My Two Scents

Each night, I journey to secure the chickens and turkeys from visiting predators. When I was gathering the remnant of straying turkeys from the back of their shed, I spotted a mound of freshly unearthed dirt. My natural assumption was that it was the usual visiting ground hog. I fetched and baited my live trap and set it next to the shed. The next morning when I went to check the trap, I could see from a distance that the trap door had been tripped. With much certainty, I neared to view what I thought would be a ground hog but to my surprise, I had caught a skunk. I stopped dead in my tracks and approached with caution. This was not the usually variety that we see, but a white skunk with a black underside. I quickly processed the event and decided that he was probably trying to dig under the shed to reach the turkeys food, but to no avail. We had diligently buried wire to prevent such measures. Like raccoons, skunks carry rabies. This was not something , we wanted to hang around our farm. I gathered as much information and contacted other locals that could tell me how to dispose of this perfumed critter. I was told to approach it at night with a flash light to blind it and cover it with a heavy blanket. Next, to fill a tub with water or take it to the creek and drowned it.
We set out that night with all our gear in hand and our prepared water filled barrel for his demise. After blinding him and covering him, we slowly and carefully drug him to the barrel. Upon lifting him in the air and lowering him to the water, we discovered that the cage did not fit the rounded water filled brim. Defeated, we left him in the cage and returned the next night for plan B. This time, we decided to back the truck up over the top of the cage and let the exhaust slowly lull him into eternal sleep. The next morning, we arrived to dispose of the poor creature, we were surprised to find a happy and much alive skunk. I was exhausted by the emotion of trying to rid myself of this helpless creature, so I did what most would do. We set him happily free. We watched as he tipped his head and listened to our voices, then slowly moved from his caged existence and quickly scurried into the neighboring wooded terrain.


How to Catch a Skunk
Shine a flashlight in their eyes at night. It will blind them. Pick them up by the tail. This prevents them from spraying. Put them in a box with a lid that is kept in the dark for transport.

Skunk in a live trap
Shine a flashlight in their eyes as you are approaching. Cover with a heavy blanket. Re-locate miles from your home or take to the nearest body of water and immerse the trap for six minutes or better.

Little Known Facts
The scent gland is sold to high end perfume companies to help hold the scent.

De-Skunk Shampoo
In a plastic bucket mix the following ingredients
1 quart of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide
1/4 cup of baking soda
1 to 2 teaspoons liquid soap
for very large pets one quart of tepid tap water may be added to enable complete coverage.
Wash pet promptly and thoroughly, work the solution deep into the fur. Let your nose guide you, leave the solution on about 5 minutes or until the odor is gone. Some heavily oiled areas may require a "rinse and repeat" washing.
Skunks usually aim for the face, but try to keep the solution out of the eyes - it stings. If you have any cuts on your hands you might want to wear latex gloves for the same reason.
After treatment, thoroughly rinse your pet with tepid tap water.
Pour the spent solution down the drain with running water.
NEVER, ever, store mixed solution in a closed bottle, sprayer, etc. Pressure will build up until the container bursts. This can cause severe injury.

