Homestead Kids

Follow a family of seven on their homestead in Oklahoma

[homesteadkids]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odqSomxMzns)

Homestead ponds can have so many uses!  Kids everywhere love to play in the water and the Homestead Kids are no different. They build stick boats and float the little boats in the new pond that we are digging. Whether it is a stick boat or leaf boat, kids love boats!. Kids and water just go together. This being the case, we are building a multi-purpose  pond on the homestead. We borrowed a Cat backhoe ( Caterpillar ) to do the digging with.

[homesteadkids]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g17E-UE4ViI)

After The Ice Storm & Free Pig Feed. The ice storm was destructive, but if a person looks around, there is also a benefit from it. We found more pear trees that had dropped pears that the owner said we could have. A pear tree can produce hundreds of pounds of food every year. Many people just leave the fruit to rot on the ground so we go out and ask people if we can pick up the produce they leave It usually works out quite well as they appreciate having their yard cleaned of fruit and we appreciate the free feed for the animals :) A win - win situation.

[homesteadkids]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXG5CiByOzE)

Predator Barn Cats Kill and Eat Rat. CAUTION: Graphic Images! It's true - cats are natural born predators and hunters hunting down, killing and eating every rat and mouse they find. They are a natural pest control system. The most effective, environmentally friendly rodent control right along with raptors such as hawks and owls. If you have rat, mouse and other rodent problems, good barn cats are worth their weight in gold. We don't use poisons around here for rodents and this area has huge numbers of rodents in the fields. Rats, mice, voles, gophers and so many more. They are the original rodent exterminator - better than any mouse trap! If you have a rodent problem, consider some barn cats to control the rodents!

[homesteadkids]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtS8wZNUwpc)

DIY Emergency 5 Gallon Water Filter Filtration. Clean drinking water is very important in any disaster or survival situation. This is one of your homesteading diy projects that should be on the list. There are many ways to have clean drinking water and one is to make your own water filtration system using ceramic water filter candles from Doulton and a few other places. This filter is about the same thing as a Big Berkey filter, but far less cost (White, not the black. Big Berkey Black is reputed to be even better). You can store the filters for a long time and build the filter system when needed

[homesteadkids]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUNZVul_aVQ)

When homesteading, you have to be ready for anything! Oklahoma Weather - Ice Storm Cara - November 2015. The power grid failed due to the destructive and dangerous winter storm Cara. Thousands of people were without electricity and many are still out. The weather forecast said something about freezing rain, so we made sure our preparations were up to date just incase. The weather radar showed widespread ice conditions. Sure enough - it was the ice storm people were concerned about. Always watch your local weather!

[homesteadkids]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sgXwz8TPQw) 

Craftsman Chipper Shredder Repair and Startup. A great addition to any homestead! We bought this Craftsman chipper / shredder at the scrap yard cheap. The boy, Skyler got out his tools repaired it and replaced the carburetor and the fuel line on the Tecumseh engine. He's getting pretty good at small engine repair! It's a bit much for him to start with the pull rope, but he got it started and tested it with a couple pieces of Sorghum. It works great! This will be a great addition to the homestead for chopping feed and brush.

[homesteadkids]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ7s-LutRTw)

A Happy Family Life Is Possible! Part 1 of a series showcasing many ways that contribute to a happy family life. In this day and age, broken homes and broken families are the norm - not the exception. Happy families should be the norm, but it's just not so. The stress of daily life, the breakdown in family communications, the distraction of electronic devices, distressing news reports in the media and just plain false information presented as fact today all contribute to  an unhappy family life. At a time when children should have the happiest time of their lives, many children live in daily fear of their safety and even their lives.

[homesteadkids]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3lAeBllM70)

Kids Redneck Jungle Gym Workout. Gymnastics on the redneck playground equipment ( jungle gym ) for the kids. The kids discovered that the scaffold we are using to insulate the roof of the free house turned out to be pretty good for redneck gymnastics :) They have had a great time playing on the scaffolding while it's here. But papa won't let them play on the second level - only the first level. Now they want to have papa build a sport center in their loft room :) Papa will probably do that during the bad weather this winter :) Kids always have lots of fun on fitness equipment. Working around the homestead keeps them pretty well fit as it is :)

[homesteadkids]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgxJVcqo54I)

Kids First Job! 9 Year Old Boy Driving Cat Backhoe. What boy doesn't love driving heavy equipment? Really, the whole family does! The boy is getting to learn to run a Cat 416 4x4 backhoe, but the rest of the family will get to learn also - even mama will get a chance to learn! :) We are digging a pond with a friends backhoe so this is the perfect opportunity to teach them all to run the backhoe :) Part of a fun, happy family is doing things together.

