HomesteaderWife - Tales from Wolf Branch [05/10/2023 - The New Fella!]

[HomesteaderWife]

Finally got Article #4 on Mother Earth News posted- I figured I would finally write a little about the sawmill experience (while also putting up a list of some of our current savings).
http://www.motherearthnews.com/home...-and-cons-of-a-portable-sawmill-zbcz1601.aspx

Once our cabin is done, I will be doing a cost comparison using all that we milled up....seeing what lumber prices are and figuring out how much we saved by milling our own lumber. Let's see if that sawmill pays for itself in a year! Not counting all our scrap wood being advertised- we put a few bargains in the local trade paper to see if we can get some stuff sold. Need to make enough to cover tin for the house SOON!

Thank you everyone for reading- I appreciate all of you who take the time to read here and respond. I just honestly started this as record keeping for myself...but oh goodness I've had some good conversation here too.

 

[Baymule]

Since your house is small, go up a little higher, at least for maybe a sleeping loft. Just an idea.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@Baymule - we are going to make space for a small loft, but if God blesses us with little ones in the future, we have enough room to add on!

 

[Baymule]

Make sure you have a covered porch on that house. Some of my favorite memories are of sitting on a grandparents porch, shelling peas or butterbeans. It was the polite thing to do, grab a pan, set a spell, visit and shell peas.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@Baymule - Oh yes we are going to have the front porch covered! All of our animals will be centered around the front of the house, as will our outdoor cooking area, that way we can sit and observe and eat outside if we like!

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Man, it has been awhile since I have updated here and covered what all has been happening.

Firstly, we finally have a mate for our two Khaki Campbell girls! He is very protective of them, but is so easy to handle that it makes me really appreciate and love this duck breed all the more. Since the girls had names inspired by those cute little yellow guys from the Despicable Me movies ("Chiquita" and "Papaya"), he naturally needed a matching name. So, we introduced "Minion" to the girls about a month ago, and they've been enjoying each-others company with no problems since!

We are now getting ready to cut 160+ boards for the walls of our cabin after finally getting them all framed up. My husband has been working hard to haul the logs out, and I really enjoy helping move them out of the woods and down to the mill. We should be moved into the cabin before Summer! Below are some photos where you can see where we started framing, and we've got one of the carpenter bee traps we made hanging up just in case they start becoming a problem out where we are building. What a beautiful view from the doorway as the sun sets! God has blessed us so much in this journey of hard work- it is worth it at the end of the day! It's hard to believe how far we've come.

We also introduced a new animal friend to the farm this past Saturday- a little female goat named "Linda" who we hope to breed and get milk from in the future. She is a silly little thing- and a BIG helper so far while we are clearing out brush!

Finally, I've got lots of new art projects we are taking to a sale this weekend (and two major sales coming in May). New walking sticks, signs, some hand-made dreamcatchers, carpenter bee traps, and even "lucky rabbit foot" necklaces. Please wish us luck- the money earned will be placed towards needed supplies for our cabin (tin and nails mainly)!

Last thing here to update, but WOW the sawmill is definitely paying for itself. When we square off logs, we get alot of outside pieces that are flat on one side and round with bark on the other. It stacks up quickly, so we advertise it for sale in the local papers for $2 a board. In the past two weeks, we made enough from selling scrap wood to pay our bills!

I am so thankful to everyone who reads and responds here- I really enjoy sharing, and hope that maybe some of the things here can help or inspire others. In the beginning, I was honestly frightened of the concept of changing my lifestyle so much. Now, I've learned how rewarding hard work can be, and I've grown so close to my husband as we work together to build our home.

We hope everyone is having a safe, healthy, and blessed day as you read this!

-The Burnette Family

 

[Latestarter]

It's good to see that you've got the wall framing up. I'd honestly be a little concerned though if you're using green timber... Aren't you worried about shrinkage/warping and mold? Typically wood is cut and dried down to <10-15% moisture content before it's used.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@Latestarter - We give our lumber a bit of time to dry, but we aren't worried about shrinkage much. As for the warping, we stack it a particular way on level ground so that the Pine has no problems with that. (Most lumber dries for 2 years unless sped up with a kiln and even then it takes a good while) My husband and I talked about it but we will see how it turns out!

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I wanted to update and give praise because our sale today did extremely well! Our gas to get there was covered, and we made enough for our bills. A lot of faith-based art sold right before Easter which means so much to us. Our prayers were answered, as it did not rain and the sale went much better than any of the past ones combined! We got to spend time with family afterwards as well, so it was a wonderful day.

God bless you all as we come into the Holy Week!

-The Burnette Family

 

[HomesteaderWife]

I realize I have neglected my journaling for a few months now, and there is so much I need to keep record of!

April 21st through the 23rd, our garden was planted. We have had great success out of it, with tons of cucumbers and squash thus far. I've canned 4 nice quarts so far of kosher spears and bread & butter slices. We also have tomatoes, okra, and peppers planted. We have about 250 stalks of Hasting's Prolific white dent corn planted, and will be selling the seed for it later in the year (please comment or message if you may be interested, and check out our thread on The Easy Garden to see photos of it- http://www.theeasygarden.com/threads/heirloom-hastings-prolific-corn-al.19410/). It's been 64 days since the corn was planted, and it's already 8ft to 10ft tall with tassels coming in- I cannot believe the plant is as tall as it is! We grew Bloody Butcher last year, and it was only around 6ft if I remember correctly. It amazes me, and I feel so small standing next to the stalks!

We had one of our hens (appropriately named "Fat Momma") who started getting broody about a week ago, and we have 9 fertile Khaki Campbell duck eggs under her. We are hoping for them to hatch out, as we have really grown to love the breed. I must admit, before we got our two females and our male, I did not particularly like ducks. They completely changed my perspective- Khakis are very sociable and easy to handle. They aren't flighty, and they get along well with our chickens. Needless to say, I hope these eggs hatch out, and I don't think we would have the heart to sell any of them

My husband and I are getting ready to cut beams for the roof, and we have money saved for our tin already. We've been slow in our progress, as we've had a few jobs to do with our family's pool-work business (it's Summer, so there is lots to do.) Once everything slows down in the winter, and the house gets close to being finished, we will be running the sawmill for income. The sawmill remains one of our best investments thus far!

Our art sales have slowed and not done so well, so we are going to reduce all of our prices at the next one and start over from scratch making nothing but walking sticks I do believe. They seem to sell better than anything, it seems. We've been blessed to sell a good deal of them, and even had a custom order a few months ago that turned out really nicely.

That's all I can really think to update so far, and thank you to those of you who happen to read, like, and comment here. It's such a joy to have people stop by the journal! May God bless you all, and take care!

 

[HomesteaderWife]

I haven't updated in awhile but here it goes....one simple thing I have to post about but it's a huge blessing.

Our hen had 9 duck eggs under her- she rejected 3 bad ones. I went out and was feeding her this morning when she sat up and I saw an egg that looked crushed under her. I lifted it up sadly and was about to count 4 when....peep peep....I turned it over and there was a beak!

By God's grace we actually had a successful hatch. Please pray with me for this little one to grow up strong, and that maybe the other 5 will hatch soon and be healthy too. Momma hen seems content with the little one under her, now out of the egg, so I really hope she keeps protecting and caring for it so well.

Such a great morning!