Countryside & Small Stock Journal articles from March 1998

Countryside & Small Stock Journal archives from March 1998

Expect the best, prepare for the worst, and then enjoy life!(Beyond the Sidewalks)(Editorial)
March 1, 1998... Do you have a strange feeling that something big is about to happen? If so, you're in a slight minority, according to my mail--and so am I. (As mentioned elsewhere, our Question of the Month on catastrophes was a disaster.) Some of...

"Environmentalism" is no longer a simple, clear-cut view of the world.(includes editor's response)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 1998... COUNTRYSIDE: This is in support of disposable diapers. I haven't actually done the math on whether they are more or less expensive than cloth, but I know they are convenient, which can count for a lot on a homestead. Diapers cost us about...

Whatever works for you.(beginning homesteaders' narrative)(Country Neighbors)
March 1, 1998... MAGDA & PETR LISKA 13410 KEATING CT ROCKVILLE MD 20853 What a wonderful issue! As always, Countryside writers seem to discuss and reflect on exactly what I am wrestling with at any particular time in my life. The November/December Question...

Alaskan, welder, single female homesteader.(beginning homesteaders' narrative)(Country Neighbors)
March 1, 1998... JENNY BELL-JONES ALASKA "How did those who've done it, do it?" (or words to that effect) was a recent Question of the Month and since a heavy snow fall is preventing me from "doing it" outside today I decided to get busy with pen and paper....

What it takes to be a homesteader.(beginning homesteaders' narrative)(Country Neighbors)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... JENNIFER M. HAMMERBERG 6844 VENOY GARDEN CITY MI 48135 What does it take to be a homesteader? A strong sense of honesty with an ability to be true to one's self. An appreciation for having things be what they seem. A commitment to...

Is your glass half empty, or half full?(beginning homesteaders' narrative)(Country Neighbors)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... JUDITH A. UTTENREITHER RR 6 Box 139B MILLSBORO, DE 19966 I've put a lot of thought into the question about getting started without a grubstake. My first thought was that a 31- and 47-year-old should know how to manage money and be able to...

Please don't eat the daisies ... (but daylilies are okay).(Wild Foods)(includes recipes)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... More than 40 different wild foods are found on our New York homestead, and over half of them grow within an acre of our log cabin. Wild foods are both practical and delicious. Our table is adorned with them, deliciously prepared, almost...

Advice on buying a greenhouse.(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... Last spring, we decided to purchase a greenhouse in which to grow our garden seedlings. Neither of us are particularly good at construction and we couldn't put up a lean-to, so we turned to the catalogues. Boy, were there a lot of...

Keeping deer out of the garden.(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... I would like to share a trick we used this year to keep deer out of our garden. When I say "garden" I mean pea patch. The deer ate a lot of our garden before we tried this. When the peas came up and had three leaves we began to see deer...

When it's springtime in the apiary. (The Beehive)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... In northern areas where winters are cold and long, Spring is very important in the life of the honeybee. Close attention should be given to the hive at this time, because starvation is a serious potential problem. An early Spring feeding...

Bees swarm, boy becomes a young man.(The Beehive)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... When my eight-year-old son burst in the house with Betsy running breathlessly behind him, I knew he had news of some importance. He had that look of grave excitement, so it was hard to tell if he brought good news or bad. "Mom, we found...

Spinach: a great cool-weather crop. (The Beehive)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... When we grow spinach, we're dealing with a strictly cool-weather crop. As soon as long days and heat come, spinach refuses to produce. We've tried heavy mulches, drip irrigation and shady locations to extend its growing season into summer....

A simple garden seeder can save your back.(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... Being a physically challenged homesteader, I sometimes have to find easier ways to do things. Like most people I have good days and bad days, but my bad days can put me out of commission for a week or more at a time. And when it's time to put...

The Catahoula Leopard.(working/herding dog)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... My family has been involved with the Catahoula Leopard Dog for generations. They were always there. I never paid much attention to them until I went to college and got out into the world and saw what they had to offer in the way of dogs. ...

Raising meat chickens - my way.(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... I have a large library of old and new poultry books and have also been a subscriber to Countryside for many years. When reading any of these on the subject of killing chickens, I can't help but cringe. It's no wonder so many people consider...

Tips on raising chickens.(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... I have been raising chickens for a few years, and have some tips for fellow homesteaders who may be having some of the problems I had. When we first built our chicken coop, we did not cover the fronts of the nest boxes. They were left...

Free-Range Poultry Production, Processing and Marketing.
March 1, 1998... Free-Range Poultry Production, Processing and Marketing, a new guidebook developed by Herman Beck-Chenoweth with the assistance of a USDA/SARE grant, describes an innovative way to raise chickens and turkeys on range and market meat and eggs....

Big opportunities in small cattle.
March 1, 1998... As 100-500 acre family farms continue to disappear, the small acreage family homestead farm is becoming more common. The smaller cattle breeds are particularly well-suited to these smaller farms, and their popularity is increasing. At last...

Hair sheep provide some advantages, but might be hard to market.
March 1, 1998... For a homesteader interested in keeping a small flock of sheep, hair sheep offer several advantages over wool sheep. They are more adaptive to an area with a hot Summer and cool Winter since they lose their winter coat each Spring. They...

An invitation to South Dakota.(Country Neighbors)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... Over the years a few Countrysiders have written to me after reading some of the articles I've contributed, wondering what South Dakota is like. I have often wondered why more homesteaders don't choose South Dakota. Our state is not very...

