Backwoods Living with the Foxfire Woman

21 Days and Counting Down

Yesterday, I did my first ritual of spring.  No, not cleaning.  J  I fired up the incubator and set four dozen eggs to hatch.  Estimated due date March 9. 

This year, IÂ’m attempting a few new things in the hatching process.  One, IÂ’ve got the incubator in the living room instead of the bathroom.  My thought for that is the living room (where the wood stove is) will stay a more consistent ambient temperature than the bathroom does.  Also, the washing machine wonÂ’t shake the eggs as it goes through the spin cycles.

The other thing IÂ’m trying is that instead of laying the eggs directly on the wire (I donÂ’t have an automatic turner), I lined the incubator with paper egg cartons.  Each egg now has its own little place and it makes it easier to remember if IÂ’ve turned them.  Points up in the daytime, points down at night.

In the past, IÂ’ve generally managed a 50 – 60 percent hatch rate; IÂ’m hoping that what IÂ’m experimenting with this time around will increase that percentage.  Especially since, I have to split 50-50 on the pullets with the neighbor that furnished the eggs.

I also got loofa seeds started yesterday.  Hopefully by the time they can go in the ground the roots will have already established themselves enough that they will really take off.  Last year I waited too late to start them and the harvest wasnÂ’t near enough to last all year.

Today I may start peppers for indoor containers to go with the tomatoes.  I do miss the taste of fresh veggies.  J

Weather forecast for my part of the Ozarks (in fact, all of Northern Arkansas) is calling for a possible ice storm and snow this weekend.  This afternoon, IÂ’ll be filling water jugs and buckets just in case we lose electricity.  Heat and cooking wonÂ’t be a problem; weÂ’ll just use the woodstove and firepit.  During the winter, we use the firepit quite often on weekends anyway as itÂ’s the perfect way to cook beans, stews and soups. 

Better half did ask what I was going to do about the hatching eggs if we did lose power.  After thinking about it a bit, and putting a thermometer on top of the warming cabinet on the woodstove, I hope IÂ’ve got it figured out.  IÂ’ll line the roasting pan with a towel, lay the eggs in gently and cover.  Should keep them warm enough until the lights come back on.

Time Flies

Wow, it's been almost a month since I posted last.  I do apologize to all for that, but it has been a difficult month to say the least.

Not long after my last post, we got word that my husband's brother in law had died.  An offshore engineer, Mike worked hard and played hard also.  He was a day away from his 59th birthday when his heart gave out and God called him home.

This necessitated a trip from our rural Ozarks to the big city of Houston.  Talk about culture shock.  If no other good came out of this trip, it reaffirmed to me that I never again want to live near or around a big city.

After a week in Houston with Kevin's sister and the rest of the family, we returned and spent the rest of the weekend trying to catch up on all the things that had been left undone.

Next came tax time.  As a former accountant in my previous 'real' work life, guess who gets to do those?  Actually using the program TaxAct it went rather smoothly (I guess it helps being almost obsessive about keeping financial records in order also) and the forms were e-filed.  We already have our state refund in the bank and are just waiting for the big one from the IRS.

Today I started tomato seeds.  Both varieties are supposed to be good for container gardening and I sure hope so because normally a late frost can occur in May, so these won't be going into the ground.  I'll just keep these in the greenhouse, or outside its doors, for quick tomatoes. We'll probably start the rest of the seeds sometime in late March for May planting.

Tomorrow the incubator gets turned on.  It's time to hatch out the spring chickens.  My two remaining roosters aren't going to know what to do.  But since it's nigh on impossible to get chicks through the mail AND delivered (like they used to be), hatching my own is my surest bet.  Besides, they are fun to watch as they come out of the shell.

Last month it felt like spring, this month, it's definitely winter.  I'm hoping the ice storm the weatherman is hesitantly predicting for this weekend doesn't arrive.  We had snow last weekend, that's enough winter for me.  I'm ready for spring.

Empty Nest????

