Dear Aggie

How can I stop peacocks from peeking on a motorhome? They see their refection in the body paint and jump at the side of the motorhome with their feet as if they are attacking another peacock.

Can you give me a suggestion in stopping these birds from destroying my motorhome?

I note that you have already considered murdering the peacocks. That would be option number three. Option numbers one and two would be either 1. covering the motor-home with something non-reflective, such as finger-paint, or 2. maintaining the peacocks in some sort of enclosure, such as a prison. It’s as stark and simple as that, there are no other options. Should you choose the first item, you need to bear in mind that this only protects your motor-home, not the vehicles of people who visit you, who may be more partial to Option number three.

Dear Aggie,
I just came across this website and I have to ask you some questions. My husband and I so badly want to move and live off the land. We are living in a town where things just keep getting bigger and bigger. We just don't know where to start and how to go about it. I read the letter from Katie and David and you have some very good advice in there. We also don't have very much money to do anything, but we have two children. We have always talked about moving to the mountains and living away from people. We are becoming more and more the type of people who can not stand being in crowds. We have always talked about raising our children in the country, so they can have animals and have a place to run and have some fun without having to worry about other people. Anyway... what I would like to know is how to get started and I already have a way to make money here at home, something that I just found out I can really do and love. We have been thinking about selling just about everything we have and just saying good bye to Delaware. I want to know if this is a good idea and if we should do it. My husband is at that so-awfully-burned-out point with his job, and we are wondering if we should just up and move and live like we want to. Thank you for any help you can give us.
Dawn & Russell.

If you have a way to make money at home that you find rewarding and enjoyable, then you have already done the most important thing, provided this source can accommodate the lifestyle that you want to live, that is, that you can make enough money. So my first advice is to set about doing whatever it is you are doing to maximum capacity. When you have enough income, you are free to live where-ever you wish.

Second, everyone should live the way they want to. If that is impossible where you are now, then you probably should move, but you must keep the long term in mind. If you are close to your families, for example, you owe it to yourselves to make your move in such a way that you and your children can remain close with other family members, whatever that means to you.

Every young organism needs to prosper in their favored environment. You can transplant a seedling once or twice to it's advantage, but for it to really make gains, it needs to put down roots. I can't tell you if this is absolutely the right decision for you, but I can certainly understand your discomfort living in an urban environment and I doubt that this will improve with time. Also, it doesn't sound to me as if there is a great deal keeping you where you are.

You will probably have some difficulty in finding a place to rent in the country, but persevere until you do. Once you've established a beach-head in a community you like, you need to start saving and shopping for a permanent home to buy. Do not try to move directly to an unimproved piece of land. Do not take children into a new situation that does not offer shelter, water, heat and electricity. If you drive a car, it would behoove you to trade it for a truck. Have a cell phone. Treat everyone fairly and honestly because in a rural community, everyone tends to know everyone else. Respect fences and other people's property. Work hard but rest regularly.

There are a number of things you haven't told me which could be crucial here, so I have to make assumptions. I'm assuming that your source of income has the capacity to sustain you and that once you've launched yourselves on a course of action, you are able to make sensible decisions when the need arises.

Dear Aggie,

I have been wanting to homestead for some time now, but have been unable to. Now i just want to get away from it all, find a place of my own and disappear. I live in California, and want to homestead. What states still have active Homesteading laws on the east/west coast? Where would I go to find out the homesteading laws and requirements?

Thanks for your help

Eric

Alas, you have missed the boat, or the century to be more precise, as the last free land from the (US) government was doled out in 1978, and that was in one of the less-hospitable parts of Alaska.

Dear Aggie;

I just returned from Brazil where sugarcane-based fuel is commonly used to power cars. The installation of a computer chip in the engine makes any car there able to use this fuel.

Please explain why this (or at least, an alcohol/gasoline mixture) is not used in the US on a large scale.

Thank you.

As far as I am able to tell, there are three primary reasons why bio-fuels are not in widespread use in the United States.

First, the United States is a very wealthy country and because it is, the American public has not been forced to seek out the most affordable fuels available.

Second, the petroleum industry itself is so wealthy and so well-lobbied that it is able to exert profound influence on U.S. energy policy. Besides billions of dollars worth of oil-drilling infrastructure investments, they control thousands of service stations all over the country.

