Countryside & Small Stock Journal articles from May 1996

Countryside & Small Stock Journal archives from May 1996

The "ages" of homesteading.(Editorial)
May 1, 1996... Homesteaders develop slowly, in stages. It can help to know which stage you're in. COUNTRYSIDE is a gathering of old friends who share some I common but eclectic interests. This can make it tough on anyone who picks up a copy for the first...

Homestead vacations: think you can't get away? Think again!
May 1, 1996... With livestock to care for, large gardens that are considerably more than hobbies, and a never-ending pile of work, homesteaders and vacations appear to be as incompatible as oil and water. Most of us don't seem to mind. One of the little...

A cheap way to travel: why do they call them "hostels" when they're so friendly!
May 1, 1996... Why do they call them "hostels" when they're so friendly! Homesteaders who take vacations, travel to visit relatives or check out a new area before moving know what motels cost. But there's a cheaper way to travel. What would you say, for...

Planning the perfect garden.
May 1, 1996... One of the many reasons homesteaders don't often get enthused about "vacations" is because they have more fun at home--in their gardens! Crow and Elizabeth Miller have some suggestions to make he experience even more pleasant. ELIZABETH AND...

The art of espaliering.(reprinted from Countryside, September 1977)
May 1, 1996... Gardening needn't be an onerous chore. We can keep it interesting and challenging by trying something new, and by treating it as an art form rather than just grunt labor. Here's an idea that will satisfy both of those goals. (Note: Many...

Grow a sponge in your garden.(growing loofas)
May 1, 1996... We have been growing loofa (or luffa) sponges for about five years. Since not much is written about them, most of our experience has come from trial and error. (Some people don't even know loofas grow on plants; they think they come from the...

Poor man's salmon: there's nothing wrong with suckers - if you know how to can them.
May 1, 1996... There's nothing wrong with suckers--if you know bow to can them When I was growing up in rural Ontario, Canada, every spring there would be a sucker spawning run up a nearby stream from Lake Huron. Ever since I was about 12 years old, I would...

A slew of handy homestead hints. (household recipes)
May 1, 1996... Michelle Egelhoff sent some general homestead tips (80/2:72) and said she'd like to hear about more of them. She gave her address, but several readers were kind enough to share their hints with the entire countryside neighborhood. Here they...

A metallurgist comments on knives.
May 1, 1996... "My Favorite Kitchen Tools" by Kenneth Odle (80/2:22) prompted me to write (for the first time). I am a metallurgist by profession, and I wish to correct some errors in his discussion of knife steels. Carbon steel and stainless steel knives...

Simple things to make with milk.(recipes)
May 1, 1996... Butter and yogurt Making butter and yogurt are the two simplest things to do with milk. I make yogurt with a heating pad wrapped around a gallon jar of milk. Don't add the culture until the milk is about 90 degrees F. A box of plain yogurt...

Yes, Jersey bulls make good beef!
May 1, 1996... When we moved to our homestead a few years ago, we decided that our first livestock acquisition would be a cow. We knew we wanted a cow (personal preference over a goat) and checked out a number of breeds before settling on a Jersey. Our first...

The economics of round bales.(bales of livestock feed)
May 1, 1996... Can a small-scale livestock operation afford to feed round bales versus square bales? Let's look at a comparison. A round bale contains between 30-40 square bales, depending on the diameter, length and density. Locally a standard round bale...

Let your lawn feed your livestock.(includes information on the history of lawns)
May 1, 1996... If you run short of pasturage for ruminants, one option is to use your lawn as feed (assuming it is not under a chemical treatment program). While a bagging lawnmower would be more efficient, fresh-cut grass can be raked. This has several...

What did farmers feed animals 100 years ago?
May 1, 1996... Modern homesteaders often wonder how their forerunners fed live-stock. What did they do before soybean meal and all the other ingredients in most modern feeds were available? Did they grind grains? How did people provide a good, balanced diet to...

How much is that tractor worth?(using the 'Blue Book for Farm Machinery')
May 1, 1996... You are in the market for a used tractor (or other farm equipment) or want to sell one. How much should you pay or how much should you ask? One excellent source of price information is the Hotline Farm Equipment Annual Guide (P.O. Box 1115,...

Tips on repairing a tractor tire.
May 1, 1996... Here is how I made a very satisfactory tractor tire repair with a piece of hammermill belt some years ago and it is still doing good. There are few days in the year this tractor isn't run some, as it is my chore tractor. However, I don't go on...

Nocturnal flying mammals are driving her batty!(bats as pests)
May 1, 1996... My problem is that I have bats. Small brown bats. My home, in southeast Ohio, 1/2 mile from Seneca Lake, seems quaint enough any time, but during the summer months, it becomes the "Home from Hell." Here's how it begins... In late May, a small...

More handy tips for homesteaders.
May 1, 1996... To keep horses from cribbing (chewing wood): Rub a bar of soap on the fence rails or whatever the animals chew. If the wood is outdoors, reapply the soap after it rains.--Nina Voris, Houston, Missouri Weed killers: Rhubarb leaves make an...

The two-pint flush.(building a flush toilet that does not need running water)
May 1, 1996... SWAMPFOX DUNNELLON, FLORIDA Over time I have read a number of things pro and con about composting toilets. Some say theirs work great while others contend they are a pain in the patookis, requiring much maintaining and manual labor. I...

