Happenings Around the Barnyard

We have managed to accomplish a lot of the goals we had for this year and the year isn't over yet. We find that setting goals and objectives are essential for managing our various projects and getting this old farm up to a level where we aren't buried in maintenance/rehabilitation and we can be a productive farm.

Back at the beginning of the year we mentioned that getting electricity to the shop was a main goal along with at least starting to renovate the big barn. We would have done it sooner but life, other commitments, and finances got in the way so we got a bit of a late start.

We ended up having three power poles placed in the back (had to get a utility easement from a neighboring farm to tie onto his line). The meter will be placed on this pole with an underground power connection to the shop breaker panel which will be in the back left of the shop as you look at this picture. I still need to start the wiring inside but that will be pleasurable and we will end up with an outside light over the roll up door, a porch light, an outside 110 and 220v outlet and plenty of outlets and overhead lights inside. I want the 220 for my welder and so I can plug in the camper up there if need be.

One of the reasons we didn't go with a complete underground system was cost but we also wanted a dedicated transformer close to the shop so we didn't get too much voltage drop for the welder.

We have noticed that cats like to be in a box of just about any type and Whiskers has taken over this old abandoned flower pot.

Judy continues to make and sell quilts and still longs for her own quilting machine.....but they are upwards of 20K...can you imagine that for a glorified sewing machine? She still holds out hope though and maybe she will win the lottery.

The unexpected and early hard frost meant we had to harvest most of the remaining garden crops and in the next post we will show how we preserve this through canning, dehydrating and freezing. We got about 50lbs of mostly green tomatoes that will go into relish and green tomato pickles while some that had started to ripen will be allowed to fully ripen. We also got a mess of bell peppers and pounds of Serrano and Thai chilies along with some herbs.

We didn't plant as many sweet potato slips this year as I am not particularly a fan but we got a good harvest and what we don't sell we will store in the root cellar. Right now they are inside hardening getting their protective skin.

We got rid of most of the old doors on the barn and rebuilt them like they should be built and we have painted the trim white which looks so much better than the dreary grey trim. A barn should be red with white trim...I think its some kind of law (or should be). The hay loft elevator door still needs to be rebuilt along with the double door on the lower right.

We have a long way to go with new framing around the windows, some structural repair, refastening some of the tin, some new posts inside, and we have a few more doors to rebuild but just what we have done so far has made the barn much more useful and the paint really brightens it up.

For some reason the previous owner made some doors that opened out instead of in like they should be and they were made of thin interior grade lumber but we have rebuilt the doors with 2x6 pressure treated lumber with Z bracing inside and heavy duty hinges and barrel bolts.

We also need to touch up the paint on the bottom of the stem walls where the previous owner painted down to where the grass had grown up instead of trimming it and doing it right. I don't mean to harp and I am sure that plenty of people could criticize our efforts as well but some of the short cuts we have had to fix are aggravating.

We only cut hay on one pasture for the second cutting and ended up with 56 bales which compares to the total of 65 bales for all the pastures we managed during last years drought. We now have over 500 bales in the hay mow and its a very satisfying feeling.

That is a lot of hay for us to have put up but there is nothing like going into an old barn and enjoying the smell of the hay, the smell of the old machinery, and looking for all the treasures in an old barn....like.....

This claw foot cast iron tub that has good porcelain and only needs to be cleaned up and the bottom painted. It has all four claw feet intact which is hard to find and we will be installing this when we remodel our bathroom next year.

Buster our bull calf is growing and doing well and we are still expecting Louise to drop her calf before Christmas.

My best friend and wife Holly sure looked pretty in the fancy gown she wore for the wedding but I confess I much prefer her like this. Riding her four wheeler in the back pasture and scouting for turkey and deer. Its hunting season soon and we are looking forward to filling the freezer as we have almost consumed all of our wild game from last year.

Holly, Judy and I have found we get great pleasure from wandering around our little farm and seeing the results of our labors. It was a blank slate and so run down when we bought it that we didn't know where to start but now we see the fences and the corrals and the renovations and building additions along with the animals and the place is alive. We both gave up high paying jobs and opportunities to embark on this journey...no regrets what so ever.

Its hard to convey some of these scenes in pictures because the sounds and smells are just as big a part of the enjoyment (at least for me) than the sights. As I took this picture the new rooster was crowing in the background, Thelma (this cow) was slurping water, the sheep were bleating and Maybelle decided to get vocal up on the hill. No other sounds other than a few birds. The smells I also find pleasing, I have always liked cattle and the faint manure smells, the smells associated with their regurgitation (cud), the smell of the earth and the fresh air all combine for me to equal peace.

Another crop we haven't harvested yet besides the carrots still in the ground and the cabbage and broccoli that are thriving are these Persimmons. We have several Persimmon trees that all bear way more fruit than we could ever want and we offer it to anyone who wants to come pick it...its just that no one wants it in these modern times. Used to be they were a staple around here but along with Hickory nuts they aren't much sought after anymore. We plan to harvest them and make jam with them but you have to catch them when they are just ripe because they are very bitter until a frost softens them and brings out their sweetness.

