Buying a Homestead "The Greatest Fine Art of the Future Will Be the Making of a Comfortable Living from a Small Piece of Land." — Abraham Lincoln
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The magazine of modern homesteading & Small Stock Journal Volume 103 • Number 4 JULY/AUGUST 2019 DIY GREY WATER SYSTEM MAKE YOUR OWN HARDWOOD CHARCOAL The Dos & Don’ts of THE BEST HERBS FOR Buying a CONTAINERS Homestead Plus Poison Ivy Hacks $5.99 US • iamcountryside.com Steel Yourself Limited At $59, this blade of legendary Damascus Collector’s steel is a real steal Edition amascus steel is the stu of legend. Using a technique rst mastered Din the ancient city, swords made from Damascus steel were known to slice gun barrels in half and separate single strands of hair in two, even if the hair simply oated down onto the blade. Now, you can be a part of the legend. e 7 ½” What customers are saying August Knife features a blade of modern Damascus about Stauer knives... steel, inspired by the production techniques and êêêêê legends of history. Damascus steel blade knives “Very hefty, well-built knife can cost thousands. So, at $59, the price itself is and sheath. 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Rating of A+ • 7 ½” overall length • Genuine Damascus steel blade • Stainless steel guard • Leather handle • Includes genuine leather sheath Stauer… Afford the Extraordinary.® I AM COUNTRYSIDE 1 I’m Michelle Marine from Simplify, Live, Love and I’m excited to share a bit about our family’s homesteading journey in Eastern Iowa. After years of moving around the world with the Air Force, my husband Dan and I moved our small family to his hometown in rural Iowa to become home builders. We knew we wanted to raise farm kids and Iowa seemed the logical choice with family close by and a quaint town that is perfect for raising children. I did not grow up in the country, and it’s safe to say that I had a romanticized notion of country life. I was inspired to try country living because of my grandma’s beautiful rolling farm in Southern Missouri and my father’s gardening efforts throughout my childhood. My Arkansas grandparents also gardened 2 and canned their own food, and their out-of-this- world-amazing spicy dill pickles motivated me to grow cucumbers and start canning on my own. Dan and I bought an abandoned and overgrown five-acre homestead in 2010. When we bought the acreage, the only structure on it was an unusable silo. We lived in town for several years, saving money, and slowly making our homestead a place to call home. In 2011, our neighbors gave us their round-top barn that they were days away from burning, and we spent the next couple of years rebuilding it on our homestead. Originally, we renovated the barn as the office and shop for our construction company but realized that it would be better-served in the short term as a temporary home for our family as we built our dream home. In 2013, our six-member family left town for good. We lived in the barn for two years while Dan built a state-of-the-art, super-insulated, stone-clad passive house that we affectionately call the Passive- 3 Aggressive House. We added solar panels to the 1. Our youngest daughter loving on a baby chick. homestead and started producing our own electricity 2. The homestead – the 1940s barn we moved ¼ mile and when we finally moved into the home in 2015. rebuilt with our new Passive-Aggressive House in the distance. It is amazing to see what we have accomplished 3. The Marine family at the American Gothic House in in the five years we’ve lived here. On what was once Eldon, Iowa. overgrown and abandoned, we now have a small 4. Henry the barn cat guarding peacock feathers and a orchard, tend a large garden, and raise chickens for garden haul. both meat and eggs. Our two Great Pyrenees dogs oversee all of our work along with a handful of barn cats. Favorites