Study: Elderberry Cuts Duration of Colds and Flu in Half

Make sure your medicine cabinet is stocked with elderberry syrup this winter. Studies show it can totally eliminate cold and flu symptoms within 48 hours.

Several studies have confirmed the immune-boosting power of elderberries.

Studies from 2004 and 2009 demonstrated its ability to cut flu duration in half, and in many cases eliminate symptoms within 48 hours. A more recent 2016 study, shows the berry works similar magic on colds.

The 2004 study, published in the Journal of International Medical Research, showed that when elderberry extract is used within 48 hours of the onset of the influenza A or B virus, it shortens the duration of flu symptoms by an average of four days.

Patients received 15 ml of elderberry syrup four times a day for 5 days.

In a 2009 study, published in the Online Journal of Pharmacology, H1N1 and avian flu patients were given four 175-milligram doses of elderberry extract daily.

While a group of patients receiving a placebo showed no improvement or worsening symptoms, those who received the extract “showed significant improvement within 24 hours.”

Fever, headache, muscle ache and nasal congestion were significantly reduced within 24 hours.

“Within 48 hours of treatment, nearly 90% of the elderberry extract treated patients were either symptom free or had only mild symptoms,” the researchers wrote.

A 2016 study, published in Nutrients, showed elderberry can reduce the duration and symptoms of a cold in air travelers.

Travelers using this herb from 10 days before travel until four to five days after arriving overseas experienced on average a two-day shorter duration of their colds and also a significant reduction in cold symptoms.

Found at:

https://returntonow.net/2018/11/18/study-elderberry-cuts-duration-of-colds-and-flu-in-half/

You can grow Loofah sponges right in your own backyard!

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/AcmZNgngYJUic5zosQeR3W04kL7fgdXitJbs3ubzEpKVeXXTDFuRj4E/

The Beauty of Pollination

Watch this wonderful video on the beauty of pollination! 

https://www.ted.com/talks/louie_schwartzberg_the_hidden_beauty_of_pollination?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

Raising Pygmy Goats

Pygmy goats are kept for pets, show, milk, meat and even mohair. They are easy to keep and
only require fresh water, pygmy goat grain ration, and access to good quality hay or pasture.
The amount of grain for each pygmy goat varies and is dependant upon their age, current
weight or body condition, the climate, and whether or not they are in kid.

Although goats of all kinds are ‘easy keepers’ they do require clean living conditions, including their water and feed. Goats would rather starve or thirst than eat or drink soiled or spoiled food and water.

You’ll also want to ensure your pygmy goats get the required minerals from a salt block – this does not need to be moderated or rationed, they’ll use it when their bodies need it.
Many small homesteaders today are raising Pygmy goats for show and pets for the children in the family.

If you’re still not ‘sold’ on a standard size dairy or meat goat’s value (Nubian, Boer, etc.) to
your family or homestead, Pygmies are a nice introduction. You might also be interested in
some of the crossbred, novelty or dual purpose breeds.

Although a milk or mohair goat can be sold for meat, and meat and mohair goats can be
milked, no one breed meets the needs of farmers wanting the best of all three worlds. In the
past 20 years however, many new breeds are being created and marketed as dual purpose
breeds.

Registered Dwarf Breeds – Are dwarf goats with the small scale farmer or those wanting a goat as a pet in mind. Dwarf goats include the Nigerian Dwarf and the African Pygmy.
The Nigerian Dwarf – stands between 17-20 inches tall as an adult and weighs approximately 75 pounds. This goat easily produces one quart of milk per day (ample for a small family) and requires 1/3 the amount of space and feed that a full-size milk goat requires.

African Pygmy Goats – These are the goats you see at most petting zoos. They are small
(20-25 inches tall) and weigh around 50-60 pounds as adults. Their milk is higher in butterfat than any other goat (approximately 6%).

Keep in mind however, that goats are herd animals. You can’t buy just one or they will bleat
constantly and be terribly lonely and unhappy – to some extremes they will waste away or run away at all costs.

Small farm hands like to raise Pygmy goats because they are easy to handle, are affectionate
and lovable, not to mention playful!

Full grown does, bucks and wethers range from 16 to 23 inches at the withers and usually
weigh 40 to 70 pounds.

