Black Thumb

As I stated earlier the garden didn't quite turn out like we had hoped it would. Although it seemed like it was gonna grow out of control it faded rapidly and we lost a lot of crops. I'm mystified by most of it, but we were able to figure some things out.

The big loss was our tomatoes! At one point the plants were huge and we had lots of green tomatoes and that's when the tomato bugs moved in. They didn't seem like to much of a problem though. We would just pick them off (although they are well camouflaged and hard to spot) and smash them on a rock. However, just as the tomatoes began turning red I started to notice the leaves wilting and white speckles on the ground around the plants. I thought this white stuff was tomato bug droppings and so we increased our efforts to destroy the ugly little creatures. Yet, no matter how many we got rid of the plants still looked sickly. Before long the tomatoes started to develop nasty brown spots on them and became mushy. at this point we had lost the crop but didn't quite know why.


After some research and talking with other gardening folks we came to the conclusion that our tomatoes had been hit by Blight. Not positive about that or how they contracted it, but by next season I hope to know for sure. All and all, Melissa was able to harvest some cherry tomatoes for salads and such, but our big canning dreams had to be canned.

Our corn, having survived an early deer ambush, did produce fairly well. I'm not sure exactly how many ears we harvested, but the ears were small. They tasted good and we froze about a dozen of them but i was pretty disappointed in their overall size. I think I need to plant more corn next year.

Cucumbers did well and we canned a lot of pickles and we ate a ton in our salads. no real complaint here, although next year we want to plant more....we really loved those pickles!

The Squash plants grew like mad, but just like the corn, the squash were stunted and never matured into anything edible. I did learn that I planted too many and had they ripened we probable would have had more than we needed.

Onions were good for the most part, but we never got any large ones...they just wouldn't grow. I even bent all of the plants over as I heard this would promote the onions growth. it did a little but mostly we just had small bulbs.

Radishes did fine, at least the ones that grew which were only a handful. Again not sure what happened here. Can't figure out why most just seemed to die.

The potatoes were also a big disappointment, but I think I'm to blame. First of all I think I planted a few weeks to late, and second, I didn't buy seed potatoes. I just took ones we had that had sprouted eyes...cut them into smaller pieces and buried them. We did harvest some but not nearly enough; maybe 10 pounds but that is being generous.

The green peppers did well I thought, we just didn't plant enough. Again, we'll be putting more in the garden next year.

Pole beans...didn't do so well after the deer attack. We did manage to get a few handfuls but we had lost most of the plants to the deer.

The watermelon never matured, but I think that was partly due to planting them to late. The plants grew good, but the melons never matured....same as the squash.

So that's the short of it, but I do think I learned a little from the experience.

1: My soil isn't that great. I have heard that I can get it tested to see what it is lacking and I definitely need to get that done. However, i didn't want to have to buy a bunch of stuff to add to the soil, but I may not have a choice.

2: Protect against deer and other animals early on. The stuff I did do worked; I just need to do it right when I plant.

3. Plant at the right times. To be honest I was a little overwhelmed when it was time to get the garden started and wasn't as prepared as I should have been. That won't happen again.

4: Learn more about the plants I am growing. I had researched a lot about general gardening when we started, but I think I really need to advance my studies on the specifics. I had thought if you plant it it will grow...I was wrong. There is a lot of wisdom needed in gardening.

All and all, for our first garden, I think we did OK. if my soil is poor and it was indeed blight that smoked are tomatoes i won't feel so bad about the slim harvest. yet, since our goal is self sufficiency I need to get this gardening stuff down. It's hard to eliminate buying food when you don't harvest enough of the things you grow. If this were the old days and we didn't have a grocery store, it would be a very hard winter for us.

If anyone has any ideas after reading this and viewing the pics...Please share your thoughts!

100% Homestead!

This photo depicts an entire meal from food we grew and raised ourselves!!! YEAH!!
Herb seasoned pork steak, fresh corn on the cob, herb seasoned red skin potatoes, and fresh veggie salsa! The meal was one of the best I’ve ever had and I’m sure it something to do with that fact that we did it all ourselves. It was so satisfying knowing we can provide for ourselves and actually eat VERY well!

Home Grown!

Garden Update:

The Garden is doing really well, at least we think it is. Since this is our first time growing anything I guess even a little success goes a long way! Melissa is keeping an actual tally of what we have harvested so when it's all said and done will post up what our overall haul was.

Corn:Right now the corn is looking good even though deer ate most of it early on. The few stalks they didn't eat have multiple ears on them, and the ones they did eat still managed to survive and are producing. Not ready to harvest yet, but I think it will be soon!

