Last week we sheared the llamas. They had not been shorn in so long it was almost a new experience for them. The "baby" had never been shorn. I gave the wool a good dip in bleach water to kill any bugs and eggs and then laid it out on fences, chicken netting and empty cages to dry. The llamas, visibly taken aback at being suddenly naked, kept coming over to look at their former coats. They seemed to be trying to figure out what on earth we crazy humans were planning to do with all that wool. 

 

Meanwhile, Mabel the Marvelous Dancing Jersey Milk Cow, has finally acquiesced to breeding and is once again with calf. I think she got wind of a little conversation I had with the butcher, but it seems to have worked. Now to feed her for the next 9 months until the calf gets here and she starts giving her rich, creamy milk again. Sigh.



The llamas have proceeded to soil their new coats by rolling in the dirt. I wonder if the neighbors will do a double take when they drive by and see them without all that fluffy hair. Now I just need to get some wool cards and parts for the spinning wheel. I've got four 30 gallon bags of llama wool to clean, sort and spin.

For updates and more adventures Around the Homestead stop by the blog:  http://mrsdshomestead.blogspot.com 

For the website and to visit the Homestead store stop by:  www.mrsdshomestead.com 

If you are at all part of the modern homesteading movement, you probably have a list of new things you would like to try: animals you want, crops you hope to plant, and skills you want to know.  While it is easy to get up on the roller coaster of doing more, in reality, choosing to homestead generally means the just the opposite.  Modern homesteading is far more about doing less than doing more. 

This morning I opened the garage door and stepped out on a thin layer of snow to fetch the paper.  It was cold at 14 degrees and a gray day as we are socked in by clouds.  I stood quietly for a minute as small snowflakes fell on my head.  I could hear the Canada geese warming up their honkers as they assembled for the morning food run.  A grackle screeched from a nearby tree.  “Ah,” I thought, “a little moment of nature before coffee.”

Urban wildlife was a subject of discussion with my holiday guests this last week, so I thought it interesting that I had two birds identified in the first minute of the day.  Just a few days ago, family members decided they needed exercise, so I shared some of my walking paths with them.  My son, an avid hunter and fisherman, commented on the abundance of bird and animal life.  He also indicated that he didn’t normally see wildlife in his home city neighborhood.

Unfortunately, too often urban wildlife is not seen as it is camouflaged by people hurling through their lives.  Web MD “Health News” reports adults are spending 25% less time in nature this year than in 1987 and the time is declining by 1% yearly.  Research reported by the New York Times indicates Americans take fewer steps daily than any other country in the study – walking only half as much as the next country in the study.  Average distance walked?  Less than a mile. 

While the backyards of our homes do not supply walking distances needed to maintain our needed exercise, they can certainly be a good place to start to observe wildlife.  Watching and feeding birds is a good way to get started and can provide hours of nature education.  Birdwatching can also be the stimulus needed for a bit of gardening or landscaping as one provides a better habitat for food and protection.  With habitat comes wildlife.

In my own neighborhood, I have found that if I spend more time specifically looking for wildlife, I find others are doing the same and are willing to share.  A neighbor half a street down has become a friend “over the fence.” She has the tree that the Mississippi Kites nest in and was able to help me identify the birds that glide the skies.  Another neighbor I came to know on one of my walking trails shared the location of an owls’ nest in a nearby hundred year elm.  Raccoons, rabbits and possums are the subjects of conversations all along my street. 

Just a day ago the family went to a science museum with my grandson.  As we loaded into the car, someone said, “Oh, look, there’s a rabbit in the bushes,” and we all stopped to watch.  “No, there are two rabbits,” my grandson observed, “and a bird.” We waited and watched for five minutes and that led to a discussion of “urban” wildlife.

Even if you live in the largest city, there is wildlife.  It just takes a bit of slowing down and looking for it.  We need to look no further than our own backyard.         

