What did you do on the homestead today?

  • Thread starter Lawless
  • Start date
  • Replies 72
  • Views 1,489
beamernc;n92277 said:
Years ago a neighbor slaughtered a pot belly that someone gave him. He said that it was all fat and not fit to eat.
Click to expand...

Any pig is all about what they are fed. There have always been such things as lard hogs. I personally want to look at the pig I'm buying to barbeque, on the hoof. Most who know about cooking hogs, prefer a "piney woods rooter" or leaner hog.
Not all hogs are created equal, but they are all delicious if you know how to feed and handle them for slaughter and processing.
 
Did a little saw milling today with my BIL. I dropped them and put them on his homemade bandsaw mill and he cut them up into 2x6, 2x8, 6x6 and 4x4s.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1990.JPG
    IMG_1990.JPG
    173 KB · Views: 9
  • IMG_1987.JPG
    IMG_1987.JPG
    156.7 KB · Views: 11
  • IMG_1988.JPG
    IMG_1988.JPG
    167 KB · Views: 10
  • IMG_1989.JPG
    IMG_1989.JPG
    147.7 KB · Views: 9
He built that bandsaw mill?
We need details if they are available, looks good.
How long is the bed?
 
ronn47;n92451 said:
He built that bandsaw mill?
We need details if they are available, looks good.
How long is the bed?
Click to expand...

15 foot. He has an addition that bolts up to it and can do 20 foot. We cut some beautiful lumber in the last 2 days!!!!
 
Mightyox04;n77113 said:
Killed a rabbit. Froze the meat i didnt use for jerky. The backs i set aside because its the best part. I got the liver and made pate. The hide is on the strecher and if i have time will tan it next weekend. Reinforced the fence so the pigs cant get out again. The rabbit meat is curing and will be ready to smoke before the weekend.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you're making a career out of one rabbit. My cat (my avatar with confirmed rabbit kill #14) can finish one in about an hour. She eats every part except the stomach and another, smaller organ I haven't quite identified.

In about the same amount of time as she takes to eat a rabbit, I put up a little bit of firewood.

 

Attachments

  • Wood-Pile Tree-540-large.jpg
    Wood-Pile Tree-540-large.jpg
    470 KB · Views: 6
Howland It really only takes a minute to do so. Silver fox rabbits are a little bigger than eastern cotton tails.



Thursday I killed three pigs. Finished two of them up left one hanging over night and finished it Friday moring. Friday I fixed the baby crib. Made slats for my bed and built two rasied beds for the garden. My garden area floods so I dug a trench to get the water off. I started filling one bed with composted cow manure and leaves. I'm going hiking with our boy scouts today and then headed out to get more manure and maybe some squirrels.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I used a lawn sweeper to pick up a blue gazillion sweet gum balls out of the front yard. They were so bad, my dog was having trouble walking in the yard. If there was a use for them I would be rich.
 
Kale is sprouting in the garden. Bush pickles and black krim's are sprouting fantastically. Cherokee purple are up, but a few days later than the krim's. Got the supplied to build a container bed for carrots so we don't use the raised garden. Gonna cut the soil with sand too. My solitary surviving cauliflower is about ready. Might sprout some more and plant them down in the shaded garden. Maybe they will do well there, nothing else does.
 
Built a wicking container for carrots. I'll do another this week since I over bought dirt and sand.

2 bags of lava rocks for the bottom. Weed fabric over the rocks. 2 square feet of soil and 3/4 bag of sand mixed in if anyone cares.


f32efb5bc9bfbc883b63f110b5e325bb.jpg



b7e35a0d3eb4214bc2110ab7e16a3cdd.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Man y'all are some handy mofos.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
How does that get started? Water wise. Just water as normal until you see water in the tube? Fill thru the tube?
Learn me something , please.
 
Mirac;n94684 said:
How does that get started? Water wise. Just water as normal until you see water in the tube? Fill thru the tube?
Learn me something , please.
Click to expand...

Google wicking worm bed and downsize that info for the full details. Short answer, fill through the tube until water comes out the drain. The drain is located level, or slightly above the rocks which is where the water is held. The water wicks up through the weed fabric and soil. When you plant seeds you also have to water from the top until they are established. Once established, fill the reservoir occasionally. You don't water from the top once established to help keep weeds down too. I have 3 4x10' beds. But they are expensive to build and I didn't want to tie one up with carrots this spring. So building 2 of these might be the answer we were looking for. And until we tear our low deck down, space is kind of tight and can't fit another full size bed anyway.
 
beamernc;n93828 said:
I used a lawn sweeper to pick up a blue gazillion sweet gum balls out of the front yard. They were so bad, my dog was having trouble walking in the yard. If there was a use for them I would be rich.
Click to expand...

