We're on our first summer break from school and catching up with some homestead projects.  The first big one is to get our billy goat in separate quarters from the girlies before he impregnates everything in sight before he's supposed to.  This involves clearing further up the property/fence line of saplings, megaweeds and grass.  Then we get to snap on insulators to extend the electric fence, run more wire, then set up a separate pen for Mr. Billy, along with our two Kinder does who I'd like to be bred now.

The second project is to free the garden from weed tyrany.  We've been a bit negligent and the weeds have gotten away from us.  Last week I liberated our tomatoes and now we're working on the melon patch.  I spotted quite a few very nice cantalope and watermelons - mmmmm - can't wait till they are ripe.  Hopefully we'll get plenty to take to the farmers' market too.  I also need to get my hoophouse un-weeded, dug, and start planting for fall and winter harvests.

While I was missing in action from the blogosphere we switched livestock guard animals.  We had to rehome the donkey because she refused to get used to the goats.  She bit half the ear off our best show goat and that was the last straw.  We found her a good home with mules and human kids to romp with, but NO goats!  In her place we bought a llama who likes the goats just fine.  I've never had a llama before and I'm having a lot of fun learning about them.  They are interesting critters and I can't wait to fool around with some wool next spring.

It is very hot here in KS.  Today is supposed to get to 102, tomorrow 101, Wednesday 100...  ack!  Needless to say we're only working outside in the mornings before it heats up and in the evenings when it starts cooling down.

Tomorrow we're going blueberry picking with some friends - whoohoo!  I love fresh blueberries, and I love to make (and eat) my blueberry lime jam once a year!  Then there is the fair that starts this weekend and the kids are all in hyper-drive getting ready with their various 4-H projects.  It's a busy time as usual at the ole' homestead!

We've had visitors the last couple of days, which was a good excuse to get the kids roused from their summer breakdom to whip the house and property into shape! 

One of our visitors was a friend from up in the city and her kids who come down every so often to see the critters.  She grew up in NY city and pet her first chicken, her first goat, her first donkey, her first duck ect... at our place.  It's fun to be able to share these things with her and the kiddos. who all enjoy coming down, despite the drive.  Today my parents came up from way down in the country - they live in more the "the country" than we do.  We celebrated their wedding anniversary with burgers made from the beef we get from a friends' grass-fed cattle and veggies from the garden.  (ok, and we bought ice cream from the store!)  We still had to buy tomatoes - no tomatoes here in KS yet unless you grow them in a greenhouse.  We also went through a quantity of fresh goats' milk since the last time they were up we didn't have any does milking and this was their first taste of "fresh" milk of the year.

As much as I enjoy living on our little homestead, I like even more to share it with friends and family.  I remember how much I enjoyed visiting country friends before we had our little homestead!  If it weren't for these friends I'd have never known what I was missing in fresh eggs, milk, meat, and air.

Our homeschool Meadowlark Academy is on summer break and we've been doing lots of projects around the ol' homestead.  One of my personal projects is to organize my time so I have a little time to blog so I might actually make entries on a regular basis.  Since I do best when I have a track to run on, I'm going to organize my blogging week as follows, subject to change of course!

Monday -- This week's projects

Tuesday --  Critter report

Wednesday -- Garden report

Thursday -- Homesteader How-To

Friday -- Helpful links

Saturday -- Daisychain Ramblings

Sounds fun, doesn't it?

Since I've missed my weekly critter report by my new schedule, I'll give a partial one now since thats where the action has been this spring.

We now have a billy-goat on DaisyChain Acres.  He's a little Kinder billy who will be bred to our two Kinder does.  I never thought I'd own a billy but I can't find anyone within a two hour drive who has a kinder buck we can use and it's pretty silly to have goats you can't breed to get new kids and milk.  His full name is Boss's Barnyard Kandy Kane, Kane for short.  He's only three months old so he can't breed yet, but he'll be ready in a couple-few months.  He's just recently started to get his billy-goat "aroma" so we need to make a separate pen for him so he won't be making our milk taste funny, not to mention when he's old enough to impregnate our does, we need to know who is bred when.  We're keeping one of our little boy kids from this spring to keep him company - we'll "wether" (neuter) him so he won't be all stinky and "bucky" and he'll make a fine pal for Kane.

