One of the highest numbers of calls that animal damage control (ADC) trappers receive is for problem skunks. Many home and landowners either do not want to take on the task of removing a skunk, or know how to do it. Here is how you can handle this interesting animal without getting nailed with its fragrant perfume.
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The Basic Livestock Vetting Requirements For The New Homesteader
Most experienced livestock owners administer medicines, routine vaccinations, and other shots when needed. They also perform common procedures like de-worming, treating wounds, de-horning, castration, etc., and keep a reserve of commonly used medical supplies and medications on hand.
How To Make Your Own Dyes Using Plants
Dyes have been used since ancient times to add color to fabric or other items and to oneself. Before the 19th century, commercial dyes were not available, and dyes were primarily made from natural materials, generally whatever was available in a given region.
Tips For Managing And Using Your Woodlot
Many rural homes have a back forty that’s treed. To some, the forest is a liability because we need the land for pasture or crops. Food should be a priority, but don’t overlook the forest for the trees. Those trees can be a tremendous asset and can be tended and grown like a garden to provide firewood and other valuable resources.
Basic Fruit Tree Pruning Tips – When, Why, and What to Prune!
Pruning is best described as a horticultural practice involving the selective removal of certain parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots. This may be done for a number of reasons, with the method and timing being of some importance, particularly when flowering and fruiting plants are the subjects – and we wish to achieve a good yield of high-quality produce.
Raising Livestock For Self-sufficiency
In their quest for self-sufficiency, a lot of families start out quite logically by moving to their own piece of land in the country and cultivating a large garden. Once they feel they have mastered this step, they begin thinking about livestock.
Recommendations For Planting Fruit, Nut and Shade trees
Most of us think of fall as a time of winding down on gardening activities. True, there are fewer chores to do than when the spring garden was begun followed by mulching, harvesting, canning, and so on, but fall is also the preferred time for planting most fruit and nut trees.
Growing The Best Crops For Coping With The Next Crisis
If the next crisis hits hard, one of the best friends you can have is a practical garden. A key consideration in such a garden is which types of produce can be harvested and simply dumped into a root cellar or dark closet, without processing, and left there until needed.
How To Keep Deer Out Of Your Garden
Last summer I returned home from vacation to find my vegetable garden devoured by Bambi. My first instinct was to run for the shotgun, but since that wasn’t a legal option in July, alternatives had to be found.
More Than A Dozen Reasons To Practice Self-sufficiency Gardening
It often amazes me that when many people think of self-sufficiency, home food production is usually the last item on their list—that is, if it makes the list at all. We all tend to take certain things for granted, such as foods that are plentiful.
How To Enrich Your Soil With Cover Crops
Use it or lose it. That expression did not originally refer to soil, but it could have. Nature improves soil by growing plants on it continuously. In the wild, good soil is never without a cover of vegetation. Something will grow there, so it may as well be something you choose.
Plant propagation Techniques For Multiplying Your Plants Easily
Nearly all gardeners are familiar with saving seeds and the benefits and reasons for doing so, but there are numerous reasons and benefits in learning other techniques for plant propagation. These techniques involve division, layering, stem cutting, and grafting.
Harvesting And Canning Wild Greens
Winter’s dreary end seems to drag on and on into early spring. We itch to get planting the garden, poring over seed catalogs and babying those tiny light green tomato, pepper, and other infant plants in the south windows. How lucky we are that the very first delectable greens that our bodies crave are already growing in sunny, protected areas around the homestead, planted for us by God, himself.