Tag Archives: weather

Hope For the Best, Prepare For The Worst

10 Replies

by Texas Homesteader 

The weathermen predicted there would be a winter storm hit our part of Northeast Texas, and they even predicted it would include hazardous ice accumulations in our area.  But you know how weathermen are, they ALWAYS predict it’s going to be disastrous.

My motto is: hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

RancherMan & I spent the days preceding this winter storm making sure the animals were properly cared for. 

We set out fresh rolls of hay in all of the paddocks, even the vacant ones in the event they would be needed. 

And we made sure the goats also had plenty of fresh hay & even packed soft hay into their shelter as well to give them a warm place to sleep. 

We filled a secondary large feed bucket with fresh hay & stored it in the feed shed so we could easily top off the goats’ hay if the wintry weather lasted longer than expected.

Weather caused damage that will have to be cleaned up for YEARS. But we're here & we're safe,warm, fed & sheltered from that wind, and we're TOGETHER. Yep, I'm blessed. #TexasHomesteader
Continue reading →

Optimism When It’s All Out Of Your Control

4 Replies

by Texas Homesteader~ 

As I’ve mentioned many times before, our area of NE Texas is currently suffering through a third consecutive year of drought. 

Like many of our neighbors we’ve been forced to feed hay to our cattle for months due to the pasture grasses burning & dying in the below-normal moisture coupled cruelly with the above-normal heat.

While nervously eyeballing the amount of hay remaining that we’ve been able to put back for those lean winter months, we’re trying to look forward in making sure we have plenty to feed our cows until spring. 

Even after being hit with these hard knocks we’re still optimistic about the small amount of moisture promised in the next few days.

Circumstances may be out of our control, but it's with a renewed sense of optimism that we look toward the next season. #TexasHomesteader Continue reading →

Cooling Your Home Using A Whole-House Fan & No Air Conditioner

8 Replies

by Texas Homesteader ~ 

Did you know you can cool the house quickly without using an air conditioner? A whole-house attic fan cools your home by pulling cooler air from outside throughout the house.

Likewise it can warm a house quickly by pulling warmer air throughout the house.

So each season can benefit with an eco-friendly whole-house fan instead of relying on an energy-heavy air conditioner.

Our whole-house fan in the attic cools the house quickly w/o using an expensive air conditioner by pulling cooler air from outside throughout the house #TexasHomesteader
Continue reading →

Solar Cooking: Dehydrating Garden Produce

14 Replies

by Texas Homesteader
*Contains an affiliate link

I love my solar oven and I use it often. I love that it takes no purchased energy to run. And most of all I love that it leaves all the cooking heat outside where it belongs. 

Recently I began dehydrating overage veggies from my garden. I freeze them as well from time to time but dehydrating them looks pretty cool in my pantry. It also reduces the volume to store by quite a  bit and it works well for use in wintertime Endless Soups – my favorite application.

I decided to try to use my electric dehydrator trays to dehydrate in my solar oven – BIG MISTAKE! Although I left the solar oven’s lid unlatched so it wouldn’t get too hot inside the oven, it apparently doesn’t take very much heat at all to do this:

Did you know you could use a solar oven to dehydrate produce? Then they take no additional energy to store & take up very little space! #TexasHomesteader
Continue reading →