Wee Wee Wee All The Way Home

Yesterday this little piggie came home! He is a rescue from the Shelbyville Indiana Animal Shelter. His name is Wilbur! I am beginning to really feel like I have a farm now.
I have aquired the following in the past year:

2 goats
2 chickens
4 turkeys
1 pot bellied pig

I had a few more chickens but something got them, but now I have Roscoe, the coon dog, and he keeps the varmints away form the livestock!

Setting up my little mini farm/homestead is quite a joy, and it can be filled with excitement. Much to my dismay, many of my friends and family members don't see what all the fuss is about, when I call them and loudly exclaim "I'm getting a pig today!"

I guess the feeling is mutual though. I just don't quite "GET IT" when they are all excited about sitting at a slot machine in one of the local casino's and feeding it money, that they will never see again! Or their excitement about a football game on tv, that they don't know any of the players personally.

So, I guess to each his own, but me and my new piggie went Wee Wee Wee all the way home yesterday!

Homemade Citrus Enzyme Cleaner

I am loving this getting back to basics lifestyle! I made homemade laundry soap and love it! Now I have found a recipe for a homemade citrus cleaner. I am posting it below, and will let you know after I make it and use it how it works. From the reports I have received it is really good.


Some wonderful uses recommended for this non-toxic, environmental friendly enzyme (dilute enzyme with some water, use more if you prefer a stronger concentration) -

1)  do dishes and laundry (use 1/4 cup of enzyme)

2) for washing bathrooms and toilets. grime comes off easily (1 part enzyme to 10 parts water) 

3) for removing stubborn stains and odours (coloured fabrics and floors) (use undiluted)

4) to clean vegetables and fruits (1 part enzyme to 10 parts water)

5) clear blockages in kitchen sinks and drains (use concentrated or blended pulp/sludge of enzyme)

6) as a natural insect repellent (use undiluted) for ants, cockroaches.. (pouring some enzyme into sink/bath/shower stall drainage holes will deter cockroaches). My home is now cockroach and ant free! 

7) as a floorwash to mop floors shiny clean (1 part enzyme to 20 parts water)

8 ) as fertiliser for vegetables, flowering and non-flowering plants (use 1 part enzyme to 20 parts water, or use the leftover mop water)

9) as a skincare product, e.g. facial cleanser or toner (1 part enzyme to 2 parts water)

10) wash cars – cars will look as if they have just been polished! (1 part enzyme to 20 parts water)

 Happyhomemaker88′s Enzyme Cleaner Recipe (be sure to read all the way through her recipe – she made some adjustments, based on the experience of others). It only requires 3 ingredients: orange peels, brown sugar, and water… oh, and THREE MONTHS! Apparently I am also getting a lesson in patience ;0}

Citrus Enzyme Based Multipurpose Cleaner

To begin, you need a plastic container with an airtight cover. Here, I have used an old 2-litre fruit juice bottle. The enzyme takes 3 months to “ferment” and be ready for use.

Ingredients :

100 gms of brown sugar

300 gms of lemon and orange scraps (these were leftover after I had juiced them)

1 litre tap water

Use a funnel to pour sugar into the bottle. Drop in the fruit slices. Pour in the water.

Cover the bottle and date it, so that you will know when the enzyme is ready to use , i.e. 3  months later on

*

Give the ingredients in the bottle a good shake to mix them thoroughly.Everyday, for the first month, open the cover to let out the oxygen build-up from the fermentation process. On some days, you will see the bottle swelling up in size.

Added on 27 August, 2010

Since I last posted this, I had modified the method of avoiding (based on comments by visitors here)  extreme gas build-ups leading to explosions by leaving the bottle cap loosely fastened (about halfway tightened ? ) – this will allow some gas to come out at all times and there won’t be any buildup of gas

Added on 27 August, 2010 -

If you see any whitish stuff growing on top of the liquid, just tighten the bottle cover, and give the contents a good, gentle shake and the whitish stuff will be mixed into the liquid. Then loosen the bottle cap again to allow gas to escape.

Safe Rooms

I found this you tube video on how to build or make a SAFE ROOM in your house, I thought is was worthy of sharing.

Let's Talk Turkey!

Let's face it, I am a nut! Not your average, white jacket, padded room kind of nut, I'm a nature nut! Which is probably worse.


I love animals, trees, flowers, you get my drift! This year I took on the awesome responsibility of raising four baby turkeys. Now for those of you that aren't familiar with raising poultry, let me tell you a little about turkeys.


Turkeys are DUMB! They can stand in their pan of food and starve to death, or even drown themselves. They aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer. They are the "Dumb Blondes" of the poultry world.


My first experience raising turkeys was several years ago. My oldest daughter Tiffany was about three years old, and I was pregnant with my youngest daughter Lacey. One Saturday morning, I decided to take Tiff to the sale barn. The sale barn is a local flea market, LOADED with all kinds of goodies! You can find anything from fresh veggies to antique garden tools. It is heaven for those of us who appreciate junk of all sorts!


This particular morning, as we made our way down the aisles , we came upon an elderly lady with an assortment of feathered creatures for sale.


I bent down to take a gander ( no pun intended LOL) at the small cheeping balls of feathers, and told Tiffany to look at the little baby chicks. The lady giggled and promptly corrected me in her slow Kentucky twang. "Honey, them ain't chickens, thems turkeys" and then her giggles broke out into full fledged belly laughter!


I glanced up from the cage and knew I had hit the jackpot, I''ll take two", I quipped back at her, and my days as a turkey farmer began!


