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Showing posts from 2012

Goal Setting

My journey in life has not been the easiest. But whose is, really? I have found that if I am wallowing in self-pity and thinking that no-one could have it as bad as me, then I look around or hear of someone who is much worse off that me and somehow it makes the difficulties seem like nothing. All these things I’ve lived through has made me a stronger woman, more independent, more confident in who I am and my capabilities to cope and surpass the challenges in life. I have decided to put some of my goals for my life down in written format, as it seems that once again my life is at a crossroads and things are changing and happening, not necessarily by my own choice. One of my goals, and actually was a dream of mine as a child, was to be a writer. Growing up, I was an avid reader, devouring any book that came my way. One of my teachers, at the little missionary school that I attended, gave the class and assignment. We were to pick an author and somehow she figured out if that author was

How to herd a flock of chickens

Looks like I'm long overdue for a post here on my tips blog! I would like to share with you a neat trick that I learned for getting some certain animals, mainly chickens, to go where you want them to go. It works wonders for me especially if I want them to go into the coop before they think it is bedtime. Okay, drum roll please..... my extra special, super cool, incredible herding tool is.... the hose! That's right. I just turn on the water and the chickens go running. They don't like to get wet because they are birds so I spray the water towards them and they run for the chicken coop. It is wonderful! The duck of course likes the water so it doesn't work too well with her, but all the others go right in. It saves me time and frustration. Hopefully this little tip might help you too if you need to get some chickens going somewhere.

Help me raise money for my new house!

Some ways to combat fleas:

Since I have been having a huge problem with fleas in my house this year I decided to write a post about some of the ways I've been trying to deal with them, and whether or not they are working or not! First you have the repellents and then you have the stuff that actually kills the fleas. I have found that in order to not get carried away by so many fleas I like to kill them before they kill me and the only way I have found unfortunately is the chemicals. Now if anyone of you reading this has any other solutions, please let me know! (the cry of a desperate woman)  Of the chemicals that I have tried, the best one for killing fleas on cats and dogs is the Adams fleas spray. Another one that seems to work for me is Zodiac brand. As for the natural ways to repell fleas, I use of course Diatomateous earth, food grade. It seems to diminish the flea population, but it also leaves the house horribly dusty and the animals look a little funny with all the white powder in their coats. I

Easy ways to supplement feed your chickens

In this post I am going to share with you some of the easy and cheap ways that I supplement my hens especially during the winter when bugs are in low supply!  1-  Grow Chard. My hens love to eat the chard leaves and it is very easy to grow in your garden, plus if you get the rainbow chard, it is very pretty too! We pick the bad looking leaves to give the chickens when we are picking for ourselves or to sell. The chickens are our garbage disposal! 2- Grow earthworms. Well, you don't actually "grow" them but keeping an earthworm bin for all the extra scraps that the chickens don't eat is a huge bonus in more ways than one! You can use the earthworm casting for your garden and of course the chickens love the worms if you can bear to spare some. 3- Sprouts. When we don't have anything green to feed them or we want to give them a boost we make a batch of sprouts and throw them out for the hens. They love them and it seems to really help their egg production as we

Valentine's Day Treat

Ok, I was going to post something completely NON-Valentines but I decided that would be too depressing since I'm already saddened by my state of aloneness. So I looked in my grandmothers box of recipes that I inherited and found one that I haven't made yet but sure am going to try it. My family has always loved popcorn and I couldn't resist this recipe. Chocolate Snackin' Corn 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil 1/2 cup popcorn, unpopped 1 and 1/2 cups salted peanuts 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup light corn syrup 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa 1/4 cup butter or margarine Pop the popcorn in oil. Pour popcorn immediately into a buttered 9x13 inch pan; add peanuts and stir thoroughly, removing any unpopped corn. Combine brown sugar, corn syrup, cocoa and margarine in medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until mixture reaches a full boil; boil one minute. Drizzle mixture immediately over popcorn and peanuts; quickly stir mixture to blend well. Cool, uncovered, for sev

Backyard Chickens

Most of you have cracked open a store bought chicken egg to find the yolk a pasty pukey pale color and the white so thin it spreads over the whole frying pan. The taste is worse than the appearance. And yet for most people this is their only option, they think. However, I'm going to share with you some tips for you to raise a few hens of your own and enjoy the benefits of eggs that are like nothing you ever dreamed. First, if you live in the city, you must make sure that your city ordinances allow you to keep a few backyard hens. Most cities will not allow you to have roosters but most don't mind a few quiet hens. Second you need a place to keep your hens. The ideal number of hens for a family of 4 is 6 hens.  They will provide more than enough eggs for your family and maybe enough to share with your neighbors too. This is always helpful to maintain neighborly happiness! If you are handy with building things you can whip up a simple coop in a short amount of time. There are

About me

I have been homesteading pretty much all my life. I love everything about country living and being able to provide my own food. I have learned a lot through trial and error, the natives we lived with growing up in the Amazon jungle, reading as many books as I could get my hands on and various other ways. I currently live at our small farm in Texas that we are trying to live as sustainable as possible. We teach classes on everything from chicken raising, to goat milking, to butchering, to gardening, to alternative cooking methods and so much more. In this blog I will attempt to share some of my homesteading knowledge and advice and hopefully help out others that desire to live off the land! Please join me in this adventure in living!