What did you do today on the homestead?

bmaverick
bmaverick Posts: 175 ✭✭✭
Well, I shucked chicken poop. . . and gave them some watermelon. I also have week old chicks...so, I filled up their feed and water. And, I harvested a few pounds of tomatoes! All before 8 a.m. !!!!
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Comments

  • sherryo
    sherryo Posts: 58
    edited June 2018
    I've been dehydrating tomatoes.  It's a multi-day recipe. I always take a week to condition and make sure the moisture content is low (no moist pockets).  I've got tomatoes in all stages right now, and am rotating through the process.
    • Pick/wash
    • Marinate
    • Dehydrate
    • Put into jars for conditioning
    • Pack for storage
    The house smells wonderful!
  • bmaverick
    bmaverick Posts: 175 ✭✭✭
    edited June 2018
    watered and feed 30 meat birds (4-weeks to go, yeah!)
    hay and water for the goats
    hay and water for the cows
    milked goat doe's by hand
    hog feed and water the cute little red wattles
    downpoured rain with lightening and thunder at 5am doing all of this.  Good not to water the garden today. 75F.  Weekend in the 90s. :(
  • bmaverick
    bmaverick Posts: 175 ✭✭✭
    edited June 2018
    ditto above, without the rain. :)

    Got a H-F coupon for magnetic mounted towing lights.  Easy now to place on the CUT tractor and hay wagon to bee seen when it gets dark out.

    Mowed the lawn and road ditch.  bagged ever bit of it to feed the animals vs. spending the money on hay. :)  Win-win, grass is cut livestock feed.
  • Ruth Ann Reyes
    Ruth Ann Reyes Posts: 577 admin
    edited June 2018
    My herbs are doing really well this year...I just dehydrated some basil, oregano, thyme, marjoram, and garlic chives!
  • bmaverick
    bmaverick Posts: 175 ✭✭✭
    edited July 2018
    - Moved the pig pen electric fence location
    - harvested all the beets today. (what a workout)
    - 1995 push mower handles broke off, got to fabricate a new one.
    - grading to land to create a new pasture.  (3.5 hours already into it.)
    - Re-planted a mullberry tree.  Hope it takes.  Can't find much info for what I'm doing with this.
  • sherryo
    sherryo Posts: 58
    edited July 2018
    Finished up making chicken broth from older layers.

    Roasted ~5 pounds of green Anaheim chilis, then started a base for later "cream of green chili whatever"...will be the base for chili soups, chili sauces, and added to actual chili recipes.

    Pulled a full dehydrator of dry Scotch Bonnet peppers.  This will be sold at market.

    Started wet process of melon seeds.

    Planning to start dehydrating Anaheim chili's, after washing the dehydrator parts.

    Oh, I didn't include the regular feeding, watering and house chores in this list.  Good thing I have lots of daylight left!

     
  • burekcrew86
    burekcrew86 Posts: 248 ✭✭✭
    edited August 2018
    Put some laundry out to dry on the clothesline. With the heat outside, my clothes get dry quicker than if I had put them in the dryer.

    Also been canning a lot lately. So far I got jalapeños, hot peppers, dill pickles, salsa and am starting on canning pears from our tree. We got elderberries in the freezer to make jam once the cooler weather comes.
  • Jon Ziemba
    Jon Ziemba Posts: 41
    edited August 2018
    Before 7 AM:

    Fed and watered our 18 egg layers - 12 we started raising from chicks in April.  Should be getting some eggs around October from them, I hope.

    Fed and watered our meat rabbits.  We have one buck and one doe.  The doe has a litter of 9 kits - they just were 4 weeks old yesterday and are starting to eat pellets.
  • bmaverick
    bmaverick Posts: 175 ✭✭✭
    edited August 2018
    Had to re-wire the lights on the trailer bottom.  Dogs chewed the wires and bit off the side marker lights.  Glad to have a Harbor Freight nearby.

  • Cherlynn
    Cherlynn Posts: 169 ✭✭✭
    edited August 2018
    Worked on the new house we are building for our son's.   They moved home to help us out around the farm.  I've enjoyed having #2 son handy.  He has a great eye for color and has been helping me on my quilt projects.  I want to start getting ready for winter and get some herbs and greens transplanted into containers to bring in to use this winter.  But I am headed to the big city to babysit my grandson's so the garden will have to wait until next week.  My daughter took a week off to go visit her twin sister in Utah and my son in law is cooping alone with twin son's that just started walking.
  • Jon Ziemba
    Jon Ziemba Posts: 41
    edited August 2018
    Besides caring for our meat rabbits and egg laying flock:

    Picked about 10 pounds of cucumbers, 4 big zucchinis, about a pound of Parisian carrots, and about a pound of assorted beets.  Going to ferment some of the cucumbers this weekend.