Third, American farmers tend not to be so well represented by government and less aggressive in promoting themselves. In the face of virtually zero demand for bio-fuels, from an indifferent public, they have no distribution system.

Dear Aggie:

I read your piece on chiggers and am concerned that we may have a house infestation. My husband is waking up in the morning with lines of bites on various parts of his body, yet I am not affected. We had the same problem last year and he fogged the room with Raid which contains cypermethrin and that seemed to solve the problem. This year, however, it seems to be worse and we have moved out of our bedroom into another room where there seemed not to be a problem until last night when he had another line of bites. He had been out mowing the grass yesterday, and I am wondering if the problem might in fact be chiggers. I am also concerned because he wants to use Raid again and I am concerned about continued use of these chemicals. I should also mention that my husband always seems to be more susceptible to bites such as mosquitoes than I am.

Thanks.

Since your husband is the only one having the problem, and since you object to the wholesale use of insecticides, as who wouldn't, might it make sense to treat the problem a bit more locally? By that, I mean dousing your spouse with a mild insect repellent with a tolerable odor, such as Off? (Of course if the bites spread to you the next night, you may wish to alter the process.)

If that doesn't or hasn't worked, I'd suggest you investigate how the chiggers, if that's your problem, got into your home in the first place. The number one question is, do you have house pets? How about mice or other animals who may have access to your home. Remember that chiggers do not normally choose to live indoors.

Did he shower thoroughly, shampoo and change clothes after mowing? Where were the dirty clothes kept?

Remember too, that there are several different insects and rodents which can invade the home. Your descriptions don't really sound like how I would describe chigger bites, but I assume you can judge this for yourself.

Dear Aggie,

After many years of wanting to live in the country and homestead, I finally purchased 2 acres. I have come up with many ideas but they all seem to get shot down by the “rules & laws”. What happened to good old fashioned homegrown and homemade items? I don’t know what to do or where to start. I really need some good suggestions or resources to help me get started with homesteading. I would like to be able to make enough money with my homestead that I don’t have to make the ½ hr commute every morning. I know this will come with time but I don’t even know where to begin. Can you give me some suggestions on were to go from here?

Tammy

Yes, as a matter of fact, I can. First of all, applaud your assumption that your acreage should produce something more than a building site. If you can create an income source at home, you'll save much more than time and gasoline, you'll recover control of your own life and perhaps save your sanity as well.

Whatever happened to homegrown and homemade? They were discredited in a smear campaign that would make a national politician blush. In their place, we now have a form of plastic entombment called "packaging" and sufficient advertising to make the hopelessly gullible American consumer fall for anything. Perhaps most of all, we have convenience. Of the three, it's hard to find anything unpleasant to say about convenience.

However, now, more than ever, your computer allows you to compete with Corporate America on very good terms using as assets your flexibility and personal service which they can't equal.

You say that your ideas keep getting shot down by regulations. I'm assuming that you don't anticipate selling marijuana from a roadside stand or printing money to compete with the federal government, so I'd suggest that you look a little more closely at this. Do the rules really make your business impossible, or do they only present a new challenge? If you want to make money, you're going to be a business and businesses all have certain regulations that they have to abide by. If you're starting small, though, in most cases, the governing body will allow you some latitude for small volume, so don't ask yourself how you can get around the rules, ask yourself how you can meet them.

I can't tell you exactly what to do, because I don't know what you are capable or desirous of, but I would suggest you find a product or service that meets these criteria:

1. It has to be something you would buy yourself. This requires you to be honest with yourself.

2. It should be something that you can't buy from major corporations. Don't try to compete with Welch's for the North American grape jam market, create a niche market for wild-grape jam.

3. Always produce the very finest and never settle for "good enough". People will remember an excellent product and buy it again. They will also remember a shoddy one and avoid it ever after.

You need to find the biggest market you can. This probably means the internet, not a lemonade stand on the road outside your house. This also probably means that you need to learn a few things about mailing regulations.

By necessity, you'll need to start out small, find something that works, then do that same thing over and over again. This means that you aren't likely to be quitting your job any time soon, but unless we have some very wealthy relatives we're on good terms with, this is what we all have to face. The sooner you start, the sooner you're free.