Pygmy goats usually birth 1-3 kids weighing in at 2-4 pounds each.

Pygmy Goat Colors

Agoutis are dark goats ranging from silver-grey to black, and have solid stockings darker
than the main body color.

Caramels are light colored goats ranging from white to light brown and have light vertical
stripes on the front of dark stockings.

Solid Blacks are, well solid black and are without stocking or white patches anywhere.
Blacks are also without stockings but may have a secondary color around eyes, ears, and
nose.

How to Raise Pygmy Goats

Myotonic or Fainting goats are wonderful pets they stay small do not require milking and
breed and kid easily.

Pygmy goats are cute and cuddly and provide many valuable services. For example, they
keep the vegetation on your property cut, they produce natural fertilizers that you can use for
your garden, and they also help control populations of fleas and ticks on your property.

Build your herd. Pygmy goats, like other goats, are herding animals. To preserve their mental
and physical health, you will need at least two pygmy goats for your herd.

2
Create a secure and safe enclosure. Pygmy goats are skilled at demolition, so use cattle
fencing to keep them in a specific area and keep out predators. Make sure you provide the
pygmy goats with enough space for play, from a half acre for two goats to several acres for
larger herds. Large dog houses provide great daytime shelter from wind and bad weather. A
barn stall is needed for night time and winter shelter.

3
Feed pygmy goats a well-balanced diet. During the spring and summer, your goats will get
most of their nourishment from grasses and brush. However, you will need to supplement
their diet with goat rations to ensure that they're getting all the minerals they need. When wild grasses and brush are not available, feed your goats sweet feed and goat rations.

4
Worm your pygmy goats every couple of months
Limit how often you breed the pygmy goats. While pygmy goats can give birth more
than once a year, it is not recommended to breed them more than once a year. You
will produce much healthier kids with a single pregnancy a year. Does should be about
18 months old before they are bred. If your does are having a hard time feeding their
kids, bottle-feed the babies when necessary.

5
Provide toys for your pygmy goats. Picnic tables are a great recreational item for goats.
The pygmies can climb on the table and even chew on it. Other toys include boulders,
balls and tires. Select items that are non-toxic and capable of withstanding abuse from
the goats.


Courtesy of Laura Childs

Making Soap and Dehydrating Fruit

Crafted some Lavender Goat's Milk soap with my harvested flowers! Do any of you make soaps or other crafts? I am also dehydrating some grapefruit to use in my homemade potpourri. Having a fun and relaxing 4th. of July week!

New Supplies for Homemade Products

Hi everyone! I have received a new batch of supplies for making my soaps and salves. I am also going to try my hand at lip balms this time as well.

I had to purchase a new scale along with beeswax, melt and pour soap, essential oils, Castile soap, Shea Butter and Vitamin E Capsules.

I also bought some new amber colored jars and lip balm tubes. I will get started and update soon with photos of how things turned out! 

Happy New Year to you All!

Small Batch Canning and Dehydrating

Well made a small batch of Black Raspberry Preserves, and dehydrated zucchini and yellow squash..filled a pint jar which when re-hydrated will yield 6 squash! Can't wait to make beef jerky and more veggies. Cooking down the apples for applesauce as well. Good day!

Making Relish and Getting Ready for Fall!

Made my first batch of Zucchini Relish! Starting with small batches to make it easier. Next I will be making Red or Black Raspberry Jam and some Pickled Spiced Plums to serve with Pork Roast or Beef. The Fall centerpiece here on the table was an idea from Pinterest..thought it was pretty cute and easy to make.

Dutch Oven Cooking Free Books

Here are just two of the many guides and books to dutch oven cooking for your campsite or homestead! Enjoy!

Camp Chief - Dutch Oven Cooking Guide
http://www.campchef.com/media/manuals/CastIronRecipeBook.pdf


Idaho State University - Dutch Oven Cookbook
http://www.isu.edu/outdoor/pdf/2012_cookbook.pdf

Growing Fruit Trees From Seeds

You can save big bucks growing peaches, apricots and nectarines from seeds. Growing fruit trees from seeds is remarkably easy on you and your wallet!

