Log Cabin Affliction

This winter and spring I have stayed busy with work on three different old log structures. This is an affliction I have had since I was a young man. The passion I still have but in stamina I am lacking. 

Craze Cabin
 This past fall (2016) Waymon Craze and I started moving logs from one cabin site on his farm to another site to reconstruct a house for his daughter. We being two old men, worked kind of slow but with stedfast resolve. However, we persevered. The cabin is now back up and has a roof on it. These logs were first build about 1905 by the Holder family. 

Log Barn Purchased

In March 2017 I gained knowledge of an old log barn about to be destroyed near Stevenson, AL. I contacted the new owner of the land and procured for a sum of money the salvage of said barn. I hired the Bledsoe Brothers for a few days, and we deconstructed the barn and saved enough of the 1860's circa white oak logs to be used for some small structure as I see fit in the future.

  

McCoy Farm Cabin

The first of May, I hired Mike Prince and Brian Bledsoe to help, and we started work on a one room log cabin on the McCoy farm. We are going to rebuild porches on three sides and put on a new roof structure. This will preserve it for the future generations. This room of logs was built in the 1890's by a man named Tom Lewis. His family had a rough reputation; nevertheless he was a superb craftsman in every since of the word. I have been involved with many log structures and his workmanship has few equals. Therefore this cabin is still in very good condition. 

Year 3- Hay Bale Gardening

I made Becky some new salad beds from 2-55 gallon barrels cut in half and mounted in a frame that is movable 

Tomatoes growing on rotting hale bales. The hay bales were put in place in November and allowed to rot.

Lettuce and beets growing on last year's hay bales. Root crops do really well  rotted hay.

These tomatoes are growing on wheat straw to use as an experiment to compare hay versus straw bales.

Hay Bale Gardening Year Two

These are potatoes and cabbage that we started in the old hay bales from last year.  They have decomposed to only a few inches thick. Compare them to the tomatoes in new bales on the left of the picture. 

Again we are using the decomposed bales of hay for our onion bed.

We built three six foot long boxes and placed them on saw horses. This is where we are growing several varieties of lettuce, spinach, and romaine.

Rabies Scare

Several weeks ago as we were eating dinner a neighbor, who had permission to hunt deer on our property, came into the house scared and shaken. He had been hunting about less than a quarter of mile from the house on our pasture hillside. Much to his dismay, on this day, he had an unfortunate encounter with a raccoon.

He proceeded to tell us of his encounter. About dusk a raccoon crossed the field and came straight to his tree. He tried to "shoo" it off and for a moment it did walk about twenty feet away. He said it then reared up on its' hind legs, looked at him, and proceeded to run directly toward the tree in which he had his tree stand. He yelled at it, but it just kept coming. It climbed the tree, began to bite his boots He then tried to kick it away, but it was determined to get in the tree stand with him. He lowered the barrel of the gun tried to knock it away. When that didn't work he flicked off the safety of his gun and shot it at point blank range in the chest with a 30-06. Fur, dust, and blood went everywhere. As he definitely knew, this just was not normal raccoon behavior.

He immediately came to the house and shared his story. We decided to call the 1-800 number of the state conservative department. They suggested he take the dead coon to be tested for rabies. Within two days he had the report- it was not good. The raccoon had tested positive for rabies.

Not knowing the amount of exposure, doctors recommended he take a series of rabies shots. Believe it or not you can not find rabies vaccine in your local doctors office. Fortunately, he was able to find  what he needed in the ER at Erlanger in Chattanooga, TN. He received a series of 6 vaccinations the first day followed by 3 more over an extended period. He did this just to be safe because as he told us that first night, "No one has ever survived rabies".

Fortunately, this story has a happy ending. This young man completed his series of shots and just this past week became the father of a beautiful baby boy. He really had a great deal to live for. And as the old saying goes, "when you wake up in the morning, you just never know what the day will bring" That's a good thing.

Fall Gardening

If you look closely at theses pictures, you will see that our hay bales have almost totally decomposed after just one growing season. There was just enough hay to plant fall cabbage and broccoli. One of the cabbages are ready to cut, and it won't be long before we can pick our broccoli. The great thing about fall gardening is the produce has great flavor, and the cooler weather makes pests less of a problem meaning no need for pesticides. Once the plants are gone, we will plow under the remaining hay to add organic material to the soil.