I have been writing for the past two years about the difficulties of dry-land farming in Kansas during an long-term and continuing drought.  This has been the worst drought for the state since 1965. It has, of course, affected our gardens.  Insect invasion – especially grasshoppers - has been a challenge as the hoppers move to the only source of moisture available – gardens.

Our gardens were only an early indication of the stress on the environment.  Pastureland yield was only half of the normal hay harvest and farmers were feeding hay as early as August and September.  Although the wheat crop was adequate with spring rains, milo and soy bean crops were poor.  As farmers planted wheat this fall, lack of rainfall prevented sprouting and that which did sprout has died back from lack of moisture. 

In this second year of drought, we now find that wildlife in the area has suffered.  Game reports indicate drought has resulted in high die-off of the deer population and poor fawning.  Populations of quail and pheasant are low. 

USA Today reported in August that many cities are by necessity preparing for climate change as increased heat and decreased moisture has killed off large ornamental trees and grasses.   Major cities have begun preparation through better planting planning to include native trees and grasses.  Programs have been established to increase composting and water conservation. 

I cannot think of a better time to encourage agricultural and environmental awareness at all levels.  Our children are going to face a different world than we have known.  Climate change is a reality and the effects are real.  We need every single person to help us preserve this precious earth.

As I packed a Christmas box headed for my son’s house this week, I threw in an old bumper sticker I found in the garage.  It said “No farms, no food.”  Never has the message been more important.  We must all do more to learn the best way to protect and nurture our environment – for food and for life itself. 

I know that readers of this blog are already on board, and are educating friends and family.  As I see my own environment struggle, it motivates me to make just a little more effort to spread the message.  Not only is it sad to see environmental abundance decline, it is frightening to think that that slogan is true – “No farms, no food.”

I am not normally a resistive person, but requests to hunt on my private property are beginning to raise my ire.  Here I am, just a small farm owner with a few acres of grassland and a couple of fields.  I go out on a regular basis and work my heart out managing the land so that volunteer trees don’t overtake the pasture or that I allow the thistle to overtake the meadow.  I leave some good grasses where quail and turkey can live normal and protected lives and hopefully, raise their young.

This summer I must have had at least a dozen requests to fish in my pond.  These requests apparently came from individuals who had not noticed that we were having a drought and there was no water in the runoff ponds.

This fall, I am getting requests from individuals who just became aware that the cost of beef and pork are expected to rise and so they are thinking deer meat might be an affordable alternative.  Never mind that my entire property is posted “No Trespassing, No Hunting, No Fishing.”  I guess these requests spring from the hope that it never hurts to ask.

It is the requests to hunt game birds that make me snarl the most.  I love to watch the turkey trail across the edge of the pasture, ducking in and out of the protective trees, peeping, tweeting and gobbling their way to breakfast.  The quail are so bold as to come to drink from the garden pond and eat the scratch from the bird feeder.  Pheasant are more often heard than seen, but I’ve nurtured a pair for years in the far windrow.  When I see any of my residents I feel it is a successful and blessed day.

To be kind in my response, I recognize that requests often come only out of ignorance to the extensive management it takes to have game of any kind on my farm.  People don’t realize that mowing is planned for post nesting or that a stand of trees was left for intentional shelter.  I’m sure most would think a pile of brush in the field unsightly, but I’ve noticed the birds don’t agree much with that.

I stand firm each time I am asked in my reply.  “No, you cannot hunt on my land.  I don’t allow hunting or fishing of any kind.  You see, I’m saving a little wildlife for my grandchildren to see.”

There hasn’t been a lot of news in Kansas other than talk of heat waves, drought, and the presumed consequences of both. It's enough to discourage even the heartiest. 

At my farm, the effect of the grasshopper invasion could be added as well.  A few root vegetables are hanging on and a few distasteful plants in the garden – like horseradish.  Last week the resurrection lilies made an attempt to come up, but the grasshoppers ate the buds at about two inches.

