What Can Homesteading Offer A Large Family?

As is probably obvious to just about everyone by now, we have (and are going to have) a large family. How large? Well, that is the subject for another post, but the definition of "large family" varies by who you talk to anyway.

So what does homesteading have to offer a large family? Well, not that long ago, people didn't have much control of how large their family got, but the large family offered the homestead manpower. It's a bit of a moot point for us though, because we don't homestead to make a living, so we do it to the level we can handle, and no more. Sure, having more kids means more work can be done, (bigger gardens can be grown, etc) but since you have more kids you have to grow more food anyway, so it cancels itself out.

The overall advantages of homesteading to children were outlined in my "Why Homestead" post in August. Those, of course, carry over for large families, but it's really the aspects of large families that homesteading highlights and enhances that I want to focus on.

In large families, children must learn that they are part of a team. Individual wants and desires many times have to take a back seat to the needs of the family. This is an ideal way to teach a child selflessness and consideration for others. Children are, by nature, selfish. They think primarily of themselves and have yet to learn the value in thinking of others first. Usually children learn this virtue when interacting with other children or their siblings. In a large family, they also learn that the family must come before themselves as well. If their is a giant pile of dishes in the sink, they may have to put off reading or playing until it is done. It is unsanitary and uncitely to leave those dishes there and Regina or I can not be expected to do everything.

It is simply the fact that the amount of work around a homestead is greater and that the focus of the homestead is on producing food for the family, that make this "selflessness for the famiy's sake" aspect even more prevelant. The children are not milking, or mowing, or gardening simply because we don't want to do it, but because without their help it would not get done, and the end result benefits the whole family.

I would agree with anyone who said that a child's life should not consist of work, work, and more work. They should be given time to play, explore, and use their imagination. It is not our intent to use our kids as forced labor, and have their lives consist of only work and studies. However, just as there is value in play, there is also value in work. It is that point which we wish to highlight to the children, and from which they will gain character, integrity, and a good work ethic.

Bye-Bye Pork Chop

Today was the day. We took our first pig, Pork Chop, to the butcher. The whole event was fairly uneventful. We went out about 7 a.m. and hosed her off. She didn't like that so much, but did like Regina brushing the mud off of her. It must have felt good.

Here's Cam and Pork Chop when she was only 8 weeks old.

Here's the comparison on "processing day"

Our goal was to get the worst of the mud off, not necessarily to get her clean. I tied a rope on her to guide (tug) her where we needed her to go. We knew her pretty well, and figured she'd go in the crate out of mere curiousity without much fuss. We were right. I opened the door and in she went. She didn't like being closed in there, but calmed down soon enough.

We used some metal ramps I bought from Harbor Freight to roll her into the bed of the truck. That part could have been easier, but it got the job done. Next time I might just walk the pig up the ramp and and put her into the crate that way. We'll see.

The fam piled in the van while I drove the truck and we unloaded her at the butchers. We didn't even have to take the crate out. I pulled the truck into a corral and we just opened up the crate and let her jump down from the truck. Then they herded her into a smaller pen.

We told the man what we wanted: whole hams and bacon cured, one inch shoulder steaks, one inch pork chops, and sausage. When asked if we would like the head back, we politely declined. All and all Reg and I both considered it a very easy job. We liked raising our first pig and will do it again. First we want to see how much meat we get before we buy another. After the butcher it was off to Home Depot to buy a freezer to store all that meat in. We will get most of the meat back next week, and the hams and bacon will take a few more. (They have to cure).

It was a fun and educational day on the homestead.

Lincoln Denies A Loan

A few weeks ago we were rummaging through my in-laws barn, helping them get rid of boxes of old stuff, and we came across The Book of Virtues, by William J. Bennett. It is a collection stories and poems that teach all kinds of moral lessons on things like hard work, faith, courage, etc. Regina and I absolutely fell in love with it, and Reg tries to read a little to the kids every day. We're fully convinced that every family should have this book in their house. It is a perfect companion to lessons we are teaching them right out of the Bible. The author's credibility has been called into question because it was revealed in 2003 that he has gambled excessively and lost millions of dollars over the years. While he is Catholic (they don't condemn gambling), and he is not in debt due to his gambling, some feel this makes him a hypocrite. Regardless, he did not write the moral stories and poems, he just compiled them, and the debatable morality of his gambling doesn't change those moral truths contained in his book.

