UPDATE! Our Chickens

Well I said that not to long ago that my next update on our chickens would be when they lay eggs.  Well that day has finally come!  My family and I are so excited!  

 

So we have five total eggs now.  We still do not know which hen is laying.  I have been telling them everyday that they can do it!(Encouragement always helps)

 The smaller brown eggs are the ones they are producing for us.  

We are so proud of them!

Eminent Domain Hits Home by Matthew R. Winship

Eminent Domain Hits Home

There are alot of things about the govenment that I do not like.  But Eminent Domain really gets my blood boiling.  Back in McCurtain County Oklahoma where I grew up my parents will be taken advantage of as state appraisers appraise there land and the state buys it. The state is widening State HWY 70 and has been taking property.  They will even get my parents neighbors house!   The entire house.  I wrote a letter to the McCurtain Gazette.  Here is the Letter:

I grew up in Eagletown, OK. I am a life long Sooners fan. I am a proud Choctaw.  I now live in Georgia however I truly miss and love Oklahoma. That is why I am very disturbed by what is now happening in my beloved county.  The very home that I grew up in is under attack by the state.  I cannot believe this is happening in McCurtain County Oklahoma. The State is seizing people’s land in the name of eminent domain.  Let us start with those words. Eminent domain is Latin for Supreme Lordship.  Basically they infer the State is God.  What Bold arrogance our elected officials have. They ask for our votes and then take our homes.

My, how soon we forget our history. The Choctaws had their lands forcibly removed before, The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek.  They to were offered “just compensation” and many paid the ultimate price.

In the words of William Norman Greg “We are all Indians now”.  All the middle-class, all the poor, black, white or red.  I doubt any elected official in the county or state govt will have land taken away.  Why is Chief Pyle and the Choctaw Nation Silent on this?  Further Mr Greg teaches us that “The inescapable reality is that eminent domain is a particularly vulgar form of plunder used to enrich the political class and their corporate cronies at the expense of the rest of us. “
Political Commentator Lew Rockwell has this to say about eminent domain. ….”eminent domain itself, which is the best example of how government is not the protector of private property but its main violator. No individual should be allowed to take property from others for any purposes. Government should not be judged by a moral code different from that which we use to judge individuals. And certainly nothing is more preposterous than the notion that the seat of the world empire is the best protector of our rights.”

People of McCurtain County you need to wake up and fight this.  Right now the state, the “Supreme Lordship”, is seizing a few acres and houses(HWY 70 Mountain Fork River-Stateline).  What happens when they want your land?  

The county should write all elected officials. We do not want houses confiscated. If any person’s house is seized by the government under eminent domain we will vote them out.

I fear there is a general apathy in McCurtain County.  No one really cares that someone loses their property. Sadly, others just roll over and accept it. “We just have to deal with it” is an unfortunate and unacceptable attitude. It is not reflective of a citizen of a Republican but that of a subject of tyranny.

The Government should protect and serve the people not subjugate them. Eminent Domain affects everyone in this county. Protect what you have. Are you citizens or subjects?

I don't know if this letter will inspire anyone. My hope is that it will inspire at least one other person to come to the defense of these good people in Oklahoma. 

I know this is the South East Georgia Homestead blog.  However I will right about injustice from all over the States.  

Matthew R. Winship 

UPDATE: Our Chickens

Since June we have been raising chickens.  If you scroll down you can see some pictures of our chicks with our little girls and how our chicken coop came together. 
We have learned a lot from keeping chickens.  I have read two books about keeping chickens.  Raising Chickens for Dummies by Kimberly Willis is the best for beginners like us.
So starting out we had five chickens.  We did not know how many roosters and hens.  As time went on we realized that Rufus was a rooster from the prominent crown, waddle and tail feathers.

RUFUS

 The day I first heard him crow I was so PROUD! He has a crow that sounds hoarse, like he has a sore throat. So Rufus was the first to crow.  A few weeks later we heard a big booming crow. I just thought that his voice had matured.  I was wrong.

Sno-Ball

 This is Sno-Ball.  We wrongly assumed that he was a she until she...I mean he, let out a booming loud crow!  His facial features were not as prominent as Rufus's.

 So we have three hens and two roosters.  The dominant Rooster appears to be Rufus however every once in a while during feeding  Sno-Ball fluffs up at Rufus if he gets to close.
The hens all follow Rufus's lead.
At the beginning I would let the chickens out of they're coop to free range and then put them back up in the afternoon.  Putting them back up was difficult. Herding chickens has to be as difficult as herding cats!
One busy day I just forgot about them. I went out with a flashlight worried about them.  I looked all over our three acres.  The last place I looked was the coop were they were resting comfortably.  Since that night I let them out in the morning to forage and put them up at night when they are ready.
Our little girls love to feed them. We started feeding them from our porch.  Our girls love feeding them!

