Rooted Ridge Homestead

11/15/2025

I spy with my little eye.... 🥚

11/13/2025

Constantly a game of hide and seek around here...these were in our crawlspace entrance.

11/10/2025

Here it is!

In this video, I give a brief tour of our newest project. We've turned our Heatmaster C150 outdoor wood boiler into a stock tank heater for our cows. This wi...

11/10/2025

Project complete! This past summer, I looked into how much it would cost to get our old boiler fully repaired and in operable condition. We limped it through last winter, but the repairs it would have taken to get it up and running just weren't worth it for such an old unit. It would cost almost as much as a new boiler. So we opted to install a new boiler. On the way home from the dealer, I had time to think. I don't usually have the time to just ponder, but a 2 hour drive by myself allowed my brain plenty of time to start churning out ideas. And so, the plan to build a stock tank heater was hatched. Our new boiler only had a single input and output, unlike our old boiler, which had two. So I engineered a design that would split both the return and supply lines into two. One would go to our house as it always had, and a second would be connected to a new insulated pipeline out to the new fence. We rented a mini excavator and trenched in a water line from our house to the boiler for a hydrant, and continued the water line alongside the new insulated pipe out to the fence line where a second hydrant was installed. We then buried an old, leaky stock tank, and cut a hole in it to make way for the insulated pipe. The original plan was to nest a second non-leaking Rubbermaid 100 gallon tank into the buried one. However, both our Rubbermaid tanks had irreparable leaks, and Rubbermaid has since changed the design on *only* their 100 gallon tanks, so the new design would not nest into our old tank. Fortunately, the 50 gallon tank is still the old design AND nests into the 100 gallon tank decently well. So rather than buying two new tanks (💲💲💲), just to cut a hole in one, we opted for the smaller one. We knew we'd have to refill it often, but it was better than cutting a hole in a perfectly good $100+ tank for a project I wasn't quite convinced would actually work out. I bought a heat exchanger off Amazon, along with a couple of temperature sensors, and I now have a heated stock tank! So far, it's been working perfectly, with the water temp holding around 50 degrees. The boiler efficiency was also unaffected! I couldn't be happier with how it turned out, and I know I'll be doing this down the road with a 150 or 200 gallon stock tank setup.

11/02/2025

Happy Sunday from Billy and I! I hope you all enjoyed an extra hour of sleep last night.

11/02/2025

🥹 See that pretty rooster in the background? That's Kane. Kade's first son, and nearly a perfect replica of Kade. Kane has been stepping up in big ways since Kade's passing, and today he even took up Kade's position at milking time. My heart is full and my eyes are teary. Kade taught him well. ♥️

11/02/2025

Finally!!! Little Girl busted through the electric fence for the first time on August 28, 2024. At that time, we didn't have any sort of permanent fence on our property other than a small area made of corral panels. Permanent fencing was on our long-term list of goals, but quickly became something we needed to prioritize with Little Girl failing to respect the electric fence. The area in front of our house was thickly wooded, and we worried that if we put up a nice, new fence, a huge oak tree would soon take it out. We had several monster oaks that were leaning badly, and were dropping massive branches every storm that passed through. So we had the trees select cleared last fall, and the stumps were buried and ground leveled this summer. One paddock was installed last fall, but it was not a long-term solution. After battling health issues, ER trips, broken down equipment, and more....we have finally gotten the fence fully installed and ready for cows. The girls and Loiny are happy to be in a new space. I was hoping for the usual cow zoomies, but with 3 pregnant girls, they're not feeling all that zoomie-ish right now. 😂 I'm feeling grateful for the help we've had to get to this point. Top Flight tree removal LLC, 2 Brothers Contracting, Nevill Supply, Inc, West Branch Wood Treating Sales, and Jill & Travis Maxon . We wouldn't have been able to do this project without any one of you.

10/31/2025

📢 We need your help! We reuse grocery bags when we bring eggs, bread, or other goodies to our customers, and we're running low! If you're a herdshare holder, egg buyer, friend, or just feel like swinging by to help us out, we'd love it if you could bring us your excess clean, plastic shopping bags in good condition next time you stop out! It would be much appreciated. Thank you!!

10/29/2025

Kade. My free rooster from Craigslist. I brought him home when he was a young buck at 8 months old. He led our flock ever since, keeping the other boys in line, and fawning over his favorite ladies, the barred rock hens. Every morning, Kade was by my side for milking - rain, shine, or snow. He was always there. This morning, the rest of the "crew" was there for milking, but Kade was missing. He hadn't been doing well recently. His old age was getting to him. I didn't think I'd get another winter with my sweet boy. And that unfortunately proved to be true today. He's got sons that look just like him - Kane, Kase...and now a daughter. A barred rock pullet with puffy cheeks and the faintest hints of orange speckled throughout her feathers. I'm naming her Kadee in honor of her daddy. I'm going to miss this boy more than I ever thought possible to miss a rooster. There's just no other boys quite like him in our flock. He left some big shoes to fill for our other boys. I love you, Kade.

10/28/2025

Working on a project... Can you guess what it'll be?

10/20/2025

October 20th and I've got the windows open while assembling new bee frames. Couldn't ask for a better fall.