Running Out of Room

Right inside our back door, first room on the left, is our utility room.  That room was the washroom. It is where the washer and dryer resides along with a big sink for mopping.  The room has cabinets to store household cleaning products.  At least that's how the room was designed.  That was before we got cows.  And goats.  And chickens.  And honeybees.  And everything else that goes along with having a little homestead farm.  

Now, that little room is bursting at the seams.  We've tried to start living with a new rule that states that if we purchase something new, then something old has to go - a policy for managing space.  For example, if I buy a new shirt, then an old shirt gets donated to the thrift store or gets converted to the rag bin.  That policy doesn't always work though with items other than clothes.

Had we known that we'd be getting into the homesteading life, our house would have been designed differently with a much larger pantry, room for additional freezers and definitely more storage space.  Let me show you the utility room to give you an idea.  The struggle is real!  Here's the counter when you walk in.  The incubator does hatch eggs, but it is currently being used to liquify jars of honey that has crystallized over the winter.  The washer and dryer is on the left.  Countertop is full of anti-parasite meds for the animals.

To the left when you walk in stands an organizer shelf with tools, battery chargers, and veterinary supplies.  We ran out of space and a bin of beekeeping supplies sits on the floor with frames of drawn comb wrapped in bags and some rendered beeswax sitting on top.  There's also soapmaking supplies and candle-making supplies.  It makes it next to impossible to open the door and move around the room.

Here's the sink on the right when you walk in.  When we're milking cows, this space gets busy as it's where we bring the stainless steel pails in and pour milk into gallon jars and then wash the buckets.  Our unopened seed packets and gardening supplies clutter the countertop.

The cabinets over the washer and dryer are full.  Empty jars for honey production line the windowsill and dirty clothes hampers sit on top of the dryer, along with other items.  Oil lamps for hurricane season are stored above the cabinets, along with kerosene.

Above the sink, we have a shelf for picnic baskets, garden harvest baskets, pressure canner, and ice chests we use for carrying milk when we're milking.  That got some stuff off of the floor.

Just last week I got a 1x12 pine board and some brackets and stained the shelving and put up yet another row of shelving above the entrance door for additional storage capacity for this little room.

To be sure, we are full.  We're planning on making splits and catching swarms to expand the beekeeping operation a little bit, but of course, that means we'll need additional room for storage.  Storage units.  We've never rented storage units.  In fact, that wouldn't work for us since it's off-site and we need access here when we need supplies.  I read that the storage units are a relatively new invention.  The first one was built in the 1960's in Texas.

We've become a people that have a lot of stuff.  I heard a podcast the other day that discussed this, saying that nomadic people don't value material things.  Because they are always on the move, they value items that are portable and quickly discard things that tie them down.  It was the agrarian mindset that changed this.  People became anchored to the land.  As they traveled and saw things, they'd say, "Hmm...  I think I'll take that home.  I can use it."  This mindset became prevalent as people not even in agrarian settings began to accumulate stuff.  Personally, I think it's okay if it is stuff you use.  If not, it's best to get rid of it or give it away.

So that leads us to think about storage, and at some point we'll look at buying some sort of an outdoor shed that we can use as a Honey House for all the beekeeping supplies.  We'd like to find one that is a "repo" building that perhaps we could get for a good deal.  Finding one is on our radar, and we are looking to purchase one - perhaps sometime this spring or summer.  We don't want our utility room to look like we are hoarders!

Water Glassing Eggs or Brining Eggs

The virus has a lot of things shut down, but guess what?  Nature, designed by our Creator, moves forward.  As springtime bursts forth, we see blooms on flowers and trees, we see bright, green growth on all the plants.  One other thing we see is the egg production from our hens really picks up.  We hear the song coming from the hen house as the hens fill the egg boxes with fresh, spring eggs.  We pick up the eggs, bring them inside, and package them up either to be consumed by us, sold, or given away.

Sometimes we have more than we can store.  One thing that Tricia found is an old-fashioned means of storing eggs developed in the 1800s.  The process is explained in Carla Emery's "Encyclopedia of Country Living" or any other number of places that you can find on the Internet.  This means of egg preservation was devised specifically for this "problem" we have of having too many eggs.  It is called Water Glassing Eggs or Brining Eggs.

