Author Archives: vernsix

Yaupon Holly (the vomitting plant) makes a great tea

Posted on by Posted in DIY, foraging, guineas, Natural Cures, Self-Sufficiency, tea .

yaupon-hollyWith spring here, Ranae and I have been outside a great deal lately. The cool evenings are a great time to sit in our favorite lawn chairs and enjoy a glass of tea. It’s a time spent together discussing the plans for the summer and improvements we intend to make around this little homestead.

The guinea eggs have been ordered and we are anxious for their arrival. One night this past week we were sitting outside and discussing how nice it will be to have the guineas running around foraging for bugs, etc. We discussed the various types of bugs the guineas would be searching for and what plants if any they would consume.

The conversation turned to our own interest and experiences with foraging. I was first exposed to foraging for food when I went through the Army’s survival training. I always found it amazing how many plants are edible if you simply know where to look. Continue reading →

Raising Guineas – Part Two

Posted on by Posted in chickens, guineas, pests .

keetWell, there I was all ready to go buy our guineas, when what do you think happened? Poor customer service happened, that’s what!

We had recently attended a seminar on raising Honey Bees at a farm and ranch store near us (about 60 miles away or so). While at that seminar I noticed this store having a wide selection of freshly hatched guinea keets (that’s the name for a guinea chick). I struck up a conversation with the store manager and was absolutely assured that we could buy guineas up to April 1st. When we called last week, apparently that information was incorrect. Ugh! Continue reading →

Starting a guinea flock

Posted on by Posted in chickens, gardening, guineas, pests, Remote Living, rodents, snakes .

Guinea-fowl-with-chicks jpgI have to have silence when sleeping. Ranae and I often joke that I can hear a cat walk across the yard 200 paces away from the bedroom window and it will wake me up. This sleeping issue of mine is, in no small part, a major contributing factor as to why we live in the country. I could never tolerate the noise of the concrete hell known as city life. If I lived in the city I would be back to countless sleepless nights in a row until I finally pass out due to total exhaustion. Been there, done that. No thanks.

So what in the world are we doing but getting a flock of guineas? We must be off our rockers. Hopefully it won’t be too bad, but guineas are some of the loudest birds ever. The good thing is, they are typically quiet until something startles them. Then it’s one bird screeching that sets of a different bird that sets off another and so on. Once they start screeching, it can take a long time for them to calm down. Which probably means, I will have the pleasure of working many sleepless nights and asking myself “What have I done to my peaceful nights?” Continue reading →

More things to consider when raising chickens

Posted on by Posted in chickens, gardening, planning, Self-Sufficiency .

I always find it funny how people react to the printed words in articles and on the internet. The last two articles I wrote about chickens have caused the single largest number of emails I have received on any subject I have written about to date. In just the last two weeks I have received over 400 emails from readers. Most of those emails have been yelling at me saying I was “down on raising chickens”.

I assure you, nothing could be further from the truth. I love our chickens and I find it difficult to think of not having them here at Six Acres. I’m a realist too however. In my experience talking with hundreds of other self-sufficiency enthusiasts and even preppers (sigh), several people go into things with little knowledge or incorrect beliefs that this lifestyle is somehow a cakewalk. Continue reading →

Chicken Problems

Posted on by Posted in chickens .

pasty-buttWhat a weekend. I normally write my articles on Sunday morning before going to church, but this weekend we were crazy busy with family events out of town. As I write this, it’s about 5am on Monday morning… Pi Day. While I might be a trained survival expert and a self-sufficiency advocate, I am a nerd first. Pi is cool. http://piday.org Look it up.

Last week I started talking about our chicken flock. There is little that gives me more pleasure than to see daily the animals we have here at Six Acres. The hens are full of personality and are about as much fun as watching an aquarium full of fish in many ways. I can literally sit and watch them for hours. A lawn chair; a glass of sweet tea; a handful of chicken treats and I’m content for hours. Continue reading →

My pet makes breakfast for me

Posted on by Posted in chickens, compost .

chicksI apologize for not having an article last week. I had some technical issues and had to devote my day taking care of those last Sunday. I ultimately had to break down and buy a new computer and you know how much I hate spending money. 🙂

On the drive home from the Texas A&M Horticulture Club’s annual plant sale yesterday, I saw a great bumper sticker that I am going to have to buy. It read “My pet makes breakfast for me.” It was, of course, talking about chickens. I laughed right out loud when I read it.

It is chick time again. I love March. All the local feed and supply stores have baby chicks and it’s a great time to get started in this awesome hobby. Raising chickens is also a great self-sufficiency skill. It costs very little and the benefits are great. Continue reading →

Be Careful Where You Spend Your Money

Baby Steps

I’m too poor to be cheap

Posted on by Posted in Uncategorized .

impulse-buysI think anyone who knows me, knows I value frugality. I don’t spend money on things I don’t need and I rarely succumb to impulse buys. I keep a very close watch on every penny we spend. But I do buy quality whenever I buy anything.

In this week’s email from my readers, a man from Tennessee wrote to me looking for information about where to find the cheapest tools. As I pondered his question, I recalled two events in my life and shared them with him. I would like to share them with you here as well. Continue reading →

Learning is fun

Posted on by Posted in DIY, Family Fun, Make Your Own, planning, Remote Living, Self-Sufficiency .

I love when I receive email from my readers and I do receive a lot of it. Last week I received an email from a man who read a couple of my articles. He had read the one about how hard it was to find good reliable help out here in the sticks and the latest one about starting with a portable building for a house cabin. He asked a pretty good question, “What if I just don’t have the skills to do the building and construction you talk about?”

I realize not everyone has been trained or even exposed to such things, but for me this is what I find the most exciting about the lifestyle. The constant learning and trial and error at skills I may not have is what keeps this lifestyle interesting for me. While I have had some training and plenty of practice in building construction, I don’t have all the answers to every problem we face out here. Continue reading →