Countryside & Small Stock Journal articles from September 2007

Countryside & Small Stock Journal archives from September 2007

Don't stop raising bees.(Country conversation & feedback)
September 1, 2007... COUNTRYSIDE: I was saddened to read of John James' bee losses, and sadder still that he was encouraging people not to keep bees. Beekeeping is wonderful, and this is a fine time to enter into the world of bees. Yes, CCD (Colony Collapse...

Apple trees for zone 4.(Country conversation & feedback)
September 1, 2007... COUNTRYSIDE: This is in response to Connie from Rushville, Pennsylvania's request for what kind of apple trees will grow in zone 4. We bought apple trees from St. Lawrence Nurseries in Potsdam, New York three years ago. They were planted...

Donkeys are divine.(Country conversation & feedback)
September 1, 2007... COUNTRYSIDE: I'm writing in regards to your article in the May/June 2007 issue, "Donkeys on the homestead." It was a very good article for people new to donkeys and I'm glad that it's allowing these wonderful animals to make a home for...

Corrections.(Country conversation & feedback)(Correction notice)
September 1, 2007... The last sentence on page 71 in the July/August issue is missing. It should have read: "On the other hand, watering in the evening can also be bad. Soil and plants will stay wet most of the night, promoting disease and fungal growth. This...

No booze, no business?(Country conversation & feedback)
September 1, 2007... COUNTRYSIDE: I was interested to read one subscriber's opinion about Ken Scharabok's difficulties with his bargain store. My hunch is that it may not have been a result of the "stigma" of dollar stores as the writer in the last issue suggested....

Those were not "the good old days" for many.(Country conversation & feedback)
September 1, 2007... COUNTRYSIDE: This is in response to the article by Delores Myers, "Lessons from the Great Depression." Having lived through that Depression, after my father lost his job working on the railroad, I can comprehend the trials and tribulations...

Raccoons shun hybrid corn.(Country conversation & feedback)
September 1, 2007... Countryside: I'd like to tell you about an experience this past winter that I found interesting. Every year I plant a patch of open pollinated field corn. Last winter I strung two wires from the front rack on a hay wagon to the back rack, and I...

Golden Comets laid double yolks.(Country conversation & feedback)
September 1, 2007... COUNTRYSIDE: Thank you for a great magazine. I have been a subscriber for years and never took time to write until now. I'd like to respond to a few of the writers in the July/August 2007 issue. First of all, to anyone looking for chickens...

Variations of the egg-peeling theme.(Country conversation & feedback)
September 1, 2007... COUNTRYSIDE: In reply to the question about getting the shell off of fresh eggs, here's my suggestion for hard to peel hard cooked eggs. After cooking and cooling quickly with cold water, put them in the freezer for up to five minutes. Things...

Cast iron doesn't require soap to clean.(Country conversation & feedback)
September 1, 2007... COUNTRYSIDE: I never use soap to wash my cast iron ware--usually plain water and a nylon or Teflon spongy will do it, or sometimes even a dishcloth. If something is stuck or the clear water is not sufficient, I put 1/2 teaspoon of baking...

The National Poultry Museum: preserving poultry history plus much more.(Country conversation & feedback)
September 1, 2007... COUNTRYSIDE: The National Poultry Museum was started in November 1994, when the first building was dedicated. The idea for it actually came from Holland where the first poultry museum opened in 1989 when my wife and I visited there. This gave...

Thoughts on raw milk and cheap gas.(Country conversation & feedback)
September 1, 2007... COUNTRYSIDE: I'm 62 years old, so I am young enough to remember when we really had to do things the way you write about today, that's what we call "the good old days" now, and truly those days weren't all that bad. We knew where our food came...

Monarch stove info needed.(Country conversation & feedback)
September 1, 2007... COUNTRYSIDE: I know you ve heard this millions of times but I love your magazine. I wish it came every month. I have a question: we found a Monarch 426 stove and we want to refurbish it but I can't find, any information about what year it...