Despite the dismal outlook, I have been trying to keep watering with the hope my old faithfuls will pull through.  A couple of shrubs at the front of the farmhouse had suffered terribly and I decided to put a hose to them one evening.  I was rewarded with six orioles coming to bathe.  Jubilation would describe their attitude.  They were soon joined by two bluebirds, which politely waited their turn by wading in the birdbath for a few minutes.

A fifty year old viburnum at the edge of the yard looked dead, but I hosed it down as well.  Soon I saw one of the wild rabbits had dug a furrow in the moist soil and was enjoying a snooze. As I approached, he gave me the look that said “You wouldn’t dare make me move,” so I moved on, leaving him to enjoy his nap.

My farmer neighbor came by in late afternoon. He had been out carrying water to the livestock tanks.  “Hey, you need a little water?” he asked, gesturing to the big tank on the back of his truck. 

“Oh, dear Lord, you’re there for me today!” I thought as I hugged my neighbor for his generosity.  With a high capacity tank, I was able to give my new trees sixty gallons of water each – and they were still in need.  He may have saved them for me. 

Sometimes we forget that the wildlife suffers with the heat as much as the plants, so I am developing a healthy case of Kansas stubborn about this heat wave.  I just keep dumping as much water on as I can, and I know most of the plants and trees will make a comeback and my wildlife will come out after their month-long hunker down.

I guess you just can’t get an old farmer – or her farm - down.  We are Kansas stubborn.

Last week I ordered a book written by the famous gardener, Ruth Stout, the “mulch queen.”  Although the original was written in 1961, it has now been reprinted and newly released in 2012.   I am enjoying it immensely – sort of a fifty year celebration of the ideas.

Perhaps it is the title that attracts me – Gardening Without Work for the Aging, the Busy & the Indolent.  I use Stout’s ideas extensively in my garden for a number of reasons.  First, my arthritis forces me to find new ways to garden that remove at least a part of the work intensity from the process.  Second, I have very limited well water on my farm, especially if we are in drought.  Third, her recommendations about mulching seem to produce a better garden than gardening without it.  I suppose I really should add that good mulching also produces an attractive and well-tended appearance.

This particular book is a hoot to read if you like to mix good ideas with dry humor.  She loves to offer the odd and obvious questions asked to her as the preface to the point she is trying to make.  Since some of us ask the same questions ourselves, it doesn’t hurt to laugh at ourselves while learning.  As gardeners, it probably isn’t a good idea to take life too seriously.  Of course, I continue to read her later work as well, and it is in my city and farm libraries – The No-Work Garden Book.   Now THAT is my kind of book.

My garden is looking great right now.  I planted most of it on a warm April day that suckered me into the season.  I’ve had some rain to help it along, and yes, it is mulched.  I had forgotten that I can mulch the asparagus though, so I think I’ll do that this weekend.

If you are so inclined, one of her books would make great afternoon reading – right after the afternoon nap, which is a good thing to do with the extra leisure time.

I thought I might share with you that I garden with arthritis, with the hope of encouraging others who contend with the problem.  Perhaps I can glean some new ideas from you to work around it when “Arthur” is there in the morning and I can’t wait to get to the garden. 

How disabling is arthritis?  Well, it just depends on the day.  There are the days when I shuffle around like a hobbled horse, and there are days when I am pain-free and prancing like a race horse.  Either way, though, if you have serious arthritis, one has to be prepared for the worst days.  Those good days just don’t come that often.

Why mess with a garden, under such circumstances?  Because my mind is programmed to tell me I am a normal person, fully mobile.  Each of us has a self-image of health that defines what we do and how others perceive us.  If we believe we are incapable, we become so.  If we believe we “can’t,” then life begins to shrink around us.  But nature is in my bones.  To become an inactive earthling just doesn’t work in my mind.  First, I still need exercise for my body, and second, my heart and soul take wing in the wild.  I simply cannot imagine life without my gardens. I call that my connection factor to the earth.