There is. They make cold medicine. Cut up some balls and soak then in ever clear. Youll basically have theraflu.
 
Mightyox04;n94993 said:
There is. They make cold medicine. Cut up some balls and soak then in ever clear. Youll basically have theraflu.
Click to expand...

Only if you pick them immature and green from the tree.
Its not Theraflu, it's Tamiflu which you only get by prescription. The active ingredient is shikimic acid. You can get even better results from star anise, but sweet gum balls are free.
 
Yesterday got me a shiny yellow tractor.

Today I chained it up nice and good, moved around some garbage and went exploring with the middle child. Found a bottom plow buried under collapsed fencing and briars. Might still even be good if I can get it out.
 
_20170314_142127.JPG Picked up 6 Holstein steers yesterday.
 
Last edited:
chiefjason said:
Built a wicking container for carrots. I'll do another this week since I over bought dirt and sand.

2 bags of lava rocks for the bottom. Weed fabric over the rocks. 2 square feet of soil and 3/4 bag of sand mixed in if anyone cares.


f32efb5bc9bfbc883b63f110b5e325bb.jpg



b7e35a0d3eb4214bc2110ab7e16a3cdd.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


That's a good idea to use those, I'll probably steal it the next time my wife asks to grow something we don't normally grow. How are your other beds doing? I have to replace the liner in mine, it sprung a leak. I'm not looking forward to shoveling all that dirt and rocks out of it only to put it back once the liner is replaced. I'll probably just put a new liner under the old one to protect it from the rocks. Probably shouldn't of used #57's, but they were cheap.
 
RockRiver said:
That's a good idea to use those, I'll probably steal it the next time my wife asks to grow something we don't normally grow. How are your other beds doing? I have to replace the liner in mine, it sprung a leak. I'm not looking forward to shoveling all that dirt and rocks out of it only to put it back once the liner is replaced. I'll probably just put a new liner under the old one to protect it from the rocks. Probably shouldn't of used #57's, but they were cheap.
Click to expand...

I think mine are still ok. It's hard to tell if it's a small leak or all the plants sucking up water sometimes. One of the beds always took more water but it had a lot of green peppers and cucumbers.

I'm going to go several more of those containers this spring instead of digging beds.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
chiefjason said:
I think mine are still ok. It's hard to tell if it's a small leak or all the plants sucking up water sometimes. One of the beds always took more water but it had a lot of green peppers and cucumbers.

I'm going to go several more of those containers this spring instead of digging beds.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
My leak was pretty obvious, and this past year at least one more has sprung. It started leaking out the bottom of the wooden bed when it would get about 3/4 of the way full. Now it starts leaking at about 1/4 full. No point in adding more water at that point, so last year I had to water the bed about two to three times a week.

I really like the container idea if they will hold up. As long as you keep the fill pipe below the top of the container, you could put the lid on in the off season. If you had a place to store them, you could build little carts for them and roll them wherever you wanted.
 
RockRiver said:
My leak was pretty obvious, and this past year at least one more has sprung. It started leaking out the bottom of the wooden bed when it would get about 3/4 of the way full. Now it starts leaking at about 1/4 full. No point in adding more water at that point, so last year I had to water the bed about two to three times a week.

I really like the container idea if they will hold up. As long as you keep the fill pipe below the top of the container, you could put the lid on in the off season. If you had a place to store them, you could build little carts for them and roll them wherever you wanted.
Click to expand...

I trimmed mine low and cover them with a window when it's cold. Mini greenhouse.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Butchered 10 chickens. Kept 3 whole and took the breast and thighs off the rest. I knew one of the dads on the shooting team had chicken houses. But seems that they only take the chickens that meet their standards out of the houses. The rest he has to get rid of. So my freezer is as good a place as any.
 
Cukes got too big for the make shift greenhouse so in the ground the go. Harvesting baby kale now too. Gonna be cool tonight so wrapped them in ag fabric for a week or so.

a013321a5c87d07db1dc71ea16a3c080.jpg



978e1cf63653d61843b6a6ba216b2384.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Beans in and covered. When they sprout we are raising the cover to 3'. Bush beans are self pollinating. Hope to keep the beetles out this year.

9d2042edf447caf06f9821014f9d5016.jpg



f26fc04f43da459c2d3367525f6b92fb.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Till my garden up to let my chickens scratch and poo in the same area. Going to go back in a week or so and retill and then plant.

Planted 2 apple trees, a Concord grape vine, got 4 blueberry bushes to put in this week also.

Then gotta get the mower fixed, and then get ready to mow about an acre of my property to get ready for more trees and pigs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom