ANooCre8ion Homestead Farm

ANooCre8ion Homestead Farm ANooCre8ion (A New Creation) Homestead Farm has been in existence for many years. I am splitting th

ANooCre8ion (A New Creation) is a small homestead farm located in the Piney Woods area of East Texas.

03/16/2022

Some days can be a little difficult. Big tree down. I need to get it cut up and moved but instead I must sleep. Worked last night. Praying that God will send me some help.

PlumbingIn light of the recent hard freeze in Texas, we are going to talk about a skill that every person would benefit ...
02/24/2021

Plumbing

In light of the recent hard freeze in Texas, we are going to talk about a skill that every person would benefit from knowing. Basic plumbing is important to know so that if you have a pipe burst, you can fix it. Do you know what kind of plumbing your house has? Do you know where the water shut off valve is? If your house is like mine and does not actually have a water shut off valve, do you know where the meter is and how to shut the water off at the meter? Do you have the tool you need to shut off the water meter? Would you have the parts you need to perform a basic repair?

Basic plumbing repair, even if you can only make a temporary repair, is absolutely a skill every human should have. There are several different kinds of plumbing that a house can contain. There is copper, galvanized, PVC, CPVC and PEX. Of those plumbing types, PVC, which is the cold water pipe, and CPVC, which is the hot water pipe, are the easiest for the home plumber to repair. PVC pipe is what runs to the cold water side of your plumbing. It is usually white. CVPC is the hot water pipe of the same variety, but it is usually tan. The fittings and pipes are not interchangeable. Next, you have to know the size of the pipe. Do you have ½ inch or ¾ inch plumbing? If you have PVC pipe plumbing, I highly recommend that you keep the various fittings, pipe prep, pipe glue and a hack saw or PVC pipe cutter on hand at all times. Waiting until an event like we had here in Texas to attempt to get what you need to make those repairs means that you may have to live without water for days to weeks while the supplies get back in stock.

PEX pipe takes special tools, but there are some things you can have on hand for an emergency repair. There are gator bites or shark bite fittings that will allow you to repair an area that is leaking. There are actually waterproof repair tapes that you can use on PEX, galvanized, or copper pipes as a temporary fix. Galvanized pipe requires a special pipe cutter and threader if you plan to make your own repairs. Copper requires a copper cutter and solder in order to make “real” repairs. Unless you are familiar with handing these kinds of repairs, a temporary repair would be your go to repair unless you are like me and don't hesitate to tackle something new. The actual process of making these repairs goes beyond the scope of this initial post on plumbing. However, knowing that you can fix a plumbing leak, how to turn off the water and how to make even a temporary fix can save you time and LOTS of money from allowing the water to just run and destroy your house.

We touched on water. We touched on alternate heat sources. In light of the recent event in Texas, let's look at food. ...
02/24/2021

We touched on water. We touched on alternate heat sources. In light of the recent event in Texas, let's look at food. Every home should have a very minimum of 2 weeks food on hand at all times. Better yet, a month or more. Now, most people are unable to do this all at once. However, you can pick up a little extra every time you shop. Be sure you keep your stores rotated. Don't buy anything you would not normally eat. So, how do you know how much you would really need to last 2 weeks or more?

In order to know how much food you need, keep a record of every single item your family eats for at least two weeks. That is a good starting point. Then, start from there. Realize that in times of extreme stress, calorie needs often rise. Extreme cold takes way more calories than normal since the body burns calories trying to stay warm. Calorie dense foods are good things to store long term. Things like rice, beans, and pasta store well in general if kept dry and cool. Now, we will get into bulk long term storage in a later post, but for now, let's focus on what you would need to get through at least two weeks.

After the event here in Texas, many people were without power. Unless you have an alternate method of cooking, you will need to focus on canned goods and things you can open and eat cold. No, it might not be as desirable, but it does work if you have no method of cooking. One of the good places to start in keeping food on hand is canned goods. Don't forget some form of protein in the mix. You can use tuna, canned chicken, canned beef (yes it does exist), canned ham along with canned beans and peas. From there, you need veggies and other things to go with it. After a severe event, the stores may not have food on the shelves for a couple weeks or longer so it is your responsibility to see that you have for survival. How close is your family to having enough to eat for at least two weeks?

