Memories of Where The Red Fern Grows

Daisy decided to emulate Coco while I was writing so I decided since I don’t have pictures of him, she’ll illustrate today’s story.

I thought I’d share about a dog today that unfortunately I don’t think we ever took pictures of.

In Tahlequah right now, they have the Red Fern Festival going. I don’t know if I’m going to make it into town this year to be able to go.

That said, it was the film Where the Red Fern Grows that had kick-started my love of hounds. I was about 6 years old the first time I saw that movie.
By the time I was 7 years old, I was determined that I was going to own a redbone. My parents knew a redbone was really not a good match for me. I had just lost a dog when I was 7, and my parents told me that if I wanted a hound, they would get me a beagle. At that point in time, I didn’t realize what wonderful dogs beagles are and held fast in my desire for a coonhound.

My Dad decided that he was going to pick up a dog for me at the Fayetteville Animal Shelter on his way back to Mexico. At the shelter, he spotted a little red hound pup that the worker assured him was a beagle cross and would not get bigger than 40 lbs.

So, puppy came home with dad, and my siblings and I named him Coco. Not because of the hot chocolate, but because where we grew up, that word meant a lump on the head. If you don’t know, Coonhounds tend to have a bump on the back of their head. Yup, he was not a beagle mix.

He was also not going to remain at 40 pounds full-grown.  Coco grew to be around 80-85 lbs. Hindsight being 20/20 I have to agree with my parents that we were not a good fit for a coonhound.  That said,  Coco was the coolest,  and  the  orneriest dog I think we’ve had. 
That dog fished! Not only did he fish, but he retrieved the fish back to you that he dived to catch. That was  the  cool part.

The ornery side of him dug Volkswagen sized caves under my mother’s laundry line whereupon Mom would suddenly disappear in a cloud of dust when the ceiling of the cave collapsed while she was hanging laundry. Mom and Coco didn’t like each other…..for some strange reason.

At one point,  I  concluded he was too much dog for a 7 year old  little girl and  gave him to my older brother.  They adored each other. Don’t get me wrong.  I  fiercely loved Coco, but I felt like I was too little to manage all his energy.

Sadly, like I said at the beginning of this little write up, I  don’t think we ever took pictures of Coco. I don’t think my parents had  been raised taking pictures of their pets. Only family members. So it’s a miracle that we had pictures of any of my childhood pets.
That would account for why you see so many pictures of animals appearing on my Facebook page. I learned that sometimes pictures and memories are all that remain over the  years of your pets, and unfortunately, they don’t live as long as we do.

Unfortunately,  much like Old Dan and Little Ann, Coco had a sad ending.  There was  a Pepsi truck driver who really wanted that dog, and  he  kept trying to buy him from my brother. My brother absolutely wouldn’t sell him. So, one day when my brother had the dog walking in town on a leash  on the sidewalk,  the Pepsi truck driver drove up. He saw the dog and spoke to my brother about buying him again.  He got another refusal and ran Coco over with his truck. He then proceeded to chase my brother home, threatening to run him over as well. 
Coco died about the time my brother and father got there from our house.

Dad took my brother to the Pepsi company to tell them what happened,  but unfortunately because we were living in Mexico at the time,  the company wouldn’t do anything about their worker, and we didn’t have the legal rights to sue them over the  death of our dog and the terrorizing of a young boy.

I have to admit that it certainly left me with a grudge against the Pepsi company and to this day, I  won’t touch their products.

That said,  I have a life long love of hounds, and  after Coco my family got our first beagle who caused me to fall in love with beagles in particular.  I did learn through owning Coco that Coonhounds really should have homes that can give them lots of  exercise and mental stimulation. The lack of those two things were the root of what we chalked up as him being ornery.

If you read Where the  Red Fern Grows,  and think you want a coonhound,  please really do your research.  Like myself,  unless you lead an incredibly active lifestyle,  and  have a lot of patience,  chances are,  you would be better suited with  a beagle like Daisy.

Until next time,

Emily

Life after surgery with a puppy

One of the major worries I have had when I  found out I needed major abdominal surgery was, “What about Daisy?” She’s only 8 months old,  and is in the  rootin’, tootin’ cavortin’, snortin’ puppy stage. The chaos canine stage.

Not an ideal time for 8 weeks off training.  So, what do I do? Well,  thankfully,  I have wonderful family,  and friends plus some amazing contacts. There are several people willing to take turns walking her. Chewy.com has been a lifesaver with bones. A friend lent me a plethora of dog puzzles.

