Giant Black Snake Terrorizes Mount Nebo!

Paul holding up the Monster of Mt Nebo

Nah… not really but it did scare the snot out of two huge farm boys. Yesterday was another lesson in just how different my life has become in the last year. For those that missed my Facebook post yesterday I will share again.

My uncle sold $200 worth of hay to a nearby farm and the farm hands came over to pick up the hay. While they were loading it they discovered a black snake that was over 5ft long. Can you imagine lifting a bale of hay and seeing something like that coming at you? Well they knocked on my door and said it was embarrassing but they were very afraid of snakes and could I help them. I said sure, let me grab the .22. He asked if I was afraid and I replied… not really. But I for sure would have been startled at the least seeing something that big coming at me!

I walked down there and shot the snake. I admit it took three shots before it finally died. Before you make fun of me, I hit it all three times. I’m a fair hand with a gun thanks to Paul. The men were very grateful and surprised that I was such a good shot and so calm. Looking back on it I guess I surprised myself a bit too.

I never would have thought a year ago that while sitting at my desk in my skirt and high heals booking travel that I would be doing anything like this. But I was determined to stop working for other people and start working for my clients and myself.

It’s been an amazing journey so far. I’ve learned a lot about farming and myself. I hope to continue to learn about both for the next 70 years!

Last night I found myself researching how to humanely kill chickens. I have a chicken that just isn’t like the others. She is ill and I can’t seem to help her and the only way I can see to put her out of what I see as misery is to cull her out of the flock. She was literally gasping for breath last night while I was holding her. I guess I still have a tender spot and I never want to see an animal of any sort suffer even if it was meant for food. I think I can do it but I have to admit I want Paul by my side the first time for support.

I have been trying to spend equal amounts of time on my small business ventures. This week I have started looking into pricing in the yellow pages for my travel business. I love working with people to plan vacation & honeymoon trips. But, I have to admit the corporate business that I do is very rewarding as well. I’m so blessed to work with a large company who has some great employees. I have to admit sometimes I still find it odd that people call me at 10pm to book travel but now that I don’t work in an office from 9 to 5 it is important for me to help them at any time. I would love to work with just one more large account like that. If anyone knows of a company that would like a travel goddess at their beck and call … let me know!

The other thing I worked on this week was my egg & poultry business. I contacted the WV Department of Agriculture and I was amazed at how helpful they were to me. I talked to a gentleman in the meat processing division who not only gave me great tips on how to keep my start up costs low but offered to come out for a “dry run” inspection before the actual inspection takes place. I wish all government agencies would be so helpful to small start up businesses!

Anyway, I learned that as a small producer I don’t have to jump through all the hoops as the big factory farms do. I can sell up to 1500 dozen eggs per week and 1000 birds per year to commercial businesses. While I have no intention of getting that big it is a relief to know that it seems they are behind the small farmer in my state.

Well, at least when it comes to poultry & eggs. Dairy is another matter all together and I was shocked to learn that in the state of WV it is illegal to buy shares in dairy cows and it is also illegal to sell raw milk. This is sad as I remember as a kid getting milk in large mason jars from a lovely older couple who lived close to us. I can honestly say that it didn’t kill me and I learned a lot.

That is when I first became curious as to where food came from as the milk in that jar looked nothing like the stuff we got at the grocery store! It got me so curious I decided to learn how to make buttermilk and even my first ever batch of home made butter. I realized that if I could do that then I should try other things and I made my own home made wine with supervision from my mom and I started learning to cook. I’ll never forget the first time I made coq au vin.

I guess when I moved to the city I forgot all about those things and concentrated on starting my career. I can’t begin to share how bone deep happy I am at rediscovering this other passion in my life. It is rewarding to eat something you helped to produce.

This week was also the start of the garden. I have 1 full row of potatoes, 1 row of 2 types of onion, garlic, 2 types of carrots, radish, 2 rows of candy corn two rows of tomatoes & peppers. I still need to get in there and plant another row of late potatoes and my beans & peas. It has been so muddy the past two days I haven’t been able to get back in it. I hope that one day we will see a whole week without rain.

Paul suggested we start a rain collection system for watering in the heat of the summer and I agree. Why not put all the incessant rain we’ve had to good use. It was such a great idea I started collecting all the rain that leaks through my living room ceiling!