Donkey Training Needs

Due to the overwhelming response to my donkey information post I've decided to give donkeys a site all their own.

You can find this article and others here 

Donkey Training Info (getting started)

Sorry for the inconvenience. I hope you enjoy the new site

Garden Maintenance Checklist : February

Garden Maintenance Checklist for February 

January and February are my 2 least favorite months because for us in the southeast they are usually the coldest and most likely to get some snow and ice. Which I also hate! 

I'm a spring, summer and fall girl all the way! Gardening books, planners and seed catalogs help but there is no real substitute for getting in the dirt and sunshine! 

At least in February things pick up for seed starting! There are only a few things I can start in January but this month I get to start early tomatoes, ground cherries and other things I can put out early in wall o' waters!! 

Let the fun begin... if you missed Januarys checklist you can get it here Garden Maintenance Checklist: January

My February Garden Checklist 

1. Prune fruit trees, blueberries and propagate raspberries if you grow them.
2. Prepare beds for carrots, spring greens, onions, broccoli, and potatoes
3. Weed perennials such as asparagus, walking onions and strawberries and give some compost.
4. Sow inside at seed starting station or in the greenhouse: cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi, hot and sweet peppers, Asian greens, celery, lettuces, leeks. I also start tomatoes, cucumbers and anything I plan to plant in a wall o'water.
5. Outside you can plant arugula, spinach, and radishes. 
6. When the daffodils start to come up or the forsythia starts to bloom I plant my snow peas (in a low tunnel or under a row cover. I also plant cold-hardy greens, carrots and fava beans outside at this time.
7. If you started spinach, onions or other hardy greens last month you can transplant outside them after hardening off.

Isn't it exciting? There is nothing as wonderful as a garden!

If you've not got your garden planned yet you can download a copy of this PDF to help with rotation planting based on  Nutrient Needs of Vegetables

Keep in mind this checklist is best for those in Zone 7a and 7b. Your zone may require a later start to some of these seeds. 

Also on the Farm

Our Livestock and Farm Days in the Cold

Luckily we do not raise any livestock that cannot handle cold weather on their own anymore! 

Though cold weather does take its toll on us as we have to go out and care for the livestock every day no matter the weather. Still, Some require a bit more time outside than others. 

Like my husbands Meishan pigs, since they don't have access to the ponds or creeks the Bald Man has to water and of course, feed every day. But they do absolutely fine in the cold weather with simple 3 sided pallet sheds! So no worries with them!

Never heard of the best homestead hog ever? You can check out a bit more about them Wikipedia_Meishan Pig and the Meishan Articles 

My Equine actually really like the cold, especially the horses! Yes, Donkeys are desert animals but healthy donkeys grow amazing thick coats for the winter and rarely go in the barn even if it snows. 

In fact some of them grow hair and an undercoat that I have actually spun into art yarn! Spinning art yarn is one of my favorite ways to spend a cold day inside plus gives me more to sell in my etsy store for extra cash (to buy more miniature horses and seeds 🤣)

The Donkeys do hide in the barn for icy rain and wind though, unlike the horses who stand outside in any weather!

Obviously, they can handle it but Rain Rot can and does happen so here is a PDF printable home remedy for Rain Rot if your donkeys or horses need it Equine Rain Rot Remedy

My equine have access to creeks and ponds that do not freeze for water and the hay stations my husband build save me from carrying hay flakes to everyone everyday! 

Making my winter chores very minimum! Most days I just walk down to the barn give them a treat and hug and get back in the warm house! 

Endless natural water supply and hay (or pasture) for days is the best way to raise horses and donkeys for me. Anything else would make them to high input and I would fall behind on the gardens. As I did with higher maintenance livestock in the past. Time management and saving time is SO important when you're trying to homestead. As I found out the hard way!

You can check out this post for making DIY Hay Feeder

It also works really well for sheep...most goats, not so much 🤣🤣

Though the Angora goats did well with it.

I hope you're keeping warm and cozy in the brutal cold that's hit the USA this winter!!

Just get out those seeds and let the spring dreams take over for a while!

Saturday the warmth came out for a few hours and I gladly took advantage and hooked up Stormy for a drive around the lower pasture.