 But after a few days of this we noticed the chicken poop all over the back porch!  Now they come up automaticlly in the evenings. I am going to have to break them of this habit.

We really like to sit and watch them.  They forage for grass and insects. They run funny. Sno-Ball is my personal favorite.  He is a beautiful Rooster.
We use them to teach our little ones to.  They are learning chicken anatomy. The beak, comb, wattles etc.  They will learn about eggs and meat chickens when it is time. 
I was interested in keeping chickens for eggs, meat and composting of the manure. I have found that there is so much more than that.
Next update when we have eggs!

Sweet Val's Cuban Sandwiches with a German Twist by Matthew & Valerie Winship

I am a guy. I like sandwiches.  In fact one of my new favorite shows is Sandwich King on the Food Network.  The other day while at one of my day jobs I was thinking about one of my favorite sandwiches and what if anything I could do to improve it.  Then it hit me!  A Cuban Sandwich....with a german twist!

According to Wikipedia, Cuban Sandwiches appeared in Florida in the late 1800's.  The arrival of Cuban immigrants to work in the cigar factories in Tampa, Florida brought with it many customs, traditions and food.  The Cuban Sandwich is one such food.  Thought to have been a lunch food for the workers, a Cuban Sandwich consists of ham, roast pork, swiss cheese, pickles and mustard on Cuban Bread.  The sandwich is grilled and pressed giving it the crispy exterior and the warm melty interior we all know and love.

My dream sandwich occured in the middle of the day(lunchtime of course).  I was thinking how I could give a Cuban a twist.  I thought it has to be the pork.  What could we do with the pork?

While serving in the U. S Army we were stationed in Germany.  My wife and I quickly became accustomed to the German cuisine.  One of my favorites is Schnitzel. Schnitzel Wiener Art is a delicious German Comfort food. It is akin to our fried pork chops.  Schnitzel is lean, boneless, thin slices of pork dipped in egg that is seasoned with salt and pepper then coated with bread crumbs, fried and garnished with lemon.  It is tender, salty and wonderful.  It is the perfect addition to a Cuban Sandwich!

The first step is to prepare the Schnitzel.

My Sweet Val

• Panko Bread Crumbs
• Three Eggs
• Thin sliced boneless pork cutlets
• Seasoned salt, black pepper

First Val heats canola oil in a large skillet.
Then She takes the pork cutlets and pounds them out with a kitchen mallet.  This will tenderize the meat.

Next you will need to set up a breading station.  Break the eggs beat them and put them in a bowl. Add seasoned salt and pepper to taste.  Get a plate and put your Panko or Italian bread crumbs onto it also season to taste. 

Egg Bath

Coat with Bread Crumbs.

 After the meat is nice and tenderized dip it into the eggs.












Next coat the meat liberally with the bread crumbs.

  

Schnitzel

Once the meat has a nice coating lay it gently in the frying pan.














The Schnitzel will not take long to cook because they are thin pieces of meat. When they are done put them onto a plate and sit them aside.

Now to prepare for the Cuban Sandwiches.

• Cuban Bread
• Swiss Cheese
• Mustard(Maille is what we used)
• Dill Pickles
• Deli Ham
• Butter to coat the top of the bread
• One brick covered in aluminum foil

To prepare the sandwich take the Cuban Bread and cut off a piece roughly the size of a brick. Cut it in half lengthwise.
Coat the crust of the bread with butter.
Put one piece into the frying pan. Coat with mustard.
Put your schnitzel down over the mustard.
Top the Schnitzel with swiss cheese and ham.
I just put three small pieces of pickles on the my sandwich. You can use as many as you want.

That is a brick wrapped in Foil.

Now top with the other half of bread. Put the brick on top of the entire sandwich and cook like a grill cheese.
I cook until the cheese is melted and the bread has a nice crunchy exterior.  I flip it one time and apply gentle pressure to the brick to press it.

The finished product!

What you end up with is an amazing Cuban Sandwich with a German Twist.  Once you take the first bite the first thing you feel is the crunch of the grilled Cuban bread. As you chew the unique taste of the Swiss Cheese comes out and then there is the salty, tenderness of the schnitzel and ham.  The acid of the mustard and pickle, combined with the salty schnitzel and Swiss cheese is almost more than I can stand!

