Computer Died-RIP

It happened to me.  My motherboard died.  I am blessed to still have a computer to use, it's old, it's not mine, but it's available.  I am unable to post from my camera so these will be entirely text entries.  Now is not a good time for us to consider a new computer.  I'm keeping an eye on Freecycle just in case I can find something a bit more modern.

Not having a good computer has freed up so much more of my time that I'm considering a part time job.  You think I jest-but no.  I spent way too much time on here before the death of my computer.  I've had more time to spin, sew, braid rugs, do paperwork, even clean!!!

I'm thinking on getting a couple of little hogs to raise.  I'd like to order more chicks and I'm waiting on my cows to drop a few calves soon. I'll be having my rabbits bred in a couple of weeks. Babies in the spring.  Don't ya love it?

Growing Fodder

With the temps hovering at a balmy -5 today and a promise of almost -35 tonight, I thought I'd feed extra to our critters.  I grabbed the sugar beets out of the cellar and sliced them up for treats.  I've never fed out sugar beets before, I knew that horses usually love them, but didn't know how everyone else would react.
Well...the donkeys love them, the goats love them, the rabbits love them, I ran out before I got to the chicken coop, but from what I've read, the chickens should love them, too.
I grow extra pumpkins and corn every summer to help out with our feed costs in the winter.  Nettles and comfrey are dried and fed out to the chickens and the goats, too.  I've now decided that sugar beets or mangels will be grown to help out.  I think I'll go with the mangels as they get larger. 

  (picture from wolftree farms)

I found a great site that talks about growing your own fodder on your homestead.  http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Growing-Poultry-Feeds-1.html
This site looks to have a lot of information for anyone thinking about cutting feeding costs.
I don't know if I'll be able to grow enough to keep our herd of beef cattle through the winter, but I'm excited to try growing this new crop.

Recycle Your Own Paper

Papermaking was more popular a few years ago, and I really enjoyed it.  It's been at least seven years since I took out my tools and supplies, but I thought I'd give it a try again.
What you need:
paper-copy paper, paper bags, colored napkins-not glossy paper or newspaper
water
Elmer's glue (if you'd like to add it, not necessary)
glitter
plant leaves
dried flowers or other things to add to your paper

Tools and supplies:
buckets
blender
kitty litter box or dishpan
mold and deckle (look this up, can be made at home with picture frames)
felts (or other material for couching the paper)
newspaper
2 boards (12"x12")
C-clamps
sponge
straight edge (for taking water out of paper)
clothesline
iron

Begin by taking your used paper and tearing it into bits.  I put mine by color into different buckets.  Six pieces of paper make about 3 pieces of new paper.

I have pieces of paper bag in the pink bucket.  Most of my paper comes from the recycle box in the local school copy room.
Add enough water to each bucket to cover the paper plus two inches.  Let this set for a few hours.
Now put a couple of handfuls of this paper into the blender.  Add 2/3 s again as much water as paper scraps.  Blend on high until it forms a slurry.

Pour the slurry into the dish pan.  Blend up a  couple more batches and add to the pan.

This is what the white pulp looks like. Add water to this until it's about2 1/2"-3" deep.

The mold and deckle.  Place mold on top of the flat side of the deckle.  Lower into one side of the dishpan and pull towards you.  Shake back and forth to get an even layer of pulp on the deckle.

Take out and drain it a bit.  Take the mold off and flip this down onto the couching pad that you've made.  Oops!  Here's how to make the couching pad.  Layer newspapers on top of each other to soak up the water that will drain off of the paper and lay a felt  or couching paper on top of it.
Here's my couching pad.

Here's the first sheet on top of the pad.

The screen is facing you.  Now take your sponge and absorb all of the excess water you can.

Now use the straight edge and push the rest of the water into the sponge.

Gently pull the screen off of the paper and there's your first sheet.

This one is a combination of white and paper bag.  I really like the way it looks. Take the felt and paper off of the newspaper pile and place a fresh felt down for your next piece of paper.

I took some leaves off of the Boston Fern and will press these into the paper to emboss them.
For a smoother finish I place a hard plastic film on top to be pressed into the paper.
Here's some made with the green pulp with the film on top.

Not a great photo.
After you've made all of your sheets of paper, stack them evenly, with the couching felts, one on top of the other.  Place extra felts on top and bottom.  Put one of your boards on the bottom and one on top and use the C-clamps to compress the pile as much as possible.

Leave this overnight.  There are other ways to press your paper, weights, etc. , but I like the C-clamps.
Take the stack apart and hang your damp paper, on or off of the felts on a clothesline to dry.  I placed this batch on the basement floor because when I tried to hang it, it wanted to come off of the felts.
Once it's dry, carefully remove from the felts. 
Now, place a piece of paper under the new paper and one on top.  Turn your iron to a low setting and iron the paper to help it stay flatter.

Here are how some of the pieces came out-

This is the one with the paper bag in it.  I'm going to  use this to print up  labels for my soaps.

This piece was a lot brighter when it was wet.  The colors didn't show up as well as I'd hoped.

This isn't a good picture, but you can see the different colored spots in this piece.  This one I'll use for a baby shower card.

There, that's it.  There's so much you can do with this.  You can make paper out of fruits, vegies, straw, etc.  You can put dried flowers or herbs into it.  Use a doily to emboss it.  So many options, so little time.

Getting Ready for -30

Getting ready?  My honey said "Back in the day, we never had to get ready, we just were."  And it's true.  Living in Northern Minnesota, you just expected  a couple of weeks in January to be at -40 every night, with highs of -20.  Not so now.  The last few years have spoiled us and we start to whine whenever the thermometer drops below -10.  We are wimps.

The cold is coming and I figured the livestock and critters are about as prepared for it as we are-not.  This morning was a balmy 25 above and a great morning for being outside.  I threw more bedding in with the ducks and chickens, more bedding for the goat, also.  The cows got extra hay and a bale in the lean-to for bedding.  The bunnies are brushed and bedded.  I made my dog a new shelter as her doghouse faces north and she won't let me close the door to keep the wind off of her.

I insulated the chicken coop that the chickens won't stay in with straw bales and this should keep her nice and toasty.
Brought some firewood closer to the house so that I don't have to go out to the woodpile tonight.

"They're" predicting between -20 and -30 for the next four nights with up to 40 mph gusts of wind tonight.  The wind has picked up out there but it's still above 0.
Stoke up the stove and stay warm.

Canning Leftovers

I have the canner simmering on the stove right now full of odds and ends.  I've been putting our leftovers into freezer bags and throwing them in the freezer.  Today I had to do something with the leftover ham and decided to can it up along with the collection I had in the freezer.  I'm canning everything at 10 pounds for 90 minutes, except the ham which is in pint jars.  They only have to be in for 75 minutes.

I now have turkey, ham, sloppy joe, chili, and turkey and rice soup added to all the jars in the cellar.  Heading down there is like going to the grocery store.  It's like playing store when I was a little girl, only now I can use real food.  (I'm grown up now.)  I feel so blessed, and just a bit giddy.

Doesn't take much.

Be blessed.