Snow came to the Homestead late this year. We didn't get our usual amount in November in December, but January is sure making up for it! And it has been very cold as well.
Dealing with the bitter cold can be challenging when raising animals. You have to make sure you're on top of getting eggs from the chickens. As you can see from the picture of the egg I'm holding, it doesn't take long for them to freeze and crack when its in the single digits! I went out late in the evening a couple weeks ago and had to throw away a half dozen frozen eggs.
Frozen water is also an issue. Below is a video I did on how we deal with frozen water issues here at the Homestead. When you have chickens, rabbits, sheep and goats, water is a big issue.
I invested in a new snow plow for my truck and it has been amazing. For those of you who don't know, I totaled my 2005 Toyota Tacoma last spring. I hit a deer on the highway. I had a smaller plow that I had for the Tacoma that had been awesome over the past 6 years.
After searching for a truck for over a month after my truck was totaled, I purchased a 2010 Nissan Titan off of a private seller. It was a good deal, but the plow off my Tacoma was too small for the Titan. So I had to invest in a new plow. I went with a Snow Dogg. I have been very happy with it. There is a huge difference plowing with a full sized truck and plow. I will be doing a video review on the plow this weekend.
On another note, I'm getting over my second bout of Covid. The first time I got it back in May of 2021, it was rough. I don't ever remember being that sick in my life. It put me down for 9 days and took a couple months to fully recover.
This last bout wasn't near as bad. Basically like a bad cold. I'm still dealing with the cough, but the worst was losing my taste and smell for the second time. I got it back after about a week, but that is horrible!
Janel and I both got it twice. The good thing is it got us to concentrate more on our health. One of the reasons we wanted to get into modern homesteading was to raise a lot of our own food. We want to raise and grow a good portion of our vegetables and meat. Knowing how your food is raised/grown is priceless. There is nothing better than eating food that you raised.
Including more fruits and vegetables in our diet is something we have really started to do and I have noticed the difference quickly. I've already dropped a few pounds (my goal is 25 lbs) and I just feel better. It's amazing what a small change can do.
Finally, we are looking forward to spring as we have some excited projects here at the Homestead. Janel is already getting into gardening mode. I love the garden. We are expanding it this year for a couple reasons. First, we love gardening! Secondly, we want to give a bunch away this year to some who may not be able to garden or have the space we have.
I will be finally fencing in all my corn. The deer have totally destroyed it every year for the past few years. I'm done with that. We fenced in all of our garden boxes (see video below) and it kept out the deer this year. But any of our gardens outside our fenced in area get hammered by the deer and rabbits.
Thanks for checking in and reading our latest blog. Check out the videos below.
Stay warm and God bless! -Steve
Dealing with the bitter cold can be challenging when raising animals. You have to make sure you're on top of getting eggs from the chickens. As you can see from the picture of the egg I'm holding, it doesn't take long for them to freeze and crack when its in the single digits! I went out late in the evening a couple weeks ago and had to throw away a half dozen frozen eggs.
Frozen water is also an issue. Below is a video I did on how we deal with frozen water issues here at the Homestead. When you have chickens, rabbits, sheep and goats, water is a big issue.
I invested in a new snow plow for my truck and it has been amazing. For those of you who don't know, I totaled my 2005 Toyota Tacoma last spring. I hit a deer on the highway. I had a smaller plow that I had for the Tacoma that had been awesome over the past 6 years.
After searching for a truck for over a month after my truck was totaled, I purchased a 2010 Nissan Titan off of a private seller. It was a good deal, but the plow off my Tacoma was too small for the Titan. So I had to invest in a new plow. I went with a Snow Dogg. I have been very happy with it. There is a huge difference plowing with a full sized truck and plow. I will be doing a video review on the plow this weekend.
On another note, I'm getting over my second bout of Covid. The first time I got it back in May of 2021, it was rough. I don't ever remember being that sick in my life. It put me down for 9 days and took a couple months to fully recover.
This last bout wasn't near as bad. Basically like a bad cold. I'm still dealing with the cough, but the worst was losing my taste and smell for the second time. I got it back after about a week, but that is horrible!
Janel and I both got it twice. The good thing is it got us to concentrate more on our health. One of the reasons we wanted to get into modern homesteading was to raise a lot of our own food. We want to raise and grow a good portion of our vegetables and meat. Knowing how your food is raised/grown is priceless. There is nothing better than eating food that you raised.
Including more fruits and vegetables in our diet is something we have really started to do and I have noticed the difference quickly. I've already dropped a few pounds (my goal is 25 lbs) and I just feel better. It's amazing what a small change can do.
Finally, we are looking forward to spring as we have some excited projects here at the Homestead. Janel is already getting into gardening mode. I love the garden. We are expanding it this year for a couple reasons. First, we love gardening! Secondly, we want to give a bunch away this year to some who may not be able to garden or have the space we have.
I will be finally fencing in all my corn. The deer have totally destroyed it every year for the past few years. I'm done with that. We fenced in all of our garden boxes (see video below) and it kept out the deer this year. But any of our gardens outside our fenced in area get hammered by the deer and rabbits.
Thanks for checking in and reading our latest blog. Check out the videos below.
Stay warm and God bless! -Steve
RSS Feed
