Over the Fence Chat for Today - 7/5/20

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Country Style Homesteading : One Thread

Good morning all ... and thanks to all for the anniversary/birthday well wishes. We had a GREAT weekend! Even got to go fishing together, which doesn't happen that often since Cheryl can't stand the heat too well. However, yesterday afternoon was pretty mild here, with a pretty good breeze blowing, so we were able to get to the water and have fun together on my "old fart day!" Didn't catch much, but had an absolute BLAST trying!

Annie, I can't for the life of me figure why I had you placed in Ohio - thanks for clearing that up for me! I thought of you, anyway, even if I did have you lost in my brainpan :-)! And there were so many others I didn't mention in the previous post that I thought of and would have liked to have visited while "out on the road." May get the chance sometime, but things have undergone some changes and I'm once again "off the road" for now. Too much of a "family man" to stay out too long. Actually, that wasn't the deal ... just didn't like being mislead and lied to all the time, which happened the first time I worked for Trans Am. How in the world I let them talk me into coming back and taking a second round of abuse is anyone's guess. Needed the money pretty bad or it wouldn't have happened. Oh well ... live and hopefully learn. Anyway, I'm back home and looking for work and hacking away at the "honey-do" list that developed in my time away (that sucker gets long QUICK!). I would like to say that I'm about to get caught up, but that would be misleading. I'm about to get the most important stuff done - there's always more :-)!

Speaking of that, I have to get my tail in gear and get out of here. Have to go to the sale today to check on pig prices. We now have 4 sows with a total of 38 baby pigs almost weaning size, 3 gilts and two barrows. Most of the weaning pigs are going to market next week if the price is worth anything when I go over today. If not, I'll probably hold onto them another week or so ... just have to see. We'll be keeping a total of 8 (two barrows and 6 gilts) out of the weaning pigs for future breeding stock, but the rest will go! So anyway, I've rambled on long enough and will get out and start sweating now. You all have a great day and let us hear from you! Later!

-- Phil in KS (cshomestead@planetkc.com), July 02, 2002

Answers

Hi Phil,

Maybe your mix-up about Annie is because there is another Annie that does live in SE Ohio. She has been very helpful to us, giving us info. on land in that area of Ohio and such. I believe she probably use to post at the Countryside forum. Maybe that is who you were thinking of.

Glad to hear that you and Cheryl had such a nice weekend!

My husband and I were looking forward to meeting you sometime so if you do get back out onto the road sometime, don't forget to call us if you drive through our area.

Here in our part of Ohio, we just went from having nights that were so cool we were closing the windows to temps in the upper 90's with high humidity. I am keeping the gardens watered, so they are doing great and a wonderful advantage of the heat is that the grass has quit growing so quickly. Since we have no "grazing" animals right now, it is a big help to not have to do all this mowing so often.

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), July 02, 2002.


We are enjoying the warmer weather here in south central Michigan and the gardens are thriving since we are able to water. I have been mostly "unplugged" for a while now, and am going to try and re-enter cypberspace at a different and more moderate pace. I like this little forum, seems that everyone plays nice, and I enjoy keeping in touch with a few homesteaders from other areas.

Sure wish we lived closer Phil, weaner pigs are kind of hard to find around here because even the Amish are under contract to the big hog producers. We can search for weeks to find a decent weaner pig. We like to finish a couple at a time on the extra goats milk and the skim milk and whey left from my cheese making etc.

Annie, I remember 4 years ago when Gary came home and told me that his shop was closing. He was 60 and we were scared half to death that he wouldn't be able to find a job at his age. Well, withing 48 hours the boss from where he works was asking him if he wanted a job. It is a wonderful job, better benefits and pay, and he gets to be his own boss for the most part and work outside in the summer doing things he loves to do. If fact, he loves it so much he isn't even particularly interested in retiring quite yet.

Hope everyone has a great week and can stay cool in the heat. Remember, if you feel thirsty.......you are already dehydrated. Drink, drink and drink some more!!! hugs

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), July 02, 2002.


Diane,, I know of at least 2 pig farmers whrer you can get feeders within an hour of you, in the Niles area, G.R. ,, and if worse comes to worse, Clare has had feeders the last 3 times Ive been there

-- Stan (sopal@net-pert.com), July 03, 2002.

Thanks Stan, I will keep that in mind when we need them again. Niles and GR are about two hours for us though, but you must be talking about an auction in Clare?? We have a couple of auctions about 1/2 hour from us,we just try to buy off the farm if we can.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), July 04, 2002.

Phil, I've made that same mistake with Annie. One post she mentioned living somewhere that was not Ohio and I was confused. I hope your hog prices are doing well. We will be breeding our sows in September. We breed for show pigs, sell the best out of each litter for show and then take the rest to market. We have found that the best market around here is in Holmes County. It is about 3 hours away but the prices are so much higher that it makes the trip worthwhile. It is also the largest Amish community in the US so I force myself to go shopping for fabrics, ect. If anyone near by is interested, I know of an Amish family selling a sow (York Cross) and her eight two week old pigs. They decided they didn't eat enough pork to keep her and are just keeping a few of the babies. They are about an hour north of Columbus, near Bellefontaine, Ohio. Hope everyone has a great weekend! Joanie in NW Ohio

-- Joanie (ber-gust@prodigy.net), July 05, 2002.


Hey Phil, no problem. There were so many of us on CS, I couldn't even keep us straight. (Annie's and Anne's). I bet Cheryl is tickled to have you back home. The invitation still holds, but now there's one stipulation.... you have to bring the whole family if you ever make it to our neck of the woods!

Hope everyone has had a great week. It's been so hot and humid here in the afternoons, that I've been staying inside and painting some cabinets. We did get rain this past week. I could almost set my clock by when the storms were going to fire up for 3 afternoons straight. With the rain, everything is growing leaps and bounds, but I still don't have ripe tomatoes. :(

We're still working on the kitchen. I'm trying to get everything organized in there! I have a cabinet by the sink that I couldn't use. We'd get an occasional mouse in there and yuck, I hate mice! So the cabinet stayed empty. The mice were coming up by the drain pipes under the sink and then sauntering right over to the cabinet. Dave plugged the holes at the drain and then blocked off the opening from that cabinet to the other. (the cabinets were adjoined). This time I think we've got em. We'll see! :) I'm not putting anything in that cabinet till I'm sure though.

Well, I better get myself moving. Noticed yesterday that I've got a bunch more peppers ready and I need to get them picked and put up. Hope you all have a great day. Stay cool!!!

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), July 07, 2002.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