Other things that are different in the country:

Back-woods car wash.  You have to go really fast to get most of the car wet.

No fuzzy dice around here (chain from a chain-saw).

New addition to a common back-woods activity.

Typical eggs gathered in a day (currently only 20 layers).

Child labor performing maintenance on our new fodder set up (fodder is sprouted grains [red or white wheat, oats and barley] that we feed to the animals).  We're now employing a constant watering system that drips thru all the trays and getting much better results.

This is what it looks like when ready for livestock.

Farming board meeting, Caleb (VP bees, wabbits), Calvin (VP chickens), TJ (VP goats, fencing) and Tonya is the chair.  Topics are piloting a garden and future broiler chicken production.  Almost forgot Sammy (entertainment manager and future VP of hair care products and pacifiers).

Chicken day.

Chicken day does not mean going to Chick-fil-a to enjoy a meal with your family.  Liberty: "These birds aren't going to put themselves on the table, let's get started!"

Keena: "So we don't have to put these in a chlorine bath like the F DA says?"

From plucking to finished product (a few steps missing in between).

It doesn't get any fresher than this (TJ: "Unless you're a coyote"), from pasture to plate in about 3-4 hours.

Other activities, improvised animal transport.  You have to do A LOT of improvising when farming.  (TJ: "I'm sure this ain't legal.")

New Magnatrac config.

Feeding time.  These guys can act like a bunch of animals.  The pigs broke into the goat's paddock when they saw feed being doled out.  I saw a pig bite a goat, and then the goat rammed the pig (good thing for the pig the goat was de-horned).

This one's for Dave:

Things to consider before embracing farm life.

There are some things the women folk won't like (amazingly no mouse poops were left in my glove).

You'll see flags you won't find in an HOA.  (A relative told me this flag is about slavery.  This flag actually represents freedom, this link is a good place to learn more http://lewrockwell.com/williams-w/w- williams157.html)

And accidents happen ("Whooo was driving the van this time?!") because you're definitely not sitting behind a desk at the office,

you're working on stuff that shreds your clothes,

you're doing interesting things,

and interesting experiments ("ok, now I see why you like 2 70 for deer"),

and seeing interesting things, like a chick with a massive fro, or her sidekick with a Mohawk ("Calvin, are you sure these aren't GMO chickens?").

You get tired at the end of the day and sleep well ("If I could get just one more piece of popcorn into my pie hole...").

And as long as you're outside of the office, there are some things you'll never see again.  "We need to talk about your TPS reports."

Wildlife and other livestock:

Some of the neighbors.

The trouble maker, it looks sickly, I was told it's likely because of the drought.  We think this is the one that has taken out many of the chickens.

A wabbit litter, they are cute (and delicious... I know, sounds terrible but that's just the way it is). They will graze in the spring (we still have to build their grazing cages) and actually live a better life compare to large gubmit approved animal confinement operations. In VA I saw one for chickens, it contained 80,000 of them.  They had barely any room to move, they were in-doors and never grazed. Imagine living in a room packed with others every moment of your life while eating horrible food and living in an environment coated with fecal dust (a topic for a different post).

New addition (on the right), it's called a Guinea, they are like roving alarm systems for chickens, they make a lot of noise if they see a predator (too bad they don't also carry little Gl ocks).  This guy just showed up one day out of nowhere, it must have come from a surrounding farm.  Haven't lost any more chickens since he's been around but I'm not yet convinced the chicken snatching is over.

And ducks.  We're experimenting with these, their eggs command more in the market.  I've been amazed at how fast they grow, after 2 1/2 months they're as big as chickens so I don't understand why duck meat isn't more popular. They make me think of crispy orange duck (I've got to ask Calvin to find a recipe for that).

Our Broody Hen

Recently one of our hens, a Phoenix, “went broody” as Calvin puts it.  When chickens do this they are determined to brood until the eggs hatch.  The hen will only leave her eggs a couple times a day for not more than 20 minutes to eat and may not get all the nutrition she needs.  Another problem occurs when leaving the nest; another hen will get in her nest.  Without a consistent brooder for the developing chicks many will never hatch (especially in winter).  We could confine her, but we decided to take some of the eggs and incubate them.

At 4:30 in the morning a few days before Christmas, we found out from a very excited Calvin that the first egg hatched.  The kids and I excitedly watched nine chicks hatch over the course of eight days.  After each chick was born and dried off in the incubator, it was introduced to its mother.  She eagerly took them in. 

It is amazing how she can fit them all underneath her and not crush them.  I would think it would be uncomfortable to hold my arms out in such a way and keep all my kids huddled.  I’d also have to generate 95 degrees of heat.  They are in the cold garage now which is around 50 degrees or so, but those little chicks stay nice and warm under her and make happy little chirps.

When it is feeding time, the mother hen picks up a little food pellet, brings it close to the chicks, makes clucking noises and drops it in front of them.  They happily chirp, run over and eat it.  When the chicks chirp too much because of being cold, she gets in her brooding position and they all eagerly run under her.  As they get older, a couple of them will venture out or jump on top of her.  She just sits there and occasionally gently tucks them back under with her beak, the same beak that can be used to defend them if necessary.  Her life is completely dedicated to the chicks now. 

