Wednesday, February 27, 2013

So, what do you know?

Picture above from Rocky Oak Homestead  
 
Brenda over at a Separate Path Blog posted this list the other day asking how many of these skills you knew...I have colored the ones we know and practice here at Rocky Oak in green...Also don't forget to check out my entry "Blog Changes" they are coming Friday...

 

Safely use an ax and hand saws.
Split firewood and kindling.
Stack and age firewood.
Grow a vegetable plant.
Plan, plant and grow a vegetable garden.
Sharpen any edge tool – knife, axe, hoe, chisel etc.
Basic firearm safety and gun proof your children and grandchildren.
Raise a chicken.
Shovel snow without putting out your back.
Read the weather.
Spin wool, cotton or flax into thread or yarn on a spinning wheel or with a drop spindle.
Use a garden shovel, spade or hoe without hurting your back.
Light a fire indoors or outdoors.
Go to a country auction and not get skinned.
Crochet.
Butcher small livestock like rabbits or chickens.
Hang clothes on a clothesline.
Basic tractor maintenance.
Know the difference between trees and the unique properties of various types of wood.
Cook 10 basic meals from scratch.
Pasteurize milk.
Distinguish healthy plants and animals from unhealthy plants or animals.
Basic sewing skills.
Set an ear tag or tattoo for animal identification.
Determine an animal’s age by its teeth.
Cut and glaze glass.
Drive a standard transmission vehicle.
Thaw out frozen pipes without busting them.
Know how and when to use hybrid seeds.
Sew your own clothes with simple patterns.
Hand thresh and winnow wheat or oats and other small grains.
Train a working cattle or sheep dog.
Read the moon and stars.
Make soft or hard cheeses.
Live beneath your financial means.
Fillet and clean a fish.
Use a wash tub, hand-wringer and washboard.
Make soap from wood ashes and animal fat.(I am currently learning how to make lye from woods ash and I use lard in my soaps so I am partially there...lol)
Lay basic brick or build a stone wall.
Basic home canning and food preservation.
Save open pollinated (non-hybrid) seeds.
De-horn livestock.
Use an awl and basic leather repair
Make long-term plans for the future – plan an orchard, a livestock breeding program, or plan for stored energy sources.
Jury rig anything with duct tape, baling twine and whatever is on hand.
Be comfortable with emergency/home birth.(could do it but not be comfortable)
Read an almanac.
Euthanize large livestock.
Use flat cloth diapers and wool soakers.
Cook on a cook stove.
Entertain yourself and live without electronic media.
Shear a sheep.
Manage human urine and feces without plumbing.
Swap, barter and network with like-minded people.
Generate electricity for home use.
Make a candle.
Dig and properly use a shallow well.
Refinish furniture.
Drive a draft animal.
Realistically deal with life, death and failure.
Use non-electric lighting.
Butcher a pig or goat.
Restrain large livestock.
Slaughter livestock.
Use a treadle sewing machine.
Give an injection.
Use a handsaw, hammer & nails, screw driver, wire cutters, and measuring tape.
Know when to ask for help.
Know how and when to prune grapes and fruit trees.
Hatch out chicken, duck or other poultry eggs.
Use a scythe.
Skin a furbearer and stretch the skin.
Tell the time of day by the sun.
Milk a goat, sheep or cow.
Use a smoke house.
Stomach tube a newborn animal.
Build basic homestead buildings (sheds, animal shelters, smoke house, ice house, etc.)
Break ground and plough.
Use a wood stove and bank a fire.
Make butter.
Knit.
Make and use a hot bed or cold frame.
Deliver a foal, calf, lamb or goat.
Know how to tell when winter is over.
Plant a tree.
Brood day-old chicks.
Dye yarn or cloth from plants.
Haggle like a horse trader.
Bake bread.
Use a pressure tank garden sprayer.
Halter break a horse or cow.
Graft baby animals onto a foster-mother.
Weave cloth.
Grow everyday kitchen herbs.
Make sausage.
Set and bait traps for unwanted vermin and predators.
Grind wheat into flour.
Make paper.
Make ink.

Know when it is more economical to buy something ready-made or when to make it yourself.
Castrate livestock.
Choose a location for a vegetable garden or orchard.
Catch and care for wild yeast for bread making.
Weave a basket.
Use electric netting or fencing.
Make fire starters from corn cobs or pinecones.
Use a pressure cooker.
Use a pressure canner to preserve meat and vegetables.
Correctly attach 3 point hitch implements to a tractor.
Trim the hooves of goats or sheep.
Sew your own underwear.
Make your own wine and beer.
Darn knitted or crocheted items.
Know basic plumbing and how to sweat copper pipes and joints.
Keep bees.
Change a spark plug.
Cook on an open fire.
Make vinegar.
Purify water.
Graft trees.
Make and use a bow and arrow.
Preserve meat by curing.
Erect a fence.
Hang a gate.
Make and use herbal tinctures, infusions and other herbal remedies.
Replace electrolytes in a battery.
Charge a battery.
Change a car tire.
Repair a tire.
Do an oil change in any vehicle.
Build an effective compost pile.
Correctly set spark plug spacings.
Change all light bulbs – household and vehicle.
Prime a well pump.
Fix water troughs around the paddocks.
Suture both animals and humans.
Catch a fish without expensive fishing gear.
Gather edible wild greens and prepare them.
Catch and keep a swarm of bees.
Render fat into lard.
Use non-typical fats (lard, tallow, schmaltz, bear fat, etc) in cooking.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Looking back, Moving Forward

It is quickly approaching the 4 year mark that we have been here on this land...So much has happened in that 4 years...so many trials, tribulations and times of thinking we just couldn't go on...But we did go  on, the Lord saw us through and we learned some amazing things during this time...We learned alot about others,but more about ourselves...God was faithful to provide what we needed when we needed it...Farm man hauled in water every single day for 18 long months...we did not have the money to drill a well and our land is so rocky that hand digging was impossible...so we hauled it in...we never missed a bath, the critters never went thirsty, the garden got watered and dishes got done...we made it through using the woods as a bathroom come rain sleet snow or shine...you can read our story HERE


Without futher ado, here is our jouney in pictures...

 BELOW--What the land looked like when we bought it in August of 2008


BELOW--After Clearing in February of 2009


BELOW--June 2010--You can see the same cedar tree in the distance in the above picture


 August 2010--we finally got a well--again there is the same cedar tree















 

July 2011












 

May 2012















 













July 2012














BELOW--July 2011--Some of our berries













 

BELOW This is the building we bought and lived in for 17 months, this is not on our property it is where it was when we bought it














BELOW--Then we bought this --A 1970 10 x 50













 

BELOW--Inside of above mobile













 

BELOW--Then we purchased this in May of 2012 a 16 x70













 

BELOW--Inside of above Mobile











































Our journey has been a hard one, and one I will remember for the rest of my life...but I am grateful for what it has taught me...I have learned you can let trials make you bitter or make you better...I have experienced both I think...I have learned I am strong and resourceful, I have also seen those who say they are your friend will leave you when you need them the most...I have learned there is nothing Farm Man and I cannot get through with the help and guidence of our Lord...It's been slow going for the past 4 years, it took us forever to get water and electric when first moving over here..living in a 12 x 24 (288 sq feet) 'cabin' was hard...we all were tested and tried, but we survived and learned we could...Life is not always easy and sometimes downright hard...but, there is always someone worse off than you...So today and everyday when things look bleak...Remember, someone has walked the road before you and there is always, always someone worse off...