Trapping

A good article on Trapping skills from Off the Grid News.
Though most of the animals you would typically trap are not meant for food according to the Bible, a person could make a little extra money selling the furs.
Better yet, there's always a need to get rid of some unwanted "guests" around the house sometimes!

Trapping For Survival

Wild Kingdom...Indoors!

   Well, life in an old farmhouse is never dull. It seems ever since I started working on this place and living here I've had more "visitors" than I can remember. From the momma raccoon to the frazzled humming bird to the ground hog thinking that this is his home too!
   Notice about the raccoon I said "momma"? That's because she was! I tried catching that coon for weeks using a live trap. I'd bait it with all kinds of stuff, like cat food, peanut butter and anything else people recommended. Tips on baiting traps are right up there with ways that women can "tell" if an expectant mother is having a girl or a boy!
   One day when I had given up hope on catching said raccoon I heard a tussling noise in the attic space next to the room I was working in. I thought, "Ah ha! Now I've gotcha." So I put on my heavy work gloves and went into the attic determined to catch this thing. When I got a few feet along I saw some insulation moving. I thought this is it, I'll grab her and...oh, right!...what was I going to do if I caught this thing?! Oh well, I was so tired of dealing with it that I'd figure it out as I went. Kind of a shoot-first-ask-questions-later sorta thing. Anyway, I crawled up to the insulation and I began hearing a tiny squeaking sound. "This doesn't sound like a big 'ol raccoon", I thought to myself. I pulled back the insulation and what did I see? You guessed it, baby raccoons! Oh great, they're multiplying! "Fantastic", I said sarcastically to myself (and I DID pick up on the sarcasm). But then I thought, "Hey, if I take the babies away then maybe momma will leave!". So I put them in a box and took them outside.
   Okay, so I'm outside with the baby raccoons and now what to do?  I stood there looking down on these helpless little creatures that I had just stolen out of their warm, safe "home" in my attic insulation.  I couldn't just let them die!  They couldn't have been even a week old.  So I did what anybody in my situation would have done...I started taking care of them!  Oy.  They were given a diet of raw goat milk and did fine for several weeks.  All that time I never saw hide nor hair of momma raccoon.  I later discovered that she moved out to the barn.
   After a short time the baby raccoons began to move around a bit more and we soon realized that we had to figure out a plan before they got too big.  The girls did a great job feeding them, but we ran out of goat milk and so we substituted it with something else...I can't remember right now what it was.  However, whatever it was did not work.  One by one the little things started passing on.  Just awful.

   Oh, and did I mention the mangy cat that kept hanging around?  Okay, okay, so I DID feed it a little!  But the thing was about ready to spend it's 9th life, I think.  Sheesh, I guess I'm kind of a softy.  
   Well all of this and just the other day a bird gets caught in my wood stove chimney!  I thought it was capped off well enough but obviously not.  Although I didn't get pics of some of the things that came around, I did get others that I've posted below.  Enjoy!

Creating an Antique Farm Table

This was a cheap, but still very solid, Kmart table that I'd had for about 10 years.

  

 I painted the legs and underside of the table first.  I wasn't too careful with how I painted.  I just slapped it on and I only put about 2 coats.  I used an Eggshell base.  The color was called "Bleached Sand" under the Grand Distinctions brand from Menards.  It's a good paint and the "sloppy" job added almost a distressed look.  I then screwed down some 2x8's and 1 2x10 in the center of the table.  Any number, size, and/or combination of boards would work depending on the length and width of your table.  I wanted to make the table a little bit bigger than it originally was.  You'll also want some overhang of the boards to sort of cover the old tabletop.

I screwed the boards from underneath so the screws wouldn't be seen.  I then took some hammers, and with the help of my girls, we "aged" the boards.  We pounded all around the edges and on the boards to give them a worn look.  We even had some pretty good hammer dents.  I took a few nails and pounded them in as well.  Once, all that fun was done, I stained the boards with a gel stain.  I only did 1 heavy coat.  The more coats you put on the darker it will be so it really depends on the look you're going for.  Several days later (when I finally had time) I polyurethaned the table top.  I put on 2 coats, though one could easily do 3 if they wanted.  The only thing that I would have done differently would be to beat, stain, and apply the polyurethane on the boards before screwing them down, but all in all it's not that big of a deal.  I got a little stain on the legs, but I just painted over those spots.  The finished product turned out pretty well and looks like a beautiful, old farm table.  It's not a smooth top because of the grooves between the boards, but it serves it's purpose well enough and looks good and unique.