Pioneer Days at Loachapoka

The Pioneer Days at Loachapoka, AL, sponsored by the Lee County Historical Society, was fantastic. In fact, we had more interest there for a one day show than other art shows we attended for three days.

The weather was outstanding and lots of people out enjoying the fall day.

The cedar wooden spoons were very popular as well as the 100 year old shingle signs. We took two birdhouse trees to gauge the interest in them. Both were sold and interest high, so the old cedar tops in the woods will not be safe. We also pleased with the response to the prints, also. Best of all, we were able to spend time with Daniel and Laura, pictured above.

Custom Ordered Signs

Our signs have been a big seller at arts and crafts shows. We are now offering you the opportunity to order customized signs painted on 100 year old split oak shingles. The shingles range in size from 2 feet to over 3 1/2 feet and are from 4-6 inches wide. Choose you text and and color scheme. If you are interested in order contact us by email at mccoyfolkart@gmail.com

Wooden Wheelbarrow

I recently acquired several old iron wheelbarrow wheels. I used old designs to make two wheelbarrows. The first one I made was from red cedar. However, the one in this picture was made from red oak boards sawed from trees on the farm and hand planed. The handles on this particular one are made from oak plow handles. This design usually has side boards and was called a garden or yard barrow useful for hauling dirt and vegetation. This one does not have side boards making it more useful for hauling firewood or stones. Around the farm we find wheelbarrows very useful in making our work easier.

The earliest wheelbarrows date back to 118 AD and are attributed to the Chinese. In Europe the first wheelbarrows appeared around 1170 AD. This wheelbarrow is more typical of the European design rather than the Chinese.

More Bird House Trees

Here are three more samples of my bird house trees. Found these cedar trees in the woods and decided to recycle them. The signs are painted on old oak roofing shingles. I am trying to get a few things ready for some arts and craft shows.

Building Bird Houses

Having accumulated so many wood scraps, I needed a project to clean up my shed. If I didn't I was afraid someone would ask me to be on the show, "Hoarders: Buried Alive" on TLC.

These birdhouses are mounted on a cedar pole with a piece of red cedar as a base. The actual birdhouses are build from old western cedar siding with roofs of recycled wooden oak shingles. The rest is just a little imagination, a few screws, and nails. Hopefully they will serve as a movable blue bird home for some migrant family.

Pesky Woodpecker

Woodpeckers are such beautiful birds The Pileated woodpecker, about the size of a crow, are mostly black with a conspicuous red crest, white throat, and white stripes on the wings and the side of the neck. You may have heard its distinct yuk-yuk-yuk- whistle, almost like it is taunting you when you run them off. We have a pair that nest in a hollow tree near the house and have been here for many years.

Even though we have aged trees full of insects to feed theses birds, several decided to explore our porch rafters for food. Early in the morning you would hear they tap-tap-tap coming from the porch.  During the spring the bumblebees had bored into the rafters and laid their eggs doing damage but not as much as the woodpeckers did trying to get to the larva.We would go out and shoo them away only to have them return the next day.

Our solution was to purchase several $1 plastic snakes and hang them from the rafters. Problem solved. We used their natural predators against them. By living in such close proximity to wetlands along the Tennessee River, the beaver swamps kill timber that have become a haven for all kinds of woodpeckers. We really enjoy watching this fascinating birds.

Hay Bale Gardening Success

Our first year of hay bale gardening has been very successful. After we harvested the beets and carrots, we were able to plant more squash and bell peppers in the same bales. We wish we had planted all our squash in the bales, because we had lots of problems with grubs and bugs. Most of the squash plants died after a few pickings. Next year, we will keep all the squash in the bales. Also, after straining our backs picking green beans, we may consider putting the beans in bales.

Stevenson Depot Days

Here you can see some of my latest winter projects. I have been collecting weathered shingles from old log cabins. These particular shingles are anywhere from one hundred and to one hundred and fifty years old. I have saved these for forty years and this winter I had the inspiration to use them to paint signs on the .  The topics are limitless.

We are displaying them today at the Stevenson Depot Days. The crowd was great this morning, but the summer temperatures have driven people indoors.

