The Dreaded Pamphlet!

 I have decided that I am going to make little pamphlets describing Paganism,about the history,deity's and beliefs.I will then hand them to all the people who think it is ok to give me pamphlets on their religion. Yesterday I met a guy that wanted to buy the juicer I had listed on craigslist.As we were talking he asked about  the blog I had listed under my name on the e-mail.He wanted to know what Pagan Style meant so I said pagan goddess,that is all I said and he reached into his car and got the dreaded pamphlet.He started talking about believing in Jesus,the bible and going to heaven.Now this guy had no idea who I was or what my beliefs were yet he felt it was fine to push his on me.Why is that I wonder? This happened another time when I just wanted to buy a sheep from a lady,she also had to share her beliefs after just a short meeting.How would they have reacted if I had given them a little book extolling the virtues of the goddess and paganism? I probably would have been asked to leave,lol
 Why do people feel they need to tell others what to believe,wither it is religion,abortion,same sex marriage or the myriad of other things we are told it is wrong to believe in.If you don't like my religion the don't believe in it,don't like abortion then don't have one and don't tell me who to love based on what you believe. I do like discussions on these subjects, let me know what you believe and why but do not tell me that I am wrong and going to a hell I do not believe in when I disagree with you,and do not sideswipe me with your beliefs when all I want to do is sell you a juicer!

Blessed Be on this beautiful fall day!

Blessed Mabon

It is the time of the autumn equinox, and the harvest is winding down. The fields are nearly empty, because the crops have been plucked and stored for the coming winter. Mabon is the mid-harvest festival, and it is when we take a few moments to honor the changing seasons, and celebrate the second harvest. On or around September 21, for many Pagan and Wiccan traditions it is a time of giving thanks for the things we have, whether it is abundant crops or other blessings.
 Typically the focus is on either the second harvest aspect, or the balance between light and dark. This, after all, is the time when there is an equal amount of day and night. While we celebrate the gifts of the earth, we also accept that the soil is dying. We have food to eat, but the crops are brown and going dormant. Warmth is behind us, cold lies ahead. Mabon is a time rich in magic, all connected to the changing seasons of the earth.













                       May the Blessings of the
                       Fall Harvest fill your home!






                                                                 Blessed Be!


information about Mabon was found at
http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/mabontheautumnequinox/a/AllAboutMabon.htm

Favorite Homeschool websites

 Our school year got off to a late beginning this year due to an ac leak.We ended up having to replace the kitchen,laundry room,one closet and bathroom floors.It was very loud(due to the wall drying fans) and messy.But now we are back on track and finally getting into the groove of school.One of my favorite things and downfalls about homeschooling with the internet is that there is so much out there
to get lost in.I have so many sites saved that I get overwhelmed looking at them. I decided to make a folder of just the main websites we will use this year'

One of the new ones I found this year is Spelling City,http://www.spellingcity.com. On this site you can make lists of the spelling words your kids are using or use the ones already on the site. There are games to play for each word list and when your child is ready they can take the tests to see how many words they have learned. This week we have been doing the compound word lists and the girls are flying thru it.
CK-12,http://www.ck12.org/teacher/, is another great free resource for so many subjects.I plan on using it for earth science and writing with the girls this year.
Khan Academy,http://www.khanacademy.org/,is on our list every year and is a wonderful resource!
For history we will be checking out
HyperHistory,http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/History_n2/a.html , Have Fun with History,http://www.havefunwithhistory.com/,American History Games,http://gamequarium.com/americanhistory.html,and Best of History website,http://besthistorysites.net/,

Pics4Learning website,http://besthistorysites.net/, has wonderful pictures to print out for timelines and for anything else you might need them for.
Another great resource is a blog that I follow,Joybilee Farm,http://fiberarts.ca/blog/free-kindle-books-for-homesteaders-and-homeschoolers-september-21-edition/,everyday she puts up free Kindle books that can be downloaded to your kindle or computer,homesteading,homeschooling,craft and several more subjects.Be sure to check her out.

We also plan on using Life of Fred books for math and Netflix for all the wonderful documentaries they have.

What are your favorite websites to use in homeschooling?

Blessed Be!

Oak Meadow Give away!