Cucumbers: I planted six hills of cucumbers; 3 normal ones and then 3 that are a 'pickling' variety. Two hills of the normal ones and one hill of the other type are pumping out a vast quantity of cucumbers. We've already been eating them and soon we'll try our hand at making pickles.

Watermelon: Like the cucumbers I planted 6 hills. Although all came up, only three are really producing. We have a couple of tennis ball sized melons and quite a few more smaller ones. The ones that aren't growing well, I believe, has more to do with getting behind on weeding than anything else.

Peppers: All the pepper plants are doing good and producing. No complaints here...we've been eating them on a regular basis!

Egg Plant: My mom had bought a few of these plants so we planted them and lo and behold we have a bunch of them producing. We just harvested one Egg Plant yesterday and fried it up. Never had it before and it was pretty darn good as a side dish.

Squash: This stuff has grown great right from the start. They all came up and we have a ton of squash growing...I'm a little worried. Next year I'll probably only plant half of what I did.

Onions: The first round of Onions we planted as seed and nothing grew. We then planted bulbs and they have been doing nicely. We hopefully will get some large onions out of them, that is if Melissa can keep her hands out of them, lol.

Head Lettuce: At first we didn't think they where going to grow, but we did have a handful come up. They look ok, but I think they are a long way till harvest. We'll see what happens.

Green Beans: They took a beating from the deer, but what we do have left are producing. I just took a handful of beans inside today. I'm not sure if we'll ever get enough to can or freeze but at least will have some for a couple of meals.

Potatoes: Plants look good and we've been doing a lot of research on when to harvest. We're not there yet but we believe its close.

Tomatoes: We've got tomatoes! Big ones, medium ones, and little ones. We've ate a couple, but most are still green. I have a feeling here in the next few days we are going to be neck deep in tomatoes. That's exactly what we want though. We've got a lot of plans for these red veges!

So that's it, but what have we learned to do and not do?

First, protect against deer. Early on, the deer came in and ate most of the corn and green beans. Although those things have survived I think our harvest would have been better had it not happened at all. After the attack, I set up a few fence posts and hung shiny tin plates from strings that I stretched between the posts. I also tied human hair (from our brushes) on the posts, about half way up. I then took some hair clippings and scattered them around the perimeter of the garden. Lastly, I used a mixture of 1/2 bottle of hot sauce to a gallon of water and sprayed that occasionally on the plants. I'm not sure what worked or if all of it did...but no deer since doing this. I haven't sprayed the sauce mixture in quite awhile nor have I refreshed the hair, so maybe the plates were enough. Next year I'll have my anti-deer defense set up early.

Bugs: Hadn't seen any sign of these types of pests until just a few days ago. While tending to the tomatoes I started notices what looked like little black poops littered around some of the plants. After a few minutes of investigation I saw the culprits. Nasty green monster worms! We found 8 of them and promptly squashed them. Now I look every day...haven't found anymore yet!

Weeding: Don't ever get behind! A camping trip and a few days of not feeling well and things got out of control in a hurry. Btw, I love weeding! It;s very peaceful in the evening...kind of like a reflection time: to think of things gone by and things yet to come.
Advise: We are getting it from where ever we can. Family, friends, strangers, books, Internet....there is so much info out there, and a lot to absorb! We've got time though and I feel we've learned so much already

We have been told that our abnormally cool summer has stunted growth this year. I can only agree. Things have been pretty hot lately and I think that"s why we have seen a growth spurt.

All in all though it has been well worth the trouble. Melissa mentioned the other day that it has been so nice eating fresh vegetables daily...and we're broke. Normally, when short on cash the fresh veges would wait. Not the case anymore! Feeling more self sufficient is always good too...it's a big motivator. I have to say...the whole family seems to love the garden (the work included)!

Give me a Brake

Over the course of my life I have worn many hats and done a lot of different things, but when it came to anything mechanical I would always defer to a professional. Especially when it came to our vehicles. It was always my thought that if you needed repairs, minor or major, you went to the shop, pulled out your plastic, and walked away with a fixed car and some type of warranty.

Well, that type of thinking is over for us, and so when the brakes on our Blazer started squealing I knew I was soon going to be delving into realms unknown. To be honest I wasn't too worried about the actual job of changing the brakes, but I was worried about my tool situation. I have always believed that I could do just about anything as long as I have the proper tools, and proper tools were exactly what I did not have. My collection of automotive tools is a mismatched and unorganized mess that is crammed into two large tool boxes. Most of these tools are from stuff my Dad had laying around and the rest are just odds and ends I have acquired over the years.

