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DAILY CARTOON click to enlarge Cartoon by Andertoons

"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less."  ~C. S. Lewis

My Old Village - Leon Zernitsky

"Anyone who succeeds without some measure of failure first is either not trying very hard, or lying about it.

     Farming, gardening, homesteading, or crofting—all have their times of failure.  Weather, bad advice, or disease can all play a part.  Hasty and ill-thought decisions are equally culpable...

     Despite the many failures and disappointments, when one can settle in to the homestead, get things slowly in order, and fight year after year with the weeds, the rodents and the insects with some hope of winning, it is all worth it.  The disappointments fade; new ones will come along... Learn from your mistakes; the reward for facing failure is knowledge and success."

Keeping the Homestead Dream Alive

What to do When the Bluebird of Happiness Poops on Your Head

By Sheri Dixon

"There are a few, a lucky few, folks who were born on the family farm, grew up on the family farm, learned how to run the family farm, and have no doubt about where they will live and what they will do—they will continue the family farm. 

     For the rest of us, the road to our Homestead is not usually so direct.  Fraught with detours, dead ends, and missing road signs, sometimes it takes years to get there, and once there, sometimes, like the dream where you think you are at the bottom, but you just keep falling, our final destination remains elusive."

Living with Poison Oak

By Wade Truex

"I was eager to explore every inch of the property, and our first weekend after unpacking seemed like the perfect time.  I took a machete and my trusty cowboy hat and starting chopping my way to blissful forested beauty.

     Now, the realtor had mentioned Poison Oak, and the next door neighbor down the hill had mentioned Poison Oak, but my passion for the land and my 'forest euphoria' had prevented me from remembering about my extreme allergy to this evil and, dare I say, useless weed.  I have always been drawn to the woods, and spent the bulk of my childhood covered with calamine lotion, baking soda, Noxzema, Aveeno, and all the familiar lotions, potions, and goos that you can imagine."

By Gay Ingram

"The part of the plant chiefly used medicinally is the flower-heads.  Both single and double flowers are used in medicine but the single, wild Chamomile appear to be more powerful.  The English Chamomile is the double form.  English flower-heads are considered the most valuable for distillation of the oil.  A simple way to make chamomile oil, according to the Egyptians, is to take fresh flowers (one ounce) and beat them up with pure olive oil.  Steep the flowers in the oil for twenty-four hours or more, then strain.  Extracts of the plant or the oil itself have three primary uses: as anti-inflammatories for various afflictions of the skin and mucous membranes; as antispasmodics for treating ailments like indigestion and menstrual cramps; and as anti-infective for numerous minor illnesses. "

Raising Rabbits

Like Pulling Food Out of a Hat

By Regina Anneler

"Everyone has a few memories of Elmer Fudd out hunting 'wabbits' during rabbit season.  If you raise your own rabbits you never need to worry about when that season is.  Many of us dream and work toward a more self sufficient lifestyle, preferring to raise our own food and provide a healthier, more natural diet for our families.  Raising rabbits can also be a true family project, as they are small and so easy to care for that they can even be maintained by young children.  If you’re interested in providing a healthier meat source for your family than you can normally get at your local grocer, then this article will definitely be of interest to you.  Rabbit is one of the meats highest in protein content; it is delicious and nutritious and it is also one of the easiest and least expensive types of livestock to raise and process."

Guinea Fowl

By Victoria Varga

"These unusual birds are quite interesting in that their increasing role on the farm has taken on many purposes in today’s diversified livestock community.  In addition to egg-laying and breeding stock production, one of the foremost uses for these animals today is for pest and rodent control.   Guinea fowl, both male and female, are particularly adept at rooting out vermin such as mice and rats, and are even known to chase down and kill snakes.  As well as keeping pests out of their environment, Guinea Fowl have been incredibly successful at ridding forested properties/farms of many types of bugs, particularly the deadly Deer Tick, which can carry Lyme Disease resulting in paralysis and death amongst other forms of livestock."

How to do a Genuinely Hafast Job of Surveying Your Own Land

By Neil Shelton

"Disclaimer: Warning! Danger! Peligro!  If you are a licensed, professional land-surveyor, reading this article may be a threat to your health and well-being as it contains enough estimates, approximations and out-and-out guesses as to risk inducing headaches, vomiting and/or hypertension in individuals trained in the exacting science of Civil Engineering.  

     If, on the other hand, you are a typical homesteader, you may find that this article, if used judiciously, may give you the ability to measure your land and locate your boundaries to a vague, kinda-sorta accuracy without costing you one red cent."

"The word 'simply' would seem to describe traditional homestead construction perfectly.  At the same time, it is completely inadequate.  There’s an intriguing mix of simplicity and sophistication, pragmatism and elegance—not to mention downright hard work—in these old structures.  

     That the early craftsmen could look out on a wild landscape and see their way to building a complete house from the materials at hand, with a collection of hand tools, is compelling.  The craftsmanship was superb and it endures, still serving its basic purpose for the modern occupants generations later."

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