restoring the roost

North Carolina Country Living and Farmhouse Style

North Carolina Country Living and Farmhouse Style
since 2010

Homestead Basics: To Buy or DIY?

· Homesteading

There is so much out there on making DIY products–everything from cooking staples to beauty products to cleaning products.  While I love the notion of making so many homemade products and homegrown food that aren’t tainted with preservatives, additives, or chemicals, I’ve often wondered whether it is worth my time to simply purchase an organic, natural/wholesome version of the product instead of making my own.

For example, there is a local grain/flour mill that is probably 15 minutes away from where we live. Their products are organic and wholesome, and they make a sprouted spelt flour that you can purchase in 3 lb bags (only $3!) or buy in bulk 25 lb bags. Is it wiser for me to purchase the sprouted spelt flour from them or to try and make my own, having to invest the time, effort, and resources into milling my own grain, soaking, it, etc.?  Would you really be saving money when these days so often time is money?

The same is true for sweet potatoes in our region. North Carolina is one of nation’s top producers of sweet potatoes, and you can find them in the grocery stores for most of the year and when in season they are SUPER cheap. Should I invest the money in buying slips and the time in planting and harvesting sweet potatoes when I can get them local, organic, and inexpensively right here in my state?

I’ve made a list to sort of help myself figure out which things are worth making and which products it might be worth just to buy. Since my time is very precious (I’m usually busy raising 16-month old twins), it doesn’t make sense for me to DIY everything! 

Things to DIY:

– chicken and beef bone broth
– homegrown produce (except in the cases where it is cheaper to purchase a local and sustainably grown product)

– Household cleaners
– laundry detergent
– jams, jellies, pickles, sauces, and preserves

– butter, yogurt, buttermilk, and some cheeses from local dairy
– eggs from our chickens and guineas
– limited amount of meat from our chickens guineas
– dried herbs
– firewood

Things to Buy:

– flour, sugar, and other dry goods staples
– deodorant
– shampoo and conditioner
– beauty products
– local cheeses that are harder to make
– local milk and cream products (until we have a source of our own)
– local pork products (NC is a top pork product producer and we aren’t ready to get pigs just yet!)
– local grass-fed beef
– local poultry
– local seafood when available
– local honey (until we get our own honeybees!)
– local fruits when in season (until we have our own fruit trees and berry bushes)

So, what can you add to these lists? I’m sure there is lots more I can DIY that I’m not thinking about that isn’t too time-consuming!

NC Historic Sites: My Top Picks

· architectural history, Day Trip of the Month

North Carolina has so many wonderful historic sites open to the public. While it is difficult for me to narrow down my favorites, I have chosen my top picks that I think are well worth a visit if you happen to be in the Old North State!

1.  Biltmore Estate  (Asheville, NC)

You must visit this late 19th century grandiose one-of-a-kind mansion belong to the Vanderbilt family and designed by Richard Morris Hunt. Just go. It’s amazing! Between the house, gardens, grounds, vineyards, and breathtaking views all across the estate you will not be disappointed.

2. Old Salem (Winston-Salem, NC)

Discover the everyday life this early Moravian community in Colonial North Carolina. This early Moravian community settled the Wachovia tract in the mid eighteenth century near today’s Winston-Salem, NC and brought with them their customs, religion, architecture, and simple, beautiful decor. To learn more about Old Salem’s history, programming, and other offerings, visit www.oldsalem.org

3. Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum (Gibsonville, NC)
Explore the state’s rich African American history at the former Palmer Memorial Institute. Founded in 1902 By Charlotte Hawkins Brown, the institution educated thousands of African American students during the twentieth century. 

4. Island Farm (Manteo, NC)

This is one of my personal favorite living history site offering a look into what 19th century farm life was link in Manteo. It offers lots of hands-on activities and demonstrations, there are farm animals living on the property, and the authenticity of the place truly helps to bring the past to life. While you are in Manteo, be sure to visit Roanoke Island Festival Park too!

5. Somerset Plantation (Creswell, NC)

This mid-19th century rural plantation gives visitors an authentic look at 19th century farming on a large-scale plantation in eastern North Carolina. Learn about the Collins family and visit a full array of dwellings, outbuildings, and other structures that were necessary to operate such a property and produce cash crops for market. Visit http://nchistoricsites.org/somerset/ for more information.

6. Historic Lighthouses on the Outer Banks

These iconic structures of our state’s coast are so unique and if you are anywhere near the Outer Banks you must go and visit at least one of the lighthouses. Located all along the outer banks, each one is beautiful and most of them are open for tours.

A couple others of note are Tryon Palace and North Carolina’s Civil War Battlefields and related sites. I’m sure there are many more noteworthy sites I have forgotten to include on this list. What are your favorites??