Last week our meat chicks went into the freezer.  We ended up butchering them a week or so early because it's been getting so hot and we started losing them to the heat.  Cornish crosses don't do that well in 95+ weather and it's been getting hot here early this year.

We have another hive of bees now, due to one of our hives swarming lasts month, a story I'll tell later.  I was able to "catch" the swarm and they are settled into a new hive.

More to come later!  I'm looking forward to catching up on a few favorite homestead blogs now.

JennMarie = )

I just got the newest Backwoods Home mag today -- whoohoo! 

And guess who has a great big full-page ad in Backwoods Home this month???  HomesteadBlogger of course!!!  Too cool!

Ok, thats not the title of this entry on the Large Family Logistics blog, but it could be!  It's something to keep in mind!

It is SO warm today - 95 degrees here in our part of KS.  I double checked the calendar to make sure it was still early April - that late June didn't sneak up on me while I slept or something!

I feel like the witch on the Wizard of Oz -- I'm mellllllltttttttiiiiinnnggg!!!!  I won't say that to the kids though - would open me up to too many snide remarks!  I'm wondering if y'all are having such warm weather too. 

Thankfully I got the purlin attached to the hoophouse a couple days ago while the weather was still nice.  All I have to do is put the corner braces on, then the baseboards, and I'm done for now.  The end panels will be worked on this summer and ready to put up this fall when I cover it with the plastic. 

My tomato, pepper, and lettuce seedlings are hardening off on the patio.  I'll be planting the lettuce Saturday, God willing, and the tomatoes/peppers in a couple weeks just to make sure there isn't a late frost like last year.  It would be hard to believe by today's weather, but Kansas weather likes to play nasty little tricks on gardeners/farmers.

Our two pregnant goats are getting wider by the day.  They should kid in mid-May so we'll finally have goat milk again!!!  All the kids are complaining about the taste of the store milk and I'm complaining about the *price* of the store milk, not to mention all the hormones and junk we're drinking in it.  The farmer we used to buy nice milk from stopped selling to the public - grrrrrr - and I can't afford the going price of $4-5 a gallon for local goats milk with four kids who drink it!  I can't wait to start milking again!  From now on we should have a consistant supply of milk from staggering breedings.  This spring we'll breed our other two goats to kid in fall so their milk will kick in as the other twos' supply starts to slack off.  That should give us enough to make a good amount of cheese too - not to mention yogurt, soap, and all the other goodies goats milk is good for!

I'd love to hear about your spring projects!

JennMarie = )

This week we got back to the books but I was still able to get some more work done on the hoophouse.  The bows are up now - the purlin will be attached Monday, along with the corner braces.  I think I'll leave the plastic off till fall and grow some vine veggies up the bows.  That should give some appreciated shade to some lettuce and cucumbers.  I'll still need to get the end panels built and find some doors over the summer.  I'll probably get a couple of used storm doors at the weekly auction a town over - you can usually pick up good ones for a decent price.

This coming week will feature digging and adding finished compost and manure to the lettuce bed and prepping the ground around the hoophouse bows for some pole beans, snow peas, and whatever other vining goodies I can find.  We also need to re-grade the ground on the north side of the barn to eliminate a moisture problem.  I think I'll write a new diet and fitness book called The Homesteader's Diet.  I think several hours of digging and hauling a day should burn some calories -- maybe I'll have people flocking to the homestead to "work out."  I can start a new sort of fitness club......

This is a picture of one of our mascots.  This week she has decided that our egg gathering basket is a nice place to nap.  This isn't a set-up picture - I was on the phone when I saw her and called for the phone - luckily I was on the phone with my dad and he didn't mind me hollering in his ear for the phone.

