Medical Preps

In our quest for self sufficiency and a return to simpler times we try and take care of our medical, dental, and spritual  needs as well as our physiological needs. We live in a very rural area with the nearest hospital about an hour away, we have no medical clinic in our small village and with Judy, Holly and I all middle aged or better its something we take serious. Farming/Ranching/Homesteading is inherently dangerous and we operate tractors, four wheelers, chainsaws, power tools, weapons, work with barbed wire, deal with snakes, poisonous spiders, climb ladders etc all the time and we strictly adhere to common sense safety guidelines...i.e., protective eye wear, hearing protection, proper clothing, not climbing ladders without a person holding it etc but still accident happen and frankly...getting older means we are starting to deal with normal aging issues.

Our farmhouse is equipped with a ramp in front of the French door for wheelchair access (previous owner) and we have made many improvements with mobility issues in mind but we are still working on building up our medical kits for both the animals and people and I think often homesteaders and other rural types forget these preps. A few days ago Holly severely sprained her ankle but because we knew what to do to treat it, we didnt have to make a trip to the emergency room and she is on the mend. We also had Rose the farm dog fixed and her stitches were due to be taken out but the bridge to the vet is out right now so we just took the stitches out ourselves and in the process saved a buck or two. You learn quickly that even with the excellent medical insurance we have its just not practical to run to the doctor for every medical issue and that you need to take care of a lot of things yourself.

We continue to build our medical supplies but still need a good scalpel (for lancing, making clean incisions etc.), we need a good stethescope, better needles for stitches, a couple more hemostats, a pulse-OX, and various additional gauzes, wraps and bandages. We are slowly getting various medications for the animals and ourselves and ultimately we want an AED on site as well. We have a lot already and though I have fairly extensive emergency medical training and hold several certifications, Holly and Judy do not and none of us have a lot of experience with veterinary medicine. So we study and build our knowledge. But the best medical advice we can follow is that we need to lead healthy lifestyles, practice preventative medicine, and THINK SAFETY.

Holly's badly sprained ankle...not because we were doing something that was dangerous...she tripped over something in the house and accidents happen so be prepared.

Having crutches on hand is a must in the country. To treat this sprain we practiced Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation...RICE

Soak in Epsom salts....an old fashioned remedy but we use it often.

And forget ACE bandages (though we have those too). We even use VETRAP for the medical calls I go on and it works for the animals as well.

Rose was such a good sport. We give our own shots (provided by the vet), treat our animals for various things with topical and oral medications prescribed by the Vet etc. Most Vets around here are extremely gracious with spending their time teaching you how to do things yourself.

None of this is difficult but if your going to have animals or live in a remote area...you need to be prepared and educated to do simple medical procedures. We are an hour away from any medical or veterinary care...and sometimes time is critical not to mention that with the increasing cost of medical  or veterinary care learning some simple things can save hundreds of dollars. 

Rose was such a good patient and its also important to not have all the knowledge residing in just one person. We arent there yet but everyone on this farm will be certified in advanced first aid, adult and infant CPR, AED, treating burns, and recognizing the symptoms of  heat injuries, stroke and anaphalactic shock. We'll get there.

Red Neck Saturday Nights

We worked the fund raiser Truck and Tractor pull two Saturdays ago for the Fire Department again this year and I am still in awe over the laid back life we have come to enjoy. Folks brought pies and baked goods to sell and the Auxillery barbequed hamburgers and hotdogs while those of us who are firemen worked the gates and groomed the track. Its loud, its dusty, the young guys all drive their pickups and have the regulation uniform of a well worn seed cap or cowboy hat, short hair, jeans, and a pearl button shirt (and about half the time missing the sleeves). The young girls we all dressed up like they were going to a dance and smelled good while the older folks mostly wore bib overalls or work clothes.

There are varied brackets ranging from "run what ya brung" to pro stock and they have everything from blown gas 4x4s to diesel 4x2s and of course my favorite...tractors. Its like drag racing but you pull a weighted sled that progressively offers more resistence and they are going for distance of the coveted "full pull". These are mostly farm or ranch type folks who do their own wrenching and its a lot of fun for everyone...some of the little kids knew all the drivers, what their stats were and the whole works. You are only feet away from the action, it is loud as all get out, and you can walk around the pits and talk to the drivers and mechanics who are all local people anyway. To sum it up...its a hoot.

