by Texas Homesteader ~
Do you marvel what a day on a Northeast Texas Homestead seems like? I’m sharing our day proper right here.
It’s true that there are numerous issues we gave up after we left company employment. Assured wage, a comfortable climate-controlled office and paid days off for instance. However all these perks simply weren’t price it to us.
That is!
Come together with me to see what a day on the Homestead is like.
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This time of yr is scorching & sticky in our space of Texas. The warmth might be harmful with the excessive humidity factored in. However there are many outdoors chores to be accomplished.
We’ll watch out, keep hydrated and take breaks typically. And the sooner within the day we get began the higher.
Taking Care Of Chickens
Chickens all the time get my first consideration every day. We’ve a big rooster run that’s fenced with 8-foot T-posts and 7-ft tall welded-wire fencing. Inside this rooster yard we’ve got a small picket rooster coop that has nesting packing containers.
Every night time I lock the chickens securely contained in the coop and shut the tube of their PVC Rooster Feeder (You recognize, as a result of I don’t need rats & mice pondering that is an all-you-can-eat-for-free diner!)
So the very first thing I do every morning is to launch the chickens from their small coop and into the big rooster yard. I additionally open their feeder.
Then I clear all of the rooster poop out of assorted areas throughout the coop. I swear chickens poop greater than any creature on earth!
The straw bedding and poop that I’ve clear out is positioned right into a *Tumbling Composter that I maintain within the rooster yard.
Will probably be aged nearly proper for utilizing the compost in my backyard subsequent yr.
Rooster Coop Catastrophe
We purchased this rooster coop years in the past. And it has definitely served us properly for all that point.
Yesterday RancherMan & I tried to maneuver it to recent grass throughout the rooster yard. However we’d had it for over 8 years now, and this time the transfer was simply an excessive amount of for it.
The underside body of all the coop simply gave up and virtually collapsed the coop. So now it not presents safety to our hens ought to raccoons crawl over the rooster yard fence in the midst of the night time. We wanted to purchase a brand new one.
There are numerous good choices for small *Chicken Coops on-line. RancherMan’s researching them now & is leaning in the direction of one that’s constructed with a steel body. We’re pondering it could maintain up longer than the wooden-framed one we’d bought earlier than.
Backyard Upkeep
On my means again into the home I normally cease by the backyard to look issues over. This yr’s backyard has been a problem with all of the rain and flooding we’ve suffered this yr. Mom Nature positive has been cranky!
However at the least my inexperienced beans are taking off. So I take this time to reap inexperienced beans, see if any weeds or grass must be pulled, and many others.
I additionally gauge the backyard’s watering wants now that the rain has stopped and the warmth of summer season is on. (I take advantage of Captured Rainwater solely when irrigating my backyard.)
Then I shortly get again inside to take pleasure in some espresso and have a tendency to the enterprise aspect of our Homestead.
I’m sometimes gathering ideas for brand new posts and doing a little writing. Possibly some footage are taken and edited in preparation for a brand new submit going out. Typically RancherMan & I are researching potential Homestead purchases such because the rooster coop quickly to be purchased.
Or typically RancherMan & I are simply chatting about what must be achieved at the moment. No matter we resolve is on the chore listing, it must get began early earlier than it will get too oppressively scorching outdoors!
Beekeeping – Checking The Hives
A couple of weeks in the past we Requeened our Beehive. We checked the hives a few weeks later to verify all went properly and have seen that the brand new queen is busy as a bee. (grooooan – you KNOW I needed to say it!)
However with all of the rain we’ve had during the last a number of weeks, the bees are having a tough time gathering from the flowers to supply for the hive.
You see, veteran beekeepers have taught us that when it rains, pollen & nectar is washed away from the flowers. We’re informed it takes about 3 days for the flower to replenish this very important honeybee vitamin.
So when it rains on daily basis for weeks on finish, properly the bees are having to dwell on their reserve honey contained in the hive. We have to examine to verify they’ve nonetheless acquired sufficient to eat.
At this inspection we see that the honey manufacturing has at the least been ok to maintain the hive fed, however definitely not sufficient for us to Add a Honey Tremendous in preparation for Harvesting Honey in a number of weeks.
Ugh. The second yr in a row for us to reap little or no (if any) honey. However at the least the hives are thriving, the queen is laying and everyone seems to be wholesome.
Weaning Calves
We’re additionally at the moment within the throws of weaning calves. We wish to wean them at 7 months of age, and we wish to maintain them as wholesome & stress free as attainable whereas weaning.
It’s stated that immunizations aren’t as efficient if administered throughout instances of stress. So a number of weeks in the past we introduced the herd to the barn and gave the calves their first spherical of immunizations. Then we launched them again into the pasture with their mamas.
After a few weeks we moved the herd to the pasture closest to the weaning space. Then a number of days in the past we pulled the calves into the weaning space, leaving their dams simply on the opposite aspect of the fence.
This Fence Line Weaning helps relieve stress for each calf and dam, as they will see one another and even contact noses by the fence.
They’ll nonetheless name to one another for a number of days as their intuition calls for. However inside a number of days everybody has settled into a brand new routine.
RancherMan & I supply the calves some recent pasture grass grazing, some free-choice hay and supplemental high-protein feed too. The calves all got here by with flying colours.
Now that every one has settled, we transfer the mamas to a farther-away pasture to feed on recent grass. So we’re additionally transferring the weaned calves to a different paddock with recent grass as properly.
RancherMan is utilizing a system of electrical fence placement to present them extra & extra entry to recent grass.
Combine-n-Pour Tortillas
In the course of the warmth of the day I’m normally inside, puttering within the kitchen.
RancherMan loves tortillas. However regardless of which oh-so-easy flour tortilla I attempted to make, they all the time had been means an excessive amount of hassle for what I thought of to be a substandard tortilla.
Then I began making Combine-n-Pour Tortillas. It’s a batter you merely pour onto a scorching griddle and unfold into a skinny circle. Then you definately prepare dinner them up, flipping them as soon as and funky them on a baker’s rack.
The tortilla is a mix of corn/flour and is (to me) paying homage to a avenue taco tortilla. They roll superbly and are scrumptious. Plus I can whip up a batch shortly, in contrast to the flour tortilla drudgery in my previous. HA!
So on at the present time I make a double-batch of mix-n-pour tortillas. RancherMan likes to have them obtainable to unfold a few of my Home made Hummus for a fast wholesome grab-n-go snack.
I may mash a few of my Instantaneous Pot Pinto Beans, sprinkle on a bit cheese & chopped onion and serve a fast bean & cheese burrito lunch. We love these tortillas and I all the time have them obtainable for RancherMan.
Supper Plans
When night comes it’s time to ponder feeding us. I’ve many shortcuts for making Home made Meals Every day The EASY Approach. The principle shortcut I make the most of is Cook dinner-As soon as, Eat-Twice methodology of cooking.
Consequently there’s no scarcity of do-it-yourself important entrees in my freezer. I’d seemed over the choices yesterday & determined that we’d have a few of RancherMan’s charcoal-grilled rooster. So a portion of that rooster was faraway from the freezer & positioned within the fridge to thaw in a single day.
Right now I’ll merely warmth the rooster and simmer a few servings of these recent inexperienced beans I harvested from the backyard this morning. A pleasant chilly salad with do-it-yourself Creamy Salad Dressing rounds the meal out and we’re consuming a wholesome do-it-yourself meal in minutes.
Whew! It’s been a protracted, scorching, hard-working day at the moment. However there’s no place on earth I’d relatively be than beside my good-looking RancherMan working side-by-side for our dream.
~TxH~
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