Being so close to God’s creation is great. These chicks willingly and eagerly run and hide under her. They are content and protected. The Lord implored stubborn Israel in Matthew 23:37 as well as us today, “…how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings…” The almighty, powerful God, who called all things into creation, longs to gently tuck us under his wing. Under the cross, because of Christ we have this refuge. Christ, who poured out his life for us.

The chicks are almost three months old now.

Looks like someone’s down pillow has a leak in it.

Unfortunately those were chicken feathers, more evidence of the coyotes (paw print is in the center).

A dangerous hood for a chicken, we’ve now lost eight layers (ones we brought from VA).  By now I thought that we would be able to provide some eggs for others but the loss of that many hens has become noticeable at the breakfast table.

Blaise providing chicken over-watch.  He’s wearing tactical winter shorts with cold weather crocks and a seriously under-powered BB g un.

The only sure way to solve the Coyote problem.

This is “Buckey.”  

He really likes the girls.

So we have to separate him with this electric moat.  He will jump one run of netting so we put up the second so that he wouldn’t miss out when landing.  He now stays in his paddock.  Love can’t overcome 7,000 volts.

Trins is holding a new kid on the block. This is what happens after Buckey spends time with the girls but the timing and the matching has got to be right.  (Trins: "...whaaat is on Keena's face?")

This is the new non-solar energizer (plugs into a 120v outlet).

The red lead connects to the fence, the green connects to the ground.  When you or an animal touches the fence, a circuit is completed (electricity travels thru you to the ground you are standing on).

There are two things I've realized since setting it up.  First, trouble shooting can be fun.  Initially, distant portions of the fence were providing a weak shock, so I told the boys we had to do some good 'ole fashioned tests to determine if the energizer or the fencing was the problem.  The best way to see if the energizer is functioning properly is to go to where it connects to the fence and ground and touch the fence.  Caleb and TJ now know what 7,000+ volts feels like and I can't get them to test any more fencing.  I think this is why farm families 100s of years ago had so many kids, a kid was only good for one test.  7,000+ volts also offers a lot of family entertainment.  A new game we've discovered is seeing how close you can get someone to the fence before pushing them into it.  I laughed so hard I cried trying to get Calvin to the fence, he was like trying to hold onto a greased pig.

Another recreational activity is sledding, snow is a lot darker in the country.

I guess they hit a rock.  This is milliseconds after the sled's collision sensor deployed Keena as an airbag for Trinity.

That's a no hassle Christmas tree on the right.  I asked TJ to go out and find one and 20 minutes later it appeared.  (BTW, I wonder if this is how Fabio got started.  Sammy: "What's Fabio?")

Here is a cool pic of the grapple I previously missed.  I wonder if it could pick up (and crush) a small car.

And here is a pic I also missed of Silver Dollar City.  It was beautiful at night.  We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, may the Lord bless our friends and family in this new year.

Thanks for the emails and encouragement.  We really miss friends and family.  I didn't think we'd make much use of this blog but it's turned into the best way to update everyone.

Work continues on fencing but Tonya thinks I'm out having fun in the woods.  So I essentially said "ok, you go out there and start clearing" which means I would have to home school for a day to which she said "ok."


I don't have a pic for the next topic, just imagine TJ with a really scared expression and me too.  And it's dark.  That imaginary picture was taken last night.  Calvin and I were taking care of the chickens and Caleb and TJ had left us 10 minutes earlier to start a camp site (the three oldest decided to camp far from the house and hopefully in the AM catch a critter they've been unsuccessfully pursuing).  TJ then returned in a panic and told me that they came across some people on the property who now had Caleb.  What!?  Yeah, that's what I said, and I could tell TJ wasn't kidding.  I had no phone so I collected our predator control tool and went to find Caleb.  Thankfully I soon found Caleb who told me where the people were.  I then found four guys who apparently were in college and just decided it was a good night for trespassing.  Turns out that when Caleb came across these guys (remember, it's dark, it's the country, there shouldn't be anyone where we were and there is no neighbor near by) he told TJ to run and find me and he then kept his distance and confronted them.  They told him they were just hiking (yeah, sure, it's dark, you don't have lights, and we're out in no-where) to which he told me he said to them they obviously were not telling the truth.  I was amazed, my 17 year old confronts four strangers in the night and tells them they're liars.  Thank the Lord it ended without an incident.

This is one of the roads I occasionally drive on now.  A lot different compared to my old commute.

Pigs love attention from boss hog.

We're experimenting on a new way to feed the animals by giving them sprouted grains.  It enables you to save money and offers more nutrition.

We've set up this area to experiment with the sprouts, the bottom of the trays are covered with grain and watered twice daily.

Thanks Sue and Larry for the wonderful package of jerky.

Liberty: "There isn't any jerky left?"

Me: "No, but you can have as much milk as you want when we get home."  (We have access to plenty of milk now [same with that cat], all that's missing is a lot of chocolate ice cream which I hope we'll figure out how to make soon).