The key is that a busy puppy is a happy puppy. I  absolutely cannot strain my abdomen.  But I  don’t have to between trick training,  and  dog puzzles.  She has learned to use a wobble board in the  last few days, and  she figured out three different types of dogs puzzles.  Currently she’s conquered level four puzzles.  She’s brilliant! Daisy on the level four puzzle

But that wasn’t new. By the time she was 15 weeks old, little girl tracked down a deer that was shot, and  then lost in the woods. No one else could find it.  Daisy did in 15 minutes.

After I heal, we will be doing some scent work classes, and hopefully competing in agility and scent work. 

Random share, but this is something else she’s missing while I heal. Daisy having fun with milking before my surgery

Hopefully we will be back to adventures by the beginning of June.

Until next time,

Emily

A New Page

Hi all,

I decided since we are no longer doing Homesteadingedu, and Facebook rolled out Meta Ai which I hate, I would share posts here on this blog about my horse Captain and my dog Daisy.

So a little introduction is probably necessary and I completely understand if you decide to no longer follow this blog now that I am sharing about my horse and dog adventures here.

Without further ado, an introduction to who these animals are.

Captain is GK Strengthandhonor,  and he is an American Quarter Horse who was born in Oklahoma in 2016. I bought him in utero as my dream horse after 21 years in the saddle on other horses.

In 2018, we faced an awful fight for his life due to a brain eating potozoa called EPM. A lot of people thought he should be destroyed.  He wasn’t giving up so neither was I.

He was finally cured in 2020, but was left with neurological damage that made it questionable whether he would ever be safe as a riding horse. I had a terrible accident on him that required surgery on me to fix damages in 2020.

I chose to send him out to  Shoops horse training in Inola Oklahoma while I recovered. They were successful at helping him become a trust worthy mount. In 2023, we placed 5th in the  5D with Sooner Barrel Racing Association.

This year is  a year of  learning,  and  healing. He still has a lot to learn,  and I just had major abdominal surgery. So it will be June before we are allowed to ride again.

McLaughlin’s Darling Daisy was born in August of 2023. She came home on October 16th, just 6 days after my dear Pixie passed suddenly of kidney failure.  Daisy has been a tremendous blessing to me,  and we are currently working towards our Canine Good Citizen, and  our trick dog novice.  After I’m healed from surgery,  we will be taking a Star Puppy class, and  I  will  blog about that.

I decided to blog about the adventures Captain and Daisy and myself have because I had been using Instagram and Facebook to share their journeys. Instagram became very toxic,  and then Facebook rolled out AI with no way to  opt out.

So, blogging it will be. I hope you all enjoy hearing about our dog and horse training journeys.

Until next time,

Emily

Daisy,  the beagle

Captain running barrels this past year.

Doing a little training with Daisy,  and a nice side picture of her.  WordPress changed how to insert pictures so bear with me while I re figure out formatting.

A Deadly Treat

Hey all,

The herd/flock at the time of this story

Sorry for the delay in getting rolling on blogging again. Unfortunately, after my last post, I had to have surgery. Something that has been weighing very heavily on my mind, even though we are now in the winter, is the topic of box elder.

The reason why box elder has been on my mind so much is because we had a horrible incident with it this last spring because we didn’t know any better. This past spring, we had to cut a bunch of branches off of a box elder tree near the house.

Now, we have a tradition when we cut branches on the farm. Usually, all cut branches get thrown over the fence to the animals. We learned a very hard lesson that day.
We threw box elder branches with leaves and seeds over the fence, and two of our goats started to compete for who could eat the most of it.

By morning, our best la mancha doe was dead, and our other milker was very ill. We learned the hard way that box elder is one of the lethal plants for any herbivore to get into.
We had fed it to every animal on the farm that was an herbivore. Thankfully, most of them had the sense not to eat it, choosing to go hungry instead.

When we discovered the dead doe, I called our veterinarian in a panic because the other doe was severely ill, and I knew that all the animals had been fed this plant. The vet told me that unfortunately, there is no antidote for box elder poisoning. They will live, or they will die, and you can’t do much about it. We spent most of the day agonizing over who else would we lose over the mistake.

Thankfully, as I said, we ended up losing only one doe. Our best milker.
The moral of the story is always double check that any trimmings you are about to feed livestock are not poisonous for the animals. It could very well save lives.

This little girl sadly only got to live to be two because of the mistake we made.