I prefer to look at the task of gardening with an eye to “what can I do if I modify the task or procedure,” rather than saying I can’t do it at all.  I believe gardening is well worth the effort, because it provides critical exercise, especially in the areas of strength, stamina and balance.  Perhaps I could go to a gym and get a routine for this (who am I kidding?) or I can get it by gardening.  Besides, I am too well aware of the signals of aging like flabby underarms, gasping for breath on the stairs, and the statistics that one in three seniors fall each year – a balance issue for sure.

Thankfully, gardening has changed over the years and better techniques are available.  Some of those offer excellent alternatives for someone like me.  My limitations focus on the use of feet and tasks of balance, and use of the back, all related to a fall which resulted in broken heels and fractured vertebrae.  I am most grateful for the work of Helen and Scott Nearing who wrote so carefully about composting and water conservation and Ruth Stout, the “mulching queen,” each of which clearly tell me that digging a garden is not appropriate.  By converting to a mulching system, I no longer need to worry about using my poor feet on a shovel, and the weed population is very manageable.  To use up all that time I save from not performing such tasks, I read such magazines as Organic Gardening,GRIT, and even Fine Gardening.  One likes to be reinforced with good current information.

The feet, and the necessity of being on them, continue to be my biggest challenge.  Of course, I use my lawn tractor and attached wagon extensively to carry all manner of material.  I also position either benches or large plastic tree pots around the garden to get me off my feet when I’m working in that area.  As it turns out, I like some of those areas so much that I spend considerable “butt time” just enjoying.  I’m sure there is considerable research supporting the link between meditation and strong gardens.

Time and intensity are also modified for me.  Of course the start-up season is the worst, but once I’m past that I slack off and use the coolest parts of the day for about a two-hour stretch of labor.  I have divided the garden into smaller “rooms” or areas and set smaller goals for daily work.  I admit that I also add compost and bark mulch to these areas in the flower garden as I clean and groom in an effort to conserve water and weed-pulling efforts.  I also use a “one wagon” rule during the summer – this is applied when I begin to tire.  Instead of allowing myself to work to the point of exhaustion, I take my garden cart and walk through filling it with weeds or clippings.  When that one wagon is full, I quit.

Of course, I have also changed tools to accommodate my lesser strengths and capabilities.  I acquired a “lady’s shovel,” swear by my Japanese hoes, and have acquired some adapted trowels.  One of my best friends is a good serrated knife to clip roots. 

So there you have the secrets of my arthritis garden.  I suppose the solutions have to meet the needs for the areas of the body affected, but over time I have managed to get a good work-out and a good garden at the same time.  Are there days when I have pain?  Sure – most of them.  But, I choose to have discomfort while I’m doing what I love,  knowing my body is keeping its flexibility and balance, that I am still strong, and my heart and mind are where they need to be – in the garden. 

My parents have a grapefruit tree and a lemon tree.  I get lots of lemons and grapefruit.  Over the years I have investigated innumerable ways of using and preserving this bounty.  I can lemon juice for year-round use.  I eat and give away as much grapefruit as possible, then can the rest.  This leaves me with a mountain of grapefruit peels.  It seems a waste to throw them out, and they don't compost well.  So one year I started experimenting with using them to make a cleaner.  It didn't take long to hit on a simple formula that is also very simple to prepare. 

I get out my biggest stockpot, fill it with grapefruit peels, and cover them with water.  I bring the whole shootin' match to a vigorous boil, then turn it down and let it simmer for a day, topping up the water level as needed.  After several hours, or all day, I turn off the heat and let the mixture cool off overnight.  The next morning, I get up and start straining the mixture into gallon size glass jugs.  Do not use plastic, as this concentrate, though not really rough on the skin, will eat through plastic jugs within a few days and leave you with a leaky mess.  It is also a good idea to vacuum seal or water bath can (in quart-size jars) any concentrate you will not be using right away, as it will ferment and grow yeast.  This fermentation does not make the cleaner lose any effectiveness, it just replaces the pleasant, citrusy scent with an unpleasant odor. 

