New books

I'm always interested in learning new things, or in this case "new to me".  I watched a homesteading video on YouTube and he referred to these 3 books.  So, I thought I'd invest in them for our homestead.

The fist book is "The Forgotten Crafts", by John Seymour. When I handed this book to my husband John, he was very interested.  He looked through it for a few minutes, vowing to peruse it again.



Do you need to make an enclosure for your livestock?  The section on stiles will help you design & construct it so that the animals can't get you & YOU can. Do you need a new, rugged pair of shoes? Learn how to cut your own clogs. Barrel making, saddle making, basket weaving, sod cutting, charcoal making.  This book introduces you to the skill and shows you the tools you need to complete the task.

The second book, "The Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency" by Caleb Warnock.  This book was very interesting to me.  The author quotes for farmer's journals from the 1840's and 1850's, discussing planting times, how to replant if needed (and it usually was), saving seed, establishing a community seed swapping network and raising chickens.



The third book, "Lost Crafts", by Una McGovern, is a real treasure.  The print is tiny, and the book is thick.



This book cover a great assortment of crafts. From dry stone wall laying to soap making, milking a cow to skinning a rabbit, pickling to thatching, blacksmithing to weaving.  Very handy for the homestead, to be sure!

Canine diabetes

Our older dog, Peanut, has been acting a bit odd lately.  She's been drinking A LOT.  And I mean A LOT.  As peeing a lot... vomiting, shaking, losing weight.  She's always been a chow hound, but lately she's been sleeping by the food & water bowl.  Odd.

We've had her 10 years now.  We don't really know how old she is, she's a rescue dog.  She was a young adult when she came to live with us.

Miss Peanut in 2008

She had an eye infection last week, so we took her to the vet for treatment. Shaw Veterinary Clinic While we were there we made arrangements to get her teeth cleaned this week, on Wednesday.  But on Tuesday she was rather ill.  Drinking, peeing & vomiting.  When we took her in on Wednesday, I told Dr Roger Shaw about her symptoms.  Peanut had to stay & have blood work done so he could solve the mystery of her illness.  Her blood sugar was over 500!  OMG!

Both my parents, my cousin, several family friends, my sister-in-law all have diabetes.  I know this is a difficult disease to manage.  How in the heck do you manage it in dogs??!!

Just like people, when dogs get older & heavier they are more at risk for certain diseases.  Diabetes is one of them.  And Peanut was in the heavier category to be sure.  She's a shorty Jack Russell terrier and she weighed 25 pounds!  She's now down to 18.  A much healthier weight... but it was all lost in the past 6 months.

She's now going to be on insulin twice a day. I did my research on treating dogs with diabetes, and was a bit apprehensive about giving her the injection.  But this morning at her 6 AM dose, she didn't even flinch when I gave her the shot.  She was fixated on the jerky treat I had for her.  I hope this trend will continue.

More info on canine diabetes:

The following symptoms should be investigated as they could be indicators that your dog has diabetes:

• Change in appetite.
• Excessive thirst/increase in water consumption.
• Weight loss.
• Increased urination.
• Unusually sweet-smelling or fruity breath.
• Lethargy.
• Dehydration.
• Urinary tract infections.

More items...

Dog Diabetes Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment - Pet WebMD

pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/dog-diabetes-symptoms-treatment

Saturday morning walk, Women's marches, thoughts on actvism

Cricket and I took a nice walk yesterday.  The weather was beautiful.  Very warm & sunny, especially for mid-January.

Looking downhill from the Hobbit House to the property line.

Looking uphill from the property line to the Hobbit House.

The Hobbit House is difficult to see... If you look just left of this big rock, you can see the window opening.  When the leaves are on the trees, it's all but invisible.

Several of my spinning friends participated in the Women's March in Bellingham, WA yesterday.  All these ladies are strong advocates of women's rights.  All are professional women.  They all have raised an family while working.  We've known each other for years.  I love these ladies, and was marching right along with them in spirit.  I hope they felt me there.

 We've done so many projects together; yarn for knitters in Bosnia, donations to the Heifer Society, charity knitting, teaching kids.  And we did these projects because it felt right, not for any recognition.  That's exactly how I prefer it. Doing something because it's the right thing to do.  Paying it forward.

As I look back on my life, I realize that I've always been an activist.  Not a pushy, loud activist.  More a feed the hungry kind of activist.  Help those in need - 2 legged or 4. I've always tried to make sure the kids in my extended family had what they needed.  My winter knitting/crochet projects are an example.

In a way, I saw my time in the Navy as activism also.  Doing what needed to be done.  I guess that's why I got a Human Services degree once I was out of the Navy.  I'd always wanted to be a nurse.  I was on the waiting list in Washington.  But I got the degree I did before my name even came up on the nursing list.  I guess I wasn't meant to be a nurse.

