In this article, you will have the opportunity to see what kinds of monetary stresses couples face and how they can be resolved with minimal conflict.

1. A spouse loses their job

The problem with losing a job is, for the most part, a lack of multiple incomes for wedded couples. While it is unfortunate, you have to start tightening your budget in order to survive. If you haven’t done so already, make a note of both of your debts, expenses, and account totals. Start with your static expenses such as your rent or mortgage, car payments, student loans, and any other necessities. Next, you’ll want to write down your variable expenses which can change according to your lifestyle and work on reducing them.

Designing a budget based upon this information will reduce your chances of requiring emergency fast cash. Following this method could also help with future finances, even after your spouse returns to work.

2. Separation of church and debt

Though you are now in an equal partnership, the debt may not be equal for both parties. Make a financial plan to get yourselves, as a couple, out of debt. If nothing else, avoid getting married until you can afford it or until you have paid off your negative balances. Sit down with your partner and decide what you can afford to spend on various expenses. Don’t be afraid to compromise when deciding what is necessary and what isn’t. Just don’t sacrifice your finances for things you don’t think you can absolutely afford.

3. No emergency fund

Life is always going to throw those curve balls at you and if you’re financially unprepared for these little hitches, you may find yourself in a hole. If nothing else, this will give you financial security and ensure that you both can sleep at night. By the time you establish a fund, it should be able to support the two of you for at least three to six months of unemployment. Although it may sound grim, looking into getting a will drafted up in the case of you or your new spouse’s untimely death may be wise.

4. Buying the house on the hill

It may sound like the American dream to buy a house after you get married, but it may not be a reality. Before buying, realize your house payments shouldn’t exceed more than 25 percent of your pay after taxes, though you might bump that down to 15 percent if you’re unsure about the future.

5. A baby

It’s important to keep in mind that it costs around $300,000 to raise a child from diapers to college. Babies also require a lot of time, patience, and a definite plan for emergencies so don’t put off saving up money. Keep the unexpected expenses in mind, the cost of college, and the possibility that you’ll be sending them money after they graduate while they work to secure a career for themselves. Regardless of all your careful planning, if you run into an emergency situation you’ll always have the ability to get cash fast.

Conclusion

Marriage is a bond between two people and is the start of managing everything together as a team. One person’s financial problems can quickly pull down the other if you don’t manage it wisely from the beginning.

The ducks are now officially a month old, continue to grow noticeably every day. Real feathers of the white variety are beginning to overtake yellow down. Weather’s warming, so they get to enjoy more outdoors time, and their voices are changing from cheeps to some kind of croaky honk (not quite a quack).

Notice in the picture above that you can see the beginning of the long feathers along the wings. I can’t imagine ducks this big could actually fly, but those stubby little wings will certainly look impressive in a tip-toe display to intimidate a dog or cat or fox once the long feathers fill them out. A turkey hen came through the yard yesterday before soaring off when the dogs noticed. She looked about twice the size of the ducks, and they’re as yet just about a third of their adult weight.

There’s still a good amount of room in the upside-down coop for them, but they’re worse than kids for making messes. Must finish it up (exterior walls and a roof) soon, get it outside where duck poop will do some good for something other than the compost bin.

Meanwhile, we’ve been clearing away recyclable electronics trash from under the boxwood where we plan to put the coops. Must find a recycling outfit and finally take the stuff, old computers and monitors and such that shouldn’t go into the landfill. We’re figuring to get a kiddie type wading pool and dig it in on one side so it will sit flat, exposed on the other side so we can drain it to clean it out. Ducks, the literature tells me, can foul up entire lakes and inlets, so a kiddie pool isn’t going to stay clean very long. They should eat any insects and mosquito larvae that tries to turn the pool into home, along with tree frog tadpoles. Free food!

As the ducklings begin to approach adulthood, we’ve been checking around for chickens. Have my heart set on Araucana hens, which I’d like to get with first feathers already grown so I don’t have to chance a rooster – which I definitely do NOT want. These are small hens that lay small eggs, but we don’t eat enough eggs to care how big they are – besides, we should be getting duck eggs occasionally, and those will definitely fill out a quiche. Araucanas lay blue, green and blue-green eggs. Sort of like having Easter all year long! Haven’t yet confirmed a breeder locally for these, so we may end up having to go to Tennessee in order to get them. Or settle for some more common breed.