Just to make sure It was indeed my brakes making all that noise (which I was 99% sure) and to get a price quote so I could see how much money I was going to save, I took the Blazer into Midas and had them look at it. The estimate they gave me was $236.00 for brakes and rotors. Apparently I had let the brakes go too long and now the rotors had to be replaced. My habit of procrastination was costing me. Once again the hard lesson that 'putting things off and being frugal doesn't mix well' was rearing its ugly head.

Anyways, with the information about the parts I needed at hand, I headed over to a local automotive store and purchased what I would need. Brakes, rotors, a small packet of grease and some spray cleaner...the total: $100 and some change. A difference of $136 from the Midas quote. The way me and Melissa looked at it...that was $136 dollars we didn't have to earn, and that is a good thing.

The next thing I did was 'google' anything I could pertaining to changing brakes, which thankfully there was a ton. So, with a couple printouts in hand, my new parts, and a smattering of odd tools, I went to work.

At this point I'd like to tell you how smooth everything went, but if I'm being honest I have to tell you that my lack of tools (and quality tools!) was a problem. Once I figured out what size I needed to take of my caliper bolts (18 mm btw for anyone with a 2002 blazer), and discovered that I had every MM size except 18 I had to go buy a socket. Returning with my new socket I immediately broke my old and shabby ratchet. This prompted another run to the store, but this time I bought a wrench. My savings (or money we don't have to earn) was being depleted. At least my useful tool collection was growing.

As I suspected, once I had the proper tools, the actual job was rather easy. It did take the better part of the afternoon, but when all was said and done...the brakes worked great!

New skills and accomplishments are a great recipe for successful homesteading!

“And your very flesh shall be a great poem.”

When we decided to start our style of homesteading we decided to make a list of all the skills we had that could generate money. Although we were lowering our expenses, we still needed to be able to make money to pay for our necessities...mainly land taxes, medical bills and our house payment.

One of the skills that was on the top of my list was Tattooing. I have been tattooing on and off since I was a teenager, and Melissa worked in a tattoo shop when I met her. Over the years we have opened and closed two tattoo businesses, and sold our equipment numerous times. Yet, through all of that I have always loved the artistry behind tattoos and have always been drawn back to the craft after long absences.

Since it is a skill I have and love, and I now have the time to dedicate myself to the art...I have once again started slinging ink. The wonderful part about it is that in the past I was so concerned about the money side of it that I would lose sight of how much I enjoyed creating permanent art on people. Now don't get me wrong, we still need the money, but now it is not the primary focus. For once in my life I can truly enjoy tattooing

Here's a sample of my most recent work and If you like you can visit Sanctus Tattooing, my blog that will display images of my work.

This little piggy went to market!

With just a little more than 3 months at True North, our two pigs have been sent to The Butcher Block...literally. The Butcher Block is a butcher that lives close by us and was highly recommended.

Of course, like all things at True North, this process was not without its problems. Unfortunately I can only blame myself, as usual. Back when we decided to get pigs and we were doing our research, one of the things that was stressed was to make sure you had a way to transport your livestock. Well, needless to say I waited until the last minute and my transportation plans fell apart.

I have a small trailer that I use to haul wood and my plan was to build small walls around it, load the pigs up, and away we'd go. That was until I got my truck stuck with the trailer on...unhooked the trailer...and then proceeded to back over the hitch, crushing the mechanism that attaches to the ball, ripping off the right side tail lights and the license plate. Now, before you feel too sorry for me I should disclose that all this damage took place in February, and I kept putting off the repairs. The next thing I knew the pigs were ready to go, the trailer wasn't, and I had a ton of stuff to do that wasn't related to either. Such is life...and one day I'll learn procrastination is not a virtue, especially when your trying to save money.

Enter Russ: Russ is the man we bought the two pigs from. From the start, when we first met him, I thought he was great. Good-natured, friendly, and didn't treat us with disdain because we didn't know what we were doing. Instead, he guided us through this process; first by selling us wonderful animals, then checking them out when they closed in on the finishing line, and finally by transporting them in his trailer to the butcher for a very cheap price (20 bucks!). Thanks Russ, we'll see you next spring when we buy the next set of pigs!

So Russ shows up, and my pigs practically run into his trailer and lay down. I had Melissa and my older brother James (visiting from Vegas...more on that later) there for help, and Russ had brought one of his hired hands. All that man-power...not needed! Our pigs had been great from the beginning, and it appeared that they would leave they way they came....in good spirits!