Although our oldest four kids are now adults, IÂ’ve yet been able to experience the empty nest syndrome.  Why is that?  Because one or another keeps coming back.  Daughter Dumpling (who just turned 21 last week) moved back in yesterday.

No job, no vehicle, just her collection of clothes and stuff.  So once again, the family is at three again and finding quiet time is already becoming a problem.  Normally I do all my writing, sitting on the couch in the living room with the laptop.  Now, it appears IÂ’ll have to move back to the desktop in the office.  Why?  LetÂ’s see, she sings to herself, the phone rings constantly (IÂ’m glad sheÂ’s popular, but sheeesh) and now she has a movie on.

Little does she know that soon, like tomorrow, IÂ’m putting her to work.  Dishes, no more will I be doing them, the same goes for laundry, vacuuming and dusting.  In a way, I should consider her return a blessing, as I really donÂ’t like doing those things anyway.  J

SheÂ’s talking about starting college this summer.  That will give us three in college at the same time, that should be interesting in itself, me thinks.

I do love her (and all my children) with a love I never thought I could experience before their births.  I just wish, that before they move back, they would give us more than a day or two notice.  Since we now only have the one extra bedroom now (the other converted to our offices), I donÂ’t know what IÂ’ll do if one of the others decides to come home too.

Where Does the Time Go???

IÂ’ve been meaning all week to get in here and update.  Just hasnÂ’t happened.  Between my paying writing gigs, updating the website, trying to write not one, but two business plans for our new ventures and just the general day to day stuff, this week has flown by.  I promise to ‘tryÂ’ and do better next week.

We finally got rain this week.  Not once, but twice.  Makes me a lot more comfortable as things here in the backwoods have been so dry that one careless match could wipe out the entire mountainside.  Scary thought, for sure.

The kidÂ’s visit last weekend went well.  It was good to see both of them again.  We couldnÂ’t resist, we put them to work with us on the sawmill.  Justin compared it to slicing cheese, while Erin (the urbane city girl in all ways) was not at all impressed.  They both start back to college next week, so IÂ’m not sure when their next visit will be.

WeÂ’re also thinking about getting a new dog or two.  I have my heart set on English MastiffÂ’s.  Huge dogs, but really gentle giants.  WeÂ’re probably going to start with a female and then get a male later on, depending on how hard training the first one will be.  Our goal is for the dog to be both guard dog and companion to the two of us.  But I know that wonÂ’t happen until spring and warmer temperatures.  I wonder if a dog can be trained to scare of snakes.

So, there you have it – my week in a nutshell.  KevinÂ’s taking off early today and this weekend will probably be spent building something with the wood weÂ’ve cut over the last few weeks.  And with any luck, Monday will bring more rain and maybe weÂ’ll get out from under the local burn ban.

Happy New Year

Well the New Year came in with a bang for us.  It started on Saturday, when Kevin first showed signs of having a head cold.  By Sunday, we were both miserable.  (Talk about sharing every thing).

Last week was pretty well shot too, as Kevin broke down on his way to work on Thursday.  Since I donÂ’t drive, he had to hitch a ride from where he was fourteen miles into the nearest town.  The whole experience left both of us knowing he had met a true Christian.  The woman (along with her two children) that took him to town and the auto parts store was an absolute hero in my book.  The state trooper who picked him up on the way back, wellÂ…that may be another story.

Friday is my oldest daughters 21^st birthday.  I know it is cliché but it really does seem like yesterday that they put her into my arms, screaming and yelling.  She still screams and yells, but now itÂ’s more toward what she perceives as the injustices of the world around her.

For her birthday, Saturday night we made a load of incense (probably around three hundred sticks) and today, I took a pine burl and drilled a whole in the center.  On the outside of the burl, I attached a white angel/faerie and then glued the entire thing to an antique saucer as an incense burner.  HereÂ’s hoping she likes it.  J

KevinÂ’s two oldest kids (22 and 19) are due here this weekend for a visit.  It will be good to see both of them, as it has been a while.  Daughter dumpling is a full time student at the U of A, while Son Child recently finished his time in the Air Force.

Allrighty, reckon IÂ’ve rambled long enough to catch up on the happenings on my side of the mountain.  Now itÂ’s time to go read some of what everyone else is doing.

It's the Weekend and Merry Christmas Everyone

Today is Friday and tomorrow will begin the first long weekend my husband has had in almost nine months.  He began a new job this week, one that promised more money and no weekends.  Plus itÂ’s a day job.

Although it means he has to travel farther to his work, and heÂ’s gone for twelve hours a day there are many benefits.  The number one is weekends off.  That was more important to us than the money.

His last job was a night shift job.  HeÂ’d leave home at 10:30pm and roll back in around 9am.  Add to that the mandatory overtime (sometimes working all 7 days in a week) and understanding why time off was an important factor.  With the old job, it seemed like the only thing we were doing was sleeping.  And when he did have a day off, our body schedules were so messed up, weÂ’d find ourselves taking naps several times during that day.  (Yes, I did keep the same schedule as he did, doing all my writing at night; so, we could be together during the few awake hours we had.)

So hereÂ’s the deal, youÂ’ll find me posting here every day heÂ’s working.  But weekends (whether long or short) belong to my better half.  Those days itÂ’s just him and me and the computer is never turned on.

So, Merry Christmas everyone and IÂ’ll see you again on Tuesday.

The Downside of Backwoods Living

Most people would consider the distance to town being the worst downfall of living where I do.  In fact, just the thought of being so far from a mall or good restaurants is enough to deter many.  But, IÂ’ve only found one tiny little thing that sometimes makes me wish I lived closer to the amenities of life.

A reliable Internet connection.  Now is that really a lot to ask for?  So far, this morning alone, IÂ’ve had to reconnect six times.  Granted, today is a bad day.  Most days the reconnects are generally two to three during an eight hour period.  Yet, it seems like the bad days are the days I rely on my connection the most.  Like uploading web pages or getting articles off to editors.

They have DSL and cable in town.  Town is thirty miles away.  Our phone company offers DSL, but they say we are too far out.  My question to them then, is why do they keep putting the insert in my phone bill asking me to sign up.

We could go with satellite Internet.  We do have a good south facing view.  So, whatÂ’s stopping us?  The cost and the reliability.  Starting with the six hundred dollar start up cost and the seventy dollar a month usage charge.  Plus knowing IÂ’m limited to a certain amount of bandwidth daily. 

We could afford it, but so far, IÂ’ve yet to hear of anyone whoÂ’s actually happy with the service.  Seems they still have a few kinks to work around, especially for the more rural areas.

So, I stick with my dial-up provider.  IÂ’m not happy with it, but reckon it will have to do.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for the phone lines and me.

A Homesteader's Perfect Gift

Today is Yule, the Winter Solstice and the perfect time for new beginnings.  As the sun begins it journey around the wheel, the days will become longer and spring is just around the corner.

For now though, it is the holiday season (no matter which holiday you celebrate).  For gifts this year, particularly for our older children, we found the gift that screams "spot on" for a homesteading couple like us.  Heifer International.

For as little as twenty dollars, you can provide sustainability to a family in a third world or impoverished area by purchasing a flock of chickens.  For a bit more, you can upgrade to ducks and geese.  A few more dollars will provide rabbits; a buck and two does.  Higher amounts will purchase anything from goats and pigs to cows and water buffalo.

This was perfect for us.  Although our four older children have moved to the city, we saw this as a way to remind them of their roots.  Our two younger children (living with their mom, not us) will have their flocks of chickens along with a present or two.

We get to feel good knowing that someone in need will have the means to put food on their table for a long time to come.  That once the animals start reproducing, they will pass on a part of their bounty to others.  So each flock of chickens we bought could indeed feed an entire village within a few years.  That's an awesome thought.

If like us, you're looking for that last minute gift, think about Heifer.  One person can make a difference.  We got lucky, with six kids, hopefully we'll help change the future for many.