Till next time... May you have many Homestead Blessings and Bountiful Gardens  💚

**ALL photos you see are from my actual Homestead. I do not need to use purchased stock photos. What you see on my blog is REAL! 

DIY Hay Feeder : A Cheap and Easy Way to Stop hay waste!

So my husband (the Bald Man) came up with an awesome DIY hay feeder that drastically reduced waste and kept the hay nice and dry!

So check out our DIY Hay Feeders!

It cost us less than $65 each to make these. Keeps the hay dry. It's sturdy!

It keeps them from pulling so much hay on the ground and pooping on it. Now the barn stays cleaner with the bales not being inside plus there's more room for everyone if someones being a bit grumpy and trying to hoard the hay!

The hog panel cut into and placed at the bottom front keeps the hay back nicely, no one steps in and they can just lean in and eat.

Wish we had thought of this last year!! But oh well, I had lots of mulch hay!

The materials used: cattle panel over the top, 4 posts to steady the sides, tarp over the top, pallets to sit the hay on and help keep it from getting wet and moldy, a modified hog panel tied across the front to hold the pulled out hay in.

This is really going to also cut down on my chore time without having to constantly shovel up wasted poop hay! As well as save us money!

Since they like to stand, eat and poop in front of the hay for hours the Bald Man does have to use the tractor to scoop up the manure. Actually again, this saves me time hauling manure out of the barn or stalls to the compost pile.

These DIY hay feeders have worked really well for Donkeys, sheep, llamas and our horses. It works ok for some goats, but with goats being such jerks, for the most part, they jumped over the hog panel, climbed over the hay, pooping and peeing on it as they did. So the biggest hay wasters of all time figured out how to ruin this too! Its no wonder I no longer have goats! 🤣

Rescue Donkey Works

And On another note...

This is Shani. Just brought her in last night. Her owners were divorcing and just needed her gone. Sad circumstances have left her a little neglected.

She's a little thin, needs her hooves trimmed and needs deworming as well as her vaccinations.

She is a nice donkey though. Someone loved her one time because she's Halter and lead trained well.

She's the prettiest sorrel I've seen on a donkey. She's the largest donkey here so I sure am glad we got those DIY hay feeders made up! 

I think she will be impressive once I get her in shape and in good health! She'll be evaluated with small livestock and tested with dogs to see her potential as a livestock guardian. Then she'll be placed in an appropriate farm home. 

If you've been thinking about getting a donkey for your farm check out my Donkey Care Primer ebook. Its everything you should know before you bring home a donkey!

Wondering what all you can do with a donkey beside have it guard? You can go to Donkeys On the Farm to learn more about what I've used mine for and other care tips too! 

Thanks for stopping by and checking out our DIY Hay feeders! I hope they can help you stop hay waste and save money on hay like they have for us!

Other places you can find us!

You are welcome to check out Homestead and Horses Pinterest boards. 

You can often find updates on our Facebook page Gods Blessing Farm

and more pictures and updates on our Instagram Homesteaders Journey  

Hope Y'all have a Happy & Blessed Week!

**ALL photos you see are from my actual Homestead. I do not need to use purchased stock photos. What you see on my blog is REAL! 

Growing Snow peas and the best Variety for your garden

**ALL photos you see are from my actual Homestead. I do not need to use purchased stock photos. What you see on my blog is REAL! 

Mmmmmm... 

Love the snow peas! It can be tricky to grow snow peas in the southeast to get a good crop. Over the years I've come up with a few little tricks to help out.

For my zone, Basically, if my snow peas aren't in the ground in February I can forget about a good crop! It's still cold here in February so how do I work around that.

How I prep and start snow peas extra early!

My secret to early snow pea success and large crops, Low tunnels! I also prep the ground by January and get my hoop cover in place. Then about 2 weeks before I plant I place hot compost, mostly horse manure because that's what I have an abundance of, around the edges on the inside of the low tunnel. This provides a tiny bit of added warmth that keeps the ground from freezing if we do have a cold snap. Keep in mind I'm in the southeast, cold snaps are short and winters are fairly mild so this hack works very well for me. Some years if it has been colder I will also add a 'black mulch' on the ground too.

