no snow , kids went to school
Steelers lost :(
Found the missing chicken. living in carport , where as the two raccoons are also living ??? ok what is up wit dat , i tell you's .
so may try and catch chicken and put it back in feild coop. or just shoot it with my 410
we got our guns out of storage
i got my little 410 shot gun
Dh got his something 12 gauge
we may do target practice when weather breaks.
robin i would lay fresh on top of it.
On the February homestead with dreams of springtime...
MsRobin ~ will you be tilling the area again? Or are you just building the garden on top of it? If it has no weed seeds in it (true straw) I would either till it in or as Taynors suggested, leave it on top and add mulch to it when you plant. Seems like your garden spot was boggy last spring but dried out quickly so you could work in it, if I remember.
Taynors ~ put that mean old chicken in the stew pot. I'd just hate to pick out those 410 pellets ~ get out a 22 rifle instead.
Dyson ~ have you been starting anything in your paper pots? Where are you planning to plant?
Is there possibly a spot in your community where you could do a community garden with others?
Some of my seed orders are coming in slow here this year. I have started a couple types of tomatoes and some herbs via wintersowing. It helps the winter blues by letting me play in the dirt.
I think we are the 'tripod farm' here. I have one dog that has always limped on a front leg. He was injured before we found him.
One dog that is limping on a back leg. He injured in while running hard and now favors it when cold.
Now I am feeding a deer with a broken front leg. She puts no weight on it. She has been here since last summer and we had hoped a hunter would harvest her but season is gone and she is still here. I put out a mineral block and have planted clay peas and yesterday, I spread sunflower seed around the feeding stump. I can watch her from the computer window. We think she had been hit by a car as a friend saw her out by the road a lot.
I worry as I only have two legs and none to spare... enough tripods here, I don't want any monopods !
Our ice has melted with more snow promised but after Cajuns' comment about chicken hoop houses, I have been researching and scheming. Still suffering poultry lust here.
If you long for poultry maybe I can help. Our coop seems to need cleaning quite often these days!
Thank you sir, I appreciate the offer. My first help needs to be persuading my other half! I've had smaller batches of chickens in the past but didn't keep the chicken house. I will have to start from the ground up. I have decided just a small ~ what are they called? A clutch, a covey, a herd, a murder? Anyway, think I want a small batch of small chickens.
I liked the hoop house idea because I could build it myself but I suspect DH would think it would look tacky, especially where it would sit. My other reservation has been, in this area, chickens draw snakes like a magnet. My least favorite thing when I reach without looking into a nest box. And they and other critters will kill chickens so the tender side of me thinks of the terror the penned chickens suffer when a predator gets into the pen to wreak havoc. That will be another consideration on what type of chicken house to build.
Then logic kicks in so I will probably resort to buying yard eggs as I have been doing. Thanks for the offer though. Wish I were closer, I'd surely buy eggs from you at the very least.
After a beautiful spring day yesterday. I woke up to rain, which quickly turned to snow and is rapidly covering the ground. UGH!
Whew! I'm glad you gals are of the same opinion about not having to remove the old straw mulch. I had dollar signs running through my head after figuring I'd need at least 60 bales if I removed all of the old and put all new straw on the garden rows.
I don't want to use the tiller in the garden this year. The soil is still "fluffy" and not compacted. But more importantly, after fighting weeds all summer and finally having most of them pulled by summer's end, I don't want to turn the soil over and bring new weed seeds closer to the surface to sprout. I'll be loosening the soil surface as I plant seeds/transplants this spring and adding a little fertilizer.
Good memory, Podster! It does drain well after heavy rains.The muddiness yesterday was/is due to a spring thaw. Just the top inch or so was muddy, but it is really slick when wet. I had already taken a tumble while putting up the tunnel plastic.