I've received a couple of e-mails asking about seed starting.  This is how I do it, after over 10 years of seed starting and lots of trial and error.

I spring for a great big bag of seed starting medium.  You can buy this at nursery centers.  You can buy stuff with fertilizer in it, or if you want to go organic, buy the stuff without fertilizer (this is what I do).  I also buy some fish emulsion fertilizer.  The seed starting mix is sterilized so you have waaay less problems like damping off disease, which can destroy nearly all of your seedlings literally overnight.  It is also lightweigh and the plant have a lot easier time coming up through the soil.

Over the years I've decided that the best thing to start seed in are 6-pack seed trays.  I've tried recycled containers of all kinds, but the 6-pack trays take up less room, they fit together nicely, are easy to handle, and they are the perfect size and depth for developing roots.   Egg cartons are too shallow and don't allow for optimum root growth.  If you take care, you can reuse the plastic trays for several years.

Light -- In my opinion and experience, no matter how sunny your window is, it isn't sunny enough to keep your seedlings from getting weak and leggy, especially seedlings that have to stay in your house for a good amount of time like tomatoes and peppers.  I think a flourecent light is absolutely necessary for strong healthy seedlings if you don't have the luxury of a greenhouse.  Hanging shop lights are cheap at walmart or the hardware store, often less than $10.  Get the regular inexpensive flourecent bulbs - they are way cheaper than the "plant lights" and work just as well for me.  You want to hang the shop light from a chain you can adjust.  You want the light to be just a couple inches away from the plants to keep them from "stretching" and developing weak spindly stems.  You will have to raise the lamp up as they grow, keeping then close to the tops of the plants.

Read the instructions on the seed packets for how deep to plant them, watering, light etc.  Some seeds need darkness to germinate, some need light to germinate.  Most prefer to be fairly warm.  For germination I keep my seeds upstairs in the main part of the house for warmth, then when they sprout I move them downstairs where it stays around 55 degrees, which is great for healthy seedling growth.  Keep the soil moist while you're waiting for the seeds to germinate - using a clear plastic cover works great.  As *soon* as you see plants sprouting up, take that cover off!  If the seedlings are too wet they are suseptible to damping off.  Damping off will cause a plant to fall over at the base of the plant and is irreversable - the plant will die.  You want to avoid damping off like the plaugue!  Some things you can do to prevent it is having a fan set on low, blowing across the seedlings (this also makes the stems grow strong), sprinkle finely chopped spaghnum moss (spelling?) over the soil when you plant the seeds, using a sterile seed starting medium, and just making sure the soil doesn't stay too wet.

Use the seed packet to determine WHEN to plant the seeds too.  Each seed packet should say something like "start indoors 6-8 weeks before you last frost date."  If you don't know your last frost date, you can find it in a gardening book that has a frost date map, or call your local extension office.  Then all you need to do is count back weeks and you have your planting dates.  I always mark our last frost date on the calendar and mark each week back so I know at a glance how many weeks we are before the last frost and therefore what we need to get planted.

Hope that is helpful!!

JennMarie = )

Yes, I'm still alive!  Things have been so crazy lately.  I don't even have any seeds started yet - arggghhh!!!

This weekend we're going to get out the ole' seed starting medium and trays.  I'm not in a seed starting mood, but I'll really be grumpy come May when there aren't any seedlings to transplant, then REALLY grumpy in July when everyone is posting about their lovely tomatoes and peppers and I don't have any!  So to the seeds I go -- I know once I get started I'l be having fun.  Usually seed starting is one of my favorite things to do.

I've received a few e-mails asking how I start my seeds and what you need.  I'm working on a post of how I do it and hope to get it posted tomorrow! 

Tonight we ate the last of our turkeys. = (  I'm thinking about raising a few more next year but they take up SO much room in the freezer!  I can't believe how much yummier home raised turkey is than the store birds.

