Taking Care of An Old Barn

 

Taking care of an old barn should be a regular habit on a homestead. If old barns are not cared for regularly they soon fall into disrepair. We have all driven down those back country roads to look off into a field and see what must have been a nice barn at one time. However, because of neglect it is now a pile of ruin. A haven for rats, snakes, and spiders. What a shame we all think. This can be prevented from happening, but it does take some effort. Our own barn is now about 100 years old. The man who lived here before us took excellent care of this barn and then he passed away. His widow was not able to do much and the barn was neglected for a new years. It didn't suffer much during this time because he cared for it so well during his lifetime. When we moved here to Willow Pond we took on the job of caring and keeping this old barn. The first thing we did was clean it out really well. This allowed us to see what issues there might be. We noticed that the added on shed roof was sagging because the foundation had moved around. Parts of it were not really even on a proper foundation. We live in the south so it is always best for any building to not have wood touching the ground. So we tore the walls down to studs, jack it up, laid a proper foundation, set the walls down on the foundation, rebuilt the walls, repaired/replaced any roof supports, replaced a couple pieces of roofing metal and voila'....a beautiful attachment to the barn that will stand for years to come. The next chore was to paint the barn. This took awhile as it is a very big barn. Then we replaced part of the floor on the livestock side and some roofing supports on that side as well. You get the point. Each season or year there is maintenance to be done on the barn. Some barn maintenance projects are large. Some are small. Much of it depends on how well, or how often, you stay on top of the maintenance check list. Do you fix small things right away or do you let them grow into bigger repairs. We like to plan barn maintenance chores in the spring and the fall. We got behind on this schedule when I was working at the restaurant. With both my husband and I working so much it was difficult to keep up with regular daily chores, much less extra projects. Better planning would have helped. Better scheduling would have helped also. So here I am, home again and able to do that planning and preparation. Spring is right around the corner and I am making my list of barn repairs and maintenance that we will need to take care of this spring and then another list for this fall. I am sure there will be things in the summer that come up. They will either be take care of immediately or they will wind up on the fall list.  Take a look at your old barn and get to working on that list. Old barns are beautiful treasures that don't need to be lost. There are too many pinterest pictures still to be taken! Blessings, Kat

Safe, Edible Weeds for Domestic Rabbits

 Throughout our homesteading journey we have always sought ways to do things outside of the current system. Typically, the current system for homesteaders when they have to feed their critters is to run to the local feed store and buy some sort of pre-made, commercial feed in a bag. When we started this journey back in 2007 our thought process was .....what if there was no store to go to. Well, then that was definitely something to think about. It was really a guiding force into which livestock we planned to have. If there were no store to buy feed from, which animals could we feed and house. Definitely rabbits.  In order to do that we had to learn not only what weeds rabbits could safely eat and what weeds were easily available to us in the southeastern United States. We also had to learn to identify safe weeds. The list truly is vast. There are so many safe weeds for rabbits to eat that you could easily pick a variety for every meal in just minutes a day. In fact, we do just that. We buy feed for our rabbits because our grow out rabbits grow quicker with the addition of a commercial feed. We also feel like our does benefit from the extra calories to keep their condition during breeding season. The grow out bunnies get commercial feed daily, while the breeding does get feed every other day alternated with a large bucket of weeds.  In the winter they get a small amount of feed daily with a good helping of quality hay. Here is a small list of some of my favorite spring weeds for our rabbits. 

Chickweed

Purple Dead Nettle/ Henbit

Clover

creeping charlie

Happy Foraging!

What Am I Reading?

 

Not only am I trying to be more diligent about posting on my newer blog, but I am also trying to get back into the habit of reading. While I was working at the restaurant, I would either be too busy trying to catch up with work at home or too tired to really read a book. I just couldn't manage to really get into a good reading session or routine. So, here I am. I love to read. I have a fantastic library. I have even been adding books to that library, but they simply go on the shelf. So, I thought if I actually kept track of the books I am reading here on the blog that I might actually get some reading done. This is not twaddle free literature, but it is fun and enjoyable. 

