20 Cheap Tricks Around the Farmstead

By Stephanie Dayle

Here is a list of some top tricks that have saved me money and time around the farmstead. Most of these have become second nature to me so I had kind of a hard time thinking of them. Some of them are so farm kid 101 that I just assume everyone knows this stuff, but if it helps someone out its worth it. Do you know of another one that should be on here? Add it to the comments below to help others out! 

 

Make your own chicken waters and feeders. Simple poultry waters and feeders can be made for under $10 using repurposed materials. They work just as good as store bought ones at a fraction of the cost. Click here to for an article on how to make traditional waterers and feeders. Click here for and article on how to make nipple waterers.

Compost manure, garden waste, and yard clippings to add back in your garden later. It's cheap and more organic than fertilizer. Click here for an article on how get your own compost started.

                          

Install a drip irrigation system for your garden and fruit patches. It will pay for itself in one season and as a bonus it can be used in conjunction with rain barrels for off-grid watering. Click here for an article on how to do it! 


Toothpaste works great for cleaning horse bits or anything made of stainless steel around the barn.

Photo Credit: 1001pallets.com

Pallets are forever handy. A lot of lumber stores, give away used wooden pallets. Grab a couple and keep them on hand, they can be used in chicken runs during bad weather to give the birds an option to get out of the mud. They also work well keep hay off the moist ground, holding garden equipment and can be reposed into so many things.

Use wood burning pellets to soak up minor annoying puddles in or around the barn or the farmyard. The pellets expand and soon you will have a small pile of sawdust to sweep up instead of an annoying puddle or wet spot.

 

Those cheap laundry buckets you can buy at Walmart or Bi-Mart, are really Muck Buckets in disguise. Use them to clean out stalls or chicken coops, as stools to stand on, or put them in a stall or pen as an extra large water bucket. You have to refill these once for every 3 or 4 times you’d have to refill buckets. When they go on sale at Bi-Mart I can get them for $5 each.

Keep a used horse shoe or two that’s in ok shape after a farrier visit – throw it in in your barn, you may use it as an emergency replacement shoe one day. Even completely worn out horse shoes have many uses.

Keep a small stash of bailing twine around at all times for tying things up in a pinch.

 

Wood burning pellets can be used as inexpensive bedding. For poultry and other animals. They are more effective than pine shavings at absorbing moisture and keeping odor down, WAY easier to compost, they are considerably less expensive than shavings. Again turning into saw dust as they absorb moisture for easy clean up. Wood burning pellets are also cost less than the 'special wood pellets' made for animal bedding. You can, in fact, find 'pine only' burning pellets (see above picture) but a mix of hardwood and pine is ok too. Per EPA regulations there is no additives or glues in wood burning pellets. Click here to read an article on using pellets for bedding.

There are a few types of hardwood that should be avoided for use with animals but those woods are not commonly used in wood burning pellets. The concern I commonly hear about oak is a result of waste wood from furniture building. Oak used for furniture making is commonly treated with ammonia to enhance its appearance and prolong it's life. Oak treated in this way should not be used as animal bedding however, ammonia treated oak cannot be used to make wood burning pellets, so it is a non-issue.

You can open a hay bale with another loose piece of bailing twine: run one end under the twine on the bale (assuming you are dealing with bailing twine here and not metal straps or wire) grab the other in your other hand – saw back and forth briskly – the friction created will quickly create heat and burn/melt through the strap with a satisfying 'pop'. Simply repeat on the second piece of twine.

If you have to store a stock trailer outside park it on wood before the winter so it doesn’t freeze to the ground and so that it doesn’t sink in the mud and become stuck come spring time. This practice will also prolong the life of your tires.

 

To fight flies, and wasps around the barn, use simple homemade fly traps. Cut a plastic 2 liter bottle in half, flip the top upside down and insert back into the bottom half. Fill with a cup of fly attractant solution. Try diluting some cat food in water, old buttermilk, or some rotten meat in water as an attractant (do not use sugar or you will catch honey bees). Flies get in but they can't get out and drown.
It's important to get these traps set out in the spring as they need some time to ferment to work effectively, the worse they smell the better they work. Using organic attractant means if one of the traps breaks and falls (and the chickens eat all the dead flies - which they will) no harm will come to your chickens or any other animal that may get into the nasty smelling fly trap.

