Innholdsfortegnelse for #259 i The New Pioneer

Despite these troubled times, we are celebrating TNP’s 10th birthday and the start of its next decade in this issue. Why? To illustrate the value of a self-reliant mindset when life throws us curve balls. We catch up with our first cover family, the Caldwells, and show you how they and others are thriving while doing what they love and striving to leave the world a better place. We also introduce you to a family that represents the next generation of committed back-to-the landers: The Jeters in North Carolina. Adam is a vet who fell in love with farming and shares a military background with Vern Caldwell. The two families don’t know each other but are walking advertisements for the joy— and success—that can accompany rural living if you have…

FOR PEOPLE INTERESTED IN GETTING into hosting guests on their farm or ranch, here are a few of my suggestions and tips: Make sure that the facility you want to use is permitted by your county. Otherwise, you could face a hefty fine later. Know that lodging fees due to state and local regulations are collected by Airbnb and other platforms. This means that the rate you charge isn’t what the guest will pay—so don’t make your starting rate too high or you won’t get very many bookings. Start with your rate set lower than you think is appropriate and then raise it after you get a good chunk of five-star reviews. Be more flexible in cancellation policies in the beginning—again, so you can get more reviews quickly. Read as…

JETER AND MANY OF THE REGIONAL VETERAN FARMERS help each other, assisting one another with physical labor and sharing vital lessons and techniques. “I’m extremely blessed with the knowledge I have gained from veteran farmers and strive to do everything I can to support them to achieve their goals,” says Jeter. “I believe there is a huge need for small farmers.” Robert Elliott agrees. He is the head of the Soldier to Agriculture Program at Fort Bragg through North Carolina State University. He’s a Marine veteran who grew up on a family farm in North Carolina, and he helps vets transition from the military to a career in farming. It’s a two-year program teaching the ins and outs of farming. Crucial lessons range from how to purchase a farm and…

Once you buy your dream property, James Spencer, owner of Mossy Oak Properties—Tennessee Land and Farm, says that keeping your rural property clean and well-kept at all times can increase the value of that property tremendously if and when you decide to sell it. Specifically, he suggests doing the following: “Adding ponds or lakes on the property and keeping those waterways maintained and healthy should increase the value of your land. “Keep fence rows clean of grass and weeds, even if that means spraying a herbicide. (Editor’s note: Organic herbicides are now available; weed cloth works well as can mulch.) “Mow and bush-hog the property to ensure curb appeal, much like you would clean up the property on a $1 million home you’re selling in the city. “Remove old, dilapidated…

“…it should always be observed that children as well as adults require about twice the quantity of provisions, which they would require at home, for the same length of time. This is attributable to the fact of their being deprived of vegetables and other sauce and their being confined to meat and bread alone; as well as the fact of their being subjected to continued and regular exercise in the open air, which gives additional vigor and strength, which greatly improves the health and, therefore, gives an additional demand for food.” The preceding is an entry from Lansford Hasting’s 1845 publication The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California. You may be familiar with this book, as it contained information for a false cutoff that helped seal the fate of the…

Trailers are a necessity on the farm or homestead. Whether it’s livestock, feed, vehicles, dirt or heavy equipment, things need to be moved. There are several factors to consider when deciding how to go about hauling loads safely. Whether you’re a newcomer wondering about how to get started with confidence or an old hand who’s been at it for years, read on for the basics as well as some important safety reminders. Before You Haul Consider what you’re going to be hauling, what kind of trailer is needed, where you’ll be hauling it and what kind of vehicle you’ll use. Having the right tow vehicle is critical, because towing more weight than your vehicle is rated for is dangerous. Once you’ve decided what sorts of loads you’ll be hauling, figure…

BIG GAME BREW What’s the first thing hunters do in the morning? That’s right, they reach for a hot cup of coffee to kickstart the day. Here’s a great new Thermos filler—Big Game Brew Small Batch. This brand and company was founded by hunters who appreciate coffee, are committed to conservation and love to spend time afield. BGB and its offerings provide hunters the energy from great-tasting and high-quality caffeine sources to power them through long days afield. BGB labels and branding feature North America’s most popular big game animals. Coffee drinkers can customize their orders with whitetail, mule deer, caribou or elk images or find a flavor named and created after that specific species. Bonus: 10 percent of the profits from all Big Game Brew sales go to conservation.(biggamebrew.com)…