JennMarie

I've been thumbing through my old Countryside and Backwoods Home magazines, looking for the occasional articles that mention making money from home/homestead. 

Is anyone else here making some money from home or homestead to supplement the family income?

I got a list together of my veggie seeds that need to go.  Will try to get flower seeds up later this week.  If you want any of these, or know someone who could use some, all I ask is you pay for shipping (USPS) and a padded envelope.  I'll get a good-sized pack of them so they won't cost as much.  Don't imagine it will be more than $3 in all.  If you are interested in any of these, e-mail me at ajschwilling@copper.net and let me know what all you want.  I have several of each of these varieties.  They are stamped for 2004 but last spring germination was very good.  This year will most likely be fine too.  These are just plain ole seeds - not heirloom or organic, but will grow good food for your family.  There are just too many for me to plant before they get old and won't sprout - I got two whole boxes of seeds at a local auction for next to nothing last year.  I am set up on paypal so you can pay that way (would be easiest), or you can send me a check.

Basil (sweet)

Broccoli (calabrese)

Green Beans (blue lake, bush type)

Green Beans (tendergreen improved, bush type)

Green Beans (Kentucy wonder, pole type)

Cabbage (early golden acre)

Carrot (Danvers half-long)

Carrot (scarlet nantes)

Cauliflower (snowball)

Cucumber (muncher)

Dill (long island mammoth)

Onion (evergreen bunching - perenial, non-bulbing type)

Pea (sugar snap - snowpea type)

Pumpkin (connecticut field)

Radish (crimson giant)

Radish (sparkler)

Winter squash (waltham butternut)

Summer squash (early yellow straitneck)

Thyme

Tomato (beefsteak)

Tomato (large red cherry)

Watermelon (crimson sweet)

Scary new legislation in the works.  Do you want to have to microchip and federally register every single animal on your farm, be it a chicken, goat, cow, horse, sheep, etc....  Do you want to have to posess a federal permit to let your hen sit on an egg - then be required to notify the government within 24 hours of the egg hatching to register the new chick????  This isn't an urban legend or some theoritical scenario, but something already written up *and being implemented* as of January 2006 so please read!

Here are some of the aspects of the developing National Animal Identification System (NAIS) that I am concerned about, and every person who has a homestead, or dreams of having a homestead should be concerned about.  This article is edited and resposted with permission:

This USDA-run program has as its goal the registration of every farm animal (including
non-food animals such as horses) in a centralized government database.

This program will require micro chipping of each animal (including all forms of poultry), at the expense of the owner, and a premises ID for every farm which will be linked to a satellite photo and Global Positioning System record (see this link for the USDA website about the
program: www.usda.gov/nais/) 
 
In April 2002 a task force composed of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and over 30 livestock organizations provided leadership in creating the animal  identification system. Small-scale farmers involved in animal husbandry, homesteaders, and animal hobbyists were not represented. 
 
While associations, organizations, etc. may be backing the NAIS, they did not inform their members of this proposed legislation. Chances are the members still have no idea that their
freedoms are being given away. 
  
Should the NAIS become law, we will be forced to pay fees to register our farms and animals. "Even with public funding, there will be costs to producers." (Plan, p. 11)
 

We will be forced to report to the national animal records repository within a short-term specified timeframe the birth, death, and loss of identification device, sale, or movement of any animal in our possession.

We will be required to report to the national animal records repository when an animal we own attends a livestock show, participates in a trail ride, is transported to another farm for stud service, or takes part in a community parade, etc.

Our personal information collected through NAIS could be disclosed - "the USDA cannot assure the confidentiality of all the information at the present time." (Plan, p. 15) Financial institutions were not able to keep this information confidential, so it is no surprise that USDA
cannot guarantee confidentiality.

