to, who are also willing to pay a fair price to the producer. Part of the process is in educating our customers that grass fed and finished beef takes longer and thus simply costs more. Providing recipes on how to cook ever cut they pick up from the butcher, and giving them a bit of the experience of the farm.

Finally, I saw commodity farming growing up, it's a tough way to make a living. I'm willing to cater to folks from a marketing and customer service standpoint to make our homestead work.  There is real market demand for this type of beef is real and growing.

Every Day Carry - CamelBak Backpack

I was issued this pack back in 2006. It sat, more or less, unused until I retired from coaching in 2010. I started riding my bike 8 miles each way to work and it became a fixture in my life. As my Go Bag, First Aid Kit, Suitcase, Get Home Bag, Lunch Box, Mobile Office, and Hydration Solution it did it all for me.

I logged over 750 miles walking/hiking in Rhode Island according to my GPS App, all with at least 25 pounds in the bag. It has held it's shape, the stitching looks new on the entire pack, and nothing has failed on the pack, snaps, buckles, or zippers.

To give you an idea of the usable space while I was in Rhode Island I carried a large water proof Plano 1412 Shallow hard case inside it, with a change of clothes, mole skin, suture kit, aluminum splint, duct tape, Katakyn Filtration kit, and some fire starting materials. There are the Maxpedition Fatty and Pocket kit bags in there. Another Waterproof Hard Case from Outdoor Products that has my serious first aid supplies in it. A pair of Vibram 5 finger shoes. A hammock with bug net, 50 feet of 550 cord, and three carabiners. There are always a half dozen cliff bars in there as well. I do my best to cycle through those, but every once in a while I'll come across a really old one to gag down.

Do I have too much redundancy in the pack? Absolutely, but here is my reasoning. I am used to carrying a heavy pack (minus water) if I ever have to rely on that bag to get me home it gives me three options. Cache things I deem unnecessary at the time (either in place or along the way, share with friends going a different direction, barter along the way.

Pros and cons to the pack itself. Pros, bullet proof construction, MOLLE straps all over it that aren't noticeable until you're inside 10 feet. Great use of space. The hip belt does a great job of taking weight off your shoulders. Big plus, the Hydration Pouch is insulated well enough that if you fill the bladder with ice it keeps your water cold for a full 12-15 miles of walking on warm days.

Cons: The shoulder straps could be a lot more ergonomic. A few more interior pockets would make it easier to keep organized.

I was recently issued an Urban Assault Pack from CamelBak that replaced the old MULE. I'll have a review up on it soon.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to ask questions or comment.

Learning From My Mistakes

There are so many learning opportunities on the homestead, and it seems as though I have one almost every day.

On electric paddocks with new born calves, I learned that I should have put the bottom strand closer to the ground.

I've learned that calves can get out of an electric paddock on a fairly regular basis, but rarely, if ever find their way back inside.

Whatever you tools/items you think about buying but don't you'll immediately need as soon as the store is closed, it's raining, dark, or a combination of the three.

Snakes will find your eggs, and your hatchlings. Wooden eggs will end your egg snatching, but it won't bring back your hard work on the hatchlings.

If you're buying a calf to introduce into your herd, always try to buy two instead of just one, they'll integrate a lot easier into your herd, and they won't be lonely. Nobody likes the emotionally needy.

Hogs are easier to raise than you think, don't be afraid of raising them.

Cornish Cross chickens are weird, but man they're tasty.

Finding a local butcher that cares as much about your meat as you do is like winning the lottery. Ask around, and listen. Start at the feed store, they hear directly from the farmer who does good work and who doesn't.

Growing Soil

Even after living for years in both the desert of Idaho and the lush greenness of the Pacific Northwest I still forget the joys of rain after long periods of dry. After three days of drizzle intermediately mixed with short periods of heavy rain it's been amazing this last week to watch the lush green sprout from the earth. It's always comforting to see the green return.

As I was putting out the rye grass the sprouts of life waiting on the rain were already appearing. The grass that had gone dormant has already put about three inches of growth on. Enough so that we've been able to turn the cattle back into one of the paddocks during the day to supplement the cattle pasture. Nursing has really increased the cow's appetites, and where last year a bale of hay lasted two weeks, they've burned through a whole bale this week.

We'll see how it goes, my neighbor still has quite a few bales of hay, but the overseeding will hopefully supplement their forage this winter. Last year I put down a few hundred pounds of winter wheat, not nearly enough to fully seed the field, but saw a lot of sprouts. This year I put enough seed down to hopefully really make a difference.

Winter Forage for Cattle

Today's project was overseeding the 8 acres of non-paddocked pasture. Last year I put down 450 pounds of winter wheat with a yard push mower. I've done a lot of stupid stuff in my life, but that exercise has to rank near the top. My little walking app on my phone said I walked 14 miles that day, it felt like more...