Another Predator

As usual, spring has brought out another one of our resident predators. Instead of killing the chickens, this one likes to eat the eggs. Friday, I when I went to gather the eggs I found a five foot snake in the hen's nest. The chicken snake, also called a rat snake, has a taste for mice but when given the opportunity he will raid a nest of eggs.  I really like snakes and hate to kill them, so I usually just carry them away from the house. I took this one over to our hay barn hoping he would help reduce  the mice population.

Becky has always thought the same snake was coming back. To test her theory, I spray painted this one's tail with fluorscent orange marking paint. I carried him off late Friday afternoon and he was back in the chickens' nests by noon on Monday. I knew it was the same snake because of the orange tail.  Over the past 40 years I have carried away over 100 snakes. I now wonder how many of those were making the return trip.

The moral of this story: Carrying a snake almost a mile away, having it cross two hills, and one swamp will not guarantee its return.

New Shed For Garden Sink

The shed for our garden sink is finally finished. We started the shed last year but due to heart surgery, it had to be delayed.  All the cedar posts and poles came from the farm costing us nothing. The tin on the roof was left over from roofing our home.

Last year the sink was useful but standing in the hot sun washing green beans, squash, etc. only strengthened our desire to complete the shed before this year's canning season. With the garden growing well, we should be putting it to good use in a few weeks.

Hay Bale Gardening

We are trying a new gardening technique we saw on Facebook and in a book called, Straw Bale Gardening by Joel Karsten. The book suggests using straw bales as it will have less grass seed in it.  We are using grass hay bales because that is what we had on hand in our barn.

So far we have planted several varieties of cabbage, broccoli, onions, beets, carrots, and tomatoes; all on the hay bales. Soaker hoses run the length of the bales and are turned on as needed. The bales were prepped two weeks before planting by putting a cup of ammonium nitrate on each bale and then watered daily. The purpose of the nitrogen is to feed the bacteria that decomposes the hay. The hay decomposition provides food for the plant.

Before planting seeds, I put about an inch of old chicken litter on top of the bales to cover the seed. The plants were just put in a hole punched in the hay.

We hope this method will reduce the amount of water needed for our garden and will cut down on our weed problem. We are going to try and spray between the rows of bales with a vinegar and dishwashing liquid solution instead of using herbicides.  Stay turned for further developments.

Return of the Hummingbirds

It is almost time for the arrival of our summer guests, the hummingbirds. We put our feeders out in March just in case we have some early arrivals. After their long journey from Central America and Mexico, we want them to have food as soon as they arrive. We make our own homemade feed from 1 part sugar (not honey) to 4 parts water. Mix it and boil for 1-2 minutes. After cooling we store it in the refrigerator until needed. Actually, it seems our birds prefer more of a 3:1 mixture of sugar to water, but the experts advocate 4:1. Just be sure to keep the solution fresh and the feeders clean. You need to clean the feeds every 2-3 days with soapy water or even a solution of vinegar. Be sure to rinse them carefully.

There are lots of myths about these beautiful and entertaining birds. They do not suck the nectar but use their long bill to penetrate the flower and then extend their tongues and lick up the nectar. They can lick at a rate of 13 licks per second. The baby hummingbirds are not taught to fly by their parents. They instinctively know how to do this. Not only do hummingbirds drink nectar, but they catch insects as well. You may also catch them eating sap from the holes drilled into trees by sapsuckers. Many people believe the birds prefer red flowers and thus add red food coloring to their sugar mixture. However, red food coloring is not recommended due to the uncertainty about the impact of the dye on the birds.  Hummingbirds do not migrate on the back of Canada geese. This is just another one of those "old wives tales".

You've heard the saying, "build it and they will come". Well when it comes to hummingbirds you can say, "put out the feeders and they will come".

This print of the ruby-throated hummingbird is available for $25.00.

Snow Day

In the south we seldom get any significant snowfall, but when we do, it is a really big deal. Everything shuts down for the duration. Late this after noon the snow started here in Alabama and within an hour we had accumulated at least two inches. Tonight it is still snowing, and it appears we will have at least six inches or more. For us that is a lot.

The weathermen were able to give us amble warning of this snowfall. When we realized this snow event would happen, the preparations began in earnest. Cows were given extra hay, generators were filled with gas, food was purchased, fireplace was cleaned and a new fire laid, and the chickens locked up in their pen to protect them from hungry predators roaming about. Today was also a day of washing clothes and dishes in the event we lost power for a few days. A pot of vegetable soup was made for the same reason.