All about comb honey.(reprinted from Countryside, August 1982)
May 1, 1996... Why not produce some comb honey? Connoisseurs of fine food maintain that in order to appreciate and enjoy the true taste and flavor of honey, one must eat it directly from the comb. There are those who will argue that extracting, straining and...

Nightmare in Virginia.(homesteading narrative)
May 1, 1996... It was their dream place. Until they met the Browns. All of them. Both my husband and I were city folk longing for the country life. Living in New York is great if you are a millionaire, which neither of us were. Joe worked as a photographer...

Finding your ideal country home.
May 1, 1996... Re the many good letters and laments in Vol. 79 No. 6: Unhappiness with one's place happens because of two possibilities: we don't choose carefully enough, or factors beyond our anticipation and control create change that we find intolerable....

Nothing could be finah that to be in Carolina.(South Carolina homesteading narrative)
May 1, 1996... In the mid-70's we "bailed out" of our once fine rural home on far-eastern Long Island. We were forced out by rampant development, high taxes and creeping pollution. We settled in the hilly NW upstate of South Carolina, in the shadow of the...

Homesteading via the agricultural ladder: it's still possible to "get a start" the old-fashioned way.
May 1, 1996... The question of how to get started in homesteading recurs often in COUNTRYSIDE. Some people ask it, others answer it. The editor provides a form of general, all-inclusive answer in the "Our Philosophy" box that appears in every issue. Sometimes...

The dying art of solar clothes drying.
May 1, 1996... Happy congratulations to Sandy Gratlans for breaking free of the expense of a clothes dryer! Her letter reminded me that there are those who have always used a dryer and don't know of any other way to dry clothes effectively in large quantities....

Homesteading and home birth go hand-in-hand.(includes list of sources of information)
May 1, 1996... Fortitude, self-reliance and freedom from excessive technology: the philosophies of homebirth and homesteading go hand in hand. Where and how you have your babies is one of the most important decisions of your life. It's worth investigating....

Midwifery.(choosing a midwife for a home birth)
May 1, 1996... Two summers ago COUNTRYSIDE printed an article about homebirth that I have been meaning to respond to. I have had two children at home and am 2-1/2 years into my own training as a lay midwife. There are two types of midwives in this country,...

Solar powers RV homestead.(recreational vehicle)
May 1, 1996... In response to my article on our mobile homestead, many COUNTRYSIDE readers are writing with questions about our solar system. This article gives a basic explanation of the various components in the system. Although ours is used on a travel...

When homesteaders visit the Internet.(World Wide Web sites for homesteaders)
May 1, 1996... Computers aren't just for geeks any more. They aren't just for games, or for number-crunching. As you can tell from recent issues of COUNTRYSIDE, even homesteaders with "an anxiety about technological complexities" are going "online." All...

...And then we die; are homesteaders different to the very end?(attitudes of homesteaders about dying)
May 1, 1996... In most magazines, death seems to be a taboo topic: it's seldom mentioned. Does that mean most people don't think about it, or don't want to think about it, or is this simply an indication that most magazines try to avoid unpleasant subjects?...

Their lack of insurance was just the beginning of a nightmare.
May 1, 1996... They were happy, even though they didn't have money, or insurance... or an important piece of paper. One of the more interesting and unusual aspects of COUNTRYSIDE is its spontaneity. Here we meet real people, with real-life experiences. Our...

And now a word from the folks who started this unlikely discussion...(medically uninsured homesteaders)
May 1, 1996... Some background: Randy and Donna told us about their $12,000 cabin (79/6:17) and in passing, mentioned that they do without health insurance because they live on $200 a month. (That was one sentence in a three-page article, which is why I say we...

What homesteaders should know about life insurance.
May 1, 1996... Talking to Countrysiders about insurance, banks, and stock is a lot like talking flood insurance with denizens of the Gobi Desert. If we had any money, would we be hesitating about the new freezer, a bigger chicken house, or better fencing for...

Home caregiving: the next logical topic.(home caregiving for homesteaders)
May 1, 1996... As a subscriber to COUNTRYSIDE, I've seen many articles from readers telling about their experiences with homeschooling, working at home, and even home-churching. But one subject that I have been surprised to have not seen covered very often is...

Challenging a family legend: grandma's chicken dinner.(includes information on increasing the tenderness of homegrown chickens)
May 1, 1996... We had been off the sidewalks a year when I decided I had amassed enough farm experience to challenge a family legend. This legend was the embodiment of all womanly homesteadishness--my great-grandmother. Towering four feet ten inches over her...

Food fads and fallacies: just eat and enjoy it: by tomorrow "they" might decide it's good for you!
May 1, 1996... Just eat and enjoy it: by tomorrow "they" might decide it's good for you! In 1942, the average American ate 402 eggs a year. Today we eat 238. Why? "You'd think there were half a dozen studies saying to avoid eggs," Walter C. Willett of...

A little land ... and a lot of living!(homesteading narrative)(Cover Story)
May 1, 1996... This family shows what you can accomplish on just one acre--and in town, yet! Many people say COUNTRYSIDE is a gathering of friends they haven't met yet, but would like to get to know. The folks who wrote this are certainly in that number. As...