Successful gardening takes more effort in Colorado.(Country Neighbors)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... Most of my effort at this homestead has shifted away from critter husbandry and toward energy use minimization and veggie-based food self-reliance. Critters are out until I choose to stop taking multi-week vacations, or some mutually...

Minnesota homestead odyssey - and no regrets.(Country Neighbors)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... You can get out of the city if you really want to, even if you don't have much money. Remember though -- you'll have even less money when you get where you're going, so be sure you're willing to learn to live without it. Six years ago we...

They quit the rat race, cold turkey.(beginning homesteading)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... I would like to relate our experience of moving from the rat race and big city to the country. It's been almost three years since we moved, but feel that it was only yesterday. I was an operations manager in Erie, Pennsylvania, working...

Enjoy country living sooner, with temporary housing.
March 1, 1998... More than one-third of the average American's after-tax income is devoted to shelter, usually in the form of rent or mortgage payments. For those wanting to start homesteading, this is not very good news. After acquiring the land, a...

There are many home remedies for warts: liquid nitrogen worked for them; use masking tape; or - try Bactine.(Alternative Medicine)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... In response to the request in Countryside for a home remedy for warts, I am sending one that worked for us. It is rather interesting to note, however, that it is also used professionally by doctors. There is a short story attached...

Tire crafting and gardening: a toxin and pollution report.
March 1, 1998... Because of recent letters of concern, I have collected much information on the toxicity of the products I use in tirecrafting. These sources include, OSHA, EPA, USDA, Toxics A to Z, Material Safety Data Sheets, and others. I can only...

Grow your own food: totally automatic watering.
March 1, 1998... This garden, in the high desert of Arizona, was not watered at the surface all summer. Water is supplied automatically below the growing soil, and "soaks" upward by wicking, or capillary action, as well as being drawn up by the roots....

Solar power: it's nothing new, and it's here to stay.(Cover Story)
March 1, 1998... About 20 years ago I bought a 2,000 square foot uninsulated house in upstate New York which got me interested in solar space heating. After the usual insulating and weather-stripping, I added an attached greenhouse and built a window box solar...

Fencing a creek.(a floating electrified fence)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... A small meandering brook runs the length of my pasture. It winds its way through a rock-strewn stream bed, between moss covered tree trunks, seldom reaching more than a foot in depth except for an occasional pool created by nature's handiwork....

DR Field and Brush mower gets high marks.($1,398-2,495)("My Favorite Tool")(Evaluation)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... After a few summers of watching an army of black raspberries march across my land I knew I had to fight back. Armed successively with scythe, garden shears and gas-powered trimmer, I fruitlessly retaliated before finally surrendering. The...

Puttin' up pawpaws.(Wild Foods)(includes recipe)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... I have been literally swamped with mail asking about canned cakes. Well, I can't take credit for inventing it. I got the brainstorm reading a back issue of Countryside (77/1:16) right as the dreadful storm of pawpaw season was about to crash...

We wanted out!(homesteader narrative)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... Rick lived in an apartment complex called the Haystack. I rented a one bedroom efficiency at Orange Tree North. Agricultural names appealed to our homesteading souls, but the fact was, we were crammed into sardine box housing in the suburbs of...

Holiday in Holland makes them appreciate Texas.(homesteader narrative)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... My husband John, six-year-old daughter Victoria and I just returned from a trip to visit my Dutch in-laws in Holland. The last time we were there was seven years ago, before we moved beyond the sidewalks to our little six acre piece of Heaven....

More winter favorites ... that are good anytime!(Country Kitchen)(includes recipes)
March 1, 1998... During the cold days of winter (we will have about 10 of them here in south Texas) we enjoy lots of stews, soups and casseroles. One that has become a year-around favorite of our family is noodle, egg and onion. It is great in both summer and...

Dreams do come true!(homesteader narrative)
March 1, 1998... Our lives changed drastically four years ago when my husband's mother made it possible for him to acquire 160 acres of land that had been in the family for over 100 years. This has always been my husband's favorite piece of property. Every...

Planting by the moon.(zodiac and farming)(Folklore)
March 1, 1998... I had a short article in Countryside about moon sign planting and how the Almanacs differ in times of the moon's changing from one sign to another. I have had an unexpected amount of SASEs, many just a plain self addressed stamped envelope in...

A day in the life of a homesteader. (Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... I don't know if this Sunday was a typical day on the prairie; some are worse and some are better. But it did prompt me to make this little summary, dedicated to all those folks who, with the best of intentions and no experience, want to get...

Self-sufficiency and farmers.(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... As an advocate of sustainability in agriculture, I've long felt that the farmer should enjoy a high degree of self-sufficiency. The more sustainable the farm, the more self-sufficient is the farmer and his or her family and vice versa. Even if...

Nitrate poisons livestock, silently and swiftly.(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... The following information was released by the University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service: A cattle producer in Central Georgia woke up one morning to find dead cows littered across his pasture. Of 72 cows, 62 had died in one...

Chicken Little was right! The sky is falling, but hardly anyone seems to notice....(modern life)
March 1, 1998... According to Bill Clinton and the mainstream media, the American economy is humming along at a record clip. Prosperity abounds, and baby boomers are making a killing in the stock market, according to the New York Times and Money magazine. ...

"Green Acres" - the TV show in real life: being married to a non-homesteader requires a sense of humor.(After Chores)(Column)(Brief Article)
March 1, 1998... My husband just got through reading aloud the airline rates for a wonderful package deal to Branson, Missouri. He pores over travel sections of the newspaper with the same passion I do the seed and poultry catalogs. Our interests are about as...