Uncharted Heritage

20180407

The Fruit Cocktail Tree

Angel Buff April 07, 2018 0 Comments

Adding fruit to our little homestead.

We would love to someday have a small orchard on our property. There are already a couple of large pear trees that need some care. We are working to figure out what we need to do to get them healthy and productive.

Thursday we bought a couple of blueberry bushes (we will talk about the blueberries another day) and we also purchased a "fruit cocktail tree."

What is a "fruit cocktail tree"?

It is a fruit tree that has had branches [typically from the same species] grafted onto it. Our tree has peaches, plums, apricots, and nectarines. However, one of the limbs (nectarine) seems to be dead. Only time will tell for sure. This was the only one available at our local nursery with four possible fruits, so we figured we would try.

Why did we choose a "fruit cocktail tree" to begin our orchard?

Well, why not? 😊 It will be pretty awesome and amazing to see different fruits growing on the same tree after all. But that is not the only reason.

Since we are on a tight budget, we were not sure if we will be able to purchase any other trees this spring. This tree gives a variety of fruit within the one tree. It seemed to be a good idea as a start to our orchard. I am very excited to see this tree grow and produce.

For more information on planting and pruning fruit trees, we referred to: Storey's Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance and Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills

20180404

How Things have Improved. Pros and Cons of Roosters

Angel Buff April 04, 2018 2 Comments

Recently we made the decision to eliminate the rooster from our flock. This was a good decision for our family. I realize that everyone's experiences with having roosters varies. This simply has been our experience so far.

Firstly, the pros of having a rooster:

*The biggest reason we liked having our rooster was the fact that he was protective of the hens so we worried a little less about attacks from predators. (However, the extreme protective behavior was also a downside to us actually enjoying our chickens, as our roo was also eager to attack us.)

*Our second reason we liked having the rooster was that he consistently alerted us to their location when they were free-ranging. If we were unable to see them, if we waited a moment and listened we could hear a crow from him and could tell their whereabouts.

*Lastly, we liked that we had the possibility to have chicks.

Now the pros of NOT having a rooster:

*Our hens are so much friendlier. All of them. We had one that was always friendly, but the others were skittish and tended to keep their distance mostly. It was hard to convince them to let us pet them, and extremely difficult to catch them and hold. Since the rooster is gone, all of our hens come to us freely, willingly and eagerly. In fact, they will line up at our door sometimes and wait on us. :)

*Since the chickens are friendlier, this leads to the next benefit. Since there is no aggressive [rooster] we can allow our children to play outside without fear. Our oldest daughter began to not like playing outside, come to find out, she was always worried the rooster would escape the coop/run. Since he is gone, she is excited to play outside again.

*The hens typically stay closer to home. It seemed with the rooster they roamed a bit further when free-ranging. Sometimes the hens still wander off, but usually not as far and/or for not as long.

*Lastly, our hens' eggs are not fertilized. This makes it easier to give them away or sell them. We have found that some people will not eat eggs that they believe may be fertilized.

What has your experience been?
Do you prefer having a rooster in your flock?
What have been your PROs and CONs?

Linked to the Homestead Blog Hop

20180323

Planning Planting

Angel Buff March 23, 2018 0 Comments

A couple of weeks ago I shared our tentative plan for companion planting in our garden. Now it is time to decide just where in our yard we will place each of these sections of vegetable combinations, and to make preparations to actually start planting.

Time for a little more research... I learned which plants can and cannot be started indoors (mostly obvious) and which plants do not want their root systems disturbed. I also learned ideal timing for planting each vegetable. (It is important to note that we live in USDA Hardiness Zone 7, so depending upon where you live, timing could be different for you.)

So far my journal has been extremely helpful to us. I am able to jot down notes quickly and scribble out plans, sit down for some research, keep it close by when we are outside working, and hopefully look back on it in the future-- to learn from what we have tried in the past.

At the moment we have taken our companion planting notes and configured it into four main garden areas in our yard. We are preparing the ground and will begin planting soon.

Alright, we got lots of work to do now...see you later...

20180312

Vegetable Garden Companion Planting - Our Tentative Plan

Angel Buff March 12, 2018 0 Comments

This year we are going to try companion planting. One of the benefits of companion planting is protection from pests and diseases when planting in the right combinations.

I have been studying the vegetable companion guide in Storey's Basic Country Skills (picture below), as well as various online resources.

To begin grouping the vegetables we want to plant, I got out all of our seed packs, sat down with them and began to pair items up following the chart, and removing items that were not preferred. Almost as if I was playing a card game. If I had an item that was not listed on the guide, I would check for references online.

After I used all my ~~cards~~ seed packs, I began to make lists of the combinations, adding items I didn't have a seed pack for, and also any special notes of things to consider when we begin planting.

We ended up with six garden groups (shown below). This is our basic (tentative) grouping plan.

I am excited to get started, and anxious to see how well our gardening and groupings work out this season.

Do you garden using the companion planting method?

This post is linked at Saturday Sparks @ Pieced Pastimes

20180301

No More Roosters!

Angel Buff March 01, 2018 0 Comments

I debated about whether or not I wanted to share this. But this is part of our homesteading experience, so I am going to journal it. Maybe someone else is having the same issues? Maybe things can work out differently for them?

When we first got our chickens a year ago, we picked up six of the "Sex-Link (Female) Tetra Brown" chicks from Tractor Supply's Chick Days. Most of the time when you get any sex-link females you are warned that there is only a 90% guarantee that they are actually female. One of our six chicks ended up being a rooster.

