Countryside & Small Stock Journal articles from March 2006

Countryside & Small Stock Journal archives from March 2006

While unique, cordwood wouldn't be their next housing choice.(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: I feel I have to respond to the recent articles on cordwood with my personal experiences with this building method. My wife and I designed and built our earth sheltered, passive solar home, and have been living in it for 20 years...

National ID program makes a lot of people nervous ...(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: Great article on the National ID program. Keep 'em coming. So many people out there are not even worrying about this subject--it just makes me crazy. I was wondering what everyone else was thinking, and your magazine is a good...

NAIS--shades of the Depression?(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: I just received the new issue and was reading about the new NAIS registration system. As a government employee this article is real scary. My grandmother and other Depression kids remember the government taking cattle, killing and...

Suggestions for taming a cocky rooster.(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: I would like to respond to Becky Rupert's letter about her Cochin "attack" rooster (Jan/Feb 2006). She could very well have written the same story about Green Beak, my little Chinese Silkie rooster! Green Beak takes the job of...

An easy way to keep canning jars clean.(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: I was going through my back issues and found an article about putting sandwich bags on canning jars to keep them clean. When I store my canning jars I just put them upside down with their ring on to protect the rim. Just thought...

Prevent freezer burn.(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: In the September/October 2005 issue, page 73, Tom Tabor recommends freezing your game in large chunks to prevent freezer burn, but this isn't ideal because you can't refreeze what you don't cook for that meal. However, there is a...

Homeopathy--help or hoax?(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: In response to the article "Protect your family from influenza with homeopathy" (Jan/Feb 2006), readers new to homeopathy may benefit from the following information. The Federal Drug Administration does not regulate homeopathic...

Fight indoor air pollution with houseplants.(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: If yOU keep houseplants you are fighting pollution in your home. Indoor air contaminants are inescapable. They come from everywhere: furniture, carpets, insulation, cleaning agents, etc. NASA has conducted extensive research and...

Oregon reader will share Indian corn seeds.(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: I enjoy the magazine; especially the gardening, canning and recipes sections. I grow a fairly large garden and preserve quite a lot of food by canning and pickling. Here in southwestern Oregon the summer and fall are usually hot,...

Reader wants your used books.(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: I am looking for used books. If someone has some they no longer want, please call: M.B., 715-654-6113 any time of day. The books I am looking for are: Stocking up (New, revised), by Carol Hupping Stoner; The Natural Soap Book, by...

Chickens and cats can co-exist on this homestead.(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: In response to Marla Ramirez in your January/February issue of Countryside, I've never had a problem with cats and chickens. However, chickens are great mousers in their own right. I never have a problem with having mice in my...

She never expected rabbit allergies.(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... COUNTRYSIDE: I would like to bring to your attention something I haven't read about anywhere. Last spring, after years of dreaming, I finally took the plunge and bought rabbits to raise for food. Five days later I was in the emergency room with...

Finding sawmill information.(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: There are many sources for plans and ideas for building your own circular or band sawmill for making your own lumber. To get started, search for"home built (or home made) band sawmill (or circle sawmill)" on the Internet.--E....

Reader looks for gardening mentor in Mississippi.(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: I'm trying to locate a mentor in the Starkville, Mississippi area, someone to whom I can ask questions, perhaps help work their garden so that I can learn more about gardening, canning, etc. Also I'd like to find someone in the...

How can you deter bears who like Twinkies?(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: I need some help, please. I live on 1-1/2 acres with trees and brush between my neighbors and myself. I have had two bird feeders on poles in two different areas near the house. For the past four years, I have had no critter...

Last year's ice storm affected numerous readers.(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: As another Ohio resident who lived through the ice storms last year, I appreciated the article by Martha Schoen from Ohio in the January/February 2006 issue. We live in a rural area of North Central Ohio on a five-acre...

Incubator hatch prompts reply.(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: I would like to make several comments on the henhouse article on making a 12-volt incubator in the Nov/Dec 2005 issue. It is very interesting how Paul X could fit together the gadgets he had and hatch eggs with them. I...

