Well, I'm in my 3rd Spring of living off-grid in a southcentral KY county. I finally got a garden planted this year, and it's coming along nicely. No pics this time around. I rarely get online anymore, just when I come to a friend's home to charge my cell phone. Last time I was online was in February!
Using a woodcookstove has now become routine, as well as heating water on the stove to bathe, do dishes, and do laundry. I still need to get better at preparing for Winter as far as stocking up on wood. Though the past 2 Winters have been mild with very little snow. My first Winter here, I got snowed in twice, even though I have a 4WD truck.
Learning to can on a woodcookstove has its challenges. Keeping the fire hot, and getting a good amount of coals going to begin with is the key. I bought some pig meat from a neighbor whose son had raised two hogs - I got 65 lbs of ground meat, and 10 lbs of loin. That was at the end of March, and I'm hoping they will raise more hogs, and then get them butchered in the Winter, and I would buy a whole hog this time around.
I've gotta get a new digital camera, and will take some pics of the place, and see about getting some of the garden. My dogs got ahold of my other camera, I haven't tried it, but maybe it still works. Sorry it's been so long since posting - I hope someone is out there somewhere! LOL
I'll try to post each time I get online from now on with any news. At least then it will be a number of times in a year. HA!! This is a rather boring post, isn't it - I just don't have my creative cap on today!! Take care everyone, and I hope to be in touch more often than every 2 years!!LOL
About Me
- Kathy in KY
- Fayette Co, KY, United States
- I am a country girl stuck in the city, for the time-being. I enjoy the country way of life, and practice that in my home as best I can by canning and preserving foods, cooking and baking from scratch, crocheting, living vicariously thru the many blogs I follow about country life. I enjoy learning about raising livestock, and glean from my past employment and personal experiences of working with animals to fuel some of my postings. I have 5 cats, who keep my life interesting. And I am also an amateur poet. Thanks for stopping by and checking out this Farmer-gal who is caught in town, for now.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Hidee-Ho There Friends
Hey Everyone! Sorry no pics today either. Life at Hidden Acres Farm is going well, but it's pretty cold. We've had a couple of snows, and are in one now, and I am snow-bound. I've walked to my friend's home to get online and charge my cell phone, and check email - I had 519 messages! I haven't been online since I last posted here. Oh, the name of the farm is what my landlords, The Weavers, named the place where I am living.
Yesterday I was so lonesome, since it'd been since last Thurs that I spoke to or saw anyone because of the snow storm, that I walked about 4 miles to my landlords' home to say Hey. Mrs Weaver was gracious enough to invite me for lunch. They are in the midst of butchering, so there were 15 of us at the lunch table. The walk there was a killer because I was walking into a west wind, my eyelashes had icicles. And boy! did that hot chocolate that Mrs Weaver offer me taste good! I had a great time, and the walk home was a piece of cake walking with the wind, but I did find a blister on the ball of my left foot - *whine*. So, today, when I decided to walk to my friend's home, it was pretty easy since she just lives about 2 miles from the cabin, and the wind is light, and it's not snowing.
I'm slowly learning what type of wood burns quickly and heats quickly, which ones take a while to catch the fire, but burn long. When it's in the single digits at night, I'm up most of the night to keep the fire going because it does get cold on those nights in the cabin. But last night it was about 12 degrees, and when I got up this morning, it was 60 degrees in the cabin, with hot coals still in the stove, so restarting the fire was easy, and me and the cats were warm as toast in no time flat. I loaded the firebox, and turned down all the vents so it would burn low and slow while I'm here at my friend's place.
Two of my male cats still like going out in this weather, but they both have a good layer of fat and hair to keep them warm, plus they know they have a warm place to come in and get warm again. I've not been doing any more canning, although I did buy 2 10 lb whole pork loins and can that meat, and got 7 quarts, plus 9 pints, and still had some meat left over for a meal or two. This canned meat that I've put up has come in so handy during these 2 storms we've had where I've been snow-bound for a week - each time. Christmas and New Years was uneventful, but I did notice last night that the daylight time is increasing, where it is not pitch black at 6pm, but still a little light outside - a sure sign of good things to come in the Spring.