Meanwhile, the morels were fairly thin this year due to strange weather, but I did manage to get a couple of large ones to slice up and cook into a stir-fry. Asparagus is about done, the strawberries can’t figure out what season it is, and the peas are looking a bit sickly after the late freeze week before last. Corn is up, though, and looking quite healthy. Will take a chance now that it’s May and plant the tomatoes out, still waiting for the peppers to sprout.

Next time you see Emilio and Abigail – a.k.a. Da Ducks – they should be totally white, or at least mostly white and big enough to wander the yard with the dogs. So stay tuned!

Okay, it’s been more than a week since the duck-peeps moved in, they are now 15 days old (figuring their hatching on April Fool’s Day). Moving into their third week of life, we’ve discovered some rather amazing things about baby ducks that have required serious intervention (and a lot of work despite the fact that they’re still just semi-peeps).

First, to the subtitle of this installment, they’ve got these sharp little porcupine-like quills literally erupting from their bodies! Yes, we know they’re future feathers, but… wow. Nobody told us that at the ripe old age of two weeks the poor peeps would start bleeding out of every pore as these things come through – it’s positively worse than baby teething because it happens everywhere at once! They seem semi-miserable as they chew and chew every square inch they can reach, which probably helps to explain why it is that ducks get feathers everywhere on their bodies except their backs so quickly. Being unable to chew and pull the down on their backs slows the quills’ emergence there until last. Hope to have pics of what young teenage ducks look like with baby white feathers everywhere except their backs, where they’ll still have yellow down. Talk about “That Awkward Age!”

A more pressing issue for us as duck-keepers is the fact that they’re growing so fast. That pretty large dove travel cage got way too small in less than a week’s time. When standing to stretch and flap their dumpy little wings, the bigger duckling – Emilio – was hitting his head on the cage lid. They were so crowded that all they could do was eat on one side and drink on the other, and that meant the accompanying poop would land in the food and water containers. Not good. So obviously we had to do a crash coop project, something much bigger that could still be kept in the house because they still need heat lamps and protection for at least another month.

We had the bare start of a duck-sized coop framed out already, your basic 33″ square piece of plywood with 2×4 legs (like a table) constructed last fall as part of a mall Santa production gig. Didn’t want to attach plywood sides and floor yet because the peeps do need to have good air flow, and Starfish the shepherd who thinks she’s their Mom needs to see them when she lays right next to the box. So we turned the table-box upside down (so they’d have a solid floor and wouldn’t mess my carpet), attached chicken wire on three sides, and a plywood ‘side’ with hinges and a lock on the front side so I can clean out their space regularly. So far no lid, the cats already know not to attack any birds in the house because they belong to us as pets.

To further protect the bare plywood of this cage’s new ‘floor’ we purchased a couple of those plastic under-the-bed sweater and blanket boxes from WalMart. The two of them side by side fit perfectly on the bottom of the cage, and I built a ‘bridge’ the peeps could use to get from one side to the other from a cardboard pizza box. Because that just made a SuperSlide for those funny duck feet, I ended up placing strips of gaff tape on the slopes so they could climb. They still slide down the other side, but appear to think that’s great fun. And with one side for food and water, they have the other side to sleep and play in without it being constantly soaked with spilled water. Their bills got a bit big for their original water container, which never held enough water anyway and had to be refilled every couple of hours. So dug out an old water-jar waterer we got many years ago when grandson decided he wanted rabbits (they didn’t last long), and it’s working great. The water bowl part of it isn’t big enough for the peeps to get their entire bodies into, and they can’t foul the supply with poop. So instead, they just take turns standing with one foot in the water and one foot out.

On the ‘clean’ side I’ve added a few ‘toys’ for them, as these ducklings are proving to be quite curious and playful now that they’ve room enough to do so, and seem to love their ‘slide’ so much. A golf ball, a ping pong ball, a colorful striped strip of cloth – with which they’ve taken to playing tug-of-war just like puppies – a child’s plastic block. I can already tell that I’m going to have to add a few colorful dangling yarn and wooden bead toys like those for parrots, with bells. But instead of stealing the dangle toys from our dove and parakeet, I’ll just make special (sturdier) ones for the ducks. Starting now, because it seems like they’re doubling in size every few days.

Their tail feathers are coming in first, still quite downy but definitely white. I’ve read that you can tell a male duck from a female because male tails are curled up, and so far it looks like we got it totally backwards. The larger duck Emilio now appears to be a female, while the smaller, more yellow duck appears to be male. If that turns out true Emilio will have to revert back to Amelia and Abigail will need a new name. We’re thinking ‘Pete’.