(Serves 4-6) INGREDIENTS: Rack of pork ribs, St. Louis or baby rack Bob’s #7 Wing and Rib rub 2½ cups of Bob’s #1 Eastern Carolina Vinegar Sauce Bob’s #2 Original BBQ Sauce DIRECTIONS : Remove silver skin from bone side, rub down with Bob’s #7 Wing and Rib rub. Place in Instant Pot and add the vinegar sauce, cover and let it cook for 25 minutes on high pressure. Remove and place on baking sheet bone side down, generously brush on the barbeque sauce. Place in oven on hi-broil for 5-7 minutes. NOTE: You can use the liquid from the Instant-Pot for dipping. For more information about Bob’s brand, visit, smokinsouthernbbq.com . —Adapted from recipe by Bob Fletcher, owner of Bob’s Smokin Southern BBQ.…

Get a job! That might be what Connie Rieper-Estes and Jason Estes thought when they looked out the window every morning and saw a growing herd of goats meandering around their pasture. Evidently, they went beyond wishing that the animals would do something to earn their keep and formed Greedy Goats in northwest Arkansas. After more than 10 years of putting their goats to work, Connie and Jason of Fayetteville have turned their herd of goats into local superstars and gotten numerous awards for their dedication to community service. The couple takes a three-pronged approach to working their goats. The animals clear brush on property on which it’s difficult for earth-moving equipment or herbicides to do the work; they are celebrity attractions at special events like birthday parties; and they…

I belong to quite a few backyard chicken enthusiast groups on Facebook and it seems like every day someone is telling a gruesome story about their backyard chickens being attacked by a predator. Most want to know what killed their birds and how to stop it. Others are so frustrated by predators that they give away their birds and stop raising backyard chickens altogether. I get the frustration! Raising chickens is fun until you walk into your backyard and find your bird(s) ripped apart. All that investment of time, emotion and money has gone for nothing. I have had this experience and I understand. The best way to stop this scene from playing out is to know which animals are likely to threaten your birds and how to protect the…

Pulling on barn boots, I slogged out to look at our dilapidated shed. It was surrounded by greenery, only it wasn’t the pretty, flowery kind. It was shrouded in some kind of ivy, which was hanging over the roof and trailing down the sides like a giant daddy long-legs. It even enveloped a mangled basketball hoop that was barely nailed to one side. “I think that’s the best part of our shed,” I told Tony sadly. Being the no-nonsense husband that he is, he replied firmly, “We need a new one. Metal.” “Ycch.” I shook my head. “Metal cooks in the sun. This shed isn’t for barbecuing. It’s a storage shed.” Tony walked into the house. That meant I had free rein to work on my project. Surely I could…

If you’re like me, you’ve probably gotten lost down the Pinterest rabbit hole. It begins innocently with a search for a simple DIY project for a yard or house decoration. Suddenly, you have so many ideas and so many projects you want to create that you don’t even know where to begin, much less have any of the supplies at hand. The first step of a repurposing project (which is the hardest part) is deciding what to create. I suggest having a few similar ideas or themes in mind, so you spend your time wisely. Once you decide on a project, save a photo on your phone or print a hard copy. You may need it for inspiration and reference. Next, make a list of all the items you need.…

Here are a few terms that are used when referring to vehicle and trailer weights and capacities that you’ll find in the owner’s manual and on the data plate on a trailer. The DOT Code on the tire indicates the date and location of manufacture. GTW, or gross trailer weight, is the total calculated weight of a trailer and its cargo. GVWR, or gross vehicle weight rating, refers to the weight capacity of the vehicle alone. GCWR, or gross combined weight rating, is a weight rating of the vehicle and trailer combined. TW stands for tongue weight, which is the downward force exerted on the back of a tow vehicle by a trailer. The tongue weight is affected by where the weight of the cargo is positioned in or on…

Throughout history, people have used rivers as highways to explore the land. For Tom Elpel, this meant fashioning a wooden canoe under the tutelage of Captain William Clark’s great-great-great-great-grandson and exploring the Missouri River country from the water, along with rediscovering land seen by Lewis and Clark. “I had been dreaming of a big experience,” says Elpel, a wilderness skills and sustainable living expert who offers his expertise through educational programs and a myriad of excellent resources, including Botany in a Day, a simple and ingenious guide to identifying plants. It’s one thing to dream about a trip of this magnitude and quite another to make it happen. “It was two different dreams that came together,” Elpel says. After meeting Churchill Clark, who is following in his ancestor’s footsteps by…

a dam Jeter was a city kid from Ohio. He didn’t know a thing about farming, nor did he have any aspirations to raise hogs or chickens. But then, sometimes the career picks you. A soon-to-retire veteran, he fell in love with farming in North Carolina’s Cumberland County, home to Fayetteville and Fort Bragg. His military career began in August of 1995, when Jeter enlisted in the Marine Corps as a rifleman; nine years later, he moved to the Army as a calvary scout with deployments in Iraq totaling a good two years. After a year of schooling and language training, he became a civil affairs soldier with a nine-month deployment in Jordan and a six-month deployment in Afghanistan. He retired at the end of October 2019 as a senior…

