Timothy Norton

I had eggs benedict with pulled pork once and it was delightful.

For my current setup, I say that raising laying hens and building soil organic matter have been my most fruitful endeavors.

I have a semi-consistent supply of eggs that feed myself, my local family and work family. Tending chickens is a pleasurable endeavor that I imagine I will continue to do for years to come.

Compost/Biochar/Chop and Drop are my second best. I enjoy helping things rot. What a strange thing to say!

I was inspired by a recent Youtube video from the Farm Hand's Companion discussing Figuring Out the Things Your Homestead Can Do Best.

In summary, the video discusses looking at the things you accomplish on the homestead and narrowing down to two or three enterprises that you do best.

For example, raising hogs and milling lumber could be some of the main things that someone enjoys both during the process and with the finished products the processes create.

What things do you consider to be your favorite endeavors on your homestead? You may not sell the product, but bonus points if it created a stream of income for you.

Joceyln, earlier in the thread, brings up a good point I just want to re-emphasis a bit more.

Hydration is really important. Depending on the amount of area that is sunburn, that whole burn area is essentially wicking moisture out of your body. Keeping hydrated and maintaining your electrolytes is important to keep in mind. Your body is trying to heal and making sure it has what it needs helps speed up the recovery process.

Depending on the scale of your growing spaces, free water can be gathered by just leaving out a bucket/open container outside to collect rainwater. Rain is generally plenty during my growing season but I have a few placed containers to capture rainfall. If needed, I can dunk a small bucket into these sources to bring the water to the nearby plants.

I'm proud to say this season that I did not turn on the hose bib once, I either let the rain do the work or I hand watered from these sources. It takes a little bit more time, but it is pleasurable work.

Kate, how does the initial few filters in the series look? I am wondering if you may be pulling a lot of minerals/sediment from the creek at times which may be gumming up the works. Without putting eyes on the system myself, I'm kind of spit balling but I wonder if a pre-benchtop system sediment filter might help you out. You would have to change it out from time to time, more often than your series of filters, but it would allow them not to be overwhelmed as fast.

Not many pre-made filter systems can handle raw water, they are designed for municipal or wells which tend to pre-filter the big clogging stuff. The pre-made systems utilize a lot of micro-pore filtration which is what I'm assuming is causing you issues.

I'm a fan of Ham and Navy Bean Soup. I grew up eating it at my grandparent's house when I was young on regular occasion after holidays. Good times.

Ross Fischer wrote: What happens if you don't do it?

I can only speak from my experience, but I had a couple older dogs in the past that would exhibit signs of paw pain if their nails were too long. My assumption is the pressure from the nail hitting the ground first instead of the paw pad might create discomfort if they are arthritic.

I'm guilty of not trimming my dogs nails as much as I should. Something I need to get into a better schedule of doing. My understanding is that (roughly) a month between trimmings is standard. I think this also depends on your dog's activity level and where they have been.

My little dachshund is much more active than my plott hound and she doesn't start 'tapping' on the wood floors as soon as the hound.