The Amature Farm

Click here for worm farming secrets ofWorm composting
worm farming make a green and responsible living
Coral farming! Grow and collect your own coral

When I was 5 years old, my family made its first cross country move from Juneau, AK to Grants Pass, OR. For a while we lived in my Grandparent's basement as many of the family members have done throughout the years to get on their feet. When we finally moved into a mobile, my dad had it made. With a whole 1/2 acre, he and my mom set out to turn the place into a farm. I've mentioned in my first two articles that we had a plethora of animals, ducks, chickens, turkeys, goats, a pony, a horse, a dog, a cat, a cow, a pig, and a dove, lol.

My dad also made a double decker tree fort complete with rope swing, which, depending on the season would swing out over soft mint, or spikey blackberry vines. We had a lot of fun on that thing. I one time got my thrill out of the way by rappelling off the first story tree fort with the rope swing... ah, nothing like rope burned hands.... eh, not really.

It was on this piece of property that my dad started gardening. One of our many gardens mysteriously had gigantic produce, would grow just about anything, and we thought we were really good... until our neighbor came over and inquired as to why we had planted a garden on our leech field. Sigh, that was a special day, but it all still tasted good, lol. Up on another hill however, far away from the broken down feces of humanoids, me and my dad would grow potatoes. That was really fun. He made a seed planter out of an aluminum pipe sharpened at one end and a tin lid electrical taped to the other end and what you would do is make your hole with the sharp end, take it out to let the dirt out of the pipe, put it back in the hole and thumb your seeds sitting in the lid down the pipe. It was pretty cool, and once--the potatoes--had grown, then came the fun part! Digging them up like treasure. The cool thing about potatoes is that they branch out underground, and you get to look everywhere for them, and it's a joy when you find one, especially a big one!

Childhood on an amateur farm, was pretty good fun with all the animals, gardening, and a pretty cool piece of property. It taught at least some responsibilities as well like: feeding and watering the animals, planting things, and how to use a pole digger, lol.

Poultry Farming
Ever considered shrimp farming?
Discover the secrets of... FARM TOWN! the hottest app on facebook, myspace, yahoo, and iphone!

You Gotta Love Horses

Complete guide of how to buy and care for your horse
Natural Horse Therapies

Horses. Strong, majestic, symbolic, and used by man for millennia as modes of transportation, war machines, and even as good friends. My first horse experience takes me all the way back to Juneau, AK, where I was born. There's a family getaway there called Echo Ranch a few miles out of town that we used to visit every so often. They had everything from miniature golf to horseback riding, and it was there that I had my first ride on the beautiful creature called the horse. Of course I was about four or so, and the huge creature toward over me like a mountain towers over a hiker. With just a little bit of help, lol, I was mounted. I still remember it as a very calm horse, with a beautiful cream colored coat. Much more beautiful than me with my bright orange safety cap on, lol, I think I finally know why my dad got me that hat, lol.

Anyways, since then I've loved horses, and not only me, but my family. As I mentioned before our dad wanted to turn our place in Oregon once we moved, into an amature farm. And one of the first animals we ever got was a horse... well, a pony but: a horse is a horse, no matter how small, lol, I guess there could be some genetic differences, but that's beside the point :p We named him Buckshot, because when we gave him his first shot, he bucked like crazy!

We had both fun and trials with that horse. We learned to ride, and many a times were taken wildly up onto our hillside through the brush or brushed up against the fence, but it was all good experiences :D And we also learned a bit of responsibility considering we had to feed him every day. He was smart too! He actually learned how to untie his rope and it was more than once that we found ourselves chasing him down the neighborhood dirt road if he had accompanied us to a friend's house, lol.

He was beautiful, dark brown, a lot of sass, and a very calm personality. As an example, one time just being stupid, I decided to listen to our neighbor friend and chase the poor thing with those metal rakes dragging on the ground. He soon ended up upside down in our ditch, we thought we'd killed him! So, with terror, I got my dad, who came out and lifted away the rocks in a dam he had built in the ditch which had helped Buckshot get stuck. But did he panic? A little bit, but for the most part he just laid there, and he was perfectly fine afterword. God had mercy on me that day, but my dad didn't. On Buckshot's behalf... or my behalf, depending on when this happened, there was a time when--not knowing what I was doing--walked behind Buckshot improperly and he let me have it right in the shoulder. I was a little kid mind you, and it knocked me on the ground, I was blessed that he didn't hit my head. He was a good pony.

