Morning Chores, Junk Stores and other Stuff
12/10/06 -The Lord's Day - After Breakfast. This morning we had fried grits, farm-fresh eggs, bacon and hash browns. We still haven't been able to get the pig into the butcher, so I let him out every morning to free-range. Pigs are smart and have interesting personalities. I have also moved Pita (our Longhorn that is 1/4 Watusi) down to the corral so I can give her some more intensive training. She is weaned now, and she is kind of like a pet dog. She runs up to me every morning for a treat, and if I have hold of her halter she leads perfectly. I also have trained her by voice command, but she still needs work... mainly on WHOA. She is a big heifer, and she gets bigger every day. Her horns are already about 3 inches long. I really think she will be ready to pull very soon. We started training her to have something on her back the other day. I would hold her halter while Mihai would put Robert up on her back. At first she didn't like it and tried to run out from underneath him, but once she realized that we weren't going to quit, she walked around fairly calmly. We will continue to work with her and I will keep you updated on her progress. I pray that (if the Lord wills) one day you will see a picture of me riding Pita on this blog, along with pictures of her being used for work on the farm.
Our morning generally goes like this... at around 5 a.m. Danielle rolls out of bed to start breakfast. Right now we are not milking in the a.m. so no one has to get up to milk. Generally I get up sometime between when Danielle gets up and about 5:30. I start to go through my email, and sometimes will begin writing my blog entries for the day, or if I have some article or post to write, I'll write that. The fellas are usually up around this time to let out the chickens, and they have to start a fire in the fire chimney for heating water for the chickens and for making coffee. Breakfast is usually at 7 a.m. and then the fellas head up to the top pasture to take the other calves off of their cows and tie them off where they can eat separated from their mothers (henceforth the word "dam" and not "mother", since "mother" is incorrect). We take the calves off of the dams so that the cows can be milked at about 3:30-4pm each day. After breakfast the children clear the table and begin to clean up and do the dishes. Danielle goes to her chores, and I either a) work on the computer, or b) head out to start on whatever project we are working on. This Lord's Day the fellas had to take the turkey off of the smoker where it smoked all night and get it ready for Danielle to put it in the propane oven for a couple of hours. This is usually a good time for me to finish any blog posts, or address any emails that will take more time. On the Lord's Day we try to have the chores finished by 10 a.m. which is time for group singing fellowship.
The last couple of weeks we have been visiting some area "antique" and "junk" shops. I have found that, for the most part, "antique" shops are junk shops that are kept neater and where things are more expensive. It is shocking to see the price disparities between a "junk" shop and an "antique" store, and even between different antique stores. I found a carpenter's brace at one junk store for $15. They had several that were in very good shape. Notice at Lehman's a good one cost $89, and this is for one of superior quality. So I bought the $15 brace and at the next store we went to, they had one that was almost identical for $65! Danielle found Sarah a pair of tiny mud boots for $4. She saw the identical pair (one size larger) in another store for $35. At junk stores you can find Dietz oil lanterns for between $8 and $13.00 and you don't have to pay shipping; just make sure that they don't leak or aren't broken. You can buy ones with broken globes for just a few dollars, then you can buy replacement globes at Lehman's. Junk stores are good places to find "off-grid" or non-electric items and tools that may be way too expensive to order new. However, that is not always the case. Some things that people buy just because they are "old" (like enamel ware) are actually cheaper to buy new. One junk store had several old laundry rinse tubs for well over $100 and they were old and rusted and trashy. You can buy brand new ones for $119. It is impossible to find an old butter churn that is affordable, and if you do find one it is usually cracked or otherwise unusable. Better to buy a new one. The prices on butter churns at "antique" stores are so ridiculous that you could buy a new one at Lehman's (or elsewhere), use it for a couple of years, then sell it for probably what you paid for it. People don't pay this huge money for a butter churn so they can churn butter. They want to put it on a shelf somewhere and look at it!?!
Oh, I highly recommend that you look into using olive oil lanterns for heat and light. I bought some olive oil elements and wicks and I am very, very impressed. The most impressive thing is that included in the instructions is a statement on other things you can use for wicks that you have around the house (like yarn), and you can easily make the elements yourself once you see how they are made and the purpose behind the design. I could make these with paper clips. Anyway, we bought a bunch of old fancy jelly jars for 25 cents each and you make your own olive oil lamps out of them. They burn very little oil, the wicks are basically free if you start to make your own, and they burn pure and scent free without any toxic byproduct. That is hard to beat. Now these will not provide enough light for you to read by, but several of them will light up a room enough for you to have some pleasant conversation and get around. For those of us who are off-grid and predominantly non-electric, this is a very good thing. The best thing about this is that we did have kerosene lamps in the motorhome for the children, which made us very nervous. If a kerosene lamp falls and breaks, you have an instant "molotov cocktail" fire on your hands. If the olive oil candles tip over or fall, the flame goes out. Here is another option... floating wicks for olive oil. We use these too and they are great. The cost works out to about .03 apiece and you can float 3 of these in a jam jar or large glass container or bowl, thereby providing more heat and light.