Kitty litter alternatives.(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: Regarding the letter about cat litter... for the last 10 years we have been using pellet stove wood pellets as kitty litter. It has a nice fresh smell, the cats use it, and best of all, it's 100% biodegradable. We just dump it...

Question for kids.(Country conversation & feedback)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: I'd like to read the responses of the children of Countrysiders who have grown up with the decisions their parents made about living simply. Did they embrace this way of life and start their own homestead? Do they not mind their...

Rubber fingers no longer available.(Country conversation & feedback)
March 1, 2006... We have had many requests for information as to where to get the rubber fingers used on the chicken plucker featured in the January/ February 2006 issue. Unfortunately, shortly after that article was published we have learned the fingers are no...

Coming events.
March 1, 2006... Send your Coming Events at least three months in advance (the sooner, the better) to: COUNTRYSIDE Coming Events, 145 Industrial Dr., Medford, WI 54451 or e-mail csymag@tds.net. Deadline for the May/June issue is March 1st. Saturday, May 6,...

Illuminating the new solar tax incentives.(Life on the sunny side)
March 1, 2006... It can be a little maddening to be ahead of the curve sometimes. And maybe a bit ironic. But it can't be helped; if LaVonne and I had known seven years ago that in 2005 Congress would put together an energy bill that would actually reward...

Off the grid at age 57 ... and beyond.(Alternative energy)
March 1, 2006... Every time I turn on the tv, pick up the newspaper or listen to the radio, all I see or hear is bad news. The prime lending rate is going up, gasoline prices are on the rise, our soldiers are being killed in some crazy war, air quality and the...

Corn stoves provide alternative heat source.
March 1, 2006... According to a recent Breitbart.com report, corn stoves flew off the shelves this past heating season, and many dealers have been sold out for months. The president of American Energy Systems which is based in Minnesota, said they're building...

Hybrid hype or hope? The straight dope on gasoline electric vehicles.(Alternative energy)
March 1, 2006... Like it or not, automobiles (and trucks) will continue to strangle the urban, and rural, landscape for decades to come- even when $3 per gallon (and beyond) gas prices kick in for good, which they certainly will. Clearly, we need to...

Need seating? Build a couch!(Notes from the Northwoods)
March 1, 2006... Winter had settled in and we had finally moved out of the temporary camper-cap home into our barely built but spacious 14 x 22 ft. new cabin. It was time to invite friends over for some sledding for the kids and visiting with the parents. Four...

Funding your home craft business: frugal living: a means to an end.(Your homestead business)
March 1, 2006... I love to spend money. While I'm not especially fond of jewelry or clothes or makeup, my particular weakness is books. Amazon-dot-com is one of my favorite Internet hangouts. But though I sometimes spend more than I should, by anyone...

Save electricity--learn to play the banjo!
March 1, 2006... You're determined to save electricity and I'll bet many of you readers of Countryside have always wanted to play the banjo. You can do both! All you have to do is turn off your tv and fire up your banjo. Despite what you may have heard, playing...

Finding something deer won't eat.(Homestead landscape)
March 1, 2006... Someone once sent me a copy of a couple of letters written by a city person who had recently escaped their city habitat and moved to the more peaceful rural environment in the country. I'm not sure whether those letters were spoofs or not, but...

The gardening game: do you know where your seeds come from? You may be surprised ...(The garden)
March 1, 2006... Somehow I always thought the seeds, bulbs, and roots I purchased from mail order companies came from a quaint American farm, somewhere in the heartland, with burgeoning rows of high quality vegetables and flowers. I was as wrong as a two-headed...

The importance of keeping good garden records.(The garden)(Reprint)
March 1, 2006... Most beginning gardeners study seed catalogs, select some seeds that sound interesting, read the seed packets, plant the seeds, and hope for the best. Over the years, they learn. Don't plant beets too close together. (Each "seed" is...

Gardening with a waterbed.(The garden)
March 1, 2006... Iam making a greenhouse and I wanted a seed propagator (a heated mat for starting seeds) but at the garden supply store they were $50 and then it only holds one tray of seeds. Well I knew I could do better than that. I checked my stash of...

