Pinching Pennies To Keep The Horses We Love

I keep five horses, well three horses, one pony and one donkey to be precise. I have kept horses non stop for fifteen years now. I love, love, love them. I see myself keeping horses the rest of my life. I am a true cowgirl at heart.
I have six close cowgirl friends that I ride with regularly. It's so much fun. My cabin is the club house for our ridding club "The chick posse" that's what I call us. We all tack up and take off from here, giddy up!!
We spend a lot of time talking about what we are doing to pinch pennies to keep our horses now that times are tough. The two most expensive regular expenditures are of course, feed, which includes hay, and hoof trims.
I taught myself, through reading books and working with the farrier how to properly trim and shoe a horse. I have been doing it myself now for thirteen or so years, with no problems. I can happily say I have never had even one problem. All my horses have perfect feet and don't need shoes, but even shoes are cheep when you do it yourself.
People around here are getting rid of horses like crazy. They can't afford to care for them. I would like to encourage people out there who are looking for a way to try and pinch pennies to keep their nice horses. I have made a DVD on how to do a simple balanced trim yourself when times are tough. That will cut way down on the cost of keeping a healthy useable horse or pony.
Some of my friends who I have taught only do it them selves when they "have to", when they have the money they call the farrier. Others do it them selves all the time. It's a really useful skill to have if you love to keep horses. I made my DVD "Be Your Own Farrier" so a person who never even thought about trimming them selves can go out and do a decent trim. The nice thing about owning a DVD is that you can watch it ten times and really get it in your head. That's what I do.
I know sometimes the thought of having to get a few tools when your already pinching pennies is scary, but people have given them to me, I have found them cheep at horsey yard sales and feed stores that were going out of business. Pluss you can always buy the cheapest ones just to get started. They will pay for them selves in four months. From then on out for years and years you will be saving, saving, saving. Then you can spend that money on feed and hay. I have only been paying for feed and hay for thirteen years now. No farrier bills. That's a big help!! Happy Homesteading Becky

Summer Garden Getting Improved

I don't want to use any chemical fertilizers or bug sprays in my garden, but that has caused a problem. I only get a very small amount of produce every year. Not nearly as much as I want and need. So, here I am limping along for the third year now with another small yield. I enjoy what I do get, but I definitely need to increase it.
Along comes Peter from Australia, nice, nice Peter, and he tells me about permaculture. What is permaculture I ask?? Permaculture embraces self reliance and self sufficiency in food production from your garden. That's right up my alley because my goal has always been to raise as much of my own food as I can.
OK, Step one, ( I like steps ) build healthy productive soil. I will be doing that through sheet mulching. I have always used mulch, but not nearly enough. I will be putting down 8 to 12 inches of mulch. WOW, that's a lot, but it's easy enough and my soil needs HELP! Things I will be layering as mulch are cardboard first, then dead leaves, boan meal, wood chips, pasture scraps,(dead) green scraps, (live) and straw. Water well after each layer.
Here is a list of benefits for using permaculture. Totally chemical free food and soil, YAY!! Uses less water. Produces more food in a smaller garden. ALL GOOD. I'm sold. Stay tuned. and I will let you know how it goes. Happy Homesteading Becky

Ponies After The Rain Storm

We had a big rain storm this afternoon, but afterward the sun came out and the ponies where enjoying the cool down.

Are You Enjoying The Summer???

It's good to take time off and enjoy what you have! Country life is good!! It's so much fun in the country in the summer. That's what it's all about. It's hard work to build a homestead-farm from the ground up, but I wouldn't change it fore anything. I have been riding my new horse with friends. I love to ride!! Watching my friends baby minnies. There is nothing cuter than a baby horse. The baby minnies are soo little and cute. I also went blueberry picking and picked 25 pounds YUM!
After a nice break it's back to work. I like to try and stay focused on what I want to accomplish on my farm. With so much going on I don't want to loose sight of my goal. My goal is to raise as much of my own food as I can. I will be trying something new to improve my garden yield. I am working on my dairy goat pens. It all goes slow, but bit by bit. I also need to put up some sheet rock in my cabin. All big jobs, but thankfully I can do it. I don't want to get ahead of myself so I don't start too many jobs. It can be overwhelming. We will be shooting some video soon so stay tuned. Happy Homesteading Becky

How To Choose A Log Cabin Kit

The number one question I get is, "What log cabin company did you use"?

That is a good question because building a log cabin kit is a huge investment. There is no one answer that fits all because things always change. We all live in different places. What works for one might not be a perfect fit for someone else.

That's why we are working on an e-book that contains everything I learned from researching and choosing my log cabin kit.

I hope my experience in going from total greenie to successful cabin builder will be helpful.

I was a suburban mother and housewife who wanted to move to the country and build my own house. My father was a builder and I had a strong desire to build my own home. I knew I would be the builder of whatever I chose, because my husband is not a builder, can't build.

In fact he looked me in the face and asked if I thought I could really do it because he won't be any help at all. I said I could because I was so determined. I wanted my farm and cabin. I feel blessed that he was willing to go along on the journey, but the work was up to me.

I did a years worth of research on the Internet, reading everything on log cabins before I chose my log cabin kit, now with my "How To Choose A Log Cabin" e-book I hope I can save you time, money, and stress if you want to build a log cabin too. The point is if I can do it you can too!!

Happy Homesteading!
-Becky

Becky's Farm TV: How To Milk A Goat

Becky visits her friend Kat's homestead, and Kat shows Becky how to milk a goat, then they go into the kitchen and make home made goat cheese from scratch.

#209

Master One Skill Befor You Move On To The Next One.

I have the care of my egg hens down really well! I get steady, good eggs from my hens with no problems. Now, I am ready to add dairy goats. I think it is important to master one skill before you move on to the next. especially if your looking for success. Nothing is worse than having two or three things going wrong at the same time. Every problem needs your attention, and being pulled in more than one direction is stressful. For me it's easy to get myself into that situation because I get so excited about my farm, but I have learned having success is so gratifying and much better than being impulsive. So for me it's one thing at a time when it comes to expanding my farm. Every new addition needs housing of course, but also tools for processing and so forth. I need to plan all that out to be able to financially afford my new project. Life on the farm is so good it's better than my dreams. Happy Homesteading Becky