Not only did we prepare, but the wild birds did as well. They fed all day on black sunflower seeds. They have eaten almost fifty pounds of sunflower seeds in the last couple of weeks. After feasting all day, they went to roost deep in the hemlock trees and sheds around the house.

In the morning we will go out and check tracks in the snow to see what visitors we had during the night. It is always interesting. You would be surprised what lurks in the dark. Just last week we found tracks of opossums, raccoons, coyotes, and armadillos after a dusting of snow.

We will keep the fires going and snuggle a little deeper under the quilts tonight, and if we were are lucky, we will have electricity in the morning. If not, we are prepared.

Garden Prepping

This past Saturday the sixty degree temperatures put us in the mood to start gardening. However, the reality of knowing February temperatures can change very quickly, dampened our enthusiasm for actually planting some crops. The lovely weather did allow us to complete some needed tasks like removing the tomato cages, raking up leaves and dead plants and burning the debris to lessen the chance of spreading pests wintering in the stems. If not for an empty gas can, we would have begun the tilling process.

This weekend we were able to begin another gardening project. We started seeds in discarded light boxes Becky used at school.  We planted ten different types of heirloom tomatoes in hopes of having them ready for planting as soon as the weather improves. On Tuesday tempting us even more, we observed a Bonnie Plant farm truck delivering plants to the local farmers co-op. Using restraint we did not make a purchase. Tonight looking at the long range forecast we seemed to have made a wise decision. The low on Sunday is expected to be in the single digits- not conducive to plant growth.

Cast-Iron Cooking

No country kitchen is complete without cast-iron cookware. These durable and efficient cooking utensils have been around since the Chinese first made them around the 4th century BC. In China they were used to evaporate salt. George Washington's mother loved her cast-iron so much that she even made special arrangements in her will to bequeath it to someone who would appreciate and care for it.

Most of our cast-iron cookware is very old and has been recycled from generation to generation. In the picture above, item number one is one a newer piece bought at Lodge Manufacturing. It is a griddle used to make pancakes or grill hamburgers. Item number two shows our favorite skillets. The small one makes great cornbread for just two people. The next size is great for frying sausage or bacon. Item three is larger and great for frying chicken due to the fact it has a lid. This skillet has spouts on the side to pour off grease, and the lids have protrusions covering the pouring spout, thus keeping in heat. Item three shows several cast-iron trivets such as an owl and butterfly. Item five shows two types of cornbread pans. The one on the right makes triangular shaped pieces of cornbread while the  one on the left makes the shape of an ear of corn. The most used piece of cast-iron cookware is the Dutch oven (#6). This can be used on the stovetop or in the oven. We use it to cook chili, roasts (both pork and beef), and stew. The lid on the Dutch oven is taller and has a deeper dome shape. On the inside it has small protrusions inside. When steam rises, it will drip back to the pot and self-baste.

Cast-iron cookware is made of iron, carbon, and silicon. The molten metal is poured into molds made of pressed sand.  In America cast-iron cookware was first made in 1619 and was used mostly in fireplaces and hearths before the advent of the stove. Today Lodge Manufacturing in South Pittsburg, TN is the only major manufacturer of cast-iron cookware in the United States. They have many new products that you can view on the great website. Check it out!

The ability of cast-iron to retain heat is a characteristic property of the material. Caring for cast-iron is not as difficult as some may think. All you need is soapy water and a sponge. You can use a fine wire brush or wire brush on an electric drill to remove any rust. Clean well and and dry. To season your cast-iron piece, pour a spoonful of vegetable oil and rub it completely over the piece. Do not  use too much oil. Place aluminum foil on the rack of the stove and turn the piece upside down in the oven. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour. Turn off the oven and let it cool inside the oven. Wipe away all the excess oil. Some people suggest you do this at least once a year. Over the years burnt on grease builds up the outside of the skillet reducing the ability to equally transfer heat. Periodically this may need to be removed. One way is to burn it off in a very hot fire, use a sand blaster, or a wire brush.

The American Dietetic Association conducted a study showing the ability of cast-iron to leech out significant amounts of dietary iron into the food. The amount of iron depends on the type of food and how long it is cooked. However, we should note that people with hemochromatosis should not use cast-iron. People with this condition store excess amounts of iron causing serious effects on the body. They simply do not need the extra iron found in cast-iron cooked food.