Once we figured out we had a rooster, we begin asking around to see if anyone would want him. Apparently, no one wants roosters. Oh well, we thought. He sure was pretty and we knew that there could be benefits to having a rooster, such as helping to "protect" the girls.

For a little while things seemed okay. He stayed with the girls. He alerted us to their location. He became protective...increasingly too protective.

First he began trying to attack me. I was pregnant (with twins) last summer. I couldn't move around easily. And had to be very careful around him. We were worried he might try to attack our daughter. So we ended up having to keep him locked up in the coop area. Unfortunately, the girls were affected by this, as it was difficult to let them free range without letting him out too. (As he got more aggressive and amorous, he began pulling out the hens' feathers, but that is a whole other blog that you can check out by clicking HERE.)

Eventually even coming close to the fencing would cause him to charge. The only person he did not try to attack was my husband. If he was free-ranging in the yard and my husband was outside, he generally kept his distance from all of us. But if John was not out there, he would charge us.

Our daughter eventually began to get afraid to go outside to play, even if the rooster was put up. We definitely didn't want her afraid to go outside.

Sometimes you have to think with your head, and not with your heart.

The last straw was soon after trying out the chicken saddles. It was time to close the coop door for the night and "Fred the Rooster" attempted to attack John. Fred doesn't 'live' here anymore. We will just leave it at that.

20180224

Saddles for Chickens

Angel Buff February 24, 2018 4 Comments

Unfortunately, our small flock of hens were beginning to lose their feathers due to an increasingly more aggressive rooster. We did some research for solutions, and found chicken saddles. This seemed like it might just work. We figured it would at least be worth trying to help protect our girls.

We documented the (quite comical) experience of dressing the girls up (video below).

Have you tried chicken saddles in your flock?

What was your experience? Did they work for you?

Thinking of trying them? You can order them here:

Louise's Country Closet Standard Size 5 Pack Chicken Saddle Complete Protection

This post is linked to the Homestead Blog Hop, Simple Homestead, and Homemaking Linkup

20180220

Planning and Journaling

Angel Buff February 20, 2018 0 Comments

It is almost Spring and we are excited to be planning our garden.

I put together a gardening/homesteading journal - nothing fancy - just an old, unused notebook with pockets, folders, notebook paper [for notes] and blank pages [to draw out plans] - something easy to keep up with and something that doesn't matter if it gets a little dirty when used outside. It will be nice to have something to carry around and make notes with.

I believe the journal will be a great tool to keep track of what works well, as well as to make notes of our failures. Hopefully we can learn from our mistakes each year, make adjustments, and improve. I really wish this is something that we started a lot sooner.

Do you keep a gardening and/or homesteading journal/log?

Something that we are planning to change up this year is the location of our vegetable garden. Our previous location seemed ideal. We enjoyed the proximity of the garden to the house and the shed. It also was on a hill, but leveled. The garden, well, it just looked good there. So what is wrong with this location? Morning Glories! and Bindweeds! Pesky weeds that are disguised as innocent flowers. But these weeds grow quickly, are nearly impossible to get rid of, and they choke out the vegetables.

We spent a little time the other day examining the property for a new location to try this year. We have a few ideas, though nothing has been determined yet. Before we make a decision we are going to do a little research about what we are wanting to try growing this year - we are currently working on our list.

20180131

Photographing Four Generations

Angel Buff January 31, 2018 0 Comments

It is not often that all of my [Dad's side of the] family is able to get together. We all live in different states, scattered throughout the country. It has been a long time since we have all seen each other, and it was the first time all the great-grandchildren were together. We tried to use this rare opportunity to capture a family photograph of the four generations.

How complicated could it be? 😎

20180125

One EGGtravagant Dinner

Angel Buff January 25, 2018 0 Comments

We have been quite blessed. We have four hens, and we still get four eggs every day, despite us being in the winter months. Our typical go-to ways of cooking eggs are usually simply scrambled or hard-boiled. With our surplus of eggs, we decided we needed a breakfast-for-dinner night. We also decided it was time to change things up a bit.

Trying something new.

Bread (pressed down in the middle), egg in the center, cheese around the edges.

Baked until egg was done and bread was toasted.

This was sooo good!

Poached eggs.

Fried eggs.

Dinner was EGGtraordinary. But now we are all EGGhausted.

😉

Time to learn how to sell eggs.

Anyone interested in buying a dozen, or three, eggs?

20180124

Bannock Bread Recipe

Angel Buff January 24, 2018 0 Comments

Bannock is an easy-to-make and extremely versatile bread.

Ingredients (1 serving size):
1 cup flour
1/2 cup water, add slowly/not all at once
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 to 1/4 tsp salt (modify according to your taste)
1/2 tsp sugar (modify according to your taste)
(fruit of your choice is optional)

Mix dry ingredients. Add water until dough is the consistency of a biscuit dough.

Place in covered fire-safe (greased/oiled) cooking pot, and place over fire. Bake approximately 30 minutes over fire.

Alternately you could cook on the stove-top (in a greased pan) over medium heat for about 10 minutes each side, or you could bake in an oven, preheated to 400 degrees F approximately 20 minutes.

20180123

Backyard Survival with Dad

Angel Buff January 23, 2018 1 Comments

Over the weekend Dad and Daughter had a backyard adventure. Teaching Sera, practicing building a fire, cooking outside. Really just enjoying being outside together on a unusually warm day in January.