(AF) Need Your Input on our Info Links, Please!

Hello, Everyone! Not sure weather to say Good Morning, or Good Nite. After I type this, I am going to finally go to bed for a bit, so for me . . . Good Nite.

One of our wonderful readers was so kind to give us some feedback on our InfoLinks advertising. And YES, we LOVE constructive feedback! She mentioned that the InfoLinks was getting annoying when trying to read our posts. She also stated that they blocked some of the post content from being able to be seen.

On our end, we can't see that anything is being blocked. We would greatly appreciate it if someone on the Reader End could explain this in more detail.

We want ALL the feedback we can possibly get from our Readers in reference to the InfoLinks advertising we have on our Blog. We want our readers to be happy and really enjoy sitting down and reading our blog. So, if we find that this advertising platform is causing difficulties for our readers . . . . making it difficult to smoothly read our posts, we will certainly remove it.

Thank you very much, in advance, for all of your valued input! And thank you for reading our blog!

UPDATE:  I tried to temporarily turn off the Infolinks . . . funny, it didn't work. You are supposed to be able to do that. I set it to only ONE link per page .... funny, that wouldn't work, either. This does NOT make me happy. The options are there, but it isn't working. And in answer to someone's question... "Are you making money at it?" NO, in all this time, we STILL have not made it to the first payout.

(DF) PLANTING CORN IN A STUMP PATCH

Yes, I am serious, I planted corn in a stump patch.  About a month and a half ago, I decided to clear the trees at the north end of the garden.  The small patch of ground in question is good soil, and with a little work (alright, a lot of work) it will be a good addition to the main garden.  The first photo, is of the piece of ground in question immediately after I cut the trees into firewood, before the brush was burned.  In the background, you can see the trees, which is what the newly cleared patch looked like  the day before.

Over time, I burned the brush and moved the firewood, then marked off where it would need tilled in relation to the new fence line at the back edge.  Now it was ready to till, as soon as I could find the time.

In case you have never tried it, tilling or plowing in a stump patch can be an interesting process.  My first such experience with this concept was when I was very young (seven or eight years old).  My Grandfather had farmed all his life with a team of horses and I wanted to learn how.  He showed me how to put on the harness and hook up the plow, then we went to plow his garden.  There was a newly cleared area at the edge, and sure enough, the plow caught a root and jumped sideways, throwing me down.  My Grandfather laughed and explained how if I had been taller, I would have been kicked in the ribs by the plow handles.  Years later, while breaking a mule to plow, I experienced what he was talking about. No fun at all, I might add.

Over the years, I have also plowed in new ground with tractors.  There are no plow handles to kick you in the ribs, but it can make for a wild ride at times.  Also no fun at all.

Day before yesterday was my first experience using the garden tiller among stumps.  With a good deal of effort, some cursing and numerous stops to cut elm roots from around the tiller tines, the small patch finally got tilled.  Not a pretty job of tilling to say the least, but it was tilled deep enough to plant.  During this process, I found that under just the right circumstances, the tiller handles, like old fashioned plow handles, can thoroughly kick you in the ribs.  Yes, I have very sore ribs (bruised, not broken).  Almost fifty years later, and with different equipment, the process remains the same.  You guessed it, still no fun at all.

As you can see in the second picture, the small patch looks a little different.  What you can not see is that I planted corn among those stumps this morning.  The rows are not straight and there are skips where the stumps are, but given good weather (including a bit of rain), a bit of mercy from the munchers and, of course, a few good  blessings, there will be a bit of corn grown there this year.

It will take a few years for the stumps to rot out, but experience has shown me that it will get easier each time it is worked, and soon it will be as good as the rest of the garden.  I can almost taste the fresh corn now.  YUM!

TIGHTWAD TUESDAY - Economical (and natural) Flea Remedy for the House

  In many areas of the US right now, it is that time of year, once again, where the fleas take off and take over!  One day all is well, then the next day you get up and WHAM . . . . you have fleas by the thousands!

Now, I don't know about you, but I hate using chemical flea killers in my house (or on my pets). And, actually, those toxic, chemical flea killers don't seem to be nearly as effective as two of the natural ones that I use.

The first one I use, and have for years, is just plain old SALT. Yep, table or canning salt. Very cheap, and ultra effective. You simply sprinkle it around on your carpets and floors, then leave for as long as you can possibly leave it. It works by drying the air in the fleas' habitat, which kills them because they have to have humidity to survive. The only draw back I have found with this is when my house is super humid. When I have high humidity in my house, the salt will "draw" the moisture, leaving my floors damp, and even wet sometimes, which can make it kind of slippery. Still, I feel it is worth it to get rid of the fleas without using any toxic chemicals.

(NOTE: Don't get the bright idea to "salt" your pets to get rid of their fleas. If your pets are loaded with fleas, they are also loaded with tiny little bites. The salt will 'draw' the pet's blood right out of those bites and 'bleed them out", killing them).

