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When should I tap my Maple Trees?

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 It's mid-April here in southern Michigan which means syrup season is usually over.  Most of the birds have migrated back, and the frogs chirp at night.  Most of the days have gotten warmer and the buds and even starts of leaves have started growing on trees, all of these are definite signs the syrup season is over.   My Experience      For most of my life, my family has made Maple Syrup as a hobby.  For about 4 years in my early 30's my brother and I made it commercially.  Together we had about 8,000 taps.  Mine were mostly roadside trees, while his were all on a vacuum system.  I  preferred doing roadsides as I would get huge maple trees which would warm up quickly in the full sun and run all day long because of their size.  I used 15-gallon barrels to collect my maple sap so that I could keep up during a good run without losing too much of the tree sap.  I enjoyed the challenge of making the syrup commercially, but, it was too much work and it had become for stress than joy.
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Animal Killer- Tips on Responsible Butchering

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My whole life I have been around farming and raising livestock for food.  I have always enjoyed raising animals, riding horses, and having pets.  But, the one thing I never enjoyed was when it came down to killing them.  I still can't say it's my favorite, but, it is a necessary part of eating an animal.  I would cringe when it came to be my job to cut off the heads of chickens or to shoot a hog or cow. But, I loved the thought of being self-sufficient!       I always thought that being able to provide for yourself when it came to food was an awesome thing.  When I was around 9 years old we got our first rabbits.  We had 2 does and a buck and let them loose in an old 10x10 chicken coop we had.  From there those 3 rabbits quickly became 30 and we moved our operation to a much bigger barn.  We had a client come and he would buy every rabbit we had for $3 a piece!  We were rich!  I always wanted to butcher the rabbits but, couldn't bring myself to the killing part.        Fast
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5 Easy Tips For Gardening Beginners

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     Do you want to save money, eat fresh, and know what is in the food you grow?  Then gardening is the thing for you!  Not only can you eat the freshest, most delicious food all summer long, but you get it cheaper and possibly healthier than ever!   Feel free to stay with me as I share with you 5 easy tips to start your gardening experience!     Gardens can be any size you want but for all intents and purposes, we're going to assume everyone has a decent 20x20 plot to start your garden.  If you don't have that much don't worry, most of these tips can be used in raised beds or containers as well!      1. Tilling     All great gardens begin with breaking the soil.  Regardless of soil type, you will need to loosen it up and get some good soil on top.  It may be a great idea to get some manure to till into the ground to make it fertile.  If you aren't against using commercial fertilizer 19-19-19 isn't a bad idea to spread over the ground and rototill in as well this w
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Is Prepper a Bad Word?

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       Sometimes I ask myself how self sufficient am I?  It's the middle of winter here in lower Michigan.  Its been a mild winter but, its cold enough.  I like it to at least be cold enough so its not muddy outside, to me that perfect!  But, I reflect if  "it" hit the fan tomorrow, and we lost our electricity, our grocery stores, our vehicles, and gas.  How would I do?  Could I make it to growing season?  More important, could I make it to harvest season?  Am I Prepared?         Am I prepared... wait am I a prepper? I don't think I am!  I don't like the term prepper because I think the media has made preppers look borderline crazy!   Since watching some of these shows, I imagine preppers digging a hole with 30,000 rounds of ammo and 800 gallons of water and just waiting for someone to try and attack.  Or going through drills with there 5 year old's on what to do if The Isis attacks.  It just seems like that word has been dirtied.. I do like the term homestead
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Location: Michigan, USA
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