Olive oil from bulk buy stores (like Costco) works great for oiling and conditioning leather products, and is considerably cheaper than the chemical filled products you find at tack stores.

Get your work boots re-soled after you’ve worn them out – it costs a fraction of the price of new boots and will last you another couple years.

White vinegar can be used for a deep cleaning of moldy leather products. It will kill all mold spores. Vinegar will also remove buildup and stickiness on leather.

Listerine in a spray bottle is an all-in-one liquid cleanser use on horse bits or dirty hands, as a disinfectant or as a brace/liniment, it also works as a tail rubbing solution for horses.

Use old stock tanks that no longer hold water as chick brooders. They don't have to hold water for this purpose and they have steep tall walls - perfect for hatchling chicks


Knock sparrow nests down by spaying them with a tight steam of water from the hose – although keep in mind, if they are allowed to nest in areas that aren’t a fire hazard they are a great fly control system.

Pick up an old wool blanket – the thicker the better, from your local Goodwill store for a great livestock 'cooler'.' These blankets will soak up sweat after a heavy work out, during an illness, and they work great for wrapping baby goats, calves, and foals in. They work better than fleece and will keep livestock warm even when damp.

Again if you have some ideas of your own - add them to the comments section below! Hope these ideas help someone out there - they sure help me.

Click here for recommended homesteading products from The Home Front

What NOT to Prep – 3 Common Misconceptions

By Stephanie Dayle via - The American Preppers Network

That’s right, I said “what NOT to prep.”  If you have made the decision to start preparing, you are experiencing information overload.  When I first started to prepare, I was told and read so much advice on what to prep I came to the conclusion that I should just prep everything!  Well yes, and no.

Questioning the information that you read about prepping on the internet - even my information, is a good thing! Incomplete or in accurate information distracts people who are new to the concept of prepping from focusing on what will save their lives, doing your own research helps fill the gaps of these information holes.  Therefore I always in encourage people to do their own research.

These are some common items I have chose NOT to prep after learning some skills, doing a lot of reading and some testing - you may choose to do differently and that is your right, however this is what I have decided to do and why. I will add more things in future articles.  Always base your preps on common sense, think things through, ask yourself; how will this work in a stressful situation where you will not have the luxury of time?

Three Things  I do NOT Prep.

A Year’s Supply of Toilet Paper:  Although it is nice to have, millions of people live perfectly clean (some may even argue cleaner) and sanitary lives without it by simply using water and soap to clean themselves. Therefore I don't see it as must, I see TP as a luxury item. I wouldn't even stock it for a barter item because I don't believe in prepping barter items.  Stocking TP is bulky (even if you remove the cardboard and vacuum pack it), and not everyone has the room for a year’s supply.  I keep only three months supply of TP on hand for that reason, food and water is more important (I'm sorry it just is).  If something bad happens and we use it up, we will switch to our plan B.  Any “plan B” needs to be time effective.  It is not time effective to pulp the fiber and make toilet paper, chances are you will have far too many other things to do in a prolonged ‘grid down’ situation to even consider doing that. Have a "plan B" that you can quickly implement.

Our “plan B” is taking squares of fabric that are cut from worn-out clothing approximately 4.5 inches by 4.5 inches and leaving a stack near the latrine. You clean up with the fabric, then deposit the used fabric in a #10 can filled with a strong bleach/water solution (not so strong as to eat the fabric but strong enough to kill anything on the fabric). Keep the can sitting near the latrine and cover it with a lid.

Next time you do laundry, you empty the whole can of bleach, water and fabric directly in with the hot soapy water, with your whites, then wash, rinse, hang dry and you’re done.  This process is not so different from the use of the cloth diapers that EVERY child used wear before the invention of modern disposable diapers. It is not unsanitary and does not put anyone at undue risk of disease as long as standard cleanliness procedures are followed (aka - hand washing).  If it grosses you out and you don't like the thought of it - that's fine but don't tell me that its putting you at risk for anything....