The fierce North Dakota wind roared out of the southeast. As I trudged outside to check on the chickens in their coop, the driving snow hit like a sandblaster. Barely able to see past the tip of my nose, I was at the mercy of Mother Nature’s wrath. The storm took two days to blow itself out. I knew I was in trouble when I opened the door to face the morning sun. My driveway glittered in the sunlight, packed with snow nearly 4 feet thick. If not for a neighbor who brought a small dozer over to clear the snow, I would have been stuck until spring. I’ve lived with my significant other, Melanie, and our kids on our small homestead, Cottonwood Bend Farm, for a couple of years.…

Let me state two things up front. One: I am not a professional stone mason. Two: I just really like rocks. All kinds of them. Big ones too heavy to pick up by hand, basketball-sized ones, even small ones the size of my fist. I suppose my passion for rocks traces back to my youth, at least in part. There was a large hayfield across the road from my childhood home. Driveways were gravel in those days, and ours was riddled with golf-ball-sized stones—round ones, oval ones, some flatter than others. I had a stick about a yard long leaning against a large oak tree next to the mailbox, and every day while waiting for the school bus, I would bat rocks into that field to see how far they…

Lithium. It’s a word we’ve been hearing for years. It is element number three on the periodic table and the world’s lightest metal. It’s the base element in the small batteries used in cell phones, laptops and hand tools. But are lithium batteries hefty enough to replace the beefy lead-acid batteries in today’s off-grid systems? A Time-Honored Chemistry After all, lead-acid batteries have been around since before the Civil War. They are so called because they store and release electrical energy through a series of chemical reactions between a sulfuric acid (H2SO4) electrolyte and a lead (Pb) substrate. The energy thus liberated is in the form of low-voltage direct current (DC), which can be used in its original form—as to start a car—or transformed by an inverter into high-voltage alternating…

If a preview of an estate sale is offered, take advantage of it. You might find photos online or even an opportunity to walk through the home for a small fee the day before. Find out what type of payment the sellers will accept before you leave your house. Some places may only take cash. Know the rules. Some sales may not allow you in with a large purse. You don’t want to leave the line to return it to your car. If you plan on purchasing large items, find out ahead of time if someone will be available to help you put them in your car. Likewise, if you might need to return to pick up a large item, make sure you know the time frame for item acquisition.…

Austin, Texas’ Jester King Brewery is both a world-renowned brewery and a restaurant. Despite its well-deserved global reputation, its founding philosophy of sticking to the roots of localized farmhouse brewing and food continues to guide all its efforts. When I visited in February of 2020, the coronavirus was beginning to make the news in the U.S. but had directly affected very few of us. Barely a month later, breweries and restaurants across the nation had been forced to make drastic changes to their operations or shut down altogether. The American craft brewing industry, though, has always been a resilient one. The one thing that has always united these breweries has been a spirit of comradery. Because they were all essentially starting from scratch in the early days, they shared resources,…

Life is uncertain. Our daily routine is easily disrupted by weather events, glitches in the supply chain or health-safety concerns, which lead us to look for ways to be self-sufficient when we can’t—or don’t want to—leave our homes and homesteads. Whether you need to be able to stay home for a few weeks or a few months, as happened with the COVID-19 pandemic, preparing for this scenario takes planning. The days when we can pick up what we need at the store or via an online source are not as sure as they once were, making it imperative to think ahead. To do so, the “Duke of Permaculture,” Paul Wheaton, suggests that people focus on long-term solutions that foster self-reliance, crisis or no crisis. Permaculture allows you to develop a…

When you buy sheep or goats, choose a breed that is naturally friendly and easy to manage. Train them from day one to come to a rattling bucket of feed. That will reduce the need for hooking them by neck or leg to a bare minimum—which is best. There are more than 1,000 breeds of sheep in the world (around 60 in the U.S.) and around 260 breeds of domestic goat. There seems to be no consensus as to which breeds are the easiest to wrangle, so ask around. Don’t wrangle bovids when you’re angry, peevish, agitated or tense. They pick up on your mood and respond in kind. Never flail wildly with your crook or strike your animals with it. Doing so only increases their fear and causes them…

Squirrels and chipmunks may be cute, furry critters, but they can and will burn down your house. Or, they may cause you to spend thousands of dollars to have an electrician come into your home and rewire it. I was made keenly aware of this fact when I spotted a hole in the outside fascia board near one of my roof’s gutters. I saw squirrels jumping from a nearby oak limb, running down my roof and scampering into that hole. When I climbed into my attic to investigate, I discovered several wires with all their insulation eaten off and only bare, naked wires lying on wooden rafters near the hole. Battling Bushytails I knew I had to stop them from entering my home. On the other side of the house,…