The NAIS will violate the religious beliefs of minority faith communities by requiring them to become part of this computerized, technology-dependent system or abandon the livestock ownership necessary for their way of life. (Many adherents raise their own food animals and
use animals in farming and for transportation. Some, by scriptural teaching, would refuse to take the "mark" of such a numbering system.)

Our livestock would become part of the "national herd." (Plan, p.8)
 
Not only would small farm operators be negatively affected by the NAIS, but this legislation will do serious damage to feed store owners, farm supply houses, hatcheries that sell and ship day-old poultry, and other businesses frequented by farmers.
 
The most common types of meat contamination in the U.S. are the occurrences of pathogens such as Listeria or E. Coli in processed meat. When meat becomes contaminated at a large packing plant, millions of consumers in all 50 states are exposed to the dangerous product.
Government should enact a law to closer scrutinize the large commercial confinement food sources such as the giant broiler operations, the feed yards that produce beef, the large commercial turkey operations, laying houses, and the confinement hog farms. Because of over-crowded conditions and the general biological by-products of animal production,
these are the places most likely to contribute in the spreading of infectious disease, not the premises of small producers. If our government is indeed concerned with BSE, why does it not test every slaughtered animal? In fact, if you look at the USDA's prior actions, you will see it does not care to test every animal slaughtered and in fact forbids it. 
 
Because small-scale farmers were not informed of the proposed NAIS legislation, it appears that we are willing to enter a 'voluntary' program as a justification of making the NAIS mandatory. 

Implementing the NAIS without allowing producers, rather than organizations, to have input and a voice is, in my mind, a grave disservice to all farm families. This program would create millions of criminals out of honest people on the small family farms and homesteads; those who refuse to surrender their rights without a fight. The NAIS and this type of program is in direct opposition to the core values that this country was built upon!
 
The projected estimate for implementation of this plan is 33 billion dollars. Let that sink in for a second. $33,000,000,000.00 to simply implement the plan. That doesn't include the costs to maintain it once it's begun. That is $115.78 for every single man, woman and child in the
US. It does not include the costs for farmers to microchip their animals either, so those who raise the food get to pay even more for this plan.

Those who raise food for their own consumption have absolutely no way of recouping the cost of this program, either, whereas commercial operations will pass the cost onto the consumer.
 
This plan cannot and will not do anything to make our food supply safer at all. It's purportedly necessary to protect us from potential bio-terrorism. How? It's impossible to protect anything through registration. The only thing that can be done is to trace its movements from point A to B to C, on and on ad infintum, and destroy the small farmer's ability to provide for themselves. This plan will create a veritable monopoly by corporate agriculture and thereby seriously
endanger our national economy and our food supply by creating a society that is 100 percent dependent on the government for their food needs. Those of us who value self-sufficiency and personal responsibility reject this mindset wholeheartedly!
 
If the real purpose of NAIS is to track the food supply for instances
like mad cow disease then:
 
1) NAIS is not necessary for horses, donkeys, guardian animals or other non-food animals - these animals are not going to enter the human food chain in our country and should NOT be tracked by the government. There are already safeguards in place for preventing the spread of disease in horses. Regulations that would require implantation of a chip to track movement and registration of premises keyed to Global Positioning System coordinates is an invasion of privacy and makes no sense for a hobby farmer who raises alpacas or a family with a pet pony.
 
2) NAIS is not necessary for sales direct to the consumer from the farm.  In these cases there is already far better tracking of the food chain. I am more confident in the safety of food raised on small farms than that which is commercially raised in confined, disease-promoting
environments, pumped full of vaccines and antibiotics to counter the effect of confinement and mass slaughtered in unsanitary packing plants where the employees have no personal pride in the quality of the product they touch each and every day. If NAIS is forced on small hobby farmers and homesteaders, hundreds of thousands if not millions of individuals may have to give up farming if they cannot afford expensive RFID readers or cannot keep up with the excessive reporting required by NAIS.
 
