Peppers and Plans

December 8th here and it hit 80 degrees Fahrenheit today.  Lots of fog in the morning, too, that didn't burn off until around 10 AM.  The plants are really growing.  A few days ago, I had the opportunity to plant some mustard greens and two rows of spinach.  The only thing I've left to plant is turnips.  I'll get that done this weekend.  I also dug up the rest of the sweet potatoes.  That will give us room for the onion crop for next year that I'll be planting in January.

The peppers have been producing nicely.  Here are some Lilac Bell Peppers showing off with their snazzy colors!

This year we've had a nice pepper crop and have frozen some, eaten a bunch, dehydrated some, processed some into dried peppers.  Since it hasn't frozen, they continue to produce and produce.

I mentioned plans.  We're planning for a new homestead venture this spring.  We'll be getting a couple of boxes of honeybees.  We've kept bees for the past 7 or 8 years, but they live in the hollow column by our side entrance.  We cannot access their honey, but they do pollinate our garden and fruit trees.  Once we get some bees in boxes, we'll get pollination and will also be able to get the benefits of honey.  Can't wait.

But we don't know much about beekeeping.  In order to learn, we were invited to join the local beekeeping club.  They meet the second Thursday of each month at 7 pm at a local diner here in town.  We went to our first meeting tonight.  There were about a dozen people in attendance.  We had a fried shrimp po-boy and fries and listed and learned.  The beekeepers were friendly and knowledgeable and willing to answer our questions.  Some have only a couple of boxes, while others in the club have 100 boxes.

It was very interesting learning about feeding, splitting hives, supplies you need, hive placement, how to not lose your bees, swarming, etc.  They are very motivated to get more people involved with beekeeping and aim to get beekeeping into the Ag departments at 3 local high schools.  Hathaway High School, the school Benjamin graduated from already has 8 bee boxes.  We are going to have the students come to a meeting and tell us what they've been learning.  

It's nice to have helpful folks like this to help get us involved in this new undertaking.  We are excited about learning something new to add to our homestead.  We plan to learn as much as we can for the next couple of months and purchase supplies and equipment we need and then will jump into this new endeavor this spring.  That's our plan, anyway.

It Worked!!

Well, in THIS PREVIOUS POST on September 14th, I mentioned that we have an appointment at a processor in Morse, Louisiana to bring our Jersey bull to get processed.  The appointment is in early October.  Trouble is, he's an aggressive bull and thrashes with his head and comes running at you.  It is high time to get him off the property and into the freezer.

I figured that I would back the cattle trailer into the pasture and each afternoon, I would bring a bucket of feed to the bull.  We've never fed the bull anything - just grass in the pasture and free choice hay.  The plan was to feed him in a bucket and each day move the bucket closer and closer to the trailer.  Then I'd put the bucket at the edge of the trailer and then the next day put it where he'd have to put his front legs in the trailer to eat and then the next day, I'd push the bucket of feed all the way in so that he'd have to get fully in the trailer.  Then, I could shut the door.

I started working on the plan two days ago.  I quickly learned that the gluttonous bull was going to like the feed and the plan could be shortened.  By day two of the plan his front feet were in the trailer. And today...  Well, I'll let you see for yourself. Why do you think the trailer is tilted up in the air?

Well, it is because ol' boy jumped right on up in the trailer to eat!  Tomorrow I'll push the feed bucket all the way to the front.  Shutting the door should be pretty easy.  The only problem is that the second weekend in October is a long way away!  I asked Tricia if we might be able to get the appointment changed to an earlier Saturday, but all of the Saturdays coming are already booked with activities.

Before I started working with the bull to try to get him in the trailer, I figured I would make a ramp to make it easy for him.  You can see it below.  I used some old 2x4 lumber that I salvaged from when we demo'd the chicken tractors.  Some of it was rotten and we burned it.  But others were in good shape and I made a nice ramp.

After talking to a friend about my plan, he suggested that the ramp may scare him off and that he didn't think I'd need it.  He said the bull would jump right on up once he got used to the feed.  You know what?  He was right!

Although it only took less than 10 minutes to make the ramp, I hated to waste the lumber and time making it.  Looking at the unused ramp gave me an idea.  Have you ever seen those mats that cranes use on a construction site?  Or a board-run at an oil drilling site?  That reminded me that I could use my ramp as a mat or a board run around the barn when it rains and gets so muddy that sometimes you step right out of your boots.

Back to the bull, I think we won't have to have a rodeo to get him in the trailer to get him to the processor.  The plan worked, even faster than I thought.  On second thought, perhaps I should wait until early October when I have him in the trailer and on the way before I celebrate.

Recalculating...