Another very effective (and cheap) remedy I tried last year was Stall Dry. Yes, that stuff you get at the Farm Store to sprinkle around in your livestock stalls to deodorize and dry them. This, too, dries the air in the fleas' habitat and, I found very effective to kill the fleas. It also deodorized my house from pet odors! And I didn't find it to "wet" the floors like the salt can often do.

Although I have used the Salt Method for many, many  years with great results, I am going to try the Stall Dry again this year (I didn't try it until the end of the season last year) and see how it works on long term in comparison to the salt. So far, I really like it. I put it down once last Fall and it kept working for the entire month before our first freezes. I never had fleas in the house again until just this week. I would be cautious, though, when vacuuming it up as any powder can bust your vacuum bag if overloaded. No problem for me, though, I use a broom, not a vacuum. I hate carpet.

Thank you all for reading my post, and I will do my best to get back on here, now, and catch up with everyone. Have a wonderful week!

(DF) WHAT HAVE I REALLY BEEN UP TO HERE ON DAVES FARM?

What I have really been up to here on Dave's Farm obviously has had nothing to do with posting here for the past couple of months.  I will not go into much detail in this post, but will instead, give a brief rundown and hopefully find time to fill in details in later posts.  If anything is of interest, mention it in a comment and I will make a point.  Basically I am mainly posting to show that I still live and haven't completely lost my mind (alright, that last one is debatable).

A while back, my older sister who is completely non-ambulatory, was diagnosed with cancer.  I have been taking her every day for five weeks of radiation which ended about a week ago.  They say the outlook is good, but there may be more treatment a few weeks down the road.

About three weeks ago, I left my job at the corporate retailer (Wal-Mart).  I am now self employed, currently contracting welding repairs, and actual rebuilding of trailers for my son's small trucking company.  The work is harder but, amazingly, I get home and am physically and mentally able to work here on the farm.  It also takes less hours to pay the bills, leaving more time to work here.

During my absence, the main garden has been planted, trees have been cut for expansion and some of the newly cleared areas have been tilled and planted.  Since we got carried away on the onion sets, the space is needed for sweet potatoes and corn, so wish me luck tilling around the stumps.

There is a continuing question of storage for all the food we plan to grow in the enlarged garden.  The answer, of course, is a big cellar.  A couple of weeks ago, I managed to get an acquaintance who owns a small excavating company to bring out a backhoe.  A couple of hours and a chunk of cash later, there is a big hole in the hillside ready for me to build a cellar in.  The drainage gravel and pipes are here, and ready for me to squeeze enough time to start building.

Certainly there are things I have forgotten to mention, but I think that is at least most of the high spots.  Hopefully things will settle down enough that I can spend a bit more time here keeping thing updated.  There are also pictures of some of the progress, which I will add to future posts (and yes, I finally got a decent camera so they should be clear).

PHARMACY FRIDAY - Cayenne Pepper & Hip Pain

  Pharmacy Friday this week is going to be somewhat of an update on one I wrote quite awhile back about using Cayenne Pepper for pain, a testament you might say. You can read the first one HERE.

I have been consistently using Cayenne pepper in my diet now for at least 2 years. I not only use it in my hot chocolate as I had stated in my original article, but any time I am eating a food that it will be good in, I add a dash or two, or more if the dish will be good with a little heat. My best results come from using 6 to 10 dashes at a time, but less more often works great, too. If you sprinkle it in your food just before you eat it and don't let it set (eat immediately). the heat level will be minimal. The heat level can really build as the dish stands. No problem, though, if you like hot stuff. I keep it next to my salt shaker, which makes it very easy to just grab and sprinkle.

The results have been amazingly fantastic!!! Completely gone are my sleepless nights of tooth gritting hip pain. I won't say that I never have any pain in my hip any more, but I will say that it is only minimal on a rare occasion, usually when inclement weather is about to hit, but not always then, now, either. Even then, it is no longer extreme pain, just a little annoying pain. Although I still have other issues with my legs, hips, back, etc., my mobility has still GREATLY increased and now, after 2 years of faithfully eating my powdered Cayenne pepper any time I can, my days of having to use a cane are seldom.

I will admit, if I get out and turn over a garden patch with a shovel, I may end up having to take a Tylenol and drag my cane back out for a day or two, but at least now after such a chore, it only takes one Tylenol once or twice, a cane for only a day or two, and then I am back up and going. Gone are the days of prescription pain meds and a few days in bed after such a strenuous chore.

The results have been gradual, but one day it really hit me, "Hey! I have been sleeping all night without that knife sticking in my hip all through the night!" And it lets Dave sleep better, too, because I am not groaning, whimpering, and rolling over and over every few minutes all night, trying desperately to find a position that will get me some pain relief. I LOVE my Cayenne pepper and I get so excited when I think of the terrific results it has given me! It is most definitely one of God's many blessings upon us. It is cheap (free if you grow it yourself, but I am having problems getting that one kind of pepper to grow), 100% natural, and extremely effective with no side effects that I have seen so far.
If you have ever had any side effects from using Cayenne pepper in your diet, we would love to hear what it (they) might be.
We also welcome all of your input on this subject, and any results you might have had.

Thank you so much for visiting Two Farms One and for reading this post! Have a beautiful day!