I hope you're all well, and had a blessed Christmas, and a wonderful New Year. May this year bring you many blessings. Take care Ya'll, and thank you so much for following this blog of mine, and for all of your wonderful and helpful comments. Oh, I do leave a pot or two of water on the stove for humidity, as well as for making coffee and hot tea. Thanks for the heads-up on that Sawn. I'll talk with ya'll soon. May God's abundant love and blessings be upon you all. So long from snowy Casey Co KY.
Yesterday I was so lonesome, since it'd been since last Thurs that I spoke to or saw anyone because of the snow storm, that I walked about 4 miles to my landlords' home to say Hey. Mrs Weaver was gracious enough to invite me for lunch. They are in the midst of butchering, so there were 15 of us at the lunch table. The walk there was a killer because I was walking into a west wind, my eyelashes had icicles. And boy! did that hot chocolate that Mrs Weaver offer me taste good! I had a great time, and the walk home was a piece of cake walking with the wind, but I did find a blister on the ball of my left foot - *whine*. So, today, when I decided to walk to my friend's home, it was pretty easy since she just lives about 2 miles from the cabin, and the wind is light, and it's not snowing.
I'm slowly learning what type of wood burns quickly and heats quickly, which ones take a while to catch the fire, but burn long. When it's in the single digits at night, I'm up most of the night to keep the fire going because it does get cold on those nights in the cabin. But last night it was about 12 degrees, and when I got up this morning, it was 60 degrees in the cabin, with hot coals still in the stove, so restarting the fire was easy, and me and the cats were warm as toast in no time flat. I loaded the firebox, and turned down all the vents so it would burn low and slow while I'm here at my friend's place.
Two of my male cats still like going out in this weather, but they both have a good layer of fat and hair to keep them warm, plus they know they have a warm place to come in and get warm again. I've not been doing any more canning, although I did buy 2 10 lb whole pork loins and can that meat, and got 7 quarts, plus 9 pints, and still had some meat left over for a meal or two. This canned meat that I've put up has come in so handy during these 2 storms we've had where I've been snow-bound for a week - each time. Christmas and New Years was uneventful, but I did notice last night that the daylight time is increasing, where it is not pitch black at 6pm, but still a little light outside - a sure sign of good things to come in the Spring.
I hope you're all well, and had a blessed Christmas, and a wonderful New Year. May this year bring you many blessings. Take care Ya'll, and thank you so much for following this blog of mine, and for all of your wonderful and helpful comments. Oh, I do leave a pot or two of water on the stove for humidity, as well as for making coffee and hot tea. Thanks for the heads-up on that Sawn. I'll talk with ya'll soon. May God's abundant love and blessings be upon you all. So long from snowy Casey Co KY.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Long time . . . no post!
Hey everyone! I'm in town and at the library in Casey Co. It's been a long time since I posted. I've been pretty busy getting ready for the Winter, and just had a rick of wood delivered. Plus I have over a rick of "slab wood" that is from a sawmill - smaller pieces and slabs of wood taken off the logs that have bark on them. And everything is in the woodsheds.
I've spent the last couple-three weeks canning. Turkeys were on sale at the local grocery store and I bought 2, just one at a time. I put it in my cooler on the front porch to thaw, then baked it in the woodstove. The first one turned out a little dry, but I got an oven thermometer for the second one and it turned out great. Between the 2 birds I got 11 quarts of meat, deboned. Then I canned 12 pints of chili. And now have 40 lbs of russett potatoes in the cellar waiting to be canned, and will hopefully get to those soon. Although the grocery store here has whole pork loin on sale very cheap, so I hope to get a couple and can those with a little onion and garlic added, and I can process that meat raw, and it makes its own juice.