I ended Yesterday's post kind of awkwardly and I wanted to go ahead and wrap it up, so here goes...

We were talking about how as a culture we've become so dependant.  In a relatively short period of time, we've lost much of the self-reliance that our forebears possessed.  I remember when the GPS first came out and I borrowed one from my parents when I was going on a trip.  The thing amazed me.  By golly, I'll never get lost again!  But an odd thing happened.  I needed gas and when I got off on an exit, the lady in the GPS wanted me to still be en route to my destination.  Undeterred by my deviation off course to get gasoline, the GPS lady began (annoyingly) trying to get me back on course by saying, "Recalculating" very often.  She was making alternate routes to try to get me back where I needed to be.

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Recalculating...  You know I began to think about that in terms of my life.  I had gotten off course.  I still get off course.  I need the little lady in the GPS (or someone) to get me back on course.  Sadly, in our consumerist country, people are running around willy-nilly entertaining themselves, purchasing goods and services in an attempt to find the ever-elusive happiness they are after.  You're not going to hear much about self-reliance or becoming less dependant.  We're all so busy.  So very busy.  We don't take time to stop and think and plan.

Speaking of modern conveniences like the GPS, I remember before cell phones, when you went to a motel and needed to get up at a certain time, you'd call the front desk for a wake up call.  Now you don't need the front desk clerk to do this, you just set the alarm on your phone so you don't miss your meeting or appointment.  Don't we desperately need a wake up call though?  A wake up call that re-focuses our attention to the things that really matter, to reset our priorities, to regain what's been lost.

On 9/11 thirteen years ago, we got a wake up call.  Our Nation was attacked, innocent people perished, our Stock Market plunged, many tears were shed and fear was palpable.  Our political leaders put aside their differences and assembled on the steps of the Capitol Building and sang, "God Bless America."  Our churches were filled to capacity.  We recommitted ourselves to God.  We reached out to family, friends, and neighbors in gestures of love.  We vowed to not forget.

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Some how or another, the world kept turning, things returned to some semblance of normalcy, the Stock Market rebounded and we've morphed back to complacency. I'm no prophet, but our debt load, our economy, our current way of life is not sustainable.  There are storm clouds on the horizon and a prudent man prepares.

A song called "Song of the South" by the country group Alabama has the following lyrics:

Well somebody told us wall street fell
But we were so poor that we couldn't tell
The cotton was short, and the weeds was' tall
But Mr. Roosevelt's a' gonna save us all

Well momma got sick, and daddy got down
The county got the farm, and we moved to town
Poppa got a job with the TVA
We bought a washing machine, and then a Chevrolet

Song song of the south
Sweet potato pie, and I shut my mouth
Gone, gone with the wind
There ain't nobody looking back again

It seems that they are telling us that life was horrible in the rural South - that moving to the city and depending on the Government was progress.  Call me a cynic, but I'm not going to sit around and wait for "Mr. Roosevelt to save us all." That ain't happening!  So what do we do?  How do we start becoming more self-reliant?

Well, there are many strategies and plans that have been written to prepare for the coming crisis by men that I'm not fit to tie their shoe laces.  The best I've found is Herrick Kimball's Agrarian Style Economic Self Defense Plan.  I'm telling you, click the link and read it.  It is well worth your time to click the link and read it. It is simple, wise, profound.  Toward the end of his post, he lists a Seven Step Plan. As a family, we've begun a journey to attempt to follow that plan.  The plan is easy to follow and anyone can do it.

I can't say it any better than Mr. Kimball did.  One thing that I want to mention is there are lots of merchants of fear out there, doomsayers, people that actually look gleefully at destruction.  I'm not one of those people.  To be perfectly honest, if a financial collapse never happens, if a hurricane never hits our coast, if World War III never breaks out or terrorists never detonate another bomb, if there is never an interruption in our supply of food and fuel, if TEOTWAWKI never happens, guess what?  Regardless, it is simply a good life to try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle. It is liberating to decide to stop trying to keep up with the Joneses and determining to raise your family with antique virtues in a way that that is somewhat isolated from a lot of the insanity that surrounds us and I find it is good for the soul.

Finally, in recalculating, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the most important thing: Get right with God.  There is an old song whose words are timeless and true:  Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

1. O soul, are you weary and troubled?
   No light in the darkness you see?
   There’s light for a look at the Savior,
   And life more abundant and free!
   • Refrain:
     Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
     Look full in His wonderful face,
     And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
     In the light of His glory and grace.
2. Through death into life everlasting
   He passed, and we follow Him there;
   O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
   For more than conqu’rors we are!
3. His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
   Believe Him, and all will be well:
   Then go to a world that is dying,
   His perfect salvation to tell!

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."  Joshua 1:9