3) NAIS should not be at all involved with people who are raising livestock for their own family consumption. They know exactly where the food came from - they raised it. There is no need to have any government involved in our own kitchens and food that we raise in our own backyards. I see raising food for our families as a basic human right that should not be interfered with by government.
 
4) NAIS is a violation of the religious freedoms of Americans whose beliefs make it impossible for them to comply. For example, the Amish choose to farm and live without technology according to their beliefs and this system is a threat to their way of life.
 
NAIS if implemented, should be required only for those large commercial operations where the health, welfare, and safety of livestock is disregarded in favor of profit. Commercial operations are responsible for the bulk of the meat and dairy product consumed throughout the United States, and they are responsible for the vast majority of disease and illness and contamination found in these products. They can absorb the cost of such an endeavor; the small family farmer cannot and should not!
 
Inclusion of small farmers, homesteaders, and backyard hobbyists requiring identification of animals that will never make it into in the food chain, or even requiring pets be identified strongly suggests ulterior motives by the government such as invasion of privacy. The plan, as it stands, will undoubtedly result in financial hardship for those already at risk, serving only to enhance the bottom line of special interest groups. Further, the overwhelming scope of such an endeavor begs failure as tracking the movement of animals, such as horses, will require considerable resources while providing no subsequent value to protection of the food chain. 
 
I ask that you familiarize yourself with the details of the National Animal Identification System and consider the consequences to the personal freedoms and religious beliefs which our forefathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters have fought and died for, and continue to
fight, so bravely to defend. In my humble opinion this is the most destructive proposal against personal liberty that I have yet to encounter.

(end of resposted article)

More information about this program and the potential problems can be found at http://www.stopanimalid.org/ .  Anyone who raises animals and wants to keep having the freedom to do so without:  1. Having to be independently weathly in order to microchip all their animals.  2. Having limitless time to jump through repeated federal hoops - this is not a one-time registration thing!  This is constant regulation and reporting!  3. Willing to have their land and property subject to federal invasion at whim, needs to fight this.  If we do nothing, we lose serious freedom here.  There isn't a much more basic freedom than being able to supply yourself and family with food.  This isn't the time for sitting on one's thumbs and figuring "someone else" will do something.

Q.  What do you call it when government takes away the rights of use of private property, but leaves the title in the name of the property owner?

A.  Fascism

Hi Everyone!  I've made my list of what I'm wanting to grow this year (list to come!) and today I'm going to look through what seeds I already have before ordering anything. 

Last year I got two *shoeboxes* full of seeds at an auction for next to nothing.  They are dated for 2004 I think.  Last year germination was still great, this year should be good too.

Here's the thing -- Two boxes full of seeds is more than I'll ever be able to plant before they get old and won't germinate any more.  Even though I got such a great deal on them, I hate to see seeds go to waste.  I'd like to share what I have instead of letting them get old.  I'm going to catalog what all I have and either divide it into mixed packets or just list what varieties I have - don't know which yet.  When I figure it out I'll post, and anyone who wants some of these seeds can have them for cost of postage.  These are standard seeds - not organic, and many are hybrids, but they are good seeds and will produce good food for your family.  Off hand I think there are tomatoes, eggplant, bell peppers, squashes, beans, peas.... About half are flower seeds to pretty up the garden.  Germination rates should still be good.

If any fellow homestead bloggers are intersted in some "free" seed, please comment so I know if there is even an interest.  Like I said, I'm just going to figure out what postage will be and thats what you pay - I'm not trying to make money off this, just keep from being wasteful and bless someone who needs them.  I'd like to limit this offer to other homestead bloggers, unless you know *of* someone who can and will use them.

Thanks everyone who let me know they're praying for my poor neck.  It is feeling a lot better now -- still kinda tender and quirky, but I'm able to function now. 