Soap Making Supplies:  Making soap takes a lot of time and resources. The oils and fats used to make soap, by their very nature, do not store well. I consider myself lucky to get a year or more out of them even when stored in ideal conditions. Granted you can make soap out of semi-rancid fat, but there comes a time when it is so rancid that you can't. In a long term emergency those fats and oils may be better used in cooking or as food than being made into soap. Then there is the fuel it takes to make it. Even cold pressed soap requires fuel for a stove or fire to melt and render fat. In a prolonged emergency you will want to have a ready supply of soap on hand to use that you don’t have to make.

Same goes with laundry soap and dish soap. Stock up on the store bought stuff (click here--> for Five Great Soaps to Prep) it has no known shelf life, and is still fairly cheap. It’s very easy to purchase a year supply or more of soap. If you want to make your own laundry soap to save money right now - it's a great thing to do for your family and budget, but you may want to consider having some pre-made stuff prepped for emergencies.

At the farmstead I grow two large gardens, my own fruit, raise my own meat, preserve my own food, cook from scratch, clean and do laundry - and I barely have enough time to get that all done right now with no emergency. I guarantee you, during an emergency - we will not have time to make soap. After things settle down and we all adjust to a new "normal" then we may have some extra time.

If you want to learn how to make soap as a hobby it’s a worthwhile skill to learn and you can stock up on homemade soap just like you would store bought soap as long as the soap is not highly ‘super fatted’  (also known as a 'lye discount').  Being able to make soap from the materials you have available to you will be an invaluable skill.  We will always need soap.  In this case keep some lye on hand, it has many other uses and having some will be much easier, and consume less resources, than making your own lye.

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Gold and Silver for Emergency Preparedness: Now, before the flaming begins, let me explain.  In short-term emergency situations like Hurricane Katrina where we had a temporarily failed micro economy ; did people run around buying and selling with gold and silver? No they didn’t. But, if you had a tank of gas, you could get almost anything you wanted, bottled water became very valuable and clean dry clothing were a big deal.  In a prolonged emergency situation where the grid is down and people are going without food, it's true the dollar may collapse, but people aren’t going to want a gold coin, they are going to want FOOD.

Food, fuel, and possibly ammunition or medicine via barter will become the new system of currency not Gold or Silver.  Precious metals are investments, and should be treated as such.  They are a way to diversify your money and guard against inflation.  If you already have a year of food and supplies stored for your whole family and you are debt free and you have a plan B bug out location ready, then consider investing in Gold and Silver.  Focus on the basics: water, food, and first aid, in that order.  Then do some real research about investing in Gold or Silver and see if it’s the right choice for your family.  Keep in mind the US Government once confiscated it during the depression and don’t listen to those who tell you “…it will never happen again” because it can always “happen again.”  Part of prepping is being prepared for even things that seem unlikely.

Just as a personal note here: I do not apologize for the things I have written. If this article has made you mad - then it has also made you THINK. I win either way and I am not the least bit sorry. I stand behind my work. This doesn't make me "better" than anyone - it just makes me confident enough to say it - that's all. 

The Truth About Dairy Bashing

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I have seen a lot of milk bashing online lately. People and silly little facebook info graphics going on about how milk is unhealthy, all the cows are mistreated, all cows are full of anti-biotics, chemicals and that cows are 'bad' for the environment.  They say it's all 'big food' and processed.....

So here is a reality check. 
Do you know who benefits from Dairy Industry bashing? Stick with me here and I will walk you through this. The number one dairy replacement in the US and globally is..... (drum roll please) SOY. So let's follow the money shall we? Because if you want to find out who is really behind something you have to follow the money honey. 

Do you know how much soy it takes to produce soy milk? Let me help you out - its ALOT. Now, who could possibly benefit from a substantial rise in soy demand?? Hmmm...... why Monsanto (and the other mega seed companies) would, that's who! 

Almost all Soy Milk on the market unless otherwise marked as 'organic' is from GMO soy. Rice Milk, you ask? GMO rice milk and products are coming to a store near you in 2014. Rice grown in the USA and China is already subjected to mutation breeding - what's that? One step below GMO if you ask me. Click here and read about Mutagenic Seed. And there flat out just isn't enough almonds, coconuts or oats being produced to fill the gap on a national scale, so don't even go there.