When the daffodils start to bloom its time to get them in the ground! 

I do inoculate the peas which helps them along. If you're unfamiliar with inoculating peas and beans here is a good informative article. Pea Inoculation

Also here are some other ideas for winter gardening Winter Gardening Boards

When planning my gardens I keep in mind the 'givers and takers' and always plant accordingly for best results. You can grab yourself a copy of my givers and takers PDF printable guide and checklist here Givers and Takers Guide

The Snow Pea Varieties I compared

This year I planted 4 snow pea varieties. 

1. Norli ( pea in the middle ) was the first to produce and continued to produce large amounts! Much larger and longer than the other varieties. It isn't super sweet which is what I prefer.
2. The snow pea on the far right is Corne de Belier. It is much sweeter than the other varieties but just now starting to produce.
3. The pea on the far left is just starting also. Carouby De Moussane. It's the largest snow pea I've ever grown! Taste similar to Norli. 
4. The fourth variety is Dwarf snow has a few baby peas. Taste is sweet but they are few and tiny.

All these peas were planted at the same time with the exact same growing conditions. 

Other pros and cons of these varieties

Norli has a semi-bush habit which means no trellis needed! It also takes up less space and they are stringless.

The dwarf snow didn't need support but was too poor a producer. 

The other 2 varieties needed big poles for support. They never produced as much as Norli but took up more space.

Previous Snow Pea Trails 

Last year, In a previous trial, I planted Golden snow peas, Norli, and Snow Pea Melting Mammoth. Again Norli won hands down! Melting Mammoth needed support, took way to long to produce then the heat killed them out fast! Not a good variety for a large long crop in the southeast! The Goldens tasted good but were very poor producers and just not worth the time or space. 

I truly hope these growing tips and variety comparisons will help you grow a large crop of snow peas to enjoy this spring!

And if you want a huge early snow pea crop you can order Norli Seeds here from Park Seed. I am not affiliated with Park in any way I'm recommending them because they are a great company and Norli snow peas are the best! Park Seed Norli Snow Peas

🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡

For beauty and fun, a Few pics of my previous Goose Flock

Off current Subject, I no longer raise any poultry, but I love looking at my old homestead photos from the past years. Geese are hands down my favorite homestead poultry if you have pasture. Without pasture, they wouldn't be very efficient but they are certainly beautiful in any case. 

I made the decision to move away from poultry at the beginning of 2018 for several reasons due to no fault of the goose! I'll write about later on. I'm still a huge fan of homestead geese. Here is a post about my favorite breeds and why they did well here to fit our needs for so long Homestead Geese
I do miss the geese!

Just a lovely site... Grazing geese...

Thanks for spending some time on my blog today!

Do check out my Pinterest boards for more garden and homestead for more ideas!
Homestead, gardening and more boards!

You can also Sign up for our Homesteaders Journey list below for freebies and other info to help you along your own journey! We will never spam you and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Till next time.... happy homesteading and enjoy the journey!!

Garden Maintenance Checklist: January!

**ALL photos you see are from my actual Homestead. I do not need to use purchased stock photos. What you see on my blog is REAL! 

Last month I was a bit late posting my Garden Maintenace Checklist so this month I wanted to get right down to business and post my Garden Maintenace Checklist for January!

I mean, January is SO exciting!! The seed catalogs are rolling in, the holidays are over so now so garden planning can truly take priority, and indoor seed sprouting for spring vegetables (for me in the southeast) begins at the end of this month!!!

I can hardly contain myself!!!🎕

This year I've got plans though not as grand as previous years perhaps. But plans to try more vertical gardening and more medicinal and tea herbs. I've got a major re-do on one of my front garden beds too.

Planning a garden can be as big or little of a project as you want. But no plan can be a hot mess! I have several Pinterest boards just for garden ideas and planning. You can check them out here Homestead and Horses Boards Don't forget to follow me if you're a planner because I post actively on them!

Here's my Garden Maintenance Checklist for January. Do keep in mind I am in the southeast zone 7 so your checklist might need to be a little different.

