Long musing on the decline I see in rural ways.....at least from my small vantage point. Participation in a forum like this, or maybe watching YouTube, one might get the impression there is a lot of rural self sufficiency/back-to-the-land going on......but I suspect overall, it's exactly the opposite. I live in a small valley drained by what is called locally "the creek". Neighbor and I were talking yesterday about how folks here were better off being in a rural area compared to those in town as far as food security/etc. Couple weeks back, my big steer got out of the pasture and I spent some time driving up/down the valley hoping to find him wandering around....turns out he simply went up in the woods, picked a nice spot to sit and chew his cud, and I was able to herd him back into the pasture without too much effort. My thinking in driving up/down the road was since he has been by himself for a while (since we put his buddy in the freezer a while back), he would go looking for cows to hang with. I know one neighbor down the road had a couple of steers, but when I got there, he told me he had taken them to the processor couple weeks back. When we moved here nearly 40 years ago, there were numerous folks in the valley that raised cattle. Now I think I've got the "last cow on the creek". Some of those folks have died off over the years, and their kids, or new owners, simply don't bother anymore. Some that were here 40 years ago just don't bother anymore. Same thing with growing food. 40 years ago, I know of many that had fairly extensive gardens....but as the older folks have gone, the kids don't do it anymore. You'll see a few small patches with tomatoes/etc, but almost no one in the valley grows food like we do. So I think my neighbor is wrong.....people in this rural valley are about as dependent on the supply chain as anyone living in town.....exceptions to that being everybody in this valley has a private water source (well or spring) as there is no public water line, and quite a few still burn wood. Likely I won't be around for another 40 years, but it would interesting to see which way it goes by then. I'd like to think whoever ends up with our place takes advantage of the infrastructure we've built....and then I think "Nah....they'll just tear out all this crap and buy a bigger lawn mower".....
Yea, the gardens around here are just for tomatoes, peppers, okra, green beans, and turnip greens...maybe a few hills of potatoes, but certainly not enough to feed us all year long. I'm thinking about some livestock...chickens, ducks, rabbits, maybe even goats and pigs...I can hear the neighbors complaining now!
We are converts to the country life. We are raising cattle and set/met a goal of canning one jar of food for every day of the year. We have a few neighbors that are doing the same and we are constantly recruiting to get new blood out here.
Sad the amount of solid old knowledge and wisdom being lost at a very fast rate now days and very damn few with any interest in learning. But hey they can all take selfies and are masters of their smart phones if nothing else.
I suppose they can use their smart phones to call up a youtube that will show them how to milk a cow.
We are in the process of cross-fencing our AO to allow more range area for the cows. Hoping to pick up another Highlander heifer in the near future. Year two in our homestead will produce a large garden that I have been prepping since we moved in.
lol youtube vs accually developing the muscle and the rhythm for milking the cow, not to mention gentling them enough to get in there and milk without being kicked.... big difference. I hated milking the cows. Cantankerous biatchs.
I hated milking goats. Cows at least had something big enough to get my hand around. That, and I could just hook the claw on them and let it do the work.
Several very good hand pump milkers that fit everything from hog nipples to big old cow nipples. A whole lot easier than teat tugging anything for their milk. Also a whole lot cleaner than hand milking into a bucket.
Sows sometimes die birthing and the litter of 8-14 needs that first milk until they can be worked into another sows litter. Sometimes a sow is just a poor mother and rejects the litter. And yeah I tried a sip of it and it ain't fit fer anything but little pigs And when farrowing comes along I have two old sows that don't mind me hooking the cup and pump up and sharing a few pints.
We have a Hoegger milking machine here at the ranch. I picked it up cheap, since it was failing .. Now we have had pigs , and the OWMBO had it with them and me. Pigs went into freezer and I stayed out. The machine can do cows and goats when set . Works fine , just needed cleaning and new vanes with new oils etc, I never got the rubber suckling parts till we get a milker . I live beside a Black Angus ranch and a hog ranch just down the way. Sloth
