Free Range Pets

Whether you have cats, dogs, horses, cows, chickens, or peacocks, please make sure that they are safe and do not become road hazards. I bring up this topic today because of an incident that happened to sky and I yesterday while we were transporting more stuff and the cat and dog to the farm. What I thought was an SUV that had just caught a blow out ahead of us was actually the SUV hitting and running over a Lab mix of about 6 months old who had run into the Highway. The driver looked like he was going to stop but sadly sped off instead. I, however, did stop and pulled over just in time for the owners to cross into the Highway and retrieve their pet. I got out of the truck to offer any kind of help. The only help I could give to the owners was to confirm that the puppy was actually still breathing and alive, but even that was grim hope to the owners as I could tell by the way she slowly gasped for air that her ribs were likely broken with at least one rib having punctured a lung. They hurriedly carried the puppy to their car and rushed her to the vet. By the time I got back to the truck Skylar was hysterical.

I realize that accidents do occur, but if we took better precautions for safe guarding our pets most of these accidents would never take place. I also realize that cats will not stay behind a fence, and cows and horses get out of fencing just to do so. I even understand that most people like their chickens free range and peacocks, yes there is one family down the road who owns several peacocks, ducks, and turkeys. The Peacocks seem to love to play chicken with the cars that drive by waiting till the very last second to cross the road so the driver has to slam on their breaks. No one ever wants to hit someone's pet. Personally I would love to ban all vehicles,  even though I love my truck, and go back to horse and buggy because it seems to me that if we did we wouldn't have as many broken hearted pet owners in the world.

For the owners of free range Chicken, peacocks, turkeys, and ducks, they can still be free range and not run into the road or even have the potential to run into the road by putting up perimeter fencing to keep them safe from car and predatory animals.

Farmers and ranchers have always used fencing to protect their investment in the livestock that they own and even chickens have coops. So why not look at your pets in the same manor. Most pet owners view their pets as "furry children." I wouldn't let a young child run across the road or play near a highway so why would you allow your pet to do so?

Maybe I'm the only one who thinks this way, but then again I won't even run over road kill that I know has been there for weeks. I also hate vehicles and wish we didn't need them, not because of the noise or pollution or even making the oil companies richer, but because of what they do to so many animals and also what they do to kids on occasion. Vehicles are just like guns, though. Guns don't kill people, people kill people. The same could be said about a vehicle.

the big move

The packing is almost done. Skylar and I have been bringing boxes to the farm and trying to unpack as we go. I've also been slowly loading my truck up with the blueberry bushes, my gardenias, banana shrubs, and sky's passion vine and my roses and hauling them up to the farm. will be loading up some of the lighter orchard trees tomorrow and bringing them to the farm along with yet more boxes.  hopefully by the end of next weekend we will be completely moved in on the farm.

Camping at the farm

Well last night was the first night we spent at the Farm. We are no where near moved in, That will take place next weekend, but that didn't stop us from spending the night and "camping." We had dishes and electricity, running water, and heat. We brought some left overs and cooked up some hot dogs. The only thing we didn't have was T.V., internet, or beds to sleep on. We did bring sky's old T.V and a D.V.D. player, but as we quickly found out the T.V. didn't work. We made a make shift table to eat on and brought folding chairs to sit on, even brought the cat and dog. Jack, the dog, Seemed to be really happy to be back in his home. He realized quickly though that even though home was the same, the property the home was sitting on had changed. We had a great night even though we all  slept on the floor. Sky slept in her old room and Sean and I slept in our room with Jack and the cat. Mini, the cat, had discovered carpet for the first time in her life and the crawl space under my bathtub. I can honestly say that I didn't miss the T.V. or even the internet. I did however miss my couch and my bed.

Making my own pasta:)

Well it's official I've made my own pasta today with the help of my new manual pasta maker :) it took a little playing around with as it was my first time making it, but after a smallish kitchen mess, I've done it:) no more store bought pasta for this family:) it was actually pretty simple. Here's how:

All you need is about a cup of flour

2 beaten eggs (one if the eggs are large)

Teaspoon of salt

And 1-2 tablespoons of water. 

Mix the salt and the flour, then make a well in the flour. Pour in the egg and work the egg into the flour. Once the egg is mixed in well the flour egg mixture should form a firm ball of dough. If mix is too dry add the water. If the mix is too wet add more flour a little at a time. Need the ball of dough. Once the dough is kneeded place the dough into the flat rollers of the pasta maker. When the dough comes out cut crosswise to make smaller. Add flour as needed a little at a time if the dough is still wet and sticky. Pass through the flat rollers again. Then pass the dough through the cutting rollers and let the pasta dry for about an hour. Repeat as needed:) the pasta will last up to 2 weeks of stored in a cool dry place. 