I've seen pictures online of the hoop houses for chickens or goats. Looks to be pretty simple and easy to construct. Some are even made to be movable. We keep a deep layer of loose straw in the coop and attached side yard and the chickens love it. There are a few really deep depressions where the hens really hunker down to lay, but they all roost on a 1"x2" board DH installed about 4" off the ground. I think it was the last thread, that Bernie said if you don't start them off with auxillery heat, they do fine over the winter. I don't let them out to free range when it's bitterly cold or there's lots of snow on the ground, as a preventative measure against frostbite. Knock on wood, so far so good.
With all this talk of straw bales and hoophouses, I'm ordering 3 or 4 cattle panels be delivered to make a long hoop trellis. And since the feed store charges a flat $19 for delivery, I think I'm going to order 20 straw bales to keep on hand for future use. Darius had made a hoop trellis for her greenbeans which worked great. I'm going to plant greenbeans along one side and cucumbers along the other side and grow salad greens underneath.
We're supposed to get that snow later today, Robin. Yuck.
I guess you won't be coming back to VA soon since Al went west, but another visit was a nice thought! What did you do with the venison? I did an inventory of both freezers several days ago and found 2 packages of venison I had cleaned and ground. You couldda had venison burgers.
I made my first hard rind cheese. It posts tomorrow on my blog. My first bacon, salt pork (cured, herbed and smoked fatback) and smoked hocks follow the cheese, one every other day.
chicken is gone , and so is the coon. it was very sick ( the coon). swaggering all over the place around noon time today. Dh is a good shot !!
used the 410 on it.
well not much going on here
going to start some seeds to morrow. some hollyhocks and some petunia's.
got bench number 3 up in the GH. its a 3x9' long bench. not as tall as the others . but we use it for starting seeds ect....
not much else going on here.
looking forward to seeing how your cheese turns out darius. sounds yummy.
We had a sick coon break into the screened porch on a house I lived in years ago. Didn't shoot him, although my neighbor did kill it the next day trying to break into his house.
LOL, my cheese sure LOOKS yummy, but it will be 4-6 weeks aging before I can taste it! The cats sure loved the bits of curd left on the strainer.
I am so OVER the snow and being cooped up in the house!
i hear you robin me too.
well all my chickens are sneezing. so i gave them some Duramice.
i did a mash of 1 qt water, with 3 cups grain, cottage cheese and some sunflower seeds , along with some tasty spinach.
i am told to do that twice a day.
i also got the vitamin and electolite drink thingy.
got my seeds starting up and hopefull running.
i just don't have enough heat in the GH for annuals.So i m doing them in the house again this year
petunias
cosmos
Bells of Ireland
Marigolds
and some other stuff, can't think of it right at them moment
i m full of cupcake mix LOLL made cupcakes for kids party tomorow
usually i m against silly , Valentine day stuff, but i cna't win since i was elected to be the party coordinator and no one decided to help out or anything ? sooooo
its 5 degree's here today
welp got to go check my cupcakes
Hello? Hello? Anybody in here? LOL I know, there's not a lot of exciting things going on with the homestead this time of year. But I've been dreaming...
Actually, a month or two ago I convinced myself I wanted a couple of bottle calves and a couple of feeder pigs.Then I promptly talked myself out of it for lack of confidence in my ability to put up the fencing and to care for them. I did have a couple of goats 2 or 3 summers ago (and am planning on getting a couple of new ones), so have a very limited amount of experience. Well, I have recently decided what the heck, it's only for a few months, then they would be taken to the processor. No long term commitment.
For the pigs, DH would like to have either the pigs (or goats) down in small wooded area to clean it up some. There is a small 3 season spring that runs in the gully bottom. The edge of the woods is about 200' from the house. I found the electric fence netting on the link below. It says it will also hold pigs and I could/should be able to easily put it up. Or I could buy 8-10 hog panels, which I could also handle and if raising pigs don't appeal to me, then I could always use them in the garden in future years. http://www.premier1supplies.com/fencing.php?mode=detail&fence_id=108
For the calves, I want them to be grass fed. We have about 3 open acres of fescue in view of the house where I would like them to be pastured. I would like to use the same fence for them, but at $147 for a 164' roll, I don't think I want to invest that much money until I know whether I want to do this every summer. So will just use regular electric fence wire.