The latest book I am trying to read (I got it from our local book exchange last September) is  The House at Saltwater Point by Colleen Coble. It is a really nice fun read so far. It is a mystery and I think it will be a bit of a romance here soon. I am only a third of the way into the book but it is really nice light reading and I am enjoying it. It is part of a series Ms. Coble has done called the Lavender Tides novels. These books are set in a fictional town called Lavender Tides. This particular book is about the mysterious disappearance of a young woman's sister. Apparently, there is cocaine involved and a really nice coast guard investigator who happens to have a mystery of his own. He has recently found out that he was adopted as a baby and that he is originally from Lavender Tides, but his parents died in an earthquake and he and his sister were separated.  Hopefully, you guys are reading some good books as well! Blessings, Kat

Sunday Bible Verse Reflections Romans 12:6-7

 

God has also given each of us different gifts to use. If we can prophesy, we should do it according to the amount of faith we have. If we can serve others, we should serve. If we can teach, we should teach.

Romans 12:6-7

God has given each of us a unique personality and unique talents. The Bible tells us that we are a one of a kind masterpiece (Eph. 2:10), fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:12-14). I think that many times we allow ourselves to get caught up in the comparison game. The comparison game is today's society's game of comparing everyone to everyone else. None of us measure up in this game. We lose sight of the fact that each of us is special in our own way because we are too busy trying to be special in everyone else's way. This was me very recently. Spinning my wheels trying to live up to someone else's expectations of me. What they felt that I needed to be good at was what I tried to be the best at. Instead of recognizing that I needed to be true to myself and to the good Lord who made me and be good at being me. I am now in my 50s and am really learning so much more now than I ever did before. Or maybe I am just willing to submit to learning and understanding more than I was when I was younger. I spent most of my life trying to live up to people's expectations only to fall short of them. The problem was that their expectations were not God's expectations and so He did not give us the "talent" to be what they wanted us to be. I am beginning to accept my talents and even embrace them. It is taking some getting use to and a whole lot of prayer. Old habits die hard. What are your talents? Your true talents? Are you living up to them, or running away from them because you or someone else finds them insignificant? I never wanted to recognize my talents because in my family they were seen as insignificant. However, to my husband, children, and close friends my talents are seen as invaluable. Sometimes, it just takes the right person or the right people to show you that God doesn't make mistakes and each person is special. They might not be with the right group of people to be appreciated. So go embrace your God given talents! Someone in the world needs what God has given you to share. Blessings, Kat

A Long Running Side Hustle....Butter and Egg Money

 Once upon a time pioneer wives earned money with a side hustle....selling their extra butter and eggs to the town store. It wasn't much money, but it often came in handy when things were tight or a crop didn't produce as well as expected. Nowadays, everyone seems to be looking for a side hustle. When we moved here to Willow Pond Farm, I took a part time job at a local restaurant. In another life I was a restaurant manager, but I just wanted to earn a little "fun" money to do some projects around here....mostly to buy pretty plants for my yard. That part time job accidentally turned into a full time job that completely consumed my life. I finally had to say no more. My family was suffering, the farm was suffering and I was suffering. So I am back home. I still need a little fun money. I used to make a little money here and there doing odds and ends sorts of things from the homestead. So here I am tapping into that experience of making a few dollars here and a few dollars there. There is a name for this kind of money....butter and egg money.  So, I always had some butter and egg money until we moved. Then, instead of creating  new streams of butter and egg money or reviving old ones, I took a part time conventional job. Like I said it accidentally turned into a full time job that I never had a break from. My family didn't get much of me either. After 6 years, it was time to let it go. It was hard to do because there were many times my paycheck bailed us out of a tough situation. However, the one thing that I really noticed was that we wasted a lot more money with another full paycheck coming in. I was often too tired to cook, so we ate out more. Eating out more often meant extra trips to town that we otherwise would not have taken. I also had to hire someone to help with the yard work and some of the farm chores. I often had to go to the restaurant even on my days off. Driving more meant more wear and tear on my car. More oil changes and other maintenance that cost money. I never really had a day off. Those were just days that the restaurant was technically closed. I used the dryer instead of my clothesline because it was quicker and easier. I wasn't home long enough to let clothes dry on the line. So my paycheck didn't really go into savings. Yes, we were able to get some projects done around the farm, and yes there were times that it really got us out of a tight spot. For several months we had to pay my mother's caregivers and would not have been able to do that without my paycheck. However, the cost to me and my family became too great. Over the past year, God really pressed on my heart and mind that I am needed at home. I didn't listen at first. So now, here I am working on reviving and finding new side hustle, or butter and egg money. I don't need a lot, but a little sure does help when those rainy days come pouring down. I trust that the good Lord above will send what I need. So far so good as I have some money coming in both this month and next.  God is good all the time and I simply have to trust in that goodness. Butter and egg money....the side hustle of pioneer women!  Blessings, Kat