Easter Weekend, At The ‘Stead: Daughter, Son-in-Law and the two youngest grandkids visiting from up north. Environment quickly greening, dogwoods, azaleas, phlox, etc. in full bloom. Short trip to Tractor Supply nets two [2] little yellow duck-peeps, Stage-1 of The Great Poultry Project begins!

Youngest (and only) granddaughter Ruby-Ru picked them out and named them for the waddle sisters in Disney’s ‘The Aristocats’ – Amelia and Abigail. But judging from our observations of their growth patterns and personalities over the days since (and they get bigger every day), Amelia is more likely to be Emilio. Which is okay, Penkin ducks may be good layers but they’re lousy peep-producers – the females have no apparent maternal instincts, you need a brooding hen or incubator to actually hatch the eggs, then have to ‘mother’ them yourself because the parents won’t.

We went with a pair of big ducks instead of a single watch-goose as the first step in our poultry project because while a goose will certainly be able to protect chickens (when we get some) from dogs, cats and assorted smaller wild things, they are also known to be notoriously mean to humans of all sizes. Particularly short people, and we’ve six of those in the upcoming generation who occasionally visit, plus the children of various friends who also love to spend time on the ‘stead.

Once these ducks have their feathers and the weather reliably warms up, we’ll be moving them into new quarters in a coup we’re building off the side of the shed out back. A big one for the ducks, attached smaller, longer one for the chickens. There will be a fenced in area for nighttime protection, plenty of hay and a kiddie pool for the ducks, and an open-up pathway to the lower garden where the poultry can wander amongst the crops to consume bugs, small weeds, etc. Oh, and help to fertilize the ground with their peep-poop. The ducks are too big to confine in the garden, would wreak havoc on the tender crop plants whereas the chickens would serve to keep them weeded, cultivated by their scratching, and bug-free.

The Pekin, a.k.a. Long Island ducks are far more prone to sticking close to the house and yard than chickens will be, so they’ll be allowed to roam the yard along with the dogs once they’re grown. They’ll come back to the coop at night for supplemental food. At least, that’s what the literature about these big white ducks tells us.

Right now when they’re small enough to fit into the dove’s travel cage, there’s quite a lot of work to do in keeping them happy and healthy. You can’t just get some peeps and turn them loose – they need heat, light, lots of water, a regularly cleaned cage (with clean bedding), and as much food as they’ll eat. Which is a surprisingly large amount…

One article about the history and nature of the Long Island Duck was found on a genealogy site – Long Island Ducks & “The Big Duck”. Photos of the early duck industry on Long Island are pretty impressive, though we absolutely DO NOT plan to raise more than these two. They do make good pets, like to hang around with people, and are well known to be voracious eaters. Of various field greens, any kind of bug or spider, worms, “chicken feed” grains, and of course the usual Purina Duck Chow. Our dogs seem to think they’re darned cute and have shown no overwhelming inclination to try and eat them, though at this stage they’d be nothing but appetizer tidbits. We’re hoping they’ll all be good friends by the time we get the chicken peeps.

In future installments of The Poultry Project I’ll post pics of the coop and fencing construction, the growth of the fowl, any notes about attrition and possible difficulties, and eventually an overview of how many eggs we manage to get out of the deal. Since we don’t eat meat, none of these animals will end up roasted, and we’re hoping to avoid any roosters in the chicken group. For several reasons, not the least of which is that roosters fly. Not far or very high, but high enough to ensconce themselves on the lower limbs of the hardwoods in the forest that borders the yard in all directions, and there’s nothing worse than tree-roosters for disrupting a peaceful day. In my experience they can’t tell time worth a darn, and will crow as loudly as possible any time of day. And drop considerable amounts of, er, chicken droppings on your head if you happen to come too close to their chosen tree. Plus, not being very good flyers and all, any bothered squirrel can manage to dump them off a branch and then we’d have rooster carcasses to deal with.

So we may avoid actual peeps when chicken time comes and go for youngsters who already have their first feathers (and can be reliably sexed). They cost a few dollars more, but it’ll be worth it given our strong prejudice against tree-roosters. We shall see when the time comes!

Just got in from a lovely hike along the ridge, down the north face broadside and into the bottomland armed with a garden hand spade and my two trusty dogs. Who are not particularly known to be good truffle-sniffers, and wouldn’t know a morel if it bit ‘em on the nose, but who can definitely sniff out some stinky ramps without any trouble at all. Who can’t?

They’re not up in clumps yet, but the leaders are poking up through the dried and matted leaf mulch from last fall. I dug just enough for ramp scrambled eggs for grandson and I, marked the rest with those little day-glo surveyor’s flags on wire for harvesting in a few weeks when everything’s green-green and they’d be hard to find.