Be sure to label the concentrate so no one drinks it.  I don't know how harmful it would be, but I certainly don't recommend it. 

A note on straining.  I put a funnel on top of the glass jug I am straining into and line it with a piece of old t-shirt, sheet or dishtowel to filter out the solids.  The liquid is too thick for coffee filters, it takes forever, and does not need to be strained as much as that.  I then ladle the liquid into the filter, scraping solids off as they build up.  When I get down to where it's mostly peels and other solids, I squeeze them real good, filter the remaining liquid, and put the now softened peels into the compost bin, where they compost much more readily.

How to use your fantastical new cleaner.  For general cleaning, I dilute 1 part cleaner to 4 parts water in a plastic spray bottle.  At this dilution it has not eaten through any of my bottles yet.  This works well for light cleaning of counters, glass, mirrors, sinks, toilets, floors and all such general light jobs.  For laundry, I use 1/2 to 1 cup undiluted, pour in with the soap instead of bleach, and enjoy softer, whiter, more pleasant smelling clothes.  For tough, greasy jobs, like my stovetop, I pour the undiluted concentrate right on the greasy spots, let soak at least 20 minutes, then use a hard plastic scraper to loosen most of the cooked on grease.  This does sometimes leave a few small areas to scrub with steel wool or a copper scrubber, but takes most of the work out of it.

I have used this same formula with orange peels, lemon peels and combinations of different citrus peels, in smaller and larger batches.  The basic idea is just cover with water, cook several hours, strain and enjoy using your own homemade, all natural citrus cleaner.

For more homesteading, homeschooling and simple living ideas stop by www.mrsdshomestead.blogspot.com or www.mrsdshomestead.com .  

Many of us grew up in the largest generation: the Clorox generation. Our earliest memories of cleaning usually involved using bleach and water. The use of bleach defined cleanliness for us – the stinging nostrils, burning cuticles, and noxious fumes – and yet, no one ever seemed alarmed at its use. Of course, bleach isn't all bad. A bottle of bleach means clean drinking water in many parts of the world, good times in swimming pools, and very white clothing. So, why all the fuss?

Bleach is kryptonite for allergy and asthma suffers. Bleach also mixes with common household cleaning products to create some dangerous situations. Examples? Oh, I got plenty of those!

Mixed with ammonia ... bleach releases a gas that can cause your lungs to stop functioning. Where is ammonia lurking that bleach often mixes with it? Toilets. Urine contains ammonia, right?

Mixed with dish soap ... bleach produces mustard gas. That's right, the stuff from World War I that caused severe chemical burns, conjunctivitis, temporary blindness, bleeding and blistering within the respiratory system, and (in some cases) cancer. Not cool, folks.

Mixed with organic matter ... bleach produces chloroform. Chloroform? Yep. Inhaling chloroform vapors depresses the central nervous system of a patient, causing dizziness, fatigue and unconsciousness. Prolonged exposure can harm necessary (and kind of super-important) organs like your liver, kidneys, and skin. Chloroform is also a cancer-causing toxin.

So, what can we use instead of bleach?? Easy-peasy, y'all!

Here's the recipe:

12 cups water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup hydrogen peroxide

Mix. Add 2 cups per wash load or put in spray bottle and use as a household cleaner.

You can use grapefruit juice instead of lemon juice. Whatever floats your boat.

I got this bottle of hydrogen peroxide for less than $1. One bottle like the one above contains about 2 cups of hydrogen peroxide. So, we're keeping it appealing to the budget.

There we have it. Fresh as an Irish water fall. No noxious fumes. No burns. No fear.

Load this stuff into an old vinegar jug and/or a household sprayer and start your cleaning engines!