Louisiana public schools

Before I start my rant I want everyone to know that I am in no way shape or form grouping ALL public school teachers or all teachers in general in this rant. I am very aware that teachers have a lot to deal with day in and day out and there are excellent teachers in both public and private schools. This particular rant has to do with Skylar's honors English teacher and others like her. With that said hold on cause here I go. 

Skylar, as bright as she is, does make poor grades in some classes. She's not perfect and does except her grades good or bad gracefully. If she recieves a poor grade she usually knows the reason why. This particular case has to do with a poetry assignment she was to write for class. She did the assignment as instructed and being in talented art, to her black and white is color. Her assignment was to write, illustrate, and color a poetry book. Skylar wrote all but one required poem, illustrated all the poems written, and chose a black and white theme for the illustrations. When she got the assignment back she had a poor grade for "lack of style." Even I thought "lack of style" had to be a blatant mistake. When I hear "lack of style " on a poetry assignment my thought is style of writing, which I know for a fact that Skylar has "Style" when it comes to writhing. The public schools in the area we live in has what they call M.P.C.'s (multi paragraph compositions) that all the children are required to write. One of these M.P.C's that Skykar wrote last year in the new format that the school board had implemented was so good, according to her English teacher last year, that she showed it to a school board member who was also equally impressed and decided to use it as a teaching tool for all of the schools in the parish. So when I asked the honors English teacher about Skylar's "lack of style" she had informed me that it was not with her writing, but with the lack of illustration and color. Really??? I looked over Skylar's assignment again and it was illustrated and colored, although the color was black and white. So when I proceeded in telling the teacher she was mistaken (yes I know) she proceeded to tell me that she had 31 years of experience in teaching. Really??? And still maintained that the assignment was not illustrated and colored. Then proceeded to tell me that her grade stands. I never did ask the woman in any way to change Skylar's grade. It's not something I believe in. However, don't ever tell me or any parent that their child didn't do something when they clearly did. That to me is lying, something I do not and will not tolerate, especially from an educator. This brings to mind the old phrase," those who can, do. those who can't ,teach."  No offense to anyone but in this case it seems to be true, that is why this particular teacher has mentioned her tenure to me twice in emails. Skylar has also complained about the gros mispronunciation of Greek figures in  literature. Certain things just irritate me to no end, and this is one of them. I too had an English teacher in highschool that did this very same thing. Of course I'm a little bolder than my daughter, and would openly correct my English teacher everytime. It would've been one thing if the teacher was just ill informed, but when the pronunciation key is right there next to the name it just makes me crazy! At some point when these educators are going to college they must have a professor who mispronounces the names when teaching. I sti can't get over how you can teach children and not pronounce things correctly! It's like teaching math and you can't even add or substract correctly.  This is one of the many reasons the education system here is crap!! Not to mention that you have some teachers who are not certified to teach certain classes that are teaching those classes. All I can say is that this particular woman has been poorly teaching for the last 31 years. She may not be the worst but she's certainly somewhere near the bottom. Keep in mind it has nothing to do with the grade my child received, even though it may seem that way, it's not. It has to do with the fact that she lied and her teaching practices. This teacher seems to be one of those that doesn't make learning interesting. Another English teacher whose class is also reading Romeo and Juliet is having her class act out the play. This teacher is just having the kids read it as she does with all of the assignments. She has also told Skylar that she wasn't reading one of the novels that they were reading in class because Skykar had not gotten to one of the chapters in the book that the class had already read. Apparently this teachers fails to realize that Skykar has been in the 504 program, a program for kids who are ADHD or have learning disabilities, for the last 8 years due to her ADHD. Skylar has to listen to the audio version of the books otherwise she will read the same sentance 50 times before moving on. Not to mention Skykar tends to be a slow reader. I guess my point is for all the teachers out there, get the kids interested in learning and never lie about a student. Make sure you take the time out to know the kids you teach and be very specific with directions when it comes to something that may be interpreted in any number of different ways. Also don't always assume that a parent is asking for a grade change most of us are amart enough to know that will never happen, and, unless asked, do not throw out the " I've been teaching for x amount of years. Or I have x amount of professional teaching experience" because my response to that is "and you've just been poorly doing your job as an educator for that amount of time." If you've been teaching that long you should know better. And whether you've been teaching that long or not always look at a problem and see where maybe it could've been taught better or in another way. Never be afraid to admit when you may have been wrong and correct it, maybe even learn something new. You can always teach an old dog new tricks.  

