Lessons Learned On The Farm Too

Frost Flowers!

{ 02:08, Sunday, December 10, 2006 } { 4 comments } { Link }

Thanks to Ilona for the idea of our ice ribbons actually being called Frost Flowers.

I went on google and after just a few minutes of searching I found a really good article that describes this natural occurance in detail.

Although the name is colorfully descriptive, a frost flower is really neither "frost" nor "flower," but layers of ice squeezed from the stem of a plant. True frost is formed similarly to dew on the surface of objects, such as rose petals, window panes and pump handles. When the air or an object is below freezing, dew converts directly to ice upon touching a surface, forming crystalline rime or hoar frost.

I've linked the website below. Let me know what you think.

http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2000/10/2.htm

Thanks,
Tony

Ice Ribbons?

{ 11:48, Saturday, December 9, 2006 } { 4 comments } { Link }

This morning my 10 year old son Jake and I went out to our horse pasture to do some measuring for a new fence. It was still early and the sun hadn't reached the end of the pasture where we started. As we were walkin and talkin I happened to noticed what appeared to be stuffing out of a pillow all along the edge of the field.

After a closer look this is what we found.

Now I grew up in the country most all of my life and have really been getting out closer to nature in the past 4 years or so, but I have never seen anything like this before. The best way to describe it is ice ribbons. Up from the bottom of these particular type of weedy plants were hundreds of ice ribbons. If you'll look close in the pictures you will notice that the ice is very thin and very fragile. It actually will disintegrate right in your hand when you touch it.

If any of you know what the proper name for this is or can tell me the geophysics behind this I would be very grateful. I smell a homeschool science lesson in the making....

Thanks, God Bless, and GO VOLS!
- Tony

GOD BLESS and GO VOLS!

{ 09:02, Wednesday, November 29, 2006 } { 1 comments } { Link }

As some of you may know my family bleeds Orange. To be more specific, Tennessee Volunteer Orange. This past weekend my oldest son , Joseph, and I were invited to a Big Orange weekend. We were the guest of Mr. Jim Mauer and his wife Kay, owners of the Zartic Food Co. in Rome GA. They put us up at the Knoxville Marriot then took us to dinner at a local steakhouse called The Copper Cellar. The room was nice....the dinner was awesome. The next day we were treated to an Executive Skybox view of the Tennessee / Kentucky football game.

I think it is safe to say that a good time was had by all. While we may not have gotten the true college football atmosphere of the screaming fans, the smell of various spilled beverages, and the repeated playing of Rocky Top by The Pride of the Southland Band, there is definately something to be said of watching your favorite team play from 7 stories above the field in theater seats from a climate controlled booth with a wait staff and all the free food and beverages your gut can hold. WHEW!

By the way, Tennessee won the game by 5 points in front of an estimated crowd of around
104,000. What a way to initiate my oldest son to his first Tennessee Game.

See Ya'll - Tony

ps.. Next time its Jakes turn...(right Jake?)

Chicken Tractors

{ 09:15, Saturday, November 4, 2006 } { 6 comments } { Link }

I had an interesting conversation with one of my customers the other day about chicken tractors so I thought I'd post some pictures of the ones in our back yard.

This is our 4th chicken tractor and the best so far. We tried to learn from our mistakes on the first three and came out with a good working tractor with this design.

You'll notice the A-frame PVC chicken tractor in the photo below. That was our first. It was easy to build and fairly inexspensive, but not quite as study and functional as we had hoped. We finally had the idea to back it up to an old pre-existing chicken coup and with the help of a roughly cut doorway, we have a new hen house with a protected outdoor area. The hens like it alot.

Please let me know if any of you have any good ideas when it comes to chicken tractors.

See Ya'll - Tony

What I Don't Like About Horses...

{ 07:14, Wednesday, November 1, 2006 } { 5 comments } { Link }

I have never been a huge fan of horses. Don't get me wrong, I think they are beautiful animals and I think the world is a better place because of them... probably.

You see I worked for a veterinarian while in High School and my first year of college so most of what I have seen is the sick, not-easy-to-get along-with side of horses. Sorry, but it did shape my opinion somewhat. But after some gentle coaxing from my family, I decided horses would be a nice fit for our little homestead. Actually just seeing how happy they make my wife and boy #2 Jake should make me forget about all the things I don't like about horses....almost.

Case in point... today, after a long day at work, I got home to find both horse out of the fence and in the yard. Not a big deal. Getting the horses back in the field. BIG DEAL!!!

We, me and boy #1 Joseph, tried to slowly approach both horses who, while in the pasture are very approachable animals, only to have them casually walk out of reach again and again. Time was important due to the fact of the quickly fading daylight and I didn't want to try and catch two horses on a 50 acre farm in the dark. So we got back in the truck and followed them when they ran off to the back of our property (about 1/2 mile) to a field.

The horses then decided they would be happier back at the barn. So we came down the hill in the truck just in time to see them going past the barn, through the front yard, across the ditch, up the hill, and without a care in the world, across the road. The heavily traveled by lots of cars and trucks road!

They went into our neighbors yard and then, in what made me want to sell them to the lowest bidder, decided to go for a little walk down the left side of the road, into traffic, up hill into a blind corner. I thought I was going to have a coronary.

I was trying to stay back so as not to make them run, but I felt the urgent need to get in front of them to warn any oncoming traffic. I finally got in front of them and they went off the road and into the woods, circled back around onto the road, back across the front yard, and finally into the barn. Thank God, and I mean that with all of my heart, that there was not one single car on the road that whole time. We were truly blessed.

All in all the horses are fine now. We found where they had pushed open an old gate that is never used and hopefully we have things where they can't get out again. Now I know that some of you are going to write back and say -- if you would spend more time with your horses doing this and that -- or you know there is a good set of videos by the horse whisperer that we could buy and learn how to prevent this from happening again -- or if I were more in tune with my horses energy and emotions then I could have telepathically communicated a feeling of warmth and love that they would cause my horse to never want to leave my side again.

Thats all well and good and maybe I should do more of some or all of these things. But for now here's what I want to hear from you. What should a rookie horse owner do in this situation? What did we do right and what did we do wrong? Please let me know. I'm open for opinions.

Just remember... the horses are ok now. They are tucked in their stalls with bellies full of feed and clean stalls made for relaxing and sleeping. I'm not, nor would I ever, get rid of them, but they do get on my nerves when they run amuck.

All of this said the immense happiness they bring to my wife and kids is worth the intermitent stubborness. After all, I've been known to be stubborn as a horse and they keep me around.

Friends, Food, and Fire

{ 09:15, Monday, October 30, 2006 } { 6 comments } { Link }

Well it's that time of year again. The days are shorter, the trees are more colorful and college football is in full tilt. (GO VOLS!) It's fall - yall.

Last night we had some of our friends out for a hayride / bonfire / supper. I think it is safe to say, a good time was had by all. We started at 4pm and wrapped things up about 11pm. It made for a tired family today, but we would do it again next weekend if everbody else was game.

Here is a photo of our bonfire after several hours of burning. Notice Mary Jane the marshmallow eating Mastiff to the right in the pic.

See Yall,
- Tony

Hi Ya'll!

{ 01:27, Saturday, October 28, 2006 } { 11 comments } { Link }

Well I figured since my wife is the Senior Editor here at HomesteadBlogger I should step up and show her some support. My hope is to use this blog as a way to learn from others experiences, share some of my own, tell some stories, and have a little fun along the way.

So leave me a comment and introduce yourself. I look forward to meeting all ya'll...

Tony