We hope that you enjoy our sandwich recipe.

Recommended Reading for Labor Day Weekend

• Why we lost gun rights and Liberty today by Randy Wakeman 
• Top Ten Repair projects you should never have to pay for.
• 8 Signs that the US Government is Making it Harder For You to Become an Expat
• The War on Lemonade Stands
• A Brief Thought on the Libertarian Message. 

The Japanese People are awesome!

The Japanese people have turned  in millions of dollars found in the destruction.  I wonder if this kind of humanity could happen in the United States.  Imagine losing everything. Nothing left of your house but a concrete slab.  You find wallets and a safe full of cash.  Would you turn it in?  The Japanese overwhelmingly did.
Click here to read the full article.

Save Money at the Auction!

One more weapon my family uses against the “war on the middle class” is buying at auctions. We are lucky enough to have a great family run weekly auction right here in our small town in South Eastern Georgia(SEGA).  We have at least four weekly auctions within driving distance.
With a quick search on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auction I was able to find that auctions go all the way back to the Babylonians. The Babylonians would auction off women for marriage! The oldest auction house is Stockholm Auction House which was established in Sweden in 1674.
In researching this article on  auctions I found that there are many different types of auctions.The four Primary types are English, Dutch, Sealed first priced and Vickery. The English type is the most common and the form we will focus on today. The English Auction requires at least two bidders. The auctioneer calls out the opening price or “suggested opening bid” in auction lingo. The bidders continually place higher and higher bids on the item of interest. The bidding ceases when no more bids are taken on an item and the highest bid wins the item. 

The auction that we attend primarily is Woods Auction in the beautiful town of Glennville, GA.  The Woods Auction has been doing business since 2005.  They hold auctions every Friday night at 7:00 PM.(1900).  The doors open earlier so what is being auctioned off can be viewed.  I generally go up there whenever I get off work and look around. Terry Woods is the owner and proprietor of Woods Auction. He is a military veteran with 20 years of service.  He has been an auctioneer for six years.  Mr Terry told me the strangest item he has ever auctioned off is a  prosthetic leg!
Our family has gotten some really good deals like this rucksack.  I don't know what the brand name is but I will tell you it is worth the $2.00 that I paid for it!

We got these four US Army Duffle Bags for between  $2.00-$5.00. They were all bought at different times.  A quick google search shows that someone on Ebay is selling them for $8.00.  You can put a lot of stuff in a military Duffle Bag.

I got these used issue Army boots for $2.00!  What a deal on the US Army's most comfortable boot!

These are a pair of Merrell shoes I got.(above picture)  They were almost brand new whenever I bid $2.00 on them and won!  Retail:  $49.99 a pair!  What a deal!

In edition to the above items we have gotten good quality rods and reels for fishing,  baseball/ football cards(Brett Favre's rookie card) , tools, a wheel barrel, a military kevlar helmet.  But there is no telling what you will find. Like these boxes of ACU's:

Firearms are another item that can be found at auctions.  For firearms you really need to be familiar with guns and there prices.  I have seen a used plain jane ruger 10/22 go for over $600!  I have seen a used excellant condition Mossberg 835 fully camo turkey shotgun go for $275!  That is cheap!  I still kick myself to this day for not bidding on that.

Refrigerators and freezers are another important item that we have saved money on.  We got both at the auction for $50 a piece!  The extra refrigerator and freezer allows us to store and keep so much more food on hand. If we find a food item that we eat on sale, we buy a lot of it.  We believe in food as an investment.  Because of the devaluation of our money inflation is going thru the roof!  Because of droughts and floods we are having a world wide food shortage.  We have to eat every single day. So food storage is a big part of what we do.


In closing I would like to encourage you to go to your local auction.  They are alot of fun. You see some interesting looking people and you just might save a buck!

Mr Terry also runs auctions all over South East Georgia(SEGA). If it needs to be auctioned off he will do it! 

• Sat 13 Aug Reidsville, GA behind the hospital 1000
• Sat 27 Aug Thunderbolt Self Storage 0900(Savannah)
• Sat 3  Sep hwy 17 Savannah, GA 1000
• Sat 10 Sep Victory drive Self Storage in Savannah, Ga 0900
• Sat 17 Sep Southport Storage in Brunswick, GA 0900
• Sat 08 Oct Coastal Storage in Brunswick, GA 0900
• Sat 15 Oct Stop N Store Hinesville, GA 0900 

For more information on these auctions or anything else call Woods Auction:  912-654-9321