Checklist for January 

1. Order SEEDS! Whatever seeds you need now is the time!
2. Review last years winners and losers notes (I hope you kept notes!) Make notes about what needs to be planted this year! and what doesn't! Here is one of my posts on This year's Winners and Losers in the Garden
3. Finish up any pruning fruit trees or vines
4. Start making seed starting and planting schedules.
5. Inside you can go ahead and start Onions, hot peppers, artichokes, and rhubarb if you plant these items. I also start cold hardy spinach and greens this month that I will plant in a 'hot' bed with a low tunnel next month.
6. Outside prepare beds for greens, spinach, and peas. If I don't plant my snow peas in February I won't get a good crop! Which is totally unacceptable 🤣🤣 Check out this previous post I did on my snow peas trials Snow Pea Trials
7. Get your garden journal or planner ready. Don't have one? Check out this Pinterest board for some ideas Garden Journals

That's it for this month! But its enough isn't it? 

Now, if the weather will cooperate with my plans. That's the issue with gardening, the weather doesn't always get the memo that I need to get stuff done!

Ever an adventure but it's always an exciting one on a homestead! 

Blessings 💚

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Garden Maintenance Checklist: December!

**ALL photos you see are from my actual Homestead. I do not need to use purchased stock photos. What you see on my blog is REAL! 

Most people are planning holiday dinner parties this time of year... well not me honey! I'm in full on garden mode and ready to get this month's Garden Maintenance checklist for December all done!

Life changes when you start a homestead And life is adjusted in major ways for the Four season gardener. Seasons are certainly not about what holiday is coming up. Oh no, for the avid gardener, homesteader or kitchen gardener, we want to know; what do I prepare, what do I plant and what can I harvest!!??

Its all about the garden!💗

Maintaining a four season garden is a huge (fun!) undertaking and organization is key to success. But even if you don't garden all four seasons most of us what a spring and summer garden. Which means truly successful spring gardens are typically planned right now!
Especially for us in the southeast who want a snow pea crop! And I'm talking SNOW PEAS is what I want! Which means my actual planting in the ground starts in Feb. or I won't get a big crop.

As someone for many many years grew ALL my families veggies I have a checklist for every month and I've decided to share it with you guys!

Its truly exciting isn't it!! Preparing and planning the spring garden!

Here's my Garden Maintenance Checklist: December

1. Evaluate seed collection and make notes about what you need to order next month. Clear out and throw away any seeds that aren't viable anymore. Check  Seed Viability Guide PDF for info.
2. Get out the garden journal from last year and make notes about things you need to have ready this year. Such as homemade organic pest sprays, frost blankets, veggies that did well to re-order.
3. Service the rototiller if you use one so you don't get caught in the spring rush
4. Spread ashes and compost over gardens. 
5. If you do no-till gardens like most of mine (but not all) apply a thick layer of compost and thick layer leaf mulch. This has not only enriched my soil but also keeps weeds in check for gardens that aren't planted until late April or May. 
6. Get seed starting equipment ready and order what you need.
7. Prune grapevines or in my case muscadine vines :-)
8. I like start planning my layout during this month, planting light takers where heavy takers were in the previous year and planting heavy takers were givers were planted. Here is a free PDF printable of the takers and givers to help you plan. GARDENING GIVERS AND TAKERS GUIDE
9. I also like to walk the property with my husband and show him/make lists of what needs has to be done before planting, like repair the greenhouse, bring compost up from the barn, etc...

I keep a planner of 'garden projects' to do and like to go over them and see if there's anything I can fit in. Such as trying a spiral herb garden or building a new potting bench area.

Its crazy fun to plan a garden if you are prepared and organized so you don't get overwhelmed. Being overwhelmed is never fun.

I hope my checklist helps you plan your best garden ever!! 

Selling Livestock as a business

Things to Consider if Selling Livestock needs to make money for your farm.

Most homesteads raise some animals for meat, maybe some for milk, and some for fiber.
Having meat/milk animals means you will have to breed them and you will have some to sell, in hopes to cover the cost of raising and/or milking them.
Even with fiber animals many times you will need to breed them to make extra money to cover their feed since making enough money off raw fiber sales is next to impossible with feed and hay being so expensive some years.