Dh had put up a 3 wire electric fence (1/3 acre, maybe) for the previous goats. It held the larger goat, but she bullied the smaller one so much that the little one would come through the fence and hang around just outside the fence.
So now I need some input. When we were in Arkansas, there was about a 3 acre pasture that had goats, pigs (they were small) and donkeys. I know the donkey kicked/hurt a few of the pigs and goats. Since I'm just keeping the pigs for 5-6 months, is it really that dangerous to other animals to keep them all together? If it is, do I have to or should I keep the goats and calves in seperate pastures too? I've read that it's helpful to pigs to allow chickens to run in the pig area to eliminate some of the internal parasite problems. (But have also read that ckickens should never be allowed in with pigs because they would/could be killed) How would that affect the quality/safety of the eggs and the chicken for future human consumption? I've also read that pigs can be trained to eliminate in one area of their pen. Guess that's enought information request for now. My head is already swimming!
So far, no requested "pre-register phone calls" received for the garden workshop, which starts Monday night. Sure hope we get at least a little bit of interest. Suppose to be in the 40's Sunday and the 50's Monday, so maybe that will get a few people thinking about spring.
yes not much going on here
Gh is going full load , we got it all air tight and heaters on. got into the upper 70's today woohooo. felt good. almost went outside with my flip flops on ! ack almost walked into 12 degree's with flip flops.... did i just repeat myself ? darn.
I m sure wiht Cajun on your side she will guide you through the goats. :)
good news on the pre registed people for your class.
welp we may get some warmer weather coming in next week. I may also try and get back to eating healthy again.... remember key word is TRY i have been saying that for the last 6 mondays LOLLL
Hi all... not to worry, us DG voyeurs are still out here.
I was moderately successful with the water beds in year one but last year was nothing to write home about. Last fall, I began to assemble a lasagna bed which I will use.
But then, I read about HugelKulture and I am intrigued. I am scheming and planning. I hope to tackle at least one bed this year and work toward more. It is a pit or a pile of dead, rotting wood, tree branches and bark. Topped with soil and planted. Apparently this has worked successfully in areas that receive little rainfall. It seems the rotting, doughty wood will hold moisture and the plant roots will thrive by growing into the wood. Got plenty of downed wood here, I just need to learn to use the bucket on the tractor so I don't have to dig so much.
Speaking of wood... we had some large pieces of firewood stacked up for a couple of years that needed splitting. When a friend came to split them, he did many smaller chunks for the wood box heater in the greenhouse. I have fought it ever since. That wood has wasted the majority of its' BTUs and they just sit and smoulder.
Then, last night, the beloved weather site said we were to only get in the high 20°s so I didn't go out at 3 a.m. and add more wood to the heater. This morning, it was 16° out and 37° in the GH. Plants are fine but I am crabby. I am ready for spring, summer anything but this blessed cold, gloomy, icy, freezing, snow flurries, depressing weather! There! I vented and maybe I'll feel better.... not!
MsRobin ~ I do hope you get a better response for your workshop. I wish I was closer. Hope y'all are out talking it up to everyone.
Cajun ~ if you haven't frozen solid and are still out there, I finally got your seeds in the mail today. Expect them on toward the end of this next week I'm thinking.
Off to start another fire.... GRRrrrr!
I think this "winter" is wearing on all of us. We're finally getting some sun, so I'm feeling a little less cranky.
Taynors, what have you got going in your greenhouses? I haven't started anything yet. My spring vegetable seeds will be started the end of this next week.
Podster, that sounds like an interesting concept for growing. That's a shame about the wood for your GH stove.
Dyson, I imagine that is a wonderful website, but I'm on wireless internet through my cell phone company, and I don't have enough signal strength to get it to load.