The following is a letter contained within the Book of Virtues, written from Abraham Lincoln to his half brother, who had requested a loan of $80 because he had fallen on hard times. As if I didn't already have the utmost respect and admiration for President Lincoln, I was very impressed by his response to his half-brother. I've bolded my favorite parts:


[Dec. 24, 1848]

"Dear Johnston:

Your request for eighty dollars, I do not think it best to
comply with now. At the various times when I have helped you a little, you have said to me, "We can get along very well now," but in a very short time I find you in the same difficulty again. Now this can only happen by some defect in your conduct. What that defect is, I think I know. You are not lazy, and still you are an idler. I doubt whether since I saw you, you have done a good whole day's work, in any one day. You do not very much dislike to work, and still you do not work much, merely because it does not seem to you that you could get much for it. This habit of uselessly wasting time, is the whole difficulty; it is vastly important to you, and still more so to your children, that you should break this habit. It is more important to them, because they have long to live, and can keep out of an idle habit before they are in it, easier than they can get out after they are in. You are now in need of some ready money; and what I propose is , that you shall go to work, "tooth and nail," for somebody who will give you money for it. Let Father and your boys take charge of your things at home - prepare for a crop, and make the crop, and you go to work for the best money wages, or in discharge of any debt you owe, that you can get. And to secure you a fair reward for your labor, I now promise you that for every dollar you will, between this and the first of May, get for your own labor wither in money or in your own indebtedness, I will then give you one other dollar. By this, if you hire yourself at ten dollars a month, from me you will get ten more, making twenty dollars a month for your work. In this, I don't mean you shall off to St. Louis, or the lead mines, or the gold mines in California, but I mean for you to go at it for the best wages you can get close to home - in Coles County. Now if you will do this, you will soon be out of debt, and what is better, you will have a habit that will keep you from getting in debt again. But if I should now clear you out, next year you will be just as deep in as ever. You say you would almost give your place in Heaven for $70 or $80. Then you value your place in Heaven very cheaply, for I am sure you can with the offer I make you get the seventy or eighty dollars for four of five months' work. You say if I furnish you the money you will deed me the land, and if you don't pay the money back, you will deliver possession - Nonsense! If you can't now live with the land, how will you then live without it? You have always been kind to me, and I do not now mean to be unkind to you. On the contrary, if you will follow my advice, you will find it worth more than eight times eighty dollars to you."

Affectionately,
Your Brother

A. Lincloln

Is It Time?

That's what we've been asking ourselves the last few days in regards to our cow having her calf. She's started showing some of the classic signs: fidgety-ness, udder bagging up (getting bigger), licking her sides, wobbly-ness in her tail head, and a few others that are too gross/graphic to mention.

Yesterday we thought it was going to happen that day. Things seemed to be progressing nicely, but seemed to fall off at the end of the day. We're not only excited to have a cute little calf running around, but we can't have any of that delicious milk until it's born.

We know it will happen "soon". Whether that means weeks, days, or hours is still up in the air.

The Pig Crate

Here is the pig crate I built to transport Pork Chop to the butcher next week. My three little piggies got to play in it and posed for a photo op.

I made it from parts of a wooden crate my field and brush mower came in. My favorite part is that all the wood was free.

As mentioned before, my plan is to attach casters to the bottom and roll it into the truck using some metal ramps I bought from Harbor Freight. The butcher has been called, and we're scheduled to take her over on Wednesday morning. I'll give an update on how it went.

She's Ready

We taped Pork Chop again last night and she weighed in at 215 lbs. She is technically ready for slaughter. Everything I've read says you should ship them to the butcher anywhere between 200-300 lbs. Obviously the taping method is a rough estimate, but gives us a good indication she's ready.

