Animal Husbandry homestead Skills That Transfer To Survival Skills

Homestead Skills That Transfer Over To Survival Skills

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If you are lucky enough to live on a homestead, there’s no doubt you’ve probably learned some very impressive skills. Homestead life can be tough, it can be challenging, but it can also be highly rewarding, especially when the skills that you’ve learned can be put to good use elsewhere.

It’s interesting to note that there are a lot of homestead skills that can be transferred over to survival skills. This means that if you fancy becoming a bit of a prepper, you should already have a lot of skills and knowledge that will help you to get through a survival situation.
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Reliance Peach Tree

Reliance Peach Tree Production Two Years After Planting

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In March of 2013 we planted five fruit trees at the house. Of those trees two were semi-dwarf peach trees, one was a majestic peach and the other a reliance peach. The first year we planted them they both had tons of little baby peaches, but we had to force ourselves to thin them down to just a few. That year we got one cute little peach that the bugs decided to share with us. Then last year we had lots of blossoms and we still thinned them, but the bugs and fungus were horrible and we got nothing.

This year we had a late frost. We tried covering our fruit trees with sheets, but they are about to get too big to effectively do that. Our majestic peach tree blooms early and did not fair too well because of the frost. However, the reliance peach tree blooms later and is a beautiful sight this year. Just look at all of those peaches!

First Production of Young Semi-Dwarf Reliance Peach Tree
First Real Production of Our Young Semi-Dwarf Reliance Peach Tree

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Whiteside Mountain Highlands NC

Whiteside Mountain, Highlands NC

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After our fun at Dry Falls and Bridal Veil Falls we headed on up to Whiteside Mountain near Highlands, NC. The hike to the summit of Whiteside Mountain is a moderate 2.5 mile loop. After an initial steep start we reached the point where the loop splits to the left and the right. The left is less of an incline, but will take longer to get to the top. We chose to take the right which is steeper and includes some steps as well. I find the older I get the steep inclines and steps are actually harder on the ole knees coming down (just another reason to go right). The first small opening along the path is a beautiful tease of what is to come.

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Dry Falls Highlands NC

Dry Falls and Bridal Veil Falls, Highlands NC

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With Jon’s new job and all of the animals it is hard for us to take a long vacation right now. Over our 3 day Fourth of July weekend we took a trip about 4 hours away to the mountains in Franklin, NC. We had a short stay which included a fair amount of rain and not a lot of time to do everything in the area, but we still had a great time. The first thing we did after arriving and settling in was drive a short distance to see Dry Falls and Bridal Veil Falls in Highlands, NC.

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Easter Egger Mama Hen With New Baby Chicks 1 Day Old

Bertha Our Broody Hen with Her New Baby Chicks

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There has been so much going on that we have been giving many updates these days. Things are all good, but there has jut not been any time to “blog” about what we have been up to. Even this post is a little late, but better late than never. Since we started keeping chickens we had longed for the day that one of our hens would go broody and hatch out her own baby chicks. Several times we even left some eggs to encourage this to take place. It seemed our girls refused to brood just to spite us. So we’ve tried our hand at incubating a few times as well as continuing to buy baby chicks. But alas, Bertha, one of our Easter Egger hens, decided to brood. Continue reading “Bertha Our Broody Hen with Her New Baby Chicks” →

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Clarifying Chicken and Egg Labels and Terms

Understanding Egg Terminology

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Organic, All Natural, Free Range, Cageless….What do all of these egg labels mean?

It can be confusing.  Most of the confusion is by design. The big companies want you to believe their product is better than it really is.  Sorting through all this misinformation can be daunting, but we are here to pass on what we have found in our research about what all of these things mean. Continue reading “Understanding Egg Terminology” →

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Mollys Knob Vista Trail Hungry Mother State Park Marion VA

Molly’s Knob Hungry Mother State Park, Marion VA

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We generally try to go on a little weekend getaway for our anniversary each year. However, there was just too much going on this year around our anniversary with Jon’s new job, church events, Sarah’s soccer, Sarah’s birthday, and Ryan’s high school graduation. We were going up to Morgantown, WV for Ryan’s graduation and needed to get Jon’s Mom along the way. So our trip to graduation was going to be about 10 hours of driving in one day. Yeehaw! After the graduation, we stayed the night with Jon’s Mom in WV. We had planned on trying to hit a hike somewhere along our way home to NC the next day. A couple of years ago, we had visited Coopers Rock State Park, Babcock State Park, and Valley Falls State Park nearby so we wanted to try some place we had not already been. We settled in on Hungry Mother State Park in Marion, VA. It was just a short drive out of our way as we headed back south.
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Raising Backyard Chickens for Eggs Chicken - Feed

Raising Backyard Chickens for Eggs. Part 4 – Feed

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So you are wondering what to feed your chickens?  There are a lot of options and misconceptions about chicken feed.  Organic, medicated, vegetarian, all natural, scratch and cracked corn just to name a few.  I will try to clear up some of the confusion by passing along what I have learned over the years we have been chicken owners.

In order to sort through all of the confusion, first lets start by clearing up industry standard terms (adding some of my own commentary on each).
Continue reading “Raising Backyard Chickens for Eggs. Part 4 – Feed” →

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Myrrh-Oils-of-the-Bible

Oils of the Bible

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Essential oils are known to be some of the oldest and most powerful substances on earth. The Bible contains over 200 references to oils, incense, ointments, and other aromatics. They were used for the healing of the sick, anointing, and religious rituals. Oils were used to treat ailments of all kinds and were highly treasured. The Egyptians used many different oils for rituals, including cleaning their bodies and embalming their dead. Hippocrates (the Father of Medicine), the Greeks, the Romans, Napoleon, European Crusaders, the Arabians (developers of distillation), and even early American colonists have used essential oils.
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chickens-for-eggs-the-coop-nesting-boxes-feed-water

Raising Backyard Chickens for Eggs. Part 3 – The Coop

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Your chickens have grown and thrived in the brooder and it is time for them to go out to their permanent home.  By this point they have gotten too big for the brooder box, your spouse is tired of the smell and constant dust from all the flapping, and luckily they can tolerate the outside temps.  So its time to move your chickens outside. Continue reading “Raising Backyard Chickens for Eggs. Part 3 – The Coop” →

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