Most fruit trees are best grown from grafted trees that cost $25 to $35 each. But with peaches, nectarines and apricots, you can cut your cost to zero by growing fruit trees from seeds.

Because cross-pollination between varieties produces variable results, apples and some other fruit trees are usually not grown from seeds. (Instead, cuttings or buds of the best varieties are grafted onto rootstocks to produce trees that bear fruit just like the parent tree’s.) But the almondlike seeds in pits from peaches, nectarines and apricots do a good job of carrying on the desirable traits of their parents. You can simply sprout and grow a seed from a great-tasting specimen, and you have a good chance of sinking your teeth into sweet, juicy fruit from your own tree in only three to five years.

Summer is the best time for growing fruit trees, because you can seek out mid- or late-season varieties grown in your region. The best seeds come from fully ripe fruit. Avoid seeds from early maturing varieties because their seeds may not develop enough to sprout. Locally grown varieties are more likely to prosper in your garden compared to varieties grown a thousand miles away, and looking for likely candidates is tasty fun! Eat lots of peaches from farm stands and farmers markets, and save the pits from those that taste like peach heaven. And if you live where you can get local apricots and nectarines, you can try growing them from seeds too.

Cracking in Safely

Let the pits dry on your kitchen counter for a few days. Drying allows the seed inside the shell to shrink slightly so it’s easier to get out. The shell also becomes more brittle and easier to crack as it dries.

When the pits look and feel dry, you can crack them open to harvest the actual seeds, which look like almonds, a close botanical cousin. You can hold pits on edge and tap them with a hammer, which works well for a few pits but can cause high casualties in terms of accidentally smashed seeds (and fingers). You will lose far fewer seeds by cracking the pits with a vise, lodging both sides of the pit’s long seams between the opposing jaws. (See photo in the Image Gallery.) Crank the vise closed slowly — be careful for your fingers! — until the pit cracks.

If you don’t have a vise, try a nut cracker. Or you might get enough pit-cracking compression from another type of screw clamp, including the one that holds your food grinder, juicer or hand-cranked grain mill to your kitchen counter — you never know until you try! After you get the seeds out, put them in a closed container in your refrigerator or other place cool enough to store raw nuts.

Strategic Stratification

The time for vegetables and flowers to sprout from seeds to transplants is measured in days or weeks, but with peaches and most other temperate-zone tree fruits, the pregermination process adds two to three months to the timetable. Natural sprouting inhibitors present in the seeds must be deactivated by exposure to cool temperatures for a two- to three-month period. In nature, this chilling period occurs naturally as winter cold comes, fluctuates and invariably leads to spring. You can simply plant peach, apricot and nectarine seeds in pots and bury the pots in a corner of the garden. Seeds that are not discovered by marauding squirrels, curious dogs or other vagaries of the great outdoors will probably sprout in spring.

Continue reading here: http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/growing-fruit-trees-zmaz08jjzmcc.aspx

By Lee Reich 

Photo by William D. Adams

Making 50 Hour Soy Survival Candles

All you need are some half pint glass canning jars, a 5 lb. bag of soy wax, some wicks, aluminum foil and a #10 can.

Check out this wonderful site to get the tutorial!! Enjoy! http://happymoneysaver.com/happy-homesteading-making-50-hour-soy-survival-candles/

Chicken Tunnel to Build

Build your own chicken tunnel and create an effective and versatile way for your chickens to move around your homestead.

The purpose of a chicken tunnel is to provide a pathway for your chickens to navigate when they want to be out of their coop. A yard or a garden that has weeds or overgrowth is a great place for your chickens to find food. Another reason to build a custom chicken tunnel is to keep your chickens in confined area, but permit them to walk around.

Check out the story at:

http://homestead-and-survival.com/make-chicken-tunnel/

Transitions: Preparing the Farmer for Winter

I enjoy operating my Micro Dairy year round though I have to admit spring and fall are my favorite times of the year. I am not a fan of the extremes of winter or summer. I can get the most work done when the temperatures are moderate and, at 63 years old, I tend to hide from the high summer sun rather than bask in it. At least during the winter I can put more clothes on to stay warm outside. 