Hey everyone,Oak Meadow  and The Secular Homeschool Community have joined together for another great giveaway.Please go and check them both out,they are both a great resource for your homeschool needs!http://www.secularhomeschool.com/content/780-september-giveaway-oak-meadow-curriculum-school/?postid=101145

Blessed Be!                                               

Duck dreams!

A few days ago my daughter ask me what was the biggest breed of duck.We went to the Internet of course and found out that the Aylesbury duck is considered one of the largest breeds along with the Pekin. I found the information from The American Livestock Breed Conservancy,http://albc-usa.org/ This website lists heritage breeds for farm animals that are critical,threatened or on watch status.One of the best things you can do for your farm is decide to raise heritage breeds,call the ALBC , find a breeder and give them a call.Help save these breeds from disappearing!

This is what we found about the Aylesbury duck.  "In the Vale of Aylesbury, forty miles north of London, Buckinhamshire 'duckers' were renowned by 1800 for the production of England's finest white-skinned market ducklings.Ó (Holderread, 68) Aylesbury ducks were held in high esteem not only for their for their white skin and unusual pink bill, but also for their large size, ability to produce eggs in the winter months, fast growth, light bone, and high percentage of mild-flavored meat. (Holderread, 68) This duck breed was one of the first to arrive in United States from Europe. Ayelsburys were exhibited in 1849 at the inaugural poultry show in Boston, Massachusetts and were included in the first publication of American Standard of Perfection published in 1874 by the American Poultry Association. The Aylesbury duck is a superior meat breed with pure white plumage, white skin, (a unique attribute since most ducks have yellow skin) orange feet and legs, dark grayish blue eyes and an unusually long, straight pinkish-white bill. It has a long body, horizontal carriage, and a characteristically straight, deep keel that nearly reaches the ground. The Aylesbury is described as "slow moving, and exceptionally tame.There is a critical need for more conservation breeders of Aylesbury ducks. Their large size, white skin and white plumage make them an excellent market bird and a great addition to any small farmstead or backyard producer's flock.

 When I called the ALBC I was told that there was only one breeder of these ducks in the US.I think they consider a breeding flock one that has 50 birds or more.I was given the name of Frank Reese of the Good Shepard Ranch in Kansas, .http://www.goodshepherdpoultryranch.com/index.html. Mr Reese spent some time talking to me and gave me a lot of information on Aylesbury ducks and poultry in general. I learned that if you want a breed true to standard then buy from a breeder that is raising heritage birds,not from a hatchery as those birds have strayed from the breed standard. Mr. Reese's advice was to join the American Poultry Association,http://www.amerpoultryassn.com/ and if you are serious about raising heritage birds then also subscribe to The Poultry  Press,http://www.poultrypress.com/.Going to the state fair and checking out the poultry is also a good idea. We talked about feed and what should go into it. Mr. Reese blends his own feed for the ducks,chickens,turkeys and geese that he raises. Duck feed should be high in fiber and fat(fish meal is good for the fat).Contacting a commercial bakery and getting their stale remains is great for the birds also as it has vitamins already added to it.I found out that if you have chickens picking on each other then give them tomatoes with salt and the picking would stop(good to know)
 Mr. Reese said the best books on waterfowl to read were the black and white version of The Standards of Perfection,anything by Dr. Marsden(haven't found much info on him yet) Oscar Grow who wrote Modern Waterfowl Management and Dave  Holderreed,http://holderreadfarm.com/ .

 I asked Mr. Reese if he brought new birds in to strengthen his flock or just eggs to hatch. He only brings in eggs to hatch as he has to much to lose if a new bird brought in has a disease or something.One diseased bird can wipe out an entire flock (scary thought),He vaccinates the chicks right after they hatch to prevent this from happening.
 I was told that there was another breeder of Aylesbury ducks in the US and he was actually here in Arkansas. Mr. P. Allen Smith is also a breeder and had bought his large flock from Mr. Reese.I was very excited to hear this! I had just found Mr. Smith on facebook and it seems that everyone I talked to knew who he was.Evidently he is a celebrity,http://www.pallensmith.com/. I am in contact with his farm and hopefully by spring I will be a beginning breeder of Heritage Aylesbury ducks!
 When we started this farm journey I figured we might have a couple of ducks along with the chickens,never dreaming I would fall in love with these funny little birds. We have 3 Muscovy's, 1 Black Swedish and 6 Pekins at the moment,I really need to build a pond!
 