I suggest you sit down and make a list of several of your best ideas, then try a test of them all. One or two are bound to do noticeably better than the others, when they do, note those, and do those things again. Then you're in business.

Aggie,
My wife and I are in the process of building our remote homestead in South West Alaska. We are 180 miles removed from the nearest road system. We
work on our project each year, and am not more than a few years from basic completion. Ours is a land like the world was at the dawn of time. We have
more land than we could share, more wildlife than most will likely ever know. We have recently considered inviting others to join us in our quest
for a fulfilling and sustainable life far off the grid. This is the question: should we consider bringing other kindred spirits into our endeavor or do you see disaster with such a community?

Warmest Regards,
Ryan

My housemates and I live 20 miles from a small town of about 2000 people. As much as we enjoy the peace and seclusion here, we have to admit that we'd have just about as much of both commodities if we were only three or four miles out of town while saving quite a bit on gasoline and driving time. That, I suppose is why, when I first read your letter, I wondered why you would want to travel so far if it weren't to enjoy the solitude.

Having now dwelt on the subject for a while, I find that I still have more questions than answers. Being not completely antisocial, we can understand a desire for companionship of one's choosing, still why did you choose this location to begin with? Wouldn't you be giving up many of the things that originally appealed to you? Wouldn't this be akin to being married to a small group of people? Does that appeal to you?

Wouldn't it be enough to build your own personal dream, and do so in such a fashion that, should you invite a few friends for a few weeks, they'd be quite happy to come as often as you chose to invite them?

It seems to me that, just as firewood warms you when you cut it and again when you burn it, company warms your heart when they arrive, and again when they leave.

By the way, the photos you included were beautiful. The one of the "good brown bear" taken from about 50 feet made me recall a recent article in "Outside" magazine. (Well, I surmise it was recent, to tell the truth, I read it in my dentist's office.) It was about a young couple who had made a life of studying what we in the lower 48 call the Grizzly Bear and how they went to Alaska to live their dream among these noble animals.

Dear Aggie,

Do you know a resource that gives a table of vegetable production? For example, a fifty foot row will produce so many quarts of beans, a fifty foot row will produce so many quarts of corn, etc. etc.?

Thanks,
Judy
Albuquerque, NM

Well, yes and no. Mostly no. That is, I was able to obtain estimates of average yields of different fruits and vegetables by searching the internet for such search phrases as [ tomato "average yield" ] or [ strawberry trials ] but the results I came up with tended to be specific to certain states or areas and tended to require a bit more math than I personally care to include into my typical gardening day as much of the data came in pounds or tons per acre or per plant.

For example, I learned that Texas tomato varieties could produce 7.6 to 11.2 pounds per plant under ideal circumstances, and that Autumn Britten strawberries, cropped as a fall-bearer only, yielded 2.5 pounds of marketable fruit per linear foot of row, while Heritage yielded over .75 pound of fruit per foot of row as a summer-bearer, and an additional 3.5 pounds per linear foot of row as a fall-bearer.

Then at the end of the day, as with any gardening exercise, it will all depend on the variables of nature and your own gardening skills and how many raccoons inhabit the woods adjacent to your garden.

Dear Aggie,

What can you do if you get chiggers in the house? And, on the woodpile?

Bob

The wood-pile is not such a concern, since dealing with these vile little rascals out-of-doors is not so unusual or really so difficult: mow the grass, get rid of brush and weeds nearby, and discourage small animals that can be hosts. Chiggers actually prefer birds and reptiles to humans.

Having said that, and assuming you have eliminated from your home all the birds and reptiles possible, you might consider these additional methods.

Temperatures below 42 degrees will kill the chigger species that bite us. Since this is wintertime, you might find it easy to lower the temperature in your home to significantly less than this for a few hours. Don't forget to mind the plumbing and house-plants.

Mop all the floors with Pine-sol and wash all your bed-clothes and linens in same.

As a last resort, the compounds Cyfluthrin and Permethrin are said to be effective against chiggers, but it should be remembered that chemicals frequently bring on unexpected side-effects.