I'm to get things a little out of order. I truly suspect we will have another ice or snow before Spring completely gets...
02/22/2021

I'm to get things a little out of order. I truly suspect we will have another ice or snow before Spring completely gets here. Now is the time to make sure you have calked around windows and doors, replace worn door frame insulators, and make sure your water pipes are wrapped. Should you find yourself in subfreezing temperatures and don't have a back up form of heat, there are still things you can do to attempt to stay warm. Dress in layers. LOTS of layers. Keep your head covered. Use a neck scarf. Make sure you have extra blankets, sheets and heavy drapes or something to hang over windows to keep the heat in and the cold out. Should the power go out, then you can hang blankets, sheets and things over door openings and use your back up heat in a smaller area. If you don't have back up heat, then you can set up a tent in one room, cover the floor of the tent with blankets and cover the top of the tent with blankets, sheets, etc. for added insulation. If more than one person lives in the home, then stay close to one another under one or more blankets which provides more warmth. Electricity is wonderful, but you cannot count on always having electricity to use to keep your house warm.

With this in mind, many people have total electric homes. As we have learned in this last week, you cannot count on the electricity to remain on. With temps that got into the negative digits, having no heat is life threatening. An alternate source of heat is an absolute necessity in temperatures that are cold enough to kill. Many years ago, most homes had natural gas and heaters that ran off of natural gas. That was more reliable than electricity. If you have natural gas in your home and you have a place to hook up an old fashion heater, then get one and have it ready to hook up and use should your power go out. If you don't have natural gas, there are other forms of back up heating you can use if your power goes out.

My home's primary source of heat is a wood burning stove. I fully believe that if you have a wood burning stove and you keep wood on hand, you have everything you would need to get by in those kinds of temperatures. Fireplaces also provide heat, but not as efficiently as a wood burning stove. Be sure to either have your stove pipe or chimney cleaned before using or clean it yourself. Wood stoves have an added bonus of being able to cook on them.
But, what if you don't have a fireplace or a wood stove?

There are still options for back up heat. You can get a large propane bottle and a propane heater. Buddy heaters are one that more people are familiar with at this point in time, but there are other brands out there. These heaters are designed for indoor use. Another option would be a kerosene heater. They are messier and a little harder to operate, but they do provide a back up form of heat. A CO2 monitor would give you peace of mind to know that you are not having a build up of too much CO2. Trading one form of death for another is still death. Remember how important it is to limit the space you are trying to heat with your form of back up heat.

In small spaces, using a propane lantern would provide a little heat. That is not what they are designed for, but it would certainly be better than freezing to death. In a very small space, that lantern would certainly help at least a little. However, one of the things to keep in mind is that you still may not be as warm as you would like to be. That is where dressing in layers, using covers, hats, gloves, socks and warm shoes will help make you feel warmer. Even candles, in a small area, provide some heat. What other ideas can you think of that might be a source of heat in subfreezing temperatures?

Today, we will start with our crash course on the basics of surviving, otherwise known as prepping. No, we are not talk...
02/21/2021

Today, we will start with our crash course on the basics of surviving, otherwise known as prepping. No, we are not talking the end of the world, but we are talking about things like Texas has just experienced where there may be short to long periods of time where power is off, food supply is interrupted and when you turn on the water faucet, nothing comes out. First, let me stress, you will NOT be able to get all of this done at once, so pick your priorities and start from there.

Water, drinkable water, is a top priority. Water to flush a toilet is also important. What happens if you turn on the tap and nothing comes out? Are you prepared to have no water flowing? Are you prepared to have no water flowing and no way to get out of the house to get water?

How does one prepare for no water coming from the tap? First, every single household should store water. You should have at least one gallon of drinking water a day per person in your house and you should have enough to last at least a week. First, don't waste your time going out to purchase gallon water jugs full of water and expect that to do the trick. Gallon water jugs don't hold up and they leak quite quickly. I personally use a combination of 2 liter bottles and five gallon storage containers. For long term storage of drinking water, you can put 8 drops of plain bleach, not scented, per gallon. Cases of small bottles of water help, but it would take a bunch of cases to have the amount of water you need. Don't forget to include enough water to at least sponge bathe with. w, hen you are told a major weather event is coming, fill your bathtubs before the storm comes. That way you have water to easily flush toilets.

Know where the closest water sources are and have a way to filter it. Berkey filters systems are great. Most other systems are not good enough to take dirty water and make it drinkable. Learn different ways to filter water and purify it. When looking at preps, remember, skills are way more important than things. Do you know how to dig to find water if you don't have water near you? Do you know how to get salt ocean water to the point it can be drank safely? Without hydration, and water is the best source of hydration, a person will die quickly. What do you need to do to see that you have enough water stored for hydration, flushing toilets, etc?

