Mamoth Spring And Grand Gulf State Parks

My family and I decided to take a day off from everything and go for a ride to a couple of nearby state parks.  Both are enjoyable and beautiful.  One is in Arkansas and the other is a few miles away in Missouri.  A nice day trip for us that took a couple of hours to get there.

Mammoth Spring state park is in Arkansas just across the state line from Thayer, Missouri.  This picture is of a little outlet located next to the spring.  Mammoth Spring boasts the 10th largest natural spring in the world.

 This is another view of an outlet from the spring.  There are two such outlets.  The spring is indicated by the "pond" from which the water flows.  Over 9 million gallons of water is produced from the spring every hour.

 The town of Mammoth spring was a hub of freight and passenger trains in the late 1800's.  This picture is of the depot from 1888 which is now a museum.  The train tracks are just on the other side of the building which carry several trains a day even now, although they no longer stop at the depot!

Grand Gulf state park is near Thayer, Missouri and is often called the "little grand canyon of Missouri".  It was formed by the collapse of an underground water way, forming a rather large crater.  This is a view from one of the platforms along the rim.

The picture above is while we were down in the hole.  There are 119 steps that take you down there.

There are several hiking trails that take you around the gulf with plenty of God's natural beauty around.  A very enjoyable day together and it was all free.

Shots On The Farm

The girls went out with their cameras' and took a few shots around the homestead.  I thought I'd share them with y'all.  The ducks are a recent addition and quite fun to have around.

A Great, Productive Day On The Homestead

I was fortunate to get several tasks completed on the homestead today.  I was able to get half the day off from work as part of my holiday (us little people that work in retail had to work on the holiday), so I came home early and went (you guessed it) right to work.

My gorgeous wife had a couple of things for me to do right away, so I set in on those first.  I needed to repair one side of our chicken coop from when our bull got out one night and used it as his scratching post.  He tore off almost one whole side of it.  That didn't take too terribly long as I had the material I needed on hand.  I didn't even have to cut anything-BONUS!

The other thing she wanted me to do is to air up the tires on her garden cart.  That didn't take but a couple of minutes.  I then got Polly out of the barn (Polly is our DR Power wagon) and air up her tires.  I loaded her up with firewood I had cut from a tree that fell during a storm (the same tree the destroyed the fence mentioned in another post and let the bull out to wreck the chicken coop-see how this all ties together?)  With Polly loaded I set in to splitting the wood and wound up splitting a half a cord before I ran out of gas for the splitter.

All said and done, I had a pretty productive day on the homestead.  It sure is a nice feeling having some things out of the way and knowing that the firewood situation for this season is all but taken care of.  So, what's going on at your place?

A Country Life

I love being outside on a sunny day.   I love the look of split firewood nicely stacked.  I love seeing my wife out working the garden.  I love cooking on the grill.  I love sitting outside with my knife and a piece of wood in my hands.  I love watching the chickens scratch in the yard.  I love seeing the cows lying in the field chewing their cud.  I love the smell of fresh cut grass.  I love fresh strawberries from our garden.  I love not being able to see my neighbor's house.  I love living down a long dirt road.  I love a long walk to the mailbox.  I love working hard all day and sitting back in the evening to view the completed work.  I love the feel of the shower after that long hard day.

I'm just reflecting here.  You can't have all of this in a city, not to mention being under the watchful eye of big brother.  What does living in the country do for you?

The Uninvited Guests!

Yesterday as I was trimming the grass my wife called me over to the small chicken tractor that we have a momma hen and her chicks in.  She told me there was a snake in the chicken tractor, so I lifted the lid and saw the tail.  It was coiled up under the nest box.  I removed the nest box to get at the snake and discovered not one but two snakes.  Both black snakes, coiled up with each other.  Maybe they were going to mate there, but I doubt it.  Thankfully they didn't get any of the chicks, so we were able to save the day.The largest one measured 5.5 feet and the smaller one measured 4.5 feet.  They could have eaten a few chicks!

What Kind Of Fence Is The Best?

A couple of weeks ago when we had some nasty weather we had a large tree get knocked over.  It lifted up my electric fence which was attached to the tree and pulled a few T-posts out of the ground.  I have been working on the sudden influx of firewood, clearing it out. 

I am writing this as a way to, sort of, explain another of the many benefits to electric fence.  I didn't take pictures so I will try to explain the best I can.  The tree fell and tangled the three strands of wire around the root ball.  The tension it caused made a couple of posts shoot out of the ground, landing a few feet away from where they were.  That means there was a lot of added tension.  However, the wire did not break.  It was stretched about to it's limits and in other places was laying flat on the ground, but it didn't break.  I had to cut it just to get it unstuck from the root ball, but was easily repaired in a few minutes with splicers and a wrench.

I cut the tree out of the fence line, had a friend come over with a tractor and pull the jumbo trunk out of the way and repaired the fence.  The fence repair took about an hour-having to re-establish the fence line and drive the T-posts, splice the wire back together and re-attach it to the posts, then crank out the slack on the daisy wheels. 