After the loading, me and my brother followed Russ to the butchers, and after some quick introductions we unloaded the pigs. Again, with hardly any prompting, the pigs jumped off the trailer and headed inside. It was the last time I would see them alive. With that we filled out some paper work and decided how we wanted them butchered.

As we were returning home I took some time to reflect on the pigs. Don't get me wrong, I'm not squeamish about these types of things; I've hunted for years, but this was a little different. Never before had we raised an animal for slaughter. I had not gotten attached to the pigs, but I had gotten attached to our routine and their squealing during food time. I am also very attached to bacon and ham, so my nostalgia didn't last long. However, we did enjoy our time with them and we are looking forward to next spring when our pen will once again be occupied by a couple of smart and entertaining animals, whom, if only for a short time, will live like kings at True North.

Once I get the final cost of the butchering, and exactly how much meat we get I'll post up how cost effective it was to raise them. A special thanks goes out to Norm (my mother's husband) for purchasing the white pig and helping us off-set our costs! On to the pictures:

Are we there yet?

The guy we purchased the pigs from came over yesterday. He said the pigs look great and we could butcher them now if want. Although he said if it were him he would wait another 2 weeks to get a really good chop out of them. So the countdown begins! We have 2 weeks to find our butcher (which he recommended a good one) and the biggest most important thing to find some one to buy our other pig to cover the cost of the one we keep. He said we are looking at about $1 per pound hanging weight, plus the cost of butcher. So we hope to get about $300 or a little more. That will work perfect for us!

Oh and on a funny note....apparently he said we have 2 boys (brothers). Not a boy and a girl...poor black one has had an identity crisis all this time.

They keep growing and growing and growing....

The garden is taking shape! We have the following growing successfully; watermelon, onion, 3 kinds of tomato, acorn squash, pole beans, potatoes, corn, 2 kinds of cucumbers, peppers and radishes. Crossing our fingers for the lettuce to come up. We planted strawberry's that were already established in a bed and dug up and given to us (Thanks Norm). They seem to be doing good.

We were unsuccessful with our first batch of onion, cauliflower, broccoli, seed peppers and carrots. I think we planted the seeds to deep in the ground with the combination of the not-so-warm weather here in Michigan. We even had a frost in June.

A few things we have learned:
1)Plant seeds inside before season starts.
2)Plant like package says or what fellow family/friends say who have grown it before.
3)Check the weather to see if rain is coming, no need to waste our own water.
4)Don't always count on the weather....LOL

MIL says we should be able to harvest the radishes soon. They were our first crop to be planted and looking nice.

Oh the NOT so little, 3 LITTLE PIGS. Yes they have grown. The are so damn big I think we will be butchering them sooner than expected. The guy we bought them from is coming out today to let us know what he thinks. We were told it would take from March to July to fatten up. About 4 full months. I think ours did it in about 3 and 1/2 months. So far the girl (black one) has fattened up a bit larger the the boy (white one). We still have to make a final decision on the butcher. We've had lots of info thrown at us. We need to keep our costs as low as possible. We halos need to get rid of the other pig. Our plan was to eat one, and sell one to pay for the one we eat. Well at the very least cover as much of the costs as possible.

A few things we learned:
1) Pigs eat ALMOST anything. If they get good scrap, feed and can graze, they leave the greens (grass/weeds/corn husks) til last and may not even eat them at all because they are full.
2)Pigs are pushy and taste test everything. Walk into the pen and suddenly you and your tools become a food samples.
3)Even a big heavy feeding trough and water trough get knocked over. Better to have them nailed to the fence.

Little Enlightenment's

You must plant seeds like the package says. Even if you think you have a green thumb.

Drying laundry on the line does not take as long we thought!

Tools break the more you use them, buy quality to begin with.

Struggles

With so many things that have happened over the last month. I struggled to decide which topic to write about. I decided how ironic it was that I struggled, when that is kinda what I wanted to write about... struggling. LOL, I know I'm not making any sense, but hopefully that will change.

It seems that lately we have been overwhelmed with things... things to do, places to go, people to see, jobs to do. I have found that the hush of winter is not at all as bad as I once thought is was a few months ago, when I was bored out of my mind. I have found that things when thought about or dreamed about are oh so much more romantic and well lets just say it...EASY. But you add the above "tasks" to your dreamy little wonderland, and you have struggle.

Yes I know we were warned that things would be hard and they are, but I don't want to lose sight of the goal. It gets overwhelming when the journey is not enjoyed, when all you want is the end of your task to be near.