Until next time,
Emily

End of an Era

Hey all,

I just started taking down a few of the older posts that were not packed full of information. Most of my posts will stay up, and I may share some of the blog posts that were on Homesteadingedu. For those of you who were not aware, unfortunately, we had to close Homesteadingedu down. We had several of the owners of our homesteading company who developed major health issues, and the company was just not paying for itself.

That said, I will be coming back on here to share old helpful blog posts, and maybe even share a few new posts periodically just from my heart, and not for financial gain as I do really want to help others. So, the blog name has changed, but I hope to post a lot of new content along the lines of what I had been posting on the Homesteadingedu website.

Also, if you have Facebook and want short recipes without a blog attached, I’m sharing those on Fortis Et Fidus Kitchen.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076970119778

Until next time,

Emily

This is a sweet up and coming milk goat in training that I thought I’d share a picture of.

When you’re cold, they are cold…or maybe not

When you’re cold, they are cold…or maybe not

It’s that time of year again when you’ll be seeing lots of posts on social media about bringing your pets inside. There is some truth to that, depending on the breed of dog you are referring to. Unfortunately, these posts, while meaning well fail to take into account that there are breeds that are purpose bred dogs which were not bred to be indoor house pets.

For example, the husky, or the livestock guardian breeds such as the Great Pyrenees, or the Anatolian. These breed were bred to be working dogs kept outside year round. They glory in colder weather. The livestock guardian breeds come from regions where it can get very cold, and the dogs don’t seem to mind. We do agree that they should have some form of shelter available where they can go get warm.

Don’t be too surprised though if your livestock guardian dog is seen outside in really cold weather. Our Pyrenees that we had, and the Anatolians always turned bouncy and playful whenever the weather got really cold, and we would see them laying out in snow or on ice. They were jubilant that the weather had turned cold.

Right  now, it is 13 degrees in our part of Oklahoma, and our livestock guardian dogs have been playing and then by mid day thanks to guarding all night, they have currently chosen to crash for a nap on the frozen ground. They have access to a warm shed and the barn. But, they like it out there!

 

Christmas Savings

Christmas Savings

Hey all,

With Christmas literally just days away, I got to thinking about how we go about saving money for Christmas and other times of the year. Here’s one thing we do.

As homesteaders, my family is always looking for ways to be frugal. One of the things we have started doing a few years back, is making the liquid laundry soap that the Duggar family makes. We’v.e found that it enables us to make large batches of soap fairly cheaply and we get more soap this way.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

• 4 cups hot tap water

• 1 Fels-Naptha soap bar

• 1 cup Arm & Hammer super washing soda (not baking soda or detergent!)

• 1/2 cup borax

Preparation Instructions

1 Grate the bar of Fels-Naptha soap; place in saucepan with water over medium-high heat. Stir soap constantly until dissolved.

2 Fill half of a 5 gallon bucket (2.5 gallons) with hot tap water.

3 Add melted soap from saucepan, washing soda and borax to bucket. Stir until completely dissolved.

4 Fill remainder of bucket with hot tap water; let sit overnight.

5 (Optional: add 10-15 drops of essential oil to two gallons of concentrated soap after it has cooled.)

6 When ready to use, fill half of a clean laundry soap dispenser with the soap concentration and the other half with water. The two will form a gel.

We use 3/4ths of a cup of this to wash our clothes. It saves a lot on money. This is especially helpful in terms of all the extra things you can buy when you aren’t paying as much for laundry soap. Christmas just got easier.

Until next time,

Homestead in health ya’ll,

Emily

5 Reasons Why I’m Thankful I Can Homestead

5 Reasons Why I’m Thankful That I Can Homestead

Hi All,

I’m a little late on my Thanksgiving post because we had some delightful company over for Thanksgiving. But, I’m back for this week. I wanted to share with you some reasons why I’m so glad I get to homestead:

1. I eat better. One of the things that I’ve always loved about homesteading is that I know exactly what was fed to the animals that I eat. I know exactly what medications they’ve had and what illnesses if any that they had. I know what was used to fertilize the fields where my food is grown, and I know for fact that it was earth friendly. Nothing like goat and horse manure for the garden after it has properly decomposed. As a matter of fact, goat manure can even be used fresh because it’s a gentle manure on crops.

2. Exercise is much more enjoyable. When you are hauling manure, and you are helping animals that you care about and are raising for food, exercise becomes much more pleasant. Now, there is a mindest that you have to have about them though when you raise them for food. Yes, you care about them. But, you have to be careful not to let them become pets. They are livestock, not pets. That said, there is a lot of relaxation and pleasure in caring for them. It is also very peaceful working out in the garden or gathering wood.