Finally, while there are numerous cases of indoor infestations of chiggers cited, it is an uncommon problem. Before you expend too much effort in combating the chiggers, you would do well to try to determine how they came to be there in the first place.

Dear Aggie,

We are a young couple and we want to start a self-sufficient homestead. We have a lot of questions, don't have a lot of experience, and would welcome any
advice.

Some of our questions are:
1) Should we take a risk and buy some land and try to make it work based on advice from experts and books? YET, we do not have much money... and don't know how much all the necessary bare minimums will cost...land, building materials, etc. We desire to live very simply, with little other than basic needs. How realistic is it to be completely 'self-reliant'? What does one do about money issues, such as taxes, paying off loans possibly, etc.?

2) We've looked into a lot of farm apprenticeships/internships...yet these look
more large-scale than we would like. They often include a lot of marketing, CSAs, and too much reliance on the outside world. Is there any way we can live on an actual homestead of a willing host...and gain some hands-on experience that way? Do you know of a list of such people? Or a way to find such a place?

My first advice is that you do NOT buy any land. If you aren't able to make timely payments, you'll only lose your money and embitter yourselves in the process. If you have sought advice from experts and books and you still ask what to do about money, then this is a good indication that you haven't sought or received enough advice.

That doesn't mean that you have to live like a typical American suburbanite, but it is neither easy nor even desirable to live the life of the Third World. What may be tolerable, even fun for a weekend will quickly lose it's luster when your shoes wear out or your appendix bursts. Certainly, the native Americans existed completely without manufactured products and services, but you need to recall that Stone-age life expectancy was about 25.

Even among the native Americans, some tribes were noticeably wealthier than others because they habited areas of richer natural resources i.e. better land. While they had no formal system of currency, they still had to pay for their land by murdering those who had it or those who wished to take it from them. This is impractical today, so we have money, and while we may claim to have "cut-throat" merchants, they don't actually cut your throat.

For the sake of this conversation, I'd prefer to think that what you'd wish to do is develop a self-sustaining lifestyle that keeps the bills paid and buys you a few modest non-essentials.

Taxes shouldn't be too great a concern if you locate in the right rural area, but buying land and securing reasonable shelter will require you to have at a least several thousand dollars. One of your first steps should be to find out how much you will need... then double that. Don't forget that you'll have medical expenses, usually without warning, and that you'll constantly need to replace things that wear out.

If you're planning on having children, don't expect them to share your enthusiasm.

"Farm apprenticeships/internships" might be of some value to your education, but it's most likely that the ones you've seen take a serious attitude toward their own existence and that, in practical terms, means that they have to interact with the rest of the world to provide the goods and services that they cannot provide for themselves.

Here's my advice: the first thing you need is not land. The first thing you need is a way to create income. You can start this out at home in your spare time.

Find a way to successfully make some money, then do that over and over (and over and over). This is not easy, and it requires hard work and imagination and occasionally a little courage, but if you do it with a cheerful attitude, it can also be lots of fun.

Do not confuse this with getting a job. You may already have jobs, which would explain your rejection of the material world. Having a job is a trap that will keep you always indebted to the national economy and the Internal Revenue Service.

If it is too late for you to be born into a wealthy family, the only way to ever be truly self-reliant is to learn how to make your own money. When you do, all purchases create their own rationale. Find a way to make money that requires land, and you have a way to purchase land.

Bless you for you web pages! I am a widow living in Arkansas--USA. I live on a farm and am VERY independent and was happy to see your site. I wish I could be living where you are where you do not have people driving by or hunters that make you worry about the livestock's safety. I have caught deer hunters drawing down on my nubian goats; guess they can't tell the difference between goats and deer. You are a very lucky person. I have looked for another lady to correspond with-someone who is independent and living on a ranch or farm. If you would like to correspond with me I would appreciate it. If not, would you know of someone that would. Once again, thank you for all the information you helped me with on your website.