Saturday we are driving out to Missouri to take a look at a donkey.  My oldest daughter has been wanting a donkey forever and has been faithfully looking at the classifieds for months.  This week there was a two year old jenny (a female donkey) in the paper.  Amber called and talked to the people about it, and the next step is to go see her for ourselves.  It will be fun if it works out.  If not, it should at least be a nice road trip, as long as the weather holds up.  Amber has been reading every donkey book (there aren't many) and article she could find for over a year now.  She is sooooooo excited!

Tomorrow I pick up the hounds from the vet.  I dropped them off today, one to be spayed, and another to be neutered.  I will rest much easier knowing there won't be the possibility of puppies anymore!

Hi everyone,

Pride does indeed come before a fall!  Here I was, feeling rather smug about not having to go to the doctor for strep, and here I am almost unable to MOVE!  Monday morning I woke up with my neck in a funny position.  I did something - don't know what to my poor neck in my sleep - pinched something, pulled something, I don't know what.  All I know is I am in PAIN!!!!!!!!!  Please pray that it will"fix" itself - I sure don't have the money to go to the chiropractor but I'll have to do something - I literally cannot move an inch without excruciating pain zinging up my neck and down through my shoulder.  I had a heat pad on it, then a friend of my said heat was the worst thing I could do, to put a cool pack on instead.  The cool pack made every muscle in my neck and shoulder lock up solid.  ARGH!

 Happy New Year!  Hope everyone is having a good time this New Year's Eve.  We're munching snacks, watching movies, playing games, and seeing how many kids fall asleep trying to stay up till midnight.  I don't even know if I'M going to be able to stay awake - I'm getting old!

My poor to-do list was derailed Thursday night when I got a belated Christmas present from the coughing, hacking, green-tinged guy sitting behind us in church on Christmas day - a nice case of strep throat.    Fortunately, I have a few tricks up my sleeve from an old herbalist friend when it comes to strep and I'm feeling much better now.  No more fever or white blotchies on my tonsils and I think I'll be up to full speed by tomorrow.

I'm writing down some goals for the coming year -- I don't do resolutions, but January is a good time for me to set some goals after thinking over the past year and where I'd like to be the next time January rolls around..

Hope y'all have a fun and safe new year!

What a boring entry title!  The gray morning is keeping me from waking up enough to give it a better one though.

Still working on the to-do list.  Yesterday we got the goat fence taken care of and that was the biggest item on the list so I'm very happy about that.  The goats are even happier than I am since they have a larger area to graze with nice fresh grass to munch.  I got the dogs' yearly boosters taken care of except for the rabies and they are scheduled to go in at 11:00 for those.  In KS you can give your dogs all their shots *except* for rabies - a vet has to do that one.  Today when we're at the vet's office we'll be setting up our two pups for their spay and neuter -- don't need any more of the critters than we already have, no matter how much my oldest daughter wants puppies! 

You can save a good amount of money giving your dogs their vaccinations yourself, especially if you have a puppy that needs its puppy shots every four weeks or if you have quite a few dogs like we do.  I can buy the yearly booster shots at the local co-op for about $6.50 each.  The vet charges $35 to give the same shot.  With five dogs, two of them young-uns who needed their puppy shots over the summer, that adds up to a pretty decent savings!  Giving vaccination shots is super-easy, even for someone who hates needles as much as I do. 

The weather is colder now - no more 60 degree weather.  Yesterday was on the 40's and today looks the same, except for today is very foggy and looks like rain.  I'm sure glad we're done with that fence and don't have to tromp around in the cold and wet today!  Today is a day for hot chocolate, seed catalogs, and graph paper!