Anyway, I didn't intend this to turn into a lighting advice column, my point was that many things you can buy cheaper new and get a better item.
I am still working on a new donation system. Until then I can only accept donations via snail mail:
M. Bunker
1251 CR 132
Santa Anna, Tx. 76878
More later...
Michael Bunker
Our morning generally goes like this... at around 5 a.m. Danielle rolls out of bed to start breakfast. Right now we are not milking in the a.m. so no one has to get up to milk. Generally I get up sometime between when Danielle gets up and about 5:30. I start to go through my email, and sometimes will begin writing my blog entries for the day, or if I have some article or post to write, I'll write that. The fellas are usually up around this time to let out the chickens, and they have to start a fire in the fire chimney for heating water for the chickens and for making coffee. Breakfast is usually at 7 a.m. and then the fellas head up to the top pasture to take the other calves off of their cows and tie them off where they can eat separated from their mothers (henceforth the word "dam" and not "mother", since "mother" is incorrect). We take the calves off of the dams so that the cows can be milked at about 3:30-4pm each day. After breakfast the children clear the table and begin to clean up and do the dishes. Danielle goes to her chores, and I either a) work on the computer, or b) head out to start on whatever project we are working on. This Lord's Day the fellas had to take the turkey off of the smoker where it smoked all night and get it ready for Danielle to put it in the propane oven for a couple of hours. This is usually a good time for me to finish any blog posts, or address any emails that will take more time. On the Lord's Day we try to have the chores finished by 10 a.m. which is time for group singing fellowship.
The last couple of weeks we have been visiting some area "antique" and "junk" shops. I have found that, for the most part, "antique" shops are junk shops that are kept neater and where things are more expensive. It is shocking to see the price disparities between a "junk" shop and an "antique" store, and even between different antique stores. I found a carpenter's brace at one junk store for $15. They had several that were in very good shape. Notice at Lehman's a good one cost $89, and this is for one of superior quality. So I bought the $15 brace and at the next store we went to, they had one that was almost identical for $65! Danielle found Sarah a pair of tiny mud boots for $4. She saw the identical pair (one size larger) in another store for $35. At junk stores you can find Dietz oil lanterns for between $8 and $13.00 and you don't have to pay shipping; just make sure that they don't leak or aren't broken. You can buy ones with broken globes for just a few dollars, then you can buy replacement globes at Lehman's. Junk stores are good places to find "off-grid" or non-electric items and tools that may be way too expensive to order new. However, that is not always the case. Some things that people buy just because they are "old" (like enamel ware) are actually cheaper to buy new. One junk store had several old laundry rinse tubs for well over $100 and they were old and rusted and trashy. You can buy brand new ones for $119. It is impossible to find an old butter churn that is affordable, and if you do find one it is usually cracked or otherwise unusable. Better to buy a new one. The prices on butter churns at "antique" stores are so ridiculous that you could buy a new one at Lehman's (or elsewhere), use it for a couple of years, then sell it for probably what you paid for it. People don't pay this huge money for a butter churn so they can churn butter. They want to put it on a shelf somewhere and look at it!?!
Oh, I highly recommend that you look into using olive oil lanterns for heat and light. I bought some olive oil elements and wicks and I am very, very impressed. The most impressive thing is that included in the instructions is a statement on other things you can use for wicks that you have around the house (like yarn), and you can easily make the elements yourself once you see how they are made and the purpose behind the design. I could make these with paper clips. Anyway, we bought a bunch of old fancy jelly jars for 25 cents each and you make your own olive oil lamps out of them. They burn very little oil, the wicks are basically free if you start to make your own, and they burn pure and scent free without any toxic byproduct. That is hard to beat. Now these will not provide enough light for you to read by, but several of them will light up a room enough for you to have some pleasant conversation and get around. For those of us who are off-grid and predominantly non-electric, this is a very good thing. The best thing about this is that we did have kerosene lamps in the motorhome for the children, which made us very nervous. If a kerosene lamp falls and breaks, you have an instant "molotov cocktail" fire on your hands. If the olive oil candles tip over or fall, the flame goes out. Here is another option... floating wicks for olive oil. We use these too and they are great. The cost works out to about .03 apiece and you can float 3 of these in a jam jar or large glass container or bowl, thereby providing more heat and light.
Anyway, I didn't intend this to turn into a lighting advice column, my point was that many things you can buy cheaper new and get a better item.
I am still working on a new donation system. Until then I can only accept donations via snail mail:
M. Bunker
1251 CR 132
Santa Anna, Tx. 76878
More later...
Michael Bunker
posted by Michael Bunker at 12/10/2006 05:41:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home