on our homestead are the pet turkey, Tarzan, and the peacock, James. Bees are our newest adventure and we hope to harvest honey soon. Now that our children are older, we also have 4-H rabbits and sheep, and I dream of horses! We love living in the country! It’s satisfying to grow our food and it’s amazing to watch our four kids learn to drive tractors, dig in the dirt, build go-carts and forts, and help in the garden. Gathering farm fresh eggs, digging potatoes, picking flowers, watching fireflies, clouds, sunsets, and sunrises are all things our family enjoys about country life. We are proud of our self- I AM COUNTRYSIDE sufficiency and wouldn’t trade that for anything! Follow Michelle's homesteading journey at 4 instagram.com/simplifylivelove JULY/AUGUST 2019 || 5 1 Summer skies over the chicken coop. The skies are always amazing in Iowa! 2 Tarzan the turkey talking to a chicken buddy. 3 Heirloom garlic is always fun to grow, harvest, and eat! 4 Purple potatoes, herbs, and flowers: some of my favorite things to grow in the garden. 5 An heirloom tomato heart. 6 Tarzan the turkey showing off all his splendor. 7 Nora and Harry, our two Great Pyrenees livestock guardians. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 CONTENTS July/August 2019 IN EVERY ISSUE 72 Almanack 22 DIY Grey Water System for an 4 I Am Countryside 76 Marketplace Off-Grid Homestead By Patricia Baird Greene 11 Editor’s Letter 78 Breeders Directory/Classifieds 12 Country Conversation HOMESTEADING BEEKEEPING & Feedback 18 The Dos and Don'ts of Buying 26 Improve Hive Ventilation in 68 Capture Your Countryside a Homestead the Summer 70 Just for Fun By Marissa Ames By Rusty Burlew 28 Controlling Varroa Mites By David Bridgers 18 34 GROWING 30 Why is Phenology of Plants Important? By Gail Damerow 34 Growing the Best Herbs for Containers By Rita Heikenfeld 38 Recycling a Deck Into a Standing Raised Bed By Kenny Coogan POULTRY 42 How to Build an Automatic Chicken Feeder By Romie Holl 46 Herbs and Pasture Plants for Chickens to Eat ByAmy Fewell ANIMALS & LIVESTOCK 50 Save our Breed Diversity! By Tamsin Cooper 46 56 56 Tips on Properly Giving Injections to Cattle By Heather Smith Thomas HOMESTEAD HACKS 60 Make Your Own Natural Hardwood Charcoal By Romie Holl 61 Poison Ivy Home Remedies By Jennifer VanBenschoten FARM TO F0RK 62 Mouth-Watering Pickled Fish Recipes By Becky Pederson 63 Smoked Eggs By Ann Tom ON THE COVER “Volunteer sunflowers that I rehomed to form a wall next to my garden.” – Michelle Marine. See Michelle’s full photo essay on page 5. Tag us on Instagram, share your stories on Facebook and find new Join the Countryside Community! inspiration on Pinterest. We read all the comments and love the feedback! INSTAGRAM FACEBOOK.com/ PINTEREST.com/ @iamcountryside iamcountryside iamcountryside #iamcountryside Volume 103 • Number 4 July/August 2019 Countryside & Small Stock Journal Includes Small Stock Magazine Founded 1917 by Wallace Blair and Countryside Magazine Founded 1969 by Jd Belanger. EDITORIAL Ann Tom, Editor [email protected] Steph Merkle, Content Director [email protected] Samantha Ingersoll, Marissa Ames Editorial Assistants Traci Laurie Publication Designer CIRCULATION & MARKETING GENERAL MANAGER Ellen Grunseth, Marketing Director Mike Campbell [email protected] [email protected] ADVERTISING COUNTRYSIDE’S MAIN HOMESTEAD Alicia Soper, Advertising Director Countryside [email protected] P.O. Box 566, Medford, WI 54451 (715) 748-1388 iamcountryside.com Kelly Weiler [email protected] SUBSCRIPTIONS (U.S. FUNDS): (715) 748-1389 $24.99 per six issues Sue Lapcewich Countryside Subscriptions [email protected] 580 Mallory Way, Carson City, NV 89701 (970) 373-7301 (970) 392-4419 PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. Countryside & Small Stock Journal (ISSN 8750-7595; USPS 498-940) is published bi-monthly by Countryside Publications, P.O.