JennMarie

I've had a couple of requests to know what seed catalogs we get and order from so here are some that we've gotten recently, along with their websites so you can go request a catalog for yourself:

Pinetree Gardens -- has a *lot* of neat varieties.  This is the main place I ordered from when we had a smaller garden.  I still order a couple of things from them.  http://www.superseeds.com/

Johnny's Selected Seeds --- Tons of selection - they have two different catalogs, the home gardening catalog and a growers catalog if you are growing for resale and need larger quantities of seed.   They carry some heirlooms and organics.  We order a lot from Johnny's.  http://www.johnnyseeds.com/

Territorial Seed Company -- Also has two catalogs, home gardener and growers.  We order a lot from Territorial too.  They carry some heirlooms and organics.  www.territorialseed.com

The Cook's Garden  -- Can be kind of pricey sometimes but carries many unusual varieties and their catalog is just plain fun to look through, even if you don't end up ordering.  They carry quite a few heirloom and organic seeds.  www.cooksgarden.com

R.H. Shumway -- Carries quite a few heirlooms, some you don't see in other catalogs.  I've noticed that they carry more hybrids now that they they've been bought out and I've heard bad stories about their customer service since they've been bought out too but I haven't had any problems with them yet.  Their prices are good too.  I usually order a few things from them.  www.rhshumway.com

Stokes -- Also has two different catalogs (home garden/growers).  We order from Stokes too.  They don't have a lot of unusual  varieties and not a lot of untreated seeds.  They do have a very good selection of flower seeds if you're into cut flower growing and they have all the standard vegetable varieties that you hear about.  www.stokeseeds.com

Totally Tomatoes -- This is the first year I've seen this catalog but it looks great!!!  The whole catalog is tomatoes and peppers - heirloom, open pollinated, hybrid any variety you can imagine.  If you're a tomato or pepper fanatic you'll like this one.  www.totallytomato.com

Burpee -- We ordered a lot from them when we had a small garden but their prices are higher than a lot of other companies.  They have been around a long time though and are a reliable and respected company and have good quality.  www.burpee.com

Peaceful Valley --  Has some nice seeds and equipment and they specialize in organics.  www.groworganic.com

Whoohoo!  Three more seed catalogs came in the mail today!  Tonight when I'm done with all my "stuff" I'm going to sit a peruse with a highlighter in hand.

Today was unbelievably warm again -- 60 degrees -- in late December.  Too strange!  The big project for the day was cleaning out the van.  This fall our poor little mini van has been stuffed with bales of hay, straw, lots of feed bags, one of which tore, a large smelly nubian buck, and our year's worth of grain (for us!) that we ordered from the local buying cooperative.  Not to mention it never got totally cleaned out after the farmers' market season and had various baggies, twist-ties, tent weights, and other paraphanalia still stuck in the back.  It was a wreck so we spent the whole afternoon totally emptying it out, washing the interior, vaccuming, beating rugs, stain-spotting the floor, etc...  It looks so nice!  Too bad it won't last....

I'm wanting to get a few projects on the homestead finished before we start lessons back up next week.  Here they are, somewhat in order of importance:

1.  Extend the electric fence so the goaties have more pasture to munch down.  I should have done this before the ground froze, but with the recent warm weather I'm hoping it's not terribly hard.

2.  Finish the rabbit cages I've been working on.  We're going to be adding wascally wabbits to the menu at DaisyChain farmstead.  We're trying to break free from supermarket meat and want some sort of red meat occasionally.  I'd like to be able to afford a side of grass-fed beef from a local farm, but that is NOT in the budget right now - neither is organic meat from the store.  We won't have any more goats to eat till late summer at best so we figure a few rabbits would provide us with something besides chicken and turkey.  We raised rabbits several years ago and learned the hard way to quarantine new animals when we bought a new bunny that ended up having a disease that quickly spread and wiped out ALL our rabbits.  Not a fun experience.  Otherwise, rabbits are super-easy to raise.  As soon as I get the cages made up we'll be buying two does and a buck.

3.  Pick up more straw and hay. I need to borrow my mom's truck and get a load of each so we won't have to worry about running out when the weather is yucky-cold.

4.  Trim hoofs -- all our goaties need footsie-trims to keep them in good condition.

5.  Get the two pups their shots and the female spayed before we end up with puppies!

If I get these things done we'll be in pretty good shape.  We should be able to plow through the list having several full days for me and the kids to be able to get busy.