This year has been so dry that I had to wait until the second week of November to put out annual rye grass seed. I bought 200 pounds this year, along with a 50 pound sack of winter wheat that I overlooked last year, and spread it behind a 4 wheeler, it was night and day how much faster and easier that is.

I'll update pictures in a few weeks to show progress. Our hope is to supplement the hay we bought for the cattle, along with building the soil. Looking at this as a building project between now and 2020 finally gives me a reason to look forward to the next presidential election.

A Calf Named Smore

It's been almost a week now since we welcomed Smore into the world, only to see her almost slip away. I was terrified she was going to die on our floor. Then I was sure that her mom wasn't go to take her back. I fully expected after she walked into the night with her mom, that I'd find her lifeless body the next morning.

Each day has been a joy to see her alive and growing. Her mom doesn't have a large udder, or a lot of motherly instinct, but she's trying.

I learn something everyday, be it at work or here on our little homestead. The Reds amaze me everyday, especially when I don't think they're listening, they'll pull a line of wisdom I thought they'd ignored and use it at the appropriate time. I don't understand why or even how my wife loves me so unconditionally, but everyday I fall a little more in love with that woman.

The farm has taught me to love deeper, to know that it's not me in control but that what I do matters, it's the doing that really matters. Do I work hard at work? Do Iove the people I work with? Do I put my wife and family first? Do I continue to hope and dream? Those things matter.

Honestly I think I have a half dozen friends reading this blog, and I hope you all know how much you each mean to me. Thanks for being a part of this journey.

Salad Bar Beef

So the calves above are doing well and growing nicely. Thanks to their Scottish roots the rain we've received in the last couple of days has brought nothing but cute frolicking and the calves seem none the worse for wear. Which brings us to the next step, wait, what's the next step? I'm glad you asked.

We grow soil. It's the most important thing that we do, improving the soil so that each year the farm's soil is a little richer, a little deeper, and a little better. We're doing this through paddock shifting our cattle and letting our chickens spread the cattle manure while leaving behind their own. Each year the soil should improve and hopefully we can have a lush pasture year round by year four or five and cease buying hay.

So what are we going to do with the excess fertilizer plants? Out of the three bulls above, our hope is to be sell them to families looking to fill their freezer with grass fed beef. Our plan is to let them graze from 20-24 months before they graduate to the freezer. Right now we think $3.25 a pound hanging weight will be our goal price. When combined with processing fees final price per pound will be around $4 a pound. We're hoping that the steers will be around 600 pounds hanging weight.

If you're interested in trying Belted Galloway grass fed beef send me a message in the comments or snow.farms.tx at gmail.com and we'll get your family on our list.

Every Day Carry - Maglite 3 D Cell Flashlight

Most mornings when I feed, it's still dark outside, and from mid-November until early spring most nights it's dark by the time I get to the barn. I carry the 300 Blackout a lot, but with the addition of the hogs and the FrankenChickens I went back to a Glock and a big flashlight, the Maglite 3 D cell LED. 

I bought this light back in mid-May of 2016 and changed the batteries the last week of October after using it at least twice a day 5 days a week over that 5 month period. Battery efficiency, check. It has an aimable beam that goes from flood to spot. It's water proof, and if need be you could brain several would be prowlers and keep on working.

Yes, it's $23, but for something you're going to use daily for years, it's cheap. Don't hesitate, pick one up today!

My Wife Says I'm a Pessimist...

I am always planning for the worst case scenario. Be it the drive home from work, shopping at Wal-Mart, or expecting apocalyptic pestilence on the Snow Compound. This weekend found us having to pull a calf out of Rosy, the youngest heifer, and that took up most of Sunday afternoon.

While we were focused on that Tito, the smaller of the two Belted Galloways, managed to let her calf escape through the electric paddock. We realized around 6:00 PM that Smore, her calf wasn't doing too well. It was time to move the cattle back onto the main pasture anyway, so I started moving the Belties first, thinking that we could get Tito (so named for her Jerry Curled resemblance to Tito Jackson) and Smore into a pen together.

Tito wasn't having it. Regardless of what we did she wasn't going in the barn. At 6;35 Smore was limp and non-responsive so we made the decision to pull her into the house due to what looked like dehydration. I jetted into town beating Tractor Supply's closing time by a couple of minutes, picked up some colostrum, a dog bottle due to how small Beltie calves are, and a Mister Pibb because it was already a stressful day and having Dr. Pepper was too much to ask!

Andrea went to work getting fluid into the little girl. Strawful by strawful Andrea was getting water into the little calf. I got back and we did the same thing with the colostrum. She wouldn't swallow much, she was cold, and pretty much limp. We put her on the dog bed and wrapped her in a towel and blanket. I fed Smore every hour until she woke me up at 1:30 with a pile of pee and poo and her doing her best ice skater impression on the tile. She wouldn't go back to sleep, so I figured I'd take her out to the barn and see if I could entice her mom into a stall.

