Then there was one

The night after our power went out we noticed the fish acting very strange. Lots of movement and swimming about from normally lazy fish. I went to bed and my husband went to feed the fish. He then ran down to tell me the water in tank was over 190 degrees! I quickly got up we drained some water out and put in cold water. But it was too late and the fish died except for one the pleco. The fish tank heater had shorted out and went into overheating. It should have just stayed off but instead boiled the fish. Glad we were home when this happened. Very dangerous for the fish, tank and our house. So now our 78 gallon tank is empty but for one pleco. He is a tough fish. Our plan is if life gets back to "normal-ish" we will put in goldfish and mollies. We bought a new heater with alarm and better alerting status settings. We have had our big tank in two states and for over 20 years. We have raised several kinds of freshwater fish over the years and still have the original live rock. This is the first time a heater has cooked our fish. We love having fish in a tank with us. It is very relaxing to watch.

Our Sunday Visitor

Last Sunday there was a thud on our roof. 

We went out and sure enough it was a large bird on our metal roof. It was a vulture taking a break from dining on a dead armadillo.

Our shepherds kill armadillo and eat them. If any is left the vultures come in for leftovers. I like armadillo, they are great at eating bugs especially ants. But my dog kill them and eats them. I have tried to save them but they usually are beyond my ability to. I have tried to stop my dogs from eating them, nope they eat them shell and all. One nice thing is I did save and move a nest of young ones. One day my dogs will be too old to harm the dillos and things will be less bloody on the farm.

Oh hail no!

This is not salt but tiny hail. Frozen daggers of ice from a tornado that passed by last week.

Yup these are bad clouds. A tornado hit west of us and took out the power for three hours. The Missouri power company is very good at finding and fixing down lines. We called it in and two company men came by. There were over 600 homes without power and some buildings damaged in the areas. But they got us back on line.

So I made grill cheese for dinner. One nice thing about propane is you can still cook when the power is out.

Flooding Farm Time

Our ducks are made for lots of rain. We have had frost and heavy rains the last two weeks. 

Our pond overflowed but the fish stayed in the pond.

River of water down the hill and into the valley.

Our pasture flooded. The cattle are not ours but are fun to watch. Our pasture is cut in half and this is a no mans land the cattle are on. 

Living Traditions in Missouri

This is Sarah and Kevin and they live close to us in Ava, Missouri. They are self sustaining homesteaders, city kid transplants to the MO Ozarks like us. They have a facebook, youtube and website all about their everyday living in the Ozarks. They are really funny and honest about what is really like to raise your own food, family,  and live off the land.

One of the many things we learned from them was why our garden was a hassle-the weeds. This year I tore out the fence and put in old manure, tilled and now putting in weed fabric. It is a ton of work right before planting season. But the hard work now will save us during harvest time. No weeds competing with our veggies. And we enlarged our garden by 30% this year. With empty grocery stores, empty shelves and long lines, we upped our food game. Yes, even in the Ozarks now we are seeing shortages for food and supplies. We have plenty of meat here though.

For the last two years I have planted and canned enough food for us to live off of. We have not been to a grocery store in over 4 months. We grow what we like and trade with other farmers. Yes, it is a lot of work but it gets easier the more you do it. I plan, plant, seed save and can so we have food.

We do eat a lot of beans and rice as a mainstay. But we also eat a lot of other veggies along with meat on occasion. 

We have had 2 frost days and so I have not put my seedlings in the ground. And this week we have heavy storms all week long. I just put in the last of our veggie fencing/fabric and now we wait to plant. It is so nice to have another family to watch and share ideas about what we are doing. If you get a chance stop and watch Sarah and Kevin. They have recipes and cooking ideas that really are quite good.