3. It is a peaceful lifestyle. As a homesteader, I’m regularly doing things that while they count as work, I find that work peaceful and relaxing. There’s a sense of peace and calm out in the barn, whether you are watching a doe who looks like she might kid, or you are just taking care of the animals.

4. I’m never bored. There is always something that I can be doing. Working around family and the animals can be fun. For example, this winter, my mom and I will be building new shelters for some of the animals. It’ll be a team project. Then too, the more you hang out with your animals,the better you know them and the earlier you’ll recognize if one of them is starting to get sick. The sooner you know, the faster you can get them better.

5. It’s a healthy lifestyle. I have a balanced combination of food, work, rest, and friendships. The work is generally enjoyable, and we eat better because we raise most of our own food. We are forever learning new things, and so even our brains get exercised. We have made many friends along the way who are also homesteaders.

I could go on more on things that I love about homesteading, but I think I’ll save that for a future post.What are you thankful for this year?

Until next time,

Homestead in health ya’ll!

Emily

The Best Bread

The Best Bread

When I was growing up in Mexico, my family had primarily white bread that was interspersed with corn bread. So, while I wasn’t picky about other foods, I wasn’t too keen on bread that goes crunch. However, Dad loved it.

He began working on creating a bread that was similar to French bread, but wasn’t a white bread. It was closer to the darker gourmet breads.

The longer I’ve been homesteading, the more I’ve grown to really love that bread. This bread doesn’t look like much on the outside, but it’s just bursting with flavor and it’s made from scratch so we know exactly what went into the bread. This is particularly important if you have allergies or have a family member with allergies. Many times, in factories, they produce many products in the same area. This means that while an ingredient may not be on the label of your food, it could still be in your food. For my mother and I, this can be a problem. Thankfully, with this bread, since it’s made from scratch, we haven’t been having any further problems.

This is a bread that is a must have if you are having soup or stew. We have a course on making sourdough bread on our website www.homesteadingedu.com

This bread is so good, that it’s hard to not eat a whole loaf in just a couple of days. Go check out the course and give that bread a try. You’ll probably like it. It’s not Wonder bread. This stuff has more flavor than that!

Homestead in health, ya’ll!

Emily

Homesteading Leads To A Longer Life

Homesteading Leads to a Longer Life

Written by Flea Christenson from Homesteadingedu

I know you’re questioning the veracity of this statement. I know you are. But I have an expert’s word for it. Homesteading leads to a longer life. Dan Beuttner’s Ted Talk indicates that there are six factors which lead to a life that extends past 100 years. He calls this the Blue Zone. Take a few minutes and watch his talk. Then we’ll discuss why homesteading leads to a longer life. I think you’ll see it, too.

See it? Let’s begin with why this is so important.

Life Expectancy

Life expectancy in the US is about 78, which is more than a decade short of what our potential says we should have. That seems like a lot. And you know what? I think that regardless of our lifespan, we should be living those years well. As Beuttner says, with extraordinary vigor. How long do you want to live? How well do you want to live? Homesteading can contribute to living long and living well.

Factors Blue Zone Cultures Have in Common

There are six things which everyone in the Blue Zones (zones in which long-lived people live) have in common. According to the Wikipedia page, these are:

• Family – put ahead of other concerns

• Less smoking

•Semi-vegetarianism – the majority of food consumed is derived from plants

• Constant moderate physical activity – an inseparable part of life

•Social engagement – people of all ages are socially active and integrated into their communities

•Legumes – commonly consumed

How can a homesteading lifestyle contribute to these factors? Let’s break them down and see where our choices come into play.

Family

Homesteading won’t automatically cause us to put our families ahead of other concerns. However, growing our own food, working the soil, caring for animals – all of these things can lead one to choose the concerns of others over our own. We’re aware of a broader world, including the soil and creatures around us.

Homesteading leads to a longer life when family works together toward a common goal – goals are great in all walks of life, but in homesteading they’re essential.

Homesteading creates a sense of harmony in the home. Working together makes homesteading better and easier. That said, family harmony, putting the concerns of others ahead of your own, is ultimately a choice you have to make. You may find that you have to make it daily in the beginning. Eventually it becomes a joyful choice.