The first thing we did is pour 8 quarts of filtered water into a five gallon bucket.  We cleaned out the bucket very, very well.

Then we take hydrated lime (also called slaked lime) and pour it into the water.  Hydrated lime can be found at any hardware store.  The ratio you want to use is 1 ounce by weight of hydrated lime to 1 quart of water.  So we used 8 ounces, by weight, of lime to 8 quarts of filtered water.

We poured it in...

And stirred...

One thing that you want to be careful of is to use clean, unwashed eggs.  Many times we collect eggs, they'll have mud on them.  Or worse, they'll have some chicken poop.  In these instances, we'll wash the eggs.  To preserve eggs by water-glassing or brining, you don't want to use eggs you've washed.  So for the days we collected, we separated the eggs into two containers - one of washed eggs and one of clean, unwashed eggs.  We collected them like this for several days.

Each night we'd gently put the eggs into the lime-water solution, dipping them down and positioning them under the water.  We tried our best to put them "pointy-side" down.

Once we were done, we stored a little over 100 eggs this way, put a lid on the bucket and we'll store in a cool, dark place.

Here is the crazy thing: eggs stored like this will keep for up to two years.  A video Tricia watched showed someone cracking them open after 8 months, and they looked great.  They just advise to rinse off the lime before using.  This fall, when egg production drops, we'll crack one of these eggs side by side with a fresh one and give it the "eye test," the "smell test," and then the "taste test."  Stand by for that update later on this year.

Taking Inventory

Taking inventory is one of those things that I do once a year.  It's not a glamorous task nor one I look forward to, but one that must be done.  Usually a night like last night is the perfect time for it.  We've gone almost a week without seeing the sun.  It has been overcast, muddy, chilly and gloomy.  Any outside activity should be avoided at all costs.

Last night I chopped some lighter pine and put it in the fireplace, added some oak firewood atop it, and crumpled some old sales circulars underneath the grate and lit it.  In no time the resin in the lighter pine erupted in flame along with black smoke. That lets you know that it won't be long until the oak will be crackling.  It also lets you know that it is important to call the chimney-sweep after 'fireplace season.' Although lighter pine assures a quick start to your firewood without natural gas, it also assures you that your chimney will have a thick black coating of pitch that will need to be cleaned out.

Once the fire was providing some heat, I went out into the garage and opened the freezer and removed insulated envelopes of seed that I store in the ice maker that no longer works.  There will be people that will tell you that a freezer is a horrible place to store seed due to the moisture content. They're probably right.  I've stored seed in the freezer in sealed envelopes for years now and haven't noticed problems with germination, though.  To combat the possibility of loss, I do diversify my seed storage and store any seed that I save from crops that I grow in a drawer in a cabinet in the house.  I place the seed in old vitamin containers that are moisture proof and don't allow light in.

Even though I like to keep good records, I like EVEN MORE the act of planting!  So, I am negligent in adjusting my seed inventory downward based on the seed that I plant each Spring and Fall.  Maybe I'll start this year...  (There's a saying about a road to somewhere that's paved with good intentions that comes to mind!)

Segregating the Seed by type and age

Back in high school accounting class, we learned the concept of FIFO.  FIFO stands for First In, First Out.  That is a good methodology to use in managing your seed inventory as it assures that you'll use your oldest seed first and will keep your seed inventory rotated and fresh.

I lay out all my seed by seed type: Melons, Beans, Peppers, Corn, Greens, Lettuce, etc. Then I carefully write down each variety I have in each category and the number of packages of seed.  Yes, this can be done using Excel or a computer program, and I've done that in the past.

Taking Stock

Now, I will inventory my saved seed that I store inside as well, but once I have the entire seed inventory written down, I'll compare that with my planting records from previous years to determine which additional seed I need to order to meet the needs of the upcoming planting season.  I'll make that list of needs and then I'll pull out the seed catalog and place my order.

2015 Seed Inventory as of January 14, 2015

Looking through seed catalogs is an enjoyable experience and I'll generally order some new items to try that I don't have in current inventory.  While not as fun as the act of sowing seed, taking inventory is a necessary task of a prudent grower that enables you to ensure that you are prepared.  Come to think of it, taking inventory is a critical part of the entire human experience that helps us determine whether we are prepared in any number of ways - physically, mentally, and (most important of all) spiritually.