They are very tasty when ripe and you can make bread and a bunch of other things with them but if all else fails......

The chickens love them and we supplement their daily scratch rations with Persimmons when they are available. One interesting thing we are still figuring out though is that they tend to ferment sometimes and we wonder if we are making alcoholics out of our chickens...hmmmm

And finally for this post, we harvested the last of our Asian Pears and will be canning these for use in tarts and pies this winter. One of the things we want to improve with this blog is that we want to show more of how we do things and the next post in a day or so will show how we are preserving this late harvest. We have a NESCO dehydrator which is very reasonably priced and it is a good way to preserve food even if you live in a city and want to take advantage of some of the sales that come up in the store. Nothing finer than preparing meals in the middle of winter with food you preserved and you just can beat the taste. So until next time.... 

A Myriad of Things

Well here is a shotgun blast of things from the last week or so. The blue Ranger passed inspection with no trouble and it been used to commute to work and for running around locally. It runs well, it gets better milage than the GMC and we will just continue to us it in that capacity. We ran into a bit of a snag with replacing the GMC bumper as you will see below but it is just a time delay as we have to wait for some fasteners.

The pasture has started to green up a bit, the Daffodils continue to sprout and evn some blackberry bushes are starting to show leaves and yet this is still winte so that isnt good. In fact the weather has taken a turn colder today and we may even get a sprinkle of snow tonight. Holly and I and sometimes Chris continue to work out 3 times a week and I have been able to run and do cardio on the treadmill and eliptical machine and we all feel really good if a little sore now an again. Total weight loss so far for me?....zilch. But I am going into my second month with no chewing tonbacco which feels really good and I know the weight loss will follow.

We had to put the new bumper on without the lower cladding because we found we just couldnt re-use the clips that held it on...at least we can drive the truck for now and wait for the clips to arrive.

These clips arent much but if we re-used these the cladding would never be tight enough to the bumper for me and though most people would not know the difference...it would bug me. Unfortunately we will have to remove the bumper, install the cladding, and then re-install the bumper.

And the new bumper is made in Taiwan also...something is wrong with this picture. I mean I understand why its happened, I understand that if this was made in America it would cost a lot more, but fundamentally I just feel like this should say something like "Proudly made in the USA".

Bandit was close by supervising as always. He is getting on in years and isnt as rambunctious as he used to be...he prefers to be close by and laying in the sun while we toil away rather than do a lot of direct supervision. He just comes by to check the final product and offer encouragement.

This is the inside of the GMC "Made in Taiwan" bumper after close to ten years.

And for a change of pace; we were looking for a new or used microscope to evaluate livestock fecal samples (ahhh the glamor of owning livestock), do some projects with the pond, conduct some further on-going amature research and experiments, and generally enjoy exploring nature in a smaller scale.

And I mentioned on the Homesteading Today website that I was looking for a metal bodied microscope and one of the members had one and sent it to us for a great price (thanks Pheasant Plucker). Note the wide slide base and heft of this thing. Its a Wolfe from the Carolina Biological Supply Co and it perfectly suits our needs.

It has three different optics magnification levels and important to me, a main focus and fine focus knob....just like I remember from my first forays into biology in college.

I am in the process of ordering flat and concave specimin slides and cover glass, pipettes, test tubes, droppers, sterile petri dishes with agar agar, a specimin slicer, and some chemicals and we dont have anything right now so these pictures wont be that clear but this is a picture of one of my wiskers. 

This is a fly wing at lowest magnification...

and the same wing at the highest magnification.

and finally, this is a little blurry because I cant keep the specimins flat without the slides but this is something common from the kitchen that all beginning biology students look at under the microscope..anyone remember or care to guess?

We found this old abandoned farmstead not too far from our farm. I am really curious to know when it was last occupied because it looks like the folks just walked away or died. In this picture your looking through a gate and you could see where there was a gattle guard for the driveway, gardens, etc but the place looks really old.

This was the old barn that was with the place, as you can see at one time this was a fairly prosperous farm but there is litterally nothing showing that it has been used for decades.

This old abandoned house struck me because it still has straight lines but was completely abandoned with not a speck of paint left. What kind of stories does it hold?

This cool old barn is still being used for hay storage but its not being kept up and will soon go the way of most wodden barns around here. This one has a unique couploa and must have been a useful barn in its day.

This poor barn is on its last legs and has been stripped of most of its barn tin. I absolutely hate to see this happening all over this country but its just too expensive for most people to maintain these structures.

Now for a couple plugs for reading material I think are worth highlighting. The Missouri Conservationist is free to all Missouri residents (one subscription per household) and there is a companion publication for the kids (kind of like Ranger Rick). If you from Missouri you wont be disappointed and free is good. If you live outside of Missouri and are interested in the state or live in an adjoining state the magazine can be purchased for a modest subscription fee.