Notes
1) Clean plastic mixing containers and utensils are preferred. Metals encourage auto-decomposition of the peroxide.
2) Hydrogen Peroxide 3% solution is usually sold in pint (500ml) bottles, so you'll need two. The 3% grade is often marked "U.S.P.", meaning that it meets the standards for medical use and purity as set forth in the United States Pharmacopoeia.
The use of other strengths/grades is not recommended unless you're a chemist, and even then a trip to the 24-hour drugstore is much better than a trip to the emergency room.
3) Use baking soda, not baking powder. "Arm and Hammer" is one popular brand. Baking soda is also called: Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate, U.S.P., Bicarbonate of Soda, and Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate. Do not confuse any of the above with Washing Soda, which is Sodium Carbonate. Washing Soda is about 100 times more alkaline than Baking Soda and can cause skin burns to both you and your pet.
4) Two preferred brands are "Softsoap" and "Ivory Liquid". As far as auto-decomposition of the peroxide is concerned, the surfactant package in these two is fairly inert. Heavy-duty grease-cutting brands such as "Dawn" are less inert, and hair shampoo is probably the worst.
5) Once mixed, the peroxide slowly breaks down into water and oxygen gas. Thus it gets weaker with time and so it should be used promptly. The exact rate depends on temperature, pH, and catalysts such as trace amounts of metals (iron, etc.) in the soap and/or tap water.
How much pressure will the complete decomposition of 3% hydrogen peroxide produce in a closed container ??? It depends on how full the container is. Assuming negligible solubility of Oxygen in water, a bottle half-full of peroxide will develop about 140 psi. A bottle 3/4 full would develop 420 psi. This can do a lot of damage.
Highly pure hydrogen peroxide decomposes very slowly if kept cool and in a dark place, a few percent a year. The more dilute solutions usually decompose faster (due to impurities in the dilution water) and have a trace of stabilizer added. So why aren't the bottles in the store bloated or bursting ? Look carefully inside the cap... you'll see some very tiny holes in the cap liner to let the oxygen gas escape. A good reason to always store bottles upright.
Look for an expiration date on your peroxide. If you're using stuff which has been sitting around in your medicine cabinet for years, buy fresh peroxide.
6) Tepid: lukewarm.
7) All brand names mentioned in this website are trademarks of their various owners.

The Barn

When we first arrived in Pennsylvania the culturally differences from the West were obvious. The rolling hills and evergreen trees were bountiful. The Amish were scattered in various areas and their plain life was refreshingly reminiscent of yesteryear.
It is not uncommon to be greeted by Pennsylvanians and asked, if you want to see their barn, rather than their house. A barn in Pennsylvania is still highly valued. It's a safe haven where your animals are raised. A shelter to protect ones provision of hay and grain from the long bitter winter. Crops can be fed to sustain your animals or sold for those who are unable to plant. The majority of ones life is spent in the field and in the barn. The barn is still the central and most important part of every Pennsylvania farm.
So, when your welcomed by a Pennsylvania farmer's, "Come on in", don't expect to be taken into their parlor, but rejoice if your invited to view their true splendor that is showcased by an abundance of golden straw.

The Note

When God sets a passion in your heart there seems to be no denying what just comes naturally. When you have something you love, what is known as work does not contain drudgery but true joy. Well not to say, that work is not involved but the heart reigns over the mundane tasks of labor.

Our first home was a small two bedroom one bath house. The bathroom was so small, that I referred to it as the two bedroom-no bath home. It was on the outskirts of Phoenix and was just 1/3 of an acre but for me it was my first glimmer of what I dreamed, a real farm. Even though the house was the size of a puddle, it was my goal to make it a pond.

Answering an add in the newspaper for chickens, we drove our old Buick to a rural surrounding farm that was selling out and moving to Texas. I drank in the thought of living the life that they had embraced. Growing up with the stories of my Great Grandmother and Grandfather that homesteaded one-hundred and sixty acres in Idaho, I longed to be surrounded by dirt. I was met by a handsome young man that was the son of the owner. He could see my excitement as I picked out a box full of laying hens from his flock. I graciously paid him and we put them in a cardboard box for the ride home. Not knowing a lick about chickens or farm animals for that matter, I did not shut the lid of the box. It was not long that I had a backseat full of full sized, fluttering chickens throughout our car. I’m certain we were a sight to behold.

Our small little house was bursting at the seams. Christin and Kati shared a bedroom and on weekends Candice would come to stay. Our son Dustin had arrived and slept in our bedroom and later would take the couch, as there was no more space for another bed. We were packed like sardines in that little house but all the kids in the neighborhood would make there way over to play at our house. There was more than one occasion that I would find a neighboring child asleep on our couch. A small unobtrusive house with no glitz or glamour that the neighborhood children seemed to see as a safe haven. A home, away from home.

It was not long that word seemed to spread of my love for animals. I took in strays and doctored flightless birds. I remember, one occasion of coming home and finding a dead bird placed on our doorstep with a note attached.

Cheryl,

I found this bird and thought you could bury it.

Love,
Amy

The sweetness of thinking that I was the only one that could properly dispose of this lifeless creature, touched my heart. The sweet innocence of a child resembled that which I had found among my animal friends. A lesson that I will cherish all of my days.