That being said, riddle me this:
How are GMO crops better for the environment than cows? How is RoundUp Ready Soy milk and products more healthy for people than milk? Is the RoundUp and other chemicals they dump on the crop fields, because they can with the GMO technology BETTER for the environment and our health than cow manure which can be composted and otherwise reused?? Shoot if you want to you can even harvest the methane gas coming off the manure and use it for cooking and all kinds of things. Can you say anything like that about RoundUp and chemicals? Nope.

Cows use too much water you say?
And growing GMO soy doesn't use any water at all huh? Wrong. If you are farmer and shooting for a yield of about 85 bushels you are going to want around 19 INCHES of water on that soy (source). Soy prefers a temperate climate so if you grow it somewhere where it's warm and dry you will have to irrigate that almost completely.

When dairies are located in temperate climates, which are ideal for dairy cows, the water use is negligible. When dairies are located out in the middle of the desert YES they use a lot more water. That's why I say "Happy Cows do NOT come from California, really dang hot and miserable cows out in the dang desert come from California. Dairy cows like to be cool, they do not do well in extreme heat at all, that is why Wisconsin, Michigan, and Washington. PLEASE NOTE: While I understand there are many other responsible and temperate dairy locations in California, I have to say the ones out in the desert are not very responsible and a lot of our nations milk comes from them.

It's also VERY important to understand that not all dairy companies are run poorly like what is commonly described in those silly memes and graphics. There are PLENTY of dairies, even large ones, which treat their cows like loved pets, and have very high quality standards which do not allow for massive antibiotic use. There will always be some companies that have bad practices - but don't let uninformed internet graphics convince you that it is the standard. It is not the standard. It is the exception. 

Photo Credit: Joseph Tylczak

Consolidation (Big Farm) 
It is true that the dairy industry is consolidating but not because the "evil big dairy companies" are maliciously buying the smaller ones up, it's because no one wants to be a dairy farmer anymore! It's too much work! It's too dirty! Cows smell! Farmer's children have no interest at all in coming home from college to run the family dairy.  We are nation of nearly helpless babies without our technology, and our own laziness is going to bring us down.  The demand for dairy products has not decreased so since their is less small dairy farms someone has to pick up the slack. This is not a conspiracy, its math! 

Which dairy companies have high standards?
Try Darigold products, there are others also. Tilamook is another good company with high dairy standards.  Darigold is a cooperative of Dairy Farmers based out of the Northwest headquartered out of Seattle. So the farmers are owners too. They have  exceedingly high standards, test their milk constantly, have strict limits and rules on what medication can be used on the cows, AND they have no problem booting someone out of the cooperative if their milk isn't up to par (I have seen this happen myself. A neighbor of ours lost his membership to Darigold because his milk wasn't testing clean enough and the antibiotic levels were too high. As a result he joined up almost immediately with a different company that had lower standards - I cannot name them in this article but let me say this -- when it comes to milk, cheaper is not always best.  If you really want to know email me).  

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To be a Darigold dairy producer your cows have a full time dietitian - that's right, a dietitian.  I can't even afford to see a dietitian but I am glad the cows that make my milk do. Happy cows make good milk, and cows that eat only the best, produce the best milk. In my never humble opinion Darigold milk and products are one step below organic, the only way you could do better is to buy pasture fed organic. 

I start my morning out everyday with a glass of raw milk (better than anything that is pasteurized).  Raw milk is not dangerous or poisonous and contains a lot of good stuff that is killed and removed in the pasteurization process. I believe everyone over the age of two should be drinking raw milk every day, we'd all have healthier guts and less allergies, but that's just my opinion.

Always Question What you Share
Dairy farmers in general are self reliant, God fearing, hard working people, the only reason why they aren't online defending themselves is because they are too dang busy running their dairies. So when you see misinformation like that on the internet from now on - ALWAYS question "who benefits from this message?" And stop following that page or blog, they don't know what they talking about and merely pushing an agenda that is NOT helping anyone.