Guineas!

· Homesteading

We got guineas!!! 

A few weekends back I made an impulse decision. I saw an ad on Craigslist for a trio of guinea fowl and I just couldn’t pass it up. We already had a pen that was ready and empty (former turkey pen), and guineas just sounded like fun to have. Plus, we are already getting EGGS from them!! Yay!

our guinea eggs

We think we have either two males and one female, or two females and one male. It can be difficult to tell the sex of guineas–most people say you can distinguish the gender from sounds they make. We plan to let them free-range in our yard and the surrounding woods once they have stayed in their pen long enough to know it is their home.

I just hope they don’t wander off or “go wild,” as some tend to do, and I worry about them going into the road eventually and getting hit We may need to breed them every year to keep our numbers up as I’ve heard they are sometimes easy prey.

As I was reading up more on guinea fowl, I also learned these cool things:

  • Guineas are incredible foragers and if allowed to free-range, will not eat much in feed.
  • Guineas serve as excellent pest control, eating ticks and other unwanted insects. You can turn them into your garden and they will eat the bugs and pests but not the garden crops.
  •  Guineas do not scratch as much as chickens do, and thus don’t tear up landscaping when free-ranging.
  • Guineas are great at sounding alarms when something is amiss or there is a predator. (Our guineas are actually not loud at all except when sounding an alarm!).
  •  Guineas make great meat birds. The meat is mild-tasting and they dress out at a nice weight compared to heritage chickens of the same age.
  •  Guineas are entertaining. I love watching large flocks of guineas run around together. They have such a strong flock instinct.

I was worried about them being loud, but so far they aren’t loud at all! Just sweet little chirping noises. So far the guineas have been nothing but delightful to have, and their eggs are delicious 🙂

slightly smaller than chicken eggs, guinea eggs have a more triangular shape

Those of you that have guineas, what advice do you have for me in my new adventure?

Giveaway Winner!

· Uncategorized

Congratulations to  DMiller, winner of a $50 Amazon gift card from www.dogfencediy.com!

Thank you for all the entered the giveaway.  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and stays warm!

When Predators Strike: Protecting Your Flock (and a Giveaway!)

· chickens

This past winter over the Holidays we suffered a tragic predator attack on our flock. A new neighbor’s dog who lives down the road escaped its pen and while on the loose attacked our chickens, killing half of our flock in a matter of minutes.

what’s left of our flock, plus another rooster

Our next door neighbor, thank goodness, was able to catch the dog (a purebred husky) with his belt before more damage was done. We were out of town at the time and had a friend stopping by to check on our chickens.

We had a temporary electric fence/netting enclosing a portion of our yard for the chickens, but apparently that wasn’t enough of a deterrent for this dog. What was left of our flock, only three hens and two roosters, were traumatized.  They stayed inside their tiny coop for days without coming out into the pen onto the ground. I was afraid the poor things would starve.

I’ll admit I was very angry. Of all the things, it was the irresponsibility of a dog owner that allowed this to happen. It wasn’t the first time that dog had gotten loose and I’m not above calling animal control or even shooting an animal to defend my livestock and my family (especially if my girls happened to be outside at the time).

I’ve worked long and hard to breed this flock of Dominiques, an endangered heritage breed, and to have it all destroyed so quickly is heartbreaking. Now I’m back to square one because of the hens that are left, two of them I wouldn’t of wanted to breed anyway due to breed standard defects. None of the hens have started laying again.

The family that owns the dog has offered to compensate us, but I’d rather they take some extra steps in reinforcing their pen so that this does not happen again. One thing that we are looking into is an electronic dog fence or wireless electric dog fence.

We would ask our neighbors to use this equipment on the dog’s collar if we see the dog out again so that the dog could be trained to stay off of our property, or, another option might be to get a livestock guard dog of our own and use the invisible fence and collar to train it instead. I like this particular system because the electric fence wires are buried underground, hence no need for actual fencing, and it be installed yourself (saving a lot of money!). They also have wireless options. If you live in an area where dogs tend to be a problem with your chickens but can’t afford or don’t want perimeter fencing, this may be the answer for you too.

The sponsors of this post have been kind enough to offer a giveaway for readers. To be entered into a drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card, please share on some form of social media your interest or thoughts on this invisible fence product, make sure to like the Restoring the Roost facebook page, then leave a comment here on the blog telling me you’ve done so. The winner will be randomly selected and announced in my next post. Good luck!

one of the surviving roosters

This spring we will be replenishing our flock with Dominique chicks from a few local breeders and hopefully next spring we can begin breeding our flock again. Do you have any tips of other successful ways to predator-proof your flock?