Devonviolet Acres

[Bruce]

In fact, I am starting a thread on that so please all SS eligible and "retirees" please feel free to weigh in as I am wanting to hear others opinions before I make my final decisions.

Please post the link to your thread. Breakeven is somewhere around 81 years of age if you collect as soon as you are eligible. I just hit 62 in March so I can collect starting whenever. But I'm with you on the "My employers and I paid in, I'd like to collect before they run out of capacity to make full payments" concept. Of course it is also taxable which complicates things.

 

[Baymule]

I am thrilled that you are getting repeat customers. What a sales lady you have turned out to be! Way to go!

 

[Devonviolet]

Having to buy another table is a problem you can smile about.

I thought you might get more and more repeat customers for good quality products.

ABSOLUTELY!

 

[Devonviolet]

I started collecting SS in 2005, at 54, when I was so sick from Lyme and Epstein Barr Virus, that I was sleeping 16 hours a day, and in my chair not doing much for the other 8. So I was forced to retire early. I finally found an Integrative physician, in 2008, who literally saved my life! Allopathic doctors had nothing to offer me, so for 3 years I sat in my chair getting sicker. And then, when I did find a doctor, who knew how to make me better, insurance wouldn’t pay for it, and I had to pay out of pocket. GRRR!!!

Due to the illness, SS called it “disability”, until I was 66, when they wrote to me and told me I was no longer on disability. It didn’t increase the pitance that they were giving me, but I guess it made them feel better. I was told they are supposed to give up to a 3% increase every year. But, many years, I either didn’t get an increase, or they gave a 1% increase and also increased Medicare by 3%. And then there is the required Medicare advantage supplement we have to get. In the early years, we could get it for $0 premium. Now, while I know it is less than others pay, DH and I both have a supplemental plan that costs $40 each, so I am actually getting $40 less than I used to get. Thanks SS!!! I put all that money in for all those years, and this is the return I get for my money. Not even enough to live at poverty level, if I was single.

So, since I can’t work a normal “job”, even though it takes most of my time and energy to pull it all together, for 4 hours on Saturday mornings, being able to make a few extra dollars REALLY helps the budget a LOT!

 

[Baymule]

I am excited for you that you "pull it all together" and am able to fulfill your dreams of living and making money on your farm. Even a little money helps. I think this might turn out to be a full time operation with your faithful customers. Might need a Plan B for when Farmer's Market runs out of season. Maybe put up a Facebook page, blog or website? Ship to people or farm pick up or meet in town for certain days/hours?

 

[Mini Horses]

I found some festivals that generally center around holidays and/or town fair days...olden days, etc. They were one shot deals but, often annual type events. Still get invite to some of those. Generally a "site" fee and register in advance, etc.

Believe I looked at or googled "festivals" and found a site that listed many. Watch for these at churches, schools, and such.
It takes some time to find and organize.

 

[Devonviolet]

I don’t have much time for getting on BYH lately. Most of my spare time is spent on either researching for products to sell at farmers market, or making products to sell at farmers market.

The other day, I used a new recipe for making goat’s milk lotion, and it made the most amazing, thick, rich lotion!!! So, yesterday I made a big batch of my Violet’s Lotion, which is MY version of Two Old Goats, only much better. It has ten essential oils, where TOG has six. I have gotten many positive comments about how effective my lotion is.

I have also gone totally gluten free. I am the only one selling gluten free at farmers market and people are coming back for more!!!

My latest addition (still to come) is bread made from Einkorn flour, which is made from an Ancient Grain, with only one chromosome, where modern grains have 4 or 5 chromosomes. It is wheat, with gluten, but it seems that people with even severe gluten allergies don’t react to the gluten, because of special enzymes in the grain. I have ordered some of this flour and will try it out. I’m very hopeful that this will be a great addition to my gluten free lineup!!!

Good news on the duck front. Several months ago, we separated our Muscovy hens and one drake, to see if the girls would build a next and set some eggs for us. For the first two months they didn’t even lay an egg. Then, the day I was planning to put them back with the rest of the flock, we found a nest with two eggs in it. So, we left them alone and they kept adding eggs. At last count there were 19 eggs in the nest and one of the hens had pulled out down, was hissing and wouldn’t let us near the nest.

Of course she wouldn't put the nest IN the shelter! She had to build it OUTSIDE the shelter!!! Isn't she pretty?

Here is her full nest the last time she begrudgingly left the nest. Now she just fluffs up & hisses.

She doesn’t seem to be letting the other hen near the nest. So, the other hen has started a nest of her own. Last count it had one egg in it. We are hoping for another full nest before she starts setting on the eggs.

Here are the 3 ducks in the shelter in the adjacent run. They are in 2 8x16 runs with the door between open, giving them 2 shelters and a 16x16' run. They have a pool with fresh water for bathing. Living in the lap of luxury, they are.

We cut an opening & covered it with hardware cloth, to give the birds cross ventilation, when they are in the coop on a hot day. If you look closely, you can see Scruffy, the other drake, on the coop side of the opening. He is scheduled for freezer camp. He likes to hang around the other Muscovies.

Okay, gotta go get busy in the kitchen!!!

 

[Bruce]

Pretty but none too bright making her nest outside the safe area
How soon to hatch?

 

[greybeard]

I was told they are supposed to give up to a 3% increase every year. But, many years, I either didn’t get an increase, or they gave a 1% increase and also increased Medicare by 3%. And then there is the required Medicare advantage supplement we have to get. In the early years, we could get it for $0 premium. Now, while I know it is less than others pay, DH and I both have a supplemental plan that costs $40 each, so I am actually getting $40 less than I used to get. Thanks SS!!! I

It (the SS increase) is and always has been (or at least in my life) tied in to actual cost of living increases which is now chained to CPI.
From it's inception, there has never been a "supposed to give up to" any set amount annual increase. And early on, an increase only came about if and when congress brought it up for discussion, (late 50s-early 70s) during which some years, it wasn't even brought up for discussion. Being tied to CPI is a much better arrangement and the increase is automatic if CPI goes up, and even if inflation drops within months, the recipient never loses that increase. **

Most years there was an increase and some years it was pretty significant.
(2018 COLA was 2%)

**
If inflation increases from year to year, Social Security recipients automatically get higher payments, starting in January. If inflation is negative, the payments stay unchanged.

Social Security payments increased by 5.8 percent in 2009, the largest increase in 27 years, after energy prices spiked in 2008.

But energy prices quickly dropped. For example, average gasoline prices topped $4 a gallon in the summer of 2008. But by January 2009, they had fallen below $2. Today, the national average is roughly $2.70 a gallon.

As a result, Social Security recipients got an increase in 2009 that was far larger than actual inflation. However, they won’t get another increase until inflation exceeds the level measured in 2008. The Social Security trustees project that will happen [in 2011], resulting in a small increase in benefits for 2012.

 

[Baymule]

I hope you get a nice bunch of ducklings!