Our second horse we got when we were just a tad older, a gorgeous white stallion, with black speckles. We actually kind of rescued him seeing that the previous owners didn't feed him well enough. And you could see the bones of the rib cage. So we adopted him and nursed him back to health. He too, ended up running down the neighborhood road a few times with us chasing him.

Learn natural Horsemanship
Learn forgotten horse training methods

The Many Joys Involved With Owning Turkeys

Click Here! To learn how to raise turkeys

Oh boy, when I was a kid my dad thought it would be a WONDERFUL idea to buy turkeys. What brought him to this wild conclusion I have no idea, but I do know that after we moved to Grants Pass, Oregon from Juneau, Alaska and finally moved out of my Grandmother's basement into our new mobile... he thought we'd be good farmers... on: 1/2 an acre, lol.

We already had a ton of animals when he came to the decision to go to one of the local feed stores and buy some turkey chicks during the spring season. We had chickens, ducks, a pony, goats, a dove, a dog, and a cat(s). I don't recall if we had the horse the pig and the cow at that time, but that's another story.

So off we go, three little chitlins and their dad (mom was probably working) off to get a few new members of the family. As we opened the doors to the small feed store, the sweet, dusty fragrance of horse feed, plant manure, and fresh chicken droppings filled the nostrils. Lol, we had three favorate things to do at the feed store, one was to visit the new arivals during the spring, two, climb up and through the stacked hay in the back barn, and three, have fun with the horse pill magnets (if you don't know, those are for horses to swallow, they'll pick up things like nails, etc., and then the horse poops em' right out). As we browsed through the springs chicks, I remember quite a variety, well at least three: ducklings, chicklings, and turk... lings. We picked the ones we wanted and paid the local slave master, and hucked those turkeys home.

All the way home we kids admired our new found babies. When we got home we introduced them to the other birds and their new home under the chicken shed my dad had built. As most of our outside birds were not generally too cuddly, it was the same with these. It was a great joy to us kids having wild turkeys grow up in our own yard.

I believe we had one or two for thanksgiving and they were delicious. But as time went by and they grew older, the rest seemed to fall prey to predators. One by one they disappeared, until there was one lonesome male. The largest of the bunch, he stood big, fat, and wide, with booshed out feathers and a long beard. For some unknown reason that we still cannot figure out to this day, one day that turkey snapped: seizing his demonic anger on one person... my older sister of three years--who at the time was like... 15-17 years old.

This possessed turkey would literally attack my sister and even wait outside of the door for her to come out. My sister recalls the story (much better than myself) of the day she got the courage to stand up to this turkey: with several layers of jackets and shirts, gloves, boots, and a bicycle helmet over her face, and armed to the teeth... with a broom. According to her the turkey was waiting, and as she BOLDLY stepped forward and then stood her ground about ready to beat the crap out of the turkey. However, this gobbler knew who it was behind the mask, and was an expert of playing off her fear. He proceeded to circle my horoic sister, tilting his head this way and that way, and emitting an eerie eeeeeerrr-kakaka sound of the most fowl kind (no pun intended), my sister proceeded to do absolutely nothing and try to stay as still as possible.

Others stories include a video tape of him chasing my sister across the yard, waiting for her to come down from the tree fort and chasing her back across the yard and her slamming into the camera. And of my mother literally beading it bloody with a broom handle just to let my sister in the car. I have no doubt that today, the turkey wouldn't stand a chance against my sister, but back then, he had the advantage of fear. He would literally fly in the air and body slam you, lol! Sigh, fun times. I don't remember how long he lasted, but his final demise according to my mother, was being sold to some neighbors and probably eaten as a thanksgiving turkey.

Click Here! To learn how to raise turkeys