BarredBuff's Homesteading Shenanigans

[BarredBuff]

We have never had it, but last year we kept a lot of meat on hand and ran out of Beef in August. So we need more "beef" to balance our food supply. We can probably find some.

 

[Bettacreek]

Lamb tastes like venison to me. LOVE it! Our rifle season doesn't start until the 26th, which just so happens to be my son's 5th birthday. I don't know how I'm going to balance that one out... I would love to stay out all day to see what other people push my way, but can't miss doing something for him for his birthday. He's already going to be mad that I won't be taking him hunting with me (he has a hunting coat and keeps telling people that I'm going to take him, lol) especially since it's his birthday, lol. Venison is definitely a nice addition to the freezer and jars. We grew up on it, so it's awful going without it.

 

[BarredBuff]

Betta, I wish you better luck than I. Do you guys have youth hunts up there? We do here, and maybe you can take him out then. That way you can encourage this and he will grow up to be a hunter and help you and your dh food for the table. Just a thought. I had planned on canning it all, just to get used to it that way. We love canned meat, it is the best thing yet.

Well today we had school, and I find myself disliking public education and the ACT even more. :/ I'd rather have been out harvesting a deer for home, or transplanting blueberry bushes or something useful. But oh well, a slave to the system we all are.

The light we put in the chicken coop is doing great! One, it is nice to have light down there I don't have to pack. Two, egg production is going up! We went from 2 out of 26 hens to 4 yesterday, to 7 today!!! I am sure it will continue to increase as their bodies get more and more used to the lighting.

I didn't get much SS stuff done, I did get my feeding done, and the blueberries watered. Wednesday when we get off, I need to get the does ready to have babies. They are getting bigger, and a few have teats enlargening so hopefully I will have some baby meat rabbits next week. I have to shuffle them all around and give plenty of hay/shavings and houses out. Then finish the blueberry patch and plant my garlic (which I have neglected for two weeks now).

Tonight I want to finish an article to send in, and look at a seed catalog. Pinetree sent their's out already. I like it and Baker Creek a lot.

I guess that is it for now, toodles!

 

[Denim Deb]

We have the youth hunting days here, too. I really wish I had had the opportunity to hunt when I was a kid.

 

[BarredBuff]

We have the youth hunting days here, too. I really wish I had had the opportunity to hunt when I was a kid.

I wish I had started sooner. This was my first year, but until the last few years I didn't have the want to. But I liked it and plan on continuing it.

 

[Denim Deb]

I'm planning on doing some hunting next year. I have my hunter education card, but haven't shot in years. Plus, I need to do some studying up on hunting so I know what I'm doing.

 

[BarredBuff]

Even if I was unsucessful this year, I have learned quite a bit. And thats always good.

 

[BarredBuff]

Thanks for Thanksgiving! I have no school the rest of the week. I get to homestead for a few days

I got up early this morning and turned my light on in the coop, and then I made breakfast for the familia. I made biscuits, fried sausage, and scrambled eggs. It was pretty darn good.....

I am gonna get my coveralls on in a minute and go work down in the Barnyard. I have a lot of trash/junk that has accumulated down there, and I need to pick it up. Then get the rabbits ready to have babies. Yesterday, I discovered that the Geese made a huge mess with water in the coop (I know, suprising) and I want to get that swept up and fix their watering different. Then I am gonna go to the garden, and fix my garlic bed and plant those bulbs. Then get ready to go down the road with Dad and his family for Thanksgiving.

Just some small chores for us today. Nothing big....

 

[Bettacreek]

I've been out hunting a few times over the past few years, but this year, I spotted the hunter's bible at Ollie's for about $5, so I picked it up and have been reading it. My brother just laughs, but in all honesty, it's worth the money. There are a few things in it that I never knew before, plus it's good reading material (I go through books like normal people do toilet paper, so anything to read and I'm happy, lol). As for the youth hunt, I've been thinking about it, but I think he's too young yet. He's five and hasn't shot a gun yet, though he has been around them and knows the basic safety of them. I really wanted to get them started with archery, just haven't had the money to buy a decent bow. I don't know that they'd be able to handle one yet anyways, since they're SOOO tiny. He might be turning five in less than a week, but he's more the size of the average three year old. His brother is only slightly shorter (though they weigh the same at 32lbs), but his three year old cousin (three weeks younger than Tripp) is taller and weighs more than he does. I was always a tiny, tiny kid. In fourth grade, I remember that the majority of the 1st grade class was way bigger than I was, so I don't think they're going to "grow out of it" anytime soon, lol.

As for venison, since the hunt ended in no meat, you should keep an eye out for road kill. Seems around here cars kill them better than bullets.

 

[the funny farm6]

i know here- if you call the sheriff dept you can be put on the "hit list" for deer that have been hit by car. they give you a tag for it, and you take it home.

the last week or so we have seen 4 deer on the side of the road with their heads cut off. so someone stops to take their head, but not the meat. i hate trophy hunters.