[homesteadkids]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK7-aXD0QuI)

Winter Is Coming! Prepare Firewood and Chainsaw. Winter is soon to be here. Most of you have already tuned and sharpened your chainsaws and got your winters firewood in, but others of us have not yet finished that. Now is the time! Get out your chainsaw file and tools and tune that chainsaw. Sharpen that chain! Go get your wood and stay warm this season of cold weather. When you are homesteading, it's a 90% (or more) guarantee that you will end up heating with firewood. It's a truly renewable resource for heating.

[homesteadkids]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcQRwEf1NbA)

A pond on the homestead is nearly a necessity. We borrowed a Cat 416 4x4 Backhoe to Dig The Reservoir (or Pond) The Caterpillar backhoe is a piece of heavy equipment that is super versatile in useful. It can dig through hard and soft soils and transport the soil to another nearby location. This eliminates the need for two different pieces of equipment onsite. A bulldozer can move large amounts of dirt pretty quickly, but cannot lift the soil and transport it. If it gets into sandstone or other type of rock, it is less effective. An excavator such as a John Deere, Hitachi, or Komatsu can dig huge amounts of dirt quickly, but cannot transport the dirt, so a loader or dump truck becomes necessary.

[homesteadkids]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTfYr7MYAbs)

Hannah’s Homestead Apple Pie Dessert . Hannah surprised papa with a nice apple pie she cooked all herself while papa was out picking up a backhoe and dump truck. This was really a nice surprise! Papa loves apple pie! She did really well baking the pie. Papa was surprised! :)

[homesteadkids]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZSiAe6OO4A)

Cat 416 4x4 Backhoe - Let's Build a Pond.Whether it is made by Caterpillar, Sumitomo, John Deere, Case, Komatsu, Link Belt, Terex or any of the others, one of Papa's favorite thing to do: running heavy equipment. He calls them " The Big Toys ". Excavator, dozer, ( bulldozer ), backhoe, trencher,  loader, off road dump truck, earth mover, paddle wheel scraper, pavement roller, log loader, and so many more,  Papa has run heavy equipment about every major type of construction equipment since he was 17 years old. A friend of ours has a Cat 416 4x4 backhoe and a 10 wheel dump truck that he said we could borrow for a time. We took him up on the offer to get our pond started and to dig a place to build our storm shelter.

[homesteadkids]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHqH08wzi4I)

How To Make Sourdough Starter. Sourdough starter is actually very simple to make. If you put clean water in flour and let it sit, that will become basic sourdough starter - you really can't stop it. But you can control it and encourage it. The free natural yeast in the air is what causes the flour and water mixture to ferment. mix flour and water in a clean glass jar - make sure you use clean water with no chlorine or other treatments, and leave the jar sit open overnight.

[homesteadkids]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWhTfuD8Ihw)

How To Build A Smokehouse Part 1. Today we start the concrete slab for our smoke house. We get out the tools and wheelbarrow and go to work. First, select a suitable spot for your building, keeping in mind the prevailing wind direction so you don't smoke something like your house :) For this you will need a hammer, saw or circular saw, tape measure and a level.

[homesteadkids]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCvnFUBE8tU)

How To Bake Cast Iron Skillet Pecan Pie - No HFCS ( High Fructose Corn Syrup ). With all of the Pecans the kids harvested, they decided to bake a delicious Pecan Pie. So they started cracking nuts, and got out the baking supplies and cast iron skillet and went to work cooking. They would substitute ingredients along the way like Coconut oil for butter and Brown Sugar for High Fructose Corn Syrup. Also Almond milk for cow milk since Hannah is allergic to cows milk. The kids love to and cook in the kitchen so baking in the gas oven is no problem although they would rather bake in the outdoor brick oven.

[homesteadkids]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yMf0bQEni4)

Homeschool Science Experiment: Microwave Oven Ivory Soap. It's a really common experiment. There are a number of videos on Youtube about Ivory soap in the microwave oven. We could have just shown the kids a video and explained the same thing. Or we could do the hands on experiment with Mattie's microwave. We of course chose to do the hands on experiment. The kids have much more fun.