Newsletter #258 2024 May 10 Friday
It's that time of year I suppose; another busy, great week. Oxen paddocks, pig pickup scheduled, garden work, and a visit from a dear friend.
It seemed to happen so quickly; one day it’s early spring and the next day the canopy is all but closed, and the green is almost overpowering.
Primal Woods
Sawmill Services
No milling jobs this week, but I did put two on the calendar for later this month.
Homestead Rebel Farm
If you did not see it by email or on Substack, I put up a post regarding the solar system yesterday, Thursday.
Solar System Performance: Year One Post Mortem
I suppose you could say that this is a good news/bad news story. And we’ll get to that, but first some background. We commissioned the 12,000W solar system in mid-April of last year, therefore May of 2023 was our first full month with the solar system in operation. The year under review is then 2023 May through 2024 April. I’m going to get into this in some detail, and then write about our options for the future. If you are considering solar, or already have some solar energy capacity in place, this post is for you.
Layers
The Golden Laced Wyandotte pullets are fully integrated into the flock. No losses so far, so we now have 25 laying hens and 2 roosters, though the 13 new birds won’t start laying for a few months.
Pigs
Pickup is scheduled for tomorrow, 5:30 pm. The count is down to six, as mama rolled over on a couple, killing them. That’s why the industrial pig producers put the sow in a farrowing crate.
Farrowing crates are designed to provide a safe and comfortable environment for sows to give birth and nurse their piglets. They are typically used in swine production to reduce piglet mortality and improve overall health. The crates are designed to control the sow’s movements, allowing her to move around comfortably while keeping the piglets safe from being crushed or injured.
I don’t know about “overall health,” nor do I know about “allowing her to move around comfortably;” if the PETA folks are to be believed, farrowing crates are a cruel and unusual punishment. The Amish don’t seem to use them, and I’m fine with that.
At this point all six pigs are spoken for; I might try to bring on a couple more, if I can find any very close in age.
Oxen
I put up Oxen Paddock #4 in the pasture behind the barn, and I also put up a temporary paddock using “polytape” close to the driveway; the grass was getting long due to a grazing animal deficit. The oxen mowed the grass in a day, so I think I’ll be doing more of this, on land which is not pasture per se, but grows grass, which I would otherwise have to mow with a machine. If you find yourself spending too much time on the mower, you too might have a grazing animal deficit.
Watching animals do what God created them to do is a wonder-full experience. Getting work done, and feeding themselves at the same time. There is a grand design behind it all. The white fencing you see is the 1/2 inch polytape.
Garden
Geri prepped the raised beds for planting and put down weed-block; planting is scheduled for Sunday.
Farmhouse
The path to the lake was cleared a week ago tomorrow, Saturday. There is one 20 ft. section of floating dock that can be salvaged; new deck boards will be installed and it will be reused. New, a dock this size would cost $2-3 grand, which of course would not include installation. I should have a cost estimate for the entire project this weekend.
Several blow-downs were also cleared, three to be exact, where the root ball crashed back into its original position as soon as I cut the trunk off the stump. Keep your eye on the left side of this video as its end approaches. First comes the “before” picture, then the video.
In this case the wet soil helped; I’m reasonably confident that the root ball would not have dropped back into place later in the summer. It went this way with two others, and I think I see at least two more that might yield a similar result.
Several brothers cleared the path to the lake in less than 2.5 hours; I am well and truly blessed to have these men in my life. We had prayer and a nutritious, great tasting and satisfying breakfast from the hands of Geri before we headed into the woods.
My great friend, and 3-year roommate at the Naval Academy, Sean, came up for some fellowship and to help with the path clearing. He and I stayed in the Farmhouse, and as by now you probably know is par for the course, we spent the entire time talking; no TV, no social media of any sort, no phone calls. In short, no distractions. Also par for the course, I learned a lot, as Sean is very good at holding up a mirror to me. Sean is a Marine and co-author of the book On Mission, which I highly recommend.
Geri manages the Farmhouse Airbnb; I think both June and July are getting pretty tight, and she’s schedule at least one stay in August that I am aware of.
News
No time for news again this week; it’s a beautiful thing!
Books
I recommend Federal Husband, for husbands. Wives, too, but it definitely views the role of husband from the Biblical perspective, which is almost totally counter to current cultural norms. It’s not for everybody I’m sure.
Now I’m on to Sacred Marriage. More on that in the near future. One look at the subtitle tells you that this book is also counter-cultural, but it is ringing true with me.
Here is a video that might help with understanding what is and has been going on in the United States in particular.
All the best, and may God bless you and yours,
John & Geri
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