This was my favorite truck of the bunch, absolutely beautiful truck with a big block 454 that sounded like what you would think a big block with a radical cam and straight headers would sound like.

Unfortunately he broke a drive shaft shortly after I took this picture and he didnt place.

This tractor and owner doesnt live too far from us and he is a perennial winner.

Lots of extremely clean 80s and 90s Chevy's and Fords but Dodge was only represented in the Diesel category.

They weigh the trucks to determine the resistance on the track and put them into the right bracket (I dont actually understand it). This guy had a turned up headers and a blower.....awesome truck.

The show went on until about 2300 and it was really entertaining when it got dark...noise, flames, dirt flying....

And this is my favorite tractor. The detailing and work that goes into these is impressive to a gear head like me...

And for a change of pace, just a couple of pictures of some produce. Our garden is doing well but the weather has us off to a late start and we arent really harvesting much yet. We do have tonnes of grapes this year and these are Concords and sweet as sugar.

Our onions are getting huge..partly because we learned you have to pick off the scrapes (flower buds) so the plant puts more energy into the bulb.

Our 43 tomato plants all have tomatoes and are doing great. This year we are watering by running the water along the irrigation channels between the rows instead of overhead watering which seems to be working great and we hope it helps eliminate or reduce leaf blight and blossem end rot

We have about 7 different types of peppers already producing, everything from Jalepenos to Thai chilies to banana peppers.

And we will be awash in Tomatillos which we like for cooking our favorite Mexican and South American dishes.

Now last night (Saturday) our big night out was to a benefit Spaghetti supper at the senior center where they were trying to raise money to fix some termite damage. Good food, lots of nice people, a family sang some gospel and country songs and if you wanted to experience the distillation of small town Americana this was it.... but they kept thinking I was over 55 and wanted me to join the center....hmmphf.

Update on the Farm

This time of year is extremely busy with planting, weeding, feeding, maintenance projects, and trying to beat the 90 degree plus heat. Lots of activity and we get up early, work all day and go to bed early....some retirement!!

We have been helping out on a local ranch and this is me sorting cattle for artificial insemination. I sort, give shots and have worked the head gate...so far I have not sought out the coveted "stick your arm up a cows rectum" job but maybe someday. These are big 1000 lb plus Simental and Angus cross breeds and when the boss says "go cut out 5 head and send them into the sorting chute" and all I have is a small fibre glass cattle stick I sometimes get a pucker factor of 9..but I actually enjoy it.

I finally got a shot of the elusive barn cat "Eve"...good mouser.

Mostly what we enjoy about living on the farm is the fact that we are surrounded by nature....and we have started embracing even the bugs as they are fascinating. This guy was resting next to a planter and you can see how those big eye looking spots would scare off predetory birds.

Maybelle loves the mower and follws me around to get the fresh cuttings.

And we tilled up and planted the second patch of corn across from Judy's mobile home.

Note the netting on the pear tree in the orchard. Among other things we have been tested with in the last year has been this years emergence of the brood XIII Cicadas. Millions of them have now hatched after a 13 year wait and are all over the place. They really are just a nuisance but the do damage young trees and shrubs by splitting the bark and laying eggs which will potentially kill the tree so we covered them all in netting which seems to be doing the job. The worst past of the Cicadas? They have huge orange eyes, and when you disturb them they fly away screaming like a scared mad man...seriously, they scream and its unnerving until you get used to it.

The hydrangeas have bloomed...need to add Ironite next year for blue coloring as we have extremely alkali soil due to all the limestone.

All of our Clematis are doing well in the heat and blooming.

We have lots of Geraniums which are my favorites. The leaves have a distinctive smell I find calming.

Our Hollyhocks are really blooming this year, they only bloom every other year so we are enjoying these we planted when we first got here.

These beautiful flowers are our Yucca plants that are blooming. We have never seen a Yucca bloom and we have six or seven around the farm that are in the process of blooming.

