Saturday on the Homestead


What a busy week. I have been taking care of a lot of things in my home this week. Our school year is in full swing and going well. I have been baking and cooking with the secondary motivation to warm up the house. We have been enjoying many fall like mornings and evenings with sun during the day. I have been making a lot of soups and baking bread and rolls.. does a great job of warming things up!

 

Yesterday the rain came and it looks like it is going to stay now for a few days.. Gotta work on that 75 to 100 inches of rain year!  One nice thing about the rain is that it means we most likely won’t be running out of water. Our water comes from a spring. If the weather goes dry for an extended period of time then our spring dries up. We have a second spring that we pump from when this happens but we can’t drink the water so we have to buy drinking water or get it from our very kind neighbor who lets us fill up our water jugs at his place. This will be our 11th fall in this house and only the 2nd one that we have not had the spring dry up. Typically it only lasts for a couple of weeks.. but that seems a lot longer when you are dealing with it. 

 

I sold one more goat! Now I am down to 5 adults and 3 kids to take through the winter. I do believe we will use the 3 kids for meat at the end of next summer; after they have had the spring and summer to eat and gain lots of weight. I am going have them all turned into goat burger. 

 

We also went and got hay for the winter. It may not last us all winter but we will see. Luckily the man we buy hay from typically has it all year round and he is close by so a hay run during the winter is not a big deal.

 

I wanted to thank all the wonderful and kind people that left me comments on my son’s deployment. Those first few days are really tough and I so appreciated the prayers and support. I too am praying for those that who let me know they had husbands, brothers and family members currently deployed. 

 

My son let one of my daughters know (via his myspace messenger) that he had arrived and then the next day was able to give me a call. It was good to hear his voice and know he was doing well.. tired from a long flight but doing well.

 

On another note, I mentioned doing a lot of baking this week. Well I was grinding some wheat one afternoon this last week and my whisper mill gave a loud bang and died.. Tobin gave his mechanical explanation of what most likely happened. We have decided to purchase a new mill. I am currently researching various mills and will let you know what we decide to buy. Since it is something that we use almost daily I plan to find one that can handle the job for us (this is the second time I have had it die on me.. the first time Tobin fixed it, this time he said it may just be time for a new one). I have one in mind but still need to finish my research and discuss it with Tobin. He tends to gage these things by what type of motors and other mechanical features they have. 

 

Today I plan on going into to town to pick up animal feed and do a bit of grocery shopping. Dinner tonight will be meatloaf, potatoes (either garlic roasted or cheesy), and a salad.

 

I hope you all have a great weekend on your homestead!

 

 

 

 

Comments

  1. It is defiantly starting to feel like fall. The only thing I like about fall is the leaves, but I despise the rain, hail, and the cloudy weather. I hope your son will keep safe in Iraq. have a good time in town today!!!


    Makayla

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  2. i have a vita-mix 3600plus. i have had it for i think 15 or 20 years and only had to get one piece replaced in all that time. it will really do it all; grind grain (any kind);cheese, meat; cook; ice cream ,soups, juicing.....www.vitamix.com. check it out.

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  3. Just popped in to say Hi. :) Autumn is really setting in here in Oregon too. I have put you on my friends now that I am on Homestead blogger. Hope that is ok.

    Thank You,

    Andrea

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  4. Crystal,

    I got a kick out of this:


    "I do believe we will use the 3 kids for meat at the end of next summer; after they have had the spring and summer to eat and gain lots of weight."


    I hope no one reads this out of context!! :-)


    ~Ann~ www.tisthegifttobesimple.blogspot.com

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  5. We have the same problem with our well. It kept up to our needs until the last four years of below precipitation. This summer we really started having problems so hubby blasted it and is trying to dig it deeper. It is the original hand dug well of only 16 feet. In the meantime we run a hose to the barn well which is keeping up very well for the almost sixty cattle and my seven horses plus the house. Problem is we don't know if it is drinkable so like you, bottled water or we head to the lake and use the handpump. That won't work come winter though so our well needs to be going again. I suspect we will be putting in a "real" one real soon.

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  6. I love reading your blog!

    I'm glad to hear that your son arrived safely!


    Candy

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  7. Hello! I just found your website yesterday and love it! I have a lot more reading to do, but I just wanted you to know how much I enjoy it and your blog. If you don't mind, I'd like to add you to my sidebar on my own blog.


    I've just recently realized (yes, I must be slow) that I'm not going to listen to the so-called health experts that tell us what's good for us and what's not. God gave us wholesome foods and said that all things of the earth are for our use. Therefore, I am making small changes. The first one is going back to whole fat milk, cheeses, buttermilk, etc. Of course, exercise has to be high on my list too! ;-)


    I better stop here, or I could go on a while! Please stop by and visit me anytime or email me! (email is on blog)


    Sharon

    http://sharonsroses.blogspot.com/

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  8. I awarded you!!!

    Hope you had a nice time of refreshing..sure did miss ya!!


    Love ya,

    Laurie

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