Growing organic strawberries.(The garden)(Cover Story)
March 1, 2006... Iam a strawberry enthusiast. In fact strawberries are my favorite crop. The fruit is stunningly beautiful. It's more than delicious. At their peak the plants are dark green and confident. We don't have to plant them every year. I sell...

Herb gardening the easy way.(The herb garden)
March 1, 2006... Spring is about to be sprung and many of our thoughts are still wandering about as we peruse all the seed catalogs that have come our way--trying (finally!) to narrow down what exactly we will plant in this year's garden. Once the decision...

Make flovored vinegar! What else can you do with your herbs?(The herb garden)
March 1, 2006... Pour plain vinegar over herbs in a bottle and let it sit for a month in the sun. A more refined vinegar can be made by taking approximately 1 cup of fresh herbs (basil, tarragon, or thyme, for example) and placing them in a clean quart...

He's hooked on deep mulch gardening--thanks to Ruth.(The garden)
March 1, 2006... I had been interested in deep mulch gardening for years, reading Ruth Stout adventure stories when I was a kid. When I acquired my current home, I found myself with a large gardenable yard and mature deciduous trees. The first autumn I gathered...

Grow your own stir-fry.(The country kitchen)
March 1, 2006... I start growing stir-fry very early in the year and the project continues throughout the gardening season. Cabbage and broccoli are the first ingredients I will place in my freezer containers. In my area, Low-Country South Carolina, cole...

Caring for carrots: that's gold in your garden ... but striking it rich calls for some special techniques.(The garden)(Reprint)
March 1, 2006... When a carrot seed germinates, it's a relative weakling. The tiny taproot and thin cotyledons (seed leaves) are easily defeated by hostile growing conditions. So it pays to make your garden as hospitable as possible for the young plants, either...

Basswood: the ultimate wild salad plant.(Foraging)
March 1, 2006... Who said that a wild salad had to be made of dandelions? Most of us have heard of common yard and garden weeds being used for salad greens, but one of the best wild salad plants in North America is a tree, the basswood or linden. This tree is...

The soups that I cherish.(The country kitchen)
March 1, 2006... Wholesome, tasty and simple to prepare, soups have been on the everyday menu of the housewife since the dawn of history. With very little cost, even peasants and laborers throughout the ages have been able to enjoy these healthy and nutritious...

Homeopathic remedies for bee stings.(Homestead health)
March 1, 2006... Niki Stevens' comment in the November/December 2005 issue regarding the use of vinegar to attenuate the pain of bee stings prompts me to relate a personal experience of late last summer when I was attacked by a swarm of "black bald hornets"...

Avian flu demystified.(Homestead health)
March 1, 2006... The last few months of 2005 saw extensive media coverage of a strain of avian influenza, H5N1, which has been documented as infecting a relatively small number of people in Asian countries. Unfortunately, this coverage has sparked unnecessary...

Homeopathy for your livestock.(Livestock health)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: In the Jan/Feb 2006, I cringed when I read the article "'Wry Neck' Could Mean Listeriosis," by C.E. Spaulding, DVM. In it, Sandra of Nebraska stated: "One of our does seemed to be a perfect mother. She had large, healthy litters...

Rabbit grooming doesn't require special tools.(The rabbit barn)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: My family and I really love the magazine. We even love that there are no color pictures and shiny pages. In fact, the other magazine that we used to read went that way and turned into something that we don't want to read as a...

Nest box provides protection.(The rabbit barn)
March 1, 2006... In Canada's northern climate, a nest box which easily fits inside a hutch was needed which could be left inside the hutch at all times. The box has only a partial bottom. Normally the box is set in the hutch with the open bottom side down...

Veterinary medicine in the 1800s.(The rabbit barn)
March 1, 2006... The question of "how did our ancestors handle animal health problems?" prompted me to check some books written in the late 1800s and early 1900s. What kinds of problems were farmers concerned about then, and what remedies did they use? The...