My latest purchases besides wood have been a double-blade axe, and a small hatchet for splitting some of the slab wood that is too wide for the stove. Oh, and someone asked me if I had electricity. No, I don't have it, and I have the wood cookstove for heat and cooking. I'm finally almost all of the way unpacked, and have some more things to sort thru before moving my bed up to the loft. The cellar is under the whole cabin, so quite large for a cellar, and there's plenty of storage space, and a ton of shelving made just for canning jars. And with the hard, hard rains we had in the last few weeks, it doesn't leak at all - thank the Lord!
Sorry no pics today. I have been coming into town to do laundry, then take it home to hang dry, and there are lines running across the ceiling in the loft, so I can take home what I washed today and hang it up inside. The cats are doing great, and my youngest, Pookie, has caught numerous voles, and is so proud of himself that of course he brings them to me. One of my females, Annie, caught a vole and brought it inside and it was still alive, and it got away from her, so I'm assuming it got out some way since I've not seen it for weeks - or smelled anything dead! LOL
I'm not sure when my next posting will be. I don't come to the library much. If I come to town, I generally just get errands done, and need to get home to do chores, etc. But I'll try and be more reliable in the future. I really appreciate all ya'll's friendship and for following this blog. Oh, my email account had been hacked, but I went in and changed my password, so hopefully that will cause the hacking-sending out spam emails to stop.
Take care everyone, and I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I sure hope I post before Christmas, and maybe next time I can post some pics of the cabin and valley in the Winter with snow. We have had a little snow lately, but this weekend we're getting rain on Saturday, then snow on Sunday with very low temps. It was in the single digits at night a few times this week. God's abundant blessings be upon you all. I'll be back soon, from Casey Co KY.
I've spent the last couple-three weeks canning. Turkeys were on sale at the local grocery store and I bought 2, just one at a time. I put it in my cooler on the front porch to thaw, then baked it in the woodstove. The first one turned out a little dry, but I got an oven thermometer for the second one and it turned out great. Between the 2 birds I got 11 quarts of meat, deboned. Then I canned 12 pints of chili. And now have 40 lbs of russett potatoes in the cellar waiting to be canned, and will hopefully get to those soon. Although the grocery store here has whole pork loin on sale very cheap, so I hope to get a couple and can those with a little onion and garlic added, and I can process that meat raw, and it makes its own juice.
My latest purchases besides wood have been a double-blade axe, and a small hatchet for splitting some of the slab wood that is too wide for the stove. Oh, and someone asked me if I had electricity. No, I don't have it, and I have the wood cookstove for heat and cooking. I'm finally almost all of the way unpacked, and have some more things to sort thru before moving my bed up to the loft. The cellar is under the whole cabin, so quite large for a cellar, and there's plenty of storage space, and a ton of shelving made just for canning jars. And with the hard, hard rains we had in the last few weeks, it doesn't leak at all - thank the Lord!
Sorry no pics today. I have been coming into town to do laundry, then take it home to hang dry, and there are lines running across the ceiling in the loft, so I can take home what I washed today and hang it up inside. The cats are doing great, and my youngest, Pookie, has caught numerous voles, and is so proud of himself that of course he brings them to me. One of my females, Annie, caught a vole and brought it inside and it was still alive, and it got away from her, so I'm assuming it got out some way since I've not seen it for weeks - or smelled anything dead! LOL
I'm not sure when my next posting will be. I don't come to the library much. If I come to town, I generally just get errands done, and need to get home to do chores, etc. But I'll try and be more reliable in the future. I really appreciate all ya'll's friendship and for following this blog. Oh, my email account had been hacked, but I went in and changed my password, so hopefully that will cause the hacking-sending out spam emails to stop.
Take care everyone, and I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I sure hope I post before Christmas, and maybe next time I can post some pics of the cabin and valley in the Winter with snow. We have had a little snow lately, but this weekend we're getting rain on Saturday, then snow on Sunday with very low temps. It was in the single digits at night a few times this week. God's abundant blessings be upon you all. I'll be back soon, from Casey Co KY.
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