Another walk through our Woods

    We got to experience another 70 degree day yesterday and took a walk around our property.  We have such great views and wanted to share the nice day with you all.

Creek that runs behind our home.

Small pond on our property. Love the sun peaking through the trees.

Another view of the creek.  Lots of wildlife come down to drink here. 

Just one of our views from our property.  That mountain/hill has lots of  hang gliders who jump from it.  It is neat to watch them soar around from our home. 

Some of the woods on the property.  We have plenty of wooded areas  and have black bears , mountain lions, and deer, as well as, squirrels, opossums, rabbits, and racoons. 

Our pond from a different angle.  The level is way down due to the drought.

    I love our homestead.  It is just perfect to us.  We have 3 wells, the creek that runs behind our home and a small pond.  Just to the east of our property is a large water shed with lots of good fishing in it.  We have fruit and nut trees and gardens and lots of wild life.  It is our little piece of heaven and we are very thankful for it.

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Our 1st Pig

This is our first pig we ever owned. We named him "Pork Chop". These pics are of him when he was just 12 weeks old. When we got him back in the middle of October of 2011, he was 8 weeks old and weighed about 40 lbs. He is a Hampshire pig. He is a LOT bigger now. He has such personality. We all have become rather attached to him because he really is a great pig. He is super smart and playful. He and my husband are great friends but we knew when we bought him what his purpose would be and we will stay strong and do what needs to be done when the time is right.
Pork Chop recently got moved to a much larger pen and it only took him a few days to root the entire area up. I think we will move one of the other pigs to our garden area over the winter to get it ready for us for next year. :-) The other two pigs do not have the personality of Pork Chop. It will be easier taking them to be butchered.
Do you have any experience with raising hogs that you would like to share? I welcome any comments.

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Laundry: Country Style

    We live in the country and do not have "city" water but we do have wells. The problem with our wells (and we have 3) are that they tend to dry up rather quickly. Because of this, we cannot use a washing machine. Besides that, we have not owned a "conventional" washer or dryer in over 5 years.  (This was written many years ago.  It has now been over 10 years and we still do laundry this way.) I got really tired of going to the Laundromat so I began doing some internet searching for ways to wash at home. We kind of combined ideas from many different places online and this is what works for us.

My husband Ron can bust out a load of laundry (gather, wash, rinse, and hang up) in about 30 minutes. We combined several other people's designs and came up with our "washer". It is a red plunger attached to a mop handle and he just uses it in a 5 gallon bucket.  My husband cut 3 quarter sized holes with an exacto knife on the plunger. He then adds a 1/2 bucket of clean water, 2-3 Tablespoons of laundry detergent (that I make myself), and then begins to move the plunger up and down and in circular motions.   He gets into a rhythm and plunges the clothes about as good as any agitator in an electric machine.

He double rinses the clothes in 2 wash tubs (with vinegar added to soften the clothes) and then hangs them out to dry. We let them dry in the sun.

 

Our clothes are clean and they smell wonderful. We have been doing this for about a year now and it works for us. I will NOT go to a Laundromat again! :-)

Here is the link to the homemade fabric softener!

Be sure to check out my post about line drying in the winter time!

If you have any questions or comments, we would gladly answer your questions and appreciate your comments.

 

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