Money struggles. Yeah I know cry me a river, but we all are going through it so I though I'd share our story, it's our blog after all! We've not been desperate yet, not starving yet, but we have gone without, and a bill or 2 have been late. It's definitely not for lack of trying, just didn't balance the budget properly and my work is unstable at best. We have managed to keep our heads above water thankfully for now. But it has put jobs behind, like the chicken coop. We have yet to finish that, so it sits partially done and we still have no chickens.

Garden struggles. Ok we all know that this is new territory for us. We've NEVER done the majority of things we have attempted to do, but yet we still try pathetically. The garden, oh the garden. She's a force to be reckoned with. It's a love/hate relationship we have with our garden. So far she has been planted for about 1 month. Well the first half of it anyway. The out come in 1 month is 3/4 of it didn't sprout, so we replanted a bunch and cheated and got some starter plants. Well it was MIL who got them, I think she felt bad for us slaving away and getting no results. The second part of the garden is all Pat. He has been a regular ol' farmer!! He's spent hours sowing, and weeding, and just loving it and it's worked. And the result...we have growth!! Well I should say sprouts, but it's growing and that's all that counts. Now we're told the hard part comes, the bugs...haven't had to deal with that yet, as nothing had grown before. But we're armed and ready with piles of books, magazines, and precious advice from loved ones.

Time struggle. Where does it go? I remember sitting by the fire this winter and anxiously awaiting for the sun to warm us and spring to get sprung. Obviously summer is nearly here and you can tell by the looks of our barren blog that time has gotten the best of us. I think time is one of the hardest struggles of all. But we have all been through it and I'm sure all want and need more of it. But alas...that's life right?

So I thought with this post, I'd put a few pictures of around the homestead here at True North. Hope you enjoy..

Better late than never

So it's been damn near a month since we posted. The month of May is jam-packed with fun things and we got a little caught up in all the excitement and found no time to blog. Mothers day, my b-day, memorial day, highland festival and planting the garden. We'll post about them all when we stop to take a breath. The pigs are gigantic. Still haven't gotten the chickens yet and we've been learning so much!

One Mans Trash.....

The past couple of weekends marked the beginning of Garage, Rummage and Yard Sale season. I love this time of year. It's like a sport for me, hunting down that treasure that's oh so needed.

I picked up quite a few things for us this time around, couple shirts and a great pair of $100 coveralls for $9. I especially like if for finding clothes for Gabrielle. You know she's still stuck in the name brand world so that's what I keep my eye out for her, 3 shorts 2 shirts...score!

Household things are pictured here. The chair is by far my favorite find for $2. Pat's going to try and replicate it so we have a few more around the homestead. The planter was .50 cents and the cupboard was $4. I did practice bartering a lot, everyone that I made an offer to accepted. So offer away, it really works! Great deals for great stuff wouldn't you agree?

Re-Volt

It was at the beginning of November 2008 when we decide to get serious about reducing our debt...and in order to do that, we had to get a hold on our monthly expenses. Our electric bill was at the top of the list...so that's where we started. At this time though, I was still truck driving cross country, so what follows is really a testament to Melissa's and Gabrielle's willingness and determination to lower one of our most costly bills.
Our entire house runs on electric; heat, air, lights, well pump. We have two meters. One is the Main meter and the other is called the Dual Heat meter. Only our furnace runs on the Dual Heat meter, and everything else is on the Main. The good part about that is we get a slight discount on the Dual meter. Needless to say, our electric bills were quite high, especially in the winter and the hottest parts of summer when we ran our air conditioner.

One of the first things, and the most important, that Melissa decided to do was turn the thermostat down to 63 degrees, bundle up, and supplement the heat with our fireplace. Of course we had never seriously used the fireplace before...it was more for decoration and mood, so there was not exactly a lot of wood laying around for her to burn. Luckily, I had a few days off and was able to cut up some wood before I hit the road again.
Yes it was cold. The fireplace did an ok job of warming the living room, but the rest of the house was quite chilly. Yet, my wife and daughter persevered; extra clothes, big comfy blankets...and very rapidly the electric bill began to plummet.