Most of the tree is still waiting for me to cut it up, but the fence was fixed in short order and the bull placed back in his pasture (yes, I had a nice shock when I went out to feed him the next day and stared him in the eyes by the barn an hour before daylight., WAY out of where he was supposed to be!  It seems he had been out most of the night.)

In the end, I love electric fence.  It is incredibly versatile, easy to install, can be adapted for pasture rotation very easily, has much more "give" when something falls on it, and is easily repaired when something does happen.  Not to mention you can build electric fence for a fraction of the cost of traditional barbed wire or woven wire.  Yup, going electric was one shinning moment of good decision in my homesteading life.

Babies!

We have a new batch of young'uns at the homestead.  Our two daughter's business venture-rabbits.  These bunnies will be available for sale in a few weeks.  Aren't they adorable?

Ice, Snow, And A Blown Motor

As I have said, I have ignored this blog for quite some time, so it has been hard to get back into things.  But we have had quite an eventful couple of weeks. 

Last week we had a major snow, ice and sleet storm roll through.  I say "major" knowing that for some of you out there 8 inches of snow is not a big deal, but where we live it is.  I work in a grocery store and it was almost painful watching all the people storm the store with the look of a bewildered daze, a cross between a deer in the headlights and a zombie.  That aside, we made it through, only to get another round this past Friday-only less severe.  However, the masses went from the deer/zombie look to a sheer chicken little demeanor-"The sky is falling, the sky is falling...".

This last round only left about an inch of snow, then moved on to bless other communities.  So, yesterday, I get my oldest daughter and head out to cut a bit of firewood, which we accomplished quite well.  We hauled to the wood shed where the log splitter is located and the fun began.  My daughter watched her daddy turn beat red, sweating like it was June trying to start the @#$@##$ thing.  I had never had that much trouble starting it-ever.

I fought and fought, determined to get it running, which I finally did.  By that time my daughter had that look on her face.  You know the one, squinty eyes, a half smirk with a questioning gaze, "really?".  We split most of what we had cut when I figured out why I had such a time starting it-no oil.  Yup, threw the piston strait out the side of the block.  Our day ended there, with my daughter happy that the work was over and she could go build a snowman and her father hiding his face in shame for not checking the oil level because he was in too big a hurry (hey, the wind was blowing and it was COLD). 

Lesson learned.  And the lesson will kepp on teaching for a while as I am back to splitting wood with a maul.  Life on the homestead.

Another Hand Carved Bass Wood Plaque

What do you think?

A Gift For Mom. Wood Carving/Chip Carved Plate

I just finished this carving a couple of days ago.  Tell me what you think.

Let's Talk About The Weather

We have enjoyed some very nice weather the last few days.  Yesterday the temperature reached 80 and today it is currently 74.  Nice indeed.  Yesterday I didn't get the chance to enjoy it much as I was at work all day.  Those are the days a person regrets having an indoor job.  Today, I broke a sweat cutting some firewood.  Yes, I am still working on that both for next season and the remainder of this one.  I don't think we will need much more this season, but we are in for some cold weather yet.  The weather man is calling for some rain tonight and tomorrow, hopefully it is a sign of things to come this year.  We had 2 years of drought and I'm not sure I can stand another.  The great thing is that I can feel spring in the air!  I am ready, are you?

Family Night With Pizza And A Movie

Tonight is one of my favorite nights of the week-and no, it's not because it's Friday.  Well, maybe partly, it is pizza night and family movie night!  The pizza is homemade and awesome!  The movies aren't always awesome but they are fun and it's nice to relax with the fam.  This is how frugal people spend time together.  Frankly, I think it is a much more wholesome time together with much more interaction.

We have been doing this for at least 12 years.  I can't imagine what life would be like without movie/pizza night.  What do you do in your home to spend time together?

Chick-Chick-chicken Time!

It is the time of year that we should be ordering our broiler chickens.  I have to be honest here-my heart does not seem to be into raising these chickens.  Oh we're going to do it, but I, kinda, don't want to.  I think I'm getting lazy in my old age.

Joking aside, what really has me bumfuzled is the cost of feed.  We sell many of the birds, keeping enough for ourselves, but it is getting harder to turn a profit.  We buy a ton of feed at a time, supplemented with grass in chicken tractors.  Last year, when I went to buy feed it cost $400 for a ton.  It's still cheaper using our custom mix than buying Purina junk, so it worked out, but I haven't checked on the price of things yet-so I'm dreading it.

In the end, I need to quit lollygagging and get the order in for the birds.  No matter what, they are still the best tasting, best for you chickens around.

Always Kiss Me Goodnight Chip Carving/Wood Carving

 This is my latest carving that I am kind of proud of.  The design is all my own, gleaned from various objects.

 A close up of the oak leaf done in a positive relief chip carving.

The border carving took me one hour to get three inches.  The entire piece is about 31 inches long by 6 inches wide.  I had a blast carving it.  It is for sale, should you be interested, use the link to the right to visit our family Etsy shop.