The only problem is that we still have no way to get her to the butcher. I started building a crate last night that we plan to put her in for the trip. We haven't yet solved the problem of how to get the crate into the truck bed once she's in. If she weighs 200+ lbs and the crate weighs at least 50 lbs, we'll need at least 4 people to lift it in. We don't have 4 people, so my proposed solution is to attach casters (swiveling wheels) to the bottom of it and roll it up some boards into the truck. I have no idea how well this will work.

Right now the plan is to finish the crate this weekend and take her to the butcher on August 24th. The butcher says I have to make an appointment a week out. We'll report back on how butchering day goes.

EGGS!!!

Finally! I never thought I'd be so excited to see an egg in my life. Peeking in that nest box and seeing that beautiful light brown egg sitting there was the highlight of my day yesterday. After 21 weeks of (not so) patient waiting our chickens are finally laying. I only found one yesterday, but I expect the other hens to start soon. They had perfect timing too. Regina was going to pick up a carton of eggs at the store this morning. I'm sure she'll sail by that section with a smile on her face this morning. In 3 weeks we'll have fresh milk in the fridge, fresh butter on toast, fresh eggs for breakfast, fresh pork in the freezer and fresh chicken for dinner. Yum!

This Week(end)

The weekend is always a busy time at Promised Land. There are always lots of outside projects to be done. It was doubly so this week, because I had the whole week off from work. Here's a general list of what we accomplished this week and weekend:

- Moved new laying hens (4 Americaunas) outside with the meat chickens
- Mowed the north pasture (well most of it)
- Cleaned out milk barn. The calf will be arriving soon, and it needed cleaning for the event.
- Finished outlining sandbox for kids and filled it halfway with sand (more on this later).
- General weeding, fertilizing and watering in the garden
- Killed two chickens and processed the breast meat
- General house cleaning

It's been a busy week.

You Want A Dairy Cow?!?

That question was asked of us many times before Chloe was purchased. The most recent inquirer was our neighbor out here, who upon learning of our plans, asked if we realized we had to milk it everyday. Our response in the affirmative earned us a "you must be stupid" look.

I'm not sure how our desire to have a dairy cow came about, but I believe Regina mentioned the idea, sort of off hand, to me. We both did a little research to see if anyone really had a "family cow" anymore, and to our surprise we found many articles, two books, and even an online forum just for people who want or own a family cow. Reading all that stuff got us excited. We found ourselves wanting to have fresh raw milk, make fresh butter and cheese, and have a calf to raise every year for beef.

Up until that point we really just wanted to live in the country and have a few chickens. The dairy cow idea was what really got us into homesteading. Most of the magazine articles were from homesteading magazines, and most of the people on the cow forum did homesteading. Of course we started reading all that stuff, and got more interested in self-sufficiency.

Having Chloe has been a joy. We had some rough moments at first (mainly with her and I getting along during milking), but those were soon ironed out, and gained us valuable experience anyway. There are some downsides to having a cow. We don't enjoy as much freedom as we used to. When she's milking twice a day we can't just go out to dinner without planning ahead when we're going to fit in the milking. We can't just pick up and go out of town anymore. That's not a huge deal as we didn't go places much anyway, but it makes planning camping trips harder, which is something we really enjoy.

The pros have so far outweighed the cons for us. We enjoy the fresh dairy, and the feeling of self-sufficiency that our cow provides. I find myself just stopping and admiring her sometimes. There's something so satisfiying to me about seeing our cow graze in our field at sunset. It kind of feels like I'm reconnecting with my roots or some inate desire programmed into man to have and work the land. I get the same feeling when I'm gardening. It's hard to explain. I don't know if we'll have a dairy cow forever, but for now we love it, and wouldn't trade her for the world.

Sunset on the Homestead

Sunset is a beautiful time of reflection on God's glory and the glory of His creation. Many times in the Bible, we hear about how the beauty and majesty of this world reflect only a small portion of God's beauty and majesty. There is a calmness, stillness, and quiet at sunset in the country that I love. It's one of those times (sunrise being another) when I'll just stop my work outside and stare. I give thanks to the Lord for each of those times, and that life moves slow enough here for us to be able to enjoy the sunset.