The second thing we discussed and put into action was our appliances and such. We of course switched all our light bulbs over to CFLs...and then we started doing some in depth research on other ways we could save when it came to our appliances. Most of them (fridge, oven, washer...etc) are older models and there was no way we could replace them with newer, more energy efficient ones, so we had to find a way to deal with what we had.
I looked into the water heater and learned that we only needed to have ours set at 120 degrees. The installer had ours at 130, and with a little turn of a dial I reduced the electric bill. Amazing. One article I read said you could save as much as 6-10% by reducing your temperature setting in this way.
Next was the washer. We always had it set on hot/cold cycle and again...with a flip of a switch...turned it to cold/cold, and set the wash cycle to the quickest setting. I can't be sure how much this has saved us, but using less hot water (hot water heater) and having the washer run for a shorter period has to be doing something. Amazingly, our clothes are just as clean as they where before the changes!
There wasn't too much we could do with the dryer. It was winter and we couldn't hang anything outside to dry even if we had something to hang them on. We did debate unhooking the dryer vent and letting the heat circulate inside the house (another article suggestion), but opted not to do that. However, we did set drying time to 20 minutes and would check the clothes to see if they were done, resetting the time if needed. We used to just put them in for an hour whether the needed that much time or not. Btw, I'm in the process of putting a clothes line up right now...the dryer will be semi-retired very soon.
The dishwasher was easy...we just decided to not use it anymore. There where some conflicting points of view as to whether or not hand washing dishes is more economical then using a dishwasher, but I have no doubts that with judicial use, hand washing is way cheaper than having that machine chugging away. Not to mention our dishes are cleaner now then they ever were before.
Electric can opener...Gone! Seriously, I swear I had more problems using it than the hand held one we use now. Maybe not a huge hit to our electric usage, but now it's not any hit at all.
Refrigerator was next. We had read that a fridge should be 36-40F, and the freezer should be 0-5F. If a fridge is set 10 degrees lower than needed (or freezers set 5 degrees lower than needed), it can increase energy use by as much as 20-25%. Since the fridge is the second largest user of electricity...right behind the air conditioner, we got on this one right away.
With the research we had also learned that having appliances, lamps, TVs, computers, etc...plugged into the wall...even when not on, still used electricity. someone had coined the phase as "Ghost Amps". Apparently, these devices, while plugged in, sit there sucking your hard earned money right from the wall. Solution...we unplug them now when not in use. Some of our stuff, like the entertainment center that has multiple devices in one area, all got plugged into a power strip. That way we can flip just one switch and they all get shut down.
Then there are the other things. We shut off lights when we leave a room, take quicker showers, use towels more than once, watch less TV, use candles, and probably a number of other things I can't think of, because now, in just a short period of time, using less electricity has become second nature to us.

Our electric bill used to run us anywhere between $275 and $350 per month depending on the season. Last year at this time we were using 130 Kwh per day. Almost immediately we saw a savings. The first month we had dropped our daily usage drastically and now we average 70 Kwh per day. For us it's a big difference...our eclectic has been cut in half! Since we wont be using the air conditioner this year we believe that we can get the electric bill down below $100 this summer. When winter comes we'll have a real wood furnace, so hopefully that savings will continue. All that savings and it doesn't really seem like we're doing that much different.

Build it and they will come.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, taking care of our pigs has been nothing compared to the preparation in getting our homestead ready for them. Fencing and housing were the big concerns...and our budget...under $100 for a large pen and their pig house.

The Plan: Our first chore was deciding where to put the pigs. Although at first this seemed like a relative easy decision to make, it turned out to be harder than it looked. We have quite a bit of property, but wanted to keep the pigs close, so as to be able to keep a close eye on them and make feeding and watering convenient...but how close? Having never raised any farm animals before we were concerned about smell; everyone told us how bad pigs stink. We also considered our view. From our deck we have a beautiful view. One of our favorite pastimes is to sit on our deck, with a cold brew after a hard days work, and watch the local wildlife. The last thing we wanted to do was spoil this view with a pig pen.
After much deliberation we decided on an area off to the North side of our house. There's a lot of briers and thorns in the area and I thought it would be nice if the pigs could rid us of the eye-sore. We would be able to see our pigs from the deck, but our view of the Landscape would not be obstructed.