It got up to 51 here yesterday, so a lot of the snow melted. The rest will probably be gone by the end of the today. Extended forecast says we're suppose to be in the upper 40's to mid 50's all week. Yay!
good morning
been sick.... aaahhchooo.. sniff.... pardone me :)
i have some perennials that i m pushing out for spring sales.
Lilac
Butterfly bush
Hosta's
sedums
and some mischellaneous tree's
oh and some blueberrys. i need to get them a better root ball. anyone familiar with growing blueberries ?
this is my first time .
Gh is around 62 at night and upper 70's day time. feels good.
hope your weather is doing better for you all
i do have petunia seeds, hollyhock and echinacea seeds going in the bedroom under lights
I looked at the site Dyson posted... I figure he's probably saving to buy 5 acres in the Ozarks!
(I did copy a great article on sharpening... thanks, Dyson!)
Yep ~ it was an interesting site. I got lost for a while there. Is that where you are going Dyson? You would love it!
Taynors ~ bless you! Hope you are feeling better. How the heck do you manage to maintain that warm a temp in your GH at night? I need to learn from you...
MsRobin are you ready for tomorrow night?
Dyson, with that being said (in my previous post), I tried it one more time and the site popped up in seconds! Great info.
Podster, as ready as I'm going to be. Absolutely no phone calls to pre-register. I don't know whether to expect any walkins or not. I sent a group email to all of our fellow MG classmates, as a couple of them were interested in attending. I'd hate if no one showed up the first night, but we'd still have to go the following week just in case someone shows up then. If not, we may have to chuck the whole plan. We have lots of great information to share and I hate that there doesn't seem to be any local interest.
CSA update: Have received full payment from one member from last year, plus the deposit from a new member for this year. Another person who first contacted me in December emailed today to let me know they were ready to join and I emailed her the registration form. I'm pretty sure that 2 other members from last year will be joining us again, too. That would be 5 and I put a limit of 7 members for this year. I'm pretty happy about that. Still plenty of time to find the additional members.
Pigs, goats and calves idea update: I've decided on using hog panels for the feeder pigs partially installed into the woods. The electric fence net for the goats. It will take 2 rolls to give them enough space, but it's suppose to keep them contained. I'll just move the fencing a couple of times over the summer for the pigs and goats. I'll use electric fence wire for the calves. Now I have to sketch out our property and decide where to put all of these pastures
It's sunny and 60 here. The snow is gone except for the north side of the house, but it is a terrible mudhole out there after all this snow melted so quickly.
AND...between [my maiden name]curse and [Al's last name]luck, we don't stand a chance! He went on a little road trip to visit friends in Las Vegas for the weekend instead of being cooped up in a little apartment, and today the truck is acting up big time! This is the brand new shiney Dodge Ram pickup we just bought in November after the Explorer died coming back home from Utah. He made it back to the apartment, but now has to take the truck in for servicing. We just can't win! I told him he better learn how to be a farmer real quick, so he can stop having to go out on the road to work. My nerves can't take much more of this!
(((((Robin)))))
Hi all, I've been absent from DG for awhile and hoping you don't mind that I jump right in.
We have done well in improving the homestead over the past few years. Since my last visit, we have two cows in milk, two steers, an incubator as well. We butchered the extra roosters this year and a few pesky boars.
We are all set with dairy, cheese, eggs and meat. I'm down to my last bag of frozen crowders and a dozen jars of pears.
Dreaming of veggies now!
welcome back, lulu... :) Sounds like you have a great hold on self sufficiency!
Hi cocoa_lulu welcome back.
sounds like you do some good eating at your place.
not much here
seeing some green sprouts in the seed trays, some plants in the GH are breaking dormacy.
snow is melting , temps are up in the 40's...
chickens are done sneezing and much better. can collect eggs again by tomorrow.
bbl
Whew! Got through the first meeting and it went great! However, it was like a class reunion, as 5 of the 8 that showed up were our MG classmates. But they were mostly beginner vegetable gardeners there to learn about organic gardening. The 3 of us did our presentations (I really need to step up my game, as D & D both were much more in-depth in their subject material). Then we sat around for over 30 minutes doing a "round table" discussion with lots of questions and answers.Two hour meeting ran 2 hr. 45 min, If that's any indication of the interest.