Ramps, also known as wild leeks, are wild, forest grown alliums related to onions, leeks and garlic. Their foliage is broad and pretty, red-tinged toward the ground. They grow from South Carolina north to Canada, and are considered quite the spring delicacy here in the mountains where spring Ramp Festivals through North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia are very popular. Like with garlic, if everybody’s got ramp-breath it’s not nearly so offensive. And ramp lovers are known to scarf them down by the bunch.

Now, I’ll be chopping, partially drying and then freezing most of my ramps in anticipation of morels when they show up, as sliced morels and ramps sauteed in butter is just beyond believable as Super Taste Treat Sensations go. Use the bulb, stems and about half of the leaves. Some people love them best with eggs, in potato soup or in wish fried potatoes and peppers. They’re good any way you care to cook them, but if you’re the only one in the family eating them you may find the family giving you wide berth for a few days as the odor lingers. I have even heard tell of pickled ramps!

These delicate and incredibly tasty little leek-onion-garlic things are not grown commercially, though there are farms in the high country that have encouraged ramp crops in abundance in the same type of mulchy forest loam that grows good ginseng and other wild medicinals, and morels. They’re only available in the spring, April and early May around these parts.

I don’t harvest for the local festival, as my ramps aren’t abundant enough for that and we love them far too much ourselves. It’s sort of like ginseng or morels… if you’ve got a good woodland patch, you don’t tell people about it or they’ll clean you out when you aren’t looking. There are enough, however, to satisfy our need for spring tonic from the land, and the morels will be in about the same time judging from how fast this early-early spring is turning into hot-hot summer. Everything’s in overdrive. So perhaps we’ll have morels and ramps for the grandkids coming for Easter treats, who knows?

More Info About Ramps:

Wikipedia: Allium Tricoccum
Ramps! King of Stink
Preserved & Pickled: Pickled Ramps
Southern Food: Ramps and Wild Leeks

building a log cabin from Old Paths Found

My friend Grady Party is a rare man. He built a log cabin from scratch with very few modern machines. This video documents the process. So if you’re wondering how to build a log cabin the old way, check this out.

I wrote about the subject of Teeny, Tiny Houses last year. A more recent look at how that ‘movement’ is taking off can be found in an interesting article at The Denver Channel about a local couple whose originally planned guest quarters turned out to be just perfect as a primary home.

With current prices per square foot of housing – even after the real estate market crash and blanket devaluation – more and more people are looking into the idea of living small. Especially for people who spend a lot of time enjoying the outdoors (as homesteaders are wont to do), having a small, easily maintained living space has definite advantages. Do check out some of the latest on that subject over at the Tiny House Blog.

According to the blog, my cabin qualifies already as “tiny,” even though its 28-foot square (784 sq. ft.) footprint does include a half basement and loft. Doesn’t seem that tiny to us unless there’s company, but during the nice months there’s lots of company. They usually stay in tents pitched in the yard or in the 16-foot travel trailer we inherited a few years ago from a friend. Which we have recently painted hunter green so it looks more like it belongs. We’ll be adding the Gypsy scrollwork panels and dutch door soon, an old wooden wagon wheel for emphasis. That’s some tiny living, but it sleeps 6 and comes with kitchen and bath (using a composting toilet). We’ve found it to be ample guest quarters during the winter, when a plug-in space heater works just fine to keep it comfortable enough for sleeping.

Meanwhile the early-early spring after “The Year Without Winter” has steadily progressed to 80+º weather before the end of March, and the plants are in an uproar. Even my grapes are beginning to leaf out, about 6 weeks before their usual time. Normally this would really scare me, but the extended forecast shows steady 70s and 80s from here on out. I feel like I’ve lost an entire growing season!

Today is the vernal equinox, the day in between the winter and summer solstices when day and night are of equal length. It is also the first day of spring.

Many of us who have been trying to figure out the flow of this “year without winter” as well as adjust to the USDA’s re-drawing of the growing zones map due to global warming. It is in the 80s here in the mountains of North Carolina today. It’s been between the 60s and 80s for weeks. The grass in my garden that holds the edges of the terraces is loud green and shin-high already. The fruit trees have bloomed and un-bloomed already, the plants are so confused that even the grapes have begun budding. Something that normally doesn’t happen until mid-April.

