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Prepare Your Animals for Fall + Find Peace in the Unknown + A Gift For Coffee Lovers!

Prepare Your Animals for Fall + Find Peace in the Unknown + A Gift For Coffee Lovers!

Just curious, how important is coffee quality in your daily routine?

Cedie Omaña
September 05, 2024

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How important is coffee quality in your daily routine?

In Today's Edition:

Homestead Tip 🌱
Poll Results From Last Tuesday! 📊
All Things Homestead: A Guide to Prepping Livestock for Fall and Winter 🐄
Personal Development: Knowing It's Okay Not to Know Everything 💛
Today's Top Picks 🛍️
Let’s Keep It Reel 🤣

Serious Coffee Lovers, This One's For You

Essential Cleaning Tablet for Every Coffee Machine Model
Removes Limescale, Calcium & Residue that Impact Temp & Flavor
24 ACTIVE Descaling Tablets Last the Entire Year!

Elevate Your Coffee Experience Now!

Homestead Tip of the Day:

If you plan to breed livestock, now is the time to prepare. Ensure breeding animals are healthy, well-fed, and up-to-date on vaccinations. Plan your breeding schedule so that offspring are born in the spring when conditions are more favorable.

Poll Results From Last Tuesday 📊

How do you utilize fallen leaves on your homestead?

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Composting them

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Using them as mulch in garden beds

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Creating leaf mold for soil improvement

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Raking and disposing or burning them

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Others (Feel free to specify your answer after you've voted.)

via @beehiiv polls

Feel free to participate in fun polls in our next newsletters! 😉

Also, follow us on Facebook and Pinterest for daily homesteading inspiration and updates.

All Things Homestead

A Guide to Prepping Livestock for Fall and Winter 🐄

As the days get shorter and the air gets a little crisper, it's a sure sign that colder weather is on the way. For those of us with livestock, now’s the time to start thinking about how to keep our animals comfortable and healthy through the fall and winter months.

Shelter and Bedding: Keeping Them Warm and Cozy

Upgrade Their Shelter:
- Why It’s Important: When it gets cold, a good shelter is crucial. Wind, rain, and snow can be tough on your animals, making them uncomfortable or even sick if they’re left exposed.
- How to Do It: Start by checking your barns, coops, and pens for any leaks or drafts. If you find any, patch them up. Consider adding some extra insulation or thick tarps to keep the warmth in and the cold out. Ventilation is important too—while you want to keep the cold air out, your animals still need fresh air to breathe, so make sure there’s good airflow without creating drafts.
Add Extra Bedding:
- Why It Helps: A thick, dry layer of bedding helps keep your animals warm by insulating them from the cold ground and giving them a cozy place to rest.
- How to Do It: Use straw, hay, or wood shavings as bedding. Pile it on thick in the areas where your animals sleep. Check and replace the bedding regularly to keep it clean and dry—wet bedding can lead to cold, uncomfortable animals and even health issues like frostbite or respiratory problems.

Feeding and Watering: Keeping Them Well-Nourished and Hydrated

Increase Their Feed:
- Why It Matters: As it gets colder, your animals will burn more calories just to stay warm. That means they’ll need more food to keep up their energy and body heat.
- How to Do It: Gradually start giving your animals a bit more feed as the temperatures drop. Focus on high-calorie, nutrient-rich options. For instance, adding a bit more grain to your horse’s diet or providing extra hay for your cattle can help them maintain their body temperature and energy levels.
Keep Their Water from Freezing:
- Why It’s Essential: Fresh water is important year-round, but in the winter, freezing temperatures can turn water into ice, making it hard for your animals to stay hydrated. Dehydration is a real risk if they can’t get to their water.
- How to Do It: Use heated water buckets or tank heaters to keep the water from freezing. If you don’t have those, make it a habit to check the water sources several times a day to break up any ice. You can also try placing water containers in sheltered spots to help keep them from freezing as quickly.

General Maintenance: Keeping Everything Running Smoothly

Prepare for Power Outages:
- Why It’s Necessary: Winter storms can knock out power, leaving you without heat or light, which can be tough on both you and your animals.
- How to Do It: Make sure you have a backup plan in case the power goes out. Portable propane heaters or a generator can help keep your animals’ shelters warm. Also, stock up on essentials like extra feed, bedding, and any other supplies you might need if a storm keeps you from getting to the store.
Keep an Eye on the Weather:
- Why It Helps: Knowing what the weather’s going to do can help you prepare for sudden changes.
- How to Do It: Stay on top of the weather forecast, especially as winter approaches. If you know a cold snap or storm is coming, you can take extra steps like adding more bedding, increasing feed, or making sure water sources are secure.

Personal Development

Knowing It's Okay Not to Know Everything 💛

We live in a world where everyone seems to have an opinion about everything. It’s easy to get caught up in wanting to be right all the time. But what if we took a different approach? What if we admitted that we don’t—and can’t—know everything?

That’s where intellectual humility comes in. Inspired by James Alison’s book, The Joy of Being Wrong: Original Sin Through Easter Eyes, let’s chat about what intellectual humility is, why it matters, and how we can bring it into our everyday lives.

Why is Intellectual Humility Important?

Keeps You Learning:
- Why It Matters: When you accept that you don’t know everything, you’re more likely to keep learning and growing. This mindset keeps you curious and open to new experiences.
- How It Helps: Instead of feeling threatened by new information or different opinions, you start seeing them as chances to learn. For example, a homesteader who’s open to new gardening techniques might discover a better way to grow their crops.
Improves Relationships:
- Why It’s Important: Good relationships are built on mutual respect and understanding. Intellectual humility helps you listen to others without jumping to conclusions or dismissing their views.
- How It Works: By admitting that you don’t have all the answers, you make space for meaningful conversations. Instead of arguing about the best way to do something, like raising chickens, you might learn from someone else’s experience and find a new approach that works better for you.
Makes You More Resilient:
- Why It Helps: Life is full of challenges, and sometimes things don’t go as planned. Intellectual humility helps you adapt when your first solution doesn’t work.
- How It Plays Out: When you’re not obsessed with being right, you’re more willing to try different approaches and learn from your mistakes. For instance, if a new crop isn’t thriving, instead of stubbornly sticking to your plan, you might research, ask for advice, and try something new.

How to Practice Intellectual Humility

Ask Questions and Really Listen:
- What to Do: Instead of always making statements, try asking more questions. When someone shares their perspective, listen to understand, not just to reply.
- How It Helps: Asking questions and truly listening can lead to new insights and ideas you hadn’t considered before.
Admit When You Don’t Know:
- What to Do: If you’re unsure about something, just say so. There’s no shame in admitting you don’t know everything.
- How It Helps: Being honest about what you don’t know builds trust and shows you’re open to learning. Plus, it often encourages others to share what they know, which benefits everyone.
Learn from Mistakes:
- What to Do: When things go wrong, take some time to think about what happened and what you can learn from it.
- How It Helps: Reflecting on mistakes helps you grow and improve. It’s a key part of learning and adapting, whether you’re running a homestead or just getting through the day.
Appreciate Different Perspectives:
- What to Do: Make an effort to consider viewpoints that are different from your own. This could mean reading a book by someone with a different background or talking to someone who sees things differently.
- How It Helps: Valuing different perspectives broadens your understanding and can lead to more creative solutions and better decisions.