Got up to 69 on my hilltop yesterday! Should be close to 60 today with a little drizzle this evening. Wouldn't want it any other way, since our ground is still saturated from the recent heavy rains, followed by the now melted 6" of snow.
Congratulations on your success!
Good for you, Robin! Just think, you had THREE brand-new folks! That's almost 38%, not bad for a first go. :)
hooray for robin, so glad it turned out well for you . your class sounds like such fun.
did some canning today 15 qts of tomato juice. i have had them in the freezer for several months and decided it wast time ! ack.
got some left over in the fridge. gonna have soup tonight .
i m pooped
A freezer is on my list of must haves for this year. Last year I let so many fine tomatoes just fall to the ground cause I didn't have room in my fridge freezer.
I have attached a "Homestead" picture of my cabin taken the other day.
Great cabin!
Taynors, I think you have the right idea. I'd rather can now then in the middle of July!
Love the cabin. An extra freezer comes in handy. I wasn't sure we needed one and was pleasantly surprised to find out how many hunting and fishermen we know. They always seem to be looking for a place to drop off the 'extras' :0)
Thanks for the cheers!
Cool cabin!
We need to get another freezer too before long. I bought an upright a few years ago, so it could fit in our little house. But now I want a chest freezer, which means we have to decide what we're going to build to house it. The big room addition is probably going to be delayed yet another year.
Freezers ~ I agree, I love them until the electricity goes off! A friend buys a few small freezers. It is easier for him to move them and if one should die, he won't lose all his groceries.
CocoaLulu ~ I am glad to see you have the homestead under control. Fun to see you posting again and hope you have lots of homestead lessons to share.
MsRobin ~ I am glad you were able to test the seminar waters with a nice sized group. The round table discussion is a great way to wrap it up too. If I were a gambling person, I'd bet there will be more next week. The reason being, word of mouth from those that attended. Good going.
Nice 'digs' Texasrockgarden ~ cut somemore of those blessed cedar trees. I spent the past two really nice days outdoors and am some miserable! I wasn't sure what was going on till I looked at the local pollen levels. It was tough and going to grim. I am totally hoarse today and can't figure why when DH answers the phone and it is for me, he expects me to take it. I can hardly be understood at work. On the phone would be a stretch! Tonight I resorted to writing notes to customers.
Have been wintersowing, mostly tomatoes and herbs. Yesterday, the TX tarragon (Mexican mint marigold) had sprouted. Warms my soul.
Has anyone heard from CajuninKy or Lizardskeep? And whatever happened to Twiggybuds? Perhaps they will cycle back thru here.
I bought my 2nd freezer last summer. Big mistake was getting a chest freezer, but that's all I could afford. Even at just 7 cu. ft., stuff gets lost/buried in it. My older one is a small upright. Hopefully in a few more months I can get another upright and relegate the chest freezer to stuff I seldom need to look for in the bottom of it!
I'd love to get away from dependence on a freezer at all, which is why I'm trying to learn the facets of meat preservation.
If I can suggest, use some of those cloth shopping bags and sort the frozen foods by types. Then, you can easily inventory the foods, reach in for the very bag you are looking for and remove it all quickly to clean the freezer. You can even color code the foods by the color of the bags they are stored in.
I had an upright and had many a bruised foot from something frozen falling out of the door. It never fails to hit the most tender part of the foot. I also noticed how much cold I would feel rushing out when the door was opened.
I have a vintage chest freezer that refuses to die. When it does retire, I will replace it with a chest I think but it will be smaller.
So, I went to hang out clothes and found some nasty looking clothespins. Shopping for the best way to clean them, anyone? Hate to have them stain the laundry.