Couldn't ask for better

I have to say I have the sweetest man I could've asked for. The other morning he brought Skykar to school for me so I could get some extra sleep. Then he wakes me up with an omelet, fruit salad, my morning cup of coke, and a dozen pink roses. A surprise breakfast in bed. Then today, he tells me to order a dinnerware set that I had found and to put it on his card. We had decided that we needed an 8 setting dish set since neither one of us had a full set of dishes for everyday use. In a way getting a new set of dishes when we're packing up to move is a little bit silly, but it's our way of starting from scratch. I guess it all goes with moving out to the farm to start this amazing life together and kind of redecorating at the same time. Sean always did have a way of surprising me and I guess that's one of the things I love about him most, well that and his sense of humor.

Finally packing for the big move

We've finally started packing for our big move onto the farm. Granted we haven't got much done in the way of packing, but at least we've started. I had started packing up our living room, which to look at it really doesn't look like ive done much of anything. I packed up the stand around things on the coffee and end tables and a few wall hangings. I've even managed to pack away all the dvd's and the few play station games we had. I guess my next tasks will be to pack up the dinning room and kitchen. I figure if I start packing the kitchen, Sean will be more willing to get in gear. Sean,like myself, tends to procrastinate a lot. I know this move will be kind of difficult for him to some degree as he has worked so hard to make the house we are currently living in very beautiful. He had put a lot of time and money into that house and his hard work shows in every room. I hate to leave the house myself, but the current house has become somewhat of a financial hardship on the both of us. Not to mention that there's no room for us to expand and farm like we want to do. I know on more than a few levels he's ready for this move, but I also know how hard it is for him to simply let go of something he's worked so hard at. I, on the other hand, miss my house as small as it is and have been so ready to get back to the farm. 

Learn something fascinating everyday : Honey Bees

As soon as I started making my raised vegetable boxes on the farm this year, I had a new curious little garden helper, a Honey Bee. This little Honey Bee would hang around close by watching me build the boxes and plant the veggie plants. After I'd finish a box and plant the veggies in that box he would go around to every plant checking them out but never really landed on them, not even the tomato plants that had open flowers on them. When he was done buzzing happily around me and my Vegetables he would leave and show back up the very next time I went out to do more planting, repeating the same little routine and always by himself.

I welcomed the little Honey Bee's attention just like I welcome the attention from Big Ben and any other little garden helpers that may come around. In a slightly off kilter way, the Honey bees' seemingly pleased approval made me feel like I was doing everything right in the garden.

Here are a couple of interesting facts that I have learned about the Honey Bee over the years.

How can you tell when your Honey bees are Happy?

Well according to some Bee Keepers, When the Honey Bees are happy they emanate a Lemon like scent throughout the hive and within close proximity to the hive. If the Bees are unhappy or angry they emanate a Banana like scent which aids as a warning before an attack on predators.

How is Honey classified?

Honey is classified by the flowers that the Bees pollinate most. If the honey at your local grocer is labeled clover honey, then the bees that made that honey primarily pollinated clover fields.
There are other types of Honey as well, like orange and apple blossom Honey where the bees primarily pollinated an orchard of either Orange or Apple trees. There is also what they call wildflower Honey which comes from the bees having a large array of wild flowers to pollinate from where one flower is not more prevalent than the others.

Homemade butter

I've been having fun learning how to be a little more self sufficient. With that said, I think I need way more money (lol). I finally have the support, freedom, and the determination to just go with it and give it my all. 

So tonight I've learned how to make my own butter, and I made Skylar help. This has got to be the easiest recipe I've ever tried. 

Things needed:

Heavy whipping cream (or you can use regular whipping cream)

Salt

1 or more mason jars with lids depending on how much you plan to make.

Strainer or colander 

Directions:

First Fill mason jar 1/2 to 3/4 full of whipping cream. Put lid on and screw ring on firmly. Next Shake jar until the liquid sounds like it's becoming solid. 

Once you have more solid than liquid empty the contents of the jar into the colander allowing the liquid to drain out. Then place the solid butter into a bowl adding a little salt at a time and stir the salt into the butter. Once you've gotten the butter salted place into a butter mold,covered container, or butter dish and refrigerate.  The butter will become firmer in the refrigerator.  