    Going to be a big weekend around the homestead- picking our ambrosia sweet corn, popcorn, and building a huge addition for our winter chicken area/chicken run.
  • ettacass24
    ettacass24 Posts: 18
    edited August 2018
    Unfortunately my DH had a doctor appointment that took most of the day.  Prepped 1 bushel of tomatoes for canning and half bushel of beans.
  • ettacass24
    ettacass24 Posts: 18
    edited August 2018
    I made 40 bars of honey/oatmeal soap, canned 14 qts of tomatoes and 7 qts of green beans. I'm tired.
  • bmaverick
    bmaverick Posts: 175 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    WOW everyone, nice to know we are all busy like bee here before the weather changes.  Keep it up.  Yes, and take a short nap if needed. LOL

    A 15 to 20min power nap is way better than a cup of joe.

    Pick tomatoes and more and more and more.  The plants are taller than 6ft now.   They have grown well over the 52-inch high cattle panel from TSC.   Amazing how God created a seed and when plant gives a higher yield.  Blessing abound.

    Some mentioned tomatoes and cucumbers.  Wow, that makes a great type of fresh salad.
  • Alison
    Alison Posts: 179 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    It's great to be a part of a community of people that enjoy getting stuck into their homesteads. Mine is small, but productive.

    Today it rained a little..Yay...we are in drought so all rain is GREAT!

    But, today I did some of the usual - Fed goats - really bad drought so everyone with livestock are hand feeding ):  , Fed chickens and ducks, collected eggs; and am loving the new colours as I bought some rare breeds that lay olive, dark brown speckled and blue eggs, composted a bit and then started to preserve some of the produce that I picked yesterday.

    It's nice to be able to have a less hurried day, it provides a different perspective on things...an opportunity to look more due to having a slower pace.

    Alison
  • Jon Ziemba
    Jon Ziemba Posts: 41
    edited September 2018
    Plans for building the winter coop addition were put on hold this Labor Day weekend.  We had a very rainy Saturday and Sunday, and our household was battling a stomach virus.

    I was still able to pick a bunch of squash and veggies.
  • Alison
    Alison Posts: 179 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    Awesome! I find getting outside when I don't feel well usually helps me feel better. I hope this was the case for you.
  • Jon Ziemba
    Jon Ziemba Posts: 41
    edited September 2018
    Hi Alison - yes, the fresh air and working in the garden for a little while was nice.

    Now I need to figure out what recipes to try with all the buttercup squash we have!
  • Jon Ziemba
    Jon Ziemba Posts: 41
    edited September 2018
    Added to our compost pile this morning. Looking forward to getting leaves to add to it in about a month.  This is our second pile.  Our first pile (first one ever) will be ready to use in the Spring in the garden!

    Going to be clearing out most of the garden tonight and this weekend.  Our first average frost date is only a few weeks away, and we had two snow storms in mid-October last year.
  • burekcrew86
    burekcrew86 Posts: 248 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    Made my first batch of bone broth and then pressure canned it. The house smells amazing! Can’t wait to use it this  winter.
  • ettacass24
    ettacass24 Posts: 18
    edited September 2018
    Picked some comfrey.
  • Jon Ziemba
    Jon Ziemba Posts: 41
    edited September 2018
    Had a great harvest of spaghetti and buttercup squash this past weekend.  Had so many that we gave some to family and neighbors.  This was our first year growing them, so we are definitely growing them again next year.
  • Alison
    Alison Posts: 179 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    Spaghetti squash will store for many months on a bench out of sunlight just like pumpkin (:

    Sounds like a great weekend.
  • Jon Ziemba
    Jon Ziemba Posts: 41
    edited September 2018
    Sure was Alison.  I’ve never had homegrown spaghetti squash before, and the one we had this weekend was the best-tasting I’ve ever had.

    The squash were grown in our winter chicken area, which we had layered thick with wood chips.  This was an experiment and it went great.  Our chicken area will be four times bigger than last winter, so this will allow for expanding the squash garden even more.
  • Alison
    Alison Posts: 179 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    Sounds exceptional!
  • Renee Ilse
    Renee Ilse Posts: 16 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    Hauled my sow to the butcher today and picked up the calf we had processed.  Made a loaf of bread (I make all our bread), and of course fed all the critters 2x (20 meat chickens, 25 laying hens, 3 calves, horses, rabbits).  And homeschooled the grandson.
  • Jon Ziemba
    Jon Ziemba Posts: 41
    edited September 2018
    Not today, but yesterday:  Moved nine 6-week old rabbit kits into their own space to make room for the doe to have another in a few weeks.  They’re about four weeks away from going to freezer camp, hopefully sooner.
  • burekcrew86
    burekcrew86 Posts: 248 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    Planted garlic and started a windowsill herb garden. Received a small mushroom starter so I’m trying my hand at mushroom growing.
  • peppypoblano
    peppypoblano Posts: 92
    edited September 2018
    Cleared brush and moved lots and lots of rocks.

    Winter squash is one of our favorite things.  They store well and are so versatile.  Sounds like an excellent harvest Jon.
  • Jon Ziemba
    Jon Ziemba Posts: 41
    edited September 2018
    <p style="text-align: left;">Thank you peppyponlano!  We are loving  it!</p>
    We have 12 5-month old black Australorp pullets, in addition to our 6 other hens.  We got our first pullet egg yesterday, so we’re excited for more eggs really soon.