Fence Materials: When we first started researching getting the pigs I wanted to be able to graze them as much as possible to cut down on purchased food for them. With this in mind we needed a large pen, but our budget had to be kept in mind, and fencing isn't cheap.
Most people, who had experience with pigs, were saying that we needed to have an electric fence. This made a lot of sense to me; better containment and move-ability if I chose to "fold" them into a different area. However, I decide against this because of the initial start up cost, and, more importantly, I didn't want one more thing running off the electric meter. Our goal here is self sufficiency...not dependency. I had to take stock of what supplies I had.
Awhile back a friend of mine was doing some yard cleaning and he had quite a bit of privacy fencing that was in pretty bad shape. I helped him take it down (what was still standing!) and brought it out here to our property. At the time I planned to use it for our paintball field but never got around to it. So, for the last few years, this fencing layed useless on the edge of our woods. That was all about to change.
The fence was mostly 6' tall and was in sections of 8' lenghts. I figured I could cut it down so it was just over 3' high and use it for the enclosure. I had just enough of good sections to fence in the side of the pen that would be most visible from our house. Since the fence came with wooden posts I wouldn't need to buy any.
Now, this fencing, which was surprisingly in better condition than I thought, was painted a ghastly orange on one side. Melissa, however, had the great idea of using the unpainted side, which was a fantastic grey-weathered look, as the side we could see. the result was great...giving us a really cool rustic style fence.
As for the rest of the pen, my parents, some years ago, had raised some cows for beef. They had mostly used electric fence, but in some areas had used wire fencing. There were quite a bit of metal posts scattered throughout the property (some in good condition, others not) , that after a day of collecting them we had just enough to cover the area we needed. The wire fencing was another matter altogether.
There was plenty of the metal fence, but time and weather had knocked most of it down, entangled it in weeds, and frankly left it in pretty poor condition. The good news was that it hadn't rusted! I wont bore you with the details, but after a lot of hard work, an out of control fire, and prying it up from frozen ground, we managed to get enough of it to finish the pig pen. The cost so far....calloused hands, a few cuts and bruises, and zero dollars. Perfect.

The Pig House: After looking at a few different designs online, I decided to make a simple 'A' frame style house. We still had quite a lot of the old privacy fence left, so I figured I could use that to cover the frame work. Throughout the years we've managed to collect a number of wood supplies, through various projects and salvage, that I had no trouble finding enough 2x4's. The decking I used for the floor of the house came from the bottom of an old water bed I had dismantled long ago. With the frame built, me and Melissa, cut the privacy fence to size, and assembled (the far bigger than expected) house. We were really happy with the outcome, but due to the gaps in the fence it wasn't water proof. We needed to due something about that as I wanted my pigs to have a nice dry home.
When the basement for our house was built (7 years ago) the construction guys had left 2 very large canvas bags, the kind they fill with bags of cement and use a fork lift to carry around. These two bags have laid around the property, covered in weeds for all that time, and amazingly were still in really good condition. We decided to use the canvas, once we had cut it into usable sections as our water-proofing. We didn't want it to go on the outside since we liked the gray wood look, so with a staple gun we attached it to the inside.
Lastly, we needed something to go on the top. As it happens, back when my great-grandparents farmed this land they had pigs, and deep in the woods, lost to the wilderness, were the remnants of some old wooden pig houses. The houses were in terrible shape, rotted and fallen, but one still had a metal top piece that although rusted, was intact and ready to be placed on our new pig house. It was nice to add a bit of the old farm (we figured the pig house were at least 50 years old) to the new homestead. I'm sure when my relatives built those pig houses they never dreamed that a part of them would be used to cover swine so many years later.

The Gate: Nothing fancy here, just an old gate my father had built during his cow raising days. I think he'd be happy to see it in use once again

Me and Melissa worked really hard on this project and it was all we had hoped it would be. Spending time together, accomplishing a task, being frugal...all ingredients for our homesteading recipe. By the way...total cost of the pen and house: $0

Note: I still have enough of the privacy fence to use for a chicken coup. Thanks Hugh, the fence has been a great boon for us!

Chicken Little

Our babies have arrived! When first discussing on how many chickens to get we settled on 5 or 6 of them. When we realized they might lay eggs for up to 5 years, we decided (well me…lol) that we wanted to start with 3 babies and 3 grown hens for our eggs. We could get the best of both worlds by having hens that lay immediately and having the experience of raising them from babies. So I’m now a new mommy, and Gabrielle is a first time mommy! I have 3 babies that are named Hazel, Quinnie and Matilda. 2 of them are Isa Browns (known for being a great “layer”) and one is a Bluff (known as a good “starter“ chicken). We built a very inexpensive brooder, a temporary house used to raise the chicks till they are ready to go outside, out of the following materials; A clear plastic tote with lid (free). Pat cut the top out to leave space to put the wire mesh in it for airflow (mesh $6) and affixed it to the lid with duck tape. He tried using a staple gun but that didn’t work so well, so good ol’ duck tape to the rescue. We will use the excess mesh for our chicken coop. A old desk lamp with 75 watt bulb in it (free) to warm the chicks. A special watering device that uses mason jars (free), mother-in-law Sally had one of those from a while back and was happy to see it put to good use. A lid off a chocolate milk drink mix container for the feed “trough” (free) and a 3 pound bag of medicated feed $3. Once they are grown we can let them free range off the land and give them scraps form our garden which will cost us nothing. The chicks themselves were $1.99 each. So our total came to $15. They say hens will lay 1 egg every other day, so we hope to have a couple dozen eggs a week. For 3-5 years of laying by 6 hens, we stand to net a big savings! I estimate $600 - $700 or so worth of eggs in 5 years we will no longer be buying from the store. And not to mention we know exactly where they came from!