These are our ducks,
 

                      Do you raise ducks or are you thinking about it? What breed tugs at your heart?


Blessed Be!
one innocent question can set your feet on a different path!

Summertime!

I can't say this summer hasn't been interesting so far.Last post I talked about our predator problem.I started setting a trap and have caught 2 raccoons so far.One was full grown,the other was just a little guy but I'm sure if he could have got to my dog like he wanted to he would have torn her up. I wasn't sure what to do with the first one when I found it. My husband had left for work so I had no car to take it anywhere.If I owned a gun I might have shot it,but as it wasn't my trap and I didn't have a gun ,that was out. I did think about drowning it in the duck barrel but couldn't do it even though we had lost 3 chicks,3 ducks and a turkey to these little monsters.I decided to wait until my husband came home and then we could release it at the nearby national forest.I will keep setting the traps every night until our new puppy gets big enough to take them on.

 

Raccoon #1
We had thought about getting a guard dog and when the coons started showing up I started looking. The best LGD breeds around here are the Kuvasz,Great Pyrenees and the Anatolian Shepherd. To get a dog that is already trained in livestock or a good puppy raised with LGD parents is expensive,anywhere  from $100-300,not in our budget.We ended up finding a beautiful little female Shepard/Pere mix.We named her Fallyn(Irish for "in charge"),she already shows signs of being a good livestock dog.

This is going to be  BIG DOG!
Besides Fallyn we have added 2 Pekin ducklings and 4 Copper Maran chicks,hope to have 3 more ducklings hatch today.These ducklings are the last fertile eggs from our big male Pekin the the damn raccoons killed.I had some hens wanting to set so I put the eggs under them and hoped for the best,so far so good!

Still on the agenda for the summer is to clear the land where the garden will be next year,redo the girls room and craft room,paint the walls and decoupage the floors.We will see if it all gets done.
What are your summer plans this year?





Blessed Be!

Predators

   Day before yesterday I went out to feed and check on our animals like I do every morning,as I got to the ckicks in the grow out pen I noticed one little banty not moving and I realized that something had grabbed her sometime during the night and killed her.I found out two others were missing,one of them being my smallest silkie.I was so mad! I thought they were safe in this pen,that nothing could get into it,never thought of something could pull them out.I suspect a opossum but it could have been a skunk. This was the first time we have had to deal with a predator here on our farm and I am looking for ways to stop them from getting my birds again.

 In our area the main predators are dogs,cats,opossums,raccoons,skunks,hawks,snakes,fox,coyotes, and the occasional wolf or bobcat.I found some great information on predators on Fresh Eggs Daily,she has great articles on chickens and ducks.http://fresh-eggs-daily.blogspot.com/search/label/predators.
 At the moment I have our chicks,baby turkeys and ducklings in the little shed we are turning into a hen house.I will move them to the old hen house when we are done with this one as they are not quite big enough to go in with the big girls.I think I need to be done with babies for awhile! Hopefully by next spring when we get more I will have better brooder boxes and grow out pens for them.
  Losing animals is part of farm life but it is a little harder when you thought you had done everything you could to keep them safe and something still gets to them,:(



  Blessed Be,

Spring has sprung and Babies abound!

   Well things are trucking along here on the farm. We have had chicks and bunnies born here in the last month! Two sister hens were setting at the same time on about 20 eggs.It was funny to watch them take eggs from each others nests and switch nests often. The problem was they would also take eggs the other hens had laid and add them to the nests. Out of all those eggs they only hatched 2 a piece before walking off the nests.I didn't have an incubator to put the rest in so we lost them all. I made the suggestion to the girls and their friend that they should autopsy the remaining eggs,to my surprise they did! Several were duds,several were not far enough along to hatch anytime soon,and about 4(including 2 duck eggs) had just needed a few more days. The two hens tried to coparent the chicks that had hatched but kept fussing at each other,we found one dead one morning so we took the remaining chicks and put them in a brooder cage.I felt bad for the hens but I really wanted these chicks to survive.Lesson learned is that as soon as you are sure a hen is broody get her in a separate place from the other hens so there will be no other eggs added to the nests.

