WASTE NOT WANT NOT!

When we purchased our land here in the Ozarks, it was raw and overgrown. To make room for our cabin site we had to do some clearing. The brush that accumulated from the clearing was stacked into piles in the hopes of getting a chipper shredder to return the biomass to the soil from which it came. Unfortunately, the chipper shredder never materialized so I decided to just burn the piles of brush since I can get all the wood chips I want from a local yard waste site.

The other night I decided to light a pile of brush on fire and it true homesteading fashion, we made it a multi purpose burn. @allforthegood gathered up some all-beef hotdogs and the fixings for smores and our brush burn quickly became a fun family campfire!

We were done eating and looking to wrap the night up when one of our dogs, Loki, started barking near the fence of the goat corral. Now, Loki barking at the goats isn't a new occurrence, but it can be a mild annoyance. So I yelled at him to stop barking and went about poking the loose brush back into the main body of fire. Loki kept barking, however, and my eldest son went over to see what all the hub-bub was about.

"Eagle-Eye" Alexander yelled, "Dad! It's a snake! It's a huge copperhead!"

I quickly came over, giving stern commands to the children and the dogs to stay back.

At first I didn't see it but then ol' Eagle-Eye pointed his flashlight at it as it tried to get away under some brush nearby. I grabbed a stick to try and stop it from getting under the pile of brush but it was too quick.

I could here it rattling in the brush pile but no longer had visual contact. I decided that it was better to find it and dispatch it rather than let it escape because of it's size and because it was so near our main living area. I cautiously starting pulling some of the brush away from the pile as Eagle-Eye stood at the opposite corner of the pile looking for the escaping snake.

In the end, the snake ended up coming back out of the pile and it was quickly dispatched. The head was severed and thrown into the woods and the body was fed to Pig-Mamma.

Never a dull moment on the homestead!

It was also a good reminder to my children that they must stay alert and vigilant for potential dangers on our land.

Thanks for Reading!

As Always,