Not surprisingly, I have yet to actually clear out beds for my kale and lettuce, and at this rate it may already be too hot for those crops. Will have to get the pea seedlings into the ground, plant the next rush while I’m at it. I find myself wondering what happens if the blackberries are as confused as everything else and bloom early – what then of Blackberry Winter? Can we still expect the week-long chill that usually accompanies the blackberry blooms? If not, how will that affect the crop? There will be some mighty unhappy bears if berries come up short, which for me means having to battle those bears raiding my compost and trash looking for munchies. Grandson is helping me build a chicken coop off the shed, for chickens we want but haven’t got yet. A dog house will have to be attached as well, for the Border Collie to keep foxes and such away. Maybe a cote so we can get him a sheep (saw one cheap on Craig’s List) to keep him company. Which he can herd during the day to various parts of the yard that need mowing…

I’ll be gathering some wood on my hike to see what’s up in the forest where my medicinals grow, so we can have the requisite campfire tonight to mark the occasion. It won’t be Easter for two more weeks, but today’s the cosmic event marked in the Pagan world which the early Church ‘borrowed’ from the goddess Oestre. The Great Sphinx at Giza greeted the dawn today face-on to mark the occasion. In Cambodia the sun rose directly over the central tower of the temple complex at Angor Wat. The vernal sun also penetrated the dark recesses of a specially designed room of Pueblo Bonito at Chaco Canyon. The vernal sun aligns with the Mayan temples of Tikal in Guatemala, at Dzibilchaltun in the Yucatan, and at the pyramid of Kukulcan in Itza the sunrise creates an undulating, snake-like pattern of light moving down the structure.

The symbology of life-death-rebirth associated with the vernal equinox is more ancient than Christianity’s Easter symbology, involving celebrations of mother goddesses such as Isis and Cybele, the resurrection of the ancient gods Tammuz, Attis and Adonis. For people who work the land the occasion begs renewed energies and toil. Which I must get busy on. To all my homesteading friends and neighbors out there, Happy Spring!

Why Is Gas So Expensive During Some Months?

Surely they have a ton of gas to distribute year-round which would make the prices fair, right? Not necessarily. As the demand increases, so does the market price of oil, and when there’s a short the price goes up. During summer a lot more people are out and about and going on vacation. Also, the major energy companies spend the majority of spring shutting down their oil refineries for maintenance, and they don’t reopen until May.

By now you’re probably wondering how the government plays into the gas prices. Regardless of any conspiracies that might be floating around, the Environmental Protection Agency has their hand in gas prices as well. To reduce pollution back in the 90s, companies began producing two types of gasoline — summer fuel and winter fuel. Summer gas actually has additional additives to cut carbon dioxide damage on the ozone layer.

Tools for Saving

So you waited too long, couldn’t afford to buy gasoline ahead of time, or just flat out didn’t want to bother, but you still want to save? The U.S. Department of Energy can help you if you need to find cheaper prices in your area, or if you just need some advice on how to save. Some websites track gas prices to give you an active update on cheap gas prices in your area, which can come in handy if you’re in a financial pinch.

Prices Over Time

This table will show you the average price of gas over the years.

Conclusion

At the moment gas prices are on the rise and although there could be price drop, it is highly unlikely based on the history of gas prices. One great way is to find deals and discounts on gas purchases, stated 21st.com. Remember to always try your best to save money by checking your local area for the best price.

1. G-CLEAN Heavy Duty Hydrophobic Car Wash

This runoff friendly soap should give you the cleaning power you need while not being terrible for the environment. Also their car wash is a renewable product that can even clean off wash rags as you use them, allowing for up to 10-15 times more use. It also helps to repel water from the side of your car so that it doesn’t leave those pesky water marks.

2. Homemade Natural Cleaner

Don’t clean windows on your car with chemicals that could damage the earth. Instead, grab half a cup of vinegar, a fourth a cup of alcohol and a cup of water and mix them together. Put the concoction into a spray bottle and use a microfiber cloth instead of wasting a bunch of paper towels.

3. Zymbol Cleaner Wax

This mysterious natural wax coats your car and allows you to wipe it off just like regular wax. They claim that it clears up blemishes and minor car scrapes as well. This might be a reasonable alternative to those who are interested in innovative technology that is also good for the environment.

4. Eco Touch

This company offers a variety of products that allow you to wash your car without the use of water. Their products clean interiors and exteriors, though they also offer towels, bulk orders, and some premade kits. It is great for the environment, and it can be used as an all-purpose cleaner.

Conclusion

Don’t be afraid to get dirty while cleaning your car as long as you don’t pollute the environment. Even if you just want unique options, there are a variety of natural cleaners that reduce or eliminate waste and help you clean your car at the same time.