Our baby bunnies were born around the end of April and Dovie is a really good momma. She had 5,4 black and 1 brown,they sure are fat little bunnies! Zoe thinks we either have 2 girls and 3 boys or the other way around,need to wait a couple of more weeks to be sure.We plan on borrowing a friends Jersey Woolly male to breed Dovie to next,We will then have Jersey Woolly Lops,lol

 The big chicks are doing fine. We took the 6 biggest ones last night and slipped them into the flock,they seem to be doing fine so far. We are down to 3 1/2 silkies. 1 died I think because it was just to small,and one was sat on by Angel who is twice as big as the other chicks her age.The 1/2 comes from one that was supposed to be purebred but is a mix of some kind.

Mixed Silkie,looks like a raven with a Top hat!

Hi!

Blue Splash Silkie

White Silkie

With the addition of all the chicks we will have outgrown our hen house so I plan on remodeling a shed for a bigger hen house.Friends are coming over next week to help with that.I can't wait to get everyone into their new home with an easier feeding and watering system.




Blessed Be!

Raising Miniature Livestock

   When we dreamed about raising our own animals for food I always wanted miniatures. Miniature cows,pigs,goats,sheep and donkeys. Research had shown they would be easier for me and the girls to handle,take up less space and wouldn't require as much grain. We are still deciding on exactly which breed of each we will end up with. As of now we have 1 ranling(painted desert) 1 nubian buckling,2 min. rabbits,an assortment of chickens,2 pekin ducks and as of yesterday 1 pot belly pig.
As I was looking up pot bellied pigs last night I was surprised at the lack of information on raising them for meat. There was a ton of websites extolling their virtues as pets but very few about the meat they could provide a family.I finally found a good website about them and was surprised to see a page about the hate mail they had received. I was even more surprised to find out that several farmers had gone underground or stopped raising these pigs altogether because of the harassment they received from individuals or groups who consider them only as pets.
    Here is a little background info on these pigs from Raising Miniature Livestock.
In 1985,Canadian zoo director Keith Connell traveled to Vietnam and brought back 18 pigs of  the one breed,planning to breed and sell them to other zoos in North America.In 1986 he sold some to American pet breeders and the potbellied craze took off.Pretty soon everyone was raising and selling these pigs as pets thinking they wouldn't get much bigger then when they bought them.Yes, potbellied pigs are smaller than the standard domestic pigs but they can reach up to 200 lbs or more. Here people were house training these little pigs but pretty soon didn't want a 150-200 lb pig in their house. Worse,owners quickly discovered that pigs are smart,strong willed and they live their lives from a pigs point of view.Behaviors like rooting(all the linoleum from the kitchen floor),chewing(interior walls) and nipping to establish a place in the herd(which comprised the humans in their household) upset pig owners very much! Owners who worked through problems with their house pigs loved them,they ones who didn't begin giving them away.Pig sanctuaries sprang up across the country and humane groups became inundated with unwanted pigs,yet promoters breeding more piglets because there were still interested new buyers.
  In Vietnam and Thailand these pigs are raised for meat as are other animals we in America only raise in pet status.We plan on raising potbellied pigs along with American Guinea hogs as livestock to provide meat for our family and friends.
The American Guinea hog  is not a guinea pig nor is it a potbelly pig. The Guinea hog is small, weighing 150-250 pounds and standing about 17 inches as an adult. They are black and often hairy with upright ears, and a curly tail. These hogs are long and lean. They have the appearance of a small bacon hog, although they are classified as a lard hog.  The background of the guinea hog is mysterious. There is some discussion of them having a West African origin with Essex blood mixed in as well. Guinea hogs are unique to America. In the late 1800's to early 1900's, they were a popular breed. These are considered a rare heritage breed and farmers are working on bringing them back into popularity for small homesteads.(http://rudugastsideal.com/)

                                          
   It will be interesting to see what we eventually end up with on our farm and what the journey holds along the way.



 Blessed Be.

Life on the farm....

