Country living. Although there is no true Utopia, our home in the country is as close as it gets. We own the 6 acres on which our home sits, surrounded by Kansas pasture land. We don't have many luxuries, as you might know them, and our home is over 75 years old and when we moved in was in need of various repairs, a never ending chore.
My family moved here in November 1995 from a large city. We had never lived in the country and weren't sure of what to expect. With our move, we left behind many convienences that we had taken for granted.
And I call this Utopia? The peace that we have found has become much more important than the material things that we left behind. The stress from the city had been disguised as the convienences that we had become acustom to, not to mention the crime, traffic, and lack of privacy. Our farm is the treasure we have found out the end of the rainbow.
Micro farming. When we moved into our home in the country, we had no real intentions to farm, afterall, what could we do with 6 acres? My wife and I had a revelation, we should try to be self-sufficient, at least as much so as possible.
Our first project was chickens, they don't take alot of space and care is minimal. We bought 10 leghorn pullets that were 16 weeks old and within the first week we were getting about six eggs a day. By the end of the first month we were getting 8-10 eggs a day. We not only had enough eggs for our family, but we sold enough to buy feed to cover our expenses. (Pictured is a Jungle Fowl rooster Tyson).
Not all of our plans worked as well as we had planned, like our pet hog, named PIG, that our kids made into a family member instead of sausage. Our intent was to breed Pig and sell some of the piglets and keep a few to raise and butcher. Not knowing much about pigs, we waited to long to have her bred. When I mentioned that we should take her to market, my kids threated to dis-own me. She now weighs about 900 pounds and lives a life of ease, however she does make a good disposal.
What's a farm without a cow? I found a week old holstein heifer and brought her home in a large dog crate. We bottle fed her for about 4 weeks and she grew like a weed. We named her Hershey and she had her first calf in October 1998. Hershey supplied us with enough milk for our family and we used the cream to make butter. The extra milk helped feed Pig and, believe it or not, chickens love it! We decided to sell Hershey and her calf (Maggie) to a dairy farm when we found out how much commitment it required to milk her twice a day. We really enjoyed her but couldn't afford to keep another "pet", she now resides at a "real dairy farm".
Our spring and summer project was our garden. We started early in March by building a cold frame in a sunny section of the yard. We dug a hole about 10 inches deep by 6 foot square, then built a frame 24 inches high and put it into the hole (stands 14 inches above the ground), we then filled it with 6 inches of sand. We put a lid on with hinges, made of scrap lumber and clear plastic, and we were about to start cool weather crops from seed into planting boxes. Later we added a heating element under the sand, attached to some hail screen, and a thermometer and were able to get an early start on tomatoes, cucumbers and other warm weather crops before transplanting into our garden. Many seeds, including many kinds of herbs, were started in the house under a flouresent light and the moved outside. We froze and canned enough vegetables to last until next summer.
Making a living. But still, we weren't making a profit from our farm. At best we were saving money by not buying as many groceries. We began looking for investment ideas. We had been taking a magazine,"Small Farm Today", which is published in Missouri, that is a great publication for anyone with a small acreage farm up to 200 acres. We have gotten a wealth of information about raising vegatables, alternative livestock, and other interesting ideas, including marketing strategies, from this magazine. This is where we got many of our ideas for raising the animals we now have.
In October of 1997 we made our first profitable livestock investment. After months of research, my wife bought a registered breeding pair of Olde English "Baby Doll" Miniature Southdown Sheep, Lizzie and Butch. We were rewarded the following spring when Lizzie just gave birth to a healthy little ram, Rocky, on March 11, 1998. We sold Rocky and bought another ewe, Shelby. Although I can tell you it was hard for us to part with Rocky, they make such wonderful pets and he was so very loveable. On May 31, 1999 Lizzie gave birth to Harley, another baby ram! If you would like to see more pictures of our Babydolls, as well as a picture of our "adopted" Columbia wether, Kramer, please click on the picture of Paige, our newest babydoll. These sheep not only make good pets, they don't take up much space, they can graze in the front yard and fertilize as they go. Our flock has continuely grown, we hope to maintain about 20 ewes. Please visit our sheep page to find out more about our flock.
In November 1997, I bought a pair Satin Angora rabbits, Scarlet O'Hare and Buster. The Satin Angora's not as popular as the French and English, yet, but the wool has the feel of silk and is prefered by most for spinning. As I learn more about genetic breeding and rabbit conformation, I hope to operate a successful rabbitery not only for wool prodution, but also to show and sell quality rabbits. On February 18, Scarlett gave birth to 8 very cute babies. Five red tort, two red, and a blue eyed white bunny. This red bunny looks just like his father and the torts like their mother, I don't know where the white came from, but it has become my favorite. At four weeks old they all are getting used to being handled and get more adorable everyday.
As if we didn't have enough to do, in the summer of 1998 we started a home-based business, Prairie Hills Country Candles. At first, we thought of the candles as a hobby and a way to have scented candles in our home without paying the high prices for the brand names in stores. We gave them to family and friends as gifts and soon began receiving orders. Our timing was perfect, we could barely keep up with the Christmas demand. Now we sell our candles to many retail stores and individuals throughout central Kansas.
We make a high quality candle that is triple scented and hand poured into either a 8 oz Quilted Crystal Jelly Jar, a 10 oz or 16 oz Apothecary Jar. With a large variety of fragrances, over 80, and a specially formulated wax that retains the scent better, burns longer and cleaner, we are proud to offer our candles at about half the cost of most big name candle companies.
As a compliment to the candles we also make bath and body products, such as lotions, bath & shower gels and protein body/hair spray. If you would like more info on Prairie Hills Country Candles or our bath & body line, please e-mail Prairie Hills Farm or visit our commercial site Prairie Hills Country Candles.
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