We brought our newly acquired livestock home, and settled them in to the downstairs bathroom. I box with a light bulb hanging down in it, would be a substitute for their mother.


It wasn't the best set up, but anyone needing to relive themselves could be entertained as they sat there on the throne and gaze down at my precious purchase. Live entertainment in the bathroom! Maybe I could sell tickets!


At the time, Howard The Duck, the movie was very popular, sooo Tiffany named our new additions Howard & Toots!




One morning I got up, and when I went in to check on my fine feathered friends, and was horrified to find that Toots couldn't take the pressure of being named after a movie star, and had ended it all by drowning herself in the Miracle Whip jar that was their watering dish! The horror, and devastation were intense, but, we knew we would have to go on, and we had to be strong for Howard.


Toots was buried in a shoebox in the backyard, after a wonderful memorial service. Fresh flowers adorned her little grave, Tiffany and I gave the eulogy and ended in a prayer. We then gathered in our kitchen for dinner, and reminisced with all our fond memories of Toots, and her short life! Howard was kept busy, as to try and keep his mind off the days events. but we knew he would never be the same without his beloved Toots!


A month or so passed and Howard grew and grew. My husband at the time (Steve) used to tell everyone that he had fifty pound of feed in a one pound turkey! As Howard grew so did my belly, and as I reached closer and closer to my due date, my nights became more and more uncomfortable. Sleep would elude me till the wee hours of the morning, so I didn't rise as earlier as I had.


One morning after a restless night, I arose and went out to let Howard into the pen with the chickens. He was roosting in the tree over the chicken house at this point, and would fly down into the yard to pick grass and bugs in the early morning dew.


I walked around the yard and didn't see him anywhere, so I called for him, NO ANSWER! And then, I saw him! A small bump in the grass, limp and lifeless, DEAD! My dog had killed him! Left him there for me to find.


I was beside myself! All that care, dedication and devotion, and now he was GONE!
I ran into the house and threw myself on the couch, great heaving gut wrenching sobs leaped out of my body!


It was all my fault, if I had gotten up earlier, he would still be alive! I was a turkey murderer~!!


About this time, my mom stopped in to check on me and found me on the couch still crying. "What's the matter", she said, and I looked up at her with my tear stained face and said " Howard's DEAD!!! and I broke into deafening sobs again.


With a dumbfounded look on her face, she said" Who the HELL is Howard?"
My TURKEY I screamed, and began heaving sobs again!




She quietly walked outside and went and got a shovel, and buried poor ole Howard, no funeral, no memorial, no flowers. Just shovels of dirt on top of his lifeless one pound body.


Soooo, as you see, turkey farming is quite an emotional way of life. And now I have four that are now almost full grown.....AND it's getting closer and closer to Thanksgiving!


I wonder if they have a retirement home for turkeys? I think I need to GOOGLE that!

Fanning The Fire

Yesterday after I got off work, and had picked up Hailey (my granddaughter), from school, we headed to the house. It was abnormally warm for us here in Southern Indiana, 56 degrees on a January day. A great day to bring firewood up and stack it on the front porch.


My mom gave me a new garden cart for Christmas so it was so nice to not have to pack firewood in my arms. Hailey stayed on the porch as I brought load after load to her and she stacked it up neatly.


After we had a pretty good sized stack, we took the cart to the backyard and started filling it with sticks that we would use as kindling to start our fires with. Filled to the brim we rolled the garden cart into the garage so our bounty would stay dry.


The weather man was right and it started raining last night, and its gradually getting colder. He is predicting a light accumulation of snow for us. But I'm ready!


I love the feel and the smell of a wood fire, and the fact that it keeps my electric bill down, and makes me more self sufficient is even better.


I'm looking forward to going home tonight, and making a warm fire, and relaxing, but all too soon though as the wood turns to embers I will be up and at it, and fanning the fire to get it going again!

Buddy

I went and picked up Buddy last night, he is the latest addition to The Funny Farm! I am hoping to find him a mate and hopefully have babies next spring.

Button, Button, who's got the button?

The old button box smelled musty as I slowly lifted the lid of it. I can't remember if  my great grandmother kept it in the old smoke house or in the basement, but either place would have given it the musty smell that it still carried deep inside it.


I do recall many a hot afternoon, going thru the contents of it like it was a pirates treasure chest. Shoving my tiny fingers into the depths of the button box and feeling the cool orbs, and the smooth flat slivers that looked like mother of pearl,  and some that shined like diamonds, and rubies, I  pretended to be  Blackbeard the pirate, and I  had just scored a huge haul off of a Spanish Galleon headed for the new world.


I squinted in the fading light of a fall afternoon, trying to make out the shapes and colors of the vintage buttons that lay still and lifeless in the bottom of grandmas button box for so many years. My fingers now, not so tiny reached down inside to feel the smoothness of the old gems.


I marveled that they still looked the same after all these years, and my mind stirred up images of my grandmother cutting them off of old garments that had seen better days.


She had lived thru many hard times, and even something as small as a button needed to be saved  as you never knew if it might be needed one day.


I placed some of the buttons into an old greenish blue ball jar, and put them up on a shelf. Then gently closed the lid on the button box and placed it in my closet.


Now I can look up and see some of  the buttons in the old jar, without disturbing the others in their time capsule from the past, and reflect on the beauty of an item that is so simple, but  necessary even in today's fast paced society.


I wonder what my grandmother would think of our world today?  She would probably still cut buttons off of old clothing to save " Just  in case" and most likely she would look at me and say, button, button who's got the button!