I managed to get the sidewalk dug out. Folks, we are dealing with solid blocks of ice.
02/18/2021

I managed to get the sidewalk dug out. Folks, we are dealing with solid blocks of ice.

Today, we are still in the 20s. That has been quite a warming trend from being in the single to negative digits. Today...
02/18/2021

Today, we are still in the 20s. That has been quite a warming trend from being in the single to negative digits. Today is my first and only full day home. I am going to start trying to dig us out. Warming trend will start tomorrow with us finally coming out of freezing on Saturday. Let me start at the beginning.
In the beginning, we were told there was a winter storm coming. I was ready before the warning was issued because I have learned to live ready for "unexpected" things. On Friday, 02/12/2021, we experienced a little freezing rain. On Friday and Saturday, I was getting my daughter and RJ moved to a larger, better place. We finished the move just in time.
On Sunday, 02/14/2021, we have more sleet and freezing rain. On Monday, 02/15/2021, the temperatures dropped to single digits and then came the snow. It took me all day to get my suburban out of the driveway and then I had to drive into town just in time to check into the hotel, get dressed and drive to work. The drive to work was bad enough. I attempted, without much success, to sleep on Tuesday at the hotel. Hotels are not equipped for day sleepers. They are noisy and the curtains are not black out curtains. I managed to drive back to work on Tuesday evening. During the night, the temperature dropped into single to negative digits. We had a little snowfall, then the freezing rain/sleet started.
So, when I got off work on Wednesday morning, we had a layer of about 1/4 inch ice covered with 6-11 inches of snow, covered with a layer of ice, covered with a little snow and then covered with ice again. I did manage to drive home on Wednesday. I was not worth anything and had to just sleep.
Today, I begin the digging out process. Temps are expected to rise slightly above freezing tomorrow, then dip below freezing again. The roads are going to be worse than they were Wednesday when I have to head back to work tomorrow night.
We are blessed. We have been warm. We have not lost power. We have the wood stove to keep the house warm. Other people have not been so fortunate. Thousands in Texas are without power. There are freezer trucks on Galveston island to put the bodies in. They have not had power in days. This saga will continue.
During the night Tuesday night, more snow fel.

Northeast Texas has been experiencing very unusual weather. These pictures are from 02/15/2021. Very pretty. However,...
02/18/2021

Northeast Texas has been experiencing very unusual weather. These pictures are from 02/15/2021. Very pretty. However, underneath that snow was a 1/4 inch layer of ice. We have not been able to get the pig pen open, though we have managed to care for them over the fence. The chickens are fine. Everything is moving along. I have a wonderful wood stove that has worked overtime to keep us warm. I had to work Monday and Tuesday nights so I spent Tuesday day in town at a hotel just because the driving was so treacherous.

02/10/2021

No pictures because it got dark. Today, after saying I was not going to put in a garden this year because of stupid gophers... I put in 12 broccoli plants, 6 butter leaf lettuce, 6 spinach, 6 collard greens and 6 cabbage. Along with that, I got about 300 onion sets in the ground.

And done... Today I got 11 more trees/bushes in the ground. Today, I planted two paw paw trees, 2 thornless blackberry...
02/05/2021

And done... Today I got 11 more trees/bushes in the ground. Today, I planted two paw paw trees, 2 thornless blackberry, 2 pear trees, 2 chinquapin trees, and 3 almond trees. It questionable if the almonds will actually be able to produce here, but it is worth a try. I buy my trees/bushes from someone who grows things that are specific for my area. This all all the trees/bushes for now. After I did this, I moved bulbs around, picked up a chest of drawers and finally got dinner cooked. Been a good day. Tomorrow.. back to the job.

Not too shabby for a couple hours work. Today, I put two blueberry bushes, two wild apple trees, one nectarine tree, on...
02/04/2021

Not too shabby for a couple hours work. Today, I put two blueberry bushes, two wild apple trees, one nectarine tree, one paw paw tree and two pomegranate trees in the ground. More to put out tomorrow, but a good start today.

I failed to get the best of the before pictures because my phone was in the house. But, I have cleared as far as I coul...
12/06/2020

I failed to get the best of the before pictures because my phone was in the house. But, I have cleared as far as I could for now all the way to my fence line. The other side is not my problem.

Address

3705 CR 266 N
Henderson, TX
75652

Telephone

+19038362031

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when ANooCre8ion Homestead Farm posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to ANooCre8ion Homestead Farm:

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Our Story

ANooCre8ion (A New Creation) is a small homestead farm located in the Piney Woods area of East Texas. Located outside of Henderson, TX, we have been here for over 25 years.