Winter certainly does present its own set of conditions that farmers in snow country must adjust to every fall. First, there is darkness; it is dark when I wake up and dark when I do my evening chores. Having good lighting inside the barns and out is very important. The flood light outside my barn has a motion detector so it turns on and lights up the barnyard when the cows or I go outside when it is dark. That is very helpful. I also recommend installing lighting in the sheds or other outbuildings where you work in the winter. But don’t feel the need to do everything all at once. Every fall I like to make one or two minor improvements to my Micro Dairy in preparation for the winter. 

Next there is the snow, and when it snows there is always plowing and shoveling. In the fall I try to make sure that the areas where I push the snow are open and clear. That means making sure that my firewood is stacked and all my machinery is out of the way. I take down temporary fencing next to the road and driveways. Plowing snow is non-productive at best so I do all I can to eliminate complications and or opportunities to damage my tractor or other pieces of equipment.

I have to admit that sometimes the thought of the coming winter in Vermont can be a little daunting, especially if you operate your Micro Dairy alone, as I do. Back when my wife and I had a larger farm and milked 70 Jersey cows, our kids were younger and chore time was a family affair. Everyone pitched in. But now it is just me, trudging up to the barn in the snow and cold every morning and night. Since I am neither a hero nor a martyr, this winter I decided to lighten my load and sell two of my four cows. I kept one bred heifer and one milking cow so I would have milk to feed a beefer calf I am raising. Doing that essentially cut my chore time in half and reduced the hay and grain I will feed out this winter by 50 percent.

Milking cows twice a day can get tiresome, especially when you also have a day job. It is important to remember that having a small farm or a Micro Dairy allows you the flexibility to sell a few, or, even all of your cows and take a break for a season or two. If you have a larger herd you can sell your milkers and keep your calves and heifers and get back into it slowly when they begin to come into milk. The choice is yours. There is no dishonor in taking a little break.

I believe the keys to Milking cows twice a day can get tiresome, especially when you also have a day job. It is important to remember that having a small farm or a Micro Dairy allows you the flexibility to sell a few, or, even all of your cows and take a break for a season or two. If you have a larger herd you can sell your milkers and keep your calves and heifers and get back into it slowly when they begin to come into milk. The choice is yours. There is no dishonor in taking a little break.

I believe the keys to preparing for the upcoming winter of a Micro Dairy in regions that get cold, snowy and dark at 4 p.m. are first to make small improvements to your facility that will make it easier, quicker and more efficient to operate. Make a list of any small annoyances from the previous winter that you can correct. And then look for opportunities to reduce your workload wherever and however possible. Selling two cows and putting lights in the shed adjacent to my barn has made a huge difference for me this winter. Owning and managing a Micro Dairy is a matter of choice. Don’t allow yourself to get stuck in drudgery. Keep making small improvements to your farm and routines and soon the warm spring winds will once again blow and the grass on south facing slopes will begin to green up. In the meantime, button up!



Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/blogs/homesteading-and-livestock.aspx#ixzz3MBSMWGM1

Hatching Eggs in the Wintertime

It's inevitable — every single year I get the urge to hatch chicks or ducklings, and every single time I decide to hatch them during the coldest months of the year. My logic is simple and honest — if I hatch in the Fall or Winter, then they will be laying by the time Spring and Summer come. But hatching during cold and unpredictable months can be a set up for heartache and failure. Between varying temperature's indoors, the threat of loosing power during a snow storm, and having to keep chicks indoors until they are fully feathered - it's a mess, to say the least.

Never-the-less, I always end up outweighing the pro's to the con's, and the hatching begins in October and normally ends in March — only to start back up again in the Spring and Summer. It's never ending. My most recent hatch was just this fall, when I welcomed a new and ancient breed to our homestead — Icelandic Chickens.

Over the past two seasons I've learned quite a bit through trial and error, and ultimately, hatching through the Winter isn't as scary as it once used to be. Here are some things you'll need to consider and prepare for when taking on this commitment during the harsh Winter months.

Being Prepared for the Electric to Fail Your Incubator

More likely than not, if you're living in a Central or Northern state, you'll receive at least one significant snowfall during the year. In Virginia, the temperature and weather are so unpredictable that I need to be on guard at all times. This means I need to find a few easy ways to keep my incubator warm, if I'm not using a miraculously broody hen indoors.