Customers prefer this yard sweeper.(Country conversation & feedback)
September 1, 2007... COUNTRYSIDE: To answer Paul's question on the Swisher Acreage rake: I own a rental store in Kansas and have not been very satisfied with my rake. I have more customers use my Agri Fab 42-inch Yard Sweeper It will pick up small twigs, leaves,...

Snares for snakes.(Country conversation & feedback)
September 1, 2007... COUNTRYSIDE: I love your magazine and will subscribe for the rest of my life. God bless you guys. Anyhow, regarding the "Hills are alive" letter from Barbara in Arkansas with the copperhead snakes in and around her chicken house. We know...

Tansy is great for ants; not peonies.(Country conversation & feedback)
September 1, 2007... COUNTRYSIDE: I found out long ago that the herb tansy grown around the garden completely repels ants. I also learned that I need ants to open my peony blossoms. The peonies died in three years from my introduction of tansy to the garden,...

Reader shares recipes.(Country conversation & feedback)(Recipe)
September 1, 2007... COUNTRYSIDE: I would like to share several of our favorite recipes featuring vegetables and fruit from our northwest Montana garden. Cheesy Broccoli Bake 1-1/2 pounds fresh or frozen (thawed) broccoli 1 can cream of mushroom...

Need a back issue?(Country conversation & feedback)
September 1, 2007... COUNTRYSIDE: I have back issues of COUNTRYSIDE from January/February 1999 thru May/June 2007. If any readers would like one or more issues, please e-mail me at bobandpatmill ard@earthlink.net. I will send your copy/copies for the mailing cost....

For your reading pleasure....(Country conversation & feedback)
September 1, 2007... COUNTRYSIDE: There is a new ecological movement occurring now in Russia. Its foundation is in the Russian dacha (country cottage), which was used as weekend retreats by the city folk. The number of dachas has increased tremendously in the last...

Coming events.(Calendar)
September 1, 2007... Spread the word about your event! Send your info to: COUNTRYSIDE Coming Events, 145 Industrial Dr., Medford, WI 54451 or e-mail csyeditorial@tds.net at least 3 months in advance of your event. Deadline for the November/December issue: August...

Toad stranglers, chicken wranglers, global warming & forgiveness farming: on the loose at the 15th Annual Wisconsin Grazing Conference: part III.(Conference notes)
September 1, 2007... After dodging a speedy toddler and chatting it up with the vendors at the tradeshow, I found myself seated in a cramped conference room. We were packed in tight, with farmers standing three deep in back and along the sides. The lighting...

Off-grid tropical greenhouse at 9,100 feet makes for comfy living.(Life on the sunny side)
September 1, 2007... Last winter lingered late in the Colorado Rockies. Well over 10 feet of snow fell in many places along the Front Range and it was snowing hard in early May when LaVonne and I locked in the hubs on the old mud-splattered Pathfinder to ascend the...

Biodiesel: an eco-friendly alternative.(Alternative energy)
September 1, 2007... Nearly everywhere we go these days, it's almost impossible to avoid the high price of fuels, the reality of the looming energy shortages and our insatiable reliance on petroleum fuels to satisfy the energy needs in this country. Because it hits...

Midwest couple doubles their diesel dollars.(Alternative energy)
September 1, 2007... (The couple in this article will be referred to as John and Jane to prevent their state's Department of Revenue showing up for non-payment of state taxes on road fuel usage.) This couple stretches their fuel dollars not by increasing the...

Cycling in the Midwest.(Question of the month: Save money, save gas: how do you do it?)
September 1, 2007... So what have I been doing to reduce my gas consumption lately? Pretty much the same thing I've been doing for better than 10 years. When the opportunity comes to turn a key and push down a pedal, I turn a key and push two pedals instead. Years...