Your kind words are greatly appreciated, but I must tell you that the problems you experience with hunters are shared by all of us who choose to live a quiet, rural life. There is little point, we feel, in trying to speak reasonably with people who ENJOY killing things, so the best approach is to 1. post your property (keep it simple, I find that "KEEP OUT" is an easy concept to comprehend, and thus less subject to interpretation). 2. Know your local laws and don't hesitate to contact the authorities if you see them violated. (License plate numbers are always handy.) 3. Put the stock in the safest, most secure place, away from the road. Most people have a few neighbors who find amusement in bloodletting, but they do so on their own land. For the most part, this problem is a matter of city-dwellers who clog our country roads during deer season in the hope of slaughtering or maiming some helpless beast in the name of sportsmanship so as to reassure themselves of their masculinity. There's not much you'll be able to do to stop them. Like ticks and hail-storms, they're just something you have to learn to deal with.

While I cannot promise to be a better correspondent to you than I am to my own dear Mother, I'm certain that many of our readers will find much in common to discuss with you. Please let me know if you get lots of mail from them.

Dear Aggie,

We just recently found your site and have been studying it intensely. When we came across your advice column we were amazed on the well thought out and meaningful advice you gave to those with questions.

Amazed, that is, until we read the response you gave to the widow Mary Kline. At that point we were sickened. In case you have forgotten about it, it has been copied and pasted below exactly like it was (and still is) on the website.

Apparently you feel that hunters cannot speak reasonably or respect the rights of others and their property and/or livestock. You remark of "there is no use in speaking reasonably to people who ENJOY killing things" is an indication of your ignorance and proves how little you know about hunting, it's history in our great nation, and it's positive effects on the environment and the country lifestyle.

I am not saying nor would I dare to say that there are not some bad apples out there, but for you to assume that all hunters (as you have so obviously done) behave irresponsibly and without regards to the rights and safety of others property and livestock is ludicrous.

Why don't you do some home work Aggie? Why don't you discover for yourself the fact that each and every year ethical hunters report more game law violations than property owners will ever report. Why don't you do some more homework and discover that every state in this great country has in place hunter education programs and that those who graduate from these programs are educated in the proper use of firearms, identification of game animals (so as not to shoot farm livestock), ethics in hunting, landowner/hunter respect, and many other topics.

You could go a step further even and discover that hunters are the most effective method of controlling game populations. The very same game animals that country dwellers complain about to state Wildlife Agencies for eating their livestock feed, destroying their crops, etc. Perhaps you might even discover that hunting eliminates needless pain and suffering from starvation during the winter months by thinning the game herds and allowing more food and space for those that remain. And it allows the remaining animals a superbly crafted opportunity to thrive.

Maybe you should also consider that hunters are 100% supportive of wildlife activities. Meaning, your tax dollars do not go to our activities. The license fees and excise taxes paid by hunters, along with fundraising activities conducted by great organizations such as The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, National Wild Turkey Federation, International Bowhunters Education Foundation, & National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association, just to name a few of many, are what supports the Wildlife Agencies and the restoration programs that they oversee. These dollars that hunters provide also goes towards building trusting and lasting relationships between hunters and landowners by way of landowner/hunter respect programs. In my home state, these funds (paid by hunters & fisherman) also pay the salaries of our Wildlife Officials.

A person who gives advice about country living should be well versed in the fact that many country dwellers are themselves hunters. And like us, they hunt for meat to feed to their families. They hunt ethically and with respect for the game they pursue. They make every effort to harvest the animal quickly and humanely. They don't go out to "slaughter or maim some helpless beast so as to reassure themselves of their masculinity" as you stated. Additionally, you gave a direct slap in the face to all of the women in our country who have discovered that hunting is a rewarding and necessary activity. A woman is not "assured of her masculinity" by hunting or harvesting game animals. I would think you would have thought about that before you made such a sexist statement.

Hunting is a lawful activity that has been in practice since long before you or I were even thought of. For you to compare hunters (and our forefathers) to '"Ticks and Hail-Storms that we will have to learn to put up with" is nothing more than a directed insult from a person who doesn't know the facts.

I do however agree with you on one point. And that one and only point is "Immediately report those who violate game laws or trespass upon another persons property without permission. Report those who mistakenly or intentionally kills or harms another persons livestock". By doing so, we can all help to eliminate those few bad apples who make people like you, Aggie, think that all hunters are "Ticks and Hail-Storms".

But, of course, a reasonably speaking person such as yourself already knows this.........?

