FOR SALE

 One Horse Mower $2500

 M Farmall $3900 / Horse and Tractor drawn manure spreader $3000 and down

 140 Farmall and an Oliver 2 pt plow $2900

 Gooseneck Trailer 35' electric hydraulic brakes $7500

 Used Windmill head (8'fan and tail bone) and 8' stubb $2900

 Used and New Harnesses for mules and horses $500 and up

We also have a 7' riding disc harrow, 4' riding disc harrow, buzz saw (belt driven), old wood burning cook stove that needs repair, chisel plow with 7 shanks, belt driven hammer mill with bagging attachment, and 8 different walking plows that we have rebuilt and painted.

Drip Tape and Plastic Mulch, "Smith Garden"

Here is a few photos of our 1 ac garden with a 12' fence around it.  We used a plastic/drip tape machine from rainflow irrigation to get the beds made with a black plastic mulch and drip tape under neath.  We used 1 1/2" blue layflat hose to feed all the drip lines. We are irrigating from a clear beautiful deep spring right down the ridge from the garden spot.  I will have detailed expenditures and a "how we did it" page coming up next week I hope.  

Thank you again to all the Back to The Land Store followers.  

"Come thou fount of every blessing"

Special Thanks To Ben

I wanted to thank a very special brother of mine for helping me this last week while Mr Jim took some much needed time off.

 Ben, all of 13 years old, accomplished some serious work this week plowing, transplanting in the green house, working on our john deer horse drawn planters and of course jumping off the old four wheeler when the battery died. 

Ben, you made this week a whole lot of fun and I hope that ice cream was worth it!

Proverbs 23:25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bear thee shall rejoice. 

Mrs. Pam's Pickled Okra

"Okrey in a Jar"

PICKLED OKRA

3 cups water

3 cups white vinegar

½ cup pickling or canning salt (very important, see tip)

2 tsp dill seeds (optional)

3 ½ lbs. small whole okra pods,  (may trim ½ of large portion of stem, but 

                                                       don’t cut into pod)

4 cloves minced garlic

One pod hot pepper for each jar (red is prettier)

Prepare hot water bath canner per canner instructions, wash jars and place in simmering bath water until ready to pack.  Place lids in small saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and keep hot until ready for use.

In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine water, vinegar, salt and dill seed.  Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve salt.  Reduce heat to low and keep hot until ready to use.

Place one garlic clove or about 1 teaspoon minced garlic in bottom of each pint jar.  Pack okra and pepper vertically.  Ladle hot pickling liquid into jar to cover okra, leaving ½ inch headspace.  Wipe rim.  Place lids on jars.  Screw band down until fingertip-tight.

Return jars to canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water.  Bring to a boil and process 15 minutes.  Remove canner lid.  Wait 5 minutes. Remove jars, cool. 

The next day, insure the lids are sealed, remove bands and wash jars in hot, sudsy water.  Store in cool, dark place. 

Tip:

Table salt contains an anti-caking agent that will cause your pickles to appear cloudy.  It is not harmful, but you will it will make you look like an amateur!  Crystal clear liquid in pickles makes them much more attractive and appetizing.

From Mrs. Pam's Kitchen to yours this year, 

May the Lord bless your garden!

2011 Dodge Ram 3500 For Sale

2011 Dodge Ram 3500

Auto, 2WD, new front tires, B&W turn over ball, diesel

Hot Shot Truck and Trailer combo is $38,000

2011 35' Lone Wolf  trailer

The trailer can be sold separately for $8000 obo 

Call us, we are willing to make trades too!

931-764-0034

931-764-0177

Tomato Planting Time!

A fond memory of spring gardens and summers past are baskets full of ripe shiny red tomatoes, and nothing enjoyed more than your garden plunder come winter time when you open those canned tomatoes to enjoy in a hot bowl of homemade soup. 

 Its that time of year, SPRING!  Our selection of Heirloom Tomato varieties are a guarantee to grow with most having at lest an 81% germination.  

 Here is the research that has been done for the Kitchen Gardener:

100-150 days until harvest

6-12 weeks of edible fruit

In a 50 foot row will probably can over 2 bushels

 Call the store at 1-866-764-0034 and we will help you with an order of seed and shipping is only $5.80 for a small flat rate box.  

Here is a list of our varieties:

• Sun Sugar
• Delicious
• Wis 55
• German Pink
• Martino's Roma
• Amish Paste
• Brandy Wine
• Ox Heart
• Sweet Million
• Marion
• Marglobe
• Rutgers
• Yellow Pear
• Beef Steak
• and special orders too

May the Lord Richly Bless you this planting season,

Jesse Bolton

Small farming fun at Leegacy Farms!

Here at the Back to the Land Store we want to promote small sustainable homesteading and farming. We had the pleasure of visiting the Lee family at their homestead in middle TN, Leegacy Farm. 

They have been saving corn seed for several generations now and we had the privilege of having a day of corn shelling and boiling down maple sap into syrup. 

We used an antique corn sheller we brought, the best part about antiques is that they work right through the Cobb webs! This picture shows the boys getting it set up to shell. 

The Lee's had already gotten the fire going under the kettle's for the maple sap that Sam Turley had collected  from his maple trees. 

The lovingly named "Duck Duck" enjoyed the corn shelling as much as we did! 

The girls hitched up their cart pony to give all the kids rides around the farm. 

Boiling down the syrup

the boys getting started on the corn, they will be using this corn to make feed for their dairy cows and other livestock on the farm, and also for replanting for this years corn crop. 

The collection bowl under the sheller

The sheller in action!

The youngest man in the Lee clan giving a tired pony a pat. 

Their sign in front of their house honors their beloved late father Tom Lee, who's dream it was to have such a successful family homestead as this!  

....and the farm's dog Toby saying thanks for stopping by yall! 

Thanks for stopping by and having a look at our day! For more information on corn shelling contact us, we'd love to talk farming!


May the Lord richly bless,

Jesse Bolton
The Back to the Land Store

Homemade Overseeder

       One of the traits my dad passed down to me is "do with what you got, and make it work". Part of our mission with the store is to help fellow homesteaders become not only self-sufficient but to try and keep things simple and inexpensive. I was born and raised in South Georgia on a 300 acre farm and I began my journey into the farming world. I soon realized how expensive and debt bound "large scale" farming was. I owned,  rather the bank owned, a 125HP 4455 John Deere, 18 foot harrow, 4 bottom flip moldboard plow, 4 row strip till and 4 row vacuum planters...and wow, before I knew it the worn out, low PH soil, rainless area I was attempting to farm showed me quickly I could not farm it like my Big Pa did. Six years later the Lord called me to pursue a debt free small scale farming life here in the state of Tennessee working for the Smiths on their 200 acre farm with 2 Belgians and a Model M Farmall.
      One of our first projects after my arrival here was to overseed some winter grazing for the milk cows and draft animals. We bought an old International 8' grain drill with a hydraulic lift for $400. I wanted to be able to inexpensively overseed or "no till drill" some wheat and rye grass on all our pastures. I took this drill and I welded 1/2 rebarb to each of the legs that are supposed to flex with a spring. By doing this I was able to make the hydraulics almost pick the grain drill up off the ground. So for the drill to cut into the soil and through the grass we drove very slowly, weighed down the drill and waited on a day after a rain for soil softness. In this silty soil, I was able to plant almost 1/2 to 3/4" deep and this did a very nice job. Opposed to renting a drill from the Co-op or farm center for $200 a day. We made our own and can use it any time in tilled soil or on pasture with success. We included some pictures with our post to show you how we did it.

Happy welding,

Jesse
The Back to the Land Store