If you have animals that live on pasture alone...and you have pasture all year... well... you are lucky but you probably still have to vaccinate, worm them have medicines (or herbs) and may have vet bills if they get sick. If you have sheep or alpacas you will have to buy an expensive shearing tool or hire a shearer and pray its a good one that takes bio-security pre-cautions with their shears and blades.
There are so many hidden costs in livestock! Multipurpose animals and breeding are just necessary for it all to work most of the time.

Example: I like Alpaca fiber and I had Alpacas for a very short time and this is one of the reasons I sold them. I figured it cost me around $105 a year to keep a non-breeding fiber male gelding Alpaca with mid-grade wool (of which these days the market is saturated) not to mention the management of the animal and my time. He will give me about 4 lbs of prime wool and maybe 2 lbs of seconds... I can buy good mid-grade wool for around $8 lb and a huge bag of seconds for $5. So $37... easy-peasy I got my alpaca fiber with no work or time spent keeping an animal healthy and fed. Then I've got more $ to spent else where!
So just keeping Alpacas for fiber doesn't add up for me. To make Alpacas work I would need to breed to help cover the cost to just break even. I would need Registered stock in order to get the highest prices possible for babies and help ensure they would be better homes.
Honestly, I would need to invest up front in not only registered stock but registered stock with lower micron counts and higher quality fiber than mid-grade! So then I could get more per pound for their fiber.
Because there is no meat outlet for the extra boys, the year a male is born probably means I might now make money or break even. I might even lose money breeding that year if say my fiber was ruined for some reason or another (like it felted or was extra dirty!)
But I might break even or even make some money if I turned that higher quality fiber into yarn or roving. Its ALOT to take on as part of a small homestead business.
However, keeping Alpacas was not for me for many reasons other than money but I do know fiber farmers who make it work with this model. It's not an easy road since alpacas are flooding the market. It brings down prices all over when that happens.

Handspun art yarns can be a very profitable side hustle for a creative individual on the homestead. But the rest of the numbers need to add up too!

Trending Livestock

What livestock is hot and trendy (yes, livestock has trends!) today may be worth half tomorrow, or even bottom out to the point people are just turning them loose or giving them away (example: Miniature horses, Nigerian dwarf goats, 'pet' pigs with no purpose,  llamas, certain breeds of sheep,..yep alpacas!)
This happens especially when an animal is bred and has no 'meat' purpose. Too many animals bred, too many geldings with no homes because they can't all be studs and no one needs a bunch of studs!
If the male has no purpose or his purpose isn't valuable, a huge problem of a saturated market happens and hurts everyone. Including the animals! When there is no outlet for those that don't make the cut as a breeder overstocking leads to bottomed out livestock markets.
Then you also don't have meat outlets for money. So when a male is born you're in the hole cost wise many times!
Now true, you could process extra animals with no market for your own meat! I know people who have done this. But thats a whole other set of skills and equipment I personally never wanted to get into. Processing poultry, waterfowl, and rabbits ourselves was enough for me!
Might be a solution for you if you if you've got the equipment/know how.

Trending livestock can be great for a homestead but only if breeding is done with a purpose and the extra males have a market. Cause no, they all don't make wonderful pets for people!
Getting in on the front end of the trend with a multipurpose livestock animal can mean excellent income for many years! For example the recently imported embryos of the Valais Blacknose Sheep
They will not only bring top dollar for lambs for many many years but their semen from purebred rams will be top dollar and their wool will bring top dollar! Its an investment, but if you're into niche wool sheep its an investment that will pay off for years!!
Especially if a meat demand is established so no one has to be overrun with extra males or poor producing females! Much like the Icelandic sheep breeders did, which is a sheep that has been here for years. A fantastic multipurpose sheep with niche wool for handspinners, a lamb meat market in demand and an excellent choice for sheep milk (trust me it's amazing!)! Read about one homestead dream come true here with this amazing sheep Icelandic Sheep for Profit. 
Despite being here for many years the registered Icelandic sheep still brings way more than an unregistered cross. I've had both, and yes when I decided I needed to let the sheep go to pursue other goals I actually made money on the registered stock I resold. Plus I made money from the wool and had plenty of meat.

