Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to The New Coffee Room. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Pantry?
Topic Started: Dec 6 2007, 10:24 AM (196 Views)
Jolly
Member Avatar
Geaux Tigers!
http://athagan.members.atlantic.net/PFSFAQ/PFSFAQ-1.html
The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
kathyk
Member Avatar
Pisa-Carp
I was going to ask you in the other thread, but this seems as good a place - How are you set for cows?

Oh, and thanks for all the cow tips. Btw, My father has told me about witnessing cow belly piercings for bloat. You two would have a good time testing each other's farm facts.
Blogging in Palestine: http://kksjournal.com/
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Jolly
Member Avatar
Geaux Tigers!
kathyk
Dec 6 2007, 12:40 PM
I was going to ask you in the other thread, but this seems as good a place - How are you set for cows?

Oh, and thanks for all the cow tips.  Btw, My father has told me about witnessing cow belly piercings for bloat.  You two would have a good time testing each other's farm facts.

Cows?

Not as many as I'd like.

As for farm facts, I'm sure he could whip me on row crops, which I know a little, but not a great deal. However, I may know more of the old stuff, since my family did not have the money yours did.

We either made it, or did without. While I don't have the skills of my grandfather (shingle river, master with a broadaxe, logger, teamster, market hunter, stockman), I most certainly can do things that many modern people cannot.
The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
kathyk
Member Avatar
Pisa-Carp
I"m not sure where you get the idea my family had money. My father was a milkman when I was growing up. He owned a route with two trucks. He drove one and had a hired hand who drove the other (who interestingly became a millionaire in the ice business). He worked six days a week 52 weeks of the year. He had no paid holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas off was all he got for off time. He sold the milk route when the writing was on the wall that home delivery for milk was going the way of the horse and buggy. At that point, my parents sold their home in southern Michigan and with that money he bought a farm "up north" when land was a few hundred dollars an acre, following his dream to have his own farm. He struggled with my mother in the real estate to make a living until they finally retired. I was one of seven kids. With the exception of my oldest brother, we all had to make our own way with college. I never received a dime from them for my education.



Blogging in Palestine: http://kksjournal.com/
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Bernard
Member Avatar
Senior Carp
Jolly
Dec 6 2007, 10:44 AM
Quote:
 
As for farm facts, I'm sure he could whip me on row crops,  ...



That probably would have been my family. One of the more unusual plantings was the onions--we'd get shavings from the tannery in Lebanon (NH) and they'd go in the ground and covered with a bit of dirt before the onion sets were planted. Goat manure galore--everywhere. Compost, bone meal of course, and loads of other organic materials were worked into the ground.

I can still picture the sight of ashes from the wood stove scattered on the white snow in the garden during the cold of winter. Can't remember what the ashes were good for but they fertilized something.

Lets see... at one time or other we kept bees, lured wild bees to a bit of honey, marked them with chalk and sought to see what direction they took off in and timed how long it took for them to return; tapped maple trees and boiled the syrup in the kitchen (much to the detriment of the wall paper! :eek:), had our own cider press, made root beer, canned a ton of food and froze the rest, grew *everything*: tomatoes, corn, cukes, potatoes, rhubarb, grapes, apples, raspberries, onions, squash, pumpkin, peppers, lettuce, radish, swish chard, carrots; separated the cream from milk with a centrifugal thingy that we had in the shed; picked dandelion greens in the field, ditto wild strawberries (best shortcake!), and blueberries, of course. Mother made goat cheese, bread (every day) and butter (when there was enough cream). We traded eggs for milk at times (maybe it was the other way around). Raised our own turkeys, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, geese, guinea hens, cows (when I was young), rabbits.

I have to say, despite the difficult and hard times, there are some fond memories in there. Subsistence brings a wonderful feeling of wholesomeness and can-do attitude.

I am sorry to see the way of the small farm more or less gone.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Free Forums. Reliable service with over 8 years of experience.
Learn More · Sign-up Now
« Previous Topic · The New Coffee Room · Next Topic »
Add Reply