November First on the Homestead The kitchen is cool, almost cold in the morning now. November first dawned in the 20°s, feeling more like December. Sourdough bread spent the night in its first rise in the coldest corner of the kitchen. Poke poke poke. I dumped the flattening dough from…
Harvesting a black bear It was a long bear season. I spent 60 hours at two sites, in a tree stand and two ground blinds. Steve spent at least that much time baiting; he did the majority of the work while I literally sat on my butt most of the…
Catching Up Oh my goodness did September ever get away from me. I feel like nothing got done even though I’m on the move from the time I get out of bed until I fall back in, worn out but excited for the next day. Hunting seasons are all-consuming. Most…
Deer Blowing It was a good day to be seated in a mini chair behind the pile of trees I use as a ground blind. After sitting in the rain at two sites on Wednesday my boots were soaking wet, and I’d forgotten to dry them in the sun and…
Tree Stand Life Bear hunting isn’t going well. Remember when I had so many bears coming to the barrel? Except for one bear, they are gone. Blackberries are abundant but starting to dwindle as they ripen and fall off, are picked by people, and eaten by the bears and other…
How to Make a Bear Bait Barrel Making a bear bait barrel isn’t difficult. I’m using an old plastic barrel the girls had for barrel racing their horses and pony. Steve cut a hole in it with the chainsaw. The size of the hole isn’t particularly important to me. I’ve…
Bears! So many bears! There are so many bears on Bait 2 this year that it’s a little overwhelming. We have more bears at that site already this year than three sites combined in 2015. I name and study the bears for the same reason I name the livestock we…
Bear Hunting Season 2016 Bear hunting season, my favorite of all the seasons we use to put meat on the table, has started. This isn’t going to become a hunting blog anymore than it’s solely a gardening blog, fishing blog or foraging blog. Hunting is one of the first methods…
Turkey Hunting Takes Patience Turkey hunting takes patience. I can’t stress that enough. All hunting out here in the woods, where wild game is scarce compared to other states, takes patience. Winters have been hard on the local rafters and the numbers are down. We’re not hunting for them here…
What do homesteaders do? “What do homesteaders do?” That question was asked of me many times last Friday and Saturday. I can’t speak for all homesteaders but here’s a list of what we do here on our 45 acres as well as on other land and on the water. Homestead…