Pigs on Parade

The big moment has finally come to fruition at True North, and although to some this may seem a small event or even something blasé, for us it is a monumental occurrence. Our two feeder pigs have arrived.
Our excitement stems from a number of different reasons: like the fact that we have never raised anything remotely close to livestock or have had to so fully prepare in order to be able to provide for such creatures. In fact, the amount of time we have spent on education, research, and construction of their living area has been both exhausting and exhilarating. Yet, ultimately the arrival of these two animals heralds a gigantic step for us on our journey to self reliance. To be able to raise one's own livestock...care for them, feed them, and yes, slaughter them so as to provide food for your family is, to us, the quintessential meaning of self sufficiency.
We have only had the pigs for a few days now, and to be honest, all the work was in the preparation. The actually day to day care for them has been relatively easy. Each day I make sure they have clean fresh water, and feed twice a day. Other than that they..are, well...self sufficient. We had heard more than a few stories about pig's abilities to escape from their pens but thus far ours don't seem interested in escaping. i hope this holds true for the duration of their stay with us.
All of us have so far adapted well to them being here. me and Melissa have been planning for this for so long it's almost like we were holding our breath and now that they are here we can breath again. Gabrielle understands what we're doing and the purpose of the pigs, but on more than one occasion I've heard her say "Geez...why do they have to be so cute?" As far as our pets go; the cat doesn't even know they exist, and our dog Gypsy has only seen and heard them from a distance. She does seem very interested in what lies beyond that fence though. Maximus, our 'Little boy' as we affectionately call him, is another matter altogether.
Maximus already has an identity crisis. Obviously he's a dog, but we think he wants to be a 'real boy', and he interacts with the cat so much that he has picked up some kitty like tendencies. Now, enter the pigs...
At the first chance he had he ran into their pen and greeted them with as much enthusiasm as he could, and believe me, for a little dog he has a lot. The pigs regarded him with indifference at first, but now, after only a few days we believe max thinks he's a pig, and they see him as a small but suitable friend. He gets in their house (when they let him), steals food from their trough, ruts around trying to find out what in the earth they find so good, and has even snorted once or twice in their presence. I know for a fact that if we let him, he would sleep with them...nestled in the warm straw alongside his new found brethren. Honestly, only a pig could understands Max's relationship with food.

In my next post I'll elaborate more on the building of their pen and house, but for now here are some pictures...hope you enjoy.

Winter Wonderland

Over the winter a number of things have changed at True North, but with spring coming and a whole lot of work needing to be done...I've been behind in the blogging "time capsule", so to speak. Although we are working hard to be as frugal as we can and destroy our debt, it was necessary for us to make two major purchases.

The first one was a new chainsaw:
I bought a Sthil Farmboss with a 20in bar. This chainsaw has proved to be the workhorse I thought it would be. I had done a fair amount of research before I purchased it and got many people's opinions. Most of those opinions came from fellow homesteaders at Homestead.org and their advise and knowledge was most helpful. Admittedly though, their is a lot I need to learn about cutting wood and, most importantly...sharpening the chain. Luckily I have a little bit of time to learn before I need to start getting ready for next winter.

Our second purchase was a plow truck:
It's a 1984 ford f250 and it came with a plow. I didn't know the guy that I bought it from, but after talking with him I felt comfortable with this older vehicle purchase, especially after learning that he knew some of the same people we did. Apparently we ride in similar 'Harley Davidson' circles.
The truck seems to be in really good condition and I only plan on using it for a few things; plowing, wood cutting, scrap hauling and a general purpose homestead truck. These uses shouldn't put a lot of miles on it either, but wear and tear will be another matter altogether.
Unfortunately, I have some type of fluid leak in the transmission or oil pan area and since I'm not very auto mechanically inclined yet I have it in the shop...we'll see what develops.

All in all it seems like these two investments will be good ones, even with the truck in its current state. Everyone who has seen the truck says i got it for a great price. Regardless, we needed this stuff. We'll be installing a wood furnace soon and wood cutting will become a major part of our money saving, and since our driveway is so long I had to be able to plow it myself. I was spending a small fortune to have other people plow it!

PS. Jackson has been great to be around, and I can't wait to be able to spend more time with him!