Carla Burke

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since Oct 29, 2013
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Biography
A Christian & devoted Patriot, wife, soap maker, herbalist, formerly a homeschooler, baker, truck driver, and more. I was born in the South, but actually grew up around the Great Lakes. Both of my childhood families had big, lush gardens,& preserved everything they could for the winter. I carried that into my own life. But, change happens and for over a decade, it just wasn't an option. Now, retired in the Ozarks, on 29 heavily wooded acres of mostly ravines, our best crops are nearly inaccessible wild blackberries, rocks, wild herbs, and ticks. We're utilizing our burgeoning small-livestock collection, straw bales, raised beds, and containers to build soil, and a better, healthier life for ourselves and our beloved critters, who provide us with eggs, meat, milk, fiber, honey, beeswax, fertilizer, tick control, brush control, 'lawn' mowing, loads of entertainment, and even help turn the compost.
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Recent posts by Carla Burke

My last time in a private plane was in December of '23. Our friend flew me in his (itty bitty, 2 seater) plane to visit my family cemetery plot.
11 hours ago
I don' wanna!😫
17 hours ago
November 2019 - our last vacation, we went on a cruise. Then, we got more livestock than just chickens, and our trips are driving, individual, usually for family stuff or buying/ selling livestock, and no more than 3 or 4 days.
17 hours ago
Saffron crocus. Beautiful little purple flowers, tasty little spice!
1 day ago
Unless a critter comes to me already named, I usually let them tell me their name by way of personality traits/ behaviors. We had guinea pigs for several years, that we brought home a a bonded pair. One was fearless, adventurous, inquisitive, and always investigating something, earning her the name Nellie Bligh, after the very famous, daring, brave investigative journalist. Her buddy, however, was easily startled and would instantly 'freeze' at the slightest noise, shadow, sudden motion, etc. She froze so instantly John decided she was rock-like, and named her Rocksy.

My little girl cavalier is Charlie - because she is such a little 'Dickens'. Bailey, or Irish Wolfhound has always been incredibly strong - much like Irish whiskey, but SO much sweeter! The youngest of our dogs, also a cavalier, and I waffles on her name, for a while, between Minxy & Vixen. But, she was my Christmas gift from John, and came home in December, so I settled on Vixin (because while she's definitely a little vixen, she's also uniquely and aggressively affectionate, so she needed some uniqueness in her name, too).

We name livestock the same way.
2 days ago
I use big jugs, instead of buckets, for hauling water, because with the combination of our rough terrain and my wobbly joints, I'd end up spilling too much, even using my hardest working winter tool. But, I do use buckets for taking warm food out to the critters. But, in winter, my sled is our most used tool. It gets put to work hauling feed bags, hay, water jugs, & buckets of warm food to the critters, plus bringing groceries down the hill (from where we have to park the car, when it snows) to the house, hauling firewood to the house, hauling other tools around to wherever they're needed, in the moment. In the summer, this role is filled by my canvas-sided folding wagon, and the wagon is the one tool that gets put to use more than the sled, because it also helps me haul all of my fiber and crafting stuff to and from the car, at the convention, as well as browsing the flea markets, and more.
3 days ago
My husband is really mad at the fact that I have no sense of direction. So I packed up my stuff and right!
3 days ago
I only know 25 letters of the alphabet. I don't know y.
3 days ago
Son: What do a tick and the Eiffel Tower have in common?

Mom: They're both Paris sites.
3 days ago
I bake mine on the lowest setting, or put them in the dehydrator to discourage fruit flies, while the shells accumulate a bit. Then I crush them, and some go into the garden like that, to discourage critters that don't like them, and some go back out to my chickens, like that. The majority gets crushed/ ground into powder, and is part of the raw dog food I make every 6 - 8 weeks, and some of the powdered gets mixed into my potting soil.
3 days ago