Reference Manuals

I love using the Internet to find all types of information, I use it daily as a matter of fact. But, nothing compares to the warmth of a good book on a cold winter day. Cup of coffee (and one for each of you to0 ), my favorite chair (the one closest to the wood stove ) and a good book are all I need to be complete. I love books and have many. Our shelves are full of books that I have acquired over the years on various topics. I do, like most of you, have some favorites. These are the ones that sit on my chair side table at this moment. They are changed out every few days or so, so I can refresh myself on the things that I enjoy most. Nearly all of my books are reference manuals of some sort although I do have some non-fiction that I enjoy too.

The last few days reading have consisted of the 3 books below. I highly recommend them to all of my readers, packed full of useful information.

1. Outward Bound - Wilderness First-Aid Handbook.

Can you ever really have enough first-aid knowledge?? I though you would agree.

2. Staying Found- The Complete Map & Compass Handbook.

I was amazed at the number of people that perish, ones that have a compass, and don't have any idea how to use it. The numbers are mind boggling. Always refresh myself on this skill from time to time.

3. The Boy Scout Handbook.

How could anyone be without one. I have read this thing until the pages are worn. I have made numerous notes on nearly each and every page. I would never be without it, never.

I just wanted to share a few good reference books with you today, ones that could save your life or the life of a loved one. Now I don't keep these with me everywhere I go but I do refer to them often. A good knowledge of the skills offered in these books makes me feel a little safer in the fact that if the need arises, I will know what to do. Reading and learning from these is also a good way to prep for future events too, and the best part is, you can do it when it's cold outside, it's wet outside and you're BROKE !! lol I truly believe that knowledge is the most important preparation one can make.

Cracking nuts and my favorite Magazine

Well I have finally found time to crack a few hickory nuts that we have picked up around the yard and field. This is the way that I crack them. It takes time but I don't hit my thumb with a hammer either.


First I remove the outer shell of the nut. It will just peel right off a dry nut.

Nut with outer shell removed.I then place the nut in a small vise that I picked up somewhere cheap. A larger one would do a little better.

Slowly turn the handle until you can see and hear the nut start to crack. At this point remove the nut from the vise and you can crack by hand pretty ease. If this picture wasn't crap you could see the crack in the nut.
The result is a cracked nut that you don't have to chase all over the yard and it's mostly still in tact. Just remove the nut meat with a nut pick and repeat.

This is probably my favorite magazine in the whole world. Countryside Magazine - The Magazine of Modern Homesteading & Small Stock Journal. What struck me as most interesting when I first purchased this magazine, years ago, is their Philosophy that is posted on the first page of each new and interesting issue.

Our Philosophy

It's not a single idea, but many ideas and attitudes, including a reverance for nature and a preference for country life; a desire for maximum personal self-reliance and creative leisure; a concern for family nurture and community cohesion; a belief that the primary reward of work should be well-being rather than money; a certian nostalgia for the supposed simplicities of the past and anxiety about the technological and bureaucratic complexities of the present and the future; and a taste for the plain and funtional.

Now, the people that came up with that are what I call Good Folks. Check them out and I'm sure you will like what you see.

http://www.countrysidemag.com/

Firewood, Goats and A Good Book

Well I have finally got all the firewood split and stacked. I think I should have enough ready for 3 winters stored. I am glad to finally have this chore done and over with. I can rest a little easier knowing that I can keep my family warm if the electricty where to go out. This is all hardwood save for a few pieces of poplar that will be used as kindlin to start the fires. As you can see I took advantage of a few pine trees to help hold the wood in place. These are now covered with plastic and tarps to keep the weather out. On nice sunny days I will uncover the wood so it can get a good breath of fresh air which will help dry it further.


In the background you can see some of the wood storage, nothing fancy just a place to keep it dry. I had planned on building a large wood shed this year but it just never seemed to happen. Like many other things around here. lol Well there's always next year, or at least I hope there is.

A faithful reader of this blog, Cath, has ask for some information about goats and shown interest in owning some of her own. After some thought on the matter I have decided that I am going to write a series on goats and what few things I have learned from them and about them. So stay tuned, coming to a monitor near you this weekend, "A little about Goats" - Part I. Until then here are a few pictures of my girls just hanging out in the yard.

"Look, there's daddy, is that food that he has in his hand?"

Daisy resting up to have those kids soon, I hope. Maybe she's just lazy.
Emily investigating the wood pile. She is so nosey.
Lou Lou asking " What am I supposed to do with all this, I can't eat it, can I?"
Zoro's Field

Got a new book from Amazon today and can't wait to dive into it. My cousin, who lives near Statesville NC, had told me about it in a phone conversation a few weeks ago, he knew it was my kind of book. After hearing about it and reading the following from Amazon's review I just had to have it. I have also place an Amazon link to the book for those who might also like to own a copy. Well, I have a 1000 things to do but 999 of them will have to wait as I hope to lose myself in the pages of Zoro's Field.

Review from Amazon's page:

After a long absence from his native southern Appalachians, Thomas Rain Crowe returned to live alone deep in the North Carolina woods. This is Crowe's chronicle of that time when, for four years, he survived by his own hand without electricity, plumbing, modern-day transportation, or regular income. It is a Walden for today, paced to nature's rhythms and cycles and filled with a wisdom one gains only through the pursuit of a consciously simple, spiritual, environmentally responsible life.
Crowe made his home in a small cabin he had helped to build years before-at a restless age when he could not have imagined that the place would one day call him back. The cabin sat on what was once the farm of an old mountain man named Zoro Guice. As we absorb Crowe's sharp observations on southern Appalachian natural history, we also come to know Zoro and the other singular folk who showed Crowe the mountain ways that would see him through those four years.
Crowe writes of many things: digging a root cellar, being a good listener, gathering wood, living in the moment, tending a mountain garden. He explores profound questions on wilderness, self-sufficiency, urban growth, and ecological overload. Yet we are never burdened by their weight but rather enriched by his thoughtfulness and delighted by his storytelling.