Now they're even more frugal: (even if seeing a 6'6" man on a scooter is humorous).(Question of the month: Save money, save gas: how do you do it?)
September 1, 2007... I guess we've always been oddballs. Even when gas was under $1 a gallon my wife and I did what we could to conserve, but with gas over $3 we have gotten a lot more conservative. I remember as a child my mom took me to one of her science...

Trailers replace trucks.(Question of the month: Save money, save gas: how do you do it?)
September 1, 2007... I've got two things your readers might consider. First, in the spirit of the book Your Money or Your Life, people should calculate the cost per mile to drive their vehicles when they fill their fuel tanks. Next, they should ask themselves if a...

These folks prefer clotheslines and horsepower.(Question of the month: Save money, save gas: how do you do it?)
September 1, 2007... Hello again from Bill and Eva Fritz. We were the newlywed couple featured in the March/April 2006 issue. We thought we would update you on our progress and let you know what we are doing to conserve gas and energy in general. I will start...

Avoiding traffic congestion saves time and money.(Question of the month: Save money, save gas: how do you do it?)
September 1, 2007... I'm doing a number of things to reduce my use of gas. Starting with the usual methods to conserve fuel in my cars, tractor, and assorted gas driven implements. I keep the engines tuned, the tires inflated, the filters clean. I also watch where...

Large family simply won't fit in small cars.(Question of the month: Save money, save gas: how do you do it?)
September 1, 2007... Hi from North Carolina. We live on 2.14 acres, have three kids at home, two dogs, one guinea pig and a 10-week-old kitten. In response to the question about gas prices, we have three vehicles: a 1994 Chevy van, 12 mpg; a 1996 Ford F-150...

Wood-fired water heater for homesteaders.(Alternative energy)
September 1, 2007... I moved up here at 10,000' in the Colorado Mountains in 1988 and built my own house and got along quite nicely without running water for several years. The cost of a drilled well would have cost more than the price of the land that I bought...

Why fences, and what kind?
September 1, 2007... My mother-in-law had a gadget in her kitchen with an interesting phrase on it, "Ve grow too soon oldt undt too late schmartd." Unfortunately, I can identify with that. Hopefully you can benefit from my mistakes. Most people think that...

What can an inventive couple do with old pipes? Plenty!
September 1, 2007... What to do with pipe lying around the property? Four years ago when we acquired our property the previous owner had collected hundreds of feet of old steel irrigation pipe. They had used the pipe to fence a paddock for their horses, but the...

Wild plants: winter foods.(Foraging)
September 1, 2007... Introduction Most writers and teachers in off-the-grid living, country lifestyles, wilderness studies, outdoor education and so on, have almost studiously avoided any treatment of surviving off the wild landscape during the winter, despite...

Gourds: for homesteaders and gardeners.
September 1, 2007... There is a legend that says, "If you give or receive a gourd, with it goes all the best in life; health, happiness and other good things." From the beginning of human history people have grown gourds as containers or vessels before clay or...

Musical instruments from gourds.
September 1, 2007... COUNTRYSIDE: I started a new business this year which is a not for profit organization: Singing Mouse, Shamanic Learning Center. I received the verification of my status in April of this year. The center is focused around a four-phase format....

Cranberries: a healthy and versatile fruit.(The homestead kitchen)(Recipe)
September 1, 2007... Only one of the three commercially grown fruits unique to North America, the others being blueberries and Concord grapes, cranberries are today gaining in popularity as a healthy and tasty versatile culinary fruit. Once only found in the wild,...

In a jam? Ideas for homemade gifts.(The homestead kitchen)(Recipe)
September 1, 2007... Ever find yourself in a jam for a homemade gift idea? Instead of waiting until the last minute and being forced to buy everyone on your list a gift card, why not start now by making some jams and jellies. Everyone will think you slaved away in...