Having an alternate heat source in your home is certainly a bonus. Using a kerosene heater, wood stove, or hooking up a space heater to a generator will help keep your incubator warm when placing it near the heat source. We heat strictly by wood stove, therefore, I am able to place the incubator near the wood stove and adjust the heat with distance. Humidity, of course, is also something you should constantly be aware of. A dry heat source will quickly wick away the water in your moisture wells. Placing a wet sponge into your incubator helps hold moisture longer.

If having an alternate heat source isn't an option for you, then you can easily wrap your incubator with multiple towels or a blanket and close all of the vents in order to keep the humidity and heat locked inside for a short amount of time until the electric comes back on. Eggs should stay warm this way in your incubator without an alternative heat source for about 2-3 hours, depending on your indoor heat condition. With no guarantee that your power will return within a couple of hours, another easy hack is placing stones in the bottom of your incubator (before the power goes out), as they hold heat inside for a longer amount of time, which is even helpful on a regular basis for when turning your eggs manually.

Some other ways to keep your incubator warm without an alternate heat source — if you have a gas fireplace or oven, you can warm up water and other things on or in it. Warm up water or rice, and place hot water bottles or warm bags of rice inside of the incubator, replacing as needed. Most of all, do not open the lid unless completely necessary to do these things.

No matter what route you choose to keep heat inside of the incubator, you'll need to ensure that you are measuring heat and humidity at all times. I use this digital reptile hygrometer and thermometer meter.

Keeping Hatchlings Indoors

I'm extremely fortunate to have a basement. This means that the smell of chicks isn't nearly as bad as it could be. The wood stove is located downstairs as well, so when the electric goes out, they remain warm and comfortable. Being near the wood stove in the Winter allows me the freedom not to use a heat lamp indoors. Heat lamps are dangerous enough in coops, and I highly discourage them. But they are even more dangerous inside of your own home if not secured properly.

Whether you choose an indoor or outdoor brooder, a heat source that doesn't run off of electric is necessary, unless you have a generator. Once again, a wood stove or kerosene heater may be the best option for you, or other safe DIY heating options that you can create yourself such as the above bags of rice and hot water bottles. These work excellent for chicks as well, as they can lay on or beside them to keep warm.

You more than likely understand how to set up a brooder, but if not, there are plenty of wonderful articles on this website that can help you set your brooder up. In the Winter months, it's a bit different, as they will be indoors longer if you don't have an outdoor brooder set up with a heat source. We choose to keep our chicks indoors until they are completely, or almost completely, feathered. They then go outside into their own "mini-coop" with a regular watt light bulb so that it takes the bitter chill off. We've also used an outdoor brooder with chicks that weren't fully feathered. It is a small and completely enclosed dog house that has been re-purposed into a small coop. It houses a very secure heat lamp with a thick layer of hardware cloth between the bottom, where the chicks are housed, and the top of the coop. This gives us peace of mind, knowing that it can not be accessed by little chickens playing around.

While the chicks are indoors, it's important to change their bedding regularly. For the first few days, I simply add pine shavings over top of their regular pine shaving bedding. But once they reach a week or so old, their feces become much more pronounced. You will need to remove and add new bedding to the brooder daily or every other day. Make sure the bedding is never wet from them knocking water bowls over. If it is, remove and replace immediately. Leaving soiled bedding in a brooder can harbor E-coli, Coccidiosis, and other diseases that can be detrimental to your growing flock, and even to yourself.

Hatching and keeping chicks and other poultry or waterfowl in the Wintertime can be nerve wracking, but it can also be extremely rewarding. Your bond with your new hatchlings can be stronger, simply because of the fact that you are forced to tend to them much more often. Come Spring, there will be several happy pullets preparing to lay their very first eggs, and the satisfaction from them will far outweigh the work you put into them during those bitter months. Ultimately, it is safer to hatch chicks during the warmer months, but if you're hopeful for Spring layers, and you are completely prepared for whatever may come your way, Wintertime hatching may just be the perfect fit for you!

