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1. I’m not trying to be critical, but wouldn’t you also deal with fleas and ticks from indoor dogs? I don’t like to have chemicals on them. We have lots of animals on our farm, and every one of them is outside. The only ones that come in ever are the ones who need special nursing during the coldest days of the year. And yes, the dogs have dog breath, but it doesn’t matter, since they’re outside. I don’t spoil my animals that much, I guess. I thought I did, but I guess not.

   1. I’m sure your animals are well taken care of, Rose. We all have different needs and expectations of our animals.
      Our dogs serve as excellent protectors and warning. We have had outdoor dogs that are primarily for property management and security, but we also have indoor dogs that do more. I have one that is a great help to me in my chores indoors and outdoors. She picks things up off the floor for me as well as helps with pulling the watering hose, herding animals, and more. Because they are in the house and very personal with the family, they get more maintenance.
      We’ve never had fleas and have only seen three ticks in the past five years. Only one was embedded at the time we found them. The one time we had tick-infested animals come onto the property and drop ticks, we treated the area with a mixture of neem powder and diatomaceous earth. We didn’t have a problem after that. All of our domesticated animals have been flea and tick free, with these few exceptions. We try to keep the land free of them. In wet, densely wooded areas, I imagine it would be more difficult than what we experience.
      We don’t like those harsh chemicals that are often used for fleas and ticks either. However, our indoor animals are bathed regularly and sprayed with essential oils that prevent these pests. We use a drop of peppermint oil in their conditioner (as it can be consumed in their licking) and then a mixture on their neck and collar that should not be consumed but smells good to us and repulsive to fleas, ticks, and mosquitos. We also use essential oils to protect ourselves against mosquitos and not just fleas and ticks. We use the same blend both on us and on the dog collars. The primary ingredient is rose geranium essential oil along with peppermint oil and a few others. Hugh shared my recipe at one point in a letter. You might search for “rose geranium oil” to locate it using the blog’s search capabilities, if you are interested.

2. We have three dogs in and out of the house. By far the best way to clean a dog’s teeth is giving them raw beef bones about once a week. Not only does chewing on bones clean their breath, it cleans off ALL the tartar! And the dogs love them. We discovered this after finding out the vets in our area charge up to $400 for teeth cleaning!

   1. Julie, yes raw bones do a great work. However, we seem to need a bit more. When our beef is processed we get the bones for our dogs, so they have bones regularly. We agree with you about wanting to avoid the expense of the teeth cleaning and just as much I want to avoid the risk of the general anesthesia required, too.

3. Our Vet recommended Science Diet Oral Care. I give our Lab a handful a day. She gets this in addition to her normal feed. A large bag is expensive but at a handful a day lasts a LONG time.

4. I second the raw bone trick for teeth cleaning. One big one a month seems to do the trick for us.

5. Security/Video Surveillance and Shop Organization

   It is my plan to install two more surveillance cameras on the property this week,……
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   Am looking to do such around my place. What I don’t know about the various products would fill volumes.

   IF your OP/PERSEC allows you to answer:
   What are you installing?

   WB

   1. We are using Ubiquity’s UniFi Video system. The management software is free but you are limited to only ubiquity camera’s. The 3rd generation are good for $100 cameras. The NVR can be your own computer or a dedicated NVR about the size of a reading book. Perhaps this summer, I’ll write it up. Here is a sample night picture from the system.

6. Just as another option, I purchased Amcrest brand cameras for my church. Our pro installer who did our other buildings, charges $1000 per camera for install, plus the cost of the DVR, etc. I got an 8 camera system for less than $300. It cost about $600 for an electrician to come out and put them in with me helping. I probably could have done it myself but felt more comfortable with him there and it looks much more professional than I would have done. Granted they are not of the same quality of his cams but, for less than the cost of one cam from him, I have 8 cams up and running with what I would call good quality. They’ve only been in for a couple months but so far I’m happy with them and used them to see which govt. agency destroyed one of our fences during a snow storm! I’ll give it a few more months and maybe write it up. I got some for my house as well but haven’t put them up yet. It’s on “the list” lol.

7. Took the BOV to the shop got new bearings put in. Did a 2 mile hike with get home bag. Taught a class on fire starting with a ferrol rod and dryer lint. Repacked the get home bags.

8. We’ve started harvesting our tomatoes so more of that will be done this week. I pulled a toilet out Saturday to repair the flange, but it was too far gone. After the wife and I discussed it we decided to call in a professional. I was worried I’d damage the PVC pipe since the flange was glued in. They fixed it today for $130.00. While plowing my five-acre field yesterday I had a sealed bearing go out on the harrow. I can’t complain as I got twenty years out of it. Today after work I pulled the axel and replaced the bearing. I keep extra bearings, disks, and an axel handy for situations like this. It took me about an hour to get the gang tore down to replace the bearing and then put back together. The high humidity had me soaking in the evening heat. They are calling for rain all week so most of preps this week will be indoors. The rain will work out well for the field, because even with the harrow failure I was able to get 150 pounds of brown top millet broadcast. To finish the plowing, I barrowed my friend’s harrow that was stored at my place. I did receive a new book this past week, Edible Wild Plants Eastern/Central North America, so I’ll be studying that. Also, while plowing the field I noticed along the edge a lot of black berries were ripe. I picked and ate a handful so I need to take some time to pick some this week when the rain stops.

   1. $130 well spent. Plumbing is my kryptonite

      1. Good to know when to call in a pro. Minor plumbing I can handle-best 4 hours I ever spent with my brother in law learning how to do minor household plumbing stuff. I too have looked at a situation and thought, “nope, beyond what Mike taught me, I’ll only make it worse.” Kryptonite for me is auto mechanics. Just to keep me humble the service advisor at my mechanic is a woman. I usually end up saying, “Cathy, I have no idea what you’re talking about, just fix it and tell me how much I owe you.” Luckily they are honest as all get out! Someday, maybe I’ll take that basic auto maintenance class I keep talking about. Right after the small engine one…

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