The "food conspiracy" propaganda is full of misinformation, and untruths and people accept it as fact and spread it around because it's easy to believe. No one is saying that there aren't problems with our nations food supply, but what these conspiracies present is not always the truth. To fix things decisions need to be made on facts and real world experience NOT conspiracy theories and food marketing propaganda.

I don't have all the answers - but I do know one good step is to start growing and producing your own food.

Not On the Band Wagon

I don't jump on band wagons, I just don't. They are usually driven by people with somewhat good intentions, but are followed by alot of people who don't know any real depth about the subject and were swooned by a few key points. The band wagon is maintained and fueled by those who make money off of the gullible, partially educated, but very intense followers. So I let them pass and make my own way. 

Oh, but I am not talking about you right? Or am I? You decide.

Case in point - I didn't jump on the 'demonizing commercial farms' band wagon.  Why?

• There aren't enough small 'local' farms in the country to feed everyone, let alone meet all of our export requirements (because remember we are the bread basket of the world, this isn't just a saying - millions would go hungry if it wasn't for our cheap wheat and corn). As of right now, those farms are necessary to feed us and hundreds of other countries. This isn't "propaganda" - its math. 
• Not all commercial farms are as bad as the movie Food Inc, it's lovely Facebook page (and the other half million anti 'big food' pages it has spawned) portrays them to be.  Animals in most farms are very well treated and cared for, there will ALWAYS be exceptions, but the exceptions are not the norm - regardless of how much PETA and the Humane Society would like you to believe that it is the norm. They are the few. With a little research and asking around in the industry you can figure out which companies work with good farms, which ones do not, and which companies have high standards.
• You have to ask yourself, honestly, why is commercial food the way it is today? And take responsibility. 

Our food is mass produced the way it is today because we (the American public) have asked for it with our dollar.

The American public wants CHEAP food. Even WE preppers want cheap food. How many times are food prices, deals, and coupons talked about on blogs, prepping sites and Facebook a day???? The American public also wants SAFE food. They want food that they can buy out of the freezer section - take home (make a few stops, pick up kids, you know) set the food on the counter, get stuff put away, then get around to putting the food in the freezer, where it is re-froze, THEN GET IT OUT another day, thaw it, cook it, eat it AND....(this is where it gets good).... NOT GET SICK. That's important - when people get sick - there is a public out cry (the "evil" food companies aren't being clean enough!!). That's right, place the blame on someone else. I raise my own meat, and I would never do that crap with our meat - I'd get sick.

The economy sucks, everyone is on a budget and everyone wants the best deal that they can afford. Historically when faced with the option of a healthier non-GMO, organic, heirloom product or a cheap product of dubious origins the american people have chosen time and time again - the cheap stuff. We want our food, we want it fast, and cheap. We don't want to have to cook it, we don't want to have to grow it, we don't want it to make us sick and we don't want to actually have to do any "work" to get it.

Thus we have the system we have today - and instead of taking responsibility for it, and correcting it -- by starting with ourselves we BLAME. Blame the food industry, blame the government, blame GMOs and the companies that sell them, blame commercial farms, bad bad bad. Instead of taking our food into our own hands we cry out to the government (the same one that helped us get into this mess) to protect us! With more regulations! More rules! Labeling laws! Etc etc etc....

It. Will. Never. Work.

If the American public asks for better food, safer food, and more healthy food with their dollar, the market will respond (this is how capitalism and free markets work - no one wants to be selling the product everyone hates, therefore they will start selling what everyone wants to buy). It will not be an instant fix, but over the years will the market will respond without *any* new laws. Look at high fructose corn syrup and MSG. Everyday I am seeing more and more products without those ingredients. This is because people don't want them any more, and the market is responding. And lets not forget, the best option - the I hear about the least,  is and has always been for you to grow your own food and not depend on new laws, markets or others for your food and health.

I know lots of farmers, they are honest, hard working, self reliant, and down to earth people. I have spent time on chicken farms, dairy farms and wheat farms.  I have seen why decisions are made. I have seen the issue from both sides. THIS is why i am not on that particular band wagon. 

Stay tuned to see what other band wagons I pass on.