Fill your pantry (and save $$ on your food bill) with help from mother nature.(The homestead kitchen)
September 1, 2007... Worried about, how you'll be able to supply the household food needs this winter (without breaking the bank)--because the costs at the gas pump took another hefty hike this year and grocery store food prices have gone wild? You can fill...

Birds in the garden: it's a matter of timing.
September 1, 2007... My organic zone 5 garden is located about as far north in Pennsylvania as you can get. I live in an area of Tioga County Pennsylvania called the Cowanesque Valley. My garden here is unique since I garden with a disability and enlist some...

The perpetual kailyard: gardening in a winter wonderland.(The garden)
September 1, 2007... "The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold," therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing."--Proverb 20:4 How long is the growing season at your place? If you answered 365 days, good. If not, you need to read this article. ...

Pinkeye: prevention and treatment.(Livestock health)
September 1, 2007... Pinkeye is the common name for infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK). This eye disease costs cattle raisers a lot of money every year due to poor weight gains in affected animals, drop in milk production, cost of drugs and labor in...

Bashkir Curly horses: a hardy and gentle breed.(The horse barn)
September 1, 2007... The American Bashkir Curly horse dates back to 1898, when Peter Damele and his father were riding horseback in the Peter Hanson Mountain Range in the remote high country of central Nevada, near Austin. There they discovered three horses with...

Are excessive calcium levels cutting short the lives of your poultry?(The henhouse)
September 1, 2007... Calcium is a soft, silvery-white metallic element found most widely in rocks such as chalk, limestone and marble. It is one of our most abundant metals and makes up about 3-1/2 percent of the earth's crust. It is essential to all living things,...

Homesteading with endangered breeds of livestock.(Rare breed livestock)
September 1, 2007... I don't remember exactly how my husband and I decided to have rare breeds of farm animals. We had bought a 13-acre farm and spent a decade pouring money, energy, and time into restoring the seven run-down buildings. Perhaps it was then we stood...

Preparing your bees for winter: tips to get them through with flying colors.(The beehive)
September 1, 2007... The honey bees that we are most familiar with in North America (African honey bees not included in this discussion) were brought over from Europe. The earliest log mentions that in 1622 a ship coming to Jamestown brought beehives. That is the...

Love what you do: the pitfalls of turning a hobby into a business.(Your homestead business)
September 1, 2007... When I was in high school, I was particularly fond of a certain fast-food restaurant's, er, "cuisine." In 1980, during the summer before I went to college, I had my first official job--working at this same fast-food restaurant. I haven't...

Homesteading is wherever you can make it so.(Country neighbors)
September 1, 2007... Sometimes I catch a glimpse of it when I'm driving down a rural highway: a small house in a meadow on a hillside, with tidy outbuildings already painted and housing chickens and goats. Or perhaps it's an abandoned farm house, its paint long...

Homestead views from British Columbia.(Country neighbors)
September 1, 2007... I enjoy your magazine, reading the copies over and over again. I have even re-read the 1998 COUNTRYSIDE Anthology several times as well. Before I discovered this wonderful magazine, I had a deep desire to be self-reliant, wanting to get back to...

Cook with a friend! Kentucky cooking club encourages family time.
September 1, 2007... Tammy Duncan and daughter Emily were busy cooking up enough meat loaf pizzas for 16 people, or four families of four. Other families were making taco soup, tortilla pie and meatballs. The families are part of a local food club that was the...

Poor Will's Countryside Almanack for Autumn 2007.
September 1, 2007... There is a beautiful spirit breathing now. Its mellow richness on the clustered trees, And from a beaker full of richest dyes, Pouring new glory on the Autumn woods, And dipping in warm light the pillared clouds, Morn on the...

Our first homestead: and it feels like a mansion.(After chores)
September 1, 2007... I am writing to share our new beginnings. For eight years now, we have searched for property we felt we could survive on and enjoy. All of the land we looked at was either too steep, too expensive, restricted, no road frontage or no privacy....