Sincerely,

Jim

I have reprinted your letter in its entirety (except the copy of the letter from Mary Kline and my response, which the reader can find by scrolling down or by clicking here) in the hope of conveying your message and its concerns and opinions to my readers. You’ll also note that I omitted giving your last name.

I have no doubt that many of the things you say are true, although you offer scant evidence and abundant bluster. It almost makes one wonder how the White-tailed Deer managed to avoid extinction for the eons prior to the invention of high-powered rifles

Regarding the two comments you quoted, which in their essence address why someone wants to kill animals for sport in the first place, your only explanation is that “they hunt for meat to feed to their families”.

Isn’t this being a little disingenuous, James? I think many people would find it hard to believe that anyone would spend the time, effort and money one associates with hunting just to put on their table a meat that any knowledgeable cook will tell is plainly inferior to that raised for slaughter. Do you know anyone who would spend a few hundred, maybe a few thousand dollars for permits, property rights, weapons, ammunition, magazine subscriptions, four-wheel-drive vehicles, camouflage clothing, blinds, traps, lairs, scents, baits, calls and untold other equipment, then sit out in the woods in sub-freezing temperatures at five in the morning just to get a free side of beef?... once a year?... with the skin still on it?

Wouldn’t it be a little more honest to say that hunters enjoy blowing the brains out of other living things? Isn’t that why they like to call hunting a “sport” even though the skills involved are essentially the same as those required to be a sniper? (Why isn’t sniping referred to as “sportsmanship”?) Didn’t “our forefathers” hunt most of the game animals in this country to near extinction before the taxpayer-funded governmental agencies were forced to begin efforts to restock wildlife populations and impose seasons and quotas?

I have little doubt that most hunters are otherwise peaceful, law-abiding citizens, but I can tell you that around my home in a year’s time I see plentiful evidence of wasted carcasses, spot-lighting, property damage, trespass, littering and commission of general nuisance; far more than one can attribute to “a few bad apples”. There are a lot of bad apples, Jim and a many of us are getting a little tired of hearing the situation minimized.

So was I saying that all hunters are bad? No, just that all hunters are hunters, and that the lady in question would do well to plan for, and expect, the worst. You can’t loose hundreds of thousands of well-armed, occasionally intoxicated people into the woods every year, frequently on someone else’s property, without expecting a few mishaps, some accidental, some intentional.

Hi,
My name is Allan. I believe that I have everything I need to start a new home except the faith of my partner Diana. I know how to build, drill a well, landscape, raise animals etc... How can I set her mind at ease and make her a team player.
I'm not asking for much; five acres with horses and dogs.

Yours is an unfortunate situation in that our world is teeming with young men with ideas, only a scant few of which have the requisite discipline to bring their dreams to fruition.

Doubtless this is a condition with which your lady-love is only too familiar. It is important that you try to imagine yourself in her place, as most young, single women have been treated to numerous gentlemen's pipe dreams, illusions and fantasies even before they have completed their formal education and often to ill effect.

You do not state exactly what it is that would constitute being a "team player". It may be that all you are asking of Dianna is her moral support and companionship. I certainly hope this is the case, and not that you are hoping for financial assistance as proof of her devotion. You might also be asking her to move away from employment or family, which of course could give a girl pause. Conceivably you may be wishing to finance your ambitions with jointly-held cash. In any event, my advice is the same.

Since you have everything you need and it would appear that you have the requisite skills, do go ahead without her. Nothing is more romantic than being separated from your partner, and as the old bromide goes, "absence makes the heart grow fonder". Prove to her that you can do what you promise. She will see you in a different light thereafter.

I got your website from a book at the pet store called Raising Pigs. They suggested that I write to your website to get some answers. I received a piglet that is about (now) 10 days maybe 2 weeks old. I am giving him pig milk 6 oz 4 times a day but at the pet store they also gave me pig pellets but nobody can tell me nor the package when to start feeding them. HELP!

I called upon our resident swine expert, C.J. Mouser, and asked her about your problem. She says that assuming that the pig feed you gave the piglet was starter, or weaner feed, he should start nibbling at it at around two weeks and it should be fed freely. For best results the feed should be a starter formula of at least 18-21 percent protein.