Rural Missouri magazine is an award winning publication of the state's Rural Electrical Cooperatives and as members we get a free subscription. But this is another publication that would be worth spending a few bucks on. It covers everything from points of interest, human interest stories, history, the Civil War, recipes, out of the way restaraunt reviews, etc.

And finally, my most favorite magazine of all time...Farm Show. You dont have to be a farmer to enjoy this one. Its full of ideas for repurposing things, modifying equipment, garden tips, folk lore, recipes, and product reviews. If you have a shop, even just a small one in your garage, you will love this magazine.

So this was all over the map subject wise but we are sure enjoying life right now. The maagazines I highlighted can be further researched by Googeling them and I only mention them because they really stand out to me, they are free or low cost, and I found out about them from others as they dont do much if any advertizing. The only paid subscription we have in this household is Farmshow and we enjoy all three of these magazines every month so I hope that is helpful if you were not aware of these previously.

Our Country Life - (And some more barn pictures)

We have owned our farm for a couple years now and lived here about a year and a half  and its really starting to sink in how rare it is in todays world that you can get the opportunity to live this lifestyle. We have been contacted by several people recently who are striving to get to a point where they can make the break from the city, check out from the stress of modern life, and where they can have a measure of self sufficiency. We werent raised on a farm, we mostly lived in urban areas growing up and in our adult lives but there was always a tug to the country and it was almost a fantasy to do this.

A couple days ago we went driving around to several places buying some meat from a meat processer, sight seeing, and enjoying a nice day and it really struck us how comfortable we have become in our rural life. Just going into the nearest big city (14K worth of population and nothing but bustle and hustle) makes us cringe and we avoid it as much as possible. On our rural roads we rarely see another vehicle and when we do everyone waves; you get into the cities and people are just like anywhere...in a hurry and most try to keep their annoymity. Despite all the doom and gloom in the news I am glad we live in a time where this lifestyle is still possible as its fast disappearing; I only wish we could have done this when the kids were small.

So here are just a few shots of a lazy day doing some brush hogging and driving around taking in the sights. Nothing exciting, nothing grand, just a slow day enjoying life. Peace.

These folks have a small place of about 5 acres that is neat as a pin. Their little barn is an older one but has been redone and supports a horse and a few pieces of equipment they use on thier place. Its just a classic look in a small package.

Another small barn that is more modern. I like it when someone chooses to build something new but tries to keep and old fashioned look. I can just picture a small tractor out front to complete the scene.

This old manure spreader was in good enough shape I would be using it for its intended purpose but these people have been creative and are using something that would otherwise be cast off and it looks nice.

This old barn was just out in the middle of nowhere; no roads leading to it, no electricity...just an old barn and still being used.

We literally have hundreds of these old abandoned homesteads within a few miles of our farm and our place was close to going this route when we bought it. Just take a minute to imagine what this place looked like when a family lived and loved in it. I hate that so many old places are ending up like this but the cost of renovations and the low reselling prices around here just dont lend themselves to keeping these places livable. You dont see many modern houses with this much character.

Our house is an Ozark stone house and you see many structures around here built in stone. It was cheap, durable, and slip form stone construction is relatively easy to construct. I wish we could take a peek inside.

Even the bigger dairies around here have numerous older buildings still being used. When we stopped to take this picture, there was no sound at all except the sound of the wind and a few cows in the distance.

The Ozarks is blessed with abundant water from natural springs and it is crystal clear and clean. This is a branch of the Osage Fork river and its teaming with fish and other wildlife.

There are thousands of unique bridges around here and almost all of them are in disrepair. Most have no guard rails, crumbling decking and a singificant number spend part of their time underwater during the rainy season. But we kind of like things the way they are thank you. It adds character and excitement to your drive.

Again, this picture of cattle grazing a harvested corn field is just an example of the simplicity of the area. Not much in the way of commercial corn grown around here and this field was likely dent corn grown for silage but its a peaceful scene we enjoy daily.

The Ozarks consists of mostly sedentary rock formations and a high amount of limestone which means we have many caves. This one is just a couple miles from the farm and is just one of a series in the area. Your not supposed to enter them now because of the bats and the bat guanno.

And another spring fed stream, clear, clean, and cold.

If you havent ever been in an old barn seek one out before its too late. There is something about the smell, the secrets, the treasures you typically find that fascinates me. I find new things in our old barn almost everytime I go into it.

When we got home I decided to work some brush clearing and brush hogging in part of one of the wood lots we are turning to pasture.

It was a bit chilly (about 50) but it was sunny and it was a pleasant afternoon to do this.

We had previously cut a lot of brush and limbed up trees and it had started to spread all over so I pushed it into a big pile for eventual burning this winter. We will leave some of it though as the brush piles are full of rabbits.

We are careful to maintain any new Oak, Hickory, or Walnut trees that sprout up as we are expanding our various woodlots but its important to keep down the brambles and weeds as they develop.

And there you have it...just a relaxing day in the country, our Ozarks.