ThisOldCabin's journal...Planted trees,Got floor boards grooved...Pics

[ThisOldCabin]

Well,since I've never tried a journal,you all will probably have to help.I've been reading here for alittle while and found so many of you are doing the same things we are.

I reckon I'm to tell you about me and mine.I've never done facebook or twittering so I don't know alot about those.
I am 44 and married to my highschool sweetheart for 26 years now and we have 2 sons ages 19 and 22.Oh,I'm the wife,he's the husband.Guess I should add that.
Right now I don't work because we have our own business and I'm not needed right now.If we get something really big,I'll be going.
We are in Alabama and have just under 100 acres on 2 different spots about 5 miles apart.
This has always been our goal,to own land and build our own home and have a place to hunt,fish and farm.We actually started in 1984,the year we graduated highschool.The largest tract we own was homesteaded by my dads folks around 1790.I'm still trying to fill in all the gaps in that.It has changed hands in and out of the family since then.It was offered to my dad when he was 19 for a song and he had had enough of the farm life and passed on it.Today he says he should have bought it.
We hunt,fish and garden to feed ourselves.We eat mostly venison we process.We also hunt squirrels,rabbits and turkeys.We fish when we can and have been know to collect crawfish and bullfrogs.
We don't pay to fix anything we can fix ourselves.We've never owned a new car.We fix the ones we have.
We do keep up with our neighbors and families but we don't go to church.
We used to flip the power off when the kids were younger just so we could practice our skills.That was so much fun.When the power was out over week a few years back from a ice storm we just grabbed our stuff and waited it out.
I reckon my user name comes for the fact that our first cabin is a real old chestnut and popular log cabin.We took it down moved it 20 miles and set it back up.20 x 20 with a 3/4 loft.We have since decided that no we can't retire to it and not freeze.LOL.I hope to use it as a rental getaway at some point.We then purchased a new band-saw type sawmill.We had yellow popular trees.Lots of them.We cut around 100 to build our new cabin.I posted about it here somewhere.In 5 years we'll have enough trees to do it again and 20 years after that another or two.I love trees.
I have to thank Savingdogs for getting me started on this.I'm hoping it'll be good for me and fun,too.

 

[Denim Deb]

Welcome to journaling. You have the land that many of us wish we had.

 

[kimnkell]

Nice to read your journal.....and glad to meet you. I am looking forward to reading more of your journals.

 

[framing fowl]

So what's going on in your garden this time of year?

 

[ThisOldCabin]

Thanks,everyone for the warm welcomes.
I am so glad we bought our land.it means so much to the whole family.
We haven't been able to get in the garden except to turn it about 3 weeks ago.It has been way to wet to disk it yet but I'm hoping with the week of nice weather we supposed to have this week we'll be able to get that done.I have started peppers(4 types),tomatoes,squash and cucumbers in my little green house.I planted carrots,radishs,lettuce and spinach in one of my raised beds about 2 weeks ago.
We will plant about 5 acres of field corn in a few weeks.We have had so much trouble with the wild hogs I'm not sure it'll be worth the time,money and effort.We did put up a large trap this past weekend.I sure hope we catch a few and maybe the rest will leave.Not likely but I can hope.lol

We're having the flooring for our new cabin done this weekend.We had cut the oak trees for it a couple years ago and got it cut into 1" by 4" boards that are going to be planed and tongue and grooved for hard wood floors.I really want some kind of tile in my bathroom but I'll have to buy that and we've got the wood already.So I'll just have to wait and see if I can find the money to get tile.
We got to go fishing Sunday afternoon and caught enough fish to feed us several days.We were fishing in a pond and caught about 40 large mouth bass.I think we bought home about 18 of the nicest ones.I had wanted to have a fish fry for my mom and dad and sisters and neices but everyone has plans this weekend and I don't like to freeze fish unless I have to.
My critters are doing better since it has warmed up.I lost 2 grown turkeys when it snowed and stayed cold for 3 weeks.I've got 2 gobblers put up now and am feeding them lots of corn hoping they'll be ready for freezer camp in a couple weeks.I hatched 12 baby chicks last week to replace hens I lost last summer to predators.I have 8 hens that are laying pretty good so at least I'm getting some eggs.There's 4 roosters running the yard and I'm thinking they should go to freezer camp,too.I can't wait for the turkeys to start laying so I can hatch those.I really like raising them for poults to grown.

I'm going to try and keep up with this but I'm sure I'll miss days as things are getting busy around here.I'll add some pictures when I get time to upload them.

 

[BarredBuff]

Welcome to SS!!

 

[rebecca100]

Nice to meet ya!

 

[FarmerDenise]

 

[FarmerJamie]

Hello from NE Ohio....thanks in advance for sharing your story!

 

[savingdogs]

What an interesting challenge for your property to be in two halves, five miles apart!

Can you eat the wild hogs? I'd sure be trying to catch them in your corn. You must have a nice large flat area to plant corn, I envy you that. Being on a mountain has its disadvantages!

It sounds like your family is quite self sufficient with the way you acquire most of your meat. We still have that as a goal. I need to get my husband to start thinking about deer hunting, he is great with a gun but never really hunted. I think he needs to follow your lead a little!

You must have some good venison recipes if that is the bulk of what you eat. What is your favorite way of cooking it?