On to the garden. We garden organically and handle insects by using diatomaceous earth (DE) which are the ground up shells of diatoms that feels like powder to humans but cut up bugs feet or body parts and we also use Neem oil for aphids, potatoe bugs etc. Weeds are handled by using an old fashioned hoe..sooo our gardens may not look like what you would see in Sunset magazine but they produce non chemically contaminated good produce. Here we have cabbage, brussels sprouts, collard greens in the back, and broccoli.

Pole beans are starting to come up along with some Thai chili peppers.

We have peppers, leeks, and Rainbow Swiss Chard starting to emerge here.

37 tomato plants we started from seed...all doing well, all have either blooms or actual tomatoes on them.

Far left is caster beans which will get to about 15 feet tall and though they are poisonous, they keep the deer and other animals away from the garden (so we have been told). Also in this shot are beets, and various peppers.

The sweat peas got a late start but are coming on strong..they will climb the cattle panels in short order.

Our cucumbers also got a late start but are starting to produce.

Onions and Holly's fancy pants lettuce.

And another project, we had 18 cu yards of river gravel delivered to fix some issues with our various roads and parking areas. We will need some more to finish.

This little tractor really gets a work out on this farm.

Thats it for this week...still have lots of projects pending and the daily weeding, planting, feeding etc but soon we hope to be HARVESTING and CANNING!

Craigs List Finds

We have found the joys of Craigslist...but its not only addictive it can be costly if you have as many interests as we do. We like anything motorized and there is lots of stuff on Craigslist to feed that addiction..they have antiques, cars, farm equipment...you name it. So far Holly has had to stop me from buying a dump truck (actually she almost relented because she liked it too), a Gleaner combine that was running and fully functional for $1500.00 (we do have 12 acres and that combine might have come in handy ....), and tonnes (yes thats the British spelling I use so get used to it) of free or almost free farm animals.

So far this week we have gotten one thing we didnt need but it was cheap and kind of cool so we got it any way and one thing we have been looking for and need that we got at an extremely reasonable price.

So this little cream puff just begged to come home with us and we met the guy selling it in an Amish community close by and since we were supposed to meet him at the McDonalds we ate lunch. Why am I relating this? Because while we were eating an Amish man and his wife (they dont like their pictures taken and we respect that so no pictures) came up to the McDonalds in their typical garb (the woman was in a long heavy dress and bonnet and the man with his britches and suspenders, blue shirt and straw hat...it was 92 degrees) and the McDonalds there has a hitching post for horses and they tied up and came in for ice cream. How cool is that?

We negotiated and a couple Jacksons later we brought it home. The old guy said it was his grandpas and that it didnt run but it might be useful for parts....nothing cant be gotten running with enough time and energy (and money). But all I did was put some gas in it, hook it up to the quick start battery starter and away we went. It even cuts good and literally everything on it works fine, headlights, ammeter, mower deck...the works.

Its a 1983 Murray 11hp, 36 inch cutting deck lawn tractor

I'm not interested in restoration of it per se' since its not really a hot item like Holly's 67 Sear Suburban, and since this kind of looks like a miniature International Harvester I am thinking that a repaint in red and white IH livery is in order.

Its dirty, needs new fuel lines, all the filters, oil change, retorque the head etc but it starts on the first twist of the key and runs pretty decent.

Of course the tires are weather checked but I will be replacing them with AGs on the rear anyway. All and all another project that will compete for my time. But I like it.

And after about 6 months of looking and borrowing others...we finally found a nice stock trailer in excellent shape that was about 1/3 of the cost of new. We had to travel a bit to get it but its not a project, it needs nothing, and if you look at the paint the top lighter color is the same color code as our truck....now that was not only unexpected it was just ...right.

The rear door can be used as a slider which I like for loading cattle.

It has 5 almost new tires it you include the spare.

Or the rear door can swing out for horses or loading antique store finds as Holly reminds me.

It does have a side entry door (note the heavy duty latch) but no tack storage which we didnt want or need for cattle and I feel just wastes space.

We had saved up for this while still in Alaska and the money has been lanquishing because we couldnt find what we were looking for...patience is indeed a virtue. Now we are in debate over that 3 ton grain bin on todays Craigslist...would look good by the barn eh?