Less Smoking

I have only two things to say about less smoking. One, smoking more or less is a choice one makes, just like anything else. Two, I’m going to assume (since I don’t smoke) that one would smoke less if one were a homesteader and active. The little I know about smoking is that the reasons for continuing to smoke, while varied, outside of simple enjoyment, are relaxation and reduced anxiety.

Homesteading is a physical endeavor. It works both the body’s muscles, as well as the brain. I’m making another assumption in saying that relaxation and anxiety will both change with time when one chooses a homesteading lifestyle. Even if the choice is as simple as making your own Greek yogurt and sourdough bread on a regular basis (we offer classes on both of those). I know that I’m making a lot of assumptions here, but if you’re a smoker, give it some thought. And please, weigh in in the comments. I’d like to know more about your choices and challenges. Our homesteaders would love to talk with you about why this lifestyle may help to change your smoking habit.

Semi-Vegetarianism

Growing your own food in a garden means that you’ll be eating your own food. Notice that it doesn’t say total vegetarianism. Limiting your red meat and increasing your fruit and vegetable intake help promote a longer life. Maybe you live in an apartment and think you can’t grow your own food. Let’s look at two things you can do, short term, to increase your fruit and vegetable intake.

Sweet potatoes are both delicious and nutritious. They can be grown in upright containers. Sign up for our sweet potato course to find out more.

1 Container gardening – Whether you have a balcony, a patio, or just a window, you can grow food in containers most of the year. Click this link to see the idea behind container gardens. While living in the city, I’ve always had herbs growing in my kitchen window, as well as plants in almost every windowsill in the house. Growing food inside may not replace all of your fruit and veggie budget, but it helps. It’s fresh and delicious. We’ve also grown containers of tomatoes and other vegetables on the patio. Google is your friend, as well as our site. Where there’s a will, there’s always a way.

2 Farmer’s Markets – Maybe you can’t grow food indoors or elsewhere (college dorm or some other situation), but most cities and towns have farmer’s markets during the growing season. Not only do these offer fresh, organic fruits and vegetables, they can also offer grass fed meat grown locally. Explore your town and look for fresh food to take home for yourself and your family. It makes a difference.

Constant Moderate Physical Activity

Our homesteaders tell us often that they’re more limber and agile, well into their 50’s, because of their homesteading lifestyle. It’s a very physical lifestyle, requiring planting, tending, harvesting. If one includes animal husbandry, there’s daily care for the animals. If you read this blog on a regular basis, you’ll see how that plays out over time. One cannot be a homesteader and lead a sedentary life.

George, our homesteader, is working with his sweet potato crop. George spends a lot of time outside year round.

Also, constant physical activity, while contributing to a longer life in general, is actually relaxing. Spending time outside with the plants and animals is relaxing and rewarding.

Social Engagement

While it would be easy enough to isolate oneself as a homesteader, it’s better done in community. Here are just a handful of ways one can homestead in community.

• Seed saving – the sharing of heritage seeds involves interaction with others

• Animal husbandry – there’s always more to learn about the care of animals, and especially when one of your flock is ill or pregnant – interacting with a homesteading community is an education, as well as life saving

• Swapping goods and services – it’s nearly impossible to grow everything which you and your family need, so bartering for the things you don’t produce can be both fun and beneficial

I’m hoping our homesteaders weigh in, in the comments, with other ways to engage socially as a homesteader.

Legumes

This one was a surprise to me! But it shouldn’t have been. Legumes, or beans, are one of their biggest staples on the farm. Legumes are a great source of fiber, vitamins and minerals, and protein. One can probably exist on beans alone if need be. And man alive are they tasty if cooked right! Stay tuned for recipes in the future. It’s our goal here at HomesteadingEdu to add recipes to the coursework, enabling you to truly utilize what we’re teaching.

Tarahumara Purple Ojos beans
Beans, beans, the charmed legume
Eat a few and clear the room

Homesteading Leads to a Longer Life

Do you see it? Do you see how homesteading leads to a longer life? If you don’t, please weigh in in the comments. One or more of our homesteaders would love to chat. I suspect, since you’re already here and reading our blog, that you’re probably considering homesteading and its benefits. Why don’t you join us here on our journey? This blog is always free, and the classes aren’t expensive. Our homesteaders are thorough and interactive. Join us!

Oh, and I’m Flea, one of the former urban homesteaders. We sold our city house and are in the process of buying five acres in the country. So I’ll be learning right along with y’all! You’ll probably see my journey here, complete with the mistakes I’ll make. I look forward to walking with you!

Homestead in health, my friends!

Flea