Just too much for one man

This place is working me to death. Really!! From daylight til after dark each and every day, it never ends. hahaha!! You all know that I love every minute of it too. From the goats to the chickens to the ducks and the garden, I love it all. I am a little overwhelmed at times with all that needs to be done but I just do what I can and pray there will be a tomorrow. Like so many of you I never seem to have enough time to get it all done no matter how well I plan.

Spent the better part of the morning cutting firewood. Me and my friend are cutting and piling it up in a big pile at his farm. This fall we will take the wood splitter down to the field and spit it all. This way when we haul it home it is seasoned and split and ready to stack and burn this winter. Hard work but he and I both love it. Good hard honest work that pays true benefits, warmth for our families during the winter to come. He's a good friend and we share so many of the same beliefs about the way life should be. I value our time together.

Back home to more work. We bought a Wagner Paint Sprayer from Lowes the other day and it has been a blessing. I wasn't really sold on the idea of getting it but glad that we did. I have always been a roller and brush kinda guy, old habits are hard for me to break. But I love it. We painted our 12X24 out building with it and then painted 6 doors from inside the house. Just take them off the hinge and take them outside and spray away. Does a great job. I highly recommend it to anyone.

Tomorrow will be spent in the garden, again. I need to run the tiller for a few hours and weed some more. Also still have seeds that need to get planted. If time would only stand still for a day I MAY be able to get caught up on my work. It's 10:30 and I am just now getting settled down from the days work. Ate about 9:00 and then hit the shower to try to get some of the daily grime off of me. LOL I think I got most of it. If not it will blend in tomorrow and no one will know any different. lol

For those of you that enjoyed my last post about Little House on the Prairie and left such nice comments, I thank you. I have also found a Amazon link to the first season dvd collection for those that may be interested in getting a copy of your own.

Wind fall and Snow Day

As you may have read in my last post, we had snow last night. It's beautiful though there's only about 2 or 3 inches on the ground. As Liv was going to town to deliver some cake's and such she was stopped by a tree crossing the drive. The heavy wet snow was just too much for this old dead pine and it made it's last stand to no avail. I had to get the chainsaw and clear it out so she could get through and I of course took the camera along. The funny thing is that I took pictures of everything but the fallen tree before I cut it up. I guess I just got carried away with the task at hand. So, here's so random pictures around the farm.

The trusted farm dog, Smokey.

Chief, our pygmy buck don't seem as excited about the snow as I am.

The girls saying "Look here comes Daddy, where's that feed bucket"??

OK, now time to head up the drive to move that tree.

This one will probably come down next. For now I will leave it, I think everything deserves a second chance.

Driveway is clear. I will cut the rest of the tree up for emergency firewood. I don't really like to use pine but ya just never know what winter may have up it's sleeve.

Another picture along the driveway.

This is my second Love. This Honda ATV is the greatest thing I have ever owned, couldn't make it without it. Here it is ready for action.

This is a symbol of the real me. Folks around here call me Taz sometimes. hehe!! They say it's because of the way I fly into any task that do. I think it's funny.

Man I love this work horse. Makes my life much easier, I cut the tree in bigger sections that I would have if I had to carry them all. I can tie my tow rope to the large pieces and to the back of my ATV and then drag them away. Saves this poor boy's back a lot of lifting.

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.

Can't seem to get Prepping off my mind

For the last several days my mind has been on prepping like crazy. With the economy in the shape it's in everyone should be getting ready for a long hard ride. I'm not really the gloom and doom kinda guy but I know what I see and what I feel and I don't like either. The "Bail Out" is gonna cost us a bunch, I don't what anyone to loose money I just don't want to be the one to pay them back if they do, ya know? When I was down and out a few years ago I don't remember the gov. working late at night to secure my well being or even caring if I lived or died. Come April 15th though and they know excatly who I am and my ability to to pay them their cut.

It's this junk that keeps my up at night wondering if I have done enough to be prepared. There are many more preps that I would like to have but I'm in good shape overall. More guns and ammo are always nice, but you need far more than that for the long haul. Food and heat are the most important to me right now. I have been splitting firewood like a mad man. I think I have enough for 3 average winters, average being the key word there. Most folks think were in for a long, cold and dark time, I feel they may be right, and not just about the weather. Gonna make a run to Big Lots and see what else I can come up with in the canned good department. I got a 20% coupon off your entire purchase through an email yesterday and I'm gonna take advantage of it. Anything you add to your food storage is better than nothing. Our gov can't take care of us and wouldn't even if they could so rule that out right off the bat. It's gonna be the good people of this country that have prepared for TSHF that will survive these dark days ahead. Are you one of them???????