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/hatching-eggs-in-the-wintertime-zbcz1412.aspx#ixzz3MAArGBxy

How to Build a Rabbit House With a Worm Compost Bin

If you have rabbits, you have manure to manage. Whether for pets or meat, rabbits produce a lot of manure for their size. An adult rabbit will create about 50 lbs. of manure per year. Rabbit manure is nutrient-rich, especially in nitrogen, and is a dry pellet that is safe to put directly into gardens or feed to worms. Raising rabbits and worms can easily go hand-in-hand with beneficial results. Building a rabbit hutch with a worm-composting bin is an excellent way to manage the manure, create a garden-soil additive and even raise worms for sale.

http://www.ehow.com/how_7640280_build-house-worm-compost-bin.html

Pressure Canning Basics: Fearless Food Preservation

This is a great article about pressure canning. If you have never tried it, don't be intimidated by it. You will be surprised how simple and fun it can be! Give it a try for this canning season, you'll be glad you did.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/pressure-canning-zm0z13jjzrob.aspx?newsletter=1&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=RF%20eNews&utm_campaign=04.28.14%20RFSR&utm_content=A#axzz3CZztZIqo

Planting Onions

Perennial bunching onions, plant once and you have onions for years after.

Green onions to the cook, scallions at the super market, Welsh onions in England, ciboule in France, or bunching onions in most books, they all refer to Allium fistulosum, a very distinctive member of the onion family. Bunching onions form perennial evergreen clumps up to 1 ft (0.3 m) in diameter and about 2 ft (0.6 m) tall. The leaves are hollow and tube-like, inflated their entire length. The bulbs are elongate and not much thicker than the stem. After a cold spell, bunching onions send up hollow stalks topped with little greenish flowers in round umbels (clusters with all the flower stems arising from the same point), that are 1-3 in (2.5-7.6 cm) in diameter.

Location
The bunching onion was developed in Asia from a wild relative, possibly Allium altaicum, which occurs in NW China and neighboring Kazakhstan. It was brought to Europe in the 17th century.

Culture
Bunching onions are fast growing and very easy to grow. They are the perfect vegetable for the young "seedling" gardener.

Light: Does best in full sun, but quite well in partial shade, too.

Moisture: Regular garden watering for best growth, especially in the summer, but bunching onions can tolerate drought.

Hardiness: USDA Zones 6 - 9. This is a perennial and one of the few vegetables that can be harvested all year long. Bunching onions are grown as annuals in colder climates.

Propagation: Bunching onions can be grown from seeds, but once you have them established, all you have to do is divide them to make more plants. When you need some green onions, use a trowel to loosen the soil around a clump, lift the clump, take out what you need, and put the rest back in the ground. If you want to start another clump, just reset one of the individual side shoots in its new location. Plant it deep, so more of the lower stem will be blanched. I've had the same clone of bunching onions in my vegetable garden now for more than 8 years. They've been moved around a lot, but they keep on producing!

What to Expect the First Year with New Chickens

Chickens change the most during the first year of life. They start out as adorable little fluff balls requiring constant care and monitoring. Within just 5 weeks they are ready to make the transition to "outside" (the coop that will become their full-time home) and a fairly self-sufficient life.

At 3-6 weeks old, they become mangy and diseased-looking as their fuzzy covering begins to shed and is slowly replaced with mature feathers. Their wattles and combs grow and turn a deeper red. Cockerels (young roosters) make their first attempt at crowing. At 20-25 weeks old, pullets (young hens) lay their first eggs, which will be small and weak-shelled. Over time they will lay more frequently, the eggs will become larger and the shells harder. By 6 months, the pecking order, which governs who gets to pick on who, will be established and combs and wattles will be fully formed. What a busy six months this will be!

Growing Tomatoes Indoors

  With the right light, you can grow tomatoes indoors all through the winter.

Via: http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/winter-tomatoes-zmaz04onzsel.aspx#axzz39GS9OGf7

By David Cavagnaro  October/November 2004

Homesteading Anywhere

Building raised beds works well for your homesteading needs in the garden. Check these out! Enjoy

Cinder block raised bed Cattle pen trellis.

plus.google.com by Ben Cichanowicz

raised, divided herb beds
http://www.artandappetite.com