Maximizing with multiple outlets and purebred livestock

So anyways...my point is, you might  will have to maximize your livestock potential earnings on the homestead to make it work if you want to make actual cash flow. Most people have the idea of homesteading that is living off the land and raising animals that pay for themselves and hopefully make a little extra to expand things here and there.

Most do not start their homestead dream with the idea of continuing to go to work to pay a feed bill for animals that do not pay for themselves. If this is your idea of homesteading than its a hobby, not a business. Nothing wrong with that!! My miniature horses are not a business, they make us no money. They are for my enjoyment, farm work, personal milking and that's fine with me!

But if you buy an animal and it must pay for itself or even profit in order for your dream homestead to work you have to consider where the money is going to come from first! What is the market for these products or animals you want in your area? Is there a market that can be tapped into over the internet?  Be observant! Very Observant!

Selling Products from your livestock

If you want to sell meat, to who? Where are the customers? Don't say farmers markets.. they are becoming more and more like local craft fairs in many cities. Many successful meat farmers I know have to have several outlets for their meat to really profit. Check regulations for you state thoroughly. Do any small local based health and grocery stores carry local products? That may be a better bet and will be less time than spending the day at a market. Again be observant about outlets for the products from your livestock. Don't just assume your going to have a meat business or milk CSA. Do others in your area? Is there an outlet? A demand?
Ofcourse if you have dairy animals or lard hogs soap is a great small farm business to consider that can be marketed to alot of people! Check out my No Fail Goat Milk Soap Recipe to get started! I've made really nice profits from my soap 'side hustle' over the years.

Selling Breeding Stock to other farmers

Where will you sell the breeding quality livestock you will have available? Is the market already saturated, is there a demand? Going prices?
 If you have invested in a rare livestock breed you may not have a local market at all.
Thankfully the internet can help there. But how does anyone know you're there with things to sell?
Don't say Facebook.. getting in groups and advertising livestock to people who already have livestock , who are trying to sell you livestock is not the best option! Trust ME!
So then you will need an internet business plan. Time consuming , yes, necessary for success, absolutely! Building a website isn't that hard these days either.

Invest In the Best

Always buy purebred and registered (if a registry is available some rare breeds don't have a registry yet) Even If your goal is to just break even never buy crosses.
If you just want an animal that doesn't have to pay for itself then buy crosses all day. But if you want them to pay for themselves and especially if you need to profit, buy pure.. buy registered. I can not stress that enough. 

 I know I know... and I do understand! You may not want to spend the extra money on an animal that doesn't work out. I went down that road too unfortunately.
But, Here's the thing about that... if you buy purebred and if it doesn't work out you are more likely to get your money back out of it.
Purebred and registered (if a registry is available) will always bring more and be in more demand than crossed and unregistered.
There has been more than one occasion where I've invested in pure breeds and then decided it isn't working out and I've sold them for more than I paid! Because the other thing is purebred rare livestock and registered animals have a much much wider market. People will travel across states for them! No one is traveling from TX to TN for a cross piglet,, but they will for a purebred registered one.. trust me on this too because I do speak from personally experience many times over on this subject.
There were also plenty of times I bought crosses or so-called pure but unregistered and lost my butt when I tried to sell them. Or worse ended up having to process them because we couldn't sell them even for less! hard lessons learned...and much money was lost.
A good place to start learning about rare, purebred animals is the Livestock Conservancy

Case Study: French Angora Rabbit above here. Known as a dual purpose rabbit. They are not super rare but by buying high fiber quality bloodlines and pedigreed stock I was able to have a very healthy cash flow with them. They didn't work out for other reasons, my time was too committed to other things but when I sold my herd I made money on their resale too. You can read about why they didn't work for me but they may work for you here Raising Rabbits for meat and Fiber

Case Study: The Meishan pig breed has only been available to the American public for a short time. Its an incredible hog for a small farmer! Its registry is working hard to build a demand for its unique red meat which makes a superior charcuterie and an elegant meal. You can read more about that at the American Meishan Breeders Association

Meishan Meat, Not your typical dry white pork!

Now Brainstorm!

Now that you have some things to consider get out a notepad and make notes!

Keep notes on potential livestock that can help your homestead dream come true and notes on the what , where and how much points of your available markets and outlets.

Y'all have an awesome weekend!
Blessings....