No dice on the stall. I begged, I pleaded, I put a bucketful of sweet feed inside the barn to trap her, but she was having none of it. Exasperated, and with Smore starting to fade, I pulled her out of the stall and placed her down by the feed. Momma went nuts, as did the neighbors dogs, and wouldn't stop mooing. Smore perked up, and Momma stood still long enough to let her nurse for a few minutes, before realizing she may not really like this mothering thing after all. They dance with one another for another 15 minutes, Smore trying to nurse, Momma moving every few minutes.

Then Momma just headed to the back 40 with Smore following behind. I left it to Providence to look after the calf. I told Andrea when she woke up that the calf probably wasn't going to make it (about the 10th time I'd predicted death for Smore or Meatloaf, she just hugged me, kissed me, and told me to stop being such a pessimist. I went out after sunrise this morning to find Smore chilling in the back of the pasture and Momma grazing contentedly not too far away.

Only time will tell if Smore is going to make it, but if she lives through the week, the odds increase dramatically.

Giving Thanks for Great Neighbors

It's said that good fences make good neighbors. I think it takes a lot more than that. You have to engage, share, be friendly, give space, and treat them the way you want to be treated. I'm by no means perfect, but I've been really blessed with awesome neighbors everywhere I've lived, and Texas has not been an exception

Today we had the last heifer give birth. She, like all teenage mothers, was not ready to be a mom yet. The downside to running a bull with your herd is that nature is in control  of when your heifers get pregnant. Sophia and I were out this morning looking at the dun full blood Beltie that was born overnight when we realized that Rosy, the young Dexter heifer (+/- 19 months old at the time of this writing) was about to give birth.

I always get nervous with first time Mommas. You don't know how they're going to handle the birthing process, and in this case she's still growing and not yet to size. My worst fears were realized as only one foot appeared while the calve's head was more or less out and things had come to a standstill after 2 hours it was time to act. The presentation of the head and one leg out is called, simply enough, "Leg Back" though I didn't know it at the time.

I knew we had to get Rosy tied up and help pull the calf out. My neighbors saw the circus going on out in the paddock and Andrea, Sophia, and I were trying to get Rosy restrained. Comedy ensued, as Rosy bolted through the electric fence into their previous paddock. I had left the gate open back into the pasture this morning anticipating moving the cows back later this week, and Rosy saw that open gate and thought she was making her escape.

My neighbor Joe was in the field, along with his wife, George made his way over, Andrea, Sophia, and even Emma made their way into the field to herd Rosy into the barn. We got her into a stall and here's where my neighbors went above and beyond. We got Rosy into a rope and tied her off on a stall bar. Joe, George, and myself took turns trying to find that leg and get the poor little calf out, to no avail, we just couldn't find it. After about 5 minutes I sent the girls out of the barn, because we'd decided that we had to pull the calf out.

As I'm writing this I don't know if the calf is going to live, and to be honest it'll break my heart if it dies. That said, there's simply no way Andrea and I could have pulled that calf out, my neighbors and I are all over 200 pounds and it took everything we had to get that calf out. I don't think we hurt Rosy, but only time will tell.

Calf Number 3 in 2016

With first time birthing heifers, you never know what you're going to get, but so far both Belties have had their calves without incident, and both at night strangely enough. We think that this calf is a heifer, and if so the girls have decided on "Smore" as her name. She's Dun colored and really is a good looking calf.

Today she did give us some excitement as she kept escaping the paddock and chilling just out of reach of Momma. She doesn't seem to mind us at all, unlike her half brother from the other Beltie who is skiddish as all get out. Hopefully we can get the electric fence grounded well enough in the dry conditions we're facing to help discourage her from roaming about.

She will be the foundation of our homegrown breeding stock moving forward, provided her genetics look right. The cuteness factor at the Snow Compound has gone up considerably this week!

Calf Number 2

Calf number 1, AKA Sir Loin, showed up on a Monday morning two weeks ago with little warning and zero work from us. Calf number 2, AKA Meatloaf, was much the same way, Arial's udder was super full on Friday night, and Andrea told me she was going to calve the next day. As is frequently the case, she was right.

Meatloaf presented both legs, and then his head about 2:00 PM on Saturday, Andrea and Sophia left to go work the school Fall-fest, and by 2:30 Meatloaf was on the ground. By 3:00 he was walking and nursing. If only they could all be this easy! His belt is almost identical to his father's along with this curly coat. With the late summer we're having, I'm not sure he's going to need that thick of a coat.

Arial is a tremendous mother cow. She's attentive, protective, and nurturing of her calves. She produces a ton of milk, and if I had a squeeze chute, I'd be very tempted to buy a bottle calf and see if I could get her to adopt him. Everything they say about Dexter's being great mothers has been proven true by this cow.