Two people who have always inspired me are Mahatma Ghandi & the Dahli Lama.  They both saw their nations exploited, their countrymen (and women) abused.  And they both worked for change without resorting to violence.

Weird weather, gardens & bugs

The weather here in Sharp County, Arkansas has been very volatile lately.  We had 3 days with temperatures below freezing, then we had a few days close to 70 F.  And now we're back to colder weather.  Night time lows close to freezing and in the 40's during the day.  A fairly strong snow storm passed over Arkansas south of us.  And then freezing rain passed north of us.  We only had drizzle and fog.

We've been receiving plant and seed catalogs in the mail.  I haven't looked at them closely yet.  We have a stash of seeds, but it's always good to see what else is available.  I particularly like Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  I try to invest in heirloom seeds, so I can save my own for the next growing season.  I also want to have the old, tried and true plants.  The are more hardy, in my opinion.

We don't use herbicides or pesticides.  Our bees wouldn't like that.  I do admit to using wasp killer around the house. Particularly, on the front porch.  We have those large, nasty red wasps here.  And they seem to believe our front door is the portal to wasp heaven!  They literally cover the lintel if we don't spray.  And their sting if awful!  Here's more information on these beasties. Red wasps

Red Paper Wasps

We don't kill the wasps flying around the flower garden or the veggie garden.  Only around the doors and windows.  They may think they should come inside, but I disagree!

I haven't seen many hornets or yellow jackets.  There are fewer bumble bees around, which is really sad.  We also have mason bees.  And mud daubers (which aren't bees at all). And there is this interesting fellow that my husband calls a "good news bee".  It's actually a fly. good-news-bee-is-actually-a-hover-fly

 

Good news bee

I hadn't ever seen one, until I moved to Georgia.  They are friendly little guys.  Some days, one will follow me around everywhere I go.  

Our "yard" is actually a mixture of many different plants.  Dandelions, clover, plantain, wild garlic/onion, mullein, some traveling saw grass type grass... what else I'm really not sure.  We haven't put any chemicals on the "yard".  Whatever was growing there 11 years ago is what is there now.  Josh keeps it mowed.  It's nice and green.  That's all we care.  We have many species of wild flowers growing along the drive & under the power lines.  Echinacea, blue eyed prairie grass, black eyed susan, cosmos, wild oregano,  beautiful wild Siberian irises all over in the woods, day lilies, a tiny orchid.... I know I'm only touching on what's out there.  I love wandering around taking pictures of them.  If you're interested in wild flowers, check out Arkansas wild flowers

Cold weather and crocheting.

It's been very cold here the past few days.  The high on Saturday, January 7, was 23F.  The low was 6F.

My chickens have been weathering the cold fairly well.  Freezing water seemed to be the biggest issue.  Everyone but Ginger has finished molting and gotten all their feathers back.  Ginger's back is still bare.  She seems to receive a lot of grief from the other girls,  I'm thinking about moving Sissy back in the large enclosure and giving Ginger some space of her own.  Poor girl looks sad.

Ginger is the red hen is the back...

We haven't had any more water issues.  Thanks goodness.

I've been working on an afghan for my niece's daughter. My great-niece??  I think that's right.  It seems she never got a baby blanket.  I'm not sure why.  John said I did make & send one.  Not sure what happened to it.  She picked out the pattern she wanted & the colorway.  I think it came out very well.  Now to crochet some slippers that will fit her feet.

Nevaeh's blanket

Closeup of the stitches

The pattern for the slippers Dragon Scale Slippers.  I really like the look of these. I'll be using the same yarn I used in the blanket.

There's really not much else going on here the past week or so.  It's been to cold to go outside, except as absolutely necessary.

Chicken dreams

When I had to stop working because of a back injury, I was concerned about my then husband & I... and our finances. I kept having a dream that there was a chicken living in our kitchen. Of course, there WASN'T... but I went to the library and looked up the symbol of a chicken in several traditions. It seems, in Eastern European tradition, a chicken symbolized "enough". I then understood that as long as I had a chicken in my kitchen, I'd have enough. So I went out and bought a beautiful chicken figurine for my kitchen counter. My then husband was quite pissed off by this. He considered it stupid & superstitious. And when we divorced, he made sure I took that chicken with me. I still have it in my kitchen... and I still have "enough". New, more in tune, husband. New home in the woods. Loving family. That chicken dream really made a difference.

I have lots of them now. Inside and out. People keep giving them to me.

And now that I have real, live chickens, I give eggs away. I raise chicks and give them away. I think of it as "paying it forward."

The chicken figurine I bought

Hatching out chicks in the incubator my husband made

Chicks in the brooder