Big Ben the Barn kitty

I've mentioned Big Ben on the blog before. He does not belong to us but to a neighbor down the road. this past week or so Big Ben has been hanging around the farm watching us garden, walking through the garden beds once I've finished planting them, getting his undivided affection, and even rolling around in the garden beds on newly planted cucumbers. Recently we've noticed that he had injured his back leg. The sore on that leg looks as though a small dog or other smallish animal had grabbed his leg. It's healing nicely though and it doesn't seem to slow him down one bit. I seem to have this feeling though that he is staying under our house pretty much day and night as he feels safe there. With the last couple days being cold I'm pretty sure he stayed at his house. We have come to love Big Ben and I do worry about him daily. I've also learned that Big Ben is very self sufficient for a cat. I always feel bad when I forget to bring him some food. However, I kind of stopped feeling bad since he has proven to be a very skilled hunter, even for a cat.

We had gone out to the farm last weekend to do some gardening and while walking to the garden beds I noticed a very dead half eaten mouse in my path. I immediately knew it had been Big Ben. I didn't think too much of it even though I felt bad for the mouse. Later that day big Ben made his usual appearance and when he tired of his affections and got a little hungry he went off and caught a sparrow to eat. This didn't sit well with me as I feed birds and put up nest boxes for them as well.

The next day we go back out to the farm and as soon as I pulled up I could tell Big Ben had caught something. I get out and walk over to him and see that he had caught yet another medium sized mouse. He dropped the mouse and it was then I realized he hadn't yet killed it, but had only severely wounded it. Before I could walk away he grabbed the mouse again and this time finished it off right as Sky had walked up. I felt bad for that mouse too but I realized that Big Ben was doing us a service by keeping them out of the house.

As sky and I walked away to begin gardening we looked back at Big Ben just in time to see him throw his prized kill high up into the air and leap after it to catch it. In some weird way it was almost comical to watch as the now dead mouse seemed to be attached to an unseen string being pulled up by an unseen hand.

Like I said before we really do love Big Ben. I  may not agree with him hunting birds, which I've only caught him doing once, but he's more than welcome to all the mice he wants. Don't get me wrong I actually love mice, but I don't love mice in my house,being we've had a mouse problem before and these two mice Big Ben has caught seemed to be headed toward the house I don't mind one little bit.

A simpler life

Hey guys and gals, 

I know I've been away from the blog for about a week or so now. I can't say that I've been real busy, more like preoccupied. 

My veggie boxes are done for now, well at least until we get a little warmer weather here to stay. I have a total of five raised beds planted and completely covered with breathable medium grade plant tarps. I still have one last raised bed to plant. So far I've managed to plant tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, strawberries, squash, onions, and a variety of herbs. I hope to be able to plant my corn, potatoes, and watermelon soon. Just can't wait to get them in the ground and growing. 

Since I've been away from the blog, I have stumbled across an awesome little website that just sent happy little tendrils of excitement down my spine. 

The website is www.lehmans.com.

They cater more to the Amish way of living and although I'm not particularly religious myself, I do really admire the way the Amish live. 

The Amish are very simple and though many may think them to be behind the times, they actually have a way of life that has been long forgotten by modern society. With those values and old ways of doing diminishing rapidly our society is slowly crumbling. 

Sean may have kind of thought my cheese had slid way off my cracker this time, but I think he could relate and seemed to even encourage me.

I went and purchased from this website an old time wash board, a gift basket of old school laundry products for the wash board, two beautiful oil lamps, an old style pitcher, a honey pot, broomcorn seed, dragon carrot seeds, an apple peeler and corer, and an old fashion bushel basket. I wanted to get the butter churn aswell and almost did but decided to wait being that I don't have the faintest idea how to make my own butter.... Nor do I have milking cows, or any cows or even goats for that matter. 

Lehmans had everything from wood burning and duel fuel antique replica stoves and refrigerators to farming equipment. Anything you could imagine for a more simpler life they had, even a compost toilet!!!

Yes, I even considered getting a composit toilet briefly..... Until I thought about being anywhere in the vicinity  of the bathroom after Sean had been in there. Sorry to say that alone changed my mind really quick:) 

I must admit though that I do really get into the old ways of living and eventhough I can't love without my cell phone or my computer, I really do wish at times that we could all just go back to the days of horse drawn carriages and the old ways of living. I myself am sometimes guilty of always trying to find an easier way of doing things, but I usually never shy away from hard work especially when it comes to farming and gardening.