  The last couple of months have been a little busy around here. What with having hardly any winter(2 days of lt. snow) and quite a few warm days we have been able to get more things done outside. We now have 2 rabbits,the Lion head(Ninja) and a Holland Dwarf(Dovie) and a Painted Desert ramling(Boomerang). What with the chickens,ducks,rabbits,lamb,dogs and cats around here we are starting to look like a real farm.A new shed had been put up so we can make the old one into a bigger hen house,the old hen house will be cleaned up for the lamb who now sleeps in a dog house.Does that make sense? LOL
 We have been planting flowers and clearing areas for more garden beds. Last year's garden didn't do very well due to bugs,poor soil and the heat,I hope this years will be better. Fayetteville had a Dig In Festival earlier this month. There were classes on beekeeping,seedsaving,gardening,chickens,cooking,bugs in your garden,and several others. Local organic eateries brought in wonderful treats for us and there were movies playing several times during the day. All in all it was a great learning experience and I am thankful to have the opportunity to learn from others.
 Piper and Zoe had their birthdays this month,they are now 11 and 13. I asked them if they wanted a trampoline or animals for their birthdays,they chose animals. Zoe wanted a lamb and rabbits,Piper wanted chicks.We will be getting bantams for her this week. We have 8 laying hens at the moment and 6 new hen chicks but 11 roosters(poor hens),nine of the roos we have now separated into a different pen to be sold or maybe for the freezer.Because of the light winter we had everyone is worried about the bug population exploding,especially the ticks. My sister keeps telling me we need guineas, I don't like guineas,they are loud and obnoxious but I will probably get some because I dislike ticks even more!

Dovie

Oreo

Boomarang

Shadow Ninja

Elie and Plato

Raver

New chicks

So what's hatching,quacking,baaing,crowing or running around your farm?



Blessed Be!

The journey to the food we eat,

 
          

     "Farmers are the only indispensable people on the face of the earth."

  Lately we have had many discussions about what is actually in our food,where and how all that we eat is processed. Label reading happens with everything and discussions about what the ingredients actually are has become the norm lately.We watched the movie Fresh last night with our girls (10 and 12) http://www.freshthemovie.com/.%20This This  movie is about change, changing the way we raise the meat we eat and the food we grow. Now I have been talking about these ideas for awhile now and the kids listened with half an ear, thinking mom was on another health kick. Watching how the animals were treated in the movie last night and learning what was injected/fed to them must have really hit home, I could actually see the light bulb go on over their heads,lol. They asked where we could find meat that wasn't processed in the ways shown. They were really furious seeing how the chicks were thrown and crowded into the chicken houses. We talked about the pesticides that were sprayed on the crops and watched How stuff works in the food and beverages. We watched how corn, salt and wheat were processed, the spraying of chemicals on the corn and the genetic modification of both wheat and corn.

  There are several movies in our netflix queue for use to watch exploring more on this subject. Fed Up, What's on your plate, Ingredients and Food Matters are on the list. Tomorrow we will visit a local fresh bread store and a meat market, comparing prices and ingredients. This morning Piper looked at the ingredients for the granola cereal she was eating and asked why there was sugar,honey and dextrose in it. So we talked about what we wanted in our granola and plan on making some this weekend. Zoe was ranting(she tends to do that) about potato starch in the shredded cheese we had for dinner so we are going to learn about making cheese and why potato starch might be put in there.They have about decided that if they can't read or understand the ingredient when it is looked up then maybe it didn't need to be there. We are looking for different ideas for meals using the least amount of processed ingredients possible. I feel like they are coming to understand why gardening and raising our own animals are so important. It also helps that several of their friends parents are going thru the same process with their kids, I love listening to some of the conversations they have about the food that they are eating. The next read aloud book will be Animal,Vegatable,Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I want to explore how many of the foods we eat are grown close to home(50 to 100 miles).
 Somtimes I really feel that the girls aren't learning anything in our homeschooling journey and then there are times like this where I am drowning in the wave of information they are processing. Homeschooling Rocks!!

                               Blessed Be,      

Pinterest

   Have you heard of Pinterest yet?  To me it's a great place to keep and organize ideas. You can collect pins for gardening, kids, books, whatever you want. On your page you will have as many boards as you want,named with whatever appeals to you. If you find something out on the web or make something you want to share, copy/upload a picture of it and add it to the appropriate board. Keeping recipes with pictures is a snap, ideas for your garden, fun things to build/make with the kids, a honey build list with ideas for the house. This is a place to store so many fun things without clogging up files in you computer or risk loosing them when your computer crashes(as mine does frequently). You can follow your favorite boards and friends.Hit the Pinterest button on the right side of the blog and come play!

These are just a few pins from my boards, come stretch your imminagition!



Blessed Be,