suzanne Hegarty

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since Mar 31, 2023
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Recent posts by suzanne Hegarty

This might fall under building but that wasn't an option of what forum to put it under so I put it here. We built this back porch shed in the fall of 2021 both to have a place to house our rabbits and to have our chest freezers. It has also been a great place to start chicks because I really hate having them in the house. We used up about three quarters of the back porch for this shed and my husband came up with the blueprints after a lot of measuring. My son, my friend and I built it and my son put the roof on it. I really wanted to use 2x6's for the roof trusses but it wouldn't have worked that well and still have been able to be butted up underneath the house roof so we used 2x4's every 16 inches instead of 24 and a little over halfway down put up a support which doubles as frames for the rabbit cages and manure trays. There are also 2 inches by 1/2 crossmembers that go over the 2x4s for more support for the metal corigated roof. There is also storage underneath the rabbit cages.
It has held up to over a foot of snow on the roof with no cracking or bending and can witstand being walked on when my grandson goes up to shovel it.
Anyway that's just one project we completed. We also built our own chicken coop years ago but I'd have to go back and find photos for that.
2 years ago
Hi John,

For my osteoarthritis it's just been a combination of omega 3 gummies and constant movement. Even just getting up on the tractor I use a step and pull myself up. I've also shoveled a lot of snow this year too LOL. I haven't been as careful with my diet but I don't eat processed foods either so maybe that helps.
2 years ago
Thanks so much I really like this place there is a lot of information and a lot to learn here.
2 years ago
Greetings from the snowy mountains of Utah. My name is Suzanne but everyone calls me sue and l ive in the beautiful Ogden Valley with my husband, grandson, a very dear friend. All of my kids are grown but still close by. We moved up here over thirteen years ago to get away from city life and have loved every minute of it, even the rough times. I have been able to grow a huge garden which I improve every year and just this last year I was able to try tilling as we bought a tiller for our Sub compact Massey Fergeson tractor (I've never loved a piece of equipment more than my tractor and I can learn to drive almost anything). We have raised chickens  for years, mostly egg layers, but in the past few years we have raised meat birds and have no issue butchering them ourselves. We also raise rabbits and I have been taught how to butcher them but have not done it yet. If it were not for the sometimes harsh winters here I would like to move on to raising Kune Kune pigs for meat but with the land we have, there just wouldn't be a great place to over winter them.
  My friend that lives with us is a master herbalist and I have learned quite a bit myself, I use herbs for my lungs and different ailments but also make all of our own salves and tinctures including a healing salve and a cold and croup salve. We also make our own tinctures with either vodka or brandy and we make our own teas. I can my own produce from the garden and just this last fall I attended a canning reatreat put on by a master canner but along with that I freeze dry food also and we have four freezers with more than a whole cow. My husband is great at figuring out how to do many things and is one that likes to take on a task to the very end but do it the right way and we both have no problem with hard work. I am used to morning and evening chores both through the winter and summer and the best thing is that it keeps me moving, I have a hard time being cooped up in the house all winter or sitting still for very long.
  What I haven't said up to this point is that I have aspbergers which is on the autism spectrum, and that I am a 50% disabled veteran but neither thing slow me down a bit. It can make things a little challenging and interesting at times but I always figure it out. Plus I have to keep moving and even though I have osteoarthritis in my knees a combination of omega three and constant movement keeps me pain free. My husband has no physical challenges and is like the little train that could all of the time.
Right now, especially because of the record amount of snow we have gotten I am not able to get to my garden or any of those fun things but I have no shortage of inside projects and I still have to get up to the chicken coop, shovel snow and snowblow with my tractor. I do have my peppers started already along with onions and a handful of herbs, they do amazing on heat and rabbit manure water.

Thats pretty much it in a nutshell for now. Sorry about the long post
2 years ago