Trucks, Hay, Rain And A Bummer

My how plans are interrupted when least expected.  I was going to take my 3/4 ton truck to get a bale of hay and I was already bummed because it started raining, I hate moving wet round bales of hay.  I have to push them myself as we don't own any equipment.  But that was all put to rest when I found a large fuel leak in my carburetor, flooding out the engine.  Humph!  Now I'm stuck until I can get to the part store and get a new gasket, replace it and hope that is the problem (I'm pretty sure that's it though).  I won't get that all done before the hay place closes, so it looks like I will have to work on it tomorrow after work and drive to get the hay on Saturday.  Oh well, it will work out.  I am specially thankful to have found the leak because the truck was running badly and giving me fits.  Now, at least, I know the source of the problem, for which I am thankful.

Wood Carving

This is a favorite of mine.

Poison Ivy

I have a bad case of poison ivy on my arms from cutting firewood-I will spare you the story of my stupidity.  All I need to say is that it hurts.  I went to the pharmacy to see if there was anything I can do to help my condition without going to the doctor-we need to learn to make do without as it may well be there won't be a doctor that is readily available in the near future.  The pharmacist pointed me to a product called Ivy Dry that works pretty well.  It kills the itch almost immediately and stops the burning.  It hasn't done much for the swelling (my arms look like Popeye's) but it is healing, I can tell, faster than if I had done nothing.  It works by drying up the blisters and does it pretty fast.  Use the link and check it out, every prepper ought to have a bottle of this (I got the spray).

I've Been Thinking

I need to start by saying that we had a picture perfect day here in the Ozarks.  The temp was a mild 73 degrees, cloudless skies and very light breeze.  Not bad, eh? 

We, as a family, spent the bulk of the day out of doors, performing menial tasks around the homestead.  The first thing we did was to move the cattle "back home" from across the road.  Our small paddocks have recovered nicely from the forced over grazing that occured last year due to the drought.  That went well, although the cows had to take a little trip around the house before going into the paddock.

Otherwise it was a very typical Saturday around here.  My lovely wife spent the day in the garden, preparing and planting to keep her family fed.  The kids and I put our new log splitter to good use and got a bunch of wood split and stacked for next winter.  My wife and I planted a couple of Goji bushes in a corner of one of the paddocks in keeping with our sustainable, permaculture course of action.  I have decided to let all the corners of the paddocks "go" with growth of various plants and herbs for food value to us, the animals and the wild thins like rabbits, birds and bugs.  It is that way in God's creation and so it should be on the farm.

Now to the title of this post.  My wife was working diligently in the garden when I walked by.  She stood up and said, I've been thinking...

Those few words usually mean more work for me.  They are usually followed by their cousin words like, what if we did this over there...?  or, why don't we do that in the area over there...? 

Sure enough, it was as I suspected.  Truly, I don't mind so much, after all, it is about keeping us all fed.  Really, these thypes of ideas she comes up with are all about survival.  In order to survive natural disasters or government meltdown you need to have a plan.  My wife's are ususally pretty darn good, so I go along.  I'm the labor behind the brains, you see.

SO, what's going on in your neck of the woods?

The Log Splitter Is Home

I went this morning to pick up our new log splitter, it is in great shape.  As you know, it was a gift from a gentleman that frequents the store I work at.  So, it is used, but it is all there and runs good.  I tested it out on a few logs, here at the homestead,  on a few logs that I could not split by hand-full of knots.  It went through them like butter.  All I can say is praise God from whom all blessing flow!  This is a blessing, indeed.  It will save my back some pain to be sure.

A Lack Of Words

For some reason, I am always lacking new material for this blog.  I read other blogs and I am jealous of them and their diligence.  There always seems to be something to get in the way of adding new material here, for instance, I have been called upon to preach for the balance of this month at a different church than ours, so my time is now being spent on material for sermons.

On the other hand, we may just be a terribly boring family with nothing of news to report.  I am not so good at posting pictures, they are on the wife's camera and it is a pain to upload them-only she seems to know how to do it.

Whatever it is, I seem to have willing fingers to sit and type, but my brain is too slow.  The real funny thing is that I come up with things all day long that I think would be great on this blog, then when the time comes, I have completely forgotten what that great idea was.

I'm sure you bore of constant political stuff, so I try not to do that all the time.  The homestead is a work in progress, but the progress is so slow that there is not very much to share at certain times.  Being prepared is second nature to us, so I rarely take the time to put it in writting.

Here is one thing that happened to me today that I can share.  At my place of employment, a man walked up to me and said he just put up a sign on the bulletin board (public use) that he was giving away a log splitter to someone who really needs it.  I joked with him and said that he could give it to me.  He wasn't joking when he asked if I was a Christian.

I am I said.

Can you afford to buy a log splitter and do you have the need for one? he then asked.

I said, no, if I could afford one, I'd have bought one a long time ago.  We heat with wood, so yes, I can put one to use.  I went on, why are you giving this away, is there anything wrong with it?

No, there's nothing wrong with it.  God told me to give it to someone who needs it, I think there is a reason I am talking to you about this right now.  I think you are the one to get it,  he said.

From past expirience I know that when God uses someone to bless someone else, never argue with God about it, so I accepted.  Sometime this week I have to give this gentleman a call and go pick up my new log splitter.  I will be sure to stay in practice with my splitting maul in case there is a fuel shortage, though.