Book Review

I know that book reviews have little to do with our homestead, unless they're about homesteading. However, I just took up reading again after a long hiatus, and love to share my thoughts on the ones I read. Since Regina has already had her ear talked off about the books I read, and since this is my blog, I'll include a book review every now and then as I finish them. I'm not always reading a book, and with four little ones I don't read much, but I enjoy it, so even 5 minutes here or there is good enough for me.

I was given this book by a friend at church. He said he's about 90% convinced of the author's point, but still holds some reservations.

The basic premise of the book is that the King James Version of the Bible is the only true word of God, the best translation available, and that the manuscripts that form the basis for all other modern translations (with the exception of the New King James Version) are unreliable. Actually, the author goes beyond calling those manuscripts unreliable to actually assert that there was a conspiracy on the part of those who translated them to change the Bible to fit their views.

In a nutshell, many Christians and Biblical scholars consider the Greek manuscripts that the modern translations come from to better because they are older. The logic is that since they are older they are more reliable because the time between the original writing and the oldest manuscript is less. Less time = less chance they were changed or that there are errors.

For example, take the Gospel of Luke. If Luke wrote his gospel in A.D. 40, and the oldest manuscript (copy) of that gospel was written in A.D. 150, then it would be considered more accurate than a manuscript (copy) of Luke written in A.D.1100. Less chance that there were errors in copying or changes made, right?

The author rejects that in the case of the modern translations. He questions the motives and integrity of the writers of the manuscripts, and the translators who translated them in the late 1800s. He also plays up the authenticity of the newer manuscripts from which the KJV is translated, as well as the Catholic monk who translated them: Erasmus.

I have to admit I never finished this book. I got through about half of it, at which point it got way too in the weeds about translation techniques, and their worthiness. I simply got bored and confused and lost interest. The main thrust of the book is in the first half anyway. I found the whole thing a bit ridiculous. There differences between the KJV and the NIV (as one example) are minimal, and I think if someone wanted to change the Bible through some malicious intent to deny the diety of Christ (as one example) they should have done a better job. My disinterest mounted even more when I found out that there are just as many books out there trying to malign the integrity of the KJV as there are ones trying to malign the integrity of the modern translations.

Frankly, I'm saddened by all this bickering. If we spent as much time helping others and witnessing to the lost as we do arguing amongst ourselves about minutia, we might actually be able to make a difference for Christ. That is one thing I have learned and come to appreciate in our new home church. It is a decidedly non-denominational gathering of Christian brothers and sisters who hold each other up, read and speak the word of God in love, and can disagree on the minutia while still loving each other and witnessing together. We've got former Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, and Church of Christ. Yet we all seem to get along together for the larger purpose of serving Christ. The existance of denominations has always bothered me, and although I believe the Baptists have it 99% right, I will never let that keep me from fellowshiping and serving with other Christians for the glory of God. Jesus said his church was to be a city on a hill, not several hundred different cities scattered about fighting amongst themselves.

My current book is on the Lewis and Clark expedition. I've been bitten by the history bug again, and will report on it when I'm done.

Fall Garden Pics

As you can see, everything is still pretty bare. We hope to show you progress as the season moves along.

This is Regina's herb bed. We were laughing about how her herb bed here is bigger than her entire garden in Haughton. She said there's no way she could fill the whole thing with herbs, so I think flowers will go here too.

This is the raised bed I made for Regina from old cinder blocks we didn't need. It gives the bed more form, and holds the good fertilized soil in. It also prevents weeds from encroaching as badly. We didn't have enough blocks to do the whole garden, but did have enough to outline her herb bed and one other. The fence to the left is not the perimeter fence. It is a fence that runs down the middle of the garden and we use it to grow peas and beans. That's right...this is only half of our garden. In fact, this is only one quarter. Behind me is a whole other section as big as this one. I told you it was big.

This is part of our corn. This corn is not in neat rows because this is the stuff that sprouted after I tilled the spring harvest under. The rest of the corn is planted in rows. (The flags are there so I don't hit the plants with my lawnmower or tiller. They have reduced "accidents" dramatically)

These are our pumpkins. Some are pie pumpkins and some jack-o-lantern pumpkins. Regina also planted some more in another area.

This is the biggest pumpkin we have so far. It is a pie pumpkin and will probably be harvested for Thanksgiving or something.

More to come!