Tweaking a chicken tractor plan.(The henhouse)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: We replicated the chicken tractor from the September/October 2005 issue and are very happy with it. We made a couple changes that I'd like to share. Being made of wood, it is pretty heavy to move by hand, so we: 1. built the...

If you want a hearty breed, raise Highland cattle.(The cow barn)
March 1, 2006... WhY would you want to own something that looks like that? It's a question many Highland cattle owners have heard in the past. Here are some answers. Highland cattle are the oldest registered breed of cattle with a Herd Book being...

Tightwad genes and "recycled" toilet paper: are grandparents to blame?(Frugality on the homestead)
March 1, 2006... My grandparents were all born around the time of the Great Depression. This probably explains why they all seem to have lived by the old adage "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." Grandma Mary actually made re-using things...

Preparing your family for the next Great Depression.(Frugality on the homestead)
March 1, 2006... I was thrilled that someone was at last warning us about the depression that is coming (May/June 2005). Unfortunately, the majority seems to still believe that it really couldn't happen again, despite the signs that are only too obvious to...

Do you have recipes for personal care products?
March 1, 2006... Countryside: We are retired and have spent six years making our 25 acres as self-sufficient as we can. Our diet is mostly organic, thanks to a good garden and raising our own meat, eggs, milking goats, etc. I. would like to know how to make...

Last month we asked ... what can you do with a leach field?(Question of the month)
March 1, 2006... First, consider what not to do with a leach field. As part of a sewage treatment system, it must dispose of all the water contained in the sewage. Thus, do not grow anything on top of the leach field that requires irrigation since irrigation...

How can you convince your family to save electricity, eat healthier, etc.?(Next month)
March 1, 2006... Countryside: I would like to know if any other readers are caught in my position--one where I try to cut back on material things and be more self-sufficient, but my spouse does not. He is right at home eating fast food, turning on every light...

Keep your extension cords safe.(Homestead repair)
March 1, 2006... Extension cords are handy items to have around, but they can become a safety risk if damaged or poorly maintained. If the outer protective jacket gets damaged exposing a bare wire or one of the connecting ends becomes worn out causing loose...

Home is where your heart is.(Country neighbors)
March 1, 2006... Sometimes I feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. We dreamed of and looked for greener pastures elsewhere only to find that "there's no place like home." To start off with, we live in a northern suburb of Chicago. Not anywhere near...

A young person's look at homesteading.(Country neighbors)
March 1, 2006... When most people picture homesteading, they think of someone who's had a career in the city and is now yearning for the country life. A typical story portrays an adult striving to make a new life for himself after years of frustration. Fewer...

Living the homestead life at an orphanage.(Looking back)
March 1, 2006... When I was 12 years old, back in 1958, I was living at an orphanage in the southern Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky. There were approximately 50 children and 10 workers there at that time. You can imagine the amount of food required to feed...

Astronomy on the homestead? "Oh, heavens!".(Looking back)
March 1, 2006... Astronomy is probably a part of your routine already, if you plant root crops during the wane of the moon, or start using heat-protective ground coverings in the garden when you see the dog star on the horizon at dawn. Astronomy, the...

Poor Will's Almanack for Early Spring 2006.
March 1, 2006... Before we break unfathomed ground, Let us care to learn the winds and the moods of the s@, the nature and ways of the land. --Virgil Astronomical data for March The Phases of the Pussy Willow Moon and the Tadpole Moon Pussy...

Countryside's breeders' directory.(Directory)
March 1, 2006... Reach over 300,000 people for just $60/year! See details on the next page. Alpacas/Llamas Missouri WHIRLWIND RANCH, Liz Mitchko, 24649 Snowberry Dr., Lebanon, MO 65536-6471. 417-533-5280. Huacaya alpacas. ...

Finding love on the homestead.(After chores)
March 1, 2006... Bill & Eva Fritz 10338 150TH ST. Park Rapids, MN 56470 Bill and I are country people. We raise a lot of our own food. Bill does field work with horses, and I spin wool, knit, crochet, quilt and sew. During the winter we heat and cook with...