Went to town the other day to pay my property tax. Grrrrrr!!!!! I told the lady there that I was here to make my freedom payment and she looked at me kinda funny and ask what I was talking about. Well as I understand it, if I fail to come in and make this payment the county will sell the property that I OWN to the highest bidder. Now does that sound like freedom to you I ask. She was quick to take my money and give me a reciept that shows that I can keep MY property for another year.

A Little About Woodstoves

I guess this is really a little about my woodstove but, you get the idea. I have posted about this stove before but thought this might be a good time of year to bring it up again. We were looking for a used fireplace insert last summer without any luck. There were some out there but not what we were looking for. When it seemed all hope for a used one was lost a call came, it was Liv's uncle back in West Virginia. He asked if we had ever found a stove yet, no we hadn't. He then proceeded to tell us that a friend that I had went to school with back in the day had one that he said we could have for FREE !!! Liv's uncle Scotty looked it over and said it looked to be in great working condition, just needed a little paint. So I was off to WV on a stove run. My friend (Conrad) who had the stove said he was just goning to haul it to the junk yard because he couldn't find anyone that wanted it. Think about that, no one was willing to just pick this stove up for free. Well after I got home with the stove I cleaned it up a bit and spray painted it with heat resistent black paint and it was ready to go. Fit our space perfect and looks pretty good too.

There is a 10 inch lip on the top that can be used to cook or just heat water if need be. By turning the blower off the top of the stove gets really hot fast. This could be a life saver in an emergency situation. We keep this old iron pot filled with water during heating season to put a little moisture into the air. Another thing to consider when purchasing a stove is the blower. Ours has one and it is wonderful to sit in front of the stove on those cold nights and mornings. The hot air warms your bones and the room too. A stove without a blower is not as bad as you may think though. You can just set a floor fan in front of the stove and it helps to pull the warm air through the house. Another thing to keep in mind is the draft control, this ofcourse controls the amount of air that the stove takes in through a vent somewhere on the stove. Ours is on the sides near the bottom. The more you open them, the more air goes into the fire box. And we all know that a fire needs air to burn, more air, more fire. Once your fire box gets good and hot it will pull air (draw) into the fire. At this point you can close your draft a little so your fire dosen't get too hot or just burn up fast. At night I load my stove with good dry hardwood, let it catch up and get good and hot and then close the draft almost completly. This allows the fire to just sit and smolder all through the night. The next morning, open the draft, poke it a few times and your back in the heat. Keep in mind that all stoves operate differently, even 2 of the same exact stoves will have their own personalities. If you're purchasing one for the first time, like my friend Marie and her family, just keep a close eye on the fire and the stove and you will soon learn how to use your stove to keep your home and most importantly your family nice and warm this winter. Always use CAUTION!!!!

There is an ash pan in the bottowm behind a small door to remove the ashes, these go into the compost pile and on the garden area in general. Wood ashes are a very good amendment to your soil, adding, among other things, lye. If one is ambitious enough you can use these ashes to make lye soap also.

Daddy's got a brand new toy!!

Woo-Hoo, I got a new toy the other day and I have been like a little boy. This new Stihl 310 has been needed for quite a while, the little saw I have been using just didn't cut it. ( Pun intended ) I think it was Tuesday that I got the new saw (winter survival tool) and I put it right to work cutting 2 trailer loads that day. You can see one of the loads in the back to the left the other is from a month or so ago. Man it sure makes life a lot better having a good saw to cut firewood. I have been getting my wood from my buddy's farm. CH has been letting me cut wood that he has been clearing for pasture for the cows. I got a load of hickory yesterday. I have read that the oldtimers always like to burn hickory over any other wood. When hickory was scarce they would keep enough to use a log as the back log in their fireplace. Hickory burns really hot and really long. I am happy to have a good load of hickory to use in the buckstove this winter. The cost of the saw ( around $400 ) will be recovered in about 2 to 3 months of electrict bills this winter. I can't say enough good things about this saw, my old saw was a joke compared to this thing. My trailer is 14 x 5, so this is a pretty good load of firewood.
In the last few days I have been trying to find time to dry some green beans, we call them shuck beans around here. Once they dry real good they will last a long time if kept dry. I simply strung these on a piece of fishing line with a needle and used a small stick at the bottom